You Say You Want A Revolution...

Bernie's political revolution has a long way to go in developing a way to effectively impart a revolutionary consciousness, even among people who consider themselves among his devoted followers. His supporters didn't support Dave McTeague in OR-05 and, even with Bernie speaking at a rally in Syracuse for Eric Kingson a few days before the congressional primary, Bernie supporters didn't vote for him either. And, alas, it's not just the voters. Even many of the candidates themselves are sorely lacking solid, well-developed revolutionary consciousness.

When Berniecrat candidates lost their primary races this cycle I would ask them to help raise contributions on their lists for other Berniecrat candidates. Each one said "OK," but then never bothered to follow through. It might be awkward if they decide to run again and ask for Blue America help next time. Meanwhile, though, someone with loads of revolutionary consciousness, who I didn't need to ask twice, was Eric Kingson. As soon as I started mentioning the idea to him he immediately said he loved the concept and that he'd like to see if he could rally his supporters to the cause of Zephyr Teachout, who's district is a bit south and east of his in New York state.

Last night he sent his followers-- and Blue America sent our followers-- a letter from Eric asking them to help Zephyr win her congressional race in November. Last week, on the same night Eric came up short, she had a gigantic landslide victory in her primary. NY-19 is a blue-leaning swing district in the Hudson Valley and the Catskills. The current congressman, Chris Gibson, is, literally, the last moderate Republican left in the House, and he's retiring. Zephyr will be up against a heavily funded right-wing Republican, John Faso, former minority leader of the New York State Assembly and a former candidate for governor. As of the March 31 FEC deadline, he had raised $1,078,898 to Zephyr's $530,733. But a right-wing superPAC, entirely financed by crackpot hedge fund loon, Robert Mercer, has already spent $915,271 on Faso's behalf. (Mercer also spent $13,500,000 this year on trying to get Ted Cruz the GOP nomination.) In any case, Obama beat McCain in NY-19, 53-45% in 2008 and beat Romney for years later 52-46%. It's a very winnable race.



This was Eric's letter:

Zephyr Teachout, my friend and Blue America endorsed candidate for Congress, just won a terrific victory for all progressives. She will be running in November as the Democratic nominee in New York's 19th Congressional District, a Hudson Valley seat that we can win with Zephyr.

Zephyr is THE authority on campaign finance. A Fordham University law professor and activist, her book-- Corruption in America: From Benjamin Franklin’s Snuff Box to Citizens United (Harvard University Press, 2014)-- sounded the alarm about the systemic nature of corruption, and how “money in politics” undermines our democracy.

I am writing to ask that you help Zephyr to fight her big-money, Wall Street backed Republican opponent. Zephyr can make it to Congress and be the leading voice on reforming our corrupt democracy, opening the floodgates for real change. But she needs our help. Please consider making a contribution of $5, $25, $100 or more to Zephyr’s campaign.

I am grateful for the support that you and others provided to my campaign and Blue America-- a stalwart ally that was first to endorse and provide on-line funding and on-going support of my campaign.  And, of course, many other people and organizations moved our campaign forward, especially Bernie Sanders’ endorsement and rally, Representative John Conyers’ endorsement, Raul Grijalva’s endorsement, Democracy for America's strong advocacy on my behalf, National Nurses United, Progressive Democrats of America and my fantastic staff and volunteers.

I have much pride in what we did together. I remain active as a committed progressive advocate of economic, political and social justice, beginning this week when I go to Orlando as a member of the Democratic Party’s National Platform Committee and in my ongoing work to expand Social Security. Thank you again for the opportunity to advance a progressive agenda. Will be in touch...

For now I ask that you turn your generosity toward Zephyr Teachout, a talented and widely respected academic and advocate who will, with your help, win a seat for progressives in the next Congress.

Yours for Justice and Peace,

Eric

We need more of that spirit, a lot more of that spirit.

Can Bernie's Political Revolution Win One For Eric Kingson In Syracuse Today?

Eric and Bernie on Friday in Syracuse

Sunday, the Washington Post decided to speculate on what happens to Bernie's revolution from here. The Clinton campaign will probably get the last majority of Bernie voters-- polls indicate as much as 88% of them already-- but what about the energy and the fundraising? When that flow to a campaign to put someone into office who many Bernie supporters see backing the same agenda that they were motivated to oppose? The Hillary delegates in the platform battles have already voted down a stronger $15/hour minimum wage proposal by Keith Ellison, voted down opposition to the TPP and fracking, voted down pretty much everything that most excites many Bernie supporters.

Friday Bernie made his first congressional campaign stop in Syracuse and it was for Eric Kingson, co-founder of SocialSecurityWorks, someone Bernie has known and worked with for years. 500 people showed up at the downtown ­Oncenter, making it the biggest rally, by far, for any congressional candidate in Syracuse this cycle. The Post asserts that "the campaign stop, Sanders’s first for a congressional candidate, offered a glimpse of the post-presidential-bid figure he would like to become: a politician who uses his unexpectedly strong showing in the presidential race to push his progressive policies in Congress, in campaigns and across the country."

This is a tough race-- with 3 Democrats facing off against each other, Kingson, the progressive, and two unaccomplished party hacks, one backed by Steve Israel and one backed by Gillibrand and Schumer, neither showing even the slightest indication of being able to make any mark in Congress whatsoever. The DCCC and EMILY's List, representing the right-of-center as usual, have backed Colleen Deacon, a low-level Gillibrand staffer, who would do exactly what she was told for eternity. If Kingson beats her today, it will be a very big deal.

The Post, though, is more interested in "the fate of perhaps the biggest donor list in politics." They say "Sanders is facing a challenge almost as steep as a presidential campaign. How does a revolutionary persuade his supporters to continue the revolution with someone else? Can he maintain the enthusiasm of followers who were new to politics after falling in the primaries to establishment stalwart Hillary Clinton? Can he transfer his popularity to relatively unknown figures?"

On his website, Sanders has already started to make the transition from active presidential candidate to another kind of leader. “This is your movement,” it now says, showing a montage of diverse faces.

And at the urging of his wife, Jane Sanders, he has been talking to his inner circle about launching a grass-roots organization to harness the energy of his supporters. Among aides, there is chatter about who might staff such an organization, which might resemble Democracy for America, the group that former Vermont governor Howard Dean launched following his failed 2004 presidential bid.

Sanders’s profile in the Senate is expected to increase once he returns to the chamber full time, and aides say he will almost certainly seek reelection in 2018-- though it is unclear whether either will translate into more muscle on Capitol Hill. Sanders has suggested that he will try to mobilize his supporters around key issues and that he wants to lead the Health, Education, ­Labor and Pensions Committee, which has jurisdiction over many of the high-profile issues he pushed during his campaign.

Sanders’s donor list, which the campaign says includes 2.7 million contributors across the country, is another uncertain-- and highly coveted-- asset. Sanders proved to be a surprisingly potent fundraiser, taking in more than $229 million as of last month, the vast majority in online, low-dollar increments.

Would donors to that list-- I'm one and over a thousand Blue America members are as well-- start giving money to Hillary or to right-of-center DCCC and DSCC candidates? Some might. I can't imagine any Blue America members doing so.

What is unclear is whether Sanders, who enjoys higher favorable numbers than Clinton or President Obama, will ever tell those voters to support the winner of the presidential primary contests. [That's absurd; it's very clear Bernie will hold his nose and endorse Hillary and tell his supporters to back her to defeat the Trump menace.]

Clinton aides have privately expressed frustration over Sanders’s continuing campaign and refusal to this point to endorse her, a step they believe could help unify the party heading into the fall.

“The intensity of his supporters is so much greater than the intensity for any other candidate, including Hillary Clinton,” said Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Tex.), a Clinton endorser whose El Paso-based district went strongly for her but who suggested that Sanders could pull out voters who might normally skip elections. “In El Paso, she crushed him, and yet in terms of incoming calls and emails to our office, asking where to vote, it was like 3 to 1 Bernie. In Texas, he could get some of those folks who don’t traditionally vote to come out.”

Sanders’s role is under discussion, but he has said a more immediate priority is trying to find common ground on the issues he championed during the primaries.

“It’s not just Bernie Sanders saying, ‘Oh, yes, just vote for Hillary Clinton,’” Sanders told CNN on Sunday. “It is Hillary Clinton standing up and saying, ‘You know what? These are the things we need to do.’ And if she does the right thing, I am absolutely confident that the vast majority of my supporters will vote for her.”

Sanders has been lobbying Clinton to embrace several of his proposals, including tuition-free public universities and a $15 minimum wage. Asked why he had yet to endorse Clinton during an appearance Friday on CBS This Morning, Sanders said he had not “heard her say the things that need to be said.”

That struggle is visible in Sanders’s attempts to influence the Democratic Party platform, as well. A chief reason he has given for remaining an active candidate, the negotiations illustrate both the opportunity and the limitations of his newfound status.

A draft document approved Saturday would move the party to the left on wages, banking reform and climate change, and represents several concessions by Clinton. But Clinton allies on the panel also resisted Sanders’s aggressive overtures on trade, several environmental issues and universal health care, a core of Sanders’s mission to tackle income inequality.

There is some evidence that most Sanders supporters have already fallen in line behind Clinton. In a Washington Post/ABC News poll released Sunday, just 8 percent of Democrats said they would vote for Trump; just 1 percent of Democrats and 3 percent of self-identified “liberals” said they would vote for the Green Party.

The Clinton camp, meanwhile, is moving forward with the use of other high-powered campaign surrogates. On Monday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), another darling of the left and a potential running mate, will campaign with Clinton in the battleground state of Ohio. Obama is expected to join Clinton on the campaign trail soon.

When Kingson debated his establishment opponents Friday , they clashed on "whether to raise the minimum wage to a 'living wage' or specifically to $15, whether to expand Social Security or merely raise the cap on the Federal Insurance Contributions Act, or FICA.

If a well-meaning but inconsequential hack like Deacon or Williams wins the primary, there's a good chance a pattern will repeat itself in the district. The Democrat will win in November when Democrats turn out to vote in the residential election. And then in 2018, a Republican will win because niether Deacon nor Williams will give any Democrats a reason to vote for them-- just the way the last last Democart in the seat, worthless New Dem Dan Maffei won in 2008 because of Obama, lost in 2010 because of what a terrible hack he turned out to be, won again in 2012 because of Obama again and then lost again in 2014, because of what a terrible hack he was when Democrats gave him a second chance. Neither Deacon nor Williams would alter that narrative one iota. Eric Kingson sure would, though.

The other crucial primary in New York for progressives is taking place in NY-19, south and east of Kingson's district, where Zephyr Teachout faces the voters. She is highly favored to win, probably by a landslide. We'll update this post later with results from both districts.

UPDATE: Election Results

In Oklahoma City the results are painfully close.

In Colorado, the nut that won was Darryl Glenn, very convincingly. You can see a rundown of who all these lunatics are here.

In New York, the two big races were a split. In NY-19 Zephyr Teachout had a blowout-- 73% to 26% for Will Yandik. She'll be facing John Faso, who beat Andrew Heaney. But the other Berniecrat running, Eric Kingson in NY-24 came in second to establishment favorite Colleen Deacon. She scored 48% to his 32% and just 19% for the Steve Israel-recruited Steve Williams.

Other notable races were in NY-01 (Suffolk County), where the races too close to call between two bad candidates, Anna Throne-Holst leads Dave Calone by 29 votes (50.06% to 49.79%). In NY-02, the Steve Israel seat, Tom Suozzi beat the Steve Israel cronies running. With 5 candidates, Suozzi took 35% of the vote and Israel's puppet, Steve Stern, took 22% who was tied with Jon Kaiman for second place. And the millionaire gay Zionist anti-peace candidate who the Hassidic rabbis ran against Jerry Nadler to get even with Nadler for his support of an anti-nuke deal with Iran, lost pitifully. Nadler won 25,527 votes (88.90%) to Mikhail Oliver Rosenberg's 2,949 (10.26%).

Tomorrow Is Primary Day

Well... it is for voters in congressional races in Colorado, New York, Oklahoma and Utah. New York is tomorrow's big deal but let's take a quick look at the other state's first. There are no serious primaries for either party in House races in Colorado but there's a hot Senate contest. The state has 5 crackpot Republicans-- down from 15-- competing to face dull corporate Democratic incumbent Michael Bennet, who doesn't deserve reelection but will be judged as the lesser of two evils and will likely be helped by a reaction against-- and revulsion to-- Trump.

As of March 31 Bennet had raised $11,977,673 and spent $4,403,288. The Republicans haven't raised nearly as much-- combined:

• Jack Graham- $1,341,605
• Robert Blaha- $1,096,433
• John Keyser- $400,209
• Ryan Frazier- $352,181
• Darryl Glenn- $45,462

Jim DeMint's far right Senate Conservatives PAC spent $539,355 on Glenn, so his low number is somewhat deceptive. Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin have also been campaigning for him, so that'll give you an idea about who the craziest extremist is in the race. He's a religious nut who brags about an unwillingness to compromise with Democrats-- which may work for a GOP primary, but is a sure-fire losing message in a Colorado general eelction. He also says he won't vote for McConnell to keep his job as GOP leader.

Former Rams quarterback and fired Colorado State athletic director Jack Graham, a former Democrat who is now billing himself as a "pro-Choice Republican," is supposed to be the "moderate" in the race but admits he supports Trump. He self-funded to the tune of $1,000,000, which is what explains why he's so far ahead of the other candidates' war-chests.

State Rep Jon Keyser was supposedly the national GOP establishment pick but he faded quickly, especially after it was discovered he had submitted petitions full of forged signatures to qualify for the ballot and after a widely panned ad accusing Obama and Bennet of wanting to give Iran nuclear weapons.

Robert Blaha is a rich, crooked businessman-- he also self-funded $1,000,000 into his campaign-- running as the Trumpist. He's best known for his TV ads about Hitler and about fist-fucking.



There are no races in Utah worth looking at-- all very status quo in the primaries. With one exception, OK-05, there are no serious primaries in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma City congressional seat's freshman incumbent, Steve Russell, is too extreme for the district and in a Trump wipeout he could be vulnerable. There are 3 Democrats running for the endorsement, conservative Al McAffrey, who has nothing to offer and was slaughtered by Russell in 2014, Leona Leonard and progressive champion Tom Guild, the candidate with a clear progressive message to challenge Russell with. He's the Berniecrat in the race-- and in a state that went heavily for Bernie. And Blue America has endorsed him. (You can contribute to his campaign here.)

OK, on to New York. Tragically, democracy isn't vibrant enough in the Empire State for anyone to be challenging Wall Street whore Chuck Schumer. There's a hot primary between two mediocre Democrats in NY-01 at the eastern end of Suffolk County. Lee Zeldin is the incumbent and the two weak corporate Dems duking it out with each other are Dave Calone (New Dem) and Anna Throne-Holst, an independent who is rumored to be screwing Steve Israel and just switched to a Democratic registration. Any of the three promises more bad representation for Suffolk County.

Speaking of Steve Israel, he was forced to quit in order to avoid a likely prison sentence in the criminal case that was hatched by Israel and has already sent Ami Bera's father to prison and will probably see charges against Patrick Murphy and his parents as well. His handpicked replacement is a hack named Steve Stern but there are 4 other Democrats in the race as well, including Berniecrat Jonathan Clarke and likely winner Tom Suozzi.

If there is one New York House incumbent whose over-the-top corruption cries out for a primary opponent it's Gregory Meeks in NY-05 (Queens) and Ali Mirza is running against him. As of March 31 Meeks had spent $629,896 and Mirza had spent $21,559.

Progressive icon Jerry Nadler is being challenged by a gay bankster fronting Jewish extremists in Brooklyn who oppose peace with Iran, Oliver Rosenberg. In a low turn-out election, the right-wing Democrats hope they can turn out enough zombie-like Hassidics to beat Nadler but that's highly unlikely with as unattractive a candidate as Rosenberg.

Ken covered the race to replace Charlie Rangel in NY-13 (Harlem) last week here. There isn't anyone good in the race.

Out of New York City there are two crucial primaries pitting stellar Berniecrats, Zephyr Teachout (NY-19) and Eric Kingson (NY-24) against run-of-the-mill uninspiring Democratic careerists. Teachout and Kingson are two of Blue America's top candidates for 2016 but both have to win their primaries tomorrow in order to go on to November. Teachout looks like a shoe-in against some guy named Will Yandik. Kingson, the founder of SocialSecurityWorks, and a Bernie appointee on the Democratic Convention platform committee, is up against a low level Kirsten Gillibrand staffer, Colleen Deacon, running on the platform of "I woman" and some guy Steve Israel dug up, Steve Williams.

As of the March 31 FEC filing deadline fundraising among the 3 Democrats was neck-and-neck but after Bernie endorsed Kingson 2 weeks ago small contributions started flooding in for him and he is probably out ahead in fundraising now. The only outside spending so far has been from Blue America, $14,500 for a mobile track (photo above) and I believe another couple thousand for a Google ad:



If you live in the Upper Hudson Valley and the Catskills, please remember to go vote for Zephyr Teachout tomorrow, and in the Syracuse area of Central New York, Eric Kingson. You can find both at the thermometer below:

Bernie On The Campaign Trail Today-- For Eric Kingson In Syracuse

Long before DFA, MoveOn or the nurses' national union came to their courageous decisions to support Bernie over Hillary, Blue America had made it's first-ever presidential election. No one's ever been good enough before but, we'd followed Bernie career in the House and Senate closely and on the day he announced-- we endorsed him, not as a lesser of two or more evils but as a genuinely great candidate we would have liked to see become president, despite how very, very long that shot was. Nonetheless, 1,557 Blue America members gave $57,889.60 (plus thousands more in monthly recurring contributions)-- about $37 each.

But at no time did we ever expect perfection from Bernie; no of us are that politically immature. Personally I was disappointed that Bernie didn't do more for the down-ballot candidates who were backing him. Sure, he did far, far more than Hillary did, but he didn't really have the capacity to get behind the dozens of House and Senate candidates-- let alone state legislative candidates-- who were backing him and running on his platform. There were some bone-headed moves-- like having a Wall Street, anti-Social Security creep, Shawn O'Connor up on the stage with him in New Hampshire several times, despite O'Connor's opportunism and despite the fact that his opponent in the primary was Carol Shea-Porter, a tried and true progressive (who may have hurt Bernie's feelings by backing Clinton).

Worse, was when Bernie's enthusiasm for Florida Senate candidate Alan Grayson suddenly chilled-- after he called Grayson and asked him to fly to Miami to introduce him at a rally-- when Schumer threatened Bernie with the loss of his committee chairmanship if he did anything against Patrick Murphy (as well as Schumercrats Ted Strickland in Ohio and fracking lobbyist Katie McGuinty in Pennsylvania. I felt sad for the revolution-- and sad for what Bernie probably had to go through over this crap. Grayson, arriving at the rally, was prevented from getting onstage, a Bernie staffer saying only that there had been a change of plans.

But he did send out e-mail endorsements for several candidates, including the excellent Zephyr Teachout and Eric Kingson in New York and Pramila Jayapal in Washington, whose primaries are coming up. His efforts have helped them raise competitive money and Teachout and Jayapal look like sure bets. He helped Lucy Flores in the same way but she was wiped out by an arguably even more progressive candidate, Ruben Kihuen, in Nevada two weeks ago. Of all these candidates, though, Kingson has the most difficult race-- against two unaccomplished establishment hacks, one backed by former Blue Dog Kirsten Gillibrand and Schumer and one backed by former Blue Dog Steve Israel. And Kingson is the candidate who Bernie actually knows and has worked with. Kingson, co-founder of SocialSecurityWorks, has been a witness the Democrats call when the GOP and New Dems try to cut Social Security. He was one of the people who came up with the concept of expanding Social Security, which even Obama and Hillary have very grudgingly come around to accept.



Now that Bernie is no longer on the road campaigning for himself, the first candidate he is campaigning for is Kingson. He's joining him for a rally at the Oncenter Convention Center ballroom at 4 p.m. today!

"It would have been enough if he had given me a statement of support," Kingson said in an interview Wednesday night after learning of the Sanders visit. "The reality is I'm very grateful and I'm excited. I think it will be quite significant for my campaign and the underlying values that we share."


...Last week, Sanders appointed Kingson to a committee that will help write the platform for the Democratic National Convention in July. Kingson will be one of five New York representatives on the national committee.

Kingson has been considered an underdog in the Democratic primary on Tuesday. He faces Colleen Deacon, 39, of Syracuse, and Syracuse lawyer Steve Williams, 53, of Baldwinsville. The winner will face U.S. Rep. John Katko, R-Camillus, in the November election.

Too late for Dave-- but not for Eric Kingson in NY-24

This kind of thing would have won Oregon's 5th congressional district primary for Berniecrat Dave McTeague and ridden Congress of the odious reactionary head Blue Dog Kurt Schrader, the congressman who actually introduced an amendment to cut Social Security benefits. Bernie won every single county in his district, beating Hillary decisively-- but his voters didn't know to vote down-ticket and Schrader won 67,124 (72.6%) to 25,289 (27.4%). Democrats and independents cast ballots for Bernie and for one of the reactionaries working to cut Social Security and Medicare and to pass the TPP. That augured poorly for the political revolution. Bernie's visit today to Syracuse renews my hope. Please consider contributing to Kingson's get out the vote efforts for next week here at the BernieCongress thermometer:

UPDATE: Bernie Pushing Hard In New York

Yesterday, Bernie's campaign sent this action alert to his supporters nationwide:

As Bernie has said many times, lasting progressive change can't come from the top down. It will require electing candidates up and down the ballot who aren't afraid to challenge the billionaire class and stand up for the rest of us.

We have a great opportunity to do just that with two Bernie-endorsed candidates running for Congress in New York-- but they're facing a critical primary election on Tuesday, June 28, and really need our help.

Can you get on the phone for an hour or two before Tuesday to make calls for Zephyr Teachout and Eric Kingson?

Zephyr Teachout literally wrote the book on political corruption. She understands better than anyone how special interests try to buy off politicians, and she's dedicated her career to fixing our broken political system. She stood up to the Albany establishment in 2014 when she ran for governor against an incumbent and got 35% of the vote. She also helped environmental advocates achieve a landmark victory with the statewide ban on fracking in New York.

Eric Kingson has been a leader in the fight to save and expand Social Security since day one. He's running for Congress because he's fed up with the wealthy and powerful interests that put profit ahead of the environment, ahead of investing in our nation's infrastructure, and ahead of supporting our public education system.

Zephyr and Eric's primaries both take place on Tuesday, and we need to make all the calls we can to help them win.

With your help, our political revolution will roll onwards. Fundamental changes to our entrenched political system will only be possible if we elect strong leaders at every level of our government who are ready to challenge the status quo. So we hope you can help out by making some calls for Zephyr Teachout or for Eric Kingson before Tuesday's primary.

Voting For Peace... Or Not

Barbara Lee says no wars without congressional approval; Fred Upton disagrees

Last week the House passed the 2017 Defense Appropriations bill. As part of the debate, Barbara Lee (D-CA) offered an amendment that would prohibit the use of funds for the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force, a blanket excuse any president-- Clinton or Trump-- could use to attack anyone, anywhere without seeking constitutionally-mandated congressional approval. Congresswoman Lee's amendment was defeated by warmongers from both parties 146-274. Although 17 Republicans joined 129 Democrats in supporting Lee, a disgraceful 51 Democrats joined the 223 Republicans who opposed her.

Among the bad Democrats were all the usual suspects from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, the New Dems and Blue Dogs, of course. Four of them are running for the Senate this year: Loretta Sanchez (Blue Dog-CA), Patrick Murphy (New Dem-FL), Ann Kirkpatrick (New Dem-AZ), and Tammy Duckworth (IL). And then there were all the walking garbage cans in the House: Hoyer (MD), DCCC Chairman Ben Ray Lujan (NM), Donald Norcross (NJ), John Delaney (MD), Henry Cuellar (TX), Ami Bera (CA), Pete Aguilar (CA), Brad Ashford (NE), Kyrsten Sinema (AZ), Kurt Schrader (OR), Dan Lipinsky (IL)... all the worst Democrats in Congress.

One Republican who was not among the Republicans crossing the aisle to vote for peace and constitutional government was Central New York's John Katko, who often tries to pass himself off as vaguely mainstream. He isn't-- and he voted against Rep. Lee's amendment. His opponent for the Syracuse-based seat, Eric Kingson, was quick to respond:

The War Powers Act was passed for a reason. By allowing never-ending war based on an Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) passed 15 years ago, we are eroding a fundamentally important check on the power of the executive branch. Congress should show some actual courage, taking crucial votes on whether or not to grant the President the power to wage war, rather than abdicate that power in fear that their vote on a war will come back to bite them later.

This is another example of Rep. Katko lacking that courage. He lacks the courage to denounce Donald Trump's hateful rhetoric. He lacks the courage to take on the NRA and pass common sense gun reforms. And he lacks the courage to provide crucial balance in our government in fear of actually being held accountable for his votes.

DuWayne Gregory, the progressive Democrat running for Long Island's South Shore seat that has been occupied by Peter King, is more scrupulous about the constitution than King is. King voted with his fellow Trumpists last week. Duwayne disagreed. "The 15-year-old war powers authorization approved by Congress in the aftermath of 9/11," he explained, "was never intended to be permanent and no president, regardless of party affiliation, should have open-ended, unchecked power to wage new wars without the consent of Congress. Its time to get back to the checks and balances the Founders intended."

No one doubted Lamar Smith (TX-21-- Austin/San Antonio corridor) would oppose Rep. Lee's amendment. The response of Tom Wakely, his Democratic opponent, shows the clear differencebetween the two candidates. "What Lamar is essentially stating to his constituents is he's perfectly fine with the idea of making it easier for someone like Donald Trump to send our troops into harm's way, so long as Congress doesn't have to do any work. The concept is simultaneously so bloodthirsty and lazy. They're essentially abstaining from responsibility to their constituents and our armed service members. Congress is afraid to have any substantive debate on the ongoing ISIS conflicts, and would rather kick the can down the road than reevaluate our defense strategy. When Congress seemingly votes against its own interests, the public needs to take notice."

  Another Republican always trying to deceive his constituents into believing he takes a vaguely mainstream approach is Fred Upton-- who actually did once take a mainstream approach... a coupke decades aho. He's long since sold out to the extremists and, needless to say, he was a pro-war vote last week when Lee's amendment came up. Paul Clements, the security-conscious progressive with serious feelings about the U.S. Constitution noticed as well. Last night he told us that we could "count the ways the Republican Congress is failing. It is long past time for Congress to reclaim power to fulfill its constitutional obligation, to decide when our country will go to war. So why did Congressman Upton oppose the Barbara Lee amendment that would have done just that? This is a fundamental abdication of responsibility.This time, just possibly, it could give Donald Trump the power to send Americans to war. We need to elect a Congress that will do its job."

We sure do! Please consider helping progressives in Michigan, New York and Texas vote war-mongers like Upton, King, Katko and Smith out of office so they can be replaced by more serious-minded represenattives, Paul Clements, DuWayne Gregory, Eric Kingson and Tom Wakely.

Endangering Military Recruitment To Stay True To Trumpist Bigotry

Unless...

Right-wing extremists and anti-immigrant fanatics Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and Steve King (R-IA) offered two amendments Thursday to prevent undocumented immigrants from serving in the U.S. military. Gosar's amendment was defeated 210-211, 30 Republicans crossing the aisle to vote with every single Democrat. King's amendment failed 207-214, with 33 Republicans voting with the Democrats.

Despite representing a district with a large, established and growing immigrant population centered in Austin and San Antonio, Lamar Smith was one of the radical anti-immigrant Republicans to vote for both extremist amendments. We reached out to Tom Wakely, the military veteran and progressive Democrat running for the seat Smith's been in for way too long. He didn't seem as surprised as he was saddened at his opponent's knee-jerk votes.

"If anybody still needed a reason as to why Lamar Smith endorsed Donald Trump, I feel like this anti-Hispanic vote would certainly qualify," he told us. "What's the goal in turning away young men and women who are willing to fight for the United States of America based solely on their immigration status? They're subscribing to the ultimate duty to our nation. We've seen plenty of GOP leaders break away from Trump's rhetoric, but their actions speak louder than their presumptive nominee's words. I personally didn't think that would be possible, yet here we are. Both Lamar Smith and I are from San Antonio, a city known for its proud Hispanic and military backgrounds, and I can't possibly imagine the majority of our constituents agreeing with our Congressman on this vote."

Smith doesn't even try to portray himself as "moderate." He's been in cahoots with the extreme right every since leaving Sacramento for DC. John Katko, who represents a blue district in a Central New York around Syracuse, knows if he can't present himself as "moderate," he doesn't have any chance to win in November. And he still voted for Gosar's scheme. Eric Kingson, the most likely Democrat to face Katko in November, told us today that "the vote is yet another symbol of the dangerous anti-immigrant attitude of the right. To deny a young adult the opportunity to serve and give back the nation that they know as home is cruel and unusual, not to mention terrible military policy. The fact that Rep. Katko failed to vote against the amendment is yet another symbol that he is no moderate, despite his desperate attempts to portray himself as so. He has failed to speak against the dangerous, anti-democratic, blatantly racist rhetoric coming from Donald Trump, and that to me is very troubling. This vote fits the trend of Katko siding with the rise of xenophobia in the Republican party."

Ruben Gallego, a progressive freshman from Phoenix who saw active duty in Iraq as part of the U.S. Army, made the point during the debate that the military needs these recruits and that "we shouldn’t let political posturing stand in the way of our military’s requirement goals." Many Democrats remarked during the debate that Republicans were jeopardizing national security to align themselves with Trump's anti-Hispanic and anti-immigrant campaign positions. That's isn't likely to end well for anyone concerned. Please help replace Katko, Smith and other radicalized anti-immigrant Trumpists with progressives like Eric Kingson and Tom Wakely by tapping on the thermometer:

Bernie's Speech Tonight About Where We Go From Here

In case you missed Bernie's speech about the future of the political revolution he launched, this was his speech Thursday:

Election days come and go. But political and social revolutions that attempt to transform our society never end. They continue every day, every week and every month in the fight to create a nation of social and economic justice. That’s what the trade union movement is about. That’s what the civil rights movement is about. That’s what the women’s movement is about. That’s what the gay rights movement is about. That’s what the environmental movement is about.

And that’s what this campaign has been about over the past year. That’s what the political revolution is about and that’s why the political revolution must continue into the future.

Real change never takes place from the top down, or in the living rooms of wealthy campaign contributors. It always occurs from the bottom on up-- when tens of millions of people say “enough is enough” and become engaged in the fight for justice. That’s what the political revolution we helped start is all about. That’s why the political revolution must continue.

When we began this campaign a little over a year ago, we had no political organization, no money and very little name recognition. The media determined that we were a fringe campaign. Nobody thought we were going anywhere.

Well, a lot has changed over a year.

During this campaign, we won more than 12 million votes. We won 22 state primaries and caucuses. We came very close-- within 2 points or less-- in five more states.

In other words, our vision for the future of this country is not some kind of fringe idea. It is not a radical idea. It is mainstream. It is what millions of Americans believe in and want to see happen.

And something else extraordinarily important happened in this campaign that makes me very optimistic about the future of our country-- something that, frankly, I had not anticipated. In virtually every state that we contested we won the overwhelming majority of the votes of people 45 years of age or younger, sometimes, may I say, by huge numbers. These are the people who are determined to shape the future of this country. These are the people who ARE the future of this country.

Together, in this campaign, 1.5 million people came out to our rallies and town meetings in almost every state in the country.

Together, hundreds of thousands of volunteers made 75 million phone calls urging their fellow citizens into action.

Together, our canvassers knocked on more than 5 million doors.

Together, we hosted 74,000 meetings in every state and territory in this country.

Together, 2.7 million people made over 8 million individual contributions to our campaign-- more contributions at this point than any campaign in American history. Amazingly, the bulk of those contributions came from low-income and working people whose donations averaged $27 apiece. In an unprecedented way, we showed the world that we could run a strong national campaign without being dependent on the big-money interests whose greed has done so much to damage our country.

And let me give a special thanks to the financial support we received from students struggling to repay their college loans, from seniors and disabled vets on Social Security, from workers earning starvation wages and even from people who were unemployed.

In every single state that we contested we took on virtually the entire political establishment-- U.S. senators, members of Congress, governors, mayors, state legislators and local party leaders. To those relatively few elected officials who had the courage to stand with us, I say thank you. We must continue working together into the future. This campaign has never been about any single candidate. It is always about transforming America.

It is about ending a campaign finance system which is corrupt and allows billionaires to buy elections.

It is about ending the grotesque level of wealth and income inequality that we are experiencing where almost all new wealth and income goes to the people on top, where the 20 wealthiest people own more wealth than the bottom 150 million.

It is about creating an economy that works for all of us, not just the 1 percent.

It is about ending the disgrace of native Americans who live on the Pine Ridge, South Dakota, reservation having a life expectancy lower than many third-world countries.

It is about ending the incredible despair that exists in many parts of this country where-- as a result of unemployment and low wages, suicide, drugs and alcohol-- millions of Americans are now dying, in an ahistorical way, at a younger age than their parents.

It is about ending the disgrace of having the highest level of childhood poverty of almost any major country on earth and having public school systems in inner cities that are totally failing our children-- where kids now stand a greater chance of ending up in jail than ending up with a college degree.

It is about ending the disgrace that millions of undocumented people in this country continue to live in fear and are exploited every day on their jobs because they have no legal rights.

It is about ending the disgrace of tens of thousands of Americans dying every year from preventable deaths because they either lack health insurance, have high deductibles or cannot afford the outrageously high cost of the prescription drugs they need.

It is about ending the disgrace of hundreds of thousands of bright young people unable to go to college because their families are poor or working class, while millions more struggle with suffocating levels of student debt.

It is about ending the pain of a young single mother in Nevada, in tears, telling me that she doesn’t know how she and her daughter can make it on $10.45 an hour. And the reality that today millions of our fellow Americans are working at starvation wages.

It is about ending the disgrace of a mother in Flint, Michigan, telling me what has happened to the intellectual development of her child as a result of lead in the water in that city, of many thousands of homes in California and other communities unable to drink the polluted water that comes out of their faucets.

In America. In the year 2016. In a nation whose infrastructure is crumbling before our eyes.

It is about ending the disgrace that too many veterans still sleep out on the streets, that homelessness is increasing and that tens of millions of Americans, because of a lack of affordable housing, are paying 40, 50 percent or more of their limited incomes to put a roof over their heads.

It is about ending the disgrace that, in a given year, corporations making billions in profit avoid paying a nickel in taxes because they stash their money in the Cayman Islands and other tax havens.

This campaign is about defeating Donald Trump, the Republican candidate for president. After centuries of racism, sexism and discrimination of all forms in our country we do not need a major party candidate who makes bigotry the cornerstone of his campaign. We cannot have a president who insults Mexicans and Latinos, Muslims, women and African-Americans. We cannot have a president who, in the midst of so much income and wealth inequality, wants to give hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to the very rich. We cannot have a president who, despite all of the scientific evidence, believes that climate change is a hoax.

The major political task that we face in the next five months is to make certain that Donald Trump is defeated and defeated badly. And I personally intend to begin my role in that process in a very short period of time.

But defeating Donald Trump cannot be our only goal. We must continue our grassroots efforts to create the America that we know we can become. And we must take that energy into the Democratic National Convention on July 25 in Philadelphia where we will have more than 1,900 delegates.

I recently had the opportunity to meet with Secretary Clinton and discuss some of the very important issues facing our country and the Democratic Party. It is no secret that Secretary Clinton and I have strong disagreements on some very important issues. It is also true that our views are quite close on others. I look forward, in the coming weeks, to continued discussions between the two campaigns to make certain that your voices are heard and that the Democratic Party passes the most progressive platform in its history and that Democrats actually fight for that agenda. I also look forward to working with Secretary Clinton to transform the Democratic Party so that it becomes a party of working people and young people, and not just wealthy campaign contributors: a party that has the courage to take on Wall Street, the pharmaceutical industry, the fossil fuel industry and the other powerful special interests that dominate our political and economic life.

As I have said throughout this campaign, the Democratic Party must support raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, and create millions of jobs rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure.

We must ensure that women will no longer make 79-cents on the dollar compared to men and that we fight for pay equity.

We must fight to make certain that women throughout the country have the right to control their own bodies.

We must protect the right of our gay brothers and sisters to marriage equality in every state in America.

As the recent tragedy in Orlando has made crystal clear, we must ban the sale and distribution of assault weapons, end the gun show loophole and expand instant background checks.

We must defeat the Trans-Pacific Partnership and make certain that that bad trade deal does not get a vote in a lame-duck session of Congress.

We must resist all efforts to cut Social Security and, in fact, expand benefits for our seniors and disabled veterans.

We must understand that the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street has to end, that we need to pass modern-day Glass-Steagall legislation and that we need to break up the biggest financial institutions in this country who not only remain too big to fail but who prevent the kind of vigorous competition that a healthy financial system requires.

We must aggressively combat climate change and transform our energy system, move to energy efficiency and sustainable energy and impose a tax on carbon. It means that, in order to protect our water supply, we ban fracking.

We must compete effectively in a global economy by making public colleges and universities tuition free and substantially reduce student debt.

We must join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee health care to all people as a right and not a privilege.

We must end the disgrace of having more people in jail than any other country on earth and move toward real criminal justice reform at the federal, state and local levels.

We must pass comprehensive immigration reform and provide a path toward citizenship for 11 million undocumented people.

We must take a hard look at the waste, cost overruns and inefficiencies in every branch of government-- including the Department of Defense. And we must make certain our brave young men and women in the military are not thrown into perpetual warfare in the Middle East or other wars we should not be fighting.

But the political revolution means much more than fighting for our ideals at the Democratic National Convention and defeating Donald Trump.

It means that, at every level, we continue the fight to make our society a nation of economic, social, racial and environmental justice.

It means that we can no longer ignore the fact that, sadly, the current Democratic Party leadership has turned its back on dozens of states in this country and has allowed right-wing politicians to win elections in some states with virtually no opposition-- including some of the poorest states in America. The Democratic Party needs a 50-state strategy. We may not win in every state tomorrow but we will never win unless we recruit good candidates and develop organizations that can compete effectively in the future. We must provide resources to those states which have so long been ignored.

Most importantly, the Democratic Party needs leadership which is prepared to open its doors and welcome into its ranks working people and young people. That is the energy that we need to transform the Democratic Party, take on the special interests and transform our country.

Here is a cold, hard fact that must be addressed. Since 2009, some 900 legislative seats have been lost to Republicans in state after state throughout this country. In fact, the Republican Party now controls 31 state legislatures and controls both the governors’ mansions and statehouses in 23 states. That is unacceptable.

We need to start engaging at the local and state level in an unprecedented way. Hundreds of thousands of volunteers helped us make political history during the last year. These are people deeply concerned about the future of our country and their own communities. Now we need many of them to start running for school boards, city councils, county commissions, state legislatures and governorships. State and local governments make enormously important decisions and we cannot allow right-wing Republicans to increasingly control them.

I hope very much that many of you listening tonight are prepared to engage at that level. Please go to my website at berniesanders.com/win to learn more about how you can effectively run for office or get involved in politics at the local or state level. I have no doubt that with the energy and enthusiasm our campaign has shown that we can win significant numbers of local and state elections if people are prepared to become involved. I also hope people will give serious thought to running for statewide offices and the U.S. Congress.

And when we talk about transforming America, it is not just about elections. Many of my Republican colleagues believe that government is the enemy, that we need to eviscerate and privatize virtually all aspects of government-- whether it is Social Security, Medicare, the VA, EPA, the Postal Service or public education. I strongly disagree. In a democratic civilized society, government must play an enormously important role in protecting all of us and our planet. But in order for government to work efficiently and effectively, we need to attract great and dedicated people from all walks of life. We need people who are dedicated to public service and can provide the services we need in a high quality and efficient way.

When we talk about a Medicare-for-all health care program and the need to make sure all of our people have quality health care, it means that we need tens of thousands of new doctors, nurses, dentists, psychologists and other medical personnel who are prepared to practice in areas where people today lack access to that care.

It means that we need hundreds of thousands of people to become childcare workers and teachers so that our young people will get the best education available in the world.

It means that as we combat climate change and transform our energy system away from fossil fuels, we need scientists and engineers and entrepreneurs who will help us make energy efficiency, solar energy, wind energy, geothermal and other developing technologies as efficient and cost effective as possible.

It means that as we rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, we need millions of skilled construction workers of all kinds.

It means that when we talk about growing our economy and creating jobs, we need great business people who can produce and distribute the products and services we need in a way that respects their employees and the environment.

In other words, we need a new generation of people actively involved in public service who are prepared to provide the quality of life the American people deserve.

Let me conclude by once again thanking everyone who has helped in this campaign in one way or another. We have begun the long and arduous process of transforming America, a fight that will continue tomorrow, next week, next year and into the future.

My hope is that when future historians look back and describe how our country moved forward into reversing the drift toward oligarchy, and created a government which represents all the people and not just the few, they will note that, to a significant degree, that effort began with the political revolution of 2016.

Thank you very much. Good night.

The future of our country is not-- cannot be-- Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan. Nor can it be Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Rahm Emanuel, Patrick Murphy, Dianne Feinstein, the Clintons, Chuck Schumer, Harry Reid, Claire McCaskill, the Blue Dogs, New Dems and the rest of the corporate whores and careerists who have infested the Democratic Party. What Bernie is asking of us is transformation and empowerment through participation. That's what his political revolution is all about... and it goes way beyond a campaign for the presidency in a fixed and utterly corrupt system that has to be changed.



There are still viable progressive candidates with primaries coming up like Alan Grayson, Tim Canova, Adam Sackrin and Alina Valdes in Florida, Zephyr Teachout, Jonathan Clarke and Eric Kingson [that video above is an ad Blue America will start running in Syracuse tomorrow] in New York, Pramila Jayapal and Angela Marx in Washington, Maria Chappelle-Nadal in Missouri, Tom Guild in Oklahoma and so on. And there are Berniecrats and progressives carrying Bernie's platform who have won their primaries and are facing tough races in November, like Bao Nguyen and Wendy Reed in California, Peter Jacob in New Jersey, Keith Mundy in Ohio, Mary Ellen Balchunis and Kerith Strano Taylor in Pennsylvania, and Tom Wakely in Texas. You can find them by tapping on this thermometer.

Bernie Endorses Another Congressional Candidate-- In Central New York

The Blue America truck-- our mobile billboard-- has been driving the roads and streets and highways of NY-24 since Memorial Day... and will continue right up through New York's congressional primary on June 28. We endorsed Eric Kingson last year and you probably know by now that he was the founder of SocialSecurityWorks and has been key in changing the mind of the Democratic Party from a Paul Ryan austerity point of view-- cuts to benefits-- to expanding Social Security. The Republicans don't call a hearing in the Senate or House on cutting Social Security without the Democrats countering with an expert witness: Eric Kingson.

But Steve Israel and his corrupt conservative cabal at the DCCC judged Eric too "independent minded" and too "progressive" and they recruited two worthless establishment candidates to run against him in the primary, one who's backed by Israel and one who's backed by Schumer-- what an ugly mess for Syracuse! Fortunately, disharmony inside the establishment will only help Eric win the primary.

And so will Bernie. This week, Bernie endorsed him: "Eric Kingson is a new candidate I'm endorsing for Congress in New York," he told his supporters. "I've worked with Eric for years to help stop cuts to Social Security, and our efforts paid off this week when President Obama actually spoke out for expanding Social Security. Eric should continue this progress in Congress."

Eric, a professor at Syracuse University, reminds his supporters that "change never takes place from the top down. It always takes place from the bottom up." He has mobilized a large base in Central New York to beat the 2 establishment Democrats and then to take on the Republican version, Trumpist incumbent John Katko. Please consider helping his grassroots campaign today by tapping el thermometer-- and helping the Democratic establishment learn what real unity is all about: