Remember When Patrick Murphy Voted With His Republican Pals To Undermine Obamacare?

Patrick Murphy was a lifelong Republican who maxed out in contributions to Mitt Romney and then-Republican Charlie Crist but switched party registration four months before running for Congress as a "Democrat." Predictably-- very predictably-- since getting into Congress, he's amassed one of the most Republican voting records of any Democrat in the House.

Less predictably, the DSCC-- namely Wall Street whore Chuck Schumer-- has recruited him to run for the open Marco Rubio Senate seat, as a way of pacifying banksters who are angry at the DSCC because of efforts by Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and others to keep them from ripping off consumers. As we've discussed before, the Wall Street banksters have no better friend on the Democratic side of the House than Murphy, and they have helped finance a shabby political career that includes membership on the House Financial Services Committee, where he carries their water shamelessly.

Two years ago Murphy signed on as a co-sponsor of a Republican bill, the so-called Keep Your Health Plan Act, written by Michigan reactionary Fred Upton, the purpose of which was to undermine and wreck the Affordable Care Act. At the time there were over 100 Republican co-sponsors, but only two degenerate Democrats: anti-working family Blue Dogs John Barrow and Mike McIntyre, both subsequently driven from Congress. After Murphy signed on, another pitiful right-wing Blue Dog, Kyrsten Sinema, also signed on as a co-sponsor.

In the end there were 160 anti-healthcare Republicans and four right-wing Democrats: Murphy and his three Blue Dog buddies. Boehner and Cantor delighted in calling the bill to destroy Obamacare "bipartisan," pointing with glee to Murphy, Barrow, McIntyre and Sinema. What good does it do to vote for a Democrat if he or she votes with the Republicans against their own party all the time?

Although the bill never became law, it passed the Republican-controlled House 261-157, with 39 Blue Dogs, New Dems and other treacherous excuses for Democrats voting with the GOP. Many of those "Democrats" were rejected by Democratic voters a one year later, losing their seats-- like Ron Barber (AZ), Pete Gallego (TX), Dan Maffei (NY), John Barrow (GA), Bill Enyart (IL), Brad Schneider (IL) and Joe Garcia (FL). Others, like Murphy, are still in Congress, still voting with the Republicans-- such as Collin Peterson (MN), a Blue Dog who was rescued from oblivion in 2014 with a $3,611,284 cash infusion from the DCCC and another $332,439 from the Pelosi-controlled House Majority PAC. (Today Peterson voted, once again, to defund Planned Parenthood.)

Murphy is too scared to vote with the Republicans and his Blue Dog/New Dem colleagues these days because he's in the tough Senate primary race against Alan Grayson. Uncharacteristically, he's been trying to vote with the Democrats, so as not to freak out Florida primary voters. No one expects that to continue after the primary.

Perhaps you saw the Ashley Parker piece in the NYTimes yesterday, "Big Donors Seek Larger Roles in Presidential Campaigns." Parker reported that the Wall Street creeps who finance the SuperPACs for the candidates "expect their views to be heard quickly and their concerns taken seriously, sometimes creating headaches and potential awkwardness for the campaigns and super PACs, which must tend to the contributors and their seemingly endless suggestions and questions." We did a post on how Murphy tries-- really hard-- denying the million-plus dollars he's taken from the financial sector a week or two ago. (If you missed it, hit the link and give it a quick read.) Back to Parker:

On one hand, the campaigns and their affiliated groups rely on the financial support and appreciate the occasional insights that come from people who have been successful in other fields.

On the other hand, they find themselves devoting more and more time to stroking donors’ egos, weighing their ideas, and soothing supporters whose panicked phone calls can be prompted by anything from an alarming Twitter post to a small stumble on a morning show.

Murphy has also been leaning on Democratic politicians to whom his wealthy-- and crooked-- Republican parents have donated for endorsements. Among the sleazy Florida politicians who took money from the Murphy family and endorsed Patrick in the primary are the execrable GOP-lite loser Alex Sink, who took a nice fat $10,000 check from Murphy's father (a Trump associate); Ted Deutch, to whom Patrick's father gave $4,800 in 2011 and $5,400 this year and his mother the same, for a grand total of $20,400, i.e., 20,400 reasons for Deutch to endorse Patrick; Alcee Hastings, who took $16,800 from the senior Murphys and endorsed Patrick; and Frederica Wilson, who by coincidence got $10,800 from the Murphys this year-- $5,400 from Papa and $5,400 from Mama.

I'm not sure if there's a House Ethics Committee investigation of Murphy for this, but his parents also did illegal donor swaps with the wealthy parents of other conservative Democrats.

In June, Robert Strouse sent $5,200 to the campaign of U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-FL)... Four days later, Murphy’s father, Thomas P. Murphy Jr., sent an identical campaign contribution to Kevin Strouse.

Lance Callis and Bera’s father, Babulal Bera, each gave to the reelection campaign of Murphy, the Florida congressman. Murphy’s mother, Leslie, also sent $5,200 to Ami Bera.”

Murphy, whose grotesque corruption makes him unelectable in Florida, benefited to the tune of at least $22,900 from these swaps.

When Speaker-designate Kevin McCarthy stumbled into admitting publicly what everyone already knew-- that Trey Gowdy's idiotic Benghazi Committee was never meant to be anything more than a platform for beating up on Hillary Clinton-- several things happened. Republicans who don't want to appear to their constituents as hyper-partisan hacks (like Justin Amash, Jason Chaffetz, Tom Price, Lynn Westmoreland and Thomas Massie), tried repudiating their Leader and his claims. The other thing that happened is that Democrats demanded that the now thoroughly discredited Benghazi Committee be disbanded immediately. Barbara Boxer tweeted that "we always knew the Benghazi committee was about turning a tragedy into a political attack on HRC." 186 House Democrats knew that and voted no. But 7 ultra-conservative Democrats who always vote with the GOP on tough issues crossed the aisle to vote with the Republican bandits to authorize the ugly partisan witch hunt. Four of the 7 were basically soon kicked out of Congress by Democrats who refused to vote for them any longer. But there are 3 of these horrors left: Kyrsten Sinema (Blue Dog-AZ), Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN) and, of course, Patrick Murphy. Yes, the Patrick Murphy who Chuck Schumer insists be the next Democratic senator from Florida. No shame! You can support Alan Grayson's campaign for that Senate seat here.