Fighting For The 98% Of Americans Who Need Some Fighting For-- Justin Coussoule Will Never Be A Blue Dog

I doubt it surprised anyone yesterday when Colorado Blue Dog John Salazar came out against President Obama's position that the Bush tax cuts should be extended for the middle class and ended for the 2% of the wealthiest families who do not pay their fair share. Blue Dogs and Republicans tend to see eye-to-eye on giving welfare to millionaire freeloaders. Like many Blue Dogs, Salazar is running for re-election by attacking Nancy Pelosi and the progressive agenda to help realize the legitimate aspirations of America's working families. They sound just like Republicans. If you haven't watched them, please take a look at the campaign ads we posted this morning by mangy Blue Dogs Jason Altmire, Glenn Nye and Bobby Bright.

“We need to figure out how to lower the deficit,” Salazar said, noting he is opposed to increasing taxes during a recession.

Salazar, who is being criticized by his Republican opponent, Scott Tipton of Cortez, for his ties to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said he is hardly the speaker’s favorite congressman because he voted against and worked to organize the opposition on the House floor to Pelosi’s cap-and-trade proposal.

He and other members of the Blue Dog Coalition “will never be in leadership” of the House Democrats, Salazar said. “We’re not ideologues.” ... Salazar said he is not interested in more stimulus spending by the federal government, but the measure is putting people in his district back to work, as evidenced by the half-dozen or so American Recovery and Reinvestment Act signs he saw along roads between Steamboat Springs and Grand Junction.

Still, the first stimulus measure of $787 billion “was plenty big,” Salazar said. “I think we’ve spent enough money.”

The spending was necessary, Salazar said, because the Bush administration had presided over a recession that threatened to grow deeper than the Great Depression. The stimulus measure warded that off, he said.

“I’m not saying the economy has recovered,” he said. “The economy had a broken neck. It’s going to take a while to recover.”

Earlier today Glenn Greenwald tweeted "The strangest part of the Democrats' severe political woes is the seeming lack of tactics or even effort to do anything about it." He hit the nail on the head. DCCC, DNC and DSCC leadership is fifth rate and they have one hop and one hope only-- that NRCC, RNC and NRSC leadership is sixth rate.

This tax-cuts-for-millionaires thing is a problem for cowardly Democrats afraid of people who get their primary information from Fox directly or from people who get it from Fox-- which is, as we all now know, exactly the same as getting it from the Republican Party. The GOP/Fox line is that Democrats want to ruin the economy by stealing our tax dollars. To a normal person, this is absurd and not worth thinking about twice. But to victims of the incessant right-wing propaganda barrage, it sounds like it makes sense. Otherwise, why would it be on TV all day, every day? Although you have Blue Dogs like Bright and Nye, Salazar and Altmire, echoing John Boehner's talking points for him, President Obama and progressive Democrats have made it clear that they want to extend tax cuts to working families and middle class Americans. I couldn't reach Obama on the phone for a quote so I went to the intrepid Democrat running against Boehner in OH-08, Justin Coussoule (who you can watch on MSNBC this afternoon with Ed Schultz). Here's the common sense approach he's taking on this question of Bush's tax breaks for millionaires:

Even though economists and the evidence both tell us that extending the Bush tax cuts for the richest 2% of Americans will neither stimulate the economy nor pay for their $700 billion cost, John Boehner continues to call for this taxpayer hand-out to the super-rich.  

Rich people can afford to keep much more of their money. That's how they stay rich.  And that's why the only people helped by Boehner's proposal are the super-rich contributors who fill his campaign coffers.  

It's the people who make up the other 98% of the population who do most of the working and buying and spending in this country. Because they have to. They have to buy groceries, make rent or mortgage payments, put gas in their cars to drive to work and pay for the thousands of other goods and services that regular people need and use and every day in order to provide for themselves and their families. That's why keeping more money in the their pockets helps fuel business development, job creation and economic recovery.  

Expecting the super-rich to pay the reasonable tax rates that were in place during the Clinton Administration, a time of economic expansion and record surpluses, in order to prevent blowing another $700 billion hole in the deficit is neither unfair nor 'job killing.' It's fiscally responsible.

Watching out for the working middle-class will help create jobs and rebuild our economy. Catering to the super-rich is what got us in this hole to begin with.

History teaches us that. Economists tell us that. John Boehner knows that. But in 20-years of misrepresentation, he's never fought for the 'bottom' 98% of Americans. So why should this time be any different.

One more thing from me: Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the next leader of the DCCC and Chris Van Hollen, the current bumbling place-holder, have decided that conservative Democrats who attack Speaker Pelosi, President Obama and the progressive agenda for working families like Jason Altmire, Bobby Bright and Glenn Nye will get all the DCCC money this year. Nothing goes to strong, courageous fighting progressives like Alan Grayson or Justin Coussoule. You can see why the Democratic Party is in such more shape. So... see that thermometer on the right? You can use that to donate directly to Justin Coussoule's campaign or to help Blue America keep our billboards and TV ads running in his district north of Cincinnati. Even $5 and $10 contributions will help make it possible to challenge John Boehner in his own backyard-- while the DCCC wastes all the money they sucker out of people electing reactionary Democrats who actually vote with Boehner on the conservative, Big Business, anti-family agenda.