Can Pelosi and Hoyer Kill The Wave?

The most recent state legislative election was in a state House district southeast of Pittsburgh, in a blueish district where the longtime Representative Marc Gergely (D) was convicted for being part of an illegal gambling ring and forced to resign. Tuesday, voters were not enthusiastic about going to the polls and just 11% of registered voted bothered. But Republicans were more dispirited and unenthusiastic than Democrats. The results-- reflective of a building wave cycle-- were stunning. House District 35-- McKeesport and much of the Monongahela Valley, had gone for Hillary in 2016, convincingly but not overwhelmingly. She won the district 58-39%. More to the point, the state House incumbent, Gergely beat Fawn Montgomery, his Republican challenger on the same day 62.5% to 37.5%, Tuesday, Fawn gave it another try in the open seat and faced Austin Davis, an African-American first-time candidate, The wave is lapping the district strong enough already to give him a massive 74-26% victory.

Republicans didn't show up to vote. Democrats should be worrying about Democrats also not showing up to vote. Like I said, the turnout, in the same week, Schumer offered to fully fund building Truump's wall and then he and Pelosi gave the Republicans enough Democrats in both Houses of Congress to pass the Republican agenda to throw DREAMers under-- or onto-- the bus. In the House 45 Democrats, primarily Blue Dogs and New Dems from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party-- all the regular suspects from Ami Bera (New Dem-CA), Sanford Bishop (Blue Dog-GA) and Cheri Bustos (Blue Dog-IL) to Josh Gottheimer (Blue Dog-NJ), Dan Lipinski (Blue Dog-IL), Stephanie Murphy (Blue Dog-FL), Kathleen Rice (New Dem-NY) and Kyrsten Sinema (Blue Dog_AZ) were delighted to do it. And in the Senate the aisle crossers were Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Jones (D-AL), Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Claire McCaskill (D-Maddow).

This turns off Democrats base voters. The DC Democratic establishment thinks it excites Republicans and right-of-center independents. It does. But will it make them vote for Democrats. Probably not-- at least not in great numbers. And even if they do and the wave sweeps Republicans out of office like it did in 2006 when Rahm Emanuel recruited dozens of conservatives (again, Blue Dogs, New Dems, wealthy self-funders and "ex"-Republicans) what invariably happens is that sooner or later Democratic base voters realize they've been duped and then stay away from the polls-- generally in the next midterm-- and those fraudsters are defeated, which is exactly what happened in 2010 when all Rahm's recruits were defeated after 3+ years of voting with the GOP on crucial issues.

A few days ago we talked about how Steny Hoyer sneaks around the country's backrooms trying to rig elections for corrupt conservatives who will "play ball" with K Street lobbyists the way he does. It turns off Democrats and independent voters. And on Wednesday, Mitch Perry reported for FloridaPolitics.com that today Pelosi is teaming up with the most despised villain in the Democratic Party, Debbie Wasserman Schultz against progressive reformer Tim Canova. Pelosi and Wasserman Schultz will be speaking at Florida Atlantic University campus in Boca Raton (fittingly, Mouth of the Rat). This will be Pelosi’s first visit to Florida since last May, when she also appeared with Wasserman-Schultz. Wasserman Schultz was caught rigging Democratic primaries for Hillary and was forced to resign-- in disgrace-- as chair of the DNC. By publicly supporting her, Pelosi fills many Democrats with disgust and again defines the Democratic Party-- at best-- as the lesser-of-two-evils and the anti-change party.

Fight back by supporting and helping elect the kinds of progressive candidates who Hoyer and Pelosi keep DCCC resources from. That ActBlue congressional thermometer just above is how you can do it. I asked Tim Canova what he thought about Pelosi coming into South Florida and getting together with Wasserman Schultz. His response:

Nancy Pelosi’s joint appearance with Debbie Wasserman Schultz shows much of what’s wrong with the Democratic Party. These two political insiders are tied together by moneyed interests, and certainly not united by integrity or progressive principles. This is the leadership team that has brought such abject failure to Democrats, losing a thousand legislative seats across the country since becoming party leaders. Democrats are now in their weakest position in the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, governorships, and state legislatures since 1920. They've brought us back 98 years! For the Democratic establishment, it’s been Make America Fail Again #MAFiA

Yet, the party leadership is still rewarded for all its monumental failures. They rig the system at every level, from corporate campaign contributions to a lapdog corporate media, from mass purging of voter roles and voter suppression, to safe gerrymandered districts and other rigged electoral processes. They count on the lack of integrity in our elections. After my 2016 race against Wasserman Schultz, I was forced to sue in an attempt to inspect the ballots. While the lawsuit was pending, local election officials illegally destroyed the ballots, violating federal and state law, destroying evidence in defiance of the court’s authority, and engaging in perjury and other serious offenses. We are pushing for election justice and election integrity to make sure they don’t rig the next election.

Wasserman Schultz and Pelosi embody the failed big business as usual politics that have left us with Republican majorities across the country and Donald Trump as president. They are swimming in corporate cash and pushing a predatory corporate agenda that’s dictated by Wall Street banks and the fossil fuel industry. They both stand in the way of Medicare for All, they support failed drug policies and mass incarceration, and they ignore the needs of working folks and the poor. But their days are numbered. People are fed up with the corrupt status quo. Here in South Florida, we are growing our grassroots movement to finish the job we started in our 2016 campaign against Wasserman Schultz. And Stephen Jaffee is a true progressive alternative to Nancy Pelosi.