There Is "Bipartisanship" And Then There Is Bipartisanship-- West Virginia And California

Evan Jenkins was a very right-wing Democrat who followed his opportunistic instincts to switch parties recently and run against a right-wing Democrat who hasn't switched parties, Nick Rahall. Jenkins' TV spot above has a couple of lines I want to call special attention to:

"Nick Rahall-- a lying politician, just like Obama. A better choice: Evan Jenkins-- the backbone to defend our way of life from Obama's 'War On Coal.' Jenkins puts West Virginians first, not politics. Work with both parties, create jobs… That's Evan Jenkins."

"Work with both parties?" By calling Rahall and Obama liars, making up noonsense about a "war on coal?" Demonizing Democrats? Jenkns may mean he's willing to work with the Republican Party and the Tea Party when he says "both parties." But one thing is sure-- none of these corporate whores from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party are willing to represent the interests of ordinary working families-- not in the valleys of West Virginia and not in California's Silicon Valley. We'll get back to Ro Khanna and the Republican wing of the Democratic Party in Silicon Valley in a moment.

First, let's take a look at some real bipartisanship from one of Mike Honda's biggest California supporters, Nancy Pelosi. Last week, the Democratic House Leader responded to a letter from both Democratic and Republican governors, most of whom really are more interested in solving problems than in scoring political points. House Republicans and right-wing candidates like Jenkins may oppose renewing emergency unemployment insurance for millions of workers but governors understand that for their states to succeed, their people have to succeed. Republicans in the House are too immersed with political game-playing to even ever consider that. Pelosi's letter, in part, to Lincoln Chafee (D-RI) and Brian Sandoval (R-NV):

I have received your letter of April 11 expressing your support for the bipartisan measure to renew emergency unemployment insurance overwhelmingly passed out of the Senate last week.

…It is unconscionable that the House has not acted to renew emergency unemployment insurance. But as you know, House Republicans have blocked the House from considering this desperately needed legislation each and every time Democrats have moved to hold a vote.

Never before has Congress allowed emergency unemployment insurance to expire while long-term unemployment rates have remained so high. Failure to restore this lynchpin of economic security for the long-term unemployed is costing us 240,000 jobs this year alone. House Republicans' refusal to extend emergency unemployment insurance is callous, shortsighted and immoral.

House Democrats will continue to push for a vote to extend emergency unemployment insurance, and to advance the bipartisan Senate legislation in the House. Your bipartisan letter, together with those from other governors, and the countless letters from Americans reeling from the loss of their unemployment insurance, reminds us just how critical this work is.

Thanks you for your support in this effort, and I look forward to working with you to pass this vital legislation as soon as possible.

So… bipartisanship. 38 crackpot Republican obstructionists in the Senate, who would rather see America and Americans fail than see Obama succeed, voted NO, but both Nevada senators, Democrat Harry Reid and Republican Dean Heller voted for the bill. Sandoval must have been relieved. Of Nevada's 4 House Members, though, there is a split-- a party line split, the two Democrats, Dina Titus and Steven Horsford, want to pass the Senate bill, while the two Republicans, Mark Amodei and Joe Heck, are too scared to break with Boehner and support the efforts. In West Virginia, Rahall wants to vote for the Senate bill but, of course, Evan Jenkins would like to get into Congress and oppose it… "defending our way of life?"

Like I said earlier, Nancy Pelosi has been one of Mike Honda's most steadfast backers in his battle against Ro Khanna and the Republican wing of the Democratic Party trying to take his seat. Though Khanna has been a major conduit for Indo-American money into the Democratic Party and Pelosi knows him well, she helped persuade the entire California congressional delegation to back Honda. "Congressman Mike Honda's life," she said when endorsing him, "has been a tribute to the quintessential American ideals of equality and opportunity for all. From a childhood spent in an internment camp, Mike has risen to the heights of American leadership-- as one of the top Democrats on the powerful Appropriations Committee and a critical voice for fairness, the rights of LGBT couples and all families. Mike is a bold and effective leader who understands the needs of Silicon Valley and the 17th District, ensuring American competitiveness and fighting for American manufacturing, comprehensive immigration reform, STEM education and technological innovation. We need his continued leadership for our nation in the House of Representatives, and I am proud to endorse him."

Honda has been a champion for ordinary working families and Khanna has a long, clear and shameful record of deceit and cheating going back many years. Lately he's been howling about a "bipartisan" approach. But his bipartisanship is much like Evan Jenkins'. Jenkins has already switched to the GOP. Khanna's donors are Republicans and if voters in CA-17 were, he would have switched as well. Last week, his response to Mike Honda's vote against the toxic Ryan budget and for the more responsible, progressive alternative budget was a slimy OpEd in the San Jose Mercury News blaming "both sides," as though progressives like Honda standing up for working families equates with the sociopathic and obstructionist Republicans doing the bidding of their (and Khanna's) avaricious donors. Khanna calls for "compromise," meaning cutting Social Security-- he backs Chained CPI, for example, a method of cutting seniors' cost of living increases-- and cutting back on Medicare, although what he talks about in his OpEd are teaching computer coding and programming in schools, something Honda has long championed. Khanna, like Jenkins, is a joke. If he wins the June primary, though, the joke will be on us. You can help Mike Honda beat back this conservative challenge here at the Blue America incumbents page.