GOP Triage Continues Apace

Trump's a liar and a fraud. If you took a nap for a decade, watch the video above would help you understand what he's all about. Will that hurt the Republicans' chances next month? Maybe... but there are plenty of other things that should do that as well. As we've been reporting, the GOP has continued pulling the plug on their own incumbents, leaving them on the side of the road to die alone-- well, not quite along... there are dozens of Republican non-incumbent candidates to keep them company. Once-prominent recruits like Diane Harkey (CA-49), Janice Arnold-Jones (NM), Jay Webber (NJ), Pearl Kim (PA), Greg McCauley (PA), Marty Nothstein (PA), Lena Epstein (MI), Steve Watkins (KS) and Lea Marquez-Peterson (AZ) have all been written off. The latest incumbent to be told the party's over was Kevin Yoder in Kansas City, whose race is still rated a toss-up but who Paul Ryan judges a waste of resources anyway.

Before Yoder, other Republicans who were told their careers in the House were done included Barbara Comstock (VA), Mike Coffman (CO), Mike Bishop (MI), Rod Blum (IA), Erik Paulsen (MN), Chris Collins (NY), Jason Lewis (MN) and Keith Rothfus (PA). After Yoder, likely next victims include Leonard Lance (NJ), Duncan Hunter (CA), Jeff Denham (CA), Dana Rohrabacher (CA), Dave Young (IA), Carlos Curbelo (FL) Claudia Tenney (NY), Steve Knight (CA), Mimi Walters (CA), Bruce Poliquin (ME), Dave Brat (VA), John Faso (NY) and Andy Barr (KY). It appears that Ryan has also given up on all the open red seats in Pennsylvania.

Meanwhile, yesterday Bloomberg News reported that Democratic House Candidates Are Seeing ‘Unprecedented’ Fundraising. Ben Ray Lujan told them that 60 Democrats raised more than $1 million each, half of whom had raised more than $2 million each and eight more than $2 million. Embarrassingly for Lujan, one of the three Democrats who raised over $3 million was Devin Nunes opponent Andrew Janz, who the DCCC doesn't even support.

Linda Sánchez Stabbed Pelosi Right In The Back Yesterday

Linda and I

Sánchez (D-CA) is vice chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, #5 in the House Democratic conference, right under corrupt Wall Street whore Joe Crowley. Yesterday, on C-SPAN's Newsmakers, she called on the 3 top Dems-- Pelosi, Hoyer and Clyburn (who are all in their late 70s and not as sharp as they once were)-- to start preparing to move on and make room for the next generation of leaders, presumably Crowley and herself.

"I do think it’s time to pass a torch to a new generation of leaders, and I want to be a part of that transition. I want to see that happen. I think we have too many great members here that don’t always get the opportunities that they should. I would like to see that change... They are all of the same generation, and, again, their contributions to the Congress and the caucus are substantial. But I think there comes a time when you need to pass that torch. And I think it’s time."

I reached out to a few members on Congress. No one wanted to go on the record, but one brilliant member told me that "This is the culmination of Rahm Emanuel’s multiprong strategy to drag the caucus to the right, through recruitment, corporate money, Super PACs, emphasis on fundraising and self-funding, and de-emphasis on policy.  Pelosi may feel now that she helped to create Frankenstein’s monster.  Pelosi and Hoyer, though, working together, are almost impossible to beat. The insurgents have made a strategic mistake in going after both of them. Also, given that the average age of a Member of Congress is 57 years, and the enormous perks of seniority, I’m not sure that a 'youth movement' is a very compelling argument. The last thing that a 57-year-old wants to see is a 45-year-old elevated above him."

Tired of waiting

Another smart-as-a-whip member of Congress sent me this note this morning:

Off the record.

Nancy is the hardest-working person I know, and I'll be sad when she leaves. There's no way she leaves before the midterms. If we win the House in the midterms she stays. If not, she will not be able to withstand the pressure for her to step down.

Fair or unfair, over an extended time, sustained attacks have the ability to damage a politician's brand, as Hillary's experience showed. Nancy's is badly damaged. In my own district, she is so far underwater that the attack ads against me will almost certainly just be pictures of me and Nancy, the "tax-and-spend liberal" caption, and whatever percentage figure they choose to say I vote with Nancy. To me, actually, this is sort of a relief, because it means they can't find anything more damning than that, so I might not be screwing this job up too badly.

I am quite friendly with Linda Sánchez but I haven't spoken to her about her statement so I can only speculate that she is just raising her profile for a leadership contest when it eventually comes.

Who'll Be The Next In Line?

I only ever had one conversation with Steny Hoyer. The Democrats had just won back the House and Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi was about to ascend to the Speakership. She didn't want a slimy corporatist whore like Hoyer as her top lieutenant and she picked Jack Murtha to take him on for the Majority Leader post. Someone on Hoyer's staff saw that I was less of a fan of Murtha than Mean Jean Schmidt later turned out to be and asked me if I would interview Hoyer. The only precondition was that I couldn't call him a shill during the interview. (Really, that's what the request was.) I liked Hoyer personally during the interview-- many sociopaths, and especially sociopathic politicians and business leaders are very charming-- but in the end I just said, in effect, "a pox on both your houses." Two horrible choices.

It may be recalled by a few that the week before the Hoyer-Murtha throwdown, Rahm Emanuel was trying to fulfill his obligations to Wall Street by grabbing the Whip. But he'd have to grab it away from Jim Clyburn, the only African-American in the caucus leadership. Pelosi headed that off at the pass by giving Emanuel some other undisclosed powers. But Clyburn got the Whip position, ostensibly the #3 job in the leadership. Now he says he's thinking about challenging Hoyer for the Speakership if Nancy decides to bow out-- as is widely rumored. Is Clyburn "better" than Hoyer? Maybe, but that depends on what better means to you. Personally, I find both completely inadequate for any job requiring integrity and a dedication to the welfare of the 99%. Sure Clyburn isn't as bad as Hoyer but that doesn't make him any good. In an interview this week with The Hill he sounded very old, very hackish, and nearly incoherent.

Asked whether he will seek a higher leadership post following the 2012 election, Clyburn told The Hill, “I might-- sure. I’m not closing the door on anything.”

The highest-ranking African-American in Congress then detailed what could be his argument for a promotion: He has paid his dues, both literally and figuratively.

“The people who hold these leadership positions in the palms of their hands-- that’s our caucus-- they hold these positions,” he said. “I think the extent to which I demonstrate that I’m deserving will determine whether or not I continue.”

Clyburn was quick to tout his credentials as a veteran dealmaker with a history of both getting things done and sacrificing for the party when need be. He related an episode early in his Capitol Hill tenure, for instance, when he stepped off the powerful Appropriations Committee to make room for a Republican who was promised a seat on the panel if he switched parties.

“I believe that every member will tell you that I paid significant dues, and I never, ever stepped on anybody along the way,” he said. “People may say they’ll put the interest of the caucus before them. But I have demonstrated it.”

He also noted that he paid his full cycle dues to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. As the No. 3 Democrat, Clyburn’s dues level is set at $600,000, which he met in January. 

Hoyer, for his part, is not ceding any ground. 

“Mr. Hoyer is focused on taking back the House and being the majority leader,” spokeswoman Katie Grant said Wednesday in an email.
Clyburn is not expected to challenge Pelosi, who has a firm grip on her caucus.

When either of them goes off the reservation it's to serve corporate interests, never the working families of the country. Yeah, yeah... better than Cantor or Boehner. But they all just really suck. Why not a progressive? Why not someone who isn't borderline senile? The Democratic leadership is way too old, too hidebound, way too corrupt and too careerist-oriented. There's a whole rogues gallery of crooks looking to move up the ranks-- junior Rahm Emanuels like Steve Israel, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Joseph Crowley worst of all. It scares me that even inside the Democratic Party, sociopaths inevitably seem to gravitate towards leadership posts.

Better choices for the Democrats would be younger, more in touch-- in touch with the real America, not with K Street lobbyists and Capitol Hill operatives-- members like Keith Ellison, Jared Polis, Donna Edwards, Raul Grijalva, Judy Chu... Chris Van Hollen is also waiting in the wings seeing if he can step in, but, while marginally "better" than Hoyer and Clyburn, there;s still that whole integrity and hack problem. Dream scenario: Grayson gets reelected (likely); Pelosi hangs on for another term (possible); Grayson takes over by 2014 (impossible).

Who'll Be The Next In Line For A Heartache?

Let me skip directly from Ray Davies to Thom Hartmann's book Threshold, where I found a mini-subchapter, "Biological Altruism In The Marketplace," I've been meaning to share:

Those who advocate a dog-eat-dog, "survival of the fittest at the expense of society as a whole" approach to economics and governance are... ignoring the surrounding environment, which demands a balanced, homeostatic, and altruistic culture. On every continent in the world we find living cultures and cultural remnants that knew this well and that developed elaborate and successful ways to prevent sociopathic individuals whose obsession centered on acquiring wealth at the expense of others, keeping others from being successful at growing and metastasizing.

No, this isn't going to be another post about Wall Street predators. This is going to be about how society finds ways to deal with the politicians who Wall Street predators buy off with a small sliver of their heist.

This weekend was exciting because colorless GOP hack, three-term Senator Bob Bennett, a knee-jerk, if unimaginative, conservative, was sent packing by an unruly-- and, truth be told unrepresentative-- mob of teabaggers who had grabbed control of the Utah Republican Party. As Tuxedo Moon used to sing, "no tears for the creatures of the night." (I can't believe I found that on YouTube!)

Yesterday ABC News asked the natural, straightforward natural question, prefaced with "Tea Party Power," Who's Next After Bennett?" Obviously the teabaggers have "many more incumbent Republicans in its sights this midterm election year after tossing out an incumbent conservative GOP senator in Utah." And they're welcome to them. Like Hartmann said, society has a way of defending itself from sociopathic individuals (and sociopathic tendencies)-- even if the means seems bizarre and unlikely. ABC posits that Bennett's ignominious defeat is a warning signal and the "beginning of a trend." We'll see.

"You have the next coming up, Kentucky and Arizona and New Hampshire. We're likely to see this elsewhere," [journalist Robin] Wright said. "Democracy's about the majority, but it's about the majority of people who participate. And, in this case, a certain kind of people participated, and their candidate won."

The Tea Party's next big political fight will take place May 18 in Kentucky's Republican Senate primary. Although Secretary of State Trey Grayson has the support of the Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republican state establishment, he is running against Tea Party favorite Rand Paul, the son of former presidential candidate Ron Paul of Texas. Paul is also supported by Sarah Palin and evangelical leader James Dobson.

Although Bennett blamed the "toxic" political environment, even he conceded that his Senate votes may have been a problem. His votes for health care overhaul and the Trouble Asset Relief Program, painted by critics as the "Wall Street bailout," enraged members of the Tea Party movement, who hope to purge incumbents of questionable conservative purity.

...In a competitive year when only 56 percent of Republicans say their party best represents their values, Republican moderates are targets.

According to a recent ABC News poll, only 56 percent of Republicans say their party best represents their values, and 30 percent of Republicans say they pick the Tea Party movement instead of the GOP. This contrasts with the Democratic Party, where 86 percent of Democrats say their party best represents their values.

Still, others chalk it up to anti-Washington sentiment and not necessarily pro-conservatism.

"This is an anti-Washington year," conservative columnist and ABC News contributor George Will said. "How do you get more Washington than a three-term senator who occupies the seat once held by his father, a four-term senator, who before that worked on the Senate staff and then as a lobbyist in Washington? He's a wonderful man and a terrific senator, but the fact is, he's going against terrific headwinds this year, and he cast three votes, TARP, stimulus, and an individual mandate for health care.

OK, now back to Ray Davies' original question: Who, indeed will be the next in line (for heartache)? Not Charlie Crist; he's feeling great as an independent-- and polling great too! Trey Grayson-- a cardboard cutout for Mitch McConnell-- really is the next to go (next week) when Rand Paul-- the teabagger candidate-- will wipe him out. But among the GOP senators who voted for Bush's no-strings-attached October 2008 Wall Street bailout, who will be facing the voters this year-- Kit Bond, Judd Gregg, Chuck Hagel and George Voinovich saving themselves the sure defeats by retiring-- several are as vulnerable to electoral defeat as Bennett was. John McCain could well be defeated in the primary or, if he survives that-- the general. Chuck Grassley has no primary to worry about but he's staring at a general election defeat at the hands of Roxanne Conlin in November. Arlen Specter-- driven out of the GOP-- is also facing defeat in the Democratic primary, or an almost certain defeat in November if he manages to defeat Joe Sestak next week. We'll need plenty of popcorn... and that's even before we get to the House.