Two Weeks From Tomorrow-- Oregon Voters Have A Chance To Send Kurt Schrader Off To Join Lipinski In The Blue Dog Kennel

There aren't any Democrats in the House more ideologically antithetical to the legitimate aspirations of working class Americans than Oregon Blue Dog Kurt Schrader. And 2 weeks from tomorrow the all mail-in primary threatening to replace him with a champion of those same working and middle class Oregonians ends. After that, we'll either be celebrating Mark Gamba's victory in a blue district the way we were celebrating Marie Newman's a few weeks ago, or we'll be kicking ourselves for not having done more.

Last week's Northwest Labor Press endorsed candidates in the Oregon races unions felt we're most important. In several there were split endorsements-- as in Eugene, where the endorsement was split between incumbent Peter DeFazio and progressive challenger Doyle Canning and in Portland where the labor vote is split between incumbent Earl Blumenauer and progressive challenger Albert Lee. But in OR-05 there was no such split. In the Salem, Clackamas, coastal district all the union support-- from AFM, AFT, IBT, ILWU, SEIU, WFP-- and the endorsement all went to one candidate-- and it wasn't the reactionary Republican-lite incumbent.

Mark Gamba, the mayor of Milwaukie, is challenging five-term incumbent Kurt Schrader, who has one of the worst labor records of any Democrat in the House. Not only has Schrader voted for every NAFTA-style trade treaty, but he voted to restrict unionization on Indian reservations, sponsored a bill to stop slowdowns by longshore workers, and has engaged in public carping against the national AFL-CIO. This February he was one of only seven Democrats to vote against a bill to make it easier to unionize and eliminate anti-union “right to work” laws. Half a dozen national unions have given a total of about $20,000 to Schrader in the last two years, but no local union appears to back him, and his campaign declined to list any union endorsers or provide a list of union endorsers to the Labor Press. With a $3 million campaign war chest full of contributions from business groups, Schrader may not feel he needs labor support. Meanwhile, Gamba is a well-liked mayor who helped build affordable housing and pass a $15-an-hour minimum wage for city employees. He’s a big advocate of Medicare for All and a Green New Deal.

The Willametter Weekly is now a more establishment-oriented publication and no one expects them to be politically cutting edge any longer. Oregonians expect them to back incumbents-- and, in every case that's exactly what they did this cycle. Although... in reading the Schrader endorsement, one had to wonder what message the editors were actually sending voters.

The flinty former veterinarian did draw a Democratic primary opponent to his left this time: two-term Milwaukie Mayor Mark Gamba, 61, who has moved aggressively to get his city to adopt ambitious climate goals and a generous minimum wage. Schrader, a budget expert in his earlier career as a state legislator representing Canby, hasn't welcomed Gamba's input, accusing his opponent of trying to foist "elitist" metro-area policies on a working-class congressional district that extends from Portland's western suburbs to the central coast. That's funny, given that Schrader is a pharmaceutical industry heir and Gamba is a freelance photographer whose mayoral pay is $3,600 a year.

We like seeing Schrader annoyed-- it seems to wake him up a bit. As a member of the centrist Blue Dog Democrats and the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, he's taken public positions that reflect the balanced nature of his district but can also feel like fence-sitting. (GovTrack, which crunches numbers on members of Congress, ranked Schrader the fifth-most conservative of the 200 Democrats who served in the 2018 session). Schrader publicly opposed the reelection of Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) as House speaker when Democrats reclaimed the majority. And he was slow to call for President Trump's impeachment-- in fact, he was the last Democratic member of Oregon's congressional delegation to support it.

But the most important of the endorserments came from the Portland Mercury, which made a powerful and compelling case for Mark Gamba, reminding its readers that "Rep. Kurt Schrader has a curious distinction: He’s largely recognized as one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress. Whether he’s voting on environmental policies, easing regulations for corporations, or opposing a federal minimum wage raise, Schrader is at best a reliably moderate member of Congress, and at worst a Republican disguised as a Democrat."

Schrader represents a very purple district that includes much of the Oregon Coast as well as Clackamas County, so some might argue he’s the best fit for the seat. But for Clackamas County voters who don’t feel Schrader is representing their values, we suggest instead voting for Milwaukie Mayor Mark Gamba in the primary. Gamba hopes to make universal healthcare and a Green New Deal his top priorities if elected, and has a track record of progressive accomplishments in Milwaukie.

And even if he doesn’t win, a strong primary showing for Gamba might send Schrader a message about what Democrats in his district value. If you want to shake up the status quo, vote for Gamba.

Even if you can't vote in the Oregon primary, please consider contributing to Gamba's campaign by clicking on the Blue America Primary A Blue Dog thermometer above. This is one of the best chances left in the 2020 cycle to replace a very bad Democrat with a very good Democrat. Gamba entitled the first guest post he wrote for DWT-- last July-- What We Need Are A Lot More People Like AOC In Congress. At the time, he wrote that "As a country, we have some very serious things to accomplish, some of them have a very short clock. We have 11 years, as of now, to radically shift the way our country does a whole lot of things like how we make energy, grow food, manage forests, build buildings and transport people and goods. It’s going to take a Congress with a can-do attitude and the guts to stand up to corporations, to tackle these issues."

But it was an e-mail he send to his supporters last January that made me redouble my efforts of his behalf:

What can we do to address the fact that the rich are getting richer and the middle class and poor are  struggling to keep up with the costs of living?

Many children in today’s America will be poorer than their parents.

We need to identify the systems allowing this to happen. Then we need to dismantle them.

There is absolutely no reason why income equality should be on the rise when we can see the catastrophic effects of it in recent history.

...I will work to pass legislation that takes on the business behemoths and stops them in their tracks. Together with other representatives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, I will hold corporate demagogues’ feet to the fire and demand accountability where inequity has previously reigned.

Income inequality is a systemic failing, not a personal one. To tackle it requires courage, persistence, and a national community standing shoulder to shoulder. I am proud to stand on the front lines with you and for you as we turn the tables and create economic freedom for ALL.

Can Unions Make Right-Wing Democrats Who Voted With The GOP Against The Working Class Pay A Penalty?

A few weeks ago, we looked at the vote in the House for the PRO Act-- Protecting the Right To Organze (H.R. 2474)-- which passed 224-194. There were seven anti-union Democrats who voted against the bill:

• Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX)
• Joe Cunningham (Blue Dog-SC)
• Kendra Horn (Blue Dog-OK)
• Ben McAdams (Blue Dog-UT)
• Lucy McBath (New Dem-GA)
• Stephanie Murphy (Blue Dog-FL)
• Kurt Schrader (Blue Dog-OR)

Last Thursday, the Communications Workers of America sent a letter to DCCC chair Cheri Bustos urging the committee to end campaign support for the 7 incumbents who voted with the Republicans and against unions.

The union says that these Democratic members voted against strengthening workers’ rights, a fundamental principle of the Democratic Party, and therefore should not receive campaign support from the DCCC moving forward.

The seven Democratic House Members who voted against the PRO Act are: Rep. Henry Cuellar (TX-28), Rep. Joe Cunningham (SC-01), Rep. Kendra Horn (OK-05), Rep. Ben McAdams (UT-04), Rep. Lucy McBath (GA-06), Rep. Stephanie Murphy (FL-07), and Rep. Kurt Schrader (OR-05). The letter comes after CWA members last week protested outside the offices of Reps. Cuellar, Murphy, and McBath to hold the Members accountable for voting against the PRO Act.

“I urge you to deny DCCC services to the seven Members of the House of Representatives who caucus with House Democrats and betrayed working people and America’s Labor Movement by voting against the final passage of the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act,” wrote CWA President Chris Shelton in a letter to DCCC Chair Cheri Bustos.

The U.S. House of Representatives last week voted in support of the PRO Act, a historic piece of legislation that would make it easier for workers to join a union, protect strikes and other bargaining activities, and weaken “right-to-work” laws. The legislation passed after tireless work of CWA members and a broad coalition of labor, civil rights, environmental, religious immigrant rights, and women's groups, who fought to ensure that the voices of working people would finally be heard.

“The PRO Act is a continuation of the long history of the Democratic Party’s policies to strengthen workers’ voices in the U.S. economy and create a level playing field and an engine for millions of workers to reach the middle class and, therefore, a stable and comfortable life,'' added Shelton. “Those who voted against the PRO Act have betrayed this fundamental principle of the Democratic Party. And due to those votes, it is impossible for CWA to urge our members to support any of these seven candidates. They must be denied the support of the Democratic Party for refusing to stand with working Americans.”

The letter outlines how the Democratic Party has long recognized that the ability for workers to organize, join a union, and bargain for their fair share has been critical to building a strong and vibrant middle class. However, corporate special interests are trying to exert their influence and push their anti-worker agenda in the Democratic Party-- with the latest example being the Democratic members who voted against the PRO Act. CWA has vowed to defend against these efforts, and hold Democratic members accountable for putting the interests of corporations ahead of the interests of working people.

Bustos is reported to have crumpled up the letter from the 700,000 member union and thrown it in the trash can, cursing and spitting. The DCCC is heavily supporting Kendra Horn, Joe Cunningham, Henry Cuellar, Ben McAdams and Lucy McBath and has said they will step in if Kurt Schrader or Stephanie Murphy look like they win up in jeopardy.

Our old friend, Tom Guild, an Oklahoma City progressive so busy trying to get Bernie over the hump that he hasn't even had time to officially announce his own campaign for the seat held by anti-union Blue Dog Kendra Horn, one of the conservative fake-Democrats who voted against the PRO-Act. When I asked him why he had decided to run again, he told me that Horn's vote against the PRO-Act was one of the top reasons. "I’m very disappointed that Ms. Horn voted against the PRO-Act. Her vote is an unpardonable sin and damages the rights of working people. To achieve a healthy economy and further economic justice, workers must be able to effectively organize, join unions, and bargain for their fair share of the fruits of their labor and hard won economic gains. That will build and sustain a strong and vibrant middle class. It is tragic when conservatives cripple workers’ rights, and much worse when members of the Democratic Party collaborate with powerful corporate interests and strengthen their anti-worker agenda. Americans should hold members, especially Democratic members of Congress, accountable at the polls for crippling the interests of working people. The DCCC should not support these anti-worker congresspersons by giving them aid and comfort and funding their campaigns. Enough is enough. A key question in 2020 is whose side are you on. The Democratic Party should stand unapologetically in solidarity with working people to lighten their load, and make it easier for workers to join unions, engage in strikes and pursue other essential bargaining activities. To do otherwise betrays the better part of a century of standing beside and supporting America’s beleaguered workers."

In the South Texas district where progressive Jessica Cisneros is battling DCCC Blue Dog Henry Cuellar, likely to be the next Jeff Van Drew, the labor movement has backed Cisneros and the Chamber of Commerce and the Koch brothers have backed Cuellar. The Kochs are funneling money to his campaign their their front groups and PACs. Their outright endorsement of Cuellar marks the first time they’ve ever openly backed a Democrat in a federal race. They've now launched a massive sewer money campaign on TV to destroy Cisneros, largely to repay Cuellar for his anti-union vote. So we have the Koch Brothers and Cheri Bustos' DCCC marching hand in hand into hell. "Congressman Cuellar siding with his big corporate donors over working people in our district once again shows why he’s Trump’s favorite Democrat," said Cisneros. "Workers deserve the right to negotiate for proper pay, good working conditions, and benefits they deserve. I’m proud to have the support of workers in our district and local unions, who have our back because they know we have theirs."

Mark Gamba, the progressive mayor of Milwaukie, Oregon is taking on one of the most virulently anti-union Democrats in Congress, Blue Dog Kurt Schrader. "You have to ask yourself," said Mark, "what the DCCC stands for? What's important to them? Is it the lives, and livelihood of working class people? Obviously not. Is it a healthy economy (which can only come from a strong middle class)? Obviously not. Is it holding bad employers responsible for their actions? Obviously not. This bill only begins to claw back some of the rights workers used to have. Rights that have been slowly worn away by the republicans and the corporatist, millionaire, Democrats-in-name-only that support the Republicans. If someone like Schrader doesn't support the working people, and therefore the middle class, what is he doing in the Democratic Party?  People in our district call him "traitor Schrader" because he votes with Republicans on so many critical issues. He talks about representing a purple district and reaching across the aisle. But this bill doesn't benefit working people on the Republican side either. It only benefits the giant corporations that line his pockets and in turn those of the DCCC. Which then answers my original question. The DCCC doesn't stand for anything. But it will bend over for a fat corporate check. Just like traitor Schrader will.  I would have voted for the PRO-Act. I would have co-sponsored the PRO-Act. I would have used political capital and twisted arms for the PRO-Act because I believe in protecting the rights of workers and in making the middle class. and therefor our economy, the strongest it can be."

If you'd like to help Mark and Jessica replace their anti-union/anti-worker opponents... that's what the thermometer is for. Just click and contribute what you can to their campaigns. (Tom will take a few minutes out of campaigning for Bernie to file his candidate papers with the FEC... soon. We'll let you know when he has his ActBlue page up and ready for contributions.)

Cheri Bustos, Koch brothers ally against working families

You Expect Republicans To Oppose Pro-Union Legislation... But I Want To Introduce You To 7 Anti-Working Class Democrats

On Thursday night, the House passed Bobby Scott's PRO Act-- Protecting the Right To Organze (H.R. 2474). There were only 5 Republicans-- all in swing districts-- who voted with the Democrats to pass this. There were, however, 7 anti-working class Democrats who crossed the aisle in the other direction, Blue Dogs from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. (It passed 224-194.) These were the so-called Democrats who opposed it:

• Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX)
• Joe Cunningham (Blue Dog-SC)
• Kendra Horn (Blue Dog-OK)
• Ben McAdams (Blue Dog-UT)
• Lucy McBath (New Dem-GA)
• Stephanie Murphy (Blue Dog-FL)
• Kurt Schrader (Blue Dog-OR)

The state of organized labor is so fucked up and the unions are so in thrall to the Democratic Party establishment that I would bet good money that most of these candidates will be endorsed by unions, regardless of their votes being a direct attack on unions. Right after the vote, Jim Hoffa, president of the Teamsters issued this statement:

In approving the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, the House agreed to restore fairness to the economy at a time when income inequality has stifled the ability of far too many hardworking Americans to earn a decent wage that allows them to support their families.

The PRO Act will strengthen the NLRA so that workers seeking to organize a union and negotiate higher wages and better benefits will be protected. Workers deserve a safe workplace, the ability to stand together and negotiate better working conditions, and to live a middle-class lifestyle.

"Lawmakers have realized what happens when workers are abandoned by their elected officials. The misclassification of workers is on the rise and too many working Americans are falling through the cracks. The Teamsters have witnessed such behavior firsthand as XPO workers across the country try to organize with this union. I'm glad to see a majority of the House are standing with workers by allowing them to join together to negotiate on the job.

So far this cycle, the Teamsters Union has given the DNC 120,000 and the DCCC $105,000. Four of the anti-union members are getting immense financial support from the DCCC-- Cuellar, McBath, Cunningham and Horn. The Teamsters Union has already given substantial amounts to some of the anti-union members-- $10,000 to Horn and $5,000 each to McAdams and Cunningham, as well as $3,500 to West Virginia Republican David McKinley, $2,500 to Long Island Republican Peter King, $2,000 to Illinois Republican Rodney Davis, $1,000 to Omaha Republican Donald Bacon. All 4 Republicans voted against the PRO-Act.

One good thing the Teamsters Union did do though was to write a $5,000 check to Jennifer Cisneros, the progressive Democrat opposing Cuellar in south Texas. She lit into Cuellar for voting against workers, pointing out that he sided "with his big corporate donors over working people in our district once again showing why he’s Trump’s favorite Democrat. Workers deserve the right to negotiate for proper pay, good working conditions, and benefits they deserve. I’m proud to have the support of workers in our district and local unions, who have our back because they know we have theirs." Her campaign let votes know that "Cuellar's vote comes just days after the staunchly anti-labor, pro-Republican U.S. Chamber of Commerce announced a $200,000 ad buy" to support Cuellar primary race. Cuellar was also denied the endorsement of the Texas AFL-CIO last week, which opted to back Cisneros instead. Cuellar's campaign is being financed by anti-union corporate PACs from companies like Amazon, Exxon, Koch Industries, Core Civic, and Raytheon, with less than 1% coming from small-dollar donations.

"Being anti-union is the same as being anti-middle class," Mark Gamba told us, "so it’s no surprise that millionaire Kurt Schrader was one of the few Democrats to vote against the PRO Act yesterday." Gamba is the progressive, pro-worker mayor of Milwaukie, Oregon and he's challenging Schrader for the 5th district congressional seat. "Over the last four decades, neo-liberals like Kurt have worked to whittle down the power of the unions, because they know that if the unions are strong, the middle class is strong and they will be forced to share their amassed power. The PRO Act is simply a long overdue course correction in union law that would hold bad employers accountable for dishonest behavior and allow working folks a fair shot at organizing. This law is more important than ever with the growing gig economy. If we hope to reverse the decades long stagnation in wages, we must support our unions. Schrader’s vote is a clear signal that he neither represents the union-dense 5th district people, nor does he have any intention of working for the benefit of the shrinking middle-class."

Biden Campaign Proves That Endorsements From The Wrong Sources Can Hurt A Campaign-- Meet Abby Finkenauer (IA-02)

Worthless careerists, Abby and Joe, have nothing to offer voters

Did conservative Democrat Abby Finkenauer's endorsement of Biden ruin his Iowa campaign? Iowa's first district used to be very blue. Obama beat McCain there, 58.5% to 40.4%, Obama's biggest win in the state. It was also the scene of his biggest victory against Romney in 2012-- 56.2% to 42.5% Then the Democratic Party shoved centrist status quo candidate Hillary Clinton down the party's throat and Iowans looking for fundamental change turned to Trump. A strong Democratic district turned red, or, at best, purple. Trump beat Hillary in IA-01. In 2014 when Democrat Bruce Braley gave up the congressional seat for an ill-fated Senate run, multimillionaire Republican wing nut Rod Blum won the seat and kept it in 2016 thanks to DCCC interference. It took the anti-red wave of 2018 to dislodge him-- despite another worthless DCCC/EMILY's List candidate, state Rep. Abby Finkenauer (an unaccomplished joke in the state legislature).

Finkenauer immediately established herself as a waste of a seat--worthless in the House as she had been in Iowa's state legislature, a pointless backbencher happy to do nothing at all. She quickly ran up an "F"-graded voting record, worse than the records of many Blue Dogs and New Dems. Stephanie Murphy is the chief Blue Dog and even her record is slightly better than Finkenauer's!

No one noticed her until she endorsed Status Quo Joe a couple of months ago. His pathetic and clueless campaign aggressively promoted the anti-charismatic Finkenauer as "Biden's AOC." Laughably, while AOC was helping to draw hundreds and even thousands to Bernie rallies, Finkenauer rarely brought in more than a dozen people to Biden events. She was as colossal a failure in her own district as she was in DC.

That became more than obvious on caucus day, when Biden was gutted like a fish across her district. There are 20 counties in the district, although most of the voters live in the 3 bluest counties-- Linn (Cedar Rapids), Dubuque and Black Hawk (Waterloo). Below are all the counties in descending order of voting population and how the candidates with 15% of more of the vote fared (SDE-wise) in each county.

Linn

• Bernie- 5,274 (28.4%)
• Mayo- 4,571 (24.6%)
• Elizabeth- 3,912 (21.0%)
• Biden- 2,813 (15.1%)

Blackhawk

• Bernie- 3,070 (31.5%)
• Mayo- 2,182 (22.4%)
• Biden- 1,697 (17.4)
• Elizabeth- 1,677 (17.2%)

Dubuque

• Mayo- 2,160 (29.9%)
• Bernie- 1,680 (23.2%)
• Biden- 1,653 (22.9%)
• Elizabeth- 1,093 (15.1%)

Marshall

• Bernie- 816 (34.0%)
• Mayo- 672 (28.0%)
• Biden- 512 (21.3%)

Benton

• Biden- 465 (31.0%)
• Mayo- 435 (29.0%)
• Bernie- 353 (23.5%)

Bremer

• Mayo- 567 (33.3%)
• Elizabeth- 363 (21.3%)
• Biden- 317 (18.6%)
• Klobuchar- 272 (16.0%)

Winneshiek

• Mayo- 486 (30.4%)
• Klobuchar- 397 (24.8%)
• Bernie- 333 (20.8%)
• Elizabeth- 269 (16.8%)

Jones

• Mayo- 368 (30.7%)
• Biden- 256 (21.3%)
• Bernie- 256 (21.3%)
• Klobuchar- 208 (17.3%)

Jackson

• Mayo- 377 (31.4%)
• Biden- 309 (25.8%)
• Klobuchar- 189 (15.8)

Buchanan

• Biden- 383 (29.8%)
• Mayo- 342 (26.6%)
• Klobuchar- 219 (17.0%)

Poweshiek

• Bernie- 504 (36.0%)
• Elizabeth- 392 (28.0%)
• Klobuchar- 210 (15.0%)

Fayette

• Mayo- 432 (36.0%)
• Biden- 264 (22.0%)
• Bernie- 180 (15.0%)

Clayton

• Mayo- 367 (38.0%)
• Klobuchar- 217 (22.4%)
• Bernie- 183 (18.9%)
• Biden- 167 (17.3%)

Iowa

• Mayo- 260 (26.0%)
• Elizabeth- 260 (26.0%)
• Bernie- 240 (24.0%)
• Biden- 200 (20.0%)

Delaware

• Mayo- 248 (27.5%)
• Klobuchar- 218 (24.2%)
• Elizabeth- 195 (21.6%)
• Biden- 188 (20.8%)

Tama

• Bernie- 298 (28.4%)
• Mayo- 285 (27.2%)
• Biden- 220 (21.0%)

Allamakee

• Mayo- 233 (36.1%)
• Klobuchar- 140 (21.7%)
• Bernie- 101 (15.6%)

Mitchell

• Klobuchar- 180 (35.2%)
• Mayo- 113 (22.1%)
• Biden- 90 (17.6%)

Howard

• Mayo- 171 (34.2%)
• Biden- 100 (20.0%)
• Bernie- 86 (17.2%)

Worth

• Klobuchar- 120 (27.3%)
• Mayo- 87 (19.8%)
• Bernie- 73 (16.6%)

And district-wide, what did Finkenauer do for Biden? Not much if anything, the SDEs for all the top candidates:

• Mayo- 14,356
• Bernie- 13,447
• Biden- 9,634
• Elizabeth- 8,361
• Klobuchar- 2,190

These calculations are based on the official party reports accounting for 96.43% of caucus goers. Status quo Joe and Elizabeth are battling it out to see who will be in third place and who will be in fourth place. He probably would have done better without Finkenauer's kiss of death endorsement.

Just wait 'til he gets to the suburbs east of Sacramento, where he was endorsed by spineless and despised lesser-of-two evils incumbent Ami Bera, whose elderly father in rotting in prison for taking the rap for one of Bera's fund-raising frauds. Or to Massachusetts, where two collossally unpopular members of Congress, conservatives Stephen Lynch and Seth Moulton have both endorsed him. Worse yet, in Oregon he has been endorsed by political pariah right-wing Blue Dog Kurt Schrader-- the only House Democrat opposing the pro-labor legislation pending before the House this week. Fun weeks ahead for Team Biden!

Kurt Schrader: The face of Biden's Oregon efforts

Bob Lefsetz is probably the most incisive critic of the American music business. This week he also took a swing at Status Quo Joe's crumbling campaign. "One thing’s for sure," he wrote; "Biden’s toast. But how could this be? For months we’ve endured polls, talking heads, telling us he was the leader and the people’s choice, the man with experience shooting right up the middle. But it turns out that’s not what people wanted at all."

So, the pollsters got it wrong. Oh, there was that Des Moines Register poll that was canceled that was supposedly more accurate, and I’m sure Nate Silver and the rest of the experts will weasel once again and tell us how they really got it right, but they didn’t. Turns out it’s not only government that is out of touch with the public, but the pollsters and the media too.

It all comes down to if you’re winning. If the present environment is working for you, you want no change.

But it turns out the present environment isn’t working for most of America.

Let’s start with Trump. The same media outlets and pollsters failed to see the disharmony that led to the Donald’s election, they convinced us, even him, that his campaign was a sideshow, a way for Trump to burnish his brand, to start a TV network, to get richer. Little did we expect that he would use the Presidency to get richer.

And on the other side you’ve got Bernie. According to Hillary Clinton, an evil hatemonger who refuses to play well with others. Meanwhile, Bernie almost deposed the anointed Hillary in 2016 and it appears he’s gonna run to the roses this year. Turns out most of the populace is not happy with business as usual.

Let’s talk about the Clintons. Sure, they were eviscerated by the right, but they also used their position to get rich, even Chelsea has gotten rich, she’s even wealthier than Hunter Biden! But sucking up to Wall Street and the rest of the billionaires was de rigueur, because everybody else did it. You needed their money to win. But Bernie didn’t take a dime from the usual suspects and this time around he’s raised more money than anybody!

... [T]he Democrats have no center. It’s a big party under a big tent but a self-serving cabal runs it and they don’t want any change. Now that Bernie Sanders is a distinct possibility the truth has finally come out, those in power, at the DNC, don’t want any change, no different from the Grammys. You see a new guy is gonna come in, who gets to choose the head of the party and…a lot of people are gonna lose their influence, if not their jobs.

So, America doesn’t appear that different from Afghanistan, some other tribal country.

... [E]ssentially no one is alive who remembers when America was a second-class nation. Everybody thinks the U.S. of A. is the greatest country in the world, it cannot be defeated.

As for Vietnam and Iraq, the belief is the agitators undermined us and if we just gave the armed forces and Dick Cheney and the other rulers carte blanche, we would have won again.

Only that doesn’t take into account hearts and minds. The North Vietnamese were willing to sacrifice everything for the cause. And the truth is so many of the losers in today’s society feel the same way. They’re sick of billionaires, sick of kowtowing to the rich, they want some power.

Which is how Trump got elected. He represented change.

Hillary was damaged goods offering business as usual.

Just like Joe Biden.

But the insiders tell us we must nominate someone safe in order to win in November, we must sacrifice all our beliefs, all our interests, for a greater good…which would only benefit the entrenched. Which brings up the question why bother to vote at all?

A huge slice of the public never does. Many because they believe there will be no difference. And after living through twenty five years of tech innovation they know that change can happen overnight, if people choose to make it happen. They also know that techies run circles around D.C., elected officials don’t understand tech, never mind regulate tech.

But all we hear from insiders is how dumb the populace is.

But that’s because they don’t understand it’s not about issues so much as emotions.

Oh, the Republicans always focus on a divisive issue, but the Democrats…Hillary Clinton fake smiled, just like old Joe, and no one bought it, they didn’t speak to your soul, they were controlled by those with the cash.

Globalization is here to stay. What’s your answer to that?

Trump’s is to promise impossibilities as he engages in trade wars. No, manufacturing is not coming back to America, and coal mining won’t boom. Instead of providing false hope, why don’t you give the disenfranchised a roadmap as well as a safety net as opposed to service jobs that don’t put food on the table, never mind a roof over your head.

This is why Bernie is resonating, because it’s crooked and you’re screwed. Everybody knows this, it’s just the winners don’t want to admit they’ve bent the system to their satisfaction, they just tell others to pull up their bootstraps, it’s easy, everyone can be a millionaire, even though you can’t get into a good college because they’ve paid for slots, with either bribes or buildings, and have had their kids tutored and… It would be like trying to become a coder in a school without computers, it can’t be done.

I’m not saying a whole hell of a lot new here, I’m just wondering when the powers-that-be are gonna wake up and admit what’s going on.

Add up the numbers. Put Sanders and Warren together and…

It appears the public wants radical change.

But what does the media do? Concoct a phony war between them.

Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi steals Trump’s thunder by ripping up his speech. He wouldn’t shake her hand and she took revenge. And owns the news cycle.

Sometimes you’ve got to test the limits, sometimes you have to push the envelope, sometimes you have to throw decorum out the window, sometimes you have to fight fire with fire.

But all the left can do is respond to the talking points of the right, as opposed to leading.

Which is one reason Mayor Pete can’t win. Do you think people are gonna buy his phony smile? He appears devious, and he’s selling nothing other than himself. It’s like he constructed his campaign on a computer. Let’s see, where’s the best slot, somewhere between Bernie and Biden, if you can believe in this guy, you probably went to Harvard and worked at McKinsey yourself.

Meanwhile, if you didn’t go to an Ivy, good luck getting that gig at McKinsey. As for the funds, they load your employer up with debt, take their investment and profits out first and you’re left holding the bag.

But you’re supposed to laud them because they’re rich.

The old America is dead. The internet proved that those telling us what was going on had no clue. Meanwhile, the rich on the left and right, the elites, rigged the game to their advantage, telling the less fortunate that it was just luck they lost out, that there was nothing they could do about it.

So, the public wants its revenge.

Any Democrat can beat Trump if the party just gets behind the nominee. Instead, the DNC keeps going on about who’s electable.

You know who is electable?

THE ONE THAT WINS!

You Can Tell A Lot About Candidates By Who Endorses Them-- And That Includes Status Quo Joe And Bernie

Biden has a shit load of endorsements and-- most of them are shit. They include corporate whores, Blue Dogs and New Dems from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. His congressional endorsers include some of the worst Democrats in Congress and nearly every one of them has a voting record with a ProgressivePunch "F" score. Here's a list of garbage behind Biden:

• Kurt Schrader (Blue Dog-OR)
• Filemon Vela (Blue Dog-TX)
• Ami Bera (New Dem-CA)
• Cindy Axne (New Dem-IA)
• Vicente Gonzalez (Blue Dog-TX)
• Terri Sewell (New Dem-AL)
• Sanford Bishop (Blue Dog-GA)
• Sean Patrick Maloney (New Dem-NY)
• Stephen Lynch (New Dem-MA)
• Tony Cárdenas (New Dem-CA)
• Charlie Crist (Blue Dog-FL)
• Brad Schneider (Blue Dog-IL)

At the heart of the Biden campaign are his false claims to be a fighter for working families. That's never really been true. He's mixing "families" up with "banksters" and "big corporations." And many of his endorsers are fakers just like him. Kurt Schrader, certainly one of the worst members Biden looked to for backing, is a good example. His progressive 2020 opponent, Milwaukie Mayor Mark Gamba, wrote yesterday that "The Neoliberal policies of the last half century have included efforts to erode the power of the unions at every turn. As a result, they have achieved their desired result of concentrating wealth at the very top and creating insecurity within the middle class. No one can argue that the majority of Americans are not as well off as their parents were and become less well off with each passing year. HR 2474: Protecting the Right to Organize act of 2019 Is a critical step towards repairing the damage that anti-worker corporations and politicians have done to our working families. The middle class only exists because workers organized and demanded fair and safe working conditions and pay. If we hope to continue to have a middle class, then we must support our union brethren when they fight to regain workers rights. My opponent is the only Democrat in our federal delegation that is opposed to the PRO Act, which is outrageous given that our district has one of the highest membership rates in the U.S. Much like his cynical vote against the $15/hour minimum wage, he is looking out for the interests of giant national corporations instead of the working folk here in the 5th congressional district." And Gamba made that statement as he was heading off to Salem "to stand with our union brothers and sisters on their picket line in front of Representative Schrader's office.The 5th has some of the highest union membership in the U.S. and it's high time that Schrader is taken to task for voting against the people he was elected to represent."

On every single issue facing the country, from war and peace healthcare and Wall Street, these people are more a part of the problem, not part of the solution. They're supporting a delusional hack who still thinks he can put together a conservative coalition with Republicans to accomplish something for working families. Watch this interview with Savannah Guthrie the crazy old coot did Sunday on the Today Show:





Bernie has a very different kind of endorser, men and women looking towards the future, from AOC and Pramila Jayapal to AOC, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib-- and virtually most of the best 2020 congressional candidates. Yesterday, another remarkable woman stepped forward to endorse him, just before caucusing in Iowa began. Writing for The Root, Terrell Jermaine Starr, explained who Barbara Smith is and why her endorsement of Bernie is worth more than any dozen Biden endorsements combined. "Barbara Smith, founding member of the black feminist Combahee River Collective that coined the term 'identity politics,'" he began, "has endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders for president." Starr interviewed her about the reasons why.

“Of all of the people who are running, Bernie Sanders is the person whose political commitment most closely reflects and align with political commitments that I’ve had throughout my life,” she said. “He has a much deeper understanding of what the situation is, why we have injustice and inequality and oppression and discrimination or whatever words you use to describe a society that isn’t functioning the way that it should be functioning. He is the most incisive, sharpest understanding of where all that comes from.”

Briahna Joy Gray, national press secretary for the Sanders campaign, told The Root that the campaign is “enormously proud to have earned the endorsement of one of the preeminent black feminist activists in American history. Barbara Smith’s work highlighting the interlocking oppressions of race, gender identity, sexual orientation, and class has helped to empower millions of people in the fight for substantive equality. That fight is central to this campaign, and we’re humbled to have earned her support.”

In addition to her scholarly work, Smith has also served in elected office. She served two terms as a city councilwoman in Albany, N.Y., between 2005 and 2013. Her endorsement comes just as voters in Iowa begin caucusing here, where Sanders is one of the favorites to win.

Sanders has long been criticized for not having a race analysis. But Smith strongly pushes back on that narrative, adding that he fits within the framework of identity politics and cautions against misusing the term from its intended purpose.

“The way it’s been used in the last couple of decades is very different than what we intended,” she said. “The Combahee River Collective has a race, class, gender, and sexuality platform and analysis. We wrote in our statement that all of the systems of oppression are interlocking, she said.

“When we use the term ‘identity politics,’ we are actually asserting that black women had a right to determine our own political agendas. We, as black women, we actually had a right to create political priorities and agendas and actions and solutions based in our experiences in having these simultaneous identities-- that included other identities via the working class, gay, lesbian, bisexual, etc. So that’s what we meant by it. That didn’t mean we didn’t care about other people’s situations of injustice. We’d absolutely did not mean that we would work with people who were only identical to ourselves. We did not mean that. We strongly believed in coalitions and working with people across various identities on common problems. I think that the Sanders campaign and the candidate himself are absolutely consistent with what we meant by identity politics.”

Blue No Matter Who? Very Bad Idea-- And One That Allows The Status Quo-Loving Establishment To Push The Democratic Party Further Right

Voters to candidates: tell us what you are going to do for us and our families and how you're going to do it. We do not care about your offing bullshit made-up fund-raising deadlines. Seems simple, right? But most DCCC candidates can't get it through their heads. They really have nothing positive to offer, so they bombard us with asinine e-mails about their deadlines.

Let's look at two e-mails that came to my box yesterday. The first was from worthless Blue Dog Kendra Horn of Oklahoma City, sho got into Congress and voted against progressive initiatives more than almost any other Democrat in the House. She has an "F" from ProgressivePunch and the 3rd worst voting record among House Dems:

Her e-mail reflection the "vision" of her her fellow DCCC-Blue Dogs and has nothing to do with anyone but herself: "Urgent news: Our first fundraising deadline of 2020 is this Friday."

"On top of that,"this self-absorbed turd continued, "a national dark money group launched another round of attack ads against me." Go whine to EMILY's List.

"Fighting these attacks," she wrote, "and setting the record straight is one of our top priorities-- so we really can’t miss any of our fundraising goals right now!" I bet it is. Her priorities have never once been about the people who sent her to Congress from OK-05. Kendra Horn's is one of the most wasted seats in Congress. And no-one deserves more than she does to be defeated in November. The ceaseless refrain from her and her type: "Please, will you click here to pitch in $10 to help us close our $10,000 budget gap before midnight on Friday? Our campaign is a top target for outside dark money groups, and they’ll stop at nothing to flip this seat." Ready for the big pukeworthy closing?

But with supporters like you beside me, I know we’re ready for the challenge. I know this team has what it takes to muster every ounce of grassroots support and reach every single voter in our district between now and Election Day.

Will you help make sure that happens by chipping in $10 before our deadline on Friday?

EMILY's List and the DCCC forced pitiful moron-incumbents like Horn to hire "consultants"-- highly paid ones-- to write these useless e-mails. Read it again. Is there one repulsive Blue Dog or New Dem it can't be sent out for without changing a single word?

Now this e-mail came at the same time and I guarantee you, the voice you hear is not some asshole consultant; it's a candidate who wants you to know him and wants you to know why you should contribute to his campaign. This is from Mark Gamba, the progressive mayor of Milwaukie, Oregon who's taking on one of the worst Blue Dogs ever, Kurt Schrader.

This weekend I had the honor of being endorsed by Our Revolution in Salem.

You know, I decided to run for Congress in no small part because I wanted to help Bernie Sanders take on the corporate establishment and pass laws that truly benefit the American people and our planet.

The Green New Deal is a big part of the initiatives I will champion, and so is Universal Healthcare.

Just this morning, I was listening to a broadcast on OPB that talked about the tough choices Americans are making when their insurance fails to cover the cost of life-saving prescription drugs. Folks who need epi-pens are opting to wear long sleeve shirts hoping that they will protect them from bee stings because they cannot afford the $300 generic epi-pen, much less the name brand product that costs over $600.

The problem is heartbreaking. Doctors are prescribing drugs that their patients cannot afford even with health insurance that has prescription coverage.

Medical debt is the leading cause of bankruptcy in this country and we pay over twice as much for healthcare as the average industrialized nation. Yet our health outcomes are worse than most countries in the industrialized world.

This is wrong on so many levels, but it is easy to trace the problem to its source. Mega-corps are more interested in profit than they are in people or planet. In the case of healthcare, Big Pharma and the Insurance industry are looking after their bottom line at the expense of our very lives.

I promise that I will work tirelessly to pass legislation that curbs the rapacious corporate greed costing so many Americans their futures.

My opponent may say that he is working to get cheaper life-saving drugs to market, but his voting record and financial investments tell a different story. He both invests in Big Pharma and takes campaign contributions from them. Even his oft-touted BLOCKING Act, which he claims gives generic drugs easier access to come to market does the exact opposite.

We need people in Congress who will not be bought by the highest bidder. People who will stand for what is right in the face of seemingly limitless power and not bow down. Can I count on you to join me on this quest?

With your help we will stand shoulder to shoulder and take back our democracy. As Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said, “They have the money, but we have the people.”

All people deserve to have access to health care. It should be a human right.

I will continue to fight for it with your support.

I stuck in that Primary A Blue Dog thermometer in case you feel inspired to contribute to Mark or any of the other progressives challenging a Blue Dog or New Dem this cycle. And this Bernie tweet from this morning is a reminder that it isn't just Republican assholes who are the sworn enemies of the working class, but many from the status quo Democratic Party establishment as well, and certainly the Blue Dogs and New Dems!

Reward Candidates Whose E-mails Aren't Meaningless Spam-- Meet Mark Gamba Of Oregon

Remember that series I started a couple of months ago to demonstrate how candidates can write worthwhile e-mails rather than the hackish garbage turned out by the media consultants spawned by the DCCC? We've got another one today, this by the progressive mayor of Milwaukie, Oregon, Mark Gamba, who is competing for a congressional seat with reactionary Blue Dog Kurt Schrader. It does what every e-mail to voters should do; it lets the reader know what kind of a representative the writer will be. Mark doesn't say he will work with Pelosi and Hoyer to protect the status quo. Instead he says "Together with other representatives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, I will hold corporate demagogues’ feet to the fire and demand accountability where inequity has previously reigned." Isn't that the kind of elected officials we want in office-- need in office?

Currently, Schrader has raised $736,454 (with $2,836,780 of corporate cash in his war chest) to $77,201 raised by Gamba. Obviously Mark needs some help. I hope after you read the e-mail he just sent to his list you'll consider chipping in for his campaign-- which you can do by clicking on the 2020 Primary A Blue Dog thermometer on the right. One candidate in this race is actively campaigning for Medicare for All, for affordable house and for implementing the Green New Deal-- and the other candidate is leading the fight against both. In terms of the progressive agenda, Kurt Schrader is no better than an actual  Republican. That's a heavy statement, but, it is very precise and exactly correct. Kurt Schrader votes with the Democratic establishment on many of their bills-- after helping water them down-- but when it comes to anything remotely progressive, Schrader can always be counted on to be on the warpath to kill, kill, kill.

This is Gamba's e-mail:

I want to take a moment to address a question  on many peoples'  minds these days.

What can we do to address the fact that the rich are getting richer and the middle class and poor are  struggling to keep up with the costs of living?

Many children in today’s America will be poorer than their parents.

We need to identify the systems allowing this to happen. Then we need to dismantle them.

There is absolutely no reason why income equality should be on the rise when we can see the catastrophic effects of it in recent history.

We need only look to the 20th century to see the relationship between economic discontent and the rise of political extremism. The Nazi party offered a way out of deepening poverty and economic instability that financially overburdened people were willing to follow.

America’s true polarization is not Republican vs. Democrat. It is a segregation of wealth and resources from the majority of Americans.

We all want to have our basic needs met. We all need to have stable work and good health.

In 1890 the United States of America passed The Sherman Act, the first of a series of anti-trust laws designed to prevent companies from forming industry monopolies and suffocating competitors. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis believed that large corporations struck at the very soul of American democracy, limiting the opportunities of the average American to thrive.

The rise of mega-corporations and multinational conglomerates today are directly responsible for the widening gap in income between rich and poor.

For example, Boeing’s late CEO, Dennis Muilenburg was given a severance package of at least $26 million but potentially up to $60 million DESPITE failing to heed several safety warnings on the Boeing 737 MAX  which cost hundreds of people their lives.

I promise you, a barista at Starbucks isn’t going to be offered millions after negligent manslaughter. They’ll go bankrupt trying to pay for legal fees.

We need to break up the big companies like Amazon and Facebook. We need to interrupt corporate escapism and hold executives responsible for the impact of their sacrosanct “bottom line”. Corporations are set up to protect people like Muilenburg whose criminal choices destroy families, communities, and the planet. This is wrong.

I will work to pass legislation that takes on the business behemoths and stops them in their tracks. Together with other representatives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, I will hold corporate demagogues’ feet to the fire and demand accountability where inequity has previously reigned.

Income inequality is a systemic failing, not a personal one. To tackle it requires courage, persistence, and a national community standing shoulder to shoulder. I am proud to stand on the front lines with you and for you as we turn the tables and create economic freedom for ALL.

In solidarity,

Mark Gamba