The Four Freshmen

Establishment media, as we've been pointing out, at the direction of transpartisan DC establishment politicians, has been working overtime to tear Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez down. Her ideas and her energy are too scary for them and too compelling for activists. Fox has made her famous among the imbeciles who watch the channel. This week a national reporter called me to ask why the fuss. "She hasn't accomplished a thing yet," he said, "and the House Democrats will make sure she never does... [t]he knives are out for her."

Even before being sworn in, she's accomplished more than 75% of congressmen accomplish in a lifetime of serving. She and her posse are setting the agenda for Congress in a way no freshmen have ever done in contemporary history. She's the peoples' congresswoman and that scares the crap out of the establishment.

Let me just point to one simple metric-- twitter followers. The media has been desperately pushing pathetic New Dem and Blue Dog freshmen as the "authentic" voice of the new Democratic class. These are the nothings they want to push:

• Max Rose (Blue Dog-NY)- 12.5K
• Mike Sherrill (Blue Dog-NJ)- 25.4K
• Katie Hill (New Dem-CA)- 26.7K
• Colin Allred (New Dem-TX)- 18.1K
• Abigail Spanberger (Blue Dog-VA)- 31.7K
• Chrissy Houlahan (New Dem-PA)- 16.3K

And these are the twitter numbers for Ocasio and the freshman members who have been with her on the #GreenNewDeal and the forward, cutting edge agenda they are bringing to the foreground-- dismissed by ancient establishment moron Al Hunt as "bomb throwers":

• Alexandria Ocasio (D-NY)- 1.55 million
• Rashida Tlaib (D-MI)- 106K
• Ilhan Omar (D-MN)- 258K
• Ayanna Pressley (D-MA)- 116K

So that's 130,500 for the half dozen "moderates" from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, compared to over 2 million for the four freshmen the establishment and its media arm are trying to discredit and render ineffective.



On Monday Sahil Kapur noted that "messy battles between the party’s factions risk undercutting Democrats hopes of rallying to defeat Trump in the next election, potentially costing them the chance to define the political debate and highlight favorable issues."

One of the most right-wing Democrats, Blue Dog Josh Gottheimer-- who has an "F" grade from ProgressivePunch, votes against progressive legislation almost 60% of the time and is co-chair of the Wall Street-owned and directed Problem Solvers Caucus. Gottheimer has the 3rd worst voting record among Democrats in the new Congress, only fellow Blue Dogs Henry Cuellar (TX) and Collin Peterson (MN) voting worse. Gottheimer is a member of the House Financial Services Committee and took $1,838,510 in bribes from the industries the committee oversees, more than any other members in the new Congress other than Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy ($1,982,675). On the Hill, he is widely considered one of the 5 most corrupt members of Congress. Sahil forgot to mention any of that background before quoting him like this:

"Your swing votes on a lot of these issues are going to come from the middle," said New Jersey Democrat Josh Gottheimer, a co-chair of the Problem Solvers Caucus, a bipartisan group of centrists. "If you look at how we just captured the House it was through the middle, through seats like mine. And so the middle should have-- and will have-- a really influential voice in the legislation we pursue, and on how it’s crafted and shaped."

Two things Sahil also forgot to mention:

1- when Gottheimer says "the middle," he means the extreme right fringe of the Democratic Party

2- the DCCC heavily recruited and supported Blue Dogs and New Dems and undercut and sabotaged progressives at all stages of the election cycle.

One thing Sahil did bring up-- in a quote from progressive icon Pramila Jayapal: "Progressive voters were key to our victory, and our majority. I don’t think we can lose sight of that."

"Medicare-for-all," debt-free college education, bolstering collective bargaining rights for workers and restructuring the immigration system, Jayapal said. Next year won’t be like 2009, she insisted.

"Progressives have the balance of power with us. Our voice will be at the table on leadership, which was not necessarily the case back then. But we also have the country with us,” she said. "You will see us leveraging our power."

Some of the young, newly elected Democrats with passionate bases of support, such as New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Michigan’s Rashida Tlaib, have already made a splash with their outspokenness and willingness to clash with party leaders and establishment figures.

House progressives intend to work with outside activist groups like MoveOn and Indivisible to pressure reticent Democrats to support those types of progressive ideas and to craft messages to sway public opinion. While they’re still discussing how best to leverage their power, “we’ll use every tool in the toolbox,” Jayapal said, including attaching their priorities to must-pass spending bills to keep the government functioning.

“Sticking together as a voting bloc to help move a particular policy will be very important,” Jayapal said. It’s a tactic used successfully by the conservative House Freedom Caucus to move GOP bills to the right by refusing to provide votes until their demands were met. But it also at times resulted in stalemates that thwarted attempts at compromise.

That would set up a clash with centrists in the Blue Dog Coalition, the New Democrat Coalition and the Problem Solvers Caucus, the ranks of which will be expanded with the election of 25 Democrats in more conservative districts, like New York’s Anthony Brindisi, Utah’s Ben McAdams and Virginia’s Abigail Spanberger.

Many opposed left-leaning proposals like Medicare-for-all during their campaigns, and are positioning themselves on the right by refusing to back Pelosi or by endorsing rules changes that give more power to moderates.

...Gottheimer declined to speculate on policies like Medicare for all or debt-free college, saying the party’s focus should be on more modest proposals that can pass the Senate and be signed into law by Trump, such as an infrastructure bill, fixing problems in health-care markets, and resolving the status of young undocumented people.

He added that Democrats who “want to obstruct for the sake of it” or to “scream and yell” won’t find allies in his group of centrists [rightists].

The Blue Dog Coalition added seven newly-elected Democrats, all from competitive districts currently held by Republicans, and expects to number at least 24 come January.

Representative Stephanie Murphy of Florida, an incoming Blue Dog co-chair, said the group intends to focus on "bipartisan cooperation, fiscal responsibility, and national security."

Drawing an implicit contrast with liberals eyeing legislative proposals that lack Republican support, Murphy warned against "partisan stalemate that brings our country to a halt."

The 7 new Blue Dogs will need to be watched carefully and-- if they turn out to be as bad as Gottheimer-- primaried in 2020. Is one of them yours?

• Jeff Van Drew (NJ)
• Mikie Sherrill (NJ)
• Xochitl Small (NM)
• Anthony Brindisi (NY)
• Max Rose (NY)
• Ben McAdams (UT)
• Abigail Spanberger (VA)