Trump's Favorite Congresscritter Exposed Back Home In His New York District

Presumably, Chris Collins (R-NY), infamous as the first congressman to have backed Trump, got back to Clarence this morning. I suspect what was waiting for him in the Buffalo News, his district's biggest newspaper, was worse than what most Republicans who voted for TrumpCare Thursday had to face. Keep in mind, though, that NY-27, has a PVI of R+8 where Obama lost badly both times and where Trump trounced Clinton 59.7-35.2%, his best performance in the state-- and considerably better than Romney had done when he won the district with 55.3%. Collins himself beat Diana Kastenbaum, who was unable to even raise the $5,000 that would have triggered an FEC report, by an even greater margin, 67.7-32.3%.

That said, Collins couldn't have been too happy with either his CNN appearance or the report about it in the News this morning. First 2 lines: "Rep. Chris Collins told CNN that he didn't read the entire Republican health care bill that the House passed Thursday. And then he told the Buffalo News that he was unaware of a key provision in the bill that decimates a health plan that serves 635,000 New Yorkers."

Told by a Buffalo News reporter that the state's largest loss of federal funds under the bill would be $3 billion annually that goes to the state's Essential Health Plan, Collins said: "Explain that to me."

The Essential Plan is an optional program under Obamacare, offered only by New York and Minnesota, that provides low-cost health insurance to low- and middle-income people who don't qualify for Medicaid. State Health Department figures show that more than 19,000 people in Erie and Niagara counties were on the Essential Plan in January.

Asked by the Buffalo News if he was aware of the bill's cut in funding to the Essential Plan, Collins said: "No. But it doesn't surprise me for you to tell me that there were two states in the nation that were taking advantage of some other waiver program and New York was one of the two states."

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which says it is targeting Collins when he runs for re-election next year, was quick to attack Collins for his comments.

“This disturbing admission makes it clear that Collins doesn’t respect or care about the people who sent him to Washington," said Evan Lukaske, a DCCC spokesman. "Instead of reading pharmaceutical stock financial statements, Collins should actually read the legislation that would take away health care from thousands of his constituents.”

Asked about Collins' comments on CNN and to the Buffalo News, his spokesman, Michael McAdams, noted that Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., also told Blitzer he had not read the entire health bill.

“Once again the Buffalo News is twisting a Republican’s words to fit its out-of-touch, liberal narrative," McAdams said. "Congressman Collins has been intimately involved in the creation of this legislation from its inception ... He understands the impact it would have on Western New Yorkers. To infer Congressman Collins doesn’t understand the disastrous impact Obamacare has had on our region and our nation is absolutely shameful."

One unfortunate caveat-- the DCCC isn't really targeting Collins and, at least so far, there isn't even a Democratic candidate running for the seat. The DCCC may stick it's tongue out at Collins and make mean faces, but there's no reason to think they will invest serious money in unseating him. That's not what they do-- unless his stock scandal actually blows up into a judicial matter.

Meet Carl Paladino-- The Utimate New York State Trumpist

same-same

Not many people outside of New York have ever heard of Caril Paladino— and they’re better off for that. The aggressively senile far right 70 year old Buffalo realtor managed to win the Republican gubernatorial nomination against the hapless Rick Lazio in 2010. He went on to be absolutely shredded in the general election of Andrew Cuomo, losing 2,910,876 (61%) to 1,547,857 (32.5%). His senior adviser was well-known right-wing crackpot and Trump retainer, Roger Stone.

Paladino was a right-wing Democrat until 2005 when he finally figured out he was a Republican and officially switched parties. His gubernatorial campaign was as ugly as anyone could expect, trying to woo reactionary Hassidic rabbis, for example, with rabid denunciations of the LGBT community and marriage equality. He told a gaggle of right-wing rabbis in Brooklyn, “I just think my children and your children would be much better off and much more successful getting married and raising a family, and I don't want them brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid and successful option— it isn't." He’s also vehemently anti-Choice and insists victims of rape and incest give birth to any resultant pregnancy. He’s an anti-education psychopath, a racist (with a special animus towards Asians for some reason), a Climate Change denier and an anti-regulations fanatic. So, of course, he was an enthusiastic Trump supporter and co-chaired Trump’s failed New York campaign.

While co-chairing Trump’s campaign, he threatened— in writing— Republican officials who refused to endorse Trump. This was part of an open letter to Republicans in Congress and the state legislature: "This is our last request that you join 'Trump for President' and try to preserve what's left of your pathetic careers in government." He later threatened too have Republican delegates killed if they didn’t support Trump. "I don’t trust our entire delegation… I’d certainly whack them if they went off the reservation."

In 2013 Paladino ran for the Buffalo school board from South Buffalo, a largely conservative blue collar, Irish-American area. His campaign was basically a screed against the teachers union with an ugly dose of racism. He won and was reelected— narrowly, by 132 votes— against an 18 year old high school senior, in 2016.

Trump has been running around screeching like a madman that Obama is a Muslim for years and this year famously tweeted that Attorney General Loretta Lynch should be lynched. So it should have come as no real surprise this week whe he told the editors of the Buffalo News, who have endorsed him and generally support his ugly racism, that the outrageous interview he gave Artvoice this week— which seemed like an Onion-like parody— was a straight up, for real interview with him.”Of course I did,” he said when asked if he had uttered the remarks. "Tell them all to go fuck themselves.”

Artvoice asked 4 questions but the two that have stirred up controversy and inspired some people to ask themselves how typical of Trump supporters Paladino is were 1- What would you most like to happen in 2017? And 2- What would you like to see go away in 2017?

The Buffalo area’s other participants answered the way you might normally expect a public figure to respond. Not Paladino:

1. Obama catches mad cow disease after being caught having relations with a Herford.  He dies before his trial and is buried in a cow pasture next to Valerie Jarret, who died weeks prior, after being convicted of sedition and treason, when a Jihady cell mate mistook her for being a nice person and decapitated her.

2. Michelle Obama.  I’d like her to return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla.

Of the 30 other participants, 4 mentioned they’d like to see Trump impeached and 5 said they’d like to see Trump disappear in 2017. A couple of people also mentioned how nice 2017 would be without Paladino and at least one person said they’d like to see him run for mayor. The Buffalo News:

Friday's response left many wondering about Paladino's political future.

"This is no longer a black issue, this is a community issue," said Warren Galloway, a Republican who was the local president of Jesse Jackson’s Operation PUSH. "This is a reflection of the whole community. As an African-American Republican, the party should sever ties with him."

The Artvoice comments are the latest example in a long history of Paladino making offensive statements, some of which caught national attention because of his role as a co-chairman in Donald J. Trump's New York State election campaign.

During the campaign, Paladino appeared on National Public Radio and described supporters of Trump as people frustrated with government who “want the raccoons out of the basement.” He described what’s happening in the presidential race as “a political revolution” aimed at getting rid of “the establishment class” within the Republican Party and ridding Washington, D.C., of “the Washington elite monsters.”

In June 2015, Paladino commented during a political rally in Olean about “damn Asians” and other “foreigners” attending the University at Buffalo.

Paladino also defended a then-Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority commissioner who used a racial epithet to describe several African-American politicians, including Mayor Byron W. Brown.

And during his run for governor in 2010, Paladino received national attention for circulating emails, including pornographic images, and one that included the use of the N-word.

“Paladino has a long history of racist and incendiary comments," Cuomo wrote in a statement Friday. "While most New Yorkers know Mr. Paladino is not to be taken seriously, as his erratic behavior defies any rational analysis and he has no credibility, his words are still jarring. His remarks do not reflect the sentiments or opinions of any real New Yorker and he has embarrassed the good people of the state with his latest hate-filled rage.

Earlier this week, Paladino was also criticized for introducing a resolution to mandate that all Buffalo Public Schools display a picture of Trump. Paladino served as co-chairman in President-elect Trump's New York State election campaign.

Such comments have lead to a push by some community members and a few of his colleagues on the Buffalo School Board to have him removed from the elected position. Earlier this year, the group devoted part of a committee meeting to discuss their legal options for his removal.

"The question we continue to ask is if we should have someone like this sitting on a board representing children," said board member Sharon Belton-Cottman. "The board sets a policy of expectations for student behavior. We expect them to be civil. We expect them to be courteous. And we should model that behavior.”

There has been some talk lately that the shock of not being offered a Cabinet post by Trump has sent Paladino, a gun-carrying walking freak-show, who expected to be Trump's running-mate, into a spiral of depression, rage and barely controllable insanity which isn’t likely to end well.

At Some Point Something Will Make Everyone Question If They Still Want To Acquiesce To A Lesser-Of-Two Evils Electoral System

I keep seeing one of those annoying automated spam tweets-on-endless-repeat from The Hill: "Billionaire George Soros said he regretted backing Obama in 2008, Clinton email reveals." I suppose its about the primary and he was sorry Hillary wasn't the nominee. But there were plenty of people who felt let down by Obama-- or by what-they-thought-Obama-was-going-to-be-- in 2008. 69,498,215 people voted for Obama in the 2008 general election. 3,591,091 fewer people voted for him in 2012, so I guess they regretted it too. I live in California and I voted for Obama in 2008, knowing full well that he conservative voting record in the Senate augured badly for his presidency. 8,274,472 other Californians did as well (61% of the voters). Four years later, only 7,854,285 (60%) voted for him and I was among the 420,187 fewer Californians. I voted for Jill Stein instead, the candidate on the Green Party line. It was a classic protest vote. I didn't know very much about Stein but I wasn't happy about Obama and wanted to indicate with my vote that he hadn't been progressive enough. Ironically, he's mostly-- not entirely, mostly-- been better in his second term.

This year I'm excited to be supporting Bernie Sanders (you can support him here) and I fear that if the Democrats' well-funded establishment candidate beats him, I'll be forced to stay true to my decision about never voting for the lesser-of-two-evils and then I'll be voting for Jill Stein again. I know a little more about her now though I know-- and she knows-- she's not going to be president of the United States in 2017. I did get an interesting e-mail from her campaign yesterday though, calling on Rahm Emanuel to resign from office. From what I can recall, Bernie has said something to the effect that if it is found that he was withholding the tape of the police murdering Laquan McDonald from the public, he should resign and that Hillary said he's a grand ole guy and a good egg. Stein was close to contemptuous of Rahm and the power structure that's keeping him in place:

Rahm Emanuel has presided over years of extraordinary violence by the Chicago police. Now he is deeply implicated in the 400-day cover-up of a savage police killing, which enabled the Mayor’s 2015 re-election to proceed without the firestorm of protest the video has now unleashed.

Following his re-election, the Mayor himself gaveled through the City Council a $5 million dollar settlement that included silencing the McDonald family. His actions starkly embroil him in a police murder cover-up he either knowingly participated in, or was negligent for not knowing about. Sweeping murder under the rug is behavior we should associate with bygone Chicago Mafia, not the current Chicago mayor. All of this warrants Emanuel’s immediate departure from office, as well as a full investigation.

The McDonald tragedy points to the festering crisis of unaccountable police violence on Emanuel’s watch. In almost 400 police shootings investigated by the city’s Independent Police Review Authority since 2007, incredibly, only one was found to be unjustified.

Republican politicians make no bones about their odious bigotry. But while top Democrats sanction racist violence on the police force and fill jails as effectively as their Republican colleagues, Democrats count on votes from the very communities most devastated by the bipartisan police and prison state. Hence, some Democrats are obliged to issue occasional (or in some cases constant) noises of hypocritical drive-by concern.

Not only have the Democrats failed to take effective action against the epidemic of police killings of people of color, they actively collaborated with the Republicans to implement a program of mass incarceration of people of color. And they have consistently failed to embrace the programs needed to end racism and economic injustice. Black lives matter-- but not to the two corporate parties. Only the Green party and Green candidates stand consistently for rolling back the bipartisan project of the prison state and its out of control police. Only the Green Party and Green candidates refuse contributions from law enforcement unions, prison contractors and their PACS.

Anybody, including Democrats, can shout the magic words that black lives matter. But among political parties only the Green Party is prepared to carry the peoples demands, to answer to the people, not the police or the one percent whom they serve. And this is just a first step towards racial justice-- which must also redress glaring inequality in schools, employment and health care, as well as policing, courts, and prisons. Only then can we ensure that black lives truly matter.

Fact of the matter is, whether Hillary and her team want it admit it or not, Rahm is becoming a real issue and a real albatross. I'm not saying that black voters in Chicago will vote for Ted Cruz or Herr Trumpf or Paul "Brokered Convention" Ryan, but I am warning that black turnout could be in jeopardy if Clinton is seen as one of the institutional props keeping Rahm in office. Clinton having her spokesperson tell that media that "she knows Mayor Emanuel loves Chicago, and is sure he wants to do all he can to restore trust in the Chicago Police Department" isn't going to cut it. Just over the weekend he was accused of being part of a coordinated coverup of Laquan McDonald's murder, along with the police and "independent investigators." Is this going to just drip out all during 2016? And the problem isn't going to be quarantined in Chicago.

Last week, the Buffalo Chronicle explained why more and more black Democrats are opening up to Bernie-- and it is in part because of what Bernie stands for and, ominously, in part because of Hillary Clinton is.

Katrinna Martin-Bordeaux is the region’s highest profile advocate of the Black Lives Matter movement and is the Chairperson of Young Black Democrats of Western New York, a coalition of activists that has mobilized the minority community around education and economic justice issues in recent years.

Her organization, Young Black Democrats of Western New York, is planning to endorse Bernie Sanders for President of the United States of America.

...“We want the national spotlight to be put on Hillary Clinton’s treatment of the Black community during her eight years as our United States Senator, during which she ignored the Eastside of Buffalo,” explains Martin-Bordeaux.

Martin-Bordeaux is an Erie County Democratic Party official and is a zone chairman in the Town of Cheektowaga. She is a professional nurse and one of the city’s most prominent social justice activists.

Operatives anticipate that the event could attract national attention that scrutinizes Clinton’s record in the Senate and both Clintons’ policy posture towards the Black community, which includes a horrific record of mass incarceration and banking deregulation that has decimated the minority community.

The event would come at a time when the Clintons have been propagating a misleading narrative that Hillary Clinton has strong support among minorities, which activists say is untrue.

Given Buffalo’s national reputation as a hard fallen rust belt city that is a ruin of its former self, the event would also draw scrutiny of the Clinton’s for their passage of NAFTA and other free trade policies that decimated American industry in cities like Buffalo, so that Wall Street bankers could make more money.

“The event would profoundly undermine the Clintons’ claim  that they are supportive of unions, working families, or the minority community-- with the backdrop of powerful visuals of massive abandoned industrial structures,” says a local operative.

Normally a video on plutocracy, like the one below, would be used to explain what's wrong with the Republican Party. It works just as well to explain what's wrong with the Rahm Emanuel wing of the Democratic Party. I recommend it... big time.

New York GOP Heavy Donors-- Including Tom Reynolds-- Raising Major Bucks For… Democrat Brian Higgins

Unless you're reading DWT for the first time, you're already aware that we don't care for conservatives or reactionaries here. We have a bias towards progressives. But we don't dislike moderates either. Nothing wrong with a moderate. Oh, not in the way the Inside-the-Beltway media terms every right-wing corporate whore and conservative a moderate… just actual moderates. Like Buffalo's Brian Higgins. He has the 132nd most progressive voting record in Congress (out of 200 Democrats). His lifetime Progressive Punch crucial vote score is 76.06. He's no Mark Pocan (98.39), Raul Grijalva (96.51) or Jan Schakowsky (96.47), but neither is he anything like fellow New Yorkers Sean Patrick Maloney (30.65) or Bill Owens (37.03), two of the worst Democrats in Congress. Higgin's deep blue (D+12-- Obama beat Romney with 64%) western New York district starts up in Niagara Falls, takes in all of Tonawanda, Amhherst and Buffalo to just beyond Lackawanna. Last year Higgins outpolled Obama (197,799 to 193,363) to crush Republican Michael Madigan 75-25%.

NY-26 is a safe seat and Brian Higgins is a well-liked and much-respected congressman who pretty much votes with progressives just over three-quarters of the time. People in Buffalo were shocked this week when it was announced that former NRCC chairman Tom Reynolds is helping Higgins raise campaign cash. And that wasn't the half of it! The host list for a $10,000/plate fundraising dinner for Higgins reads like a who's who of GOP heavy-hitters in western New York.

Over the years, the Buffalo home of Anthony and Donna Gioia has hosted some of the most famous Republicans in state and national politics for glitzy dinners raising millions of campaign dollars.

Few hosts can top guests such as these around their dining room table: former President George H.W. Bush, presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Sen. John McCain, House Speaker John A. Boehner, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Gov. George E. Pataki and former Sen. Alfonse M. D’Amato-- to drop just a few names.

But now Gioia and fellow GOP donor Patrick M. Lee-- along with three former Republican congressmen-- are staging a very different affair at the Gioia home on Meadow Road. This one on Dec. 16 costs a personal contribution and/or a pledge to raise a total of $10,000 for Rep. Brian Higgins.

Yes, that Brian Higgins. The Democrat. The one from South Buffalo.

After decades of Republican fundraising that quite possibly ranks the former ambassador to Malta as the most successful political money man in Western New York history, Gioia says he harbors not even a particle of guilt over collecting money for a Democrat the GOP has long ached to defeat.

“When someone does such a good job, we shouldn’t care about the stripe of his party; we should just support him,” Gioia said. “He is so committed to what is right for Western New York. I couldn’t ask for anything more from this guy.”

The host committee for the event next month hardly resembles the labor leaders and Democratic pols who normally stage Higgins fundraisers, although several Democrats have signed on.

What distinguishes this event is the array of Republican co-hosts, including former Reps. Jack F. Quinn Jr. of Buffalo, Amo Houghton of Corning and Thomas M. Reynolds of Clarence, now a Washington lobbyist who at one time headed the national panel whose purpose is to elect more Republicans to the House.

And Lee has his own connection to the Republican-led House as the father of former Rep. Chris Lee, R-Clarence. Besides his son, the elder Lee also has raised money for Romney and emerging Republican stars such as Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida.

It all seems to rank as more than politics and strange bedfellows. These bedfellows border on the bizarre.

Even Reynolds, who once crisscrossed the country weekly to raise money for his GOP colleagues in the House, said he had no problem signing on.

“I think Patrick and Tony took a look at him and think Brian is doing a fine job, and I certainly have watched him and think he’s doing a fine job,” Reynolds said, adding that he never before has lent his name to a congressional fundraising effort for a Democrat.

…Not all Republicans are thrilled with Gioia and Lee’s generosity toward a member of the opposition. None would speak for attribution because of the pair’s powerful position in the fundraising community, but one influential Republican questioned why they have gone to such lengths to help Higgins.

“I’m greatly irritated by it,” the Republican said. “There’s no candidate against him, and that’s all the more reason why it’s not necessary.”

With Higgins occupying a safe Democratic seat and with plenty of money in his campaign treasury already, it amounts to overkill, the Republican said.

“Brian is just going to give it to Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Headquarters, anyway,” the Republican said, referring to the House Democratic leader from California and hinting that Higgins will be free to funnel his excess money toward other Democratic campaigns across the country.

Gioia said he has heard the criticism but feels he has earned the right to raise money for whomever he wants, especially after making Buffalo the center of national Republican fundraising for upstate New York. He also said he personally revealed his efforts for Higgins to Rep. Chris Collins, R-Clarence, who registered no objection.

“Let any Republican put up the money to the level I have, and then they can criticize me,” Gioia said. “I don’t need to apologize to anyone for my loyalty to the party. Besides, I’m an American first.”

Gioia acknowledged that he disagrees with Higgins on many aspects of national policy and politics but was first impressed with the congressman while chairman of the harbor agency. Since then, Gioia added, the community has benefited from Higgins’ efforts on the waterfront and his work on behalf of Roswell Park, which the Gioia family has supported for many years… “I’m still a very strong Republican, and that won’t change until the day I die,” Gioia said. “This is just an exceptional guy who’s doing an exceptional job.”

Last year Higgins wrote six checks to the DCCC totally $170,000. So far this year he's given contributions to conservative Democrats Cheri Bustos, Bill Owens, John Barrow, Sean Patrick Maloney, Eric Swalwell and to the most corrupt Democrat in the House, Joe Crowley… nothing to any progressives though.

NY-26: Kathy Hochul, The One In Blue, Ahead By A Length In The Final Stretch

Par for the course: No good choices in NY-26

Once the Rapture passed us by, it was time to get back to watching the special election in western New York that's building up to Tuesday-- and with heavy national implications. Most to lose: Paul Ryan, whose plan to destroy Medicare has become the #1 issue of the race. If the GOP can't hold onto this profoundly Republican district panic will set in among dozens of Republican congressmen who were tricked into voting for Ryan's hated, dystopian budget scheme-- "radical... right-wing social engineering," in the words of one Republican elder statesman. The latest polling-- from Siena-- was bad news for the Republicans, who have poured over three million dollars into efforts to hold onto a red, red seat.

Red, red seat? Well, yeah... even though the GOP's lunatic fringe gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino only polled 34% statewide last year, he had a landslide victory in NY-26-- 61% of the vote! And the district votes for Republicans in federal races as well. In 2000 Gore only got 44%. Kerry did a percent worse and Obama, while sweeping the rest of the state-- and the region-- was bested in NY-26 by McCain 52-46%, McCain's best performance in New York. And, Christopher Lee, the perverted millionaire teabagger, whose sex scandal forced him to resign triggering this special election, won with 74% just 6 months ago, the biggest victory for any Republican in New York state. Lee didn't fall below 70% in any of the district's 6 counties, even winning Niagara County-- where then-Democrat Jack Davis beat then-incumbent Tom Reynolds in 2004-- in a startling 25,570- 8,661 victory. The Wall Street Journal reported that Hochul is surging.

And what's different this week is the Ryan budget. Stupidly, Republican Jane Corwin, once favored to win in a walkaway, said she would have voted for it. And it turns Medicare into an inadequate voucher program that voters absolutely hate. Congress' Joint Economic Committee clearly laid out how harmful Ryan's plan would be for New York seniors. By 2022, under the current Medicare out-of-pocket expenses for the typical 65-year-old enrollee in New York would be $6,308.07, already considered high by many. Under Ryan's plan-- the one embraced by Corwin, the out-of-pocket expenses for a typical New York senior doubles to $12,826.26. That's an extra $6,518.20 annually. And what for? So the fabulously wealthy can pay even less taxes than they already do.

Earlier this month we talked about why I'm about as enthusiastic for a Hochul victory Tuesday as I am about my town's sports team winning a game or a tournament. Better the blue team than the red team... I guess. I was relieved that at least Hochul opposes the two corporate parties' NAFTA-like, job-destroying trade policies but I'll never trust any Democrat who seeks office by throwing a Democratic constituency under the bus by adopting Republican Party framing, the way Hochul has done in this campaign. If she wins Tuesday, I expect her to either be a Blue Dog or, more likely, just vote with them, pulling the Democratic caucus further to the right.

Former NY Blue Dog, Kirsten Gillibrand, was in Amherst campaigning with Hochul yesterday and Chuck Schumer is there this morning. Popular Governor Andrew Cuomo released an ad endorsing Hochul. And even the Tea Party candidate, multimillionaire Jack Davis, a lifelong Republican who brags he voted for every Republican president but who captured the Democratic nominations 3 times in the past, says his own polling shows Hochul ahead. (It also shows him in second place, beating Corwin. Watch the clip below.) Momentum is clearly in Hochul's camp, with voters determined to send Boehner and Cantor, each of whom has been to the district to campaign for Corwin, a clear message that they will not abide the Republican Party wrecking Medicare. Obama has been laying low-- either because of his own unpopularity in the district or because he doesn't want to anger Hispanic voters who know Hochul for her anti-immigrant demagoguery.



UPDATE: The Buffalo News Endorses Hochul

Virtually all the big newspapers in the district have come out for Hochul. The Buffalo News is the most influential. And, for an essentially conservative newspaper, they were brutal.

Hochul has a more rounded grasp on the role of government in the 21st century. She understands health care for seniors to be an appropriate federal issue, while Corwin does not. More conservative than even many Republicans in Western New York, Corwin holds a pinched view of Washington's role in public life, restricting it to issues such as defense, transportation and food safety.

In meeting with the Buffalo News editorial board, she didn't specifically say that issues such as health, education and the environment were inappropriate for government, but the implication was clear. She supports the Republican proposal for Medicare, which would turn it into a voucher system. To be sure, Medicare needs to be fixed to preserve it for future beneficiaries, but not this way.

...Both Corwin and Hochul have made an issue of the deficit, but Hochul's skills and record suggest a deeper understanding of the role of government in modern life. Changes need to be made, and soon. Hochul is the candidate with the best ability to push for those changes while guarding against an assault on the role of government itself.

Why I Might Cheer And Eat Popcorn For Buffalo Democrat Kathy Hochul But Not Contribute A Dime

There are two special elections for open House seats coming up, one in the L.A. area and one in the Buffalo area. Blue America has endorsed California Secretary of State Debra Bowen in the former and hasn't taken a position in the latter. But as the race in NY-26 tightens up-- in part because the Republican is battling a deranged, multimillionaire teabagger, Jack Davis, on the one hand, and the taint of being associated with Paul Ryan's Medicare-killing agenda on the other hand-- many Blue America supporters have asked us why we haven't been raising money for the Democrat in the race, Kathy Hochul. Yesterday, in fact, Daily Kos and PPP reported that Hochul has pulled ahead in the polling. There's no doubt in our minds that she would be a better congressmember than either Jane Corwin, the rubber stamp Republican, or Jack Davis, the dangerous fascist. That brings us back to the idea than a D or a C- is always better than an F. But... watch this Hochul ad:



The very first plea she makes to voters is bragging that she has adopted a divisive, reactionary Republican frame as her own: "I led the fight against giving illegal immigrants drivers licenses..." Blue America doesn't endorse triangulators who get bad advise from Inside-the-Beltway hacks and we don't endorse candidates who apologize for being Democrats; it sets them on a bad path if they get into Congress. She can go raise money from that set, while we raise money for real progressives who want to use progressive values to solve America's problems for working families, like Ilya Sheyman (IL), Nick Ruiz (FL), Norman Solomon (CA) and Debra Bowen (CA). Saturday we'll be introducing you to a new candidate as well, Eric Griego (NM).

Yesterday's National Journal covered the battle in upstate NY horserace style:

With a second poll this week confirming that we really have a three-way race in New York's 26th District, Republicans have the most to lose if things don't go Jane Corwin's way in three weeks - and their nervousness is starting to show. Both Corwin and the state GOP have gone after independent Jack Davis, hoping that if they can remind people of his Democratic past, he'll stop pulling votes away from them. But they have two fronts to watch now, with both Democrat Kathy Hochul and Davis hammering Corwin on Medicare.

It's clear now that the Medicare issue will be the defining issue in the race, and so far Corwin has tried to turn the message back to jobs and the deficit. This is an early test for how the Democratic message will play, but the DCCC still isn't in; though with Corwin forced to go on the attack, it could be better if they wait it out and force her hand. On the flip side, the NRCC has already begun phone-banking for Corwin, but especially if they're forced to send resources and go up on air for her, it's an even surer sign that they're worried about how a loss could play into their 2012 plans.

Meanwhile Boehner, who isn't exactly Mr. Popularity among voters, was bragging on Twitter yesterday that he was in Buffalo raising money for Corwin. I bet he didn't bring Paul Ryan along! Meanwhile, in the first big race since he was named DCCC chair, Steve Israel seems to be sitting this one out, even though Hochul is just his kind of centrist Republican-light candidate.


Yesterday Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) released this slam against contemptible immigrant-basher John Boehner. I wonder if he and other Beltway Democrats who are pushing it realize it could be applied to Hochul as well.

"Speaker Boehner should focus on controlling the level of violence in his own state before tarnishing the image of border communities that remain among the safest places to live in America. As his office asserts that Congress cannot consider reforming our broken immigration system until border violence is under control, the fact remains that the six largest cities in Ohio all have higher rates of violence and crime than every major city along the U.S.-Mexico border. In fact, the Speaker's own district in Dayton, Ohio saw more homicides in 2010 than Texas' four largest border cities combined, despite the fact that Dayton's population of 141,500 is only about one-tenth of the size by comparison. According to the most recent City Crime Rankings Survey by CQ Press, Ohio's cities have higher rates of violence and crime in every category, including murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, and motor vehicle theft than border communities.

"Tomorrow, President Obama will visit the border region when he speaks in El Paso, the largest border city in Texas and the safest large city in America. As Republicans continue to distort the facts and use border violence as an excuse to delay immigration reform and disparage the outstanding work of our local, state, and federal law enforcement professionals, I hope the President's visit will help expose Republicans' distorted rhetoric on border violence, and renew the push for much-needed reforms to our immigration system that are long overdue."

President Obama will make the point that his aggressive border, far more aggressive than Bush's ever was, is actually working. It's time for a politically mature look at immigration policy and at the undocumented Americans already here, not the divisiveness of political hacks and demagogues like Boehner and his caucus and Democrats like Hochul.

Any reasonable look at the data from the past several years makes clear that the new joint Mexican-US strategy towards the common border region is working. Deportations of criminal immigrants, southbound seizures of bulk cash and illegal guns are way up. The number of illegal migrants crossing the border, the number of undocumented immigrants in the US, crime rates all along the US side of the border are all down. By some measures cities like El Paso and San Diego are some of the safest big cities in America today. While the violence on the Mexican side of the border is still at unacceptable levels, there has been no measurable spillover of the cartel violence into the United States.  So while the things we don't want happening along the US side of the border are decreasing, the things we do want-- trade and legal traffic of people-- are increasing. The 2,000 mile border between our countries sees hundreds of millions of legal crossings each year, and is now has the single busiest border crossing in the world.  Increased trade with Mexico has made our southern neighbor the 3rd largest trading partner with the US of any country in the world, and annual trade with Mexico now equals that of our trade with China, and is about the same as our trade annually with the Germany, Japan and the UK combined.  While much more must be done, it is clear that significant advances have been made along the border region in recent years.

When Democrats start off by using GOP framing, the way Hochul is doing in her campaign, what do you think happens when they get into power? That's how we wind up with the likes of Blanche Lincoln, Dan Boren, Ben Nelson, Claire McCaskill, Joe Lieberman muddying the waters for voters and making it impossible for the Democratic caucuses in the Senate and House to ever enact any progressive legislation. That's why we don't have single-payer or even a public option now instead of the crappy healthcare reform that the Democrats, in control of both Houses of Congress and the White House, managed to pass (and even then, just barely). And that's why we had millions of Democratic voters staying away from the polls last November, sickened by the inability of Democrats to enact progressive reforms. Yesterday 75 prominent economists sent a letter to Congress imploring them to oppose plans such as GOP-framed legislation by Hochul-like Democrat Claire McCaskill, paired with reactionary Republican Bob Corker and by tepid centrist Democrat Mark Udall, paired by reactionary Dick Shelby that would endanger the social safety net and amount to nothing more than a Medicare kill switch, something very much like the Paul Ryan "cause" the public is so repulsed by and most Democrats would like to use as a campaign issue to show how the two parties diverge. But how can anyone show the two parties diverging with Democrats like McCaskill, Udall (Mark, not Tom) and Hochul?

And with Rove's thuggish PAC flooding the airwaves with anti-Hochul propaganda (a staggering $650,000 worth), she could use some help. But the people who she's trying to appeal to with her anti-immigrant framing are the ones financing her political demise and why should any progressive want to help elect a worthless, triangulating, cowardly shill that she promises to be?