Its So Rare That Local Media Exposes Democrats Who Enable Trump, That When They Do, They Should Be Celebrated-- Florida

But they don't look like bigots-- Stephanie Murphy and Val Demings

For the better part of the last decade, we've spent a lot of time exposing the Republican wing of the Democratic Party for what it is-- primarily reactionaries, corporate shills and self-serving corrupt careerists. This would basically include just about all the Blue Dogs and New Dems in Congress-- and then some. To over-compensate for once-- a million years ago before anyone still alive was born-- having been an activist and committed progressive, Pelosi allowed the rest of House Democratic leadership to turn into the exact opposite. And now we're stuck with absolute garbage members as likely next generation heads of the party, particularly greasy, corrupt Wall Street whore and former New Dem chairman Joe Crowley, who is in position to take over after the he Ancien Régime of Pelosi, Hoyer and Clyburn dodders off to wherever they're going. But the problem isn't just at the top, but-- thanks to the conservatives at the top controlling DCCC recruitment-- throughout the party.

Rarely do local papers cover this. Lo-info voters from coast to coast imagine when someone has a "D" next to their name, even raging conservatives who vote with the Republicans and enable Ryan's agenda-- like Josh Gottheimer (NJ), Kyrsten Sinema (AZ), Tom O'Halleran (AZ), Ami Bera (CA), Cheri Bustos (IL), Collin Peterson (MN). Sean Patrick Maloney (NY), Lou Correa (CA), Jim Costa (CA), Henry Cuellar (TX), and Jacky Rosen (NV)-- share their core progressive values. They don't.

After a couple dozen of the worst of the Republican wing of the Democratic Party voted with the actual Republicans on the xenophobic Kate's Law legislation Ryan had rammed through the House, we went over it here at DWT, even encouraging Dan Lipinksi's primary opponent, Marie Newman to use it in his campaign. (She was ahead of me and had already sent out a press release about Lipinski's vote with Ryan and the GOP against immigrants.)

But what I didn't expect was to find any coverage in local media anywhere and, as usual, media has lived up to its reputation, much happier covering Trump's rude tweets than reporting on how congressmembers actually vote. So wasn't I surprised-- pleasantly so-- when the Orlando Weekly called out two garbage members of the Florida Democratic delegation for voting with all the Florida Republicans for this toxic piece of the Trump-Ryan agenda. Their headline last Friday: Stephanie Murphy and Val Demings just voted for an incredibly terrible anti-immigration bill. Nice! How I'd love to see the Arizona Republic run a similar story exposing Sinema and O'Halleran or the Tampa Bay Times letting their readers know the despite claiming to have switched to the Democratic Party, Charlie Crist is and will always be nothing but a Republican. And isn't it time for The Tennessean--not to mention La Campana and the Nashville Pride-- to let Nashville Democrats-- who voted overwhelmingly for Obama and for Hillary-- know that Jim Cooper is a right-wing bigot and doesn't deserve to be elected as a Democrat?

"Yesterday," wrote Colin Wolf for the Orlando Weekly "Florida congresswomen Stephanie Murphy and Val Demings were among 24 Democrats who voted for an extremely controversial bill that only boosts Donald Trump's anti-immigration crackdown. On Thursday, June 29, HR 3004, also known as Kate's Law, passed the House with a margin of 257-167. The GOP-backed bill is named after Kathryn Steinle, who was murdered in 2015 by an undocumented immigrant in San Fransisco. 'The legislation before us today is one born of a preventable tragedy,' said Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, who co-sponsored the bill. 'Let this bill be her legacy. Let this bill result in Kate saving the lives of others.' It's a nice sentiment aimed at a pointless tragedy, but the only problem is there's absolutely zero evidence that undocumented immigrants commit more crimes. A study conducted by the University of California found that sanctuary cities are actually safer than non-sanctuary cities, and do not see a surge in crime."

Essentially, Kate's Law dramatically affects people who are attempting to flee unsafe conditions in their home countries, as well as those looking to reunite with their families.

But more importantly, Kate's Law bolsters penalties for undocumented immigrants who want to re-enter the United States even if they have no criminal history, which includes people who are seeking to apply for asylum and even those who have permission to re-enter the country.

The bill has been highly criticized by the ACLU and House Democrats, like Rep. Steny Hoyer, who said Kate's Law "appeals to the most right-wing, anti-immigrant base of the Republican party that supports exclusion and opposes one of the founding principles of our nation."

Rep. Lou Correa [an ultra-corrupt, right-wing fanatic on everything but immigration issues] also criticized the law, stating that the bill does not make the distinction between criminals and legal immigrants. "Do not brand millions of immigrants as criminals when their only crime is searching for the American dream," said Correa.

he ACLU has gone as far as stating that Kate's Law, as well as the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act, which also passed yesterday, are unconstitutional... Kate's Law also unnecessarily imposes harsh penalties for petty misdemeanors like loitering or driving a car without a license, which can now lead up to a possible 10-year prison sentence for immigrants.

But arguably the worst part of this bill is that it blocks immigrants’ ability to challenge prior removal orders, which is a clear violation of the constitutional right to due process, says the ACLU.

During Thursday's vote, 233 Republicans and 24 Democrats voted for Kate's Law, while 166 Democrats and 1 Republican  voted against it... Since the vote, Francesca Menes, policy director of Florida Immigrant Coalition has publicly called out the Democrats who voted in favor of this bill, including Demings and Murphy:

"Enforcement-only legislation has time and again proven itself a failure in tackling the complexities of the immigration debate in this country. The Florida Immigrant Coalition is disappointed in the members of the Florida Congressional delegation, including Representatives Charlie Crist, Stephanie Murphy and Val Demings who voted for H.R. 3004. We have entrusted these representatives to stand and protect our communities, yet yesterday, they voted to criminalize immigrants, separate our families and dismantle the public trust with local law enforcement.

At a time where Congress attempts to legitimize Trump’s hateful rhetoric which seeks to demonize and target immigrant families, we need leaders, who will focus on enacting comprehensive immigration reform. Mass detention and deportation programs not only undermine our basic human rights but have only exacerbated problems regarding immigration in this country while providing no long-term solutions.

The Senate now has an opportunity to stop legislation which erodes public safety and undermines our constitution. We call on Senators from both political parties to reject these draconian bills, and we send a notice to all those who voted in favor that we are watching intently and will hold them accountable."

Murphy is a representative of Florida's District 7, which covers all of Seminole County and much of northern Orange County, including downtown Orlando, Maitland, Winter Park and the University of Central Florida.

Val Demings is a representative for Florida's District 10, which covers parts of Orlando, Apopka, Eatonville, Ocoee, Winter Garden and Windermere.

Murphy, a rabid, virulent Blue Dog, was already rated an "F" by ProgressivePunch, with the third worst voting record of any Democratic freshman (26.09), just barely ahead of "ex"-Republican Tom O'Halleran (Blue Dog-AZ) and Josh Gottheimer (Blue Dog-NJ), each tied with a 25.00 score. Demings is a worthless New Dem-- who was relentless pushed by Pelosi, the DCCC and, of course, EMILY's List-- also with an "F" rating, voting like a Republican in a strong Democratic district. Hillary beat Trump soundly in both their districts-- 51.4% to 44.1% in Murphy's district and 61.8% to 34.9% in Demings' district. Neither has any political excuse for voting with the GOP. This is just who they are. When Ryan, McCarthy and Trump call one of their ghastly bills "bipartisan," they're usually talking about garbage Democrats like Stephanie Murphy and Val Demings.