DCCC Frontliners Can Be Counted On By Boehner To Advance The Conservative Agenda

A few days ago we mentioned that the DCCC has refused to add Progressive Caucus chair Raúl Grijalva to their Frontline list of endangered incumbents. That isn't because Grijalva isn't endangered; between redistricting and immense amounts of money from GOP Super PACs fueled by what Teddy Roosevelt would have called "malefactors of great wealth," he clearly is. It's probably because Steve Israel and other right-wing Democrats and corporate whores who control the Beltway party establishment would rather see him defeated. Grijalva works tirelessly and effectively for ordinary working families. That gets in the way-- on a regular basis, and very inconveniently-- for the corporate interests which have financed the careers and rise to power of Democratic Party scum like "ex"-Blue Dog Steve Israel and New Dem heads Joe Crowley and Ron Kind, three corporate boosters inside the caucus.

Israel just added fellow Blue Dog John Barrow (GA) to the Frontline list, although Democratic donors on the DCCC page have so far given him exactly zero dollars, just what he deserves. What grassroots Democrats give directly, though, hardly matters at all. The DCCC will, once again, redirect whatever is donated to the organization-- millions of dollars-- to efforts to bolster corrupt, conservative corporate shills like Barrow.

Barrow joins some of the most reprehensible Democrats in Congress on the Frontline List of Shame: Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog-NC), Kurt Schrader (Blue Dog-OR), Larry Kissell (proto-Blue Dog-NC), Ben Chandler (Blue Dog-KY), Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT), Leonard Boswell (Blue Dog-IA). If you contribute to the DCCC, the bulk of whatever you give winds up in the hands of ineffective, self-serving DCCC insiders who will waste it on badly done TV ads for conservative Democrats who are anti-Choice, anti-union, anti-gay, and who have far more in common with Eric Cantor and John Boehner than with Raúl Grijalva. When it came to the crucial roll call votes in 2011, Barrow voted with the Democrats 25.74% of the time. That's right, he crossed the aisle to vote with Cantor and Boehner almost three-quarters of the time! According to ProgressivePunch, Ron Paul voted with the Democrats more than Barrow (35.75%)!

Barrow was the worst, but he was hardly the only Frontline Democrat-- the Steve Israel Team-- who voted more frequently with the GOP than with the Democrats. The DCCC won't help Grijalva. Instead they'll funnel all the cash they can into saving the mangy necks of arch-conservatives who mostly vote with the Republicans. Here's a list of the half dozen most right-wing Frontline Democrats and how often they supported Cantor's positions against the Democratic position on crucial House roll call votes this past year:

John Barrow (GA): 74.26% with the GOP
Ben Chandler (KY): 68.09% with the GOP
Bill Owens (NY): 63.68% with the GOP
Larry Kissell (NC): 58.82% with the GOP
Mike McIntyre (NC): 58.52% with the GOP
Leonard Boswell (IA): 55.15% with the GOP

Last year the DCCC undermined Alan Grayson's reelection efforts by starving his campaign of desperately needed resources to fight off the most concentrated campaign of outside corporate money ever launched against a single congressman. Needless to say, they're not helping him this year to regain a House seat-- nor are they helping any of the Florida progressives running for winnable districts (besides Grayson: Dave Lutrin and Nick Ruiz). The only Democrat in Florida they seem to be helping so far is a very conservative Blue Dog, Leonard Bembry. As for endangered incumbents, look at the Blue America endangered incumbents list, fighting progressives who have earned their party's support-- but not one of them is getting it.

Think Progress's Josh Dorner just wrote up a fascinating report on the GOP candidates' economic agenda for the 1 percent. It's bad enough that all these crackpots running for the White House are blatantly pimping the interests of the rich and powerful against the interests of the country and against the interests of ordinary working families. But remember, the Republicans already in power in the House and Senate have been up to this for years.

A close examination of all of the GOP candidates’ records and policy positions reveals that Mitt Romney is not the only candidate who “represents the one percent.” All of the Republican candidates share at least one thing in common: an economic agenda that will benefit the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans at the expense of the other 99 percent.

Each and every Republican candidate has called for trillions of dollars in new tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans and corporations-- all while calling for ending Medicare as we know it and dramatic cuts to Social Security, Medicaid, and countless other programs and services that Americans depend on each day.

All of the candidates would take us back to the Bush-era policies that increased income inequality, resulted in the worst job growth in decades, exploded the deficit and national debt, and ultimately crashed the economy. Indeed, the policies proposed by the candidates would not only embrace this failed economic agenda, they would take it even further.

Where will the DCCC's Frontline candidates be when we have to fight this crap off? Look at their voting records-- then Send the Democrats a Message.