The Worst Republicans In The House, None Of Whom Are Being Challenged By The DCCC

If Nick Cave's darling is right and there really is an interventionist God watching over mankind, DWT wouldn't have to make these political endorsements against the gravest evildoers hanging like Swords of Damocles over the very heart of our democracy. Yesterday Paul Krugman warned us to be a afraid, to be "very afraid." The Republicans, he points out, intend to bring as much pain and suffering to the country as they possibly can-- not just in gratitude to America's foreign competitors who have financed their election campaign but because they see it as the path to victory in 2012-- because the voters are rewarding their obstructionism. That said, with an acknowledgment that there remains not even one good Republican in Congress-- not in either house-- there are several who really stand out as existential threats to our nation and our families. Sure, you should urge everyone you know to vote against every one of them (including the Republicans who call themselves Blue Dog Democrats) but here's a list of Democrats running against the worst and most dangerous of the House incumbents.

Billy Kennedy is the most likely progressive to actually beat a hard core incumbent GOP hate merchant this year. He's running in northwest North Carolina and, although, the DCCC is studiously ignoring the race, he's been endorsed by the biggest newspaper in the district, he handily beat her in both debates, and his grassroots machine is working overtime to turn out Democrats, independents and non-hate obsessed Republicans. Billy has raised $290,380 to deploy against the $1,246,275 Foxx has on hand; she already spent $490,640.

Justin Coussoule is also running a serious grassroots campaign against John Boehner, the drunken golfer who China and Wall Street are working to install as Speaker. Justin has raised $216,457; Wall Street, China and other anti-American interests have given Boehner $8,194,339 this year.

Digby and I disagree over who the most dangerous Member of Congress is. She's sure it's Pence and then Ryan and I say it's Ryan, then Pence. Ladies first:

Barry Welsh is once again offering east-central Indiana voters an opportunity to ditch the ultra-reactionary Mike Pence. An apostle of class warfare and class hate, Pence was most recently in the news screaming about how if the GOP wins on Tuesday there will be no compromise, just hand-to-hand combat. Obviously the DCCC isn't opposing Pence and Barry is going up against Pence's $2,314,053 in corporate funding with... $115, all from individual contributions.

Paul Ryan, Obama's favorite Republican, is the man tasked by Wall Street to destroy Social Security. The DCCC worked very hard to sandbag and sabotage his opponent, Paulette Garin, driving her out of the race and replacing her with almost-Alvin-Greene. Ryan is in a Democratic district that Obama won-- but he's never had a serious challenge. I was told, by someone who knows, that David Obey was protecting him, although no one will tell me why. Wall Street has big plans for him; that we do know.

Tarryl Clark is making very serious headway against Minnesota monstrosity Michele Bachmann. That includes raising a startling $4,207,917-- although, keep in mind that the self-declared Queen of Teabaggery sucked up $11,130,358, and very little of it from PACs, mostly from angry white males high on hate.

Russ Warner is taking on crackpot closet queen David Dreier again, at a time when the already ultra-conservative Dreier has moved as far right as the worst of any Republicans. He's the single most out-of-step incumbent with his own district. In a moderate suburban district Obama won Dreier racked up a disgraceful 0.82 ProgressivePunch score, more extremist and intractable than anyone on this list other than Pence, Calvert and Foxx. He raised $1,008,978 this year, to Warner's $292,330. No one in the district knows how radical he is, since he owns the only newspapers in the district and they always paint him as a "moderate."

Russell Edwards is taking on Georgia sociopath and John Bircher Paul Broun. Russell has raised $193,339 to Broun's $1,829,701, although because of Broun's profligate spending, both have around the same cash on hand right now! The DCCC, once again, is ignoring this one. You know what, they're ignoring all these races, other than a little superficial support for Tarryl, so I'll just stop mentioning them at this point. They're not helping any Democrats running against any of the worst Republican incumbents.

Bill Hedrick is actually the Democratic challenger most likely to win on Tuesday, a combination of being such an awesome candidate himself-- who nearly won in 2010-- and because he's running against a corrupt corporate shill Fox named one of the most disgraceful Members of Congress and who even the Heritage Foundation is calling on the GOP to sideline, Ken Calvert, whose entire political career has been consumed with using his office for personal gain-- when not preying on drugged up young women. Bill has raised $492,888 against Calvert's massive $1,597,265 warchest full of bribes.

Matt Campbell is taking on narrow-minded right-wing extremist and hypocrite Steve King in western Iowa. The Des Moines Register has urged its readers to dump King as an embarrassment to the state and replace him with Matt. Matt has raised $225,350 to King's $893,263.

Tod Theise is the progressive ex-Republican running against the single most right-wing congressman in the Northeast, Wall Street shill Scott Garrett. Tod raised $20,679 to go up against Wall Street's massive $1,593,392 investment in Garrett. (It didn't all come from Wall Street; the anti-Choice absolutists have donated heavily to Garrett too, as have loads of anti-environmental fanatics.)

Rick Waugh is taking on the GOP's #2, Eric Cantor, who has been having Waugh supporters roughed up by security guards, like Joe Miller does. Cantor, who practically defines congressional corruption, has scooped up $5,552,954 in bribes this year. Waugh has raised $108,104.

Howard Katz is the man who is taking on career criminal Darrell Issa, who started out as a car jacker and is now the wealthiest Member of Congress-- and the nastiest and most vindictive as well. Should Boehner and his cronies win on Tuesday, Issa will be charged with grinding the government to a halt by investigating everything that moves, a job he relishes and is well-suited for. Katz has raised $14,112 against Issa's $1,322,194.

And Georgia's nastiest and most dangerous bigot, Tom Price, doesn't even have a token opponent. That hasn't stopped him from sucking up to every corrupt lobbyist on K Street and hauling in $1,959,189. If he isn't part of the next Congress it will only be through God's direct intervention.

Three honorable mentions for three exceptionally hideous GOP challengers: crackpot religious fanatic Daniel "Taliban Dan" Webster, who is challenging Alan Grayson; serial sex predator and multimillionaire Boehner crony Tom Ganley (who's in the news again this week for molesting yet another woman); and, last and probably least-- keep in mind I'm leaving out outrageous scum like Nazi Rich Iott and Dan Quayle's slow son Ben, the pornographer-- Tim Griffin. Since he knows him so well, let's allow former U.S. Attorney, and Republican, David Iglesias tell us about Griffin in the video below: