Are Unions Dependable Progressive Allies?

Claudia Wright, the best friend a Utah
teacher could ever hope to have in DC

Mine was the first class to start as freshmen at the SUNY Stony Brook campus. The whole four years I was there the place was under construction. It was a troubled time politically-- the U.S. had invaded Viet Nam and was perpetrating a horrifying genocide in that small country fighting valiantly and courageously for its freedom. To help commemorate Memorial Day yesterday, I reread parts of Rick Perlstein's spectacular account of that period, Nixonland. 

Rick paints a vivid picture of an environment where the unjustifiable and savage bombing of neutral Cambodia was kicking into high gear and the student unrest that eventually ended the war was about to boil over into the tragedy of Kent State. Nixon had just given a cynical and deceptive retread of a fifth-rate speech attempting to justify American aggression and escalation:

"I would rather be a one-term president and do what I believe is right than to be a two-term president at the cost of seeing America become a second-rate power and to see this nation accept the first defeat in its proud 190-year history."

Two hundred State Department employees immediately signed a petition of protest. Nixon responded by calling an undersecretary in the middle of the night: "Fire them all!"

...Cambodia and the Panthers [trial] were catalysts [for an explosion of student fury]. So was Seymour Hersh's new book My Lai 4: A Report on the Massacre and Its Aftermath. It was excerpted in the May issue of Harper's. A New York Times editorial on April 15 featured quotes:

"Then somebody said, 'What do we do with them?'

"A G.I. answered, 'Waste them.'

"Suddenly there was a burst of automatic fire from many guns. Only a small child survived. Somebody then carefully shot him, too."

Hersh's newspaper articles had only been a rough sketch. He had traveled fifty-thousand miles to complete the book. It described Robert McNamara's Project 100,000, an initiative whereby almost a million men who'd scored poorly on the Selective Service qualifying test were drafted anyway, purportedly for the noble purpose of giving them a better chance in life, actually populating the army with imbeciles. Led by imbeciles, too-- such as Lieutenant William L. Calley, Jr., twenty-four, who'd flunked out of Palm Beach Junior College but was given command of a platoon anyway, even though he couldn't properly read a map.

Nixon just kept getting sloshed out of his mind, popping pills and watching Patton over and over again. But Nixon was not without allies. He called them the Silent Majority. At my college they were personified by the construction workers. Unions were no friends of progressives back then. They used to throw beer cans at our demonstrations-- and worse. Generally speaking, these days unions are a lot more supportive of progressive causes. Usually.

In a couple of hours one of the best progressive state legislators in the country will pull the plug on his congressional campaign, ceding the field to a wealthy corporate shill who will be as representative of his district as I would be of a district in the Dallas suburbs. Why? Done in by a teacher's union hierarchy happy to play ball with Democratic powermongers in the state capital and Inside the Beltway.


And last week the 18,000 members Utah Education Association endorsed reactionary incumbent Blue Dog Jim Matheson, "citing his support for a federal stimulus program that the teachers' union says saved 2,000 education positions in the state." Forget for a moment that Matheon's opponent is a sterling progressive and a teacher for 31 years and member of the union. Instead, just keep in mind that Matheson-- who is being heavily pushed by Steny Hoyer and the rest of the Democratic incumbent protection racket, votes more frequently with Republicans than almost any other Democrat in Congress. Since Barack Obama became president (the second column of numbers in the chart directly above), Matheson's putrid voting record has been exactly tied with that of two neo-Confederate reactionaries, John Barrow (Blue Dog-GA) and Mike Ross (Blue Dog-AR). Union officials like a little taste of power too, and it's not uncommon for them to completely sell out their own members, just the way the teachers union did in UT-02 and... announcement here this afternoon.

And that teacher of 31 years running against Matheson? Claudia Wright, who has been endorsed by Blue America (and the Teamsters local) and who we hope you'll consider helping with a campaign contribution today. The primary is three weeks from today.

UPDATE: Craig Pridemore Drops Out

Yeah, he was the guy I was referring to. It means that no matter what happens WA-02 will be represented in Congress by a corporate shill and a wealthy conservative with no clue about-- and no interest in-- what's important to ordinary working families.

Conservatives Would Rather Blame Working People For The Country's Woes Than The Robber Barons Who Finance Their Careers

Ever talk to a conservative? I have; in fact, I've talked to lots of them. What really binds them all together isn't really the hatred and the bigotry and the stupidity. Those are just things they use to appeal to a mass audience of hateful, bigoted and stupid people (their base). What really binds them together and gives their belief system meaning is the greed and, especially, the selfishness. Let me go off on a little tangent for a minute and tell you about a discussion between Thom Hartmann and Professor Tim Roper from the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Sussex in England, which Hartmann relates in his incredibly useful book, Threshold.

[I]n our modern society, the libertarian era of "self over all" has taken considerable root, being the animating theme of the conservative movement. How could it be, I asked Roper, that democracy-- where an individual often doesn't get what he personally wants-- is best? The answer, he said, is that democracy always best supports the survival of the group over the long term, and because the individual is a part of the group, democracy therefor benefits the individual as well.

...But what about the American ideal of the noble woodsman, the rugged individualist, the man who looks out for himself first in all cases? Such a mythos, Roper pointed out, sounds nice, but it would ultimately lead to chaos and perhaps even species extinction. "The idea of individuals going it alone is simply not viable for most intensely social creatures, because if they left the group they would get knocked off by a predator in five minutes, or starve... [or not make it through a winter].

"Being a member of a group is a sort of survival necessity in individual terms. And therefor it's in every individual's selfish interest that the group remains a cohesive unit."

End of tangent. I went down that path because I wanted to remind you about how conservatives are always denigrating public employees. In fact, "demonizing" is probably a more accurate word. A few days ago Kate Thomas and Jessica Kutch for the SEIU make a stab at deunking some of the orchestrated myths perpetrated by the conservative propaganda machine about public employees.

The Grover Norquists of the world have waged a coordinated, decades-long war on public sector employees. Whether you're a teacher, fire fighter, social worker or engineer-- nobody has escaped the right's smear campaign.

Attacking the imagined wealth of public employees is a constant refrain in the Republican playbook:

• Sen. Scott Brown denounced the "lavish pay and benefit packages [that] have unfortunately become a way of life for public employees."

• The Wall Street Journal editorialized that public employees-- and their unions-- "may be the single biggest problem" for the nation's economy.

• And CA Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger claimed that the "The single biggest threat to the fiscal health and California's future, obviously, is our public pension system."

• Reason.com continues, writing that public sector workers have "turned themselves into a coddled class that lives better than its private sector counterpart."

But this couldn't be further from the truth. In fact, while we've demanded more from public services in the past decade, we've paid our public servants far less. The gap between public and private sector wages has widened, making public sector jobs less competitive than they were 20 years ago. A new report by the National Institute for Retirement Security (NIRS) and the Council on State and Local Government Excellence (CSGE) finds that we pay our state and local public sector employees 11-12% less than their private sector counterparts.

The right wing has seized on the economic downturn as an excuse to rail against public employee compensation, often in favor of private contractors and overhyped privatization schemes. Recently, the headlines have only gotten worse. The Christian Science Monitor printed a commentary, "Want a balanced budget? Cut state workers' pay." Michelle Malkin has invited readers to "compare your salary to a California public employee's."

But pegging the massive economic crash on an underpaid civil servant is not only misguided-- it's highly suspect. Writes Amy Traub of the Drum Major Institute, "Those looking for a 'coddled class' should look to the Wall Street bonus pool, not the Parks Department."

It's just too bad that the right isn't more interested in Lloyd Blankfein's lavish pay.

Washington State Senator Craig Pridemore has been a stalwart defender of working people, including public employees and he's noticed the same insidious trend of blaming working folks first. He's running against a very wealthy conservative Democrat who is no friend of working families. It's part of the reason why Blue America is so enthusiastic about our endorsement of Craig's campaign to win the WA-03 seat being given up by Brian Baird. "Over the past three decades, "pointed out this week, "we’ve seen a steady assault on the workers who are the engines of our economy. I support the Employee Free Choice Act because we need to honor the tradition of labor in our country and provide security for working families during these uncertain and difficult times.

"Just as with health care and financial reform issues, I am the first candidate in this race to make clear my position on the rights of labor to organize.

"Time and again I have asked, ‘where is Denny?’ And all we hear back is silence. From financial reform to health insurance reform to the rights of labor, Denny Heck has failed to tell us unequivocally where he stands. These are crucial issues and voters deserve to know how their next representative will serve them in Washington, D.C.

"The Employee Free Choice Act would strengthen the ability for employees to organize and collectively bargain for their wages. It would also provide for mandatory injunctions should unfair labor practices arise." 

If you support working people and if you're not the type who gets sucked in to conservative memes blaming workers and covering up for Wall Street robber barons and the political hacks they own for the turmoil in the economy, please consider supporting Craig Pridemore and the other pro-working family candidates Blue America has endorsed. In fact, do it today, and you get a chance to win an autographed copy of Al Franken's book, The Truth-- With Jokes.

Is Washington's 3rd CD Too Conservative For A Real Progressive? Heck, No!

If you follow our Blue America endorsements, you're probably aware of the great enthusiasm we have for Washington state Senator Craig Pridemore. Rarely do voters get such a clear record of accomplishment as Craig's with which to judge a candidate. But what about his Democratic primary opponent, Denny Heck? What does anyone actually know about him other than the power elite wants him to inherit Brian Baird's seat? Baird has endorsed him as have several big names in Democratic state politics. I'm hearing whispers that the DCCC is telling donors to stop giving to Pridemore and that sounds a lot like their normal modus operandi.

It was obvious from the beginning they would feel more comfortable with a conservative candidate with flexible ethics like Heck. But I'm thinking that when Craig started picking up serious support-- from the Majority Leader of the Senate (Lisa Brown) and the Speaker of the House (Frank Chopp) as well as the local firefighters unions, the International Longshoremen, and, last week both the Sierra Club and the Washington Federation of State Employees (AFSCME)-- the DCCC decided that they had to do more than just tell Heck to make sure to take no positions on anything controversial. So now they're trying the old Rahm Emanuel/Steny Hoyer routine of starving primary campaigns by progressives of contributions.

But it isn't just ideological. The DCCC powers, like sugar lobby queen Debbie Wasserman Schultz, bend over backwards to help elect easily corruptible shills whether it's Tim Mahoney in 2006 or Lori Edwards in 2010. And Heck meets their standards well. A blogger in Washington who knows him well sent me this column from the Seattle P-I from 1991:

Denny Heck, Gov. Booth Gardner's strongman chief of staff, got $4,550 in campaign contributions from Washington chiropractors last April after their request for $2 million got restored to the state budget.

Heck denies any connection between their request for Medicaid funds to compensate welfare clients treated by chiropractors and the money kicked in to help him pay off a 1988 campaign debt.

The Department of Social and Health Services' funding for chiropractor patients got chopped from the 1989-91 state budget. The governor's office played a key role in its restoration early last year.

"There's no question it looks funny," said Heck, who, nevertheless, claimed the budget decision was made by Budget Director Len McComb.

Yeah, real funny... a barrel of laughs. McComb admitted he had discussed the matter with Heck, who was eager to pay off a campaign debt from one of his losing runs for office and "at least 90 chiropractors chipped in $4,550 to his campaign treasury in mid-April 1990, 17 months after the election campaign." Funny... and a coincidence? If Denny Heck wants to be a corrupt wheeler dealer, isn't that what the Republican Party is for. Why does the DCCC want to saddle us with another one like this?

Unlike the pitiful turnout for primaries in most states, Washington's vote-by-mail system is likely to generate as many as a quarter million voters, quadruple the number of people who vote in House primaries around the country. People in Olympia know Heck as a bully and a ruthless wheeler dealer but in WA-03 he's just the guy who's been endorsed by the outgoing Congressman Baird. Craig's going to need all the help we can give him. Please consider contributing to his campaign through Act Blue. When the Sierra Club endorsed him last week they pointed out that Craig would be continuing his work to protect the environment.

Pridemore has advocated for smart growth as a Clark County Commissioner and as a state legislator. He fought for increased transit funding and options as well as better land use policies. He wrote one of the country’s first successful pieces of legislation to cap greenhouse gasses. Senate Bill 6001 saved Washingtonians from asthma, heart disease, cancer and chronic lower respiratory diseases. Pridemore has worked to enhance economic opportunities to incentivize clean technology development. He proves that protecting the environment and promoting jobs can happen together; his bill directed state agencies to attract green business and prepare our work force for them.

"We are deeply grateful to Senator Pridemore for his work,” said Holly Forrest, a Sierra Club activist in Vancouver. "He is a true environmental champion who not only does the right thing on environmental issues, but also leads the fight to protect our state’s clean air, clean water and special places."

Along with the endorsement, the Sierra Club will lend its strength to Pridemore's campaign. "We pledge to do all we can to help ensure Craig Pridemore is elected," concluded Holly Forrest. "Scores of Sierra Club volunteers will contact voters on his behalf and we will speak to the public as often as possible about his exemplary environmental record. We look forward to a victory party for the environment on election night and to many more years of Senator Pridemore fighting for the environment as a US Representative.”

Blue America has worked with the Sierra Club on behalf of candidates in the past. I'd take them over the DCCC any day of the week.

Heroes and Villains In Last Night's Healthcare Votes

Out of step with American families: 2 dangerous clowns against healthcare-- Calvert & Ryan

I can't imagine that anyone who reads DWT doesn't already know that the two substantive votes on healthcare reform last night were won by the Democrats-- and the American people-- 219-212 and 220-211. The conservatives and their Republican Party right-roots, brainwashed by Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh are predicting the same kind of Armageddon and communism and fascism and every kind of doom under the sky, just as they did when progressives broke free from England, freed the slaves, gave women the vote, made labor unions legal, passed Social Security, passed Medicare, etc. Conservatives, and the foolish people who fall for their selfish bullshit, are all about preserving the status quo and preventing progress.

Interestingly, as soon as the bill passed the DCCC sent out a press release to the media in southeast Wisconsin entitled "Representative Paul Ryan Puts Big Health Insurance Companies Before Affordable Health Care for Americans." They made a lot of sense pointing out that Ryan, "rather than vote to help middle class families, seniors, and small businesses finally afford coverage while reducing the deficit by more than a trillion dollars over 20 years, Representative Paul Ryan sided with the big health insurance companies instead." DCCC spokesperson, Jennifer Crider:

“For decades, big health insurance companies have profited off discrimination and denials and pricing middle class families out of the care they need but that didn’t stop Representative Paul Ryan from continuing to side with insurance companies. Ryan refused to give folks back home access to the same health care that he gets as a Member of Congress.
 
“After taking $534,071 in contributions from insurance companies, it’s outrageous that Ryan would put insurance company profits before helping middle class families and small businesses afford coverage, closing the Medicare prescription drug donut hole, and reducing the deficit by more than a trillion dollars over the next two decades.”  

...For Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District, Ryan’s vote against health insurance reform was a vote against:
 
o   Improving coverage for 506,000 residents.
 
o   Providing tax credits and assistance for 153,000 families and 14,000 small businesses to purchase affordable coverage.
 
o   Improving Medicare for 112,000 seniors, including closing the prescription drug donut hole.
 
o   Guaranteeing that 8,000 residents with pre-existing medical conditions can obtain coverage.
 
o   Protecting 1,600 families from bankruptcy due to unaffordable health care costs.
 
o   Allowing 51,000 young adults to stay on their parents’ insurance plans.
 
o   Reducing the cost of uncompensated care for hospitals and other health care providers by $23 Million annually.

Nothing wrong with that. But do you know what John Adler (NJ), Mike Arcuri (Blue Dog-NY), Bobby Bright (Blue Dog-AL), Travis Childers (Blue Dog-MS), Larry Kissell (NC), Frank Kratovil (Blue Dog-MD), Michael McMahon (NY), Walt Minnick (Blue Dog-ID), Glenn Nye (Blue Dog-VA), Zack Space (Blue Dog-OH), and Harry Teague (NM) have in common with each other and with Paul Ryan. They all voted "no" both times last night. What they also have in common with each other-- though not with Ryan-- is that each and every one of them is on the DCCC's Front Line list. This is the absolutely #1 priority list for DCCC money. If you donate to the DCCC you will be paying for the re-election campaigns of these treacherous anti-family putative Democrats. Everything the DCCC had to say about Paul Ryan is just as true about the 34 Democrats who opposed the healthcare reform last night.

Regina Thomas is running against John Barrow, the only Democrat to vote "no" in a blue district. This morning she told us that Barrow "voted with the health care industry and corporations. He received more than $80,000 this year alone from health care lobbyists.  His vote was for them and not the voters of the 12th. His actions prove just what kind of politician he is-- whomever gives him the most money determines how he will vote. July 20th will be here before we know it-- then we will have an opportunity to vote him out." We added Regina to the Blue America endorsement page yesterday and urge you to consider helping her campaign.

Another progressive Democrat endorsed by Blue America had a strong message about the vote last night as well. Connie Saltonstall's opponent, Bart Stupak, after nearly derailing the bill, took stock of his career mortality and pulled back from the ledge, though not before doing his worst to weaken women's choice. "First, let me say ‘thank-you’ to Congressman Stupak for his vote on this historic reform bill," she wrote in a statement to north Michigan media.  "Healthcare reform will create a real difference in Michigan’s First District with provisions that extend healthcare coverage to 44,000 uninsured residents, protect 1,100 families from bankruptcy due to unaffordable health care costs, grow jobs by extending tax credits to small businesses, and improve Medicare for 141,000 beneficiaries, including closing the donut hole. And let’s not forget, healthcare reform is also about jobs-- about saving auto plants in Michigan from having to move jobs to Canada to save $7.25 an hour in healthcare costs." But what about Stupak; don't worry; she addressed that too:

Representative Stupak’s support has come at a very high cost. Mr. Stupak’s dogmatic insistence on inserting his own religious views into the legislative debate and threatening to deprive his constituents of needed healthcare reform has eroded people’s trust in him. Throughout this debate there is the sense that our Congressman has let us down. It appears he has been more interested in promoting his own personal agenda than in representing the people of Michigan’s First District. 

The healthcare debate should never have been sidetracked into an abortion debate. For more than 30 years, the Hyde amendment has assured that there is no federal funding for abortion and this bill includes that provision; there will be no federal funding for abortion. 
 
This is not a perfect bill. I believe universal healthcare is a right, not a privilege or a luxury. When I get to Congress, I will continue to fight for a single payer system which I believe is the most efficient and cost effective way to deliver healthcare to all. Quality healthcare also allows women the opportunity to make responsible life decisions for themselves and their families.”

Blue America-backed Bill Hedrick in Riverside County is up against right-wing fanatic Ken Calvert, who cavalierly voted against the interests of his own constituents last night, Bill's press release:

“For 18 years, Ken Calvert has put party politics before the people of this district.  Today he had a chance to redeem himself by voting for the landmark health insurance reform bill that would directly help hundreds of thousands of people in the 44th. But Ken Calvert, once again putting his personal and party interests first, voted against it.

Because of the vote today, 107,000 residents of the 44th who had no access to health care have access. 19,600 residents with pre-existing conditions can obtain coverage. 81,000 young adults can remain on their parents' insurance plan. And 76,000 seniors will have their Medicare improved.  Those are the facts of this bill.

What Calvert fails to see is that these facts are more than just numbers on a page-- these numbers represent real people that will benefit from this reform. Ken Calvert had the chance to do right by them, and he failed. Just as Calvert failed when he repeatedly opposed expanding insurance coverage to children, opposed re-importation of prescription drugs, and opposed low-cost health insurance plans for small businesses.

Two more facts worth mentioning: This bill will reduce the deficit by over $100 billion over the next ten years and by about $1 trillion over the next twenty. This is fiscally responsible legislation.  Putting the party line ahead of the financial future of our children and our country is irresponsible leadership.

Today’s vote was ultimately about responsibility. Fiscal responsibility to bring America forward and the moral responsibility to keep America healthy. Ken Calvert’s record is clear-- he is not the person to lead us forward as we fight to further reform and balance the budget. It is time for new, responsible leadership in Washington-- leadership we can trust to get the job done.”

Washington state Senator and progressive champion Craig Pridemore congratulated the outgoing congressman, Brian Baird for switching, at the last minute, from a no vote to an "aye," right in line with Craig's own attitude about healthcare reform. "I'm grateful that so many regional voices joined me in calling clearly and unequivocally for a straight up or down vote on the issue," said Pridemore, who has made a clear vote on health care reform a top issue in his grass roots driven campaign. "Baird shifted from opposition to equivocation and then support. While I applaud his ultimate vote, it took too long for Congress to reach this day, undermining public confidence and delaying the needed pace of change and reform." His opponent for the Democratic nomination, a multimillionaire conservative corporate shill has also equivocated on and no one has a clear idea of where he stands on it.
 
Ann McLane Kuster (D-NH) is locked in a tough primary battle against a very conservative Democrat, Katrina Swett (the former head of Joe Lieberman's national race for the presidency). Last night Ann issued this statement: "Tonight the U.S. House of Representatives passed historic health care reform that will make a real difference for New Hampshire families and businesses. This bill will cut the deficit by $130 billion in the next decade alone, extend coverage to 31 million Americans without health care, stop insurance companies from denying coverage to people who get sick or have a pre-existing condition, and close the so-called "donut hole" in the Medicare prescription drug benefit that otherwise leaves thousands of New Hampshire seniors without coverage. In Congress I'll continue to work for and support a public insurance option that increases competition and will drive down insurance premiums and health care costs for New Hampshire families. I'm looking forward to President Obama signing this historic bill into law. Health care costs are out of control and are crippling New Hampshire families, small businesses and our national budget. The time for health care reform is now."

The only incumbent to vote with the GOP who Blue America helped to win office was Larry Kissell. We withdrew support for Kissell sometime ago when we saw a pattern of him deciding to vote against the constituents he had promised to support when he ran in 2006 and 2008. He has been a terrible disappointment. All the other Blue America-endorsed incumbents were upbeat about their support for the bill. John Hall (D-NY): "Today we took a huge step forward in our fight for affordable health care for all Americans. I cast my vote in favor of health insurance reform because it was the right thing to do. It was the right thing to do for the woman in Warwick who was dropped by her insurance company in the middle of her breast cancer treatments. It was the right thing to do for the family in Wappinger whose premiums are soaring because of their son's pre-existing condition. It was right thing to do for the Seniors in Somers who are stuck in the Medicare donut hole, paying more than they can afford for the medications they need. When I originally ran for office, I promised I would vote for anything that moved us towards universal health care coverage. Today I feel much closer to delivering on that promise."

We've had a bit of a rocky road with Tom Perriello but he came through for Virginia families last night. This is what he sent out to his constituents after voting for the reform bills:

You sent me to the People's House to do a job. For a century, leaders from both parties have pledged that all Americans deserve access to quality, affordable health care. Tonight we delivered on that promise. After more than a year of substantive debate and vicious smears, I had started to lose hope that we would deliver on the change we promised--that we would solve the problems others had simply kicked down the road. I say tonight that our dream of a better kind of politics stands restored.

A few moments ago, wearing an old suit of my father's, I cast my vote for universal affordable health care. Because you sent me here, I got to be part of this historic moment. Because you sent me here, I voted to make coverage available to 49,000 residents of my district. Because you sent me here, tonight I voted to reduce costs for more than 400,000 of my constituents by over $1,000 every year. Back home, those savings mean something.

Beyond the dollars and cents, tonight I think of those families without insurance who live in fear that they are one illness away from bankruptcy. I think of those with insurance who are one pink slip away from losing their family's coverage. I think of the small business owner who doesn't want to be forced to choose between closing up shop or cutting benefits to his or her workers. I think of the medical student who feels called into pediatrics but sees that our system simply doesn't make that a credible option. And I know tonight that we have made things better.

Some say that this vote seals my political fate, but I didn't come to Congress to do what's easy--I came here to do what's right. I came here to solve problems, to work on legislation that would mean something to families in my district, to be a leader, as you sent me here to do. Thank you for giving me this opportunity tonight.

Jim Himes said he was well aware that "taking a stand against the status quo means that I will be under constant attack from special interests" but he felt that "this was one of the most important votes that I will ever take. Not only will this historic legislation lower costs, improve quality and rein in the insurance industry-- it's also the largest deficit-reduction package in nearly two decades. The bill contains nearly every tested idea for controlling growth in health care costs, including new requirements for insurers to disclose and justify premium increases, new insurance exchanges to promote competition, and historic new incentives for wellness and preventive care."

Paul Hodes (D-NH) is another Blue America alum who fought for reform. He's currently running for the open U.S. Senate seat in his state and sent this to New Hampshire voters last night:

Moments ago, Congress successfully passed health care reform. I proudly cast my vote in favor of this historic reform because it was the right thing to do.

It was the right thing to do for the people of New Hampshire’s second district that I am honored to represent. It was the right thing to do for the 1.3 million people in the Granite State who have fought a broken, backwards health care system for far too long. It was the right thing to do for the thousands of small businesses on Main Streets across New Hampshire that have been forced to downsize, lay off or shut down completely in the face of uncontrollable premium prices.

And it was the right thing to do for every single middle-class family in this country, gathered around their kitchen tables trying to figure out how they can possibly make ends meet.

Above all else, this bill is a jobs bill. It will fundamentally fix a broken system that has let insurance companies jack up premiums and eliminate health care choices, killing jobs across New Hampshire. In this reform proposal, nearly 35,000 small businesses across New Hampshire will be given tax credits to provide the health coverage of their choosing. This bill will help put the Granite State back to work.

It will extend coverage to 60,000 of our uninsured neighbors, reduce the federal deficit by $130 billion in the next decade, improve Medicare coverage for 200,000 New Hampshire seniors, and will rein in some of the most egregious practices of health insurance companies.

Insurance companies and their corporate allies spent billions trying to bully us into giving up. Today, we showed them what we are made of. They fought reform at every step, desperately trying to protect their own profits. But together, you and I stood strong, stayed tough and never gave up fighting because we knew it was the right thing to do.

Today is an historic day for this country. I am proud and humbled to be a part of it.

Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ), Chairman of the Congressional Progressive Coalition fought harder than almost anyone to make this bill better for ordinary working families. He voted for the half full glass and correctly called it a work in progress: "The vote we just cast is a beginning, not an end. It establishes once and for all that health care in this country is a basic right, not a privilege. Our system can be improved in the future, and it will be. I will make fighting for those improvements a priority as long as I am in Congress, because as much work as we’ve done over the past year, more remains before us. Major advances in our quality of life are rarely easy. They are not achieved in a single stroke. They are the result of years of persuasion, discussion and sometimes false starts. This bill is a foundation that we will look back on in five years, 10 years and 20 years and thank ourselves for laying now.”

And the president:




UPDATE: Waterloo

Not everyone is celebrating this morning. Republican propagandist David Frum seems depressed today as he reprises Jim DeMint's prediction about President Obama's Waterloo:

Conservatives and Republicans today suffered their most crushing legislative defeat since the 1960s.

It’s hard to exaggerate the magnitude of the disaster. Conservatives may cheer themselves that they’ll compensate for today’s expected vote with a big win in the November 2010 elections. But:

(1) It’s a good bet that conservatives are over-optimistic about November – by then the economy will have improved and the immediate goodies in the healthcare bill will be reaching key voting blocs.

(2) So what? Legislative majorities come and go. This healthcare bill is forever. A win in November is very poor compensation for this debacle now.

So far, I think a lot of conservatives will agree with me. Now comes the hard lesson:

A huge part of the blame for today’s disaster attaches to conservatives and Republicans ourselves.
At the beginning of this process we made a strategic decision: unlike, say, Democrats in 2001 when President Bush proposed his first tax cut, we would make no deal with the administration. No negotiations, no compromise, nothing. We were going for all the marbles. This would be Obama’s Waterloo-- just as healthcare was Clinton’s in 1994.

Only, the hardliners overlooked a few key facts: Obama was elected with 53% of the vote, not Clinton’s 42%. The liberal block within the Democratic congressional caucus is bigger and stronger than it was in 1993-94. And of course the Democrats also remember their history, and also remember the consequences of their 1994 failure.

This time, when we went for all the marbles, we ended with none.

Looks like Obama was Wellington.

Will Southwest Washington State Opt For A Fresh Start? Or More Of The Same Tired Special Interests Politics?

More of the same-- Heck and Baird, Inc.

Brian Baird was one of the 39 disgruntled, rogue Democrats who voted against healthcare reform last November, along with a gaggle of mostly reactionary Blue Dogs-- from John Barrow (Blue Dog-GA) and Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (Blue Dog-SD) to Parker Griffith (Blue Dog, now R-AL) and Heath Shuler (Blue Dog-NC). Baird was the only Washington Democrat to cross the aisle and join John Boehner and Eric Cantor in trying to defeat healthcare reform.

State Senator Craig Pridemore, the Blue America endorsed candidate for Baird's House seat isn't challenging Baird to a primary battle. Thankfully Baird is retiring from politics-- although not before endorsing a multimillionaire corporate lackey to take his place, Denny Heck. All the lobbyists, special interests and business-as-usual shills are backing Heck. Democratic grassroots and netroots activists in WA-03 are what's propelling Craig's campaign.

The video below explains Blue America's enthusiasm for Craig a lot better than I could in a few hyperbolic words. Please take a look at it as he explains why he supports a clearly flawed healthcare reform bill and how clearly he sees how corporate money is behind almost everything that's wrong Inisde-the-Beltway.

“As I’ve traveled around Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, one of the things that’s clear is that our citizens and our businesses are hurting. We need to step up and help our small businesses and workers succeed by implementing reforms to reduce their health care costs. The problem right now is that we have a health care system dominated by insurance and pharmaceutical companies and Wall Street.
 
“I believe we deserve a public option. It is essential that we encourage competition in the health care market place, and the only way to do that is to hold the special interests in Washington, D.C. accountable to the struggling families across our nation. I also know that the bill before us means progress. It will provide coverage to millions of uninsured Americans and end the inhumane practice of cutting off those with pre-existing conditions.
 
“What’s clear is that my opponent, Denny Heck, is standing on the sidelines when it comes to this issue.  He wants to wait it out, see what happens, and then decide where he stands. Make no mistake, I support health care reform and I support a public option and when elected, will step up and do everything I can to lower costs and check the power of the special interests in Washington, D.C.”

What hacks like Baird and Heck don't want to understand is that less privileged, more exposed families than their own, right in southwest Washington very much need the reforms offered in the healthcare bill neither of them is supporting. Yesterday the House Energy and Commerce Committee put out a report that shows how the bill would impact Baird's constituents:

* Improve coverage for 478,000 residents with health insurance.

* Give tax credits and other assistance to up to 176,000 families and 16,800 small businesses to help them afford coverage.

* Improve Medicare for 116,000 beneficiaries, including closing the donut hole.

* Extend coverage to 53,500 uninsured residents.

* Guarantee that 12,500 residents with pre-existing conditions can obtain coverage.

* Protect 1,500 families from bankruptcy due to unaffordable health care costs.

* Allow 61,000 young adults to obtain coverage on their parents’ insurance plans.

* Provide millions of dollars in new funding for 18 community health centers.

* Reduce the cost of uncompensated care for hospitals and other health care providers by $21 million annually.

Craig has a long record of courageous, principled and progressive public service. He's a good investment for progressives! Please watch the video and consider making a contribution to his campaign.

Blue America Welcomes Craig Pridemore (WA-03)

In 2006, Washington state Senator Craig Pridemore was named Legislator of the Year by Washington Conservation Voters. There were a number of reasons they chose the relatively new state legislator but it certainly had a lot to do with a bill he wrote and successfully passed, the nation's first electronic waste recycling bill which mandated the kind of product stewardship that makes a producer responsible for the full lifetime costs of whatever they make, including the eventual disposal or recycling. Although some electronic goods manufacturers-- some in other countries, where TVs are made-- fought passage, Craig managed to put together a strong bipartisan coalition to pass it. In fact, every Democrat in both houses of the state legislature voted for the bill with only two exceptions, conservatives Steve Kirby and Deb Wallace. Ironically, one of those conservatives, Deb Wallace, is one of Craig's opponents in the Democratic primary for the seat in southwest Washington that has been represented since 1998 by Brian Baird.

Washington's 3rd CD is a non-gerrymandered swing district. Obama beat McCain in 2008 52-46%, Obama's closest win in the state. Bush took the district, narrowly, in 2000 and 2004. Meanwhile, Baird won re-election with 64%, just around what he did in 2006, 2004 and 2002. It's one of Washington's fastest growing areas-- right across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon, especially attractive for people eager to avoid Oregon's income tax and Washington's sales tax. With 15,575 homes estimated to be headed for foreclosure in the next 4 years, it has been harder hit by the housing crisis than most of the state. Very much an economic populist, Craig is a perfect fit for the district. A few days ago we had a long talk about how to put WA-3 back on the road to prosperity.

"I have a strong belief that the best thing government can do to stimulate job growth is to invest in public infrastructure and facilities. We can do some targeted tax incentives for new industries, like green energy, but tax incentives alone are not going to stimulate job growth. Businesses are not going to create jobs and start hiring again until demand for goods and services increases. That means putting money in the hands of working people, not Wall Street...

"We've spent thirty years trying to shift as much of the nation's wealth to the supply side as possible and we've succeeded. We need to get back in balance and fuel the demand side as well. We need to get money percolating through all levels of our economy, not just at the top. Republicans seem to have only one strategy for economic recovery and that's to replace good-paying jobs with bad-paying jobs."

Craig comes from a union family. His grandparents met in Hazard, Kentucky, a classic coal mining company town and his grandfather worked in the mine starting at age 15. He was the smallest kind so he had the job of placing the explosives. When he was 17 a blasting cap went off in his hands. His father had to amputate his fingers on the spot. He got docked a day's pay because he had to get his son to town and wasn't working. Craig's grandfather's lost job wasn't replaced by unemployment insurance or workers' comp; nor was there job retraining. Craig's always been very much in sympathy with working people. His dad is a pulp and paper worker and his mom is a school teacher. Everyone's a union member. It helped me understand why Craig is so adamant about fighting for ordinary families, which I heard in his voice when he talked about teh battle over healthcare.

An overwhelming number of people in this country wanted legitimate healthcare reform, including the choice of going to a public option. It wasn't just Republicans who thwarted that reform; it was Democrats too. We need strong, progressive Democrats who are going to fight for what the people want-- not just for insurance companies.

"It's clear to me that we will not get Financial Industry reform without election reform. It's clear to me we won't get progressive healthcare reform without election reform. It's clear to me we won't end corporate control of Washinton, DC without election reform. I'm looking forward to signing on as a co-sponsor of John Larson's Fair Elections Now Act."

Craig is a 49 year old highly decorated former military intelligence officer who worked after college as a financial analyst the Clark County Public Works Department before being elected a County Commissioner (beating a Republican incumbent heavily financed by the developers' community. It's how he learned about grassroots campaigning, walking 117 miles eight days, meeting with hundreds of people from battleground and Yacolt to Richfield and Camas. He was re-elected and the challenged another Republican incumbent for a state Senate seat. He was re-elected to that job in 2008 with 62% of the vote.

As a state Senator he wrote and passed one of the first successful pieces of legislation for greenhouse gas caps in the U.S. Senate Bill 6001, in fact, directly prevented the construction of a dirty coal plant in Washington, saving untold numbers of people from asthma, heart disease, cancer and a whole battery of chronic lower respiratory diseases. His two main opponents, the aforementioned Rep. Deb Wallace and a millionaire investor, Denny Heck, are both what is euphamistically called "business-friendly" Democrats. That's what Blue Dogs are called before they grow up to be Republicans in Democratic clothing. Heck, particularly-- who has stated no policy positions on anything but who refers to himelf as "the only working capitalist in this race"-- has started raking in a great deal of money from all the wrong sources.

Electing Craig Pridemore is an opportunity to make the House a more progressive place and to elect a leader who doesn't just go along with the flow. The first time I spoke with him he told me that "the conventional wisdom up here is that a Democrat can't win if he/she stands for Democratic values. I am absolutely committed to changing that perception and to make WA-03 a reliable, progressive seat in the future." I hope you'll join me in helping him to do just that-- at the Blue America ActBlue page, where Craig joins our two other 2010 endorsees, Alan Grayson and Marcy Winograd. And if you'd like to meet Craig, he's live-blogging with us today at Crooksandliars at 11am (PT).