Yesterday A Pack Of Mad Blue Dogs Teamed Up With The Republicans To Defeat An Unemployment Insurance Extension For Two Million American Families

Most progressives recognize that it was the ability of the conservative Democratic faction of the too-Big-Tent-- Blue Dogs, New Dems and random reactionaries whose ancestors were Democrats-- to water down Democratic initiatives that has so alienated the grassroots base from the party. The result was that over half the Blue Dogs and lots of New Dems were defeated. That's a good thing. What isn't a good thing is that they so tarnished the Democratic brand that a handful of progressives and moderates were also defeated. Members like Alan Grayson, Mary Jo Kilroy, John Hall, Phil Hare, Carol Shea Porter, Ron Klein were dragged down by reactionary garbage like Bobby Bright, Gene Taylor, Travis Childers, Chris Carney, Frank Kratovil, Zach Space, Harry Mitchell, and Allen Boyd.

No new Blue Dogs were elected-- all their horrible, anti-family challengers were defeated, despite the fact that millions of dollars were wasted trying to elect crap candidates eager to undermine the Democratic agenda, like Chad Causey (AR), Roy Herron (TN), Stephene Moore (KS), Stephen Raby (AL), Trent Van Haaften (IN) and Lori Edwards (FL). One of the few Democratic freshmen elected in this cycle is Florida state Senate leader Frederica Wilson. Yesterday she wasn't shy about letting reporters know what she thinks of the treacherous Blue Dogs. "I'm proud of Nancy Pelosi and the way she's handled legislation. I'm not a Blue Dog. I'm a real donkey."

Democrats have good reason to be angry at Blue Dogs. They ruined everything they touched. There's only one reason there's no public option in the health care reform bill: Blue Dogs. There's only one reason the Wall Street reform legislation is missing some crucial pieces and lacks teeth in some areas: Blue Dogs. On issue after issue, the Blue Dogs did the Republicans' dirty work for them-- and, for whatever reason (Hoyer, Emanuel, Obama?), Pelosi gave in to them and tried to smooth over the differences. There are only 23 Blue Dogs left and many of their leaders went down in flames, as did the 3 who sided with the GOP most frequently, Bobby Bright (AL), Gene Taylor (MS) and Travis Childers (MS). And even though their excuse for voting the Republican line was that the GOP would beat up on them in the campaign... the Republicans beat up on them during the campaign anyway-- relentlessly, even called them Democrats! This week the survivors (as well as the losers) tried, unsuccessfully, to derail Pelosi's leadership.

"Nancy Pelosi was the face that defeated 60-plus members," Rep. Allen Boyd (D-Calif.), one of the founders of the Blue Dog Coalition and among those defeated, told reporters Wednesday. "At some point in time you have to put your personal agenda and ambitions aside for the good of the country and certainly for the party.

"I don't know how we go into these districts like the one I represented-- do represent now-- and recruit good, moderate, energetic candidates if you have the exact same leadership team, headed by the same person."

Well, maybe starting with "moderate" would be a good beginning. Boyd was anything but. In fact, he was the only Democrat, or excuse for a Democrat, Bush had been able to find to co-sponsor his bill to privatize Social Security. You think voters in Tallahassee were enthusiastic about that? And this year the Democratic base and Democratic-leaning independents just did not come out to vote for Allen Boyd, not despite the fact that he almost never supported the Democrats on contentious legislation but because he never did. Perhaps he thought he could make up the difference by getting Republicans or Republic-leaning independents to vote for him the way he has in the past. Not this year. He lost to a teabagger coroner. Boyd was considered so string the GOP didn't even bother to run an opponent against him in 2006. And in 2008, when McCain was winning the district with 54% Boyd managed to win reelection with a hefty 216,804 votes (62%) to 133,404 (38%) for the Republican. He won every county in the district but Bay, Walton and Okaloosa. This year less than half his 2008 voters turned out for him-- only 104,415 (41%) while the coroner won almost the same number of voters the Republican candidate got in 2008, 134,912 (a slight increase-- in a non-presidential year!). And this time it was Boyd who only won 3 counties-- Gadsden, Jefferson, Leon, all with African-America majorities, staying loyal to the party even in the fact of what a crap Representative he's always been for their communities.

Donald Fowler, a former Democratic National Committee chairman and South Carolina moderate, said Blue Dogs are often "treated like bastard cousins."

"They feel a little bit like they're left out and they're second-class citizens," Fowler said. "I think that's terribly unfortunate, and if anybody treats them that way they should be ashamed of themselves. Their mommas should've taught them better."

Yesterday the House voted, under a suspension of the rules, to take up the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Continuation Act, which would keep over two million American families from facing a loss of unemployment insurance. Although 21 Republicans crossed the aisle to vote with the Democratic Party in favor, the bill, which needed a 2/3s approval, failed, in part because 11 Democrats crossed the aisle in the other direction and voted with Boehner and his cronies. Maybe if my momma had taught me better I wouldn't point to who the culprits were. But she taught me honesty and standing up for needy neighbors instead so... these are the scumbags, most of whom are multimillionaires themselves, who voted to let unemployment insurance expire for millions of Americans who were thrown out of work because conservative policies destroyed their jobs:

Marion Berry (Blue Dog-AR)- retiring due to severe alcoholism; his handpicked successor, chief-of-staff Chad Causey was defeated
Allen Boyd (Blue Dog-FL)- defeated
Bobby Bright (Blue Dog-AL)- defeated
Jim Cooper (Blue Dog-TN)- last remaining Blue Dog from Tennessee
Lincoln Davis (Blue Dog-TN)- defeated with less than 40% of the vote
Baron Hill (Blue Dog-IN)- defeated
Walt Minnick (Blue Dog-ID)- defeated
Glenn Nye (Blue Dog-VA)- defeated
Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN), narrowly reelected
Heath Shuler (Blue Dog-NC), narrowly reelected
Gene Taylor (Blue Dog-MS)- defeated

How mean-spirited and rotten for the losers to send this kind of a Christmas present to their out of work constituents and their families? Blue America helped defeat Bobby Bright this year and we fully intend to target other Blue Dogs in the coming primary cycle. If you'd like to help, here's out Bad Dog page. Never too soon to start doing America's mommas' work. Most Democrats just don't want to discuss the Blue Dogs perfidy. Yvette Clarke from Brooklyn, whose district has been especially hard by the economic turndown, issued this statement-- plenty of well-deserved blame for her Republican colleagues, but not a peep about her Blue Dog colleagues:

“It is no secret that our country is experiencing tough economic times. Today, I joined my Democratic colleagues and voted to extend unemployment insurance to the millions of Americans who are currently unemployed. Unfortunately, my Republican colleagues decided to vote against our efforts to give Americans the unemployment benefits they need as they continue to search for work.

“We in the government cannot leave the American people by the wayside; we must help the American people as our country climbs its way out of this economic ditch. We will work to find emergency short-term extensions that will help families get through the holiday season, but rest assured we will not stop fighting for a long term, permanent solution.”

Sunshine State Or Cesspool State, Florida Has 25 Congressional Races Set

Florida has 25 congressional districts, all gerrymandered, mostly by state legislators drawing the boundaries to suit their own strengths and weaknesses for congressional runs the following year. For all the pristine white beaches and clear blue skies, Florida politics is one of the most corrupt cesspools in America. Friday was qualifying day for the next round of elections. There are only five simple, straightforward races pitting one Democrat against one Republican-- in the 7th (a northern district that covers the coast between St Augustine and Daytona Beach and swings inland to Altamonte Springs east of Orlando) where lunatic fringe wing-nut John Mica is being challenged by Democrat Heather Beaven; the 10th in Pinellas County (minus St
Petersburg) where Charlie Justice is taking on doddering Bill Young, long one of Congress' most egregiously corrupt members; the Miami-Dade district (18) where Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is being challenged by Rolando Banciella; the 19th where newly elected Ted Deutch (he replaced Wexler in a special 2 weeks ago); and the 23rd, where Democrat Alcee Hastings is being challenged by Bernard Sansaricq.

Only one congressman, inexplicably, has no challenger-- no primary, no Democrat, no teabagger, no nothing-- and that's an open seat, no less. Lincoln Diaz-Balart has decided to spend all his time plotting to become the president of post-Castro Cuba, so he isn't running in the 21st CD, a fairly-- but not overwhelmingly-- safe Republican seat. Instead his stupider and younger brother Mario fled from the increasingly blue 25th CD (we'll get to that shortly) and is running for his brother's seat. It's another mark of the pathetic nature of the Florida GOP that they couldn't even manage to get someone to challenge Mario, who, after all, is not and incumbent (but will be from here on out). So Mario is the only Republican in the Florida congressional delegation home free with no challenge.

But he certainly isn't the only Republican with no Democrat running against him. Karen Thurman's less than vibrant party may look good relative to the staggeringly hideous freak show known as the Republican Party of Florida, but... by any other standard, it's struggling to appear like a modern political party. CD-1 in the Panhandle is the home of right-wing ideologue Jeff Miller, a laughing stock in Washington, but facing only 2 independents, Joe Cantrell and John Krause, in November. Many insist Ander Crenshaw in demonstrably stupider and more fanatic than Miller. His district, the 4th CD, crawls along the Georgia border starting just east of Tallahassee and ending just north of Jacksonville, carefully avoiding any urban areas that might not appreciate Crenshaw's peculiar brand of bigotry mixed with an IQ so minimal that it might not be measurable in any meaningful way. His only opponent in November will be an independent, Troy Dwayne Stanley. Most political observers would probably vote Cliff Stearns the least effective Republican in the Florida congressional delegation. He almost makes Miller and Crenshaw look brainy and serious. The Democrats couldn't find anyone to run against him in his landlocked, city-less district south of Crenshaw's and carefully skirting any areas touched by the 21st Century. He has a Republican primary challenger, Don Browning, and will then face Steve Schonberg, an Independent, in November.

Before I get to the races where there's some chance for a party flip-- or at least some kind of activity-- let's just go down the list where the races are just pro-forma. Corrine Brown has a primary opponent, Scott Fortune, for her safe Jacksonville/Gainesville seat and will then face the winner of a GOP primary between Mike Yost and Chris Nwasike, plus an independent, Terry Martin-Black.

I'd rate Kathy Castor, who represents Tampa (11th CD) as safe, although she's drawn 5 Republicans fighting it out amongst each other to see who she will defeat in November.

The Republicans, wisely, decided not to waste money running someone for Kendrick Meek's open seat (CD-17), which boasts a PVI of D+35. The primary features 9 Democrats and is likely to be won by state Senator Frederica Wilson, who will then face an independent, Roderick Vereen. The 8 Democrats Wilson faces in the primary for America's most Haitian district, are Marleine Bastien, Phillip Brutus, James Bush III, Scott Galvin, Shirley Gibson, Rudolph “Rudy” Moise, Yolly Roberson and Andre Williams. I guess anything can happen when there are that many candidates in a low turn-out primary.

Unfortunately sleazy sugar cane shill and DCCC power-monger Debbie Wasserman Schultz has no primary. Three Republicans will battle it out between themselves and she'll slaughter whichever one wins, along with two independents, Stanley Blumenthal and Bob Kunst.

In the 15th CD Bill Posey faces Democrat Shannon Robert. And now for the more complicated races.

Let's start with the 25th CD way down south where Mario Diaz-Balart is giving up the seat for safer ground. Joe Garcia almost beat him-- despite assistance for Diaz-Balart from the nefarious Wasserman Schultz-- in 2008. This year Wasserman Schultz is on Garcia's side but even more helpful for him will be an official Tea Party candidate who qualified, Roly Arrojo. That should kill whatever chances David Rivera had to take the seat. (Rivera has 2 Republican opponents in the primary, Paul Crespo and Mariana “Marli” Cancio.) Garcia will have no trouble beating his own primary opponent, Luis Meurice. And then, besides the official teabagger, there's also a FWP running, Craig Porter.

Way back up the peninsula to the Panhandle, we're at CD-02 when Blue Dog Allen Boyd is fighting it out with another conservative, terming-out state Senator Al Lawson in a tough primary. Boyd would have to be evaluated as an "F"-- and he was after all, the only Democrat Bush could get to sign on to conservative's never-dying #1 priority: a bill to destroy Social Security. Lawson is unlikely to be even a little better. There are 5 Republicans who smell blood in the water-- Eddie Henry, Ronald McNeil, Barbara Olschner, David Scholl and Steve Southerland. Whoever wins the two primaries will battle it out, along
with two independents, Paul McKain and Dianne Berryhill.

One of Boyd's most recent sins has been trying to foist another worthless reactionary Blue Dog on voters, in the form of Lori Edwards. Edwards is challenging progressive, grassroots Democrat Doug Tudor in the 12th CD (Polk and Hillsborough counties east of St. Petersburg), the seat being abandoned by right-wing imbecile Adam Putnam for a run at statewide office. Aside from Edwards, Doug will have to contend with 2 other conservatives-- whichever Republican wins the primary between shady attorney Dennis Ross and extremist John Lindsey, Jr.-- plus Randy Wilkinson, the official Tea Party
candidate. Wilkinson should probably guarantee a victory for Tudor in the general election. (Please consider helping Tudor here at Blue America.)

The 5th CD just opened up, when Ginny Brown-Waite faced up to the fact that her mental illness would no longer allow her to pretend to be able to work for her constituents. She endorsed Sheriff Rich Nugent on the last day of filing to prevent any more reasonable candidates to jump into the race beyond the already-qualified Jason Patrick Sager. The winner of the GOP primary will face ex-Republican/Obama supporter Jim Piccillo in November.

One of the most watched races will be in Orlando's 8th CD where the GOP will attempt to take out the most important new player the Democrats have playing for them nationally, Alan Grayson. There is a concerted effort to denigrate him-- with the local right-wing corporate media leading the charge-- but Grayson is immensely popular with the regular folks who live in the increasingly blue district and has been lucky enough to draw a GOP primary that resembles a 7 ring circus of third and fourth tier rejects-- Ross Bieling, mediocre state legislators Kurt Kelly and Daniel Webster, Hate Talk Radio host Todd Long, racist maniac Daniel Roy Fanelli, William O'Donoughue and Patricia Sullivan. It's a real clown show and free-for-all and whoever wins the GOP endorsement will then have to face not just Grayson (who polls better than any of them among Republicans) but also an official Tea Party candidate, Peg Dunmire, and an independent, George Metcalfe. (It's worth mentioning that as crazy and ignorant as Dunmire has already shown herself, Fanelli seems determined to prove he's even more ignorant and more bigoted and less qualified. It should be a wonderfully amusing race.) Please consider helping Grayson build his war-chest through Blue America.

There are two Democrats, Anita de Palma and Phil Hindahl, fighting it out to see who takes on Gus Bilirakis in the 9th CD. The 13th CD will feature a primary between incumbent Vern Buchanan and Don Baldauf and one between Democrats Rick Eaton and James Golden and whomever wins the two primaries will also face progressive independent Jan Schneider.

The 14th CD is the worst hit in Florida-- and the U.S.-- by the Republican foreclosure crisis but Connie Mack IV is probably safe, though he faces Democrat Jim Roach and independent William Maverick St. Claire.

The ill-starred 16th CD is probably safe for wealthy moron Tom Rooney, the teabagger candidate, Jim Horn, having declared himself a Democrat at the last second. He'll face Ed Tautiva in a Democratic primary.

The 22nd District is called a swing district and moderate Democrat Ron Klein seems to be having a tough time with Ron Paul Republican Allen West (who still has to beat a more mainstream Republican, David Brady). Klein also has a primary challenge, from Paul Renneisen.

And that brings us to one of the least deserving of re-election of the freshmen, corporate shill Suzanne Kosmas, a putative Democrat representing the 24th CD in central Florida. She has a primary from party activist Paul Partyka and then will face the winner of a 5 candidate GOP primary. Everyone senses she is extremely weak and generally disliked by constituents on both sides of the partisan divide. The party is unlikely to fight too hard for her since her seat is likely to be redistricted out of existence anyway.

DCCC Claims To Be Supporting Social Security While Protecting Social Security Opponents

Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the DCCC-- she's already the de facto head of it now in anticipation of Van Hollen taking the blame for the rapidly approaching bloodbath-- are desperate for money to hold onto as many of their highly unpopular, and even more highly endangered, Blue Dogs. We saw in Creigh Deeds' case what happens when conservative Democrats try to woo Republicans and independent conservatives by stabbing the base in the back. The base stays home. Blue Dogs who have spent most of 2009 voting on the other side of the aisle-- particularly Travis Childers (MS), Bobby Bright (AL), Harry Mitchell (AZ), Walt Minnick (ID), Glenn Nye (VA), Jane Harman (CA), Frank Kratovil (MD), Baron Hill (IN), Mike Ross (AR), Betsy Markey (CO), John Barrow (GA) and Allen Boyd (FL)-- are in grave jeopardy of losing their seats, either in primaries or in the general election.

A mark of the insider desperation became apparent today when Steny Hoyer's office allegedly offered Florida state Senator Al Lawson a job at the Dept. of Agriculture if he ends his primary against Boyd, who a recent poll shows him beating by 6 points. I'll get back to the DCCC quest for cash in a moment but, just for context, keep in mind that when Bush attempted to gut Social Security, the only Democrat he could get to co-sponsor his "bipartisan" bill was... Allen Boyd. The DCCC is not just attempting to protect Boyd, they're attempting to replicate him, pushing an equally unsavory conservative, Lori Edwards in FL-12 and trying to drive a real Democrat, Doug Tudor, out of the race. Boyd, Wasserman Schultz, Hoyer and Patrick Murphy (the liaison between the Blue Dogs and the DCCC) have been writing checks to Edwards' campaign and then claiming she's more "viable" than Tudor because she raised more money, even though Florida media sees right through their scam and has termed Lori Edwards a fundraising flame-out.

So to work all their shenanigans and guarantee that both the Democratic caucus and the House are more conservative in 2011, the DCCC is constantly tweeting for cash and sending out e-mails begging grassroots progressives to send them money they can then use to destroy grassroots and progressive candidates. Here's a tweet from yesterday, followed by an e-mail from Jon Vogel the DCCC Executive Director:

Howard --

Congressional Republicans are blindly following Sarah Palin, her merry band of Tea Partiers and special interest fat cat friends right off the cliff by publicly calling for the end of Social Security and Medicare as we know it. [Note from DWT: he apparently forgot to mention Allen Boyd here.]

Well we'll let them make their bed, and make sure they lie in it. Help us hold every crazy, Social Security killing wing-nut Republican accountable for every word they say. [Note from DWT: he apparently forgot to mention Allen Boyd here too.]

That's where you come in. The DCCC is launching an advertising campaign while Republicans are home in their districts for Presidents Day.

Help me raise $50,000 before Monday, February 15th - Presidents Day - so the DCCC can run hard hitting ads while Republicans are home in their districts and hold them accountable for what they're saying about Social Security and Medicare.

It's engaged grassroots Democrats like you who are standing up to the GOP's radical plans and exposing their double-talk, misleading rhetoric and distortions.

Earlier this week, thanks to you, over 30,000 DCCC supporters of our Fact Check FOX team signed our Stand Up To Sarah Petition - calling out FOX News' newest political pundit for her smears and pathetic attempts to shift blame for our current economic mess from the failed policies of George Bush to Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats.

We're not going to let that happen. And, we're doing everything in our power to be sure voters are fully aware of what Tea Party Republicans and their special interest enablers are up to.

Help the DCCC raise $50,000 by Monday, February 15th to hold Republicans accountable by running ads in their districts while they're home for Presidents Day.

Republicans are aggressively pushing to turn over Social Security to the same Wall Street banks that ruined our economy and give control of Medicare to the health insurance industry.

The Republicans' budget is a crazy radical roadmap leading straight back into the ditch that Bush dug for us and a dead end for Medicare for our seniors. If Republicans and their Tea Party allies gain control of Congress in November's election, these radical plans will be put into action.

Nothing would make GOP special interest donors in corporate boardrooms across America happier. The popping champagne corks would break the sound barrier.

Stand with me and the DCCC against Sarah Palin, the Tea Party, the Republican special interests and their dangerous plans for America's future. Contribute today.

Aside from leaving out Boyd's enthusiasm for gutting Social Security, Vogel also neglected to even mention Paul Ryan-- who the DCCC inexplicably protects year after year and is doing it again this year-- the author of the latest initiative to gut Social Security the DCCC claims to be trying to preserve. Ryan is a potentially vulnerable congressman in a southeast Wisconsin district that went for Obama but he's heavily financed by Wall Street and the grassroots Democrat in the race, Paulette Garin, is having a hard time getting her staunchly pro-working family message out while the DCCC showers money on reactionary Blue Dogs down South while studiously ignoring-- if not undermining-- her. Like many grassroots organizations, Blue America is offering an alternative to wasting money on the pernicious DCCC. You can give directly to candidates like Paulette Garin and to Doug Tudor and you can send the DCCC a message while fighting against our real enemies-- conservatives, regardless of which party they belong to.

Our System Is Broken Because Of How It Is Funded-- Meet Florida Blue Dog Lori Edwards

Doug Tudor & lobbyist candidate, Blue Dog-endorsed Lori Edwards

So far this election season, the Blue Dog caucus, which has provided the bulk of the "no" votes that have destroyed Democratic unity in Congress and allowed the Republican minority to slow down and water down virtually ALL of President Obama's domestic agenda, has endorsed exactly one challenger: Lori Edwards, a cautious and very conservative Polk County, Florida elections supervisor. Last night an angry Polk County Democratic activist sent me a copy of an invitation to Edwards' first DC fund-raiser. It's being hosted by lobbyists, the Eris Group, at their New Jersey Avenue townhouse and Lori is being presented by two of K Street's worst Democratic shills in Congress, Blue Dog Allen Boyd and the DCCC's controversial and duplicitous candidate recruitment leader, Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

The grassroots progressive candidate in the race for the FL-12 seat is Navy veteran and 2008 Democratic candidate Doug Tudor. With no support whatsoever from the DCCC, he managed to do as well against one of Florida's most powerful Republican politicians, Adam "Howdy Doody" Putnam, as the losing DCCC-backed candidates did in their races. When he approached Wasserman Schultz, then head of the DCCC Red to Blue program, for help, upon meeting her at Yearly Kos in Denver, she responded to his explanation that he hadn't developed strong corporate fundraising ties because he spent his life in military service and is a working class guy, she responded angrily and said "Don't pull that populist stuff with me." Next Thursday she is helping the Blue Dogs introduce their candidate against Tudor to a bunch of check-writing lobbyists who represent Morgan Stanley and Countrywide.

The other host is Allen Boyd, an unscrupulous reactionary from Tallahassee, the only Democrat in the House to vote for H.R. 440-- which, because of his vote Bush got to call "The Bipartisan Retirement Security Act," an attempt to eviscerate and destroy Social Security. Not even one other filthy, mangy Blue Dog would follow Boy'd lead on this. He knows very well that in Lori Edwards he'll have a real soul mate in Congress though. Boyd also voted for Bush's bank bailout in 2008 and against Obama's Stimulus Plan in 2009. Predictably, he also voted against the healthcare reform bill last month. He's eager to get another like-minded fake Democrat into the caucus. In fact, if she were in Congress last month, voting alongside Boyd, the healthcare reform act would have never passed.

It always amazes me how the hypocrites at the DCCC send out urgent letters soliciting donations from grassroots Democrats to save the president's policies from the deprecations of reactionary Republicans one day and then throw fundraisers-- with lobbyists-- for the very Democrats who enable the minority Republicans to get away with wrecking the president's policies! If you can't make it to the Lori Edwards lobbyist bash a week from tonight, please consider donating whatever you can afford to the Doug Tudor campaign today.

Do Congressmen Really Betray Their Constituents To Vote For Their Campaign Donors? Let's Look At Two, One Dem and One Repug, Who Just Did

Allen Boyd forgot his makeup; Paul Ryan never leaves home without it

Last week the DCCC had an inspired idea in their campaign to unseat fast rising Republican leader, Paul Ryan (R-WI). All the media outlets in Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha, and Janesville got a press release entitled "Representative Paul Ryan Just Says No To Putting More Americans on the Path to a Better-Paying Job and Reducing the National Debt." The release went out on the 17th, right after Ryan voted against HR 3221, the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009, which passed with a huge majority, 253-171. It's the largest single federal investment in higher education in American history." Six mainstream conservative Republicans crossed the aisle and voted with the Democrats but Ryan never even considered such a move. He's dead set against the entire philosophy of government actually helping improve people's lives, He lives in a dark, black and white world where the only rules that matter are the Law of the Jungle and the Golden Rule-- he with the most gold rules and everyone else can go die. It's nothing new for Paul Ryan to oppose a common-sense solution meant to help Americans compete for the best jobs, by helping families afford college tuition. It was somewhat shocking, though, that he also voted against paying down the national debt, particularly given his role-- as a 100% rubber stamp for the Bush Regime-- in running up the national debt to its highest levels in history.

“Given the chance to help more students compete for a better-paying job while paying down the national debt at the same time, Representative Paul Ryan sounded an all-too-familiar tune: no,” said Ryan Rudominer, National Press Secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “Parents struggling to pay for their children's college in this economy deserve better than Representative Ryan trying to block a solution that will put them on the path to a better-paying job.”

 
The measure, which was violently opposed by predatory lenders who make a bundle off student loans-- and the political hacks on their payroll-- will make federal student lending more efficient through a variety of reforms that will save the federal government $87 billion. Of those savings, $77 billion will be invested toward making college more affordable and $10 billion will be used to pay down the national debt. The measure increases the amount of Pell Grants over the next two years, lowers the interest rates of federally subsidized student loans, expands the Perkins Loan program, and streamlines the application form for financial aid and envisions cost savings by:

o       Converting federal lending to the Direct Loan Program.
 
o       Establishing a competitive bidding process, allowing the U.S. Department of Education to select lenders based on how well they serve borrowers.
 
o       Allowing non-profit organizations to continue servicing student loans.

In Ryan's southeast Wisconsin district alone 14,127 students will get Pell Grants in 2010 and the total amount available for the districts students rises from $50.1 million to $62.3 million. Ryan has never given a second thought to the well-being of his constituents, other than the ones who give him big campaign contributions anyway. On the other hand, it was a bit of a shock when Blue Dog Allen Boyd, who represents the hard-pressed eastern part of Florida's panhandle, crossed the aisle and voted with the Republicans. The DCCC didn't send out a press release to Tallahassee media outlets about that.

Under the new law Boyd's district, FL-02, will see Pell Grants for 19,322 students rise from $55.1 million to $68.5 million. And if there's a district that needs that kind of help for young people it's FL-02, where 18.1% of the residents under 65 (126,000 people) have no health insurance whatsoever and where unemployment levels are catastrophic and where 36,282 home foreclosures are projected in the next four years. And yet Boyd, like Ryan and the rest of the GOP, adamantly opposes the government helping average working families, although both are perfectly fine with multi-billion dollar corporate bailouts for Wall Street banksters. Ryan has taken in more in thinly veiled bribes from finance companies than any other member of the Wisconsin House delegation, including members who have been there far longer than he has. And Boyd has taken in even more than Ryan! Help defeat corrupt Blue Dogs like Allen Boyd on our nice, new BadDogs page; Ryan has his very own page, StopPaulRyan.

Why Does The Corporate Media Call Reactionaries "Moderates?"

Reactionary Allen Boyd finds a kindred spirit in Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson, another Bush supporting Democrat

This morning the McClatchy papers ran with a decent enough article about how Obama is having a hard time with his plans to rebuild the middle class because of conservative Democrats. The problem with the piece is in the headline, Greatest Threat to Obama Spending Plan? Moderate Dems. [UPDATE: McClatchy has now removed the word "moderate" from the title!] "Moderate" is a word that most people-- like almost all people other than Rush Limbaugh, who detests and reviles moderates-- think of positively. Calling someone a "moderate" bolsters them and their positions.

The very first example of a "moderate" that David Lightman, the McClatchy reporter, uses is one of the most far right reactionary Democrats in Congress, Florida kook Allen Boyd. When George Bush sent about to destroy Social Security and sell it off to Wall Street, he knew exactly where to turn for "bipartisan" cover. In fact, the only Democrat he could find to co-sponsor his privatization bill for Social Security was... Allen Boyd. Boyd consistently crosses the aisle to vote with Republicans, not necessarily on the small mundane issues Congress addresses, but on the highly charged, partisan issues that separate Democrats from Republicans.

Boyd and two dozen other Blue Dogs-- anti-working family conservatives like Dan Boren (OK), Heath Shuler (NC), Joe Donnelly (IN), Travis Childers (MS), Gene Taylor (MS), Bobby Bright (AL), Collin Peterson (MN), Chis Carney (PA)-- are so far to the right that calling them "moderates," forces media to refer to actual moderates, like Loretta Sanchez (CA), Adam Schiff (CA), Michael Michaud (ME), and Michael Arcuri (NY)-- all also Blue Dogs-- as liberals. And then what about progressives and liberals like Donna Edwards (D-MD), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Keith Ellison (D-MN), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Jesse Jackson (D-IL), and Linda Sánchez (D-CA), real progressives who fight for Democratic values and principles and for the aspirations of working families every single day? What are they-- communists?

Lightman mentions that "if all 47 Blue Dogs joined the House's 178 Republicans, they could deny Democratic leaders a House majority of 218." True enough, but the fact of the matter is, the actual "moderates" in the Blue Dog caucus are Democrats first and they do usually stand up for working families over corporate interests. The reactionaries among the Blue Dogs have been crossing the aisle all year-- and can be expected to continue-- but they can't do it on their own and, ocassionally, there are enough mainstream conservatives in the Republican caucus who cross over to the Democrats to balance out the far right Blue Dogs.

And speaking of Allen Boyd, looks like even in his own very conservative Panhandle district, people are getting fed up with him. The dean of the Florida state Senate, Al Lawson, who is a conservative Democrat himself-- but, unlike Boyd, still a Democrat-- is going to be challenging Boyd in the primary this year. Lawson's senate district and Boyd's congressional district are largely filled with the same voters. The problem for Boyd is that in the Democratic primary, he won't have Republicans able to come out and vote for him. The looming primary battle against Boyd is seen in Florida as one of the state's hottest races for 2010 and national groups are talking about helping Lawson get the funding he needs to take on the execrable and treacherous Boyd.

Oh... and back to that word thing again. In today's Wall Street Journal there's a story by Charles Levinson in Jerusalem titled, Netanyahu Strikes Deal With Rival's Far-Right Party. Isn't Netanyahu's own Likud party the far-right party? A more descriptive and accurate headline might have been, "Netanyahu's Far Right Party Links Up, As Expected, With Lieberman's Neo-Fascist Party."

The Florida Senate Seat-- Democratic Race Now Wide Open

Old foes Rubio and Gelber could face off for the governor's chair

A couple weeks ago Republican incumbent Mel Martinez, seeing clearly which way the wind is blowing-- Obama beat McCain by over 200,000 votes and two Republican congressional incumbents got kicked out on their asses-- announced he wouldn't run for re-election in 2010. Obama beat McCain among men and women and in every age groups except people over 65, the age group that is dying off the most rapidly. To hold the seat, the GOP turned to the one Republican they felt would have a real chance: Jeb Bush. He turned them down flat, admitting that right now there's something about his last name that makes voters... emotional. So now the state GOP is floundering around with a pack of far right fanatics like Rep./used car salesman Vern Buchanan, ex-Speaker/pretty face Marco Rubio, Congressman Connie Mack, and Attorney General Bill McCollum.

Until yesterday it looked like it would be a cake walk for the Democrats with the state's CFO, Alex Sink. But in the morning she announced that she's not running either. "'Over the past several weeks, I have given serious and careful thought to my own future and, more importantly, to the future of our state. And I am extremely grateful for the support and advice so many friends and fellow Floridians have shared. I believe my skills and abilities are of greatest use here in Florida, where I am honored to serve as chief financial officer. And I will run for reelection as chief financial officer to continue being a fiscal watchdog on behalf of the people of Florida.'' That means she's running for governor in 2014 when Crist steps down (unless he steps down sooner so he can run for the Senate seat, a very distinct possibility-- and probably as good a shot for the GOP as Jeb would have been.

Miami Democrat Congressman Kendrick Meek has already announced his candidacy. Meek is a moderate Democrat with a great reputation in his own district and in South Florida in general, but isn't a force statewide. Way over on the right end of the spectrum is Blue Dog sleaze bag Allen Boyd, one of the most reactionary members of Congress and a guarantee that whoever the Republicans run will have a cakewalk to election. Another moderate congressman, Ron Klein, also from South Florida, is thinking of running.

But the best prospect for progressives is State Senator Dan Gelber of Miami Beach, who was the House minority leader until this year and is well known and well respected statewide. He hasn't officially entered the race yet, but mutual friends of mine and his tell me he has already made up his mind to run now that Sink has bowed out.