Corporate Shill Steve Israel Blocks Progressive Democrats Aryanna Strader And Syed Taj

In 2008 McCain beat Obama 51-48% in Pennsylvania's 16th congressional district. That district has been significantly altered by the Republican state legislature-- but they weren't looking out for longtime right-wing Congressman Joe Pitts. Under the new boundaries, which jettisoned some of the rural red areas and added solid blue Reading, Obama would have beat McCain 50-49%. What an opportunity for a House pick-up!

But that isn't how DCCC boss Steve Israel sees it. Described-- admiringly-- by Nancy Pelosi as "reptilian," Israel decided to commit DCCC money to backing reactionary Blue Dogs who are virulently anti-Choice and antigay and pro-corporate New Dems in districts Obama lost by wide margins rather than backing progressives in districts that Obama won. Aryanna Strader is not a Steve Israel type of candidate. She's a straight shooter and a reform-oriented progressive who has no interest in the kind of rampant corruption that reptiles like Steve Israel thrive on. The DCCC has ignored the race, entirely and worked hard to demoralize Strader (and other progressives around the country). But Strader, an Iraq War vet, isn't easily demoralized and she's buckled down, ignoring the DCCC and concentrating on voters in southeast Pennsylvania. Gigantically out-funded by Pitts, a notorious corporate whore-- exactly like Steve Israel-- Aryanna has run a grassroots campaign and has garnered significant support in the district, including a fulsome endorsement from the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal, the district's #1 newspaper. So, while Steve Israel was busy doing the reptilian things that Pelosi so admires-- and that will guarantee Boehner another two years as Speaker, this is, in part, what people in PA-16 are reading this week:

After initially vowing not to serve beyond a fifth term, Pitts is now seeking an eighth term in Congress. He argues that his growing seniority gives him leverage in Congress to help constituents in the district.

Pitts favors making the Bush tax cuts permanent. He laments the lack of bipartisanship in Congress, yet he has voted with his party 95 percent of the time.

He opposes the Affordable Care Act, which has become an issue given that Pitts' biggest campaign contributors include Big Pharma, health insurers and health professionals.

His Democratic opponent, Aryanna Strader, is a software consultant and a veteran of the Iraq war.

She has run her campaign on a shoestring. She said that 80 percent of her campaign contributions have come from individuals.

Although she does not agree with all aspects of the Affordable Care Act, she would work to improve rather than repeal it.

Strader believes the president is correct to push for alternative energy sources and favors tax cuts for small business.

...Pitts deserves credit for his constituent service. But each year in Congress he has leaned further to the right. And his decision not to participate in a debate with all three challengers should raise concerns among voters.

Strader's first run for office will likely end in defeat. But she has struck a chord with voters. She expressed herself forcefully in the lone local debate with Pitts. She did the same when she debated Bednarski and Murphy.

She has our support in this election.

It probably wouldn't end in defeat if Steve Israel-- who as a founder of the transpartisan Center Aisle Caucus which vowed not to campaign against other members, regardless of party-- could also say "she has our support in this election."

Blue America has a mobile billboard, pictured above, traversing the highways and towns of the sprawling 16th district every day. Today it's spending half the day in and around Willow Street and half the day in Millersville. Tomorrow and Tuesday are all about Lancaster and Sunday and Monday, it's Reading all day, both days.

There are so many progressives where the DCCC hands-off posture is handing the districts to heinous Republicans. We've written a lot about how Steve Israel helps protect GOP leaders and senior committee chairmen, like Boehner, Cantor, McCarthy, Paul Ryan and Buck McKeon. One race that-- if not for a Muslim-unfriendly Steve Israel-- would be a slam-dunk for Democrats in the Detroit suburbs. MI-11 is a district Obama won handily in 2008 (54-45%) and whose incumbent, Thaddeus McCotter was recently caught committing election fraud and was forced to resign to stay out of prison. The psychotic teabagger who was challenging him in the primary, reindeer rancher Kerry Bentivolio, is now favored to win because Israel decided to starve the Democrat, Dr. Syed Taj, of funds. Even under the new boundaries, originally drawn by the GOP-dominated Michigan legislature to shore up McCotter, the district still leans blue and Obama would have beaten McCain 50-48%. This is a winnable district... if we had a competent DCCC chairman, instead of a reptile. This is what Israel is saddling Congress with:

The brother of Kerry Bentivolio says the Michigan congressional candidate, who's favored to win on Tuesday, is “mentally unbalanced” and could end up in jail.

"I've never met anyone in my life who is conniving and dishonest as this guy," Phillip Bentivolio said, according to the Michigan Information and Research Service. "He's my brother so it's hard to talk about this, but I believe that if he gets elected, he'll eventually serve time in prison."

...Kerry Bentivolio is a Santa Claus impersonator and reindeer farmer. He made headlines after old court documents surfaced quoting him saying he had a “problem figuring out which one I really am, Santa Claus or Kerry Bentivolio.”  He’s running against Democrat Syad Taj.

Philip Bentivolio said that in 1992, he helped his brother build houses in Arkansas and Kerry owed him $20,000. This month he told Kerry he would go to the media with the story if he did not get paid, and Kerry then said he called the FBI and the Little Rock Police Department.

“He told them that I told them that if he didn't send me money, I was going to kill myself," Phillip Bentivolio said. "I couldn't believe it."

Kerry Bentivolio said that his brother has “serious mental issues” and that the FBI was looking into his brother’s request for repayment 20 years after the fact.

Instead Israel is chasing a host of hopeless Blue Dogs in districts that have no interest in electing Democrats. And most of his candidates-- even if elected, would be nearly as dependable to vote against progressive legislation as the Republicans they're running against. Steve Israel-- Nancy Pelosi's worst mistake ever.

In The MI-11 Primary Democrats Picked Their Sane Candidate, Republicans Went For The Lunatic Fringe

Tuesday night was disappointing for progressives who worked their hearts out on Darcy Burner's campaign in Washington and on Trevor Thomas' campaign in central Michigan. But at the same time wealthy, self-funding conservative Democrats were beating progressives in WA-01 and MI-03, an entirely different dynamic was playing out in eastern Michigan, where a progressive physician, Dr. Syed Taj is running for the 11th congressional district seat Thaddeus McCotter was forced to resign from amid another Republican electoral scandal. Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette (R) described the four McCotter staffers as "not simply Keystone Kops running amok... criminal acts were committed." There's "no evidence" that McCotter was directing the operation so, at least for now, they're letting him off with just the resignation from Congress.

To avoid a trial and a certain prison term, McCotter first announced he would retire and then just plain, resigned. Indian-American Syed Taj was already challenging him, as were a LaRouche activist seeking to get some publicity for his faction's "impeach Obama" agenda and an extreme right crackpot, Kerry Bentivolio, who had declared he would take McCotter on in the GOP primary. Once McCotter resigned, the Michigan-- and national-- GOP was horrified to find themselves stuck with a stark raving mad lunatic as a candidate. So they drafted former state Sen. Nancy Cassis, got a bunch of Republican Establishment folks to campaign for her-- as well as Rick Santorum's mighty twitter operation-- and ran her as a write-in candidate and the "approved" Republican.

But while MI-11 Democrats chose the sane candidate in their primary Tuesday-- Dr. Taj beating the LaRouche freak 59-41%-- the Republican primary voters doubled down on the crazy. Bentivolio, took 42,771 (66%) while Cassis and the rest of the write-in candidates wound up with a flaccid 22,490 votes (34%). Bentivolio is a Ron Paul and Ayn Rand devotee, as well as a reindeer rancher. He made some extra money as an actor in a low-budget conspiracy film that blamed George W. Bush for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Republicans love crazy conspiracy scandals-- even when their own figures are targeted!

When Dr. Taj first declared his candidacy, no one thought McCotter was going anywhere but back to Congress. That's entirely changed now and a district that Obama won in 2008 is absolutely in play. Next week, we'll be talking with Dr, Taj live at Crooks and Liars (Tuesday at 2pm, ET). Meanwhile, please read his ideas for fixing the Affordable Care Act and please consider contributing to his campaign here at our ActBlue page. The DCCC flack who fashioned coverage of the DCCC's lame Red-to-Blue picks for The Hill this morning noted that Steve Israel hasn't given the thumbs up on Dr. Taj's race yet. (What they don't mention, since the reporters are ignorant and lazy, is that Israel's own model for picking candidates is less about "the rule" and more about the exception and that the DCCC routinely violates its own stated criterian all the time.)

Notably missing from the list, however, is Democratic candidate Syed Taj, running against newly minted Republican opponent Kerry Bentivolio for Thad McCotter’s old seat, in Michigan’s 11th district. Bentivolio’s Tea Party credentials concern Michigan Republicans, as Obama managed to win 50 percent of the vote there in 2008, indicating it could be competitive this year. But DCCC spokesman Jesse Ferguson said that they’re still watching the district to see how the race will develop in the coming weeks.

“The Republican failure to get a credible nominee has made it an opportunity. We're assessing it and continue to add races to the Red to Blue program in the weeks ahead,” he said.

Thaddeus McCotter Drops Bid For Reelection

On Friday night Republican ex-state Sen. Loren Bennett, who last served in 2002 (when he ran an unsuccessful campaign to be Lt Governor), announced he would run as a write-in candidate against election fraudster Thaddeus McCotter in Michigan's 11th CD (Oakland and Wayne counties). By Saturday afternoon, McCotter-- always the pathetic mamma's boy, ran off in a huff and withdrew.

U.S. Rep. Thad McCotter on Saturday said he is ended his write-in campaign for the 11th Congressional District, a move that ends his re-election bid in a week that that began with the Secretary of State's office determining he was ineligible for the Aug. 7 primary ballot with widespread invalid and tampered petition signatures.

"I have ended my write-in campaign in Michigan's 11th Congressional District," McCotter said in a statement released Saturday afternoon.

With about 87 percent of his nominating petitions tossed, McCotter, a five-time congressman, didn't meet the minimum number of 1,000 signatures to get his name on the ballot. The Michigan attorney general is investigating the suspect signatures.

"One can't clean up a mess multitasking," McCotter said in his statement. "Honoring my promise to the sovereign people of our community only allows me to finish the official duties of my present Congressional term; and aid the State Attorney General criminal investigation that I requested into identifying the person or persons who concocted the fraudulent petitions that have cost me so dearly.

Bennett, who lives in Canton is 62 and works for J & B Medical Supply in Wixom. Almost none of his old state Senate seat overlaps the 11th CD. Worse yet, teabagger and libertarian Kerry Bentivolio, is probably the front-runner a race between them. Every whackjob on the far right of the Michigan GOP is going to be panting to get him the nomination. And, speaking of whackjobs, he's already been endorsed by FedUpUSA and Liberty Candidates United, although they may be the same group. As you can see, he's a real barn-burner:



The Democrat in this race is a progressive doctor, Syed Taj. There's also a deranged LaRouchie running, Bill Roberts, who will be able to compete with Bentivolio for the kook vote. You can support Syed here on our ActBlue page. When we reached him last night, he was completely focused on his own path to victory. “The focus of this campaign over the next 67 days," he told us, "lies in getting through the primary August 7 by knocking on doors, listening to the voters and carrying my message of 1) Providing real world training for good paying jobs. With high unemployment, Congress must change its focus to job creation now. Building on the STEM classes (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) will prepare us to become competitive globally and will help train our workforce for the technical jobs of the future. Using an innovative incentive program, along with having a well trained workforce will entice the private sector to create jobs. 2) Eliminating waste in health care. Health care costs for the average family have tripled over the past decade. It’s hard to believe, but our health care system wastes over 700 billion dollars every year. We can fix this by ending the practice of charging patients for unnecessary procedures and creating a competitive environment for prescription drugs to help lower costs for everyone and 3) Keeping our promises. Social Security and Medicare are too important to gamble with. As a physician I will bring the experience that Congress lacks to protect Social Security and Medicare from career politicians and work to strengthen them for everyone."

Voter Fraud-- Republican Style: Meet Thaddeus McCotter... Again

These days when you mention election fraud, everyone immediately thinks of the shenanigans underway in Florida, as Rick Scott tries putting an anti-democracy infrastructure in place to steal the 2012 election in November. But Florida isn't the only state-- just the worst-- where Republicans who took over state governments in 2010 are trying to rig the system. Scott Walker in Wisconsin and John Kasich have, along with the incredibly unpopular Rick Scott, been most notorious. And Rick Snyder, the crook who slipped into the Michigan governor's chair. In fact, Michigan is a well when it comes to all the little ALEC schemes to undermine democracy. And that brings us to our old friend-- and pathetic mama's boy-- Thaddeus McCotter of Livonia, Michigan. The 11th district, in the Oakland and Wayne county suburbs north and west of Detroit, is a classic swing district. Bush won it with 51 and 53% and then Obama came in with 54% in 2008. In 2008 McCotter almost lost to a poorly-funded, virtually unknown candidate with just 51% of the vote.

So this year McCotter turned in hundreds of illegitimate signatures to get on the ballot. Michigan requires 1,000 but only 244 of McCotter's were valid! He was disqualified, although now he wants to run as a write-in candidate. He has a GOP primary challenger and two Democratic challengers, progressive physician Syed Taj and Bill Roberts, a deranged LaRouche freak who McCotter seems to have put up to the task of disrupting the Democratic process. And, possibly even more of a problem for McCotter is that the state's Attorney General, Bill Schuette (a right-wing Republican), is looking into what everyone thinks is an egregious case of election fraud.

While campaigns will often have some signatures invalidated, the sheer number of signatures that were thrown out suggests that people who collected them may have engaged in fraud.
A Detroit News review of the signatures found some of the pages were photocopied once or twice and attached to the name of a different signature gatherer.

McCotter wrote a column Tuesday in the Detroit News saying he will press on with a write-in bid and urging the state attorney general’s office to investigate.

“In honoring my vow to put my official responsibilities before politics, I delegated the same team that gathered signatures for me during the past decade to do so again, and I had no reason to doubt the competence or credibility of our petition gatherers’ assessment,” McCotter said, adding: “Now I feel like George Bailey after Uncle Billy admitted he lost the money. Like George, knowing my misplaced trust has negatively impacted so many people is heartrending. Unlike George, I am not tempted to jump off a bridge. Instead, I remember my late father’s rule: ‘You clean up your own mess.’”(Give McCotter this: He’s retained his legendarily wry sense of humor.)

McCotter expounded on that column in an interview on The Frank Beckmann Show this morning in which he suggested that a staff member had lied to him.

“At some point, for something like this to happen, I do feel like someone … lied to me,” McCotter said, according to the Detroit News.

There is one candidate on the GOP primary ballot: teacher Kerry Bentivolio. But McCotter’s biggest obstacle to re-nomination may be his name, which may be tough for some voters to spell.

The Oakland County Republican Party is in a total state of disunity-- and pissed as hell at McCotter. This is a real disaster for them and they're contemplating losing what they thought was a relatively safe seat (safe because they know how inept and disconnected the DCCC is). Michigan's director of elections, Chris Thomas, called the mess McCotter turned in, which included signatures from his 2010 petitions, "unheard of... "It's amazing when you sit and look, and it starts to dwell on you what they've done." The Secretary of State's office has turned over its findings to Schuette for what should be a criminal investigation.

Meanwhile, Public Policy Polling reported yesterday, that Michigan-- one of Romney's home state's-- is looking bright blue for November. And if Romney adds Gov. Snyder as VP-- his losing margin actually increases! Michiganders have grown sick of the anti-democracy move the GOP has been trying to institute in their state.

Barack Obama won't have to worry too much about holding Michigan for the Democrats this fall- he leads Mitt Romney 53-39 there, a lead little changed from PPP's last poll of the state in February when his advantage was 54-38.

Romney just doesn't have much of a home field advantage in the state. Only 24% of voters consider him to be a Michigander to 65% who do not. And only 35% have a favorable opinion of him to 57% with a negative view.

It's not just Romney's unpopularity helping Obama in Michigan though. Obama's own approval rating is at a record high in our polling of the state with 53% of voters giving him good marks to 41% who disapprove, including a 50/43 standing with independents.

Obama's crushing Romney on what will doubtless be one of the biggest issues in the campaign in Michigan- 55% think that he's been better for the automotive industry in the state to only 31% who say Romney wins out on that front.

Going inside the numbers Obama's winning over 13% of Republican voters while losing just 7% of Democrats, and he also has a double digit advantage with independents at 48-36. Obama's winning women by a 58-34 margin and significantly has a 10 point lead with white voters at 50-40.

There's been some talk about Rick Snyder as a potential running mate but he wouldn't help the ticket any- with him as the VP pick Obama's lead actually expands slightly to 53-38. That's because Snyder continues to be an unpopular Governor with only 37% of voters approving of him to 52% who disapprove. That's a regression for Snyder compared to February when he was at 40/47, largely because he's seen a drop with independents.

And that's good news for Dr. Taj-- and for other progressive challengers across the state, like Lance Enderle and Trevor Thomas. You can help Dr. Taj beat the LaRouche freak and the McCotter freak here on our ActBlue page.

There's Only One Answer To Destructive Oily Politics-- And Democratic Congressional Candidates Are Speaking Up

While David Diapers Vitter runs around coastal Louisiana like one of Sue Lowden's chickens without a head, pleading with Lousianans who see their livelihoods going up in smoke because of his bought-and-paid-for ($766,535 in bribes) "Drill, Baby, Drill" posture to not turn him out of office, he's increasingly alone in his slavish pro-Big Oil stance. The Republican Governor of California, who has always been a Drill, Baby, Drill backer, has now backed away. "You turn on the television and see this enormous disaster, you say to yourself, 'Why would we want to take on that kind of risk?'" he said at a news conference near Sacramento. Vitter is still chanting "Drill, Baby, Drill" and I'm waiting to hear him agree, out loud, with Rush Limbaugh, that Obama caused the catastrophe... and on purpose.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, citing the damage caused to the environment by the massive oil spill in the Gulf Coast, said Monday he is yanking from his state budget plan proposed new drilling off the coast of Santa Barbara.

The governor had been a proponent of the Tranquillon Ridge project, which he'd said could generate $140 million for the upcoming budget year to help prevent cutbacks in state parks. Despite the governor's support, the project has stalled amid opposition from lawmakers and the state Lands Commission, which has jurisdiction over such oil leases.

Schwarzenegger said Monday he will not include the project in his revised budget plan, to be unveiled  May 14. He said the environmental risk is too great.

Schwarzenegger's announcement means there'll be no new drilling off California's coastline any time soon. Obama should do the same thing, and overturn the Dick Cheney oil policies that brought such lavish bribes into GOP coffers since 2000. Every environmental group in the country is demanding a moratorium and telling John Kerry, Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman to stick their "compromise" up their heavily-bribed asses.

As the environmental threat of the disaster grows by the day, green groups have become more explicit in demanding that any drilling provisions be removed from the bill. 

“Expanding exploration and drilling into previously protected and remote areas is unacceptable when it is clear that we are not capable of responding to oil spills in a timely manner,” several dozen groups wrote senators on Monday. 

“Provisions creating new incentives (such as state revenue sharing) or reduced safeguards for expanded offshore drilling are simply not acceptable.”

The Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, Greenpeace, National Audubon Society and others signed the letter.

Environmental advocates hope the oil crisis in the Gulf will lead lawmakers to provide stronger incentives for renewable energy and conservation programs to reduce the importance of fossil fuels and shift climate legislation that had been on a rightward track back to the left. 

Yesterday the two most progressive Democratic congressional challengers in California, Marcy Winograd and Bill Hedrick came out firmly against drilling off California's coast. Hedrick pointed out that his corrupt opponent has been clamoring for more drilling off Orange County's pristine beaches.

Said Calvert, author of the MORE Act that would allow drilling up to the beach “While (President Obama’s) plan opens up areas along the east coast and northern Alaska, it does not call for any exploration off the coast of California where ample oil and natural gas resources exist for development.”

Coastal Californians, indeed, I believe all Californians, value our state’s singular natural beauty. I will fight to preserve our coast and beaches, and I will NEVER support expansion of offshore drilling in California’s waters.

An ecological disaster of unprecedented scope is today striking the Gulf Coast. Oil from the explosion and blowout of the BP rig Deepwater Horizon will devastate the environmentally fragile region, perhaps for decades.

And oil company cheerleaders like Ken Calvert who have staked their careers on slogans such as “Drill, baby, drill,” are now seeing the consequences of their reckless policy and empty rhetoric. If Calvert has his way, California will be opened to the same type of drilling that is set to devastate the Gulf.

One explosion, blowout, or serious spill can cause decades of economic and environmental damage.  There is no such thing as a minor oil spill. It is shocking that our representative in Congress is the foremost proponent of a bill that would dangerously risk our future. 

When elected to Congress, I will support a real MORE Act-- more accountability for oil companies; more research dollars for alternative fuels, and more prosecution of environmental polluters like British Petroleum.

Marcy Winograd, fighting a tough battle against Blue Dog and shameless corporate shill Jane Harman, applauded President Obama's decision to put new off-shore oil leases on hold for now. She said, "May this be a wake-up call to Washington. The price of expanded coastal oil drilling comes at a terrible ecological price."

In an April 2nd statement responding to Obama’s decision to open new areas to drilling, Winograd said, “Our coast, from the Pacific to the Atlantic, is too precious to sacrifice for oil company profits and short-lived energy gains. We need a long-term vision for sustainability.”
Winograd authored the resolution that put the California Democratic Party on record opposing new off-shore and on-shore oil drilling off the California coast. Says Winograd, “The danger of off-shore oil drilling far outweighs the little oil that is harvested from these leases."

And it isn't just California Democrats putting their feet down on this. Natalie Mosher is running against one of the architects of the Republicans' "Drill, Baby, Drill" strategy. Thaddeus McCotter from a suburban district outside of Detroit. There is a very clear difference between Mosher's environmentally-friendly stand and McCotter's shilling for the Big Oil companies that have been so generous to his political career. "There are big differences in this race, but this is one that is crystal clear. Thaddeus McCotter may be able to look at himself in the mirror after choosing the side of Big Oil over the people-- but unfortunately for us, this time it has cost us more than dollars … it has cost us the heartbreak of damaging one of America’s natural treasures, our Gulf Coast & risking the livelihoods of those who depend on its beauty and bounty to earn a living."

The oil spill just off the coast of Louisiana is nothing short of a catastrophe and now threatens Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi. Entire industries are held hostage by an ever growing oil slick. Hard working Americans whose lives depend on the sea risk losing their jobs, and we all may see increased costs at the dinner table. While I trust that BP is working overtime to stop oil from gushing into our pristine waters of the Gulf, we cannot forget who favors expanding this type of drilling: Thaddeus McCotter.
 
In fact, McCotter even put his unflinching support of reckless offshore drilling into writing when he joined Newt Gingrich and other extremist Republicans in supporting the offshore drilling bill. And while I believe domestic drilling should be a part of our long-term energy strategy in America, reckless offshore drilling efforts need more precautions and oversight to prevent this from ever happening again. Just imagine the horror of a spill like this in our own Great Lakes.

If I were in Congress today, I would introduce legislation that put a moratorium on all new offshore drilling rigs until full planning and contingencies can be afforded to every rig off our coastlines. I’d also demand an immediate review of every offshore rig and their contingency plans in the event another spill occurs.

Late night comedians may think the BP catastrophe is worth joking about but most Florida politicians are freaking out as the oily slick gets closer and closer to that state's tourist and fishing industries, threatening to bankrupt an already tottering economy. Most-- but not all. Some hard-right corporate shills are sticking with Big Oil on this one.

The political rallying cry is no longer drill, baby, drill. It's spill, baby, spill.
Faster than oil slicks spreading on water, Florida's top politicians have spent the past few days jockeying for media attention, performing flyovers of the spill in the Gulf of Mexico and decrying the impact of the calamity on the Sunshine State.

Gov. Charlie Crist, who is running for the U.S. Senate as an independent, severed all ties to his previous statements extolling the virtues of oil drilling as a way to lower gas prices as long as it was done cleanly and safely. On Monday, he declared that any talk of drilling off Florida's coast should "cease and desist."

Republican Attorney General Bill McCollum, running for governor, traveled to Mobile, Ala., on Sunday to meet with other attorneys general to discuss legal steps necessary to lay blame for the massive oil leak.

And Democratic Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, also running for governor, headed to Pensacola on Monday for a briefing on the oil spill by emergency operations officials and recommendations of ways the state can better respond.

"Those proposals need to be totally off the table forevermore," Sink said of new drilling plans.
She called on the federal government to push BP PLC to create an immediate cash fund for local governments and small businesses and urged businesses to prepare their records to submit damage claims... U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa, said she was disappointed she didn't get the entire Florida congressional delegation to sign a letter to President Barack Obama opposing oil drilling in the wake of the crisis.

In Tallahassee, Democratic candidate for agriculture commissioner Scott Maddox used the issue to take aim at his opponent, Republican U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam.

"I think it's astounding that four days after the explosion, Adam Putnam was reaffirming his position in favor of offshore and near-shore oil drilling," Maddox said, asking all candidates for the Florida Cabinet to sign a pledge to oppose oil drilling off the coast.

Putnam, who had previously said he was "generally supportive of opening those areas'' to drilling, responded by saying he is "deeply concerned about the economic and ecological damage'' and accused Maddox of "complete ignorance of the issues in this race."

The two furthest right Florida politicians who give lip-service about being within the mainstream, Marco Rubio and Rick Scott are both out there demanding more off-shore drilling. They're both certifiable crackpots. And the only member of Congress from a state starting with "F" who is still backing continued drilling off the state's fragile coastline is lunatic fringe John Mica. Everyone thought he voted for the "Drill, Baby, Drill" thing because of the lunatic fringe thing, but... it turns out his brother is a sleazy lobbyist for Big Oil. No conflict, he assures us.

The Political Right Turning Violent?

One of the most important books I read this summer was Dave Neiwert's exposé of the relationship between political violence and right-wing political parties, The Eliminationists. This week when I read about the Maryland teabaggers hanging hapless Blue Dog Frank Kratovil in effigy outside his district office, I couldn't help but wonder what Dave was thinking about it. Yesterday Politico pointed to a growing trend on the right to systematically harass Democrats. Fueled by the manufactured-- ratings oriented-- rage on Fox News (Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, etc), Hate Talk radio and CNN (Lou Dobbs), mobs of delusional Know Nothings are on the rampage.

Screaming constituents, protesters dragged out by the cops, congressmen fearful for their safety-- welcome to the new town-hall-style meeting, the once-staid forum that is rapidly turning into a house of horrors for members of Congress.

On the eve of the August recess, members are reporting meetings that have gone terribly awry, marked by angry, sign-carrying mobs and disruptive behavior. In at least one case, a congressman [Tim Bishop, from my old Suffolk Country district] has stopped holding town hall events because the situation has spiraled so far out of control.

Other Democrats who have been targeted include Bruce Braley (IA), Lloyd Doggett (TX), Dan Maffei (NY), Tom Perriello (VA) and Blue Dog Allen Boyd (FL). Braley: “I think it’s just the fact that we are dealing with some of the most important public policy issues in a generation,” who was confronted by a protester angry about his position on health care reform at a town hall event several weeks ago. Bishop: “I think in general what is going on is we are tackling issues that have been ignored for a long time, and I think that is disruptive to a lot of people. We are trying, one by one, to deal with a set of issues that can’t be ignored, and I think that’s unsettling to a lot of people.”

NRCC Chair Pete Sessions, hoping to change the subject from his developing bribery scandal, boasted that Democrats haven't seen anything yet and that next year the Republican will have some real nastiness in store for them. According to a leaked memo from one of the lobbyist-run extreme right GOP front groups, Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks, which has been orchestrating teabag events around the country in coordination with Fox News, the onslaught is hardly spontaneous. The memo reads like an organizing document from the early days of Mussolini's rise to power in pre-War Italy:

– Artificially Inflate Your Numbers: “Spread out in the hall and try to be in the front half. The objective is to put the Rep on the defensive with your questions and follow-up. The Rep should be made to feel that a majority, and if not, a significant portion of at least the audience, opposes the socialist agenda of Washington.”

– Be Disruptive Early And Often: “You need to rock-the-boat early in the Rep’s presentation, Watch for an opportunity to yell out and challenge the Rep’s statements early.”

– Try To “Rattle Him,” Not Have An Intelligent Debate: “The goal is to rattle him, get him off his prepared script and agenda. If he says something outrageous, stand up and shout out and sit right back down. Look for these opportunities before he even takes questions.”

Why all the anger and violence? Health care reform is the real target and the Big Money interests behind the status quo will stop at nothing to kill it, even ripping apart the fabric of society. Shills like Mike Pence have been on an hysterical rampage, distorting data and making up numbers out of thin air.

But Big Business hasn't unleashed their war machine against Democrats only because of health care reform. They're angered and vengeful because progressives are trying to hold them accountable for looting the economy. Yesterday, for example, the House passed H.R.3269, the Corporate and Financial Institution Compensation Fairness Act of 2009-- largely along party lines 237-185, 16 mangy anti-family Blue Dogs and Blue Dog types joining the Republicans in opposition-- which, if the corporately-owned House of Lords ever passes it (unlikely) will go about a quarter of an inch on the mile long journey towards getting excessive executive compensation under some kind of reasonable control.

With Blue Dogs and Republicans blatantly crossing the line between accepting campaign contributions from Big Business to just plain participating in an outrageous voting selling scheme, the far right-- the agents of the status quo and the ruling elites-- is moving up the game, dangerously moving it up.

Meanwhile the Democratic response isn't pleasing Sessions and the other radical right puppet-masters of this whole violence movement. The DCCC is running radio spots against some of the crackpot Republican leaders who have been the most corrupt when it comes to the banksters and CEOs, taking their money and voting for their interests instead of their own constituents' interests. Sessions blew his top when he found out ads are scheduled to start running Monday in his own suburban Dallas district and in the home districts of Eric Cantor (R-VA), Paul Ryan (R-WI), lobbyist John Boehner (R-OH), Scott Garrett (R-NJ), Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), Mike Pence (R-IN), David Dreier (R-CA) and Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI). Down below you can hear the McCotter radio spot. Here's a press release that went out the Wisconsin media outlets about Paul Ryan:

Having already tried to protect outrageous AIG-style bonuses at tax-payer expense, today Representative Paul Ryan tried to score another victory for corporate executives by denying shareholders a chance to voice their objections before an outrageous pay package is given out to the company’s top executives.

“While middle class families worry about keeping their jobs in this tough economy, Representative Paul Ryan is trying to protect outrageous pay packages for corporate executives making millions of dollars,” said Ryan Rudominer, National Press Secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “Times are tough, the last thing Representative Ryan should be doing is denying company shareholders a chance to have a say before the top executives get another outrageous pay package.”

Can Thaddeus McCotter Lead The House GOP Caucus Over The Cliff? (PLUS: Of course it mattered that Prof. Gates isn't white)

Sleazy Republican clown Thaddeus McCotter-- pictured above rocking out-- is certainly one of the most endangered GOP incumbents. He barely held onto his seat in 2008-- 51% with no serious opposition-- and Obama won his suburban Detroit (parts of Wayne and Oakland counties) district 54-45%. A member of the House Financial Services Committee-- and an ineffectual member of the GOP obstructionist House leadership-- McCotter has taken immense sums of legalized bribes from the Financial Sector his committee is supposed to oversee. Since assuming office just 6 years ago he's already accepted $738,953 from the banksters, insurance crooks and real estate interests and in return has always put their interests over those of his constituents.

Most of his twittering lately has been against health care reform, but this weekend he thinks he found the issue that will connect with voters: making a ruckus about Obama apologizing to James Crowley, the Cambridge police officer who arrested Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates a few days ago. A typical right-wing "bright shiny object" ploy to get people's minds off real issues, McCotter plans to lead the charge of racists and media hacks on their latest jihad against President Obama. (Let me again recommend you read Digby's piece The Frenzy Begins, about how the Republicans and their allies in the media, particularly cable news, get "obsessed with manufactured wingnut shitstorms designed to distract and diminish the president's stature and sap his political capital just when he needs it the most.")

When the Republican Party ripped off the DCCC incumbent protect mechanism-- the Front Line Program-- this year, starting the Patriot Program to try to salvage the apparently doomed careers of its most vulnerable members, McCotter was the very first one to get onto the list. That list that has increased with every passing day of Republican Party obstructionism, with 15 new names just added to those most likely to be defeated: Mike Rogers (AL), Mary Bono Mack (CA), birther Bill Posey (FL), Tom Rooney (FL), Mario Diaz-Balart (FL), Lynn Jenkins (KS), John Fleming (LA), Bill Cassidy (LA), Michele Bachmann (MN), Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO), Lee Terry (NE), Scott Garrett (NJ), Dean Heller (NV), Charlie Dent (PA) and Cynthia Lummis (WY). Ironically, Lynn Jenkins and Mary Bono Mack are in greater jeopardy from Republican activists in the right-wing base-- Jenkins because she just voted against Mike Pence's anti-choice amendment and Bono Mack because the teabaggers in the desert claim she's too pro-environment.

These 15 were added to the original 10, none of whom are considered likely to survive the 2010 midterm elections: McCotter, of course, plus Dan Lungren (CA), Ken Calvert (CA), Brian Bilbray (CA), Dave Reichert (WA), Judy Biggert (IL), Anh Cao (LA), Erik Paulsen (MN), Leonard Lance (NJ) and Chris Lee (NY).

You might be interested in knowing that most of the Democratic incumbents viewed by the DCCC as the most vulnerable are conservative Blue Dogs who have been as opposed to progress as the Republicans. Democrats most likely to lose their seats in 2010-- if membership in the DCCC Frontline Program is any indication-- include reactionaries like John Barrow (Blue Dog-GA), Leonard Boswell (Blue Dog-IA), Bobby Bright ((Blue Dog-AL), Chris Carney (Blue Dog-PA), Travis Childers (Blue Dog-MS), Joe Donnelly (Blue Dog-IN), Brad Ellsworth (Blue Dog-IN), Gabby Giffords (Blue Dog-AZ), Parker Griffith (Blue Dog-AL), Baron Hill (Blue Dog-IN), Ann Kirkpatrick (Blue Dog-AZ), Frank Kratovil (Blue Dog-MD), Walt Minnick (Blue Dog-ID), Harry Mitchell (Blue Dog-AZ), Glenn Nye (Blue Dog-VA), and Zack Space (Blue Dog-OH).

There's not a single conservative-voting member on that list I'd shed a tear for any more than I would for any of the defeated Republicans. Conservatives, no matter from which party, are bad for American families and bad for America in general. Inside the Democratic Party, they tend to water down the best of what progressives have to offer, and often do more damage than Republicans alone can do. If health care reform fails, it won't be just because of Republicans; the fault will lie squarely on the shoulder of corrupt right-wing Democrats (many of whom are listed above) who are working with the Republicans to sabotage the legislation.

Back to the Republicans for a moment. They somehow missed including Paul Ryan, the Wisconsin wingnut who has been leading the Republican charge on behalf of Wall Street special interests in Congress and has continued to make an idiot out of himself at every opportunity, on their Patriot list. They may be in for a very nasty surprise. In fact, you can donate to his political demise through Act Blue right here at StopPaulRyan.


OF COURSE PROF. GATES, TRYING TO UNJAM HIS OWN FRONT DOOR, WOULD HAVE BEEN TREATED DIFFERENTLY IF HE WAS WHITE


by Ken

I'm relieved that Howie got us into the Gates episode, because I've been standing on the sidelines gaping in dumbfounded horror at the combination of:

(a) the obvious racism of the incident

Let me put it in the form of a statement rather than a question: If Professor Gates were white, there is not the slightest possibility -- absolutely zero -- that the incident would have unfolded the way it did.

(b) the nevertheless-exact-opposite conclusion reached -- so loudly -- by the country's die-hard white racist establishment

That cop may really believe that his behavior wasn't at all determined by race (when in fact it was clearly totally determined by race), but that just goes to show that you don't have to think you're engaging in race-discriminatory behavior to be doing so. Hey, it's possible that even Rush Limbaugh doesn't know that every fiber of his sorry being is permeated with every sort of crippling bigotry; that wouldn't make him any less bigoted. It just makes it that much harder to get at the bigotry.

So why was I, even so, startled by the Infotainment News Media's ritual asault on the president, for answering a question on the subject, rather than on his attackers with their blind ignorance, bigotry, and opportunism. Judging from this spectacle, an observer might think that race relations have been set back -- or rather were previously farther back than we thought -- by about 50 years.

However, the president's insistence on making a teaching moment of this controversy may produce a more hopeful outcome. For example, I noticed a head in this morning's Washington Post:

After Arrest. Cambridge Reflects on Racial Rift

The subhead is: "Forum to Explore Deep-Seated Issues."

Well, hello!

That way lies the possibility of moving forward. It's the exact opposite way from allowing the Rush Limbaughs and Pat Buchanans of the world to spew their ignorant and vicious poisons while pretending they're anything other than deeply convicted white supremacists.

#

Happy Teabagger Protest Day!

Toiling diligently against the interests of working families

Today is tax day and many Republican extremists and their rightist allies are celebrating with teabag parties denigrating the country in an orgy of selfishness. The DCCC is marking the day by reminding voters in selected districts that their congressional representative opposed President Obama's tax cuts for working families and his economic recovery package. The DCCC is reminding voters that "Representative Young [and that goes for either Don in Alaska or Bill in Florida] just said no to the largest middle class tax cut in history that immediately puts money back in their pockets and helps families afford college tuition for their kids."

Explaining the radio ads they are running in several Republican-held districts, Jennifer Crider, the DCCC Communications Director tied it to today's events. “This year on Tax Day, Michigan’s middle class families can thank Representative Thaddeus McCotter for voting against middle class tax cuts that put money back in their pockets to help them make ends meet during this economic crisis. Times are tough, middle class families who are worried about keeping their jobs and paying for their kids’ college education want action in the form of middle class tax cuts and economic recovery, not Representative McCotter’s 'just say no' obstruction.” Listen to the ad running in Wayne and Oakland Counties today:



The ads in Livonia and Detroit radio can almost be heard in South Bend and Elkhart, Indiana; but they can't. The DCCC would have to change the name "McCotter" and run them on stations in those two hard-pressed cities to let the voters know that the congressman from that district, who has opposed President Obama nearly as much as McCotter-- and who has voted against some of the same bills the DCCC is complaining that McCotter obstructed-- also deserves to be defeated in 2010. But they won't do that because the congressman from Indiana's second district is Joe Donnelly, a quasi-Democrat. Aside from neo-Confederate kook Travis Childers (Blue Dog-MS), Donnelly has spent more time crossing the aisle to vote with the Republicans against Obama than any other Democrat. Odd in a district where McCain could only muster 45% of the vote. At least Childers can point out that Obama only drew 38% in his district and that supporting his policies could be very dangerous politically. Donnelly's constituents, on the other hand, voted for the very tax cuts and agenda for change that Obama proposed and Donnelly opposed. Joe Donnelly doesn't deserve to serve another term in Congress-- especially not as a Democrat-- any more than Thaddeus McCotter does.

Yesterday George Harrison was posthumously given a star on Hollywood Blvd-- actually around the corner on Vine in front of the old Capitol Records tower. Here's a little clip I put together of the tongue-in-cheek song he wrote to kick off the 1966 album Revolver by The Beatles, dedicated to the 176 Republicans and 20 Democrats who voted against President Obama's middle class tax cut on April 2, especially Thaddeus McCotter and Joe Donnelly, and to the 750 teabagger parties being thrown to protest a slight rise in the tax rate for millionaires to help finance a decrease in taxes on the middle class. Some of the very worst shills for the richest families in America, like John Boehner (R-OH) and Paul Ryan (R-WI) will be speaking at some of these rallies although they voted against President Obama's tax cuts. Most members of the Republican Party Establishment, however, are avoiding the teabaggers. Mitt Romney is hiding under his bed of course-- way too close to Bastille Day for him-- and Governors Palin, Huntsman and Barbour are all staying away-- as are Eric Cantor and Miss McConnell.

The conservative grass roots are into them-- thanks in part to Fox and [hate] talk radio-- but the enthusiasm has not spread throughout the party to the point that these events are command performances for Republican officials.

The concern, it would seem: being associated with a flop or an event that one cannot control and may feature language not entirely keeping with mainstream political discourse.

Teabagger Tax Day from Howie Klein on Vimeo.


Unlike the crazy, violence-spewing Republicans being herded little sheep into their teabag parties, President Obama is marking tax day by underscoring his administration's commitment to restoring the kind of fairness to the tax code-- providing relief to ordinary working families-- that was wrecked by decades of Republican ideological dominace in DC.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is based on the simple premise: what is good for working families is good for the economy and what is good for the economy is good for working families. Specifically, cutting taxes for working families helps to create jobs because these families are the most likely to spend the money. And staving off a deep recession disproportionately helps working families that would have been most likely to get hurt by the recession. Here are some of the highlights of the plan:
 
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: A Plan to Create Jobs and Help Families
 
*     95% of all working families  will receive a tax cut
 
*     70% of the tax benefits goes to the middle 60% of American workers
 
*     2 million families will be lifted out of poverty by the tax cuts in the Recovery Act
 
*     More than $150 billion in tax cuts will help low-income and vulnerable households during the economic recovery
 
*     About 1 Million jobs will be created or saved by these tax cuts alone
 
*     Already, over $3 billion of tax credits have been paid out to first-time homebuyers.