Weirdly Mixed Night For Gay Republicans

There aren't going to be all that many Democratic freshmen next year. Seth Moulton's win in MA-06 yesterday was one of the bright spots. The district is the northeast corner of the state where the 495 and the 95 join up and head up into New Hampshire. It starts in the Boston's northern outer suburbs-- Lynn, Saugus, Wakefield, Burlington and Bedford and shoots north to Salem, Gloucester, Ipswich, Newbury and Merrimac. It's been John Tierney's district since 1997 but Moulton beat him in a primary on September 9. Although every poll showed Tierney winning, Moulton had closed to within 3 points the weekend before the election and then won 36,575 (50.8%) to 28,915 (40.1%). Last night he won 149,449 (54.65%) to 111,848 (40.90%), beating Tisei far more convincingly than Tierney had in 2012 (48-47% with less than 4,000 votes separating them).

On their October 15 FEC reports Moulton was seriously out of cash compared to Tisei-- $109,572 for the Democrat and $714,104 left for the Republican. The biggest outside expenditures on behalf of Tisei were $997,339 from a right-wing operation calling themselves the American Unity PAC; $700,212 from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; $256,237 from the National Association of Realtors; $494,832 from the NRCC's Congressional Leadership Fund; $151,158 from a shady Big Oil funded 501c called Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions. Meanwhile Moulton's biggest backers are the VoteVets PAC ($4,036,122), and the DCCC and their House Majority PAC (for a combined $782,570). VoteVets spent $3,001,776 last week.

The last 2 polls, one by Emerson College and one by Republican polling firm ;Øptimus, both last week, showed an extremely tight race with Tisei ahead but within the margin of error.

One of the oddities of this race is that the Republican, Richard Tisei came out of the closet and campaigned as openly gay. The rabidly homophobic National Organization for Marriage, a regular part of the Republican coalition, endorsed Moulton, not because they like him but to stop Tisei. NOM president Brian Brown told his members and supporters to vote for Moulton because it's better to have a Democrat-- even a pro-gay one with a gay brother-- than a gay Republican in Congress who opposes "the values of marriage, family, and life." Moulton told NOM to take their endorsement and shove it up their asses.

“Seth Moulton fundamentally disagrees with everything NOM stands for and has long said that equality is the civil rights fight of our generation,” said Carrie Rankin, Moulton’s communications director. “Fighting against groups, like NOM, that deny equality as a basic human right will be a priority of Seth’s in Congress.” Rankin noted that Moulton has a gay brother and Moulton has said, “It’s fundamentally wrong that he and I don’t share the same rights just because of who he is.”

The other openly gay Republican who ran-- Carl DeMaio in San Diego (in a D+2 district)-- ousted New Dem Scott Peters, 50.26- 49.74%, despite two gay sex scandals breaking about him within a month of each other and despite homophobic GOP congressmen urging Republicans to vote against him.

GOP Staffer Accuses Boehner's San Diego Candidate, Carl DeMaio, Of Predator Sexual Behavior

Scott Peters is a conservative San Diego New Dem, a multimillionaire (8th richest Member of Congress) who bought himself a seat in Congress in 2012 by writing his campaign a $2,757,452 check and outspending his Republican opponent, incumbent Brian Bilbray $4,352,737 to $2,772,270. Newly redistricted, CA-52 is way bluer than it’s ever been before, a D+2 district that takes in most of the city of San Diego before heading north to La Jolla along the coast and out to Poway and Rancho Bernardo inland. Under these line, Obama won the district 55-43% against McCain and 52-46% against Romney. Peters beat Bilbray 151,451 (51%) to 144,459 (49%) in 2012. This year Peters hasn’t self-funded much ($71,659) but as on the June 30 FEC filing deadline he had collected $2,554,980. His GOP opponent, Carl DeMaio raised $2,232,048. The DCCC and NRCC have spent almost identical amounts on ads, $1,661,848 and $1,669,047, respectively.

It isn’t the kind of race Blue America would ever get involved with. Both candidates are putrid and neither deserves to be in public office. “Lesser of two evils” doesn’t even begin to describe the choice voters are being asked to make between these two shady conservative shitheads.

The two most recent polls, both by SurveyUSA show a close race but with some momentum for DeMaio. Their September poll showed Peters ahead 47-46% and the poll they released last week showed DeMaio beating Peters 48-45%.

Compared to a SurveyUSA poll 3 weeks ago, DeMaio is up 2 points, Peters is down 2 points. Poll-on-poll, there is movement among men, where the Republican is now up by 12, and there is movement among independent voters, where the Republican is now up by 18. Voters say that "integrity" is the most important issue when filling out their ballot, and on that issue, DeMaio leads narrowly 50% to 46%. Second most important is the issue of "fiscal responsibility," and on that issue, DeMaio leads overwhelmingly, 81% to 15%. Peters leads on 3 and DeMaio leads on 2 of the following 5 attributes:

• More trustworthy? 48% say DeMaio, 44% say Peters.
• Stronger on transportation issues? DeMaio 42%, Peters 40%.

• In sync with you on same-sex marriage? Peters 44%, DeMaio 38%.

• In sync with you on abortion? Peters 45%, DeMaio 37%.

• In sync with you on veterans affairs? Peters 46% to DeMaio's 43%.

Friday, however, Peters got his lucky break, a game-changer, likely to effect DeMaio’s big gender gap among males. It’s the biggest political story in San Diego and CNN made it a national story as well. Watch the shocking video up top.

Charges of sexual misconduct, plagiarism and burglary have pitted a former staffer against a high-profile congressional candidate just weeks before the midterm elections.

The drama is unfolding in a city that just weathered a sexual harassment scandal ending the career of its Democratic mayor. The latest accusations by a former campaign aide could derail the career of up-and-coming Republican Carl DeMaio.

In a story of charges and counter charges, the one constant is this: they both insist the other is lying.

DeMaio has won national name recognition as a "new generation Republican," calling on his party to ditch social issues and winning plaudits for helping the Grand Old Party shed what many see as its intolerant image.

The openly gay, former San Diego city councilman has won support from GOP heavyweights like Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker John Boehner and even former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

But behind the scenes, things are much messier. DeMaio's former campaign policy director is accusing the candidate of sexual harassment, even saying DeMaio masturbated in front of him. DeMaio vehemently denies the allegations, saying they're the cover story of a plagiarist and suspected criminal.

This is not the first time DeMaio has been accused of sexually inappropriate behavior. Last year, a fellow city councilman said he twice caught DeMaio masturbating in a city hall restroom— an allegation DeMaio denied.

Todd Bosnich says he joined DeMaio's campaign last year eager to work for a candidate who shared his values and who, like himself, is an openly gay Republican.

But Bosnich said his enthusiasm for his boss was soon replaced by dread, because DeMaio would find him alone and make inappropriate advances, massaging and kissing his neck and groping him.

One morning last April, Bosnich said he arrived early at campaign headquarters and DeMaio called him back to his office.

"I came over to his office, door was open. And he was masturbating," Bosnich said. "I saw his hand, his penis in his hand and he had a smile on his face. And as soon as I came over he was looking at me."

There was no mistaking what was happening, he said.

Bosnich said the harassment that culminated that spring morning started months before, when DeMaio drove Bosnich back to his car after drinks with the staff at a local bar.

"We were making small talk on the way back. And when he pulled up to my car, he reached over into my lap and grabbed my crotch. And I flipped out. And I pushed his hand away," Bosnich said. "I just was shocked because I'd never had anyone do something like that to me, especially in a position of authority and trust. And, at the time, I just figured, well, maybe he was drunk and blew it off. But he progressively and progressively, the inappropriate touching incidents continued from there."

It was several more months, Bosnich said, before he mentioned the behavior to campaign manager Tommy Knepper, who laughed it off.

"'That's just the way Carl is,'" Bosnich recalls Knepper saying. "And that if I really felt that uncomfortable I shouldn't have let him know that I'm a gay man."

Knepper, Bosnich said, was blaming him.

"He was implying that it's my fault, that it's incumbent on me to stop Carl DeMaio from these behaviors," Bosnich said. "And I was really offended."

It wasn't until a few weeks after the masturbation incident, Bosnich said, that he confronted DeMaio, telling him to either stop the harassment or drop out of the race.

"It was the very next day, in the morning, that the campaign manager called me into his office and said that Carl lost his trust in me and that he'd terminated me," Bosnich said. "He offered me a position in the county Republican Party and also told me to sign a non-disclosure agreement in exchange for $50,000."

Bosnich said he considered the offer "an attempt to bribe me to keep my silence."

He left the campaign, he said, without taking any money or signing any papers. A day before the primary, Bosnich recorded an interview with a local conservative radio station outlining his allegations, but the interview never aired.

…This is not the first time DeMaio has been accused of sexually inappropriate behavior. Last year, a fellow city councilman, Ben Hueso, said he twice caught DeMaio masturbating in a semi-private city hall restroom accessible only to city officials.

The Democrat declined an interview request, but councilwoman Marti Emerald said she learned about the 2009 incident immediately after Hueso witnessed it. On the way to the women's room, she said she literally bumped into Huseo as he exited the men's room across the hall.

"He was furious; he looked like something serious had just happened," Emerald said. "He said DeMaio was in there (masturbating). And I said do you want to grab a police officer and have him arrested? Because this is a violation of the (city) code. He said no, but he was pretty upset."

It's a claim DeMaio denied— even saying he took a polygraph test to support his denial, but he declined to provide the results to CNN.

"This lie crossed the line. It's so gross. It's so untrue. It's so humiliating that it demands a response," DeMaio said last year.

Bosnich also took an independent lie detector test to support his allegations, a copy of which Bosnich's attorney provided to CNN. The report said Bosnich's answers were "truthful" and found "no deception."

"It corroborated my account of being sexually harassed by Carl DeMaio," Bosnich said.

Bosnich also denied that he was the one who plagiarized from National Journal.

"Carl authored the report. And I offered input on it. But in terms of the final draft, in terms of the, even the composition of it, that was from Carl, as he admitted to the National Journal,” he said.

Embarrassing for the gay community? Well… it takes a very sick mind for a gay person to join the Republican Party and even when they come out of the closet, it would probably take decades of intense psychological therapy for someone like DeMaio— not to mention Lindsay Graham, Aaron Schock, Patrick McHenry, Mitch McConnell— to begin behaving like a normal person. Carl DeMaio happens to be gay. His sickness is that he chose to be a Republican, exactly the same kind of mental illness that Jews who supported Hitler’s Nazi Party in 1930s Germany.

What About Party Discipline?

John Barrow, from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party

Yesterday we saw that most of the 17 Democratic House Members from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party who voted for Darrell Issa's strictly partisan resolution to hold Eric Holder in criminal contempt were defeated in 2012. Among the few remaining 3-- Bill Owens (New Dem-NY), Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT) and Mike McIntyre (New Dem/Blue Dog-NC)-- picked retirement this year over certain defeat at the polls. That leaves John Barrow (Blue Dog/New Dem-GA), Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN) and Nick Rahall (Blue Dog-WV). The DCCC isn't punishing them for their vote against Holder; Blue Dog Steve Israel is rewarding each with millions of dollars in campaign ads.

• Barrow- $1,160,000 in ad reservations
• Peterson- $1,500,000 in ad reservations
• Rahall- $1,225,000 in ad reservations

And it isn't just the criminal contempt vote against Holder. All three have horrifying voting records. According to ProgressivePunch they are three of the 10 most Republican-voting Democrats in the House, each voting more frequently with the Republicans than with the Democrats on crucial roll calls. Barrow's the worst, voting in the 2013-14 session just 26.87% of the time for progressive legislation, followed by Peterson (33.92%) and Rahall (40.97%). Why not give them even more millions?

The Republicans are much more likely to discipline their members who evidence the kind of disloyalty these Blue Dogs and New Dems regularly display. Yesterday, writing at BuzzFeed, Chris Geidner, gave examples of how extreme right-wing GOP coalition organizations--National Organization for Marriage, Family Research Council, and CitizenLink-- are campaigning against Republicans they view as not right-wing enough. The funniest example is Carl DeMaio of San Diego, who's lame New Dem opponent, Scott Peters, has been endorsed by the Chamber of Commerce because of DeMaio's affiliation with Tea Party extremists. But these GOP groups find DeMaio is guilty of being too liberal gay. In fact another of the 3 Republicans they're fighting is Richard Tisei, another gay man. The third is some weird lady the Koch brothers dug up in Oregon, Monica Wehby.

“We cannot in good conscience urge our members and fellow citizens to support candidates like DeMaio, Tisei or Wehby,” the presidents of the three groups write. “They are wrong on critical, foundational issues of importance to the American people. Worse, as occupants of high office they will secure a platform in the media to advance their flawed ideology and serve as terrible role models for young people who will inevitably be encouraged to emulate them.”

DeMaio and Tisei are the only out LGBT federal candidates from the Republican Party to be appearing on the ballot this fall.

“The Republican Party platform is a ‘statement of who we are and what we believe.’ Thus, the platform supports the truth of marriage as the union of husband and wife, and recognizes the sanctity and dignity of human life,” NOM President Brian S. Brown said in a statement.

Brown called it “extremely disappointing” to see candidates supported “who reject the party’s principled positions on these and other core issues.”

Of the effort to urge people to oppose DeMaio, Tisei, and Wehby, he said, “We cannot sit by when people calling themselves Republicans seek high office while espousing positions that are antithetical to the overwhelming majority of Republicans.”

The letter was sent to House Speaker John Boehner, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Greg Walden, National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Jerry Moran, and others in Republican congressional leadership.

In it, the three conservative groups also warned that it is a “grave error” for the party to be supporting “candidates who do not hold core Republican beliefs and, in fact, are working to actively alienate the Republican base.”

The only left-leaning group that has ever done this-- at least in recent memory-- is Blue America, which ran the TV and radio ads that defeated Bobby Bright in 2010. Most Democratic-oriented groups buy into the DCCC/DSCC kool-aid that they need to support the lesser of two evils. This isn't supporting progressives against conservative in primaries-- which we do routinely-- but helping defeat bad Democrats in a general election. If we weren't so busy trying to help elect Shenna Bellows (D-ME), Rick Weiland (D-SD), Paul Clements (D-MI), Kelly Westlund (D-WI), Mike Obermueller (D-MN) and our other candidates, we'd be running ads against John Barrow in Georgia. He really needs to be disciplined and I hope Democratic voters stay away from the polls in his district in November. He certainly hasn't done anything to earn their voters… just their contempt.

Are You Surprised That The Chamber Of Commerce Is Backing Incumbents From The Republican Wing Of The Democratic Party?

Last night when we were looking at vile DC lobbyist John Breaux, formerly a very conservative Louisiana senator, I recalled that he was a New Dem, a Wall Street-funded organization of business-oriented Democrats. It should come as no surprise that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, delights in finding anti-family Democrats and endorsing them the same way they endorse anti-family Republicans. In 2012 the Chamber of Commerce attack machine spent $27,912,717 smearing Democrats with TV and radio ads. But they also spent $305,044 bolstering 2 of the most right-wing Democrats in the House, reactionary Blue Dogs Jim Matheson (UT- $202,112) and John Barrow (GA-$102,932). So far this year they already spent $12,758,084 on behalf of Republicans and nothing at all helping Democrats. But that's about to change.

In past years the U.S. Chamber has been among the top donors for New Dems and Blue Dogs willing to sell out the interests of working families and vote with Republicans on core economic issues, slimy and corrupt characters like Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX), Ed Case (Blue Dog-HI), Tim Mahoney (Blue Dog-FL), Melissa Bean (New Dem-IL), and John Barrow (Blue Dog-GA).

Last cycle one of the big races the Chamber got involved with to try to help sleazy lobbyist Brian Bilbray hold his San Diego congressional seat (CA-52). It was a very close race and conservative multimillionaire Scott Peters-- who wrote his campaign a check for $2,757,452-- outspent Bilbray $4,352,737 to $2,772,270. In the end Peters beat Bilbray 151,451 (51%) to 144,459 (49%) in the D+2 district. The Chamber was one of several right-wing outfits that spent $4,018,104 smearing Peters with Independent expenditures. The Chamber threw in $320,000 worth of TV spots.

This year the Chamber, perfectly happy with Peters conservative New Dem voting record, is backing Peters. And Peters, whose voting record has turned off many base Democrats, is in a tough race against Republican Carl DeMaio. Peters is balking at spending more of his own fortune and so far has only put $71,659 of his own into the race, out of the $2,554,980 he's raised. DeMaio is keeping up with him and has raised $2,232,048.

Thomas Donohue, the right-wing Republican nut who runs the Chamber-- and who funnels tens of millions of dollars into GOP camapigns-- wrote to Peters last week that "We believe that your re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives will help produce sustained economic growth, help create jobs, and get our country back on track. We will encourage the business community to vigorously support your candidacy."

While scores of groups offer election endorsements, “this one stands out a bit,” Peters said in a phone interview Tuesday evening.

“What this shows is that I really am the candidate that’s working across the aisles. I’m not just a member of one of the partisan armies,” Peters added.

In 2013, Peters voted with the chamber 69 percent of the time on key bills supported by the organization, according to the chamber’s website.

The DeMaio campaign said the endorsement underscored the status quo in Washington that DeMaio has pledged to change.

“We’re not surprised that a special interest group in D.C. is trying to protect members of Congress-- they like the system the way it is. They know Carl DeMaio is coming to end the perks for this crowd,” said Dave McCulloch, spokesman for the DeMaio campaign.

Rob Engstrom, chamber vice president for political affairs, said on Twitter Wednesday that DeMaio had tried to get the chamber's endorsement.

The DeMaio campaign "needs to get facts straight. The campaign actively sought our endorsement. Sour grapes," Engstrom tweeted.

And, as they do every year, the Chamber will also be endorsing Georgia New Dem/Blue Dog John Barrow, who votes with the GOP on crucial economic issues far more than he votes with Democrats.

Barrow is the fourth Democrat this cycle to receive the backing of the chamber, a pro-business group that spends millions in federal elections usually in support of Republicans. The others include Rep. Scott Peters, D-Calif., a top GOP target who was endorsed Wednesday, along with Reps. Henry Cuellar of Texas and Jim Costa of California.

These days, the Chamber hates the Tea Party Republicans-- like DeMaio-- and is happy to lend a hand to Democrats like these:

Northern San Diego County-- Will They Ever Have Good Representation In Congress?

Though many of the most salient questions about his corruption have never been addressed, Republican former-congressman/DWT star Duke Cunningham is out of prison. Apparently, we will never find out what happened to the $400,000 Thomas "Gus" Kontogiannis gave Cunningham to pay off George W. Bush for a pardon. (Be sure to read the comments at the link; some of these folks have very inside information they're sharing.) Anyway, now that the Dukester is out, the media isn't asking him about the bribes, especially not the big Bush bribe, just about what it was like to be in a Club Fed. Huff Po reports the 72 year old sleazy right-wing sociopath is now an advocate of sentencing reform and rolling back harsh mandatory minimums for drug crimes. "He's active in his church," they report, "he's volunteering with his local fire department, and he even says he's setting up meet-and-greets and fundraisers for Republican gubernatorial candidate Asa Hutchinson in Arkansas." He lives in Arkansas now-- in "the largest gated community in the U.S." Like Cunningham, Hutchinson is a far right extremist who a record that would be labeled "fascist" in any country that has ever experienced the tyranny of fascism.

"Unfortunately, some of my Democrat colleagues were right and I was wrong on some issues as far as criminal justice," Cunningham said, specifically regretting votes for mandatory minimums for drug crimes that take discretion away from federal judges and give federal prosecutors a tremendous amount of leverage over defendants.

"We have taken out of the judge's hands the ability to be merciful in some reasons or to do the right thing," Cunningham said. "I've heard case after case where the judges have said, 'I wish I could help you, but my hands are tied.' I want to untie the hands of our judges."

"I saw kids in there who are 19 to 30. They go into prison, they maybe got caught with cocaine or rock or something like that, and they give them 10 years minimum. What do they do when they get out?" Cunningham said. "There's a lot of very nice guys that got caught up."

…"I'm not going to give you their names, but I've already called some Republican and Democrat friends of mine and told them that I would make myself available to testify if they could protect me from you guys when I come back there," Cunningham told HuffPost, adding that he was worried "you paparazzi would eat me alive" if he ever came back to Capitol Hill.

"Eat me alive," I hope means someone would ask him questions about the Bush bribe and about the other Republicans on the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee doing the exact same thing he was doing, particularly Jerry Lewis, Duncan Hunter, Virgil Goode, Darrell Issa and Ken Calvert.

Cunningham says he still hasn't forgiven himself for accepting millions in bribes from defense contractors, and again apologized to those whose trust he violated. But he said he wants to use any influence he can still muster to influence changes in what he refers to as the December of his life.

"I got a friend who told me that the only cure for politics is embalming fluid," Cunningham said. "I think that's true."

The infamous "menu" of what Cunningham was offering and for how much

The state of California wasn't waiting for the embalming fluid. At the first opportunity, they chopped up his R+5 district (which Bush won with 54% against Gore and with 55% against Kerry) to erase whatever was left of Cunninghamism from San Diego County. They gave many of the most die-hard Republican parts of the district-- Del Mar, Solana Beach, Encinitas and Carlsbad along the both coast and, inland to Rancho Santa Fe-- to Darrell Issa and other inland chunks like San Marcos to Duncan Hunter, Jr., making both of them safer in seats that were threatened demographically. Issa's district R+10 district was turing blue but the addition of the reddest parts of Cunningham's (plus Steve Israel's tenure at the DCCC) gave him a reprieve in a district that would be a D+2 but is now an R+4. When Duncan Hunter's slow-witted, alcoholic song, Jr., inherited daddy's seat, the district had a PVI of R+9 and was headed bluer. The spoils from the northeast of Cunningham's old district put the brakes on the slide and Hunter's district has a PVI of R+14-- reddest in the state and safe for a few more years, even for a dullard like him.

All that said, the core of Cunninghamland is now much friendlier for Democrats-- with a PVI of D+2. In 2012 the Democrats, tepid and unsure of themselves as always, ran a self-funding multimillionaire from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, conservative New Dem Scott Peters and Peters managed to buy himself a seat (spending $2.8 million of his own dollars) by outspending corrupt Republican lobbyist/incumbent Brian Bilbray nearly two to one. Peters has done nothing to engage the Democratic base and, despite that D+2, he's considered one of the most vulnerable incumbents in Congress. His voting record sucks and Democratic base voters have no reason to come out and bolster his career in November other than the DCCC's mantra: "the Republican is worse."

The Republican is, no doubt, worse but he's also more interesting than Peters-- and not that much worse. The GOP is running openly gay Republican Carl DeMaio-- and he's ahead of Peters in the blue district. The latest polling shows DeMaio beating Peters 51-44%. How can that happen in a blue California district?

• DeMaio holds 82% of the Republican base, and gets 88% support from conservatives. Peters holds 85% of the Democratic base, holds 87% of the liberal vote, and edges DeMaio among moderates 54% to 43%.

• DeMaio leads by 17 points among men, trails by 2 points among women, a 19-point Gender Gap.

• DeMaio leads decisively among the less educated and less affluent voters. Peters draws even among the most educated and most affluent voters.

• Union voters break heavily for Peters, non-union voters break for DeMaio. Voters split when asked which of the 2 candidates is more trustworthy. 45% say DeMaio, 41% say Peters.

DeMaio and Peters emerge from a 06/03/14 "Top-2" primary in which DeMaio finished behind Peters, in large part because DeMaio and other Republicans split the Republican vote. Today, those voters who backed Republican Kirk Jorgensen in the primary break 5:1 for DeMaio. Those voters who in 2012 backed Republican Brian Bilbray in CA-52, today back DeMaio 11:1. Those voters who in 2012 backed Democrat Peters, stick today with Peters 11:1.

Irony: NRCC Backing Gay Candidates While Steve Israel's DCCC Gives A Big Push To A Virulent Homophobe

LGBT activists in Ohio were shocked when they heard Steve Israel was recruiting virulent homophobe Jennifer Garrison to run for Congress. Israel is now pressuring pro-equality Democrats in Congress-- including gay members-- to contribute money to Garrison's campaign. She isn't a garden variety anti-gay politician. She built her entire political career on intense homophobia. It's how she was first elected to the state legislature (where she was able to kill a workplace anti-discrimination law and where she stopped an anti-bullying law). This is literally the most contemptible human being Israel ever picked to run for a congressional seat. Of course, it's important to remember that Israel himself is an "ex"-Blue Dog and pal-ed around with all the Democratic homophobes who vote against hate crimes legislation in years past. In 2007 when the House finally passed a hate crimes bill that included LGBT citizens, 25 Republicans crossed the aisle and voted with the Democrats. As they crossed, they passed 14 of Israel's closest allies going in the other direction. Of the 14 Democrats who voted against the Hate Crimes bill, almost all were subsequently defeated for reelection. The only ones left in the House are Israel cronies Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog-NC) and Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN), both of whom Israel is determined to protect with DCCC money, some of it given by gay donors who are specifically told their contributions would go towards insuring LGBT equality.

Clearly, gays and lesbians should not be giving a nickel to the DCCC or to anything Steve Israel is involved with. That said, the NRCC is worse than the DCCC, a lot worse. How an organization can be worse, let alone a lot worse, than one that is already graded an "F," is worth a separate discussion. For now, let's remember that while the NRCC was trying to teach congressional Republicans how to talk to women voters without insulting them, they don't offer similar tutorials yet on how GOP elected officials could approach Hispanics, Blacks or gays without insulting them!

“Let me put it this way, some of these guys have a lot to learn,” said a Republican staffer who attended the session in Boehner’s office.

There have been “multiple sessions” with the NRCC where aides to incumbents were schooled in “messaging against women opponents,” one GOP aide said.

While GOP party leaders have talked repeatedly of trying to “rebrand” the party after the 2012 election losses, the latest effort shows they’re not entirely confident the job is done.

So they’re getting out in front of the next campaign season, heading off gaffes before they’re ever uttered and risk repeating the 2012 season, when a handful of comments let Democrats paint the entire Republican Party as anti-woman.

Individual Republicans have continued to give Democrats plenty of ammunition about being insensitive to women’s issues. From Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) talking about rape and pregnancy at a Judiciary Committee hearing earlier this year, to House Republicans passing a 20-week abortion ban in June, to Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) blaming military sexual assault on “hormones,” there have been repeated instances where GOP lawmakers have come off as tone-deaf to female voters.

…[T]he longtime “gender gap” between the parties continues to be pretty stark for the GOP. Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney lost women to Barack Obama by 11 percentage points in the 2012 election, and the 2013 campaigns saw a similar trend. A series of recent polls show a continued double-digit lead for Democratic candidates among women, with the margin soaring to much higher levels among single female voters. The GOP-- which lost female voters by large margins in every competitive Senate race in the 2012 election-- also saw a 10-point increase in its unfavorability rating to among women to 63 percent, according to an October ABC/Washington Post poll.

So it makes sense that some Republicans want to try to learn how to talk to women voters without alienating them (even if most GOP congressmen are deriding that whole idea and refusing to participate). And when it comes to gays, the Republicans won't even try. In fact, despite NRCC attempts to portray the party as an equal-opportunity committee, most Republicans in Congress are committed homophobes and are consumed with fear of and hatred for the LGBT community. Let's take 6th term Virginia conservative Randy Forbes for example.

Forbes, a former Sunday School teacher, isn't known in Washington for having accomplished anything legislatively. In fact, since his election in 2001 the only thing he's done aside from collecting a paycheck, warmongering and talking smack about gay people is founding the Congressional Prayer Caucus.

Even though the Republican-controlled Virginia legislature tried making Forbes' swing district safer by cutting out black-majority Petersburg and putting it into an already D+27 district, voters in Chesapeake, Powhatan and the Richmond 'burbs he represents, only gave Romney the same narrow margin over Obama that they had given McCain-- 50-49%. VA-04 is a winnable district even if Steve Israel refuses to allow the DCCC to go up against Forbes. Due to Israel's sheer incompetence, there is no multi-cycle DCCC plan to defeat Forbes and he knows he is free to act out the most extremist right-wing positions without any fear of electoral accountability. And his latest escapade involved attacking the NRCC for being… pro-gay!

Buck McKeon, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee-- and a future arms manufacturer and war contractor lobbyist (his family already started the firm for him)-- wants to put his crony Mac Thornberry (R-TX) in as his successor. But Forbes wants that job. McKeon, himself a virulent homophobe who was the conduit for millions of Morman dollars flowing into California's anti-gay Prop 8 battle, has been conducting an especially nasty whispering campaign against Forbes who is determined to get that Armed Services chair (and is less likely to allow pork to flow through McKeon's lobbying firm). What McKeon's operatives did was get Politico to expose Forbes' insane homophobia and blow it up into a Belway scandal-in-a-teacup.

Even as Democratic congressmen keep donating wads of cash to the DCCC despite the Jennifer Garrison recruitment, Forbes has said he will withhold his NRCC dues if the NRCC supports gay candidates, which they are doing in two instances. Politico is covering for McKeon by saying he isn't the only source:

Forbes has waged a lengthy crusade to convince his colleagues and the National Republican Congressional Committee brass they shouldn’t back some gay candidates. His efforts on Capitol Hill were described to Politico by more than a half-dozen sources with direct knowledge of the talks.

The issue is particularly acute because House Republicans have two promising openly gay candidates in 2014 vying for seats held by Democrats. Richard Tisei, who narrowly lost to Democratic Rep. John Tierney in 2012, is running again in northeastern Massachusetts. And in San Diego, Carl DeMaio, a former city councilman, is trying to knock off Democratic Rep. Scott Peters.

On Wednesday, Forbes told Politico he thinks “GOP leaders can do whatever they want to do,” in terms of giving money to gay candidates.

He said he is more concerned about members being asked to contribute to the campaigns. The NRCC is partially funded by collecting tens of millions of dollars from House Republicans, who pay dues to the organization.

“There would be a different situation if they tried to force other members to give money,” Forbes said.

Asked whether he would have a problem with the NRCC donating money to DeMaio, Forbes said, “That’s a little different situation.”

“I don’t think they’ve done that yet,” Forbes added.

When asked if he would withhold political contributions to the NRCC if they backed DeMaio, Forbes said, “I’m not going to be hypothetical on what we would or wouldn’t do at this particular point in time because you’ve got a lot of scenarios. I don’t think we’ve had primaries and nominations to nominate people. So I don’t want to prejudge.”

The mirror image of this came in DCCC-ville this week when Steve Israel requested contributions for homophobic fanatic Jennifer Garrison-- that's her with her phony smile on the right-- from Democratic members. Do any have the guts to just say no? We're watching. Needless to say, Steny Hoyer is as attracted to Garrison's across-the-board, right-wing perspective and he's already given her $5,000 and is pressuring unions, other Members and his lobbyist cronies to fund her.

It's worth mentioning that it isn't only GOP closet cases who refuse to go to bat for LGBT equality. Fearful and mentally ill gay closet cases like Patrick McHenry (R-SC), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Aaron Schock (R-IL) and Lindsey Graham always vote against equality but even openly gay Republicans leave much to be desired in that realm. Take Carl DeMaio for example. He's running against conservative corporate whore, New Dem Scott Peters and I could care less which one wins. But when DeMaio couldn't decide what to run for, he was briefly a mayoral candidate this year. He went out of his way to make sure voters knew LGBT equality would not a priority for him and pledged to not advocate for social issues while in public office. While DeMaio says he supports same-sex marriage, he was publicly silent when Proposition 8 was put on the state ballot and has accepted campaign contributions from deranged homophobic backers of Proposition 8. During last year's mayoral campaign, the Union-Times pointed out that the LGBT community wasn't backing DeMaio. "During the mayoral campaign," they wrote, "DeMaio has been booed at various LGBT-centric events, including a mayoral debate in Hillcrest, a rainbow flag-raising ceremony for the community and the annual Pride parade in which he walked alongside his longtime partner. Meanwhile, Filner drew loud cheers at the debate and parade and won every voting precinct in Hillcrest-- the heart of the city’s gay community-- in the June mayoral primary.

Will Steve Israel Lose California Democrats Two Seats Next Year?

Endangered ConservaDems Ami Bera and Scott Peters

A few months ago, when I wrote to a congresswoman who was elected as a grassroots progressive but then started voting like a conservative corporate shill, she blasted back that she's doing exactly what Steve Israel has been telling her to do. Direct quote from her letter: "I am happy to discuss my voting record with you anytime which has been 100 percent with the House Democratic Leadership recommendation for Frontline members." Oh… well then it must be just fine. That's why I contributed money to your campaigns and why I persuaded other people to do likewise… so that you would be "100 percent with the House Democratic Leadership recommendation for Frontline members?" Those recommendations have proven disastrous to Democrats in the past. That's how the Great Blue Dog Apocalypse of 2010 happened and how the Republicans came to control the House. And that's why-- despite Obama and the Senate Democrats wiping the floor with the GOP last year-- the House Dems disastrously underperformed and failed to even come close to winning back the House.

The good news in this particular case, is that pressure from her constituents finally seemed to have outweighed Israel's urging that she vote conservatively. She's back to voting more frequently with the Democrats. California freshman Democrats Ami Bera and Scott Peters are still mostly following Israel's stupid advice and voting with the GOP on crucial roll calls.

Let's look at their two districts. Bera, who has already announced he's in favor of bombing Syria-- an extremely unpopular position, although one that sticks with Steve Israel's-- won CA-7 last year, one of the only districts in the whole country with a zero PVI, signifying that it is a true swing district. Obama beat both McCain (52-46%) and Romney (51-47%) in the district, which basically encompasses the suburbs east of Sacramento, including Folsom, Rancho Cordova, Citrus Heights and Elk Grove. The district is entirely within Sacramento County. Bera took out incumbent Dan Lungren, 119,726 (51%) to 115,902 (49%). That's very close and Bera needs every Democrat in the district to turn out for him again. They won't. His ProgressivePunch crucial vote score is a dismal 58.65, even worse than some Blue Dogs. Worth noting: Bera outspent Lungren last year $3,531,711 to $2,716,574.

This week, the NRCC announced a coup, the successful recruitment of former Congressman Doug Ose (1999-2205). Ose was a mainstream conservative, not a teabagger type. He had pledged to serve only 3 terms so he didn't run again in 2005. He tried running again in 2008 but was beaten by libertarian right-winger Tom McClintock in a bitter primary. (McClintock's chief of staff, Igor Birman, is probably also going to run-- likely with support from the Club for Growth. Perennial candidate Elizabeth Emken is also running. If the primary gets ugly enough, Bera could possibly survive, but right now, I'd rate his chances at 50% at best. If Ose gets through the primary and comes out strongly against the war and Bera supports it, Ose will win.

Scott Peters is another wretched freshman. He managed to beat GOP incumbent Brian Bilbray by outspending him $4,352,737 to $2,772,270. Peters was one of the most extravagant self-funders of 2012, putting $2,757,452 of his own (63% of the total raised) into the campaign.

CA-52 includes western San Diego from Imperial Beach, up through Coronado Island and Mission Beach to La Jolla and then north and east to Miramar, Rancho Bernardo and Poway. It's friendlier territory to Democrats, at least on paper. The PVI is D+2 and Obama beat McCain, 55-43%, and Romney, 52-46%. Peters largely rode in on Obama's coattails last year, beating Bilbray 124,746 (51%) to 122,086 (49%). Peters, who joined the corrupt, corporate-oriented New Dems, also has a pretty ghastly voting record, very similar to Bera's-- another zombie who does exactly what Israel recommends. That will hold down grassroots participation next year and probably lose Peters, who is not enthusiastic about spending another $2.7 million of his own to keep the seat.

Worse yet, the NRCC managed to recruit their dream candidate, Carl DeMaio, an openly gay mainstream conservative who announced Tuesday that he not running for mayor but will take on Peters instead. If Peters votes for war and DeMaio says he opposes war, Peters might as well retire and sve himself the trouble and money. Peters, burdened with Steve Israel's model anti-grassroots, Republican-lite voting record is unlikely to inspire enough grassroots Democrats to come out to the polls to bother voting for him. Like Bera.