New Dems And Blue Dogs Threaten Democratic Chances To Win Back The House

House Ethics Committee scoops up 3 crooks: Joe Crowley (D-NY), John Campbell (R-CA), Tom Price (R-GA)

Inside-the-Beltway Queens Co. Democratic Party boss Joseph Crowley is widely regarded as one of the most corrupt Members of Congress. He was dragged before the House Ethics Committee on a wide range of fundraising charges (bribery). Crowley was soliciting bribes from K Street lobbyists in return for his help in watering down Democratic legislation in the House Ways and Means Committee, an old trick used by congressional sleazebags.

The Private Equity & Growth Capital Council, which was formed in 2007 by several of the country’s largest private equity firms, quietly formed a political action committee last spring and began making campaign contributions this past summer. New York City Congressman Joe Crowley was one of the top Democratic beneficiaries of donations from the private equity PAC.

So, Crowley was a natural fit to be chair of the most corruption-based caucus inside the Democratic Party, the New Dems, a corporately funded pack of pro-business, anti-consumer/anti-worker Democrats, less concerned with ideology and more concerned with wringing bribes out of Big Business.

Crowley runs the New Dems PAC along with Blue Dog Jason Altmire (defeated-PA). These days, as the Blue Dog caucus falls into extinction-- it's members being defeated at the polls everywhere or being forced to resign to avoid defeat-- or just jumping the fence and joining the GOP-- many of it's members have just joined the New Dems, a seemless transition. Aside from Altmire, other Blue Dogs who have infiltrated the New Dems are John Barrow (GA), Jim Cooper (TN), Mike McIntyre (NC), Loretta Sanchez (CA), Adam Schiff (CA), Kurt Schrader (OR) and David Scott (GA). Together, Crowley and Altmire-- soon to be working as a lobbyist on K Street-- have dug up a motley crew of Democratic candidates with questionable ethical standards who are perfect for the caucus. They're working to elect a couple dozen to Congress, most of whom are exactly the kind of pro-Big Business shills who understand what it takes to get in on the DC bribery gravy train. Here's the full list of the New Dem-backed candidates this year:

Shelley Adler, NJ
Ron Barber, AZ
Ami Bera, CA
Kathy Boockvar, PA
Joaquin Castro, TX
Andrei Cherny, AZ
John Delaney, MD
Suzan DelBene, WA
Val Demings, FL
Jessica Ehrlich, FL
Keith Fitzgerald, FL
Bill Foster, IL
Joyce Healy-Abrams, OH
Denny Heck, WA
Paul Hirschbiel, VA
Derek Kilmer, WA
Dan Maffei, NY
Patrick Murphy, FL
Sal Pace, CO
Scott Peters, CA
Brad Schneider, IL
Julian Schreibman, NY
Manan Trivedi, PA
Juan Vargas, CA
Christie Vilsack, IA
Jamie Wall, WI
Charlie Wilson, OH

Many of these New Dem candidates are facing-- or have already faced-- actual progressives in primaries. Scott Peters (CA), Suzan DelBene (WA), Juan Vargas (CA) and Andrei Cherny (AZ) are not the best candidates running in their districts, not by a long shot. They face, respectively, Lori Saldaña, Darcy Burner, John Brooks and Krysten Sinema/David Schapira.

Many of the New Dems use the same kind of campaign rhetoric that Romney is using-- they're "successful" (i.e., rich) businesspeople and know how to run government. But it isn't true for Romney and it isn't true for the New Dems. Take Suzan DelBene, for example. She's a wealthy one-percenter, sure. But at Microsoft she was a failure, tanked their Microsoft Mobile project and was encouraged to leave the company. The New Dems are encouraging their sleazy lobbyist friends to contribute to her campaign. Meanwhile, her opponent, Darcy Burner. has been endorsed by Arizona Democrat, Raúl Grijalva, one of the most dependable progressives and admired and trusted Members of Congress:

“As Co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, I've seen some pretty tough political battles in Washington. Radical Republicans line up against common sense and reality-based ideas like equal rights, the social safety net and tax fairness-- and we Progressives line up with America's working families. We need more Representatives in Congress who understand the struggles of everyday Americans and are willing to stand with them against Republican extremism.

The next Congress must protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, and rebuild our crumbling infrastructure. The next Congress must get America back on track-- and I need your help to ensure we send the right people to Washington.

There are several qualities that a good Representative should have-- vision, tenacity, and an unwavering commitment to do the right thing, even when it is unpopular. In the face of such weighty issues that have the potential to affect millions of Americans, we need more members of Congress with a true, progressive vision for the future, a representative who will put the interests of American families first.

We need people like Darcy Burner in Congress.

Darcy will bring vision, tenacity, understanding and energy to the United States Congress and fight in Washington on the behalf of the people from Washington. She understands the need to rebuild American infrastructure and has a forward-looking vision for bringing new green energy jobs to Washington State.

We need more representatives who will make Congress work for the 99%. We need Darcy Burner in Congress.

I can't find an endorsement of DelBene from Crowley. But what could he say? "I Need someone with the same kind of sleazy, corrupt instincts I have to help me persuade corporate lobbyists that we'll protect their interests if they pay us enough?"

And this is important because the Democrats have a steep climb-- but a realistic chance-- to win back the House. But will Democratic and left-leaning independents be motivated to vote if they're being offered dreck like what the Blue Dogs and New Dems are pushing? Didn't anyone learn anything useful from 2010 when half the Blue Dogs and a ton of useless New Dems were defeated at the polls, defeated not because people switched parties but because Democrats and left-leaning indies just didn't bother to vote. Thursday Aaron Blake suggested in his Washington Post column that the GOP House majority isn't safe. But he isn't taking the stupidity of Beltway hacks like Crowley and Israel with their agenda of pushing the Democratic House caucus further right (and looking for members with loose ethical standards).

Two Democratic polls out in recent weeks show Republican incumbents in the most competitive congressional districts are in a weaker position than their Democratic colleagues.

A Democracy Corps poll released last month showed Republican incumbents in 56 targeted districts with significantly weaker political brands than Democratic incumbents in 23 of their most vulnerable districts.

The GOP incumbents had an average approval rating of 41 percent and disapproval of 33 percent-- including a nearly even 37/36 split in the 28 most vulnerable Republican districts.

Democratic incumbents, meanwhile, had the approval of 50 percent of their constituents, versus 26 percent who disapproved.

Another Democratic poll of battleground House districts obtained by The Fix on Wednesday, from Democratic pollster Garin Hart Yang, backs up that data. In 58 districts targeted by either party, Democratic incumbents led in their districts by an average of 52 percent to 33 percent, while GOP incumbents led 45 percent to 39 percent for their seats.

Here are the charts the Democracy Corps uses to show the most vulnerable Republican seats.




The New Dems and the Blue Dogs are trying to sneak their candidates in but their candidates don't have messages that Democratic voters want to support. Despite the corrupt money the New Dems and Blue Dogs (and DCCC) will use on their behalf, these candidates will lose in November and subject the country to another term of John Boehner and Eric Cantor.