Bernie Made A Mistake In New Hampshire: Shawn O'Connor

That's O'Connor on the far right-- on Bernie stage about a year ago

You know we love Bernie around here. Blue America was, by far, the first PAC to endorse him and start raising money for him. In all, we raised a little over $50,000 in small contributions for his presidential campaign. But that doesn't mean we agree with ever single things he-- or anyone-- says or does. As we pointed out in February, one of the mistakes Bernie made during his campaign, a mistake that horrified us-- was to give credence to the campaign of a corrupt Wall Street faker, Shawn O'Connor. One day O'Connor was gaining no traction as the "Democratic" primary candidate against Carol Shea-Porter-- campaigning on cutting Social Security and Medicare-- and a few days later he opportunistically endorsed Bernie. (Carol had already endorsed Hillary although her record in Congress was completely in sync with Bernie's agenda.)

O'Connor thinks he's "progressive" because he supports gay equality-- like New Dems Sean Patrick Maloney and Kyrsten Sinema, both of whom are, like O'Connor, gay, and are good on that one issue.

Back in February O'Connor was trying to get attention from low-info voters by mouthing platitudes based on policies people like Bernie and Carol have been working on for years and years, while he was ripping people off on Wall Street and currying favor with the big donors who were helping him finance his slime-ball campaign. Last cycle the Sierra Club spent $2,696 supporting Carol and Gabby Giffords' Americans for Responsible Solutions-- which worked with Carol on gun safety issues-- spent $529,350 on her race. O'Connor is demanding she not accept this kind of money and using a sleight of hand to make it look like she accepts money from corrupt Wall Street PACs, which she never has and never would. He's trying to claim a moral equivalency of taking corporate PAC money with the support Carol gets from small donors giving through unions and organizations like Blue America, the League of Conservation Voters, the Civil Liberties Union, Council for a Livable World, the Human Rights Campaign, Planned Parenthood and the Partnership for Democracy & Education. This deceitfulness is standard fare for Republicans attacking Democrats-- so it comes naturally for O'Connor.

We were very disappointed that Bernie dragged him around New Hampshire and allowed him to speak on his stage, probably piqued that Shea-Porter had endorsed Hillary. Subsequently, after gaining no traction among Bernie supporters, O'Connor switched parties again, dropped out of the Democratic primary and announced he would run as an independent. And, by the way, O'Connor's dishonest TV ad says he hasn't taken a cent from special interests. His two biggest campaign contributions-- other than what he gave himself-- came from Purdue Pharma and private banksters Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.

"Since her first election," her campaign manager, Naomi Andrews told us, "Carol has always been a champion for campaign finance reform and for making sure that the voices of Granite Staters are heard in the election process. That is why, as a candidate, Carol has refused to accept corporate PAC and DC lobbyist money, and supports a constitutional amendment to overturn Citzens United. She put herself through college working in factories so she is proud to receive support from labor-- working men and women, because she knows how tough it is for them. She is disappointed that he is attacking unions for supporting her."

O'Connor lent his own campaign a million dollars in the hope of impressing the DCCC. When they weren't impressed and endorsed Carol Shea-Porter, O'Connor paid himself back and withdrew $500,000 from his campaign. This guy is a huckster and like a third-rate Trump. So far his campaign has spent $672,214, more than Carol has spent. Polls show it isn't working. The most recent NH-01 poll shows Carol with 44%, Guinta with 34% and O'Connor with 4%.

Recently, on WMUR's CloseUp, he said he would caucus in Congress with the majority party, the Republicans. Why would that surprise anyone. Except for being a pro-gay gay and being generally socially liberal, everything about O'Connor says "conservative Republican." Bernie should endorse Carol. Please consider contributing to her campaign at the thermometer below: