Blue Dogs Urge Ryan To Ignore Pelosi-- Negotiate With Them Instead

Jim Costa (Blue Dog-CA), Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX) and Dan Lipinski (Blue Dog-IL) are three of the most right-wing Democrats in Congress. They are the co-chairs of the 18-member Blue Dog Coalition the House and each has a lifetime "F" rating from Progressive Punch. On crucial roll calls in the current session Lipinski-- who just voted with the Republicans this week to ban Choice at 20 weeks-- has voted with progressives 51.79% of the time. Cuellar is far worse, having voted with progressives just 44.64% of the time. And then there's Costa-- 37.25% with progressives. Are they in red districts where they have to vote like a Republican to be reelected? Not at all. Hillary beat Trump in all 3 of their districts very blue districts. These are the PVIs and the Hillary wins over Trump:

• Lipinski- D+6 (55.2% to 39.9%)
• Cuellar- D+9 (58.3% to 38.5%)
• Costa- D+9 (58.0% to 36.4%)

If the three lost primary battles to actual Democrats there would be no chance the Republicans would win their seats. But only Lipinski has a primary challenger. (You can contribute to Marie Newman's campaign here.) Yesterday the 3 of them penned an OpEd for USA Today urging Ryan and Trump to bypass Pelosi and normal House Democrats and work with the Blue Dogs on a tax plan. The Blue Dogs, a caucus almost entirely funded by corporate interests, are as eager as ever to deliver on the wish-list of the special interests that finance the careers of the corrupt, GOP-lite members.

"Since its founding in 1995," wrote the 3 fake Democrats, "the Blue Dog Coalition has served as a bridge from Democrats to Republicans on important legislation. In a time when the American people worry about extreme partisanship and whether Congress can get things done on their behalf, the Blue Dogs stand ready to help move our country forward... We call on Congressional Republicans to stop catering to the extremes of their party and to give the Blue Dog Coalition a real seat at the negotiating table on tax reform. The American people want to see Democrats and Republicans stop the partisan bickering and do our job-- to govern."

The Blue Dogs are espousing a corporat-friendly approach that most Republicans recognize as the same thing they stand for themselves. The 3 gave examples that could have just as easily been written by corporate lobbyists-- and probably were, since Costa, Cuellar and Lipinksi are all morons who together couldn't write a junior high school essay on governance. A give-away about where they stand: "In order to maintain our ability to compete globally, American companies need a more competitive corporate tax rate and structure." What Republican doesn't back that? None that I know of.

The real tragedy is that the DCCC is now openly and publicly admitting that they are working with the Blue Dog caucus to recruit even more right-wing fake Democrats from the Republican wing of the party to run for Congress disguised as actual Democrats. These are the 8 who the Blue Dogs are pushing so far this cycle, 5 of whom are running in districts Bernie won (bolded):

• Gretchen Driskell (MI-07)
• Brad Ashford (NE-02)
• Jay Hulings (TX-23)
• Anthony Brindisi (NY-22)
• Roger Huffstetler (VA-05)
• Brendan Kelly (IL-12)
• Dan McCready (NC-09)
• Paul Davis (KS-02)

Very much related, last night, Raul Grijalva introduced a substitute budget by the Congressional Progressive Caucus-- the People's Budget. It was defeated 314-108. Every Republican voted against it-- and so did 79 from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, Blue Dogs and New Dems and the mostly crap Dems who vote with them. And then Bobby Scott introduced a substitute budget on behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus and it was defeated 292-130. Every Republican voted against it-- and so did 57 from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party.

Looking at the names of the Democratic members who crossed the aisle to vote with Republicans against the progressive budgets should give you an idea about who's in the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party-- and who's not. 108 Democrats voted for the progressive budget and these are all 79-- organized by state-- who voted against it:

• Terri Sewell (New Dem-AL)
• Tom O'Halleran (Blue Dog-AZ)
• Kyrsten Sinema (Blue Dog-AZ)
• Pete Aguilar (New Dem-CA)
• Ami Bera (New Dem-CA)
• Julia Brownley (CA)
• Salud Carbajal (New Dem-CA)
• Lou Correa (Blue Dog-CA)
• Jim Costa (Blue Dog-CA)
• Susan Davis (New Dem-CA)
• Anna Eshoo (CA)
• John Garamendi (CA)
• Doris Matsui (CA)
• Jerry McNerney (CA)
• Raul Ruiz (CA)
• Adam Schiff (New Dem-CA)
• Jackie Speier (CA)
• Eric Swalwell (CA)
• Mike Thompson (Blue Dog-CA)
• Norma Torres (New Dem-CA)
• Scott Peters (New Dem-CA)
• Diana DeGette (CO)
• Ed Perlmutter (New Dem-CO)
• Jared Polis (New Dem-CO)
• Joe Courtney (New Dem-CT)
• Rosa DeLauro (CT)
• Elizabeth Esty (New Dem-CT)
• Jim Himes (New Dem-CT)
• John Larson (CT)
• Charlie Crist (Blue Dog-FL)
• Ted Deutch (FL)
• Al Lawson (FL)
• Stephanie Murphy (Blue Dog-FL)
• Sanford Bishop (Blue Dog-GA)
• Colleen Hanabusa (New Dem-HI)
• Cheri Bustos (Blue Dog-IL)
• Jim Foster (New Dem-IL)
• Raja Krishnamoorthi (New Dem-IL)
• Dan Lipinski (Blue Dog-IL)
• Mike Quigley (New Dem-IL)
• Brad Schneider (Blue Dog-IL)
• Pete Visclosky (IN)
• Dave Loebsack (IA)
• John Delaney (New Dem-MD)
• Steny Hoyer (K Street-MD)
• Dutch Ruppersberger (MD)
• Bill Keating (New Dem-MA)
• Seth Moulton (New Dem-MA)
• Richard Neal (MA)
• Niki Tsongas (MA)
• Sandy Levin (MI)
• Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)
• Tim Walz (MN)
• Ann Kuster (New Dem-NH)
• Carol Shea-Porter (NH)
• Josh Gottheimer (Blue Dog-NJ)
• Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM)
• Nita Lowey (NY)
• Sean Patrick Maloney (New Dem-NY)
• Kathleen Rice (New Dem-NY)
• Tom Suozzi (NY)
• Suzanne Bonamici (OR)
• Kurt Schrader (Blue Dog-OR)
• Matt Cartwright (PA)
• Jim Langevin (RI)
• David Cicilline (RI)
• Jim Cooper (Blue Dog-TN)
• Joaquin Castro (New Dem-TX)
• Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX)
• Vicente Gonzalez (Blue Dog-TX)
• Gene Green (TX)
• Beto O'Rourke (New Dem-TX)
• Marc Veasey (TX)
• Gerry Connolly (New Dem-VA)
• Suzan DelBene (New Dem- WA)
• Denny Heck (New Dem-WA)
• Derick Kilmer (New Dem-WA)
• Rick Larsen (New Dem-WA)
• Ron Kind (New Dem-WI)

On Tuesday Alec Baldwin interviewed Bernie on WNYC about saving the Democratic Party from itself. "Here’s what the facts are," said Bernie. "The Democratic Party, in general, is in trouble and has been in trouble for a long time. In the last nine years or so, Democrats have lost not just the White House, the Senate, and the House. There are 25 states in America where the Democratic Party is in some cases non-existent. I visited those states. They are extremely weak, and these are some of the poorer states... I think that the problem is, over the years, money [from corporate and very wealthy donors] has had a very significant influence on the Democratic Party. If you look back to the years of FDR, even Harry Truman, and you go to a person on the street and say, 'Which is the party of the working class in America?' Everybody knew it.

During the interview, Baldwin quipped that voters in 2016 rejected a “flabby, tired, unimaginative, out of touch” Democratic Party. Sanders retorted, “I’ll get in trouble if I say that. You said it, right?”

Sanders explained that the Democratic Party has shifted its focus to parts of the country where wealthy donors are concentrated. In doing so, Democrats have written off large regions of the United States, effectively ceding them to Republicans. “What has happened I think is the Democrats became a party of the upper middle-class on the West Coast in the East Coast, here in New York City, and they forgot. They forgot that while the economy under Obama did improve, surely from where he took over after the Wall Street debacle, the truth was and is that millions and millions of people are struggling to put food on the table.”

Sanders noted that economic despair is worsening for younger generations who are on a trajectory toward a lower standard of living than their parents. “That is the reality the Democrats kind of forgot about.” He added, “This is not complicated stuff. You have to address the people who are hurting right now. There is incredible pain in this country right now. Incredible pain.”

Apparently 108 Democrats agree-- and 79 don't. Today the House will vote to approve the official Paul Ryan GOP budget that includes a $473 billion cut to Medicare and $1 TRILLION in Medicaid cuts.


UPDATE: ConservaDems Had Reasons To Vote For The People's Budget

Several of the sleaziest conservative Democrats, the ones in fear of primary challenges or even potential primary challenges, tended to vote for the People's Budget. Most laughable: Wasserman Schultz (New Dem-FL), Darren Soto (New Dem-FL), Filemon Vela (Blue Dog-TX), Little Brother Norcross (Criminal-NJ), Juan Vargas (New Dem-CA), David Scott (Blue Dog-GA), Val Demings (New Dem-FL), even Ben Ray Luján (NM)! And look who's trying to pretend she's a progressive: Tulsi Gabbard, who has voted against every previous Progressive Budget. Maybe she's changing? Anyone want to buy a bridge?