The DCCC Is On The March-- Hide Your Wallets

Former Blue Dog Steve Israel was appointed head of the DCCC by Nancy Pelosi, in her most boneheaded move since taking impeachment off the table. Israel is working hand-in-paw with Heath Shuler to recruit conservatives to run for open congressional seats, conservatives like all the Blue Dogs and quasi-Blue Dogs who lost in November because Democratic voters just do not want to vote for conservatives. If they did, they would be Republicans. Yesterday the DCCC blanked their mailing list recipients with a shameless letter begging progressives to sign a petition to protect women's choice. Signing a petition only means one thing-- since Boehner isn't interested in them, even if the DCCC actually ever entertained the notion of sending them to him. It means you are on the fundraising mailing list. But nowhere in that letter does it mention that 10 co-sponsors of the heinous legislation are exactly the kind of conservative Democrats the DCCC wastes virtually all it's (our) money on.

Rather than focus on creating jobs, House Republicans have begun a comprehensive and radical assault on a woman’s right to choose.

One bill would punish women and businesses with a massive tax increase for insurance that covers the full range of reproductive health care. Another would cut off federal dollars to women’s health care clinics that offer reproductive health services. Plus, Republicans are refusing to drop their attempt to redefine rape.

These measures could end up denying millions of Americans access to reproductive health care.

We can’t stand silent in the face of this Republican assault on women’s health and reproductive rights. Sign our petition denouncing House Republicans’ despicable attempts to restrict a woman’s right to choose.

There's a huge blue "CONTRIBUTE" button on the bottom of the page. It could just as well be red if what you care about is Choice. The DCCC is part of the problem; not the solution to the problem. Israel was bragging he's "Rahm Emanuel without the curse words." That means he'll be sabotaging progressives who try to get the Democratic nominations for House seats from sea to shining sea. It means he'll continue recruiting anti-gay, anti-choice, anti-union, anti-family conservatives and Big Business shills to run as Democrats... just the way Rahm did.

Pelosi is right to warn about the Republican jihad against women's rights. But until she grasps that it's a conservative jihad, not just a Republican jihad, she won't be able to fight it effectively. Greg Sargent:

Nancy Pelosi's extremely blunt assessments of the true motives of Republicans are why her supporters love her and her enemies hate her with equal passion, and on a conference call with bloggers just now, she unleashed a slashing attack on the House GOP's new anti-abortion push that may churn up emotions on both sides.

Pelosi-- who promised a huge fight against House Republicans over the issue in the days ahead-- didn't hold back one bit, claiming the new legislative push by Republicans "disrespects the judgment of American women."

"I don't know if they ever give that a thought," she added.

Pelosi described the GOP push as the "most radical assault" on women's reproductive rights "in our lifetimes." And she was equally blunt in her assessment of right-wing assaults on family planning.

"They are at a different philosophical place," she said, characterizing their view as: "all engagement has to result in a child." Pelosi noted that contraception and family planning is "not consistent with their belief that it's all about procreation."

House Republicans have begun work on two bills that would dramatically restrict financing of and access to abortions. They are also looking to zero out funding for Title X, a decades-old program providing federal funds to family planning and reproductive health, which would be a hard hit to Planned Parenthood.

Pelosi indicated that the House Dem Pro-Choice Caucus, which numbers more than 150, would fan out in their communities and argue that Republicans are pushing an extreme agenda that would decimate women's reproductive rights. She added that Dems would push the message that the GOP push-- which means small businesses could lose tax credits to buy health insurance for employees if they choose a plan that covers reproductive health care-- constitutes a "tax hike on women and small businesses."

Pelosi acknowledged that Dems could not stop Republicans from passing their anti-abortion agenda through the House. But she said it was crucial that pro-choice forces and Dems kick up enough noise to ensure that it dies in the Senate: "We have to make this issue too hot to handle."

Pelosi added that the unreconcilable philosophical differences between Republicans and Dems on abortion left Dems no choice but to adopt a scorched-earth approach to the war ahead. "We don't have a set of shared values," she said. "We have to fight this out in the public domain, so when we move to the Senate it has no popular support."

Pelosi added that this fight was a good way to drive home the reality of GOP extremism to women who were not energized last November, a key swing demographic.

At some point someone is going to ask Pelosi to address the fact that her own caucus harbors dozens of vehement anti-Choice fanatics and that the DCCC has spent millions of dollars recruiting, electing and re-electing these Democrats who vote with the GOP against women. Mark Critz, who replaced Jack Murtha in a special election-- was one of the Democrats' greatest hits. They literally spent millions of dollars to elect and reelect him. And his first substantive vote in Congress? He voted against Patrick Murphy's amendment to repeal DADT,

His first vote in Congress, to congratulate the University of Texas mens swimming and diving team for winning the NCAA Division I national championship, was a vote with his own party-- and it passed 405-0. And the Democrats have been able to count on Critz on votes like that. The important ones... not so much. His first vote on a contentious proposal was Patrick Murphy's amendment to the Defense Authorization Act which will lead to the repeal of DADT. Making clear to anyone who hadn't been paying attention that the DCCC had just wasted a fortune on electing another vicious bigot to Congress, Critz joined Boehner, all but 5 of the Republicans and a couple dozen homophobic Blue Dogs to oppose Murphy's legislation. He's also been voting with the GOP to recommit (kill) major legislation, like the Small Business Jobs Tax Relief Act and voted outright against the DISCLOSE Act last week, one of 36 Democrats who nearly tanked the bill that is meant to take some of the corrupt practices Critz-watchers knew he is so eager to immerse himself in, out of politics. As Boehner talked yesterday about taking away Choice from American women, you could almost see Mark Critz's image dancing in the orange glow around his forehead.

And, indeed, Critz signed on as a co-sponsor of the "Republican" legislation to dismantle women's right to Choice. Nancy? DCCC? Anything. Will you guys at least assure us that no more millions of grassroots donors money collected to protect Choice will go to anti-Choice fanatics like Mark Critz?