Just Why Exactly Did Bernie Sanders Endorse Paul Clements In Michigan-- When Steve Israel's DCCC Refuses To?

West Virginia Blue Dog Nick Rahall is never going to be endorsed by Blue America and we often note that he acts in concert with the GOP more than almost any other House Democrat-- there are a few who are worse. Example: only 9 Democrats refused to sign the discharge petition to force Boehner and Cantor to bring immigration reform to a vote. Every Republican and those 9 shameless Democrats refused to sign and, predictably, Rahall was one of them. But that hasn't stopped him from being targeted and attacked by Republicans and their predatory allies. In Rahall's new TV spot above, he attempts to defend himself against a withering barrage of Koch-financed advertising against him, despite the fact that he has been more supportive of the anti-family/anti-environment/anti-democracy Koch agenda than just about any other Democrat in Congress.

This morning, writing at Huff Po, Senator Bernie Sanders asked Who are the Koch Brothers and What do They Want? He doesn't go into their virulently anti-American, fascist-oriented family tree but he does point out that trying to undermine American democracy by buying the Republican Party isn't their first foray into electoral politics and not the first time they've tried imposing fascism on the United States.

In 1980, Libertarian vice-presidential candidate David Koch ran on a platform that called for abolishing the minimum wage. Thirty-four years ago, that was an extreme view of a fringe party that had the support of 1 percent of the American people. Today, not only does virtually every Republican in Congress oppose raising the $7.25 an hour minimum wage, many of them, including Republican leaders like Mitch McConnell and John McCain, are on record for abolishing the concept of the federal minimum wage.

In 1980, the platform of David Koch's Libertarian Party favored "the abolition of Medicare and Medicaid programs." Thirty-four years ago, that was an extreme view of a fringe party that had the support of one percent of the American people. Today, the mainstream view of the Republican Party, as seen in the recently passed Ryan budget, is to end Medicare as we know it, cut Medicaid by more than $1.5 trillion over the next decade, and repeal the Affordable Care Act. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, "Under the Ryan plan, at least 40 million people-- 1 in 8 Americans-- would lose health insurance or fail to obtain insurance by 2024. Most of them would be people with low or moderate incomes."

In 1980, the platform of David Koch's Libertarian Party called for "the repeal of the fraudulent, virtually bankrupt, and increasingly oppressive Social Security system." Thirty-four years ago, that was an extreme view of a fringe party that had the support of 1 percent of the American people. Today, the mainstream view of the Republican Party is that "entitlement reform" is absolutely necessary. For some, this means major cuts in Social Security. For others who believe Social Security is unconstitutional or a Ponzi scheme this means the privatization of Social Security or abolishing this program completely for those who are under 60 years of age.

In 1980, David Koch's Libertarian Party platform stated "We oppose all personal and corporate income taxation, including capital gains taxes ... We support the eventual repeal of all taxation... As an interim measure, all criminal and civil sanctions against tax evasion should be terminated immediately." Thirty-four years ago, that was an extreme view of a fringe party that had the support of 1 percent of the American people. Today, 75 Republicans in the House have co-sponsored a bill that Paul Ryan has said "would eliminate taxes on wages, corporations, self-employment, capital gains, and gift and death taxes in favor of a personal-consumption tax."

Here is what every American should be deeply concerned about. The Koch brothers, through the expenditure of billions of dollars and the creation and support of dozens of extreme right organizations, have taken fringe extremist ideas and made them mainstream within the Republican Party. And now with Citizens United (which is allowing them to pour unlimited sums of money into the political process) their power is greater than ever.

And let's be very clear. Their goal is not only to defund Obamacare, cut Social Security, oppose an increase in the minimum wage or cut federal funding for education. Their world view and eventual goal is much greater than all of that. They want to repeal every major piece of legislation that has been signed into law over the past 80 years that has protected the middle class, the elderly, the children, the sick and the most vulnerable in this country. Every piece of legislation!

The truth is that the agenda of the Koch brothers is to move this country from a democratic society with a strong middle class to an oligarchic form of society in which the economic and political life of the nation are controlled by a handful of billionaire families.

Our great nation must not be hijacked by right-wing billionaires like the Koch brothers.


For the sake of our children and our grandchildren, we must fight back.

One incumbent carefully cultivated and supported by the Koch brothers and their affiliated groups is House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman, Fred Upton. In return, he has allowed the Koch agenda too become the Energy and Commerce Committee agenda-- with no variation… none… ever. His opponent this cycle, in a very winnable southwest Michigan district (R+1) is Paul Clements. As we've mentioned before, DCCC chair is as dedicated to protecting Upton as DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz is to protecting Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. In March the Sierra Club endorsed Clements and yesterday, so did independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Blue America endorsed Paul last year, in part because of his determination to stick up for working families, for equality and for sustainable, healthy environmental policies-- i.e., the polar opposite of the Koch agenda. And, unlike Nick Rahall, when Paul gets bombarded with negative ads paid for by the billionaire Kochs, he will have earned them!

This afternoon, he told us that "The Koch brothers illustrate clearly how unregulated big money has corrupted our politics and undermined our democracy. Billionaires spending fractions of their net worth to tip the scale in our democratic process goes directly against the inclusive democracy that generations have worked to create. We already have billionaires paying lower tax rates than their secretaries. If we want government of the people, by the people and for the people we need to keep standing up to the big money that is corrupting our politics and push bold solutions for working families-- as I promise to do if elected to Congress."

If you'd like to help Paul Clements replace Fred Upton in Michigan, and thwart the toxic Koch agenda, please consider a contribution to his grassroots campaign here at the Blue America ActBlue page. There are no contributions that are too small when we're fighting for our country.