Two Kinds Of Democrats-- The Ones With Courage And Heart And... The Cowardly Curs Who Go Along With Boehner

Ohio Democrats Betty Sutton & Justin Coussoule, fighting for middle class families & small businesses

An odd-- only Inside-the-Beltway-- juxtaposition of headlines when I woke up this morning: from Gallup we get Americans OK Allowing Tax Cuts For Wealthy To Expire and from The Hill we get Momentum Builds For Extending All Of President Bush's Tax Cuts. Since the only disagreement is over the tax cuts for the rich-- everyone agrees the middle class needs and should get an extension-- the real headline should be "The Richest Americans Thwart Democracy And Exert Power Through The Corrupt Members Of Congress They Own Once Again."

And who's leading the momentum? If you can't guess the names, you obviously haven't been paying any attention to this blog for the last 5 years. Ladies and gentlemen, selling out the interests of working families by hooking up with GOP corporate whores we have... in the U.S. Senate whore house... Ben Nelson, Evan Bayh, Kent Conrad and, obviously, Joe Lieberman. Anyone want to take bets on where Blanche Lincoln stands as she contemplates which K Street firm she will be working for after January? Over on the other side of Capitol Hill it's not even just the Blue Dogs lining up to smooch the rich campaign donor class. Sure, you get the worst of the worst like Bobby Bright (Blue Dog-AL) and Harry Mitchell (Blue Dog-AZ) but this is the kind of values driven battle that brings to the fore traits like cowardice and fear so very, very clearly. Will displays of cowardice save moderate, endangered Democrats like Jim Himes (CT) and Ron Klein (FL)? Or do voters prefer the more courageous types like Alan Grayson and Anthony Weiner?

Perhaps the vulnerable and cowardly among House Democrats should keep in the back of their mind how rabid dogs and wild animals sense fear and instinctually attack in that direction. Virtually all the Democrats who are being pummeled with millions and millions of dollars of corporately-financed TV and radio ads by the GOP and their front organizations are the very Democrats who have voted most frequently with Boehner and his cronies, reactionaries like the aforementioned Mr. Bright and his colleagues Allen Boyd, Ann Kirkpatrick, Joe Donnelly, Travis Childers, and Tom Perriello.

Betty Sutton is one Democratic incumbent, who is also under attack-- although not from the NRCC but from a wealthy car dealer with an outsized ego who thinks he can buy himself a House seat-- and who is not wavering from her pro-working family values:

"When so many families are struggling, getting Ohio back to work and protecting tax relief for the middle class must be our top priorities. That means not giving millionaires and billionaires a free ride on the backs of working families. By allowing tax breaks for the richest 2 percent of Americans to expire, we give hardworking people a fair shake and make real strides in reducing the deficit."

Earlier today we saw that Sutton had urged Ohio voters to dump John Boehner and replace him with progressive Democratic Justin Coussoule. I reached Coussoule this morning just as he was going into a meeting with the editorial board of the Hamilton Journal News in Butler County. Coussoule had the unfair tax breaks for the rich very much on his mind. And he sees it much like Sutton does.

"George Voinovich is a Republican but he says he's going to stop playing games and end the senseless GOP filibuster against the small business aid package the House passed and was blocked in the Senate. That's the kind of bipartisan cooperation Ohio voters want to see. Small businesses and middle class working families need the kinds of breaks and incentives President Obama has been proposing. The wealthiest Americans who have gotten so much wealthier because of unfair Bush-Boehner tax policies and trade policies do not need another tax break. It's time to let that sunset. Before I drove over here this morning I read the analysis by Gallup about why most Americans want this special treatment for a few wealthy families to end. They pointed out that Americans are not sympathetic to Boehner's argument that people in the upper-income bracket are overtaxed. This is a direct quote from Gallup: There is widespread consensus that 'upper-income Americans pay too little in taxes and favor higher taxes on wealthy Americans as a means to fund government programs, such as Social Security.' Voters in this district will have a clear choice in November. I want to make sure small businesses get the tax credits and the flow of credit they need to expand and increase employment for Ohio workers who have been devastated by ill-conceived fiscal and trade policies for John Boehner's two decades in the House. And I'll work to protect the interests of middle class families struggling to survive and thrive in this tough environment. John Boehner's record speaks for itself-- he stands for big banking interests, big tobacco interests, big business in general and for the wealthy few who approach him through lobbyists and on exclusive golf courses. It's time ordinary Ohio workingmen and women reclaim their government. That's a pledge to voters in the 8th I'll never break."