The Republican Wing Of The Democratic Party Rears Its Ugly Head In Hawaii-- Ed Case Trying Again

Earlier today we were talking about the bad Democrats who consistently vote against progressive ideas and progressive solutions and join the GOP to support the one percent against the rest of us. There are few Democrats in Congress today who were as renowned for that kind of behavior as Hawaii's former conservaDem congressman Ed Case. Since leaving Congress to run for every open seat that's come up in his state, Case has suffered rebuff after rebuff. But the cousin of AOL huckster Steve Case is never deterred-- and he's running again now. First, let's take a real quick look at what's wrong with Case and why it would be a tragedy for America if he were to win the Senate seat Mazie Hirono and he are battling for.

Let's start with his support for Republican and corporate initiatives like job-killing trade legislation and special interests legislation like abolishing the estate tax for the super-rich, making it easier for banksters to rip off consumers, screwing over working families on pensions and the never-ending Republican proposals to shift the tax burden to the middle class. He generally voted with the most reactionary Democrats when they joined the GOP to stifle reform and, if you like Chamber of Commerce pawns and Patriot Act-type Dems like Dan Boren (Blue Dog-OK) and Joe Donnelly (Blue Dog-IN), you'd be perfectly happy with Ed Case-- especially if xenophobia and war-mongering and making sure that victims of big corporations have no recourse to the courts are on your menu. Then there's his long-standing disregard for the rights of women when it came to Choice and his siding with right-wing extremists against women. Back in 2005 when Case was an astoundingly bad congressman, his Republican allies tried to defund Planned Parenthood by cutting Title X family planning out of the budget-- just as they've done this year. This year Mazie Hirono strenuously opposed that, of course. Back in 2005 an amendment by far right sociopath Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) targeted NPR, PBS, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Title X family planning all in one shot. Only one Democrat crossed the aisle to vote for the most extreme piece of legislation of that session... Ed Case. Not even a majority of Republicans were that extreme (in those days). 197 Democrats and 122 Republicans voted NO and it failed 102-320. But Case voted YES, something even right-wing extremists like Darrell Issa, Steve Pearce, Denny Rehberg, Devin Nunes, John Culberson, and Jerry Lewis, all of whom voted for essentially the same crap this year, were unwilling to do then. Even Tom DeLay and Henry Hyde found it too extreme and voted against it!

This week, the Honolulu Star Advertiser, the biggest newspaper in the state, reported that the sleazier than ever Case, losing badly is begging Republicans to vote for him in the Democratic primary.

He described his primary with U.S. Rep. Mazie Hirono as a “death match” against Hawaii’s Democratic political machine and predicted that his success, regardless of the result against former Gov. Linda Lingle, a Republican, in the November general election, would “drive a stake into the heart of that machine.”

Case’s comments came on the morning a new Hawaii Poll showed him trailing Hirono by double-digits. The poll found that both Hirono and Case had double-digit leads over Lingle. It also was the day of Case’s final debate with Hirono before the primary.

From Case [addressing a right-wing business group]:


Clearly, there are three candidates-- apologies to (Republican) John Carroll-- but there are three candidates that have possibility of winning the next United States Senate seat: Me, Hirono and Lingle.

And I would suspect strongly-- and I hope I don’t get myself out on a limb, but I’m going to say it anyway-- that for some of you I’m your first choice, that for a fair number of you I’m your second choice, but for none of you am I your third choice. And I would suspect strongly that Ms. Hirono is your third choice.

So the only race I’m in right now is the primary election, the Democratic primary election. Yes, some of you, maybe most of you, don’t agree with me 100 percent on several issues.

But I know very well that I can do a better job than Hirono would. I know darn well that I strike a better ground for you. I know darn well that she is the choice of the political culture of Hawaii today and I am not. And this is your opportunity to make a difference in the primary election.

So yes you can vote in the primary election. Apologies to the Republican primary candidates in the room. I hope none of you have contested primaries. But, you know, you should all vote in the Democratic primary …

I say that very bluntly and I say it for a darn good reason. You saw the papers this morning. One poll of many. I don’t agree with the poll, but the poll says that it’s either going to be me or Hirono as your next senator. Make your choice.

If you don’t want to make that choice now, make your choice in the primary election and decide later between me and Lingle.

It’s that blunt and that honest. Strike for a better political culture in the primary. Strike for the possibility of having some of the change in Washington.

You think Bob Kerrey (NE) or Joe Donnelly (IN) would make execrable senators? Case would be even worse.