Will Trump Shut Down The Government Again-- Or Rescue Himself By Stealing Money From California And Puerto Rico?

UPDATE: Trump caves again-- won't shut down the government. Earlier this morning, beaten like a dog, Trump was reported by CNN to be preparing to sign the bill to keep the government open without any money for his foolish vanity-wall. The deal falls far short of all his demands but he's knows he's been beaten and has no choice, despite the rantings and ravings of Ann Coulter. CNN also reported that "Even as lawmakers haggled over details of their agreement, the White House had been planning behind the scenes to secure the funds for the wall unilaterally. The White House says Trump is continuing to weigh his options to fund a border wall, which still include taking executive action to secure funding for a wall. It's not clear which combination of actions the President might use, and the topic has been under debate for weeks."

Audrey Denney, a progressive congressional candidate in northeast California (CA-01) made a video Trump ought to watch before he goes on spouting his ignorance about Climate Change and before he tries stealing money Congress allocated for hurricane disaster relief in Puerto Rico and wild fire relief in California to build his vanity-wall. When Trump started threatening to take away the crucial money, the Republican rubber stamp who represents the most burned part of the state, Doug LaMalfa, Audrey's opponent, said he trusts Trump to do the right thing. Audrey doesn't and she was incensed by Trump's comments which she said "make it clear that he does not have a grasp on the science of climate change, the complexities of forest ecosystems, or the basics of fire prevention. Last November we were experiencing weather patterns and dryness levels that mirrored peak fire season (July). High winds and these extraordinarily dry conditions led to a creating the most devastating fire in California’s history. Our changing climate will continue to threaten lives and property in Northern California and across our country. Many of California’s forests are overgrown and need to be restored to healthy forested ecosystems. It is complex and important work that must be done. However, nearly 60% of the forests in California are under federal control-- it is the federal government who has chosen to divert resources away from forest management-- not California. As we look ahead to increased risks for people who live in urban-wildland interface areas, we need to devote resources to proper community planning, emergency preparedness, and innovative solutions for minimizing risks. We need leaders that understand the complexity, nuance, and science surrounding these issues." (Trump's idea of climate change has to do with deriding people who talk about Global Warming by pointing out heavy snows.)

On Monday, writing for Politico, Nancy Cook and Eliana Johnson reported that the Regime is firming up plans to shift federal dollars allocated by Congress for unrelated purposes build his wall. Clearly attorneys working on this unconstitutional endeavor should be disbarred down the road. For now, though, this planned executive order, which Mulvaney referred to on Meet The Press last Sunday, will be Trump's response to the bipartisan compromise Congress offered him to solve the impasse. "The emerging consensus among acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and top budget officials," according to Politico "is to shift money from two Army Corps of Engineers’ flood control projects in Northern California, as well as from disaster relief funds intended for California and Puerto Rico. The plan will also tap unspent Department of Defense funds for military construction, like family housing or infrastructure for military bases, according to three sources familiar with the negotiations."

Part of Ted Lieu's district, Malibu, also suffered severe wild fire damage. His reaction to Trump's threats was very much in line with what all the California Democrats had to say. "'Let's hurt military families and disaster victims,' said no one ever. Trump's latest scheme to raid federal funds designated for military construction projects and disaster relief in order to pay for his pointless border wall is not just irresponsible, but likely unconstitutional. Congress has the power of the purse and decides how federal dollars are spent. While it is true the executive often has a fair amount of discretion in how federal money is allocated, the President does not have the power to simply ignore the will of Congress and redirect funding as he sees fit. So to summarize, Trump is planning to steal from military families and disaster victims in order to pay for a pointless wall that he promised Mexico would pay for-- it's not the dumbest idea I've ever heard, but it is pretty darn close."

Mark DeSaulnier's congressional district (especially Antioch, Pittsburg and Bay Point) is immediately to the south of some of the hardest hit areas of the fire zone. Earlier today he told me that "Investing in disaster prevention and recovery is proven to be effective in the long run, both at reducing damage to life and property from disasters and economically. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there is no analysis that suggests that President Trump’s border wall would be worth a single penny we invest in it. We should go where the facts lead us, not the President’s political biases."

Alan Grayson, whose old district in the Orlando Metro has one of the largest Puerto Rican populations of any on the mainland. "Trump," he told me this morning "seems to think that highly absorbent paper towels are the best form of hurricane recovery. But honestly, the Democrats deserve some of the blame, because they could have prevented it. There have been something like 20 appropriations bills passed since Trump took office. How hard would it have been to offer an amendment in at least one of them, saying no diversion of funds for a wall?"

But the strategy is far from a cure-all for a president with no good options, and it has already sparked debate within the White House. Moving funds by executive order is virtually certain to draw instant court challenges, with opponents, including some powerful members of Congress, arguing the president is encroaching on the legislative branch’s constitutional power to appropriate funds.

Some Trump officials, including those aligned with senior adviser Stephen Miller, have argued internally that the gambit might be even more vulnerable to court challenges than a national emergency declaration. And in a sign of the political fallout, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee has argued that tapping military construction money would hurt the armed forces’ potential readiness.

Until now, Trump officials had focused on the drawbacks of a possible national emergency declaration. But as the alternative option of moving money by executive order has come into clearer relief ahead of a Feb. 15 deadline for a spending deal with Congress that could avert a new government shutdown, so have the risks of that alternative option.

“It will create a firestorm, once you start taking money that congressmen think is in their districts,” said Jim Dyer, a former staff director for the House Appropriations Committee. “You will cause yourself a problem if that money was directed away from any type of project or activity because I guarantee it has some constituency on Capitol Hill.”

Inside the White House, the president’s lawyers have for weeks grappled with the question of how to defend Trump should he choose to assert broad executive powers to build the wall. While the phrase “national emergency” has an extreme ring, some administration attorneys note that it is a well-established power under a 1976 law that has been invoked 58 times by past presidents. They call it uncontroversial that presidents have broad discretion to declare a national emergencies and similarly broad authority to deal with them.

“President is on sound legal ground to declare a National Emergency... this is hardly unprecedented,” Trump tweeted on Sunday, quoting comments by Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA)

Like LaMalfa, McClintock is taking his political life in his hands by backing Trump on this. His region will also be a loser and independent voters in Truckee, Auburn, Placerville, Lincoln, Roseville and in the suburbs north of Sacramento. McClintock's district also includes Yosemite, the Stanislaus National Forest, the John Muir Wilderness, the Sierra National Forest and the Ansel Adams Wilderness. Trump won the R+10 district with 54% of the vote and last year McClintock under-performed his previous wins, beating under-funded Democrat Jessica Morse 184,401 (54.1%) to 156,253 (45.9%), with very close margins in the 2 biggest counties, Placer and El Dorado. In another wave election-- which looks likely-- Trump on the top of the ticket will be deadly for both LaMalfa and McClintock.

This morning, Audrey Denney told us that her "home county was ravaged by the most deadly and destructive wildfire in California’s history. We are still reeling from the effects of the fire. Around 30,000 people have been displaced. Many residents have moved away permanently because there is no available housing to accommodate them. We are mourning the loss of 85 of our community members.  Residents are grappling every day with how to piece their lives back together when everything they had was taken away traumatically and instantly. Homeowners are grappling with whether or not to rebuild, where to live in the coming years, and wondering how they will ever get fire insurance again. Renters across our county, myself included, are having to move in with friends because there are no rentals available and the pre-fire housing crisis in Butte County is exponentially worse now." She continued, passionately:

Three weeks after the fire I had the privilege of leading a delegation of Camp Fire survivors to D.C. to lobby for the federal aid we need to help our broken communities recover. I got to watch as the heroic nurses from Feather River hospital told their story of evacuating the most vulnerable to safety before being trapped in the flames and nearly perishing. The representatives and senators who heard the testimonies of those heroes were moved with empathy for the loss and struggle in our county. My question is this: Where is our President’s empathy?  How can his conscience allow him to use the citizens of Butte County as pawns in his political war? The lives and livelihoods of Americans must come before his partisan political games. Recovering from this disaster is going to take billions of dollars and many years-- we need help-- and we need leaders who will fight for us.

The recovery of our communities is entirely dependent on receiving this Federal disaster funding. This is not the time for the President to cause more uncertainty while we try and move forward. This is not the time for our Congressman Doug LaMalfa to be content to stand by idly while his constituents are further harmed and traumatized by these political games.

Blue America has an ActBlue page specifically designed to send contributions, directly, to progressive Democrats running in the Golden State. Last year, conservative establishment-oriented Democrats with big money connections moved in rapidly to make headway in crowded California primaries. The Democrats flipped 7 seats, but-- and it's a big but-- only one, Mike Levin, is showing any kind of consistent support for the progressive values they all ran on. Levin has signed on as a co-sponsor of Medicare-For-All and the Green New Deal resolution. He's the only California freshman who has. Meanwhile Gil Cisneros-- who never stopped vowing he was a progressive-- joined the Wall Street-owned New Dems, as did Harley Rouda, Josh Harder and Katie Hill. Worse yet, many who pledged over and over and over to chew PAC money-- watch Cisneros here-- are now scooping up the slimiest sewer money in DC hand-over-first, counting on their constituents being to stupid or preoccupied to notice. That's why it's so important to back-- and back early-- dedicated across-the-board, working class progressives like Audrey Denney. Please consider tapping on the thermometer on the right and chipping in what you can. $20.20 would be nice, for example. But $5 and $10 contributions are what power these grassroots campaigns.

Meanwhile, in crazy-land Trump's base hates the compromise. Coukter called it the "Yellow New Deal" and Hannity called it "garbage" and threatened Republicans who back it.

You Haven't Heard The Last Of The Pork Bill They Call A Farm Bill

You probably read that the GOP failed to pass their Farm Bill last week. Even though every Democrat voted against it, the GOP should have been able to pass it with just their own members. But Ryan and his team have lost control and the extremists from the Freedom Caucus decided to hold the bill ransom to get a floor vote of their anti-immigrant vote. Ryan, now a lame dog with no leverage, had no choice but to make a deal to allow a vote of the far right immigration bill a couple days before the newly rescheduled Farm Bill (June 22).

Writing for TruthDig, Teodrose Fikre, reports that the country has gone from being a nation of laws to "a franchise of the global aristocracy." And he points right to the Farm Bill as a perfect example of how "America has been indentured by multinational corporations. As both parties lavish fortunes upon Wall Street, they turn around and gift the rest of us austerity."

Like all other legislation that gets enacted by our ever-cagey Congress and signed into law by our duplicitous presidents, the 2018 farm bill is a colossal measure that will impact almost every American-- even though the public has almost zero say in the matter. The omnibus package, which is another way of saying wish list for lobbyists, encompasses everything from food production to food distribution, land conservation, social safety net programs like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and goes as far as redefining who is considered a family member. The revolutionaries of 1776 thought they had it rough with Big Brother telling them how to lead their lives, but the British monarchs had nothing on the American oligarchy.

In all, the Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018 is estimated to cost $421.5 billion over a five-year window. That’s before the Senate gets its dibs and adds to the final tab. While the ever-pliant corporate media was busy going haywire over Donald Trump’s latest buffoonery and gaga over the royal nonsense in Windsor, nepotists in our nation’s capital have been busy greasing the wheels for their benefactors while pinching pennies on the poor and the middle class. Republicans love to echo Jesus on social media and morph into a cabal of pharisees during congressional sessions. This is not to praise Democrats. They spent eight years making it rain helicopter money on Wall Street. Both parties’ primary purpose is to transfer wealth from the many to the gentry.

Even the mildest attempts to rein in the excesses that are shoveled to the corporate oligarchy are swiftly derailed. On Thursday, a sensible measure that would have put restrictions on farm subsidies was voted down [137-278]. While social welfare programs are being decimated, corporate welfare is alive and well. Socialism is only bad when it applies to the people. Communism is adored when it benefits Wall Street. The U.S. government runs a Ponzi scheme. Within the sugar industry alone, subsidies transfer anywhere from $2.4 billion to $4 billion from consumers into the coffers of behemoth conglomerations like American Sugar Refining Group and agricultural giants like Monsanto.

Instead of investing in public infrastructure and tending to the least among us, politicians on both sides of the aisle would rather throw good money after bad by artificially inflating the price of sugar to appease their donor-patrons. These types of corrupt dealings have innumerable repercussions. The cost of goods keep going up and sugar products are aggressively marketed to keep demand for sugar high, while making it nearly impossible for small and family-owned farms to compete with market leaders.

Ultimately, healthier alternatives are driven out of the marketplace. Companies that offer more nutritious products struggle to remain going concerns and keep up with the competitive advantages enjoyed by junk food peddlers and their suppliers. The net result is a society that is getting emaciated financially to sustain corporations-- and being rewarded with an obesity crisis for our unwitting complicity. Our political leaders are incentivizing greed and being paid handsomely by sugar and farm lobbyists for their obsequiousness.

This farm bill contains so many deleterious provisions that a book would be needed to offer context for the endless ways Congress keeps choosing moneyed interests over the public good. Where Democrats are coy about the ways they bolster corporations, Republicans dispense with the chicanery and have no problem advertising their servility to Wall Street. Do you think increased pesticide use, more incidents like Flint’s poisoned pipes and less protection for endangered species is a good thing? If so, you will love this farm bill, which does everything possible to loosen the destructive nature of crony capitalism while restricting the options of the working class and poor to obtain public assistance.

...If we are to reclaim our country and demand a government that works for us, we must understand that all of us-- irrespective of our differences—are being fleeced by a bipartisan cabal of corporate courtiers in our nation’s capital. Do not let the refrains of “blue waves” or the chants of “make America great again” deceive you. Both parties are in on this ongoing corporate boondoggle. The farm bill collapsed because the Freedom Caucus demanded more stringent measures on border controls while others demanded yet more cuts from social programs. Republicans are negotiating among themselves to figure out who can be the biggest a-holes.

Tom McClintock (R-CA) isn't exactly mainstream. He's thought of a far right member of Congress but, in some ways, he sounded a lot like Fikre on this one. "Farm subsidies-- essentially taking money from taxpayers to inflate the price of their groceries-- was never a good idea," he wrote.  "They are the poster children of corporate welfare.  After all, the vast proportion of them go to large corporations-- not small family farms. Sixty percent of American farms get no subsidies at all-- contradicting the claim that somehow American agriculture couldn’t exist without them."  

We spend $20 billion a year subsidizing 40 percent of our farms. That’s about $160 a year out of the direct taxes of an average family in America.  That doesn’t include the cost to consumers from higher prices.  The sugar program alone cost consumers $3.7 billion in higher sugar prices-- adding nearly $30 more to their grocery bills.

Subsidies hurt taxpayers. They hurt consumers. And they even hurt farmers in the long run.

 Prices are signals sent by consumers over what they want to buy and the amount they’re willing to pay. If left alone, they tell producers what consumers want more of and what they want less of. If consumers want less soybeans and sugar and more wheat and cabbage, prices for soybeans and sugar decline and prices for wheat and cabbage increase. Producers respond by planting less soybeans and sugarcane and more wheat and cabbage.

Unless, of course, government distorts those price signals through subsidies. Producers end up planting more of what consumers don’t want and less of what they do. Thus, producers are artificially induced to perform below their potential productivity.

Many of the subsidies today are in the form of crop insurance. Farmers get heavily subsidized insurance to guarantee them profits for their products. Who pays the subsidies? Taxpayers.

 There are no good arguments for continuing these subsidies. Most farmers don’t get them right now. Those who do tend to be major corporations and not family farmers.

  ...It is long past time to debunk that myth in our own country, restore to consumers the power to command what producers grow and restore to producers the accurate price signals they need to maximize their productivity in a free and undistorted market.

Tom McClintock Represents A Largely Rural, Blood Red District In Northern California-- But Trump's Stink Is Sticking To Him Already

California's 4th Congressional district is a sprawling, mostly empty area east of Sacramento. Most of the people live in a tiny corner of the district in the suburbs north of Sacramento, a triangle encompassed by Roseville, Placerville and Auburn. There are 10 counties but almost 90% of the voters live in suburban Placer and El Dorado counties. The largely rural district includes Yosemite Valley, most of Lake Tahoe and lots of national forests, national wildernesses, national parks and more senior citizens than most California districts. It's one of the most Republican districts in the state-- with a PVI of R+10. In 2012 Romney took 58% of the votes to Obama's 39%. The past November Hillary won that same 39%... but Trump was somewhat off from Romney's big win-- just 54%. Voters in Placer gave him 52.5% and voters in El Dorado 53.4%. Romney won Placer with 59% and El Dorado with 58%.

The local congressman is far-right, but often libertarian-leaning, Tom McClintock. After a series of unsuccessful statewide bids-- for Controller, Lt. Governor and Governor-- McClintock was first elected to Congress in 2008, right on the heels of corrupt Republican John Doolittle being driven from office when he was caught up in a festering mess of financial scandals. The Democrats don't bother contesting the district and McClintock never has to break a sweat in his reelection bids. This cycle he beat Bob Derlet 196,613 (62.8%) to 116,541 (37.2%); having outspent Derlet better than 9 to 1. (When local progressive hero Charlie Brown challenged him in 2008, the DCCC essentially ignored the race-- not wanting a progressive to win-- and McClintock took it with 185,790 votes to Brown's 183,990, less than a 2,000 vote margin, 50.2% to 49.8%. What a great DCCC Pelosi has saddled with!

Anyway, Saturday McClintock had a downhill meeting in the biggest town in the district, Roseville. It was a pretty contentious, raucous scene. Keep in mind, 3 months ago Trump took 54% of the vote and McClintock took 63%. Now it looks like Trump's stink is sticking to McClintock, something Republican congressmembers all over the country are worried about.

Facing a packed auditorium and raucous crowd, Republican Rep. Tom McClintock on Saturday defended his party’s national agenda and voiced strong support for President Donald Trump’s controversial executive actions to scale back Obamacare, ban visitors from seven predominantly Muslim countries and build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Vote him out,” hundreds of demonstrators chanted outside the Tower Theatre in downtown Roseville, the Republican-heavy population center of McClintock’s sprawling congressional district. Inside the theater, more than 200 people gathered for a town-hall event hosted by McClintock.

Attendees, some carrying signs that read “Resist,” “Dump Tom McTrump” and “Climate change is real,” pressed McClintock to denounce Republican plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act, acknowledge the science supporting the human causes of climate change, and oppose Trump’s executive order temporarily restricting refugee admissions to the U.S.




“I believe that order is constitutional,” said McClintock, one of several comments that elicited boos at the hourlong event.

McClintock’s visit drew hundreds of people, most of whom had come to express opposition to the new administration. Many identified themselves as liberal Democrats and progressives, while party registration in McClintock’s district-- which incorporates all or part of 10 counties spanning from Tahoe to Yosemite-- is solidly Republican.

“This is really all about resisting the Trump agenda,” said Wendy Wood, chairwoman of Indivisible Sierra Nevada, a local chapter of a political organization formed in response to the election. “Most of us have never participated in political activism of any sort. Something is happening here, and people here are not happy with (Trump) and McClintock. We’re here to vote them out.”

Roseville police and fire officials capped attendance inside the theater at roughly 200 people. Those left outside voiced frustration about being locked out of the theater, some saying they had driven for hours simply to see McClintock face to face.

“We just wanted to be able to ask questions of our representative and share our thoughts on key issues,” wrote Lauren Lake in an email. “I drove hours over a snowy pass to be there … we were told that the venue was at capacity and no one else would be allowed in.”

Inside the theater, McClintock took about a dozen audience questions. Some of the most passionate comments came from people who said they feared losing access to health care if Republicans press forward to repeal the Affordable Care Act without a clear replacement.

“What do you expect seniors and people with disabilities with low income to do if you take away our Medicare and Medicaid that we rely on to literally stay alive?” asked Amanda Barnes, who said she was paralyzed from her waist down after a hit-and-run accident in a crosswalk five years ago.

McClintock said his party did not yet have a replacement plan, but that there were several Republican-backed proposals still taking shape.

“The answer is a comprehensive bill that rescinds Obamacare in its entirety, and replaces it with reforms that put the patient back in charge of their own decisions, and give them the widest possible range of choices,” McClintock said. “And assure it’s within financial reach for the majority of Americans.”

The response drew shouts of disappointment, as did his comments on climate change.

“In any scientific arena, you are seeing a very vigorous debate over the extent to which man-made carbon dioxide emissions are causing global warming,” McClintock said. “Whether or not we destroy our economy for our children, our planet is going to continue to warm and cool as it has for billions of years.”

Many in attendance expressed general disappointment with Trump and called on McClintock to distance himself from recent executive actions, including Trump’s orders scaling back bank regulations and temporarily restricting U.S. entry for refugees as well as visitors from seven predominantly Muslim nations.

“I am terrified about Mr. Trump’s behavior. I literally haven’t slept,” said Jill Ruffman, 58, of Granite Bay. She criticized McClintock and Trump for supporting a House vote to undo an Obama administration rule that required the Social Security Administration to disclose information about disabled recipients with mental illness to the national gun background check system.

“I understand you do not like Donald Trump,” McClintock told the crowd at one point. “I sympathize with you. There have been elections where our side has lost... Just a word of friendly advice: Remember that there were many people in America who disagreed and feared Barack Obama just as vigorously as you disagree with and fear Donald Trump.”

Several times he thanked the audience for the discourse, even if they disagreed.

...McClintock left the theater at 11 a.m., immediately after the town hall concluded, escorted by police as he waded through a thick crowd of protesters who trailed him, shouting, “This is what Democracy looks like.”

When dull, oafish right-wing Florida Congressman Gus Bilirakis asked his constituents to come share their thoughts on the future of health care at a town hall meeting he figured he had nothing to worry about. FL-12 is a safely red R+7 district north of Tampa. In 2012, Romney had beaten Obama 53-45.5% and this year Trump had done even better against Clinton-- 57.4% to 38.8%. Bilirakis, who most people still think is his father, their former congressman, beat his opponent by nearly 140,000 votes-- 68.6% to 31.4%. Why worry? Saturday there was an over-capacity crowd at the Palm Harbor community center-- and they were as pissed off as McClintock's constituents. Bilikakis doesn't have a deft mind and isn't capable of veering away from stale Paul Ryan talking points. His constituents noticed.

Some of his constituents showed up Saturday emboldened by recent demonstrations at airports and on the National Mall. One waved a rainbow flag. Another held a cardboard cutout of the Statue of Liberty.

The crowd got rowdy, booing a 77-year-old speaker who said former President Barack Obama played politics to ram the Affordable Care Act through Congress in 2010.

"Facts, not Fox!" one woman yelled.

Bilirakis took fire from the crowd, too, particularly when he criticized Obamacare.

"I've been hearing from my constituents for several years and they're not happy," he said.

"We are your constituents!" someone shot back.

...[W]hen asked if his thoughts had changed on the Affordable Care Act, the congressman turned to familiar talking points.

"We need to repeal because we need to do it right and expand health care," he said. "Right now, 73 percent of the counties only have one provider. It's too expensive. The premiums are too high. The deductibles are too high."

He plans to hold another listening session next Saturday in New Port Richey.

Sunday morning, halfway across the country, Wisconsin Republican freshman Mike Gallagher-- in a district Trump won 56.2% to 38.6%-- tweeted, uncomfortably, in response to Trump's unhinged comments about the U.S. and Russia on Bill O'Reilly's show, that there is "no moral equivalence between America-- leader of the free world/greatest country on Earth-- and Putin's violent, autocratic, and corrupt Russia." It's going to get harder and harder for Republicans to defend Trump while navigating the tumultuous environment he's creating for them in the lead-up to 2018.

CA-04 doesn't fit into the DCCC's criteria for a challenge and they're not trying to recruit a candidate to run against him. (I suspect the same about Gallagher's district in Wisconsin and Bilirakis' in Florida.) In California, local Democratic activists hate the DCCC as much as they hate Trump, McClintock and the Republican Party and plan on finding their own champion to run against McClintock-- and against the transpartisan establishment that has failed them so miserably-- in 2018. Nationally, Republican congressmembers are starting to feel the pressure of defending a toxic agenda being promulgated by Trump and Ryan. Believe me, it isn't just Gallagher and McClintock sweating today. It will be less than year before they're all panic-stricken and thinking about jumping off tall buildings. (Tepid establishment Democrats like Adam Schiff should try wrapping their heads around this before they get swept up too.)

Meanwhile, opposition to Trump's visit to the U.K. is so strong and widespread that House of Commons Speaker John Bercow has barred so-called President Trumpanzee from being admitted to the House of Commons for an address to Parliament, citing "opposition to racism and sexism" and his anti-refugee Executive Order. He was cheered loudly by both sides of the aisle. Perhaps all the Trump supporters were out fox hunting at the time of the speech.

How Democratic Candidates Should Respond To Irresponsible GOP Threats To Throw The U.S. Into Default

You've probably seen a parade of Republican clowns wooing teabaggers by insisting that the government be sent into bankruptcy unless Obama agrees to defund the Affordable Care Act. That's all their irresponsible-- and/or delusional playing for the cameras. Most of the noise has been coming from far right Confederates in all white gerrymandered districts. But Wednesday Tom McClintock was up to the same trick in California. Watch him up top. His district is very safe-- with a PVI of R+10. Romney beat Obama there 58-40% and McClintock won reelection last year with 61% and taking 8 of the 10 counties, including the 2 big ones, Placer and El Dorado. So far, he has no Democrat running against him in 2014.

A bit further south, one of his compadres, Buck McKeon, has a much shakier district and a strong opponent, Lee Rogers. Rogers has a very different perspective on fiscal responsibility that either McClintock or McKeon. This week he warned supporters that Republican brinksmanship could force the U.S. into a default on its debt right around Labor Day.

Congress is getting ready to have another political battle over the debt ceiling again. Once again this will create market uncertainty and instill doubts about U.S. credit because of a lack of political leadership.

You'd think Congress would have learned in 2011 that brinksmanship and threats of default hurt America, but it seems that the fiasco is doomed to repeat itself.

We cannot extend our debt ceiling indefinitely, nor can we run a functioning economy without paying the bills we’ve already accrued. Our country is in dire need of leaders offering real solutions instead of political games.

The solution last time around was the Budget Control Act of 2011, which set up the policy known as “sequestration”-- it was not a viable solution. Eliminating wasteful government spending requires deft maneuvering and precision, not a meat cleaver.

There are many real solutions we can initiate today to reduce our deficit, such as ending Cold War era defense programs the Pentagon doesn't want, eliminating subsidies to oil companies, reducing health care costs, and closing loopholes that allow the wealthiest Americans and corporations to pay less than their fair share in taxes. 

 

Partisan bickering and childish battles in the 2011 debt ceiling battle resulted in a downgrade of U.S. debt to the detriment of millions of middle class Americans. Sequestration is currently threatening half a million jobs in California alone. We cannot allow a do-nothing Congress to posture for personal political gain at the expense of the economy again in 2013.

Average citizens are not responsible for the current level of debt, and we cannot balance the budget on the backs of working Americans. I want to be your next Representative for California’s 25th Congressional District and I will use common sense to make reforms that will actually reduce our deficit.

Blue America has endorsed Rogers. If you'd like to see a sensible and committed progressive in Congress instead of a Beltway hack like McKeon, please consider contributing what you feel comfortable with here through ActBlue.

Things Are Bleak In Boehnerland This Week

Boehnerland, the community of revolving door K Street lobbyists who run the House Republican caucus through their man John, is very troubled this week. The unexpected defeat of the Farm Bill has shaken up the lobbyist community to its core.

“We were shocked. We were watching the vote on TV and in the final minutes were saying ‘what are they doing? This thing isn’t going to pass!” said one commodity group lobbyist.

“I’m shocked,” said another lobbyist. “Our job as agriculture is to go to the House and say Mr. Speaker what is your plan for getting this done?”

The intense blame game that broke out immediately after the bill was rejected in a 195-234 vote will only make it harder to get a bill over the hump, supporters of the measure said.

...Lawmakers on the House Agriculture Committee were holding calls and frantic closed-door meetings with lobbyists to discuss their next moves, sources said.

One lobbying source said salvaging the bill may have to wait a few months.

“Bringing the bill back while the House is being hyper-partisan on this issue is probably not going to work,” he said.

The House bill was heavily backed by commodity groups, from rice and peanut producers in the South to corn, wheat and soy growers in the Midwest to the American Farm Bureau Federation and National Farmers Union.

It won only 24 votes from Democrats after the party balked over the inclusion of $20.5 billion in cuts to food stamp programs.

One lobbyist noted the bill appeared to lose support after an amendment requiring food stamp recipients to be working or looking to be worked-- sponsored by Rep. Steve Southerland (R-Fla.)-- was added to the bill. The solution, the lobbyist said, is to move the bill to the left.

“The Southerland amendment was a bridge too far for the Democrats,” the lobbyist said.

This source said Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) need to agree on a number for food stamp cuts. The Senate farm bill, approved in a bipartisan vote, includes $4 billion in cuts to food stamps.

Another lobbyist wasn’t so sure that would work.

“I don’t know how you solve this. If you reduce the food stamp cuts to $16 billion how many Democrats do you gain, how many people do you lose?” he said.

The gloom in the official statements from farm organizations was pervasive.

"Rather than pass a bill that reduces the deficit by $40 billion while meeting the commitments of a farm bill, the country was treated to more Washington dysfunction,” USA Rice Producers' Group chairwoman Linda Raun said. “Patience in farm country is wearing thin.”

Southerland's toxic amendment was #102, the very last amendment voted on before the bill itself. It passed 227-198. It was a bridge too far for half a dozen Republicans-- vulnerable northerners, Chris Gibson (NY), Pat Meehan (PA), Mike Fitzpatrick (PA), Peter King (NY), Richard Hanna (NY), David Joyce (OH) who are desperate to not be seen as lackeys for Confederate hardliners-- and only one slimy, corrupt Blue Dog/New Dem voted for it, Jim Cooper of Nashville.

Ron Kind (D-WI) had introduced an amendment that would have seriously reformed welfare to rich farmers by limiting government subsidies to wealthy farmers netting over a quarter million dollars annually. It would have saved $11 billion a year. That was voted down 208-217. 74 Republicans joined the vast majority of Democrats to back it. Big Ag shill Mike Conaway (R-TX) wasn't one of them. He called Kind's proposal a "slap in the face" to farmers that is supported by "radical environmental groups." Kind begged to differ:

"Unless my good friend wants to include the National Taxpayer Union, Taxpayers for Common Sense, Citizens Against Government Waste, Americans for Tax Reform, Committee for Responsible Taxation, American Commitment for the Center for Individual Liberty, 'R' Street Competitive Enterprise Institute in that category of radical environmental groups ... they've all come out in support, endorsing this legislation."

For the most part, the only Democrats who joined Cantor and the corrupt GOP establishment in voting against it were the sleazy corruptionists who suck up legalistic bribes from AgriBuisness (primarily New Dems and Blue Dogs) like John Barrow (GA), Henry Cuellar (TX), Jim Costa (CA), Sean Patrick Maloney (NY), Bill Owens (NY), Ron Barber (AZ), etc. That's why Chris Hayes called the bill (in the video above), very appropriately, a "colossal piece of crap" and "Robin Hood in reverse."

Another amendment that failed came from California rightist Tom McClintock, who wanted to eliminate funding to promote and expand farmers markets (something that is very popular in his own state). It was defeated in a bipartisan landslide 156-269. Only one Democrat voted for it, sleazy Florida New Dem Patrick Murphy, and 76 Republicans crossed the aisle to vote with the Democrats against McClintock's unpopular proposal.

Now Boehner has to decide if he will make the bill worse to get some of those Republicans back on board by, say cutting more billions out of food stamps, or making the bill less toxic to lure Democratic votes. He has to have some kind of a vote to send to the Senate-House conference committee!

A Surprise Win In California For The Democrats-- Or Just Another Missed Opportunity?

Calvert & Bill Hedrick

Most political observers and activists-- DWT included-- missed an opportunity to oust one of the more heinous and corrupt right-wing Republicans in California. We've certainly talked about GOP pervert and pip-squeak Ken Calvert, who has been misrepresenting the portions of Orange County and Riverside that make up CA-44. With thousands of votes still to be counted, grassroots Democrat Bill Hedrick has come tantalizingly close-- in a district with a PVI of R+6!-- to taking out Duke Cunningham buddy Calvert.

Bill Hedrick 85,039 (48.6%)
Ken Calvert 89,679 (51.4%)

Yes, it's still too close to call at this point, even if the sleazy and reactionary Calvert in still ahead and likely to prevail.

Calvert's low vote tally in his home county is indicative of a shift in voter registration in favor of Democrats. The fast-growing area has seen increases in both parties in recent months, but the Democrats are growing at a faster clip than the GOP, voter registration figures show.

Republicans still hold a slight edge over Democrats in the Riverside County portion of the district, with roughly 5,000 more registered GOP voters than Democrats.

But Hedrick, perhaps aided by the excitement surrounding President-elect Barack Obama, was ahead by almost 6,000 votes in Riverside County, according to the Riverside County registrar of voters. In conservative south Orange County, where all of the precincts had reported, Calvert trounced Hedrick by more than 11,000 votes.

Meanwhile, the deep red GOP district that Democrats really did contest, CA-04 way in the northeastern part of the state, is even closer-- a real cliff-hanger. With over 40,000 votes uncounted only 451 votes separate Charlie Brown from far right extremist Tom McClintock (with 311,091 counted). McClintock is coming in with high power Republican lawyers who have experience stealing election (going way back to Florida, 2000). Charlie needs help and Blue America is encouraging people to donate whatever they can as soon as they can.

The Daily Blue America Report-- #8

They should all retire together

Finally some good news for Ted Stevens! On returning home from his trial in Washington Stevens was told that Alaska law permits felons to run for federal office. In fact, as long as he isn't sentenced before Tuesday, he can even vote for himself! And he'll need every vote he can muster. "Like most people, I'm not perfect," Stevens told a throng of adoring recipients of wealth from the Lower 48 spread around through Stevens' earmarks.

Stevens has been kicked to the curb by both friend and for. McCain, who has always hated his guts, called on him to resign before the last juror had a chance to nod. He then forced Palin do the same, breaking with the Alaska Republican Party, which is still urging the faithful to vote for Uncle Ted. Many of the crooked Republicans who have been taking bribes from Big Oil funneled through Stevens' PAC-- particularly Republican senators in jeopardy of losing their seats Tuesday, like Mitch McConnell R-KY), Norm Coleman (R-MN), who is having his own spiraling out-of-control ethics scandal, Gordon Smith (R-OR) and John Sununu (R-NH)-- have hypocritically demanded their old partner in crime resign... immediately. Who's name is missing from this list? Well, check out which members of the Senate got the really big pay-outs from Stevens' money-laundering operation, The Northern Lights PAC and you will find Maine's most corrupt political hack, Susan Collins ($10,000 this year and $10,000 last time she ran). Maine's other senator, the honest, moderate one, Olympia Snowe, has joined her colleagues urging Stevens to resign. But not Collins, whose own PAC funneled $10,000 to Stevens, a kind of semi-legalistic way for politicians to avoid campaign finance laws.

And while Susan Collins is pledging her undying fealty to convicted felon Ted Stevens, her opponent, Tom Allen, one of the finest-- and most tested and proven-- public servants running for the Senate from anywhere, is being supported by Bill Clinton. President Clinton and Congressman Allen are old friends from the days they were both Rhodes Scholars at Oxford. Tens of thousands of Mainers were surprised when they picked up their phones tonight-- praying it wouldn't be another hysterical robocall from another of the far right GOP front groups flooding the state with negativity on behalf of Collins-- to find President Clinton's comforting voice urging them to vote for Tom.

"Hello this is President Clinton and I'm calling to urge you to support Tom Allen for United States Senate.  Barack Obama needs Democrats like Tom Allen in Washington in order implement his agenda of change to turn this economy around.

"Congressman Tom Allen opposes Bush's failed economy policy and is fighting for change: a new economic policy that focuses on the middle class, creates jobs in Maine, and supports small businesses. For Real Change support Tom Allen for US Senate on November 4."

That was especially refreshing after a day of dire warnings from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party that they intend to control Obama's agenda and the Democratic Party after Tuesday.

Conservative Democrats who've been a thorn in the side of liberal party leaders could grow into a major obstacle to Barack Obama's agenda if he is elected president.

Majority Democrats are positioned for big gains in next week's congressional election. But many of the new faces would join a growing chorus of "Blue Dogs" who often part from the party base on big issues like taxes and increasing federal spending.

That could set up a roadblock for Obama, who has promised to broaden health insurance coverage, start a new round of public works projects and improve early childhood education, among other things-- all initiatives that would require substantial government spending at a time of soaring deficits.

Ironically, it was Obama's radio ad for one of the worst of the Blue Dogs, John Barrow, a nominal Democrat from Georgia, that saved him from being defeated in a primary by state Senator Regina Thomas, who is an exemplary progressive. On substantive matters, Barrow has voted with the GOP 65% of the time and with the Democrats 35% of the time. And Barrow is only one of 16 nominal Democrats who have voted with the Repugs more frequently than with their own party. The others, from bad to worse, are: Zach Space (OH), Baron Hill (IN), Gene Taylor (MS), Harry Mitchell (AZ), Jim Matheson (UT), Chris Carney (PA), Heath Shuler (NC), Jason Altmire (PA), Dan Boren (OK), Brad Ellsworth (IN), Travis Childers (MS), Don Cazayoux (LA), Joe Donnelly (IN), Jim Marshall (GA) and Nick Lampson (TX).

Lately we've been mentioning how the DCCC is spending far more money on Independent Expenditures for conservative and corporate candidates than for grassroots and progressive candidates. Today I saw quite a few weighty endorsements come over the transom-- mostly for conservatives. Many of the best candidates across the country-- the hope of the progressive movement, have been snubbed by the Establishment Democrats over and over, as though they actually hope they lose. Today conservative business shill Mark Warner warmly endorsed fellow conservative Glenn Nye, while ignoring progressive candidates Judy Feder and Tom Perriello. Simultaneously Jim Webb sent out a last minute plea for 4 Democratic candidates for the Senate-- pointedly leaving out progressives-- and pleading for cash from a right-wing corporate shill like Bruce Lunsford (KY) and for right-of-center bad-news-Dems Kay Hagan (NC) and Ronnie Musgrove (MS) plus moderate Jim Martin (GA). Not a word about struggling progressives like Jeff Merkley (OR), Rick Noriega (TX), Andrew Rice (OK), or Tom Allen (ME).

Connecticut-04- On the other hand, Jim Himes did get a little help that should go a long way in the form of a radio ad by Barack Obama.

New York-25- Yesterday's NY Times reported that the Republican Party has given up on all but two of the congressional races in New York State, the others being hopelessly out of their reach. Dan Maffei is sure to win a seat he just missed out on in 2006. The only Blue America candidate in New York now facing a challenge is Eric Massa, who is leading in a tight rematch with Bush rubber stamp Randy Kuhl.

National Republican officials have decided to withhold financial support from all but two closely contested Congressional races in New York, as the party braces for the possibility that it could lose several more House seats in the state.

The decision to abandon much of the state came after internal party polls showed Republican candidates in at least three once-promising races falling behind their Democratic opponents, a party official briefed on the internal deliberations said.

As a result, Republican leaders are diverting money to candidates in other races in which party officials believe they have a greater chance of success, the official said.

The decision by national Republicans to focus on a smaller group of races underscores the degree to which the party is on the defensive not only in New York but also in New Jersey, Connecticut and many other states. The national party is short on cash and is being forced into the difficult position of deciding where to continue to fight-- and where to effectively surrender-- as the election enters the final days of campaigning.

“Tough decisions have to be made,” said Representative Peter T. King, a Republican from Long Island, who conceded that the party was seeking to minimize its losses. “You have to decide who comes off life support and who gets a massive infusion.”

Two of the races effectively being written off in New York are in districts currently held by Republican incumbents who are retiring at the end of the year-- the 25th Congressional District in the Syracuse region, now held by James T. Walsh; and the 13th District on Staten Island, where Vito J. Fossella is stepping down. Representative Fossella was found guilty in a Virginia court this month on a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol.

VIRGINIA-05- In a stunning and precedent-shattering move, the Danville Register & Bee has ended its career-long support for corrupt Bush rubber stamp Virgil Goode and urged voters to trade him in for Tom Perriello.

This newspaper hasn’t endorsed a Democrat for Congress since Virgil Goode was a Democrat. Since Goode’s first campaign for Congress in 1996, we have backed him in every election, defended him from what we thought was unfair criticism by challengers and wished for him a long career in Washington.

But today, the Danville Register & Bee endorses Tom Perriello for the 5th District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

We haven’t left Virgil Goode. Virgil Goode has left us.

...We expect to receive great criticism for endorsing Perriello over Goode.

But our decision was born out of frustration with a career politician who has already told us he expects to be ineffective as Democrats gain more power in Congress. Just this year, Goode has voted against the tax rebate checks that people throughout the 5th District received this year and he voted against a financial rescue plan that even his own Republicans believed was necessary to stave off more serious economic problems.

If we send Goode back to Washington, how many more times will he vote against our interests? We can’t take that chance.

On Tuesday, it’s time to elect a young man of integrity, energy, faith and hard work. It’s time to send Tom Perriello to Congress.

Texas-10- Cook upgraded Larry Joe Doherty's chance of unseating Bush rubber stamp Michael McCaul... for the second time. McCaul, one of the least knowledgeable hacks in the whole Congress has refused to debate Doherty and over the past couple of months the district went from "safe Republican" to "likely Republican" to "leans Republican." McCaul has no get ground game and Doherty has been building one all year. The latest polling shows a virtual tie. A victory Tuesday for Larry Joe will be reason to celebrate-- for Texans and for all Americans. Watch him on local TV news yesterday explaining his ideas about bailing out big corporations.

California-04- Last night we talked about the soft-core porn robocalls Republican congressional candidate Zane Starkewolf has been using (illegally) in CA-01. Mike Thompson, the incumbent from that district was campaigning with Charlie Brown yesterday in CA-04. And Little Zane's buddy, Tom McClintock was also employing more illegal robocalls, which most people in Northern California refer to as nuisance calls. (McClintock, who lives in the L.A. suburbs doesn't know anything about northern California, so he isn't aware people don't like them-- or that they're illegal.) A couple weeks ago Charlie Brown called on McClintock to join him in swearing them off. "Robo-Dial phone calls are a nuisance and a deceptive campaign tactic typical of negative campaigns that would rather attack a person’s character than offer detailed solutions. I am calling on Tom McClintock to join me in a bi-partisan effort to conduct an above board campaign based on direct contact with voters-- not deceptive and annoying robo-calls." McClintock refused and instead launched another barrage of the calls, illegal because they violated laws requiring that they include a disclaimer identifying who paid for and authorized the campaign communication.

Another great SEIU TV spot-- this one on behalf of progressives in Ohio. Let's hope it rubs off on Vic Wulsin, the best candidate in the entire state and the one who is being pummeled the hardest by the GOP smear machine.



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The Daily Blue America Report-- #3

California-04- In a rational world it would not be especially remarkable that the Sacramento Bee endorsed Charlie Brown over Tom McClintock today. Of course in a rational world, we would never have accepted George Bush as president and elected a Congress dedicated to the impoverishment of working families on behalf of special interests. The editors of the very Republican Bee say it was a "clear choice" and urges their readers to "opt for pragmatism, not rigid ideology." Bingo! Charlie is a moderate and pragmatic well-respected, admired member of the community. McClintock is some kind of a far right extremist from hundreds of miles away looking-- as he always is-- for a plush job.

Democratic candidate Charlie Brown is a career U.S. Air Force officer, now retired. During the Vietnam War, he flew helicopter missions in southeast Asia. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his helicopter rescue in the Mayaguez incident of May 1975 and coordinated Air Force surveillance flights over Iraq in the 1990s.

Brown, a 17-year resident of Roseville who ran against Doolittle in 2006, has worked hard the last three years to build a relationship with voters in the district. In the end, he would be the more effective voice on issues that matter to the district and the region.

... McClintock has an "old economy" vision for the district, relying on increased timber production (which would require gutting environmental laws and hard-won compromises) and water. He sees an Auburn Dam as the "single most important project for the region."

Brown has met with wind and solar business owners and favors alternative energy tax credits and high-speed Internet access. He would fight for expansion of Interstate 80 and Highway 50, stream-bed restoration in Sierra Meadows, improvements to existing dams and Lake Tahoe restoration. He supports forest thinning to decrease fire hazards.

The most recent polling shows Charlie ahead 48-42 and with $2 million in air time reserved by the DCCC. The Republican Party has given up on McClintock as hopeless and too extreme. He's out of money. His is the race most observers see as the surest Democratic victory in California. The infamous NRCC "death list" from last week writes off CA-04 and is pessimistic about Brian Bilbray's chances for re-election. But several other California incumbents are in jeopardy: Dana Rohrabacher (CA-46), Mary Bono Mack (CA-45), Dan Lungren (CA-03) and David Dreier (CA-26).


California-26- Blue America just launched a special fundraising page with one object: defeating David Dreier, one of the last of the ultra reactionary extremists left in the Los Angeles congressional delegation (along with Dana Rohrabacher).

Dreier has certainly been a dependable Bush rubber stamp across the entire panoply of issues that have made Bush’s presidency the worst in modern American history. But it isn't even just his blind support for Bush that has made Dreier so odious. In these troubled economic times Dreier has been a shameless handmaiden for Big Business and special corporate interests over and above the interests of his own constituents. His record on health care is the worst of any California congressman and his record on veterans is just as disgraceful. Fortunately, there is a way to battle a deceitful and corrupt hack like Dreier on the issues—and that is what the Democrats are doing. We applaud them. But there’s is more to Dreier than just reactionary politics.

Dreier is a closeted gay man and a frightened hypocrite who votes against equality for gay families while prancing around the world to every gay hotspot there is-- at taxpayer expense-- with his overpaid lover. It’s time for him to shuffle back to Kansas City, where he still lives when he’s not in Washington, so CA-26 can have some real representation that makes sense for southern California.

Please help Blue America mail this information piece about Congressman Dreier out to some of the residents of the district, like himself, who are in favor of the homophobic Proposition 8. If they plan to vote against equality for gay people, maybe they need to find out about their own representative's extracurricular activities. You can donate here.



Virginia-10- Clear across the country in Northern Virginia-- the part Republicans claim isn't "real" Virginia-- a Democratic video tracker was politely asking Congressman Frank Wolf a question-- which Wolf rudely ignored-- when he was assaulted by Republican staffers and beaten with a cane. (Hey, Sarah-- is that what you meant by "Real Virginia?") Although Wolf did nothing to stop the attack, at least he didn't personally join in. RaisingKaine has the video and the whole sordid story.

Normally we reserve this space for Blue America candidates-- and let me remind you that you can contribute to Charlie Brown, Russ Warner and Judy Feder right here-- a Sam Bennett supporter in Montgomery County, PA sent DWT a beautiful and inspiring Obama video we want to share with you as we go into the most important week of the campaign:

Another Reason To Vote For Charlie Brown-- Tom McClintock Is A Pre-Existing Condition Dangerous To A Healthy Society

Charlie and Jan Brown

When I left my job as a divisional president at TimeWarner it wasn't exactly the same as just leaving any other job. I wasn't especially eager to hold on to any ties with the corporation and I was looking forward to move on with my life. Except in one area: healthcare. You've probably read about how great the health insurance is for members of Congress, right? The health insurance for corporate CEOs is at least as good. And, like many Americans of my age-- most?-- a pre-existing condition would make it very difficult for me to get decent and affordable health insurance outside of TimeWarner's system. So I stayed on, gratefully. But that isn't an option anyone below president gets. After a few months, you're on your own.

If you've been a reader of any of the Blue America blogs, you probably know we first endorsed Charlie Brown in 2006. When we've talked about why we're so enthusiastic about his race we've tended to talk more about the Iraq war and the extremism and corrupt practices of incumbent, John Doolittle, than about healthcare. But the federal charges against Doolittle and his wife, both of whom are likely to spend at least some years in prison, have made it impossible for Doolittle to run for re-election and he's passed his baton on to another right-wing extremist, carpetbagger Tom McClintock, who is also the candidate of the KKK.

McClintock doesn't talk about health care issues in his campaign. And how could he? He's received hundreds of thousands of dollars in "contributions" from Big Pharma and the insurance industry, has repeatedly voted against legislation aimed at prevention of disease and improving healthcare services to California women, children and seniors in the state legislature, and this year he authored legislation that would deny the legitimate health claims of millions of insured Californians. His record is an example of someone devoted to the special interests that fund him, not to the voters who have elected him to office. he's been against improving access to healthcare for low income children and their families (AB 1126, 9/12/97), against routine coverage for children with cancer (AB 591, 5/25/99), against requiring insurers to cover checkups and vaccinations for children (AB 424, 6/3/85), against requiring insurers to cover annual cervical cancer tests for women (CA Senate Vote 9/12/01), and against prescription drug coverage for seniors (AB 757, 6/4/99). And, yes, he even voted against giving patients the right to select their own doctors (AB 1124, 6/4/99); not what most voters are looking for in a new congressman.

What caught my attention, however, was a bill McClinton wrote and introduced this year, SB 1669. Actually, he gets credit for writing it but it was obviously written by the insurance company lobbyists who have helped fund his political career. Had McClintock's bill passed it would have accomplished a dream insurance companies aspire to-- making it easier to deny the health claims on the basis of pre-existing conditions. One of the reasons they love McClintock and SB 1669 was because it would have extended the period that insurers could look back in your medical history from 12 months to... 10 years. That's Republican healthcare and that's what Tom Clintock is all about. Recent polling shows Charlie ahead of McClintock in this overwhelmingly Republican district (PVI- R+11). So how do they differ on healthcare?

Charlie, unlike McClintock, is a signatory to the Children’s Defense Council’s Pledge to fight for healthcare reform that ensures access to affordable healthcare coverage for every child and every pregnant woman in America. Over a million California children have no health insurance of any kind and the impact reverberates across society. Any teacher will tell you that healthy children perform far better in school and studies will tell you that one dollar spent on healthcare for children saves up to $16 in future healthcare costs. Charlie:

“Rising healthcare costs are hurting families and businesses across America. If we want to address the drain of growing healthcare costs on our economy and our family budgets, we have to focus on prevention. And we can do that by ensuring all children and pregnant women have access to affordable coverage which includes comprehensive benefits... Tom McClintock gets free healthcare, a free car, free gas, and tax free per diems he’s not entitled to, yet has voted to restrict the ability of Californians to see a doctor of their choice and fought against helping our most vulnerable citizens access meaningful healthcare coverage. His record of inaction has not only helped drive up the cost of healthcare for every Californian, it’s illustrative of a career politician hypocrite who would rather serve himself, than solve problems.”

Does that sum it up for you? It's a reflection of the basic difference in healthcare perspectives between Obama and McCain-- as well as between American working families and the insurance industry. But unless you or someone you love has come up against the solid wall called "pre-existing condition," you may not understand the danger of right wing ideologues like Tom McClintock determining healthcare policy for our country. Charlie Brown does understand. “Tom McClintock’s idea of healthcare reform is writing a law that says if you have a medical problem, you can’t get healthcare coverage,” Brown said. “This misguided bill could have literally cost millions of Californians who have battled and overcome ailments ranging from diabetes, to mild cardiac conditions or cancer their lives."
 
If you'd like to contribute to Charlie's campaign-- believe me, insurance companies will be giving all their donations to someone else-- he's on the Blue America ActBlue page. And, rest assured, there's no one on that page who agrees with Tom McClintock's views on healthcare. Nor, apprently, do the United Auto Workers. This ad isn't running in California, so CA-04 voters won't see it-- but they should:

Good News In Northern California

Dean Andal must have been in the men's room

If California Republicans were smarter they would have focussed all their energy and their meager resources to try to hold onto the seats of endangered rubber stamps like David Dreier, Dana Rohrabacher and Brian Bilbray. Instead, they foolishly blustered around northern California, as delusional as ever, thinking they could win back Pombo's old seat with a Pombo-clone and win the seat John Doolittle has so thoroughly disgraced with a Doolittle-clone. Wrong on both counts.

The GOP's hopes for recapturing CA-11 have been spiraling rapidly downward as Jerry McNerney and his constituents have gotten to know and like each other better and better. Even Republican-leaning media outlets that supported Pombo have to admit that McNerney has been providing the San Joaquin Valley district with the best representation its had in many, many years. The opponent the hapless Republicans have put up, right-wing extremist Dean Andal, is already rolling around in the mud of scandal-- even before the election! And then there's the little fundraising problem... Andal's got the stench of death all over him. No one wants to get too close.

A bit further north, is CA-04, a district specifically created for Republicans. But even a district like that can only take so much before they just say "no more." And, according to the latest polling, that's exactly what they're doing. Charlie Brown, already well known and well-liked across party lines, almost beat Doolittle in 2006, when Doolittle's massive corruption case was just a rumor. It's gone way beyond rumor and no one doubts that Mr-- and Mrs-- Doolittle will be spending some considerable time contemplating their crimes in federal prison. Doolittle announced he wouldn't be running again and the GOP let out a collective sign of relief... and then managed to find someone even worse! Tom McClintock is not merely a worse and more radical extremist than Doolittle, he's not even from the district! He's not even from near the district. He's an L.A. guy.

And for anyone whose attention span is so short that they can't remember much about the Republican Culture of Corruption that has so taken root in DC, Doolittle's crooked chief-of-staff, a close associate of Jack Abramoff's, was charged with "conspiracy, fraud and obstruction of justice for allegedly providing lawmakers and officials with gifts to win favors for lobbying clients." (That's a polite way of saying bribery.) He has the nerve to even buy Dixie Chicks tickets for some of these crooks! What happened to the right-wing boycott! Why not buy them tickets to see Ted Nugent?

People who want more of that can vote for John McCain and vote for Tom McClintock. The two members of Congress who look likely to wind up in prison with Ring are Ernest Istook, former Oklahoma Republican congressman, once voted the most homophobic asshole in the House, and, of course, Doolittle. It's great that Doolittle wants to fight this-- he still claims that everything is just circumstantial and a coincidence and that he-- and the crooked wife-- didn't do anything wrong. The longer and harder he fights, the more he'll drag McClintock and the GOP down the toilet with him. Go, Doolittle, Go!