Ousted Conservative Democrat From Staten Island Michael McMahon Appeals To Liberals To Help Him Win Back His Seat

Michael McMahon-- neither fish nor foul... nor good red herring

Michael McMahon didn't officially ever join the Blue Dog caucus, but he tended to vote with it an awful lot. He was more likely to vote along the same conservative line as reactionary Blue Dogs like Bobby Bright (AL), Travis Childers (MS), Jim Marshall (GA), Allen Boyd (FL) and Lincoln Davis (TN), all of whom were also defeated in November-- than he was with fellow New York City Democrats like Jerry Nadler, Carolyn Maloney, Jose Serano or Yvette Clarke, all of whom won reelection with between 75% and 95% of the vote. 

McMahon, after winning the open Republican seat in 2008 in a landslide (114,219 (61%) to 62,441 (33%), even with McCain narrowly beating Obama), saw a real reversal of fortune three months ago, when his conservative voting record kept Democrats away from the polls just when a Fox-fueled teabagger wave swept over angry white neighborhoods of Staten Island. (The 13th CD covers all of Staten Island and selected neighborhoods in Brooklyn.) This time Michael Grimm took 59,346 (51%) and McMahon only squeezed out 55,056 (48%). As you can see, almost all of the Republicans from 2008 were out to vote, while of Democrats and left-leaning independents, almost half stayed home. 

McMahon gave them little reason to do otherwise. He was one of only 39 Democrats to cross the aisle and vote with the GOP against healthcare reform, for example. That high-profile vote probably sealed his fate. He managed to narrowly win in the Brooklyn part of the district, but not by enough to make up for a 6,000-vote deficit in Staten Island, where he won in 2008 by a 40,000-vote margin.

In 2008 McMahon took 26,411 votes in Brooklyn (against 13,549 for the GOP) and 87,808 in Staten Island (against 48,892 for the Republican). This time Brooklyn gave him 14,389 while Grimm took 12,806, and Staten Island gave Grimm 46,540 and McMahon just 40,676-- less than half what he won in 2008.

The DCCC, which learned absolutely nothing from their gargantuan losses in 2010, has been eager to get him-- and other defeated conservatives like him-- to run again. Former Blue Dog Steve Israel, who brags he's "Rahm Emanuel without the curse words" wants to rerecruit all the Blue Dogs and other reactionaries who so turned off Democrats in 2010 to run in 2012. What an idiot! The GOP couldn't have asked for a better DCCC chairman.

Meanwhile McMahon is trying to shore up the Democratic base in NY-13.

In a spirited defense of his tenure in Congress -- including his controversial vote against health care reform -- former Rep. Michael McMahon appeared to be laying the groundwork for a comeback last night with an appeal to a liberal political club to help return the coveted House seat to the Democratic column, "whoever" the candidate may be.

He also told some 100 members of the Staten Island Democratic Association, meeting in St. George, that Democrats need to have a "unified message" going forward, rather than "writing letters complaining" about isolated votes a Democratic elected official might take.

"Some people told me, 'I didn't vote for you because you voted against health care,'" said McMahon. "OK, but look what you got."

...While McMahon said he wanted an honest assessment of his performance, he seemed to bristle initially at criticism, talking over one person's remarks, but later dialing back his response when another person said, to applause, that he had abandoned his political base by opposing the health care bill and failing to be a "leader" on the issue.

"I saw it a little differently at the time," said McMahon, "but I take what you say very seriously. I hear you loud and clear. ... Maybe I made some mistakes along the way."

Although old-line Republicans are already plotting a primary challenge against Grimm-- they hope to get crooked and perverted Vito Fossella, the former five-term congressman who resigned in disgrace, to run again, for some reason no one can explain-- Steve Israel and Michael McMahon may be thwarted by actual Democratic voters who don't want the conservative McMahon representing them again. Earlier this week, the Staten Island Advance wondered aloud if McMahon would win the nomination again.

Could the Democratic Party actually deny him another run at the job he so clearly relished and labored at 24/7? Already, it would seem, he is seeking to recapture his momentum, including hosting his annual St. Patrick's Parade party, this year at his old law firm in West Brighton.

While Fossella likely would have to publicly answer for his personal transgressions, something he has never done, McMahon still seems to have a lot of explaining to do for his health care vote. Party progressives maintain he abandoned his base to seek favor among conservatives, whose votes he was never going to get anyway.

One such Democrat is Teresa Caliari Olya, who hosted a State of the Union "watch party" in her home last week.

"Mike McMahon wanted nothing to do with us," recalled Ms. Olya. "He wanted nothing to do with Barack Obama. We offered to help him in his campaign, but he turned us down. He said, 'I don't want to be involved with liberal progressives.' He was very much, 'Keep your distance.' Some of us didn't vote for him or against him. He lost because of his hubris."

And so will Steve Israel. He hates progressives and refuses to understand that without them the Democratic Party is nothing but some insider careerists with no appeal to anyone. Monday we looked at another clueless conservative, Stephen Lynch, coming right out and telling progressives to keep out of Democratic politics. Like I said, these people have learned nothing from their shellacking. Polling is consistently showing the most right-wing, anti-Democratic Democrat in the Senate, the detested Ben Nelson, losing next year as Republicans flock to the red team and Democrats wonder why they should bother voting for someone who votes with the GOP on key issues more frequently than with the Democrats.

McMahon seems to be getting the message far more than either Israel or Nelson, both driven by ideological hatred towards progressives and fear of and disdain for ordinary working families, cut off from the realities on the ground and surrounded by sycophants and K Street-lobbyist yes men. Things could easily get even worse for Democrats in 2012. Steve Israel, already busy recruiting conservative candidates like himself, was probably the worst choice the Democratic Party could have made to head the DCCC. Indeed... Rahm without the curse words. FDR must be rolling in his grave.