Lord Boustany Faces Off Against A Louisiana Teabagger

In the contest next month for Louisiana's third congressional district, Democrat Ron Richard isn't really a factor. The race pits two Republican incumbents, Jeff Landry, a teabagger who currently represents the old 3rd CD and His Lordship Charles Boustany, currently the representative of the 7th CD (which will cease to exist with this election). Until 2010-- and the Great Blue Dog Apocalypse-- the 3rd was a conservative Democratic bastion in the southernmost part of the state. (In 2008. the GOP didn't even bother to field a candidate against Blue Dog Charlie Melancon but he made a quixotic run for Senate in 2010 and had his head handed to him by sex freak and whoremonger David Vitter.) Landry beat the Democratic aspirant 63.8- 36.2%. The new 3rd moves significantly west into what is now Boustany's fiefdom. The heart of the district used to be Houma and Thibodaux and Morgan City was the western part. Now The district starts at Morgan City-- Houma and Thibodaux are part of the 6th-- and the district goes up to Lafayette and Lake Charles and all the way to the Texas border. It looks a lot more like Lord Boustany country than Landry territory.

Charles William Boustany, Jr., age 56, is a pompous little shit from Lafayette who's been in the House since 2005, when he became the first Republican to ever win the seat. He's best known for spending $18,250 to buy a title of British nobility, which is why everyone calls him Lord Boustany (even though that was a fraud and he never got the $18,250 knighthood) but he's also known as the doctor with the most medical malpractice suits against him in the history of Congress. Boustany is a cloddish laughing stock but his opponent, Landry is no rocket scientist either and he was one of the first idiots to sign up for membership in Michele Bachmann's Tea Party Caucus. He's also a member of Congress' most prominent internal Hate Group, the very extremist Republican Study Committee. Boehner and the rest of the GOP House Establishment would like to see Boustany beat him. Boustany is considered less of an embarrassment. Jim DeMint, of course, is backing Landry and last night I noticed something that gave me some cheer:

There are around 80 members of the Progressive Caucus, most of whom-- though not all (some are leadership shills-- will oppose the Grand Bargain Obama and Boehner are cooking up for the Lame Duck Session. That's certainly not enough to stop it. So people are counting on teabaggers and far right extremists to help derail it. Most likely the real action will be in the Senate. (Imagine Bernie Sanders and DeMint filibustering the monstrosity together!) What DeMint was pointing us to in his Landry tweet was a story in the Times-Picayune about Landry and His Lordship fighting over the Grand Bargain. His Lordship is, of course, for it.

Two Louisiana Republican congressmen fighting each other for re-election disagree on whether Congress should return after the November election to deal with expiring tax breaks, farm aid and looming budget cuts. Rep. Jeff Landry, of New Iberia, said the decisions are too large to make in a rushed, "lame duck" session and should be rolled into the new year when a new Congress takes office. "Why would we want to try to bundle these major policy decisions, that basically we've been having a debate about for decades, into a lame duck session with people that aren't going to be accountable to the people because they won't be returning?" Landry said.

But Rep. Charles Boustany, of Lafayette, said if Congress doesn't address some issues before year's end, the nation's economy could spiral into deep recession, echoing a concern repeated by Republican and Democratic lawmakers across the country.

"To say you can punt this into the next year, when every economist is giving us dire predictions of $400 million in taxes hitting this economy and throwing us into recession, is irresponsible," Boustany said.

The issue served as one flashpoint Tuesday evening at a candidate forum in Crowley, with Boustany and Landry sharply at odds over the congressional session and its implications on the U.S. economy.

Lawmakers are expected to return to Washington on Nov. 13 for a list of items considered must-do by many, including a deal to avert what is called the "fiscal cliff": the combination of expiring George W. Bush-era tax cuts and $110 billion in automatic spending cuts that begin Jan. 2.

...Landry, a freshman lawmaker and tea party favorite, used the disagreement with Boustany to continue framing his opponent as a Washington Republican insider. He described lame duck sessions as "a special interest buffet" that cram too many issues into a handful of bills and then involve scare tactics to get support from members of Congress.

"They force people to compromise their principles," Landry said in an interview Wednesday. "This is the Washington establishment trying to convince the American people that they have to swallow bad medicine."

Boustany, who is seeking a fifth term, used the disagreement to continue framing his opponent as a reckless obstructionist. He said members of Congress are responsible for working on outstanding issues through the end of the year, even if they aren't elected to new terms.

"We have an obligation to serve out that term and to do everything we possibly can for America," Boustany said after Tuesday night's forum. "To do otherwise, I believe is a violation of the oath of office."

Landry dismissed the economic concerns cited by Boustany.

Recall up above how the Times-Picayune writer effortlessly slipped in the phrase "considered must-do by many?" Who, exactly, are the "many" being referred to? Month after month Digby has been exposing the plutocrats behind the conservative consensus that rules the roost Inside the Beltway.

Don't you just love the fact that a 25 million dollar campaign financed by millionaire CEOs is telling average people to go to Townhalls and hold up signs? I guess they just don't have any access to power to make their case...

No, they're brainwashing the citizens, trying to persuade them to sell-out their on interests on behalf of these greedhead plutocrats. But you knew that.

Back in July I started writing about this latest scheme. Before it was called "Fix the Debt" it was called something else: The Moment of Truth Project (and before that something else again.) Bowles and Simpson and their allies have been working this relentlessly

By the way, the teabagger has raised $1,353,691 (as of his last FEC filing, July 28). Lord Boustany was up to $2,838,057 by September 30. Lord has $1,268,158 cash on hand and the teabag-boy has $952,067. Although far right groups like Citizens United are trying to save Landry, Cantor and Boehner have directed corporate PACs to spend big on his Lordship... and they have. Aside from direct contributions (below), FreedomWorks has spent $291,967 bolstering Landry. The American Hospital Association PAC did an independent expenditure for Boustany to the tune of $192,755. They want that Grand Bargain bad.