You Won't Find Many Democrats Who Have Been More Disappointing Than Jason Altmire

Despite overwhelming consensus from Inside the Beltway pundits that the GOP was winning the battle of Wisconsin, three national polls-- Pew, Gallup, NY Times/CBS-- all show that Americans disapprove of Scott Walker's union-busting strategy. Washington Post columnist Greg Sargent called the polling "clear evidence that the public has not been as quick to scapegoat them for our economic doldrums as many expected," many being the predictably out-of-touch DC punditocracy which warned Democrats to give in or suffer the consequences. Less spotlighted was a PPP poll of Wisconsin voters showing that if they could get a re-do of the November election, Walker would lose, convincingly. Buyers remorse is widespread among voters there.

Fifty-two percent of respondents said they would vote for Barrett if the election were held today, while 45% said they would vote for Walker. That's almost exactly the opposite of what happened in the election, when Walker won the governorship with 52% of the vote to Barrett's 47%.

Democratic response? Mostly wary caution and hand-wringing. Obama's most progressive cabinet member, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis responded well. And I was pleasantly surprised Monday that President Obama made a clear statement to the nation's governors-- apparently the Koch Bros preferred their boy in Wisconsin stay home and weld his windows shut-- that it was just wrong to vilify public workers or attack their unions: "I don't think it does anybody any good when public employees are denigrated or vilified or when their rights are infringed upon."

George Lakoff explains what's happening in Wisconsin-- and why-- far better than any of the professional Democrats in Washington because they're conflicted and can't get their heads around the fact that the trumped up budget deficits "emergency" is a ruse to turn the country conservative in every area. It's about the money and the GOP keeping Democrats from having access to what unions can do to counterbalance corporations, which gladly contribute to conservatives and shills from either party. The Nation gets it... and so does Rachel Maddow:



Conservative Democrats don't. Blue Dog Heath Shuler and "ex"-Blue Dog Steve Israel, now chair of the DCCC, are running around like chickens without heads trying to recruit conservative Democrats to run for House seats, despite the fact that Democratic voters stayed away from the polls in droves last November and defeated over half the Blue Dogs and many of their most conservative allies. Big Business loves those types-- your Melissa Beans and Travis Childers and Frank Kratovils-- but Democratic and left-leaning independent voters do not. The DCCC doesn't care. They are all about beating pro-family progressives and pumping up pro-business conservatives. Yesterday's Roll Call highlighted reactionary Blue Dog Jason Altmire and his electoral problems. Before we get to their story, just keep in mind that Altmire has the third most Republican ProgressivePunch score in the House among Democrats, a dismal 37.47, beaten out only by fellow Boehner Boys Joe Donnelly (Blue Dog-IN- 37.23) and Dan Boren (Blue Dog-OK- 229.64). And those are lifetime scores. When it comes to the tough issues this year, Altmire has sided with Boehner 75% of the time, a record of treachery exceeded only by Jim Costa (Blue Dog-CA- 79% with Boehner) and Boren (85% with Boehner), considerably worse than several Republicans!

When Altmire first beat GOP incumbent Melissa Hart in November, 2006, 130,480 voters backed him (as opposed to 120,822 for Hart). His landslide victories in Beaver (61%), Westmoreland (60%) and Lawrence (58%) counties helped him overcome the hump. Two years later, while McCain took 55% of the district, Altmire was reelected in a rematch, 56-44%, 186,536 voters to 147,411 for Hart. Last year was much closer and Altmire failed to turn out much of the Democratic base, scraping by with 51% of the vote, 118,554 to Keith Rothfus' 113,434. It was Altmire's worst showing ever and he lost Allegheny, Butler, and Westmoreland counties. And Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chairman Jim Burn told Roll Call Altmire will face some very serious headwinds in 2012-- but from inside the Democratic Party.

“I have not heard a name yet, but I know there is a movement in some pockets of the Democratic Party in Congressional 4 that think he’s walked away from the party,” Burn told Roll Call in an interview late last week. “I don’t agree with that. But because of that, I think he may see a primary challenge.”

Altmire voted against the health care overhaul and other recent top Democratic priorities. He also voted against Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) during leadership elections. And Altmire’s office issued a statement last week touting his partisan ranking as “15 slots to the right of center” for the second year in a row.

Burn goes on to say "we’d like to avoid [a primary] if we can.” I guess he'd like a job at the DCCC next.