What Happened To The Class Of Rahm? Will The Class of Israel Follow Them Down The Toilet?

The Democrat voting most consistently with Boehner & Cantor-- Ann, again!

Rahm Emanuel took over the DCCC in 2006 and ran it that year and in 2008, the two cycles when voters were repulsed by right-wing extremism and overreach compliments of George W. Bush, Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff and their cronies. Emanuel and his sidekick Steny Hoyer went out and recruited a pack of conservative corporate whores and drove as many progressives out of races as they could. But they picked up 31 seats in 2006 and a net of 21 more in 2008. So where are they now? We'll start with the 2006 batch:

• Harry Mitchell (Blue Dog-AZ)- defeated in 2010 in the Great Blue Dog Apocalypse
• Gabby Giffords (Blue Dog-AZ)
• Jerry McNerney (CA)- ran as a progressive and beat the DCCC candidate, Steve Filson, then beat Dick Pombo in the general and quickly sold out to the Establishment and slipped into ConservaDem-ness
• Ed Perlmutter (New Dem-CO)
• Joe Courtney (New Dem-CT)
• Chris Murphy (CT)- a progressive, he handily won a U.S. Senate seat in 2012
• Tim Mahoney (Blue Dog-FL)- defeated in 2010 in the Great Blue Dog Apocalypse after a sex scandal and an atrocious voting record
• Ron Klein (FL)- defeated by Allen West in 2010 in the Great Blue Dog Apocalypse
• Joe Donnelly (Blue Dog-IN)- threw a Hail Mary pass in 2012, lucked out to run against teabagger Richard Mourdock and won a Senate seat
• Brad Ellsworth (Blue Dog-IN)- also threw a Hail Mary pass but lost by a landslide in 2010
• Baron Hill (Blue Dog-IN)- defeated in 2010 in the Great Blue Dog Apocalypse
• Bruce Braley (IA)- keeps winning reelection as a populist
• David Loebsack (IA)- keeps winning reelection as a progressive
• Nancy Boyda (KS)- lost in 2008
• John Yarmuth (KY)- keeps winning reelection as a progressive
• Tim Walz (MN)- keeps winning as a moderate
• Carol Shea-Porter (NH)- a progressive, she was mistakenly defeated in the 2010 Great Blue Dog Apocalypse and then won her seat back from an insane teabagger in 2012
• Paul Hodes (NH)- a progressive, he was defeated when he ran for the Senate in 2010
• John Hall (NY)- a progressive, he was mistakenly defeated in the 2010 Great Blue Dog Apocalypse
• Kirsten Gillibrand (Blue Dog-NY)- switched from progressive to Blue Dog and back to progressive again and won a Senate seat in 2008
• Mike Arcuri (Blue Dog-NY)- defeated in the 2010 Great Blue Dog Apocalypse
• Heath Shuler (Blue Dog-NC)- retired after the 2012 gerrymander scared him off
• Charlie Wilson (Blue Dog-OH)- defeated in the 2010 Great Blue Dog Apocalypse and again in 2012
• Zack Space (Blue Dog-OH)- defeated in the 2010 Great Blue Dog Apocalypse
• Jason Altmire (Blue Dog-PA)- defeated in a 2012 primary
• Joe Sestak (PA)- defeated in a 2010 Senate race
• Patrick Murphy (Blue Dog-PA)- defeated in the 2010 Great Blue Dog Apocalypse
• Chris Carney (Blue Dog-PA)- defeated in the 2010 Great Blue Dog Apocalypse
• Nick Lampson (Blue Dog-TX)- defeated in 2008 and again, as a challenger, in 2012
• Peter Welch (VT)- keeps winning as a progressive
• Steve Kagen (WI)- mistakenly defeated in the 2010 Great Blue Dog Apocalypse

And the 2008 winners:

• Bobby Bright (Blue Dog-AL)- defeated in the 2010 Great Blue Dog Apocalypse
• Parker Griffith (Blue Dog-AL)- switched to GOP and lost reelection in 2010 anyway
• Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ)- voted like a Republican and was beaten in the 2010 Great Blue Dog Apocalypse; reelected in 2012 and is voting like a Republican again
• Betsy Markey (Blue Dog-CO)- defeated in the 2010 Great Blue Dog Apocalypse
• Jim Himes (New Dem-CT)- reelected
• Alan Grayson (FL)- mistakenly defeated in 2010 Great Blue Dog Apocalypse and was reelected in a landslide in 2012
• Suzanne Kosmas (Blue Dog-FL)- defeated in 2010 Great Blue Dog Apocalypse
• Walt Minnick (Blue Dog-ID)- defeated in 2010 Great Blue Dog Apocalypse
• Debbie Halvorson (IL)- ConservaDem defeated in 2010 Great Blue Dog Apocalypse and again in a primary in 2013 running as the pro-NRA conservative
• Don Cazayoux (Blue Dog-LA)- defeated after 6 months in office
• Frank Kratovil (Blue Dog-MD)- defeated in 2010 Great Blue Dog Apocalypse
• Mark Schauer (MI)- mistakenly defeated in 2010 Great Blue Dog Apocalypse
• Gary Peters (New Dem-MI)- reelected
• Dina Titus (NV)- defeated in 2010 Great Blue Dog Apocalypse
• John Adler (Blue Dog-NJ)- defeated in 2010 Great Blue Dog Apocalypse
• Martin Heinrich (NM)- elected to the Senate in 2012
• Henry Teague (Blue Dog-NM)- defeated in 2010 Great Blue Dog Apocalypse
• Ben Ray Lujan (NM)- reelected as a progressive
• Michael McMahon (Blue Dog-NY)- defeated in 2010 Great Blue Dog Apocalypse
• Dan Maffei (New Dem-NY)- defeated in 2010 Great Blue Dog Apocalypse
• Eric Massa (NY)- resigned
• Larry Kissell (Blue Dog-NC)- ran as a progressive, turned Blue Dog, defeated in 2012
• Steve Driehaus (OH)- defeated in 2010 Great Blue Dog Apocalypse
• Mary Jo Kilroy (OH)- mistakenly defeated in 2010 Great Blue Dog Apocalypse
• John Boccieri (Blue Dog-OH)- defeated in 2010 Great Blue Dog Apocalypse
• Kathy Dahlkemper (Blue Dog-PA)- defeated in 2010 Great Blue Dog Apocalypse
• Glenn Nye (Blue Dog-VA)- defeated in 2010 Great Blue Dog Apocalypse
• Tom Perriello (VA)- defeated in 2010 Great Blue Dog Apocalypse

So of these 59-- some of whom were elected in special elections during Rahm's term (and taking Giffords out of the equation)-- 43 were defeated, an astronomically high number. And the overwhelming majority of them were defeated because they disappointed Democrats by voting like Republicans-- enough so to keep Democrats from bothering to go to the polls in 2010.

Why bring this up now? If Democrats in the House vote for an Obama-Boehner Grand Bargain that slashes benefits under Social Security and Medicare the Rahm defeats will look like the good old days in comparison to what is likely to happen to Democrats. Only 24% of Americans now identify as Republicans. 36% identify as Democrats. If Democrats in Congress betray the New Deal, not only will they be toast, they will utterly destroy the Democratic brand. When Blue Dog/New Dem corporate whore Kurt Schrader of Oregon voted against the conservative-leaning Senate budget last week he said it wasn't bipartisan enough and it didn't slash entitlements deeply enough. Slashing earned benefits for seniors is a Republican value not a Democratic value. Kurt Shrader has forfeited the right to call himself a Democrat.

Blue Dog Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.) said he voted against the Senate budget because it did not go far enough on entitlements.

"It is not enough entitlement reform in there going forward. It needs to be a more complete and balanced picture and it wasn't bipartisan in the end of the day," Schrader told The Hill.

...He said there are many centrist Republicans who would do something to increase revenue in exchange for real entitlement reform.

The current crop-- the Steve Israel crop-- may fare as poorly as the Rahm Emanuel crop did. Of the new freshmen, 16 are voting against progressive values half the time or over half the time. That's too much. Below are the freshmen in danger of turning off their constituents enough likely to wind up as one-termers. The number next to each name is the ProgressivePunch crucial vote score so far this session.

• Julia Brownley (CA)- 50
• Pete Gallego (Blue Dog-TX)- 50
• Joe Garcia (New Dem-FL)- 50
• Gloria Negrete McLeod (CA)- 47.06
• Ami Bera (New Dem-CA)- 44.44
• Bill Enyart (IL)- 44.44
• Patrick Murphy (New Dem-FL)- 44.44
• Brad Schneider (New Dem-IL)- 44.44
• Cheri Bustos (IL)- 38.89
• Bill Foster (New Dem-IL)- 38.89
• Ann Kuster (NH)- 38.89
• Sean Maloney (New Dem-NY)- 38.89
• Scott Peters (New Dem-CA)- 38.89
• Raul Ruiz (CA)- 38.89
• Kyrsten Sinema (New Dem-AZ)- 38.89
• Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ)- 23.53

The freshmen with the best voting records so far? Tony Cardenas (CA), Matt Cartwright (PA), Mark Pocan (WI), Joyce Beatty (OH), Jared Huffman (CA), Hakeem Jeffries (NY), Joe Kennedy (MA), and Rick Nolan (MN)-- all over 90% progressive on the crucial roll calls.