Asheville-- Great Town In A miserable Political Situation

By December 31, the end of the last FEC reporting period, Patrick McHenry already had just over $2 million in his Wall Street-funded campaign war chest. He had spent over a million dollars already and raised another $1.7 million. He had 2 Democratic rivals, Kenneth Queen, who raised $8,130 and David Brown, who raised $6,229. And his two primary rivals, Seth Blankenship and Ira Roberts raised $4,961 and $1,325 respectively. Last cycle Democrat Andy Millard raised $295,850 to McHenry's $3,192,579. McHenry beat Millard 220,825 (63.1%) to 128,919 (36.9%), slightly better for McHenry than Trump did against Clinton. Although it includes the progressive stronghold of Asheville, in all this is a safe Republican district with a PVI of R+12. Of the 7 counties in the district, Democrats only win one: Buncombe (Asheville). McHenry easily balances that out with predictable lopsided wins in red hellholes like Catawba, Gaston, Cleveland and Lincoln counties.

In actuality McHenry is an extremely unattractive candidate-- an icon of Wall Street corruption serving on the House Financial Services Committee (he took $4,660,742 since being elected in 2004 and serves the interests of the banksters without hesitation) and Congress' most scandal-wracked closet case-- but hasn't had a problem with reelection once.

This year though there are some in the district eager to see the end of McHenry looking past the weak, disorganized Democrats towards a moderate Republican who is challenging him in a primary. #NeverTrump activist Gina Collias spoke at the Asheville woman's march last month and is loudly refusing to take corporate money for her campaign. In some ways she sounds like many DCCC-type Democratic candidates, eager to reform Obamacare, protect the environment, protect the country from Climate Change, simplify the path to citizenship and oppose nationalistic isolationism. Her website states she "sees potential Russian interference with the 2016 election as a national security issue" and makes the point that "No hardworking American should go broke trying to keep their families healthy. Gina supports reform of the ACA that is bipartisan, reduces the costs to American families, preserves protection for pre-existing conditions, protects essential benefits, and preserves the elimination of life-time caps." When you look closely, she sounds like a typical Blue Dog Democrat and has more in common with the last Democrat who represented Asheville-- Blue Dog Heath Shuler-- than with fellow-Republican Patrick McHenry. She's begging Democrats to switch to unaffiliated so they can vote for her against McHenry in the primary.

David Wilson Brown has a much better platform than Collias-- going beyond just fixing Obamacare, for example, and working towards Medicare for All. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to be strong or aggressive and likely won't be going anywhere. Sad. The other Democrat, Kenneth Queen has dropped out-- I guess one queen in enough in that district. Meanwhile, Seth Blankenship is trying to campaign to the right of McHenry! He calls himself "a strong, conservative Christian" and he seems to define "GOP crackpot" perfectly. On healthcare for example: "While many believe that the federal government should control your healthcare coverage, the choice should be up to the American people. We know what is best for us and our families, not bureaucrats in D.C. Obamacare has taken the choice away from us-American families." He's also virulently anti-Choice: "We have seen the tragedy of millions of babies being aborted across the United States. Together we must stand for LIFE and say no to abortions. With your help we can pass legislation to stop abortions." Basically, he's McHenry without the corruption and the closet case thing. His approach to most issues seems doctrinaire and extremely simpleminded and uninformed. Asheville is one of the most progressive cities in the South; its hard to believe this is what they're stuck with. Maybe no one heard there's a wave coming?

Who in western North Carolina can possibly resist McHenry?

North Carolina Has OutLawed Payday Lenders-- But Patrick McHenry Is The Industry's Champion Even More So Than Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Patrick McHenry got into Congress just as DWT was getting started in 2005-- and we've watched for over decade as he built a career based on blatant and unaccountable corruption, using his position on the House Financial Services Committee to raise $3,717,511 from the Finance Sector he's supposed to be protecting the public from. This year alone, the Finance Sector has given McHenry $1,176,225 in legalistic bribes, the 4th most of any member of Congress other than Speaker Paul Ryan, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Wall Street's favorite Senate errand boy Patrick Murphy. It's almost unfathomable that a reform-minded good government city like Asheville would be represented in Congress by someone as corrupt as McHenry. Unfortunately, though, the Republican legislature has drawn NC-10 to negate Buncombe County's voice with Hate Talk Radio listeners in Catawba, Lincoln, Gaston, Cleveland and Rutherford counties.

This year the Democratic Party has gotten behind Andy Millard, a first time candidate from Polk County who is a financial planner, author, former teacher, principal and small business owner. You can learn more about Andy and the issues he's highlighting in his campaign here on his official website or on his Facebook page. We asked Andy to help us understand the eye-popping relationship between McHenry and the predatory Pay Day Lending Industry which we've been through the actions of corrupt Democrats like Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Patrick Murphy but is one of those areas of Congress where guilt is shared equally on both sides of the aisle. As you read his guest post, please consider contributing to his grassroots campaign by tapping the thermometer on the right.


Here’s Why People are Fed Up with Congress
By Andy Millard



Want to see a microcosm of everything that’s wrong with Congress in 2016? Just look at my opponent, six-term incumbent Rep. Patrick McHenry. He is a career politician whose influence in Congress comes in part from the immense amount of money he raises from unsavory institutions. And he pays them back by doing their bidding. His relationship with the payday lending industry is a perfect example.

Payday lenders are illegal in my home state of North Carolina. Their customers-- everyday folks living paycheck-to-paycheck-- take out short-term loans with interest rates as high as 400% or more. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), four out of five borrowers are unable to repay the loan on time (usually two weeks), so they roll it into a new loan with even more interest and fees. The majority of borrowers end up paying more in fees than they borrowed to begin with. Bottom line: the industry makes big profits by driving struggling families into a downward cycle of debt.

Numerous groups, including a broad coalition of religious groups, have condemned payday lenders and their usurious practices. So you would assume a Congressman representing North Carolina would never support the payday lending industry.

You would be wrong. Patrick McHenry is one of payday lending’s best friends in Congress. He has spoken against proposed tighter regulations on the House floor as recently as last month.

Why? Follow the money. Payday lenders are very profitable-- and they use some of those profits to support members of Congress who support them, including Mr. McHenry. The following is a litany of his entanglements with payday lenders:

In January 2011, McHenry was the keynote speaker at the Community Financial Services Association conference at the plush Westin Diplomat Resort and Spa in Hollywood, Florida. The CFSA is a trade group created by payday lenders to fight laws that might hinder them from taking advantage of those in need. Their biggest enemy is the afore-mentioned CFPB, which is a government agency created to help consumers avoid being ripped off in financial transactions.

According to the CFSA conference brochure, the gathering would answer such burning questions as, “Are there ways that I can maximize long-term profits and minimize regulatory risk?”; “What can I do to avoid getting sued?"; and, “What’s next for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau?”

Apparently, McHenry paid close attention to that last question--  that March, he co-sponsored a bill to cripple the CFPB’s ability to protect Americans from payday lenders, and was promptly rewarded with over $30,000 in contributions from the payday lending industry a few days later. Perhaps coincidentally, a few weeks later, McHenry very publicly antagonized Elizabeth Warren, the then-leader of the CFPB, accusing her of lying as part of his campaign to undermine the agency.

On August 22, 2013, McHenry signed a letter criticizing the Department of Justice’s efforts to punish payday lenders. The payday loan industry had donated almost $13,000 to McHenry the previous month, and they gave him another $2,600 after the letter was sent.

In October of 2014, McHenry again spoke at a conference for payday lenders. This time, he was the keynote speaker at the FiSCA Conference and Exposition at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas. Similar to the CFSA, the Financial Service Centers of America (FiSCA) is another group that regularly works to minimize regulation of the payday loan industry.

McHenry gave his FiSCA Conference address on October 10. According to disclosure forms his PAC, the McHenry Leadership Fund, filed with the FEC, McHenry received $50,000 from FiSCA and its affiliated companies on October 17-- just one week after he spoke at their conference. On November 17, those same forms show, he received ten donations from FiSCA board members in one day. Those donations added up to $9,500. That’s almost $60,000 from FiSCA, within a month of speaking at their conference. When you add it to the $15,000 McHenry also received from CFSA board member Dan Adams on November 17, that total amount that McHenry accepted from payday lenders in one month becomes $75,000.

In January of 2015, McHenry was named Vice Chairman of the House Financial Committee, where he found himself in an even better position to antagonize the CFPB. Just one month later, he voted against protecting veterans from predatory lending practices. In March, he co-sponsored one bill that would abolish the CFPB, and co-sponsored another that would slow it down while limiting its funding. He received a $5,000 check from the National Installment Lenders Association at the end of March, and then another $2,500 from the Online Lenders Alliance at the end of April.

That June, McHenry signed a letter criticizing the CFPB director, while voting for legislation that would decrease government scrutiny of the payday lending industry. Two weeks later, McHenry received $2,000 from the American Financial Services Association, which lobbies against the CFPB on behalf of installment loans, which are similar to payday loans. Then in July, he co-sponsored yet another bill attempting to abolish the CFPB. On September 14, he received a total of $4,500 from the American Financial Services Association.

Last October, the nonpartisan Campaign for Accountability called for an ethics probe of McHenry due to the amount of money he’s accepted from the payday loan industries in proximity to acting in their favor.

Payday loans are illegal in Patrick McHenry’s home state, and he knows it. Yet the payday loan industry has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to his campaigns and PACs. He speaks at their conferences, and argues on behalf of their interests in Congress. As Patrick McHenry’s opponent in North Carolina’s 10th Congressional District, I have called for him to return any and all contributions he has received from payday lenders and their employees, as well as the PACs who have donated to him on their behalf.

No wonder Congress’ approval rating is in the cellar. It’s a rotten system that results in rotten legislators. We can change this mess, but it’s going to take a new group of clean politicians. Despite what some might have you believe, the VOTERS alone can fix it.

Another Full Blown Scandal Enveloping Deranged North Carolina Closet Case Patrick McHenry

These days, when someone is looking for congressional scandals, they usually go to GOP criminal types like Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm (R-NY), David "The Gangster" Rivera (R-FL) and Howard "Buck" McKeon (R-CA), all of whom are barely avoiding indictments. But scandal has dodged diminutive little closet case Patrick McHenry for his entire career-- and not just the regular legalistic bribe taking that he and so many of his colleagues use to finance their careers-- and this year is no different.

McHenry started in politics working as a sleazy operative for Karl Rove in 2000 and it's been all downhill ever since. He only won the GOP congressional primary by using out of state college students, at least one of whom he was having a homosexual relationship with, some of whom voted in the primary illegally. After winning that first primary amid a voter fraud scandal there was the little matter of a gay triple homicide that involved one of his lovers and then matters like insulting American fighting men in Iraq and taking bribes from Countrywide in the midst of the mortgage scandal to help them cover-up their criminal activities. He's generally considered one of Congress' most corrupt and untrustworthy characters-- and that's saying a lot!

Like so many of the dubious characters that float in and out of McHenry's life, his close pal and confidant Wesley Clayton Golden is hardly a household name. He's a conservative activist and former Cherryville city councilman from McHenry's home town and he was arrested by the FBI yesterday as part of a massive bribery and extortion ring.

Police in Cherryville took bribes, helped transport stolen goods and extorted money in a multi-state operation that raked in at least $750,000, according to federal indictments unsealed Wednesday.

FBI agents flocked to the Cherryville Police Department and several homes in Cherryville Wednesday morning, loading up boxes of evidence and making arrests.

Six Cherryville men were arrested, four currently working in Gaston County law enforcement.

One of those charged, Wesley Clayton Golden, 39, is a former captain in the Gaston County Sheriff’s Office who left the force earlier this year but continued to serve as a reserve officer. Golden also once served on Cherryville City Council and served on U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry’s 2010 Gaston campaign steering committee, which reads like a who’s who of the county’s most powerful Republicans. ...Beginning in August, Dellinger, Golden and Hoyle conspired with undercover law enforcement agents to provide "protection" for tractor trailers transporting through Gaston County what all three believed to be stolen merchandise, according to the indictments filed Aug. 21 but only unsealed on Wednesday. ... On multiple occasions, "Dellinger, Golden, Crawford and Mauney used their credentials and legal authority to assist with the transfer of stolen goods and/or cash proceeds from the sale of stolen goods, in exchange for monetary bribes," according to the release. Hendricks's role in the scheme was to assist Crawford and Mauney by acting as a lookout. Hoyle represented himself as a law enforcement officer, according to the release.

In several instances Dellinger, Golden and Hoyle provided armed escorts for undercover agents when they took cash to a safety deposit box at a Charlotte bank, indictments say.

In February Golden started a local branch of Prodigy Payment Systems [aka- Encore Payment Systems, a shady operation], a credit card processing firm, with offices at 1422 Burtonwood Drive in Gastonia. He was active in local politics and also was a licensed firearms trainer, according to his Facebook page.

Blue America is backing progressive Democrat and state Rep. Patsy Keever in the congressional contest. Her campaign put out this statement yesterday:

You may not remember, but Congressman Patrick McHenry was one of only twenty House Republicans to vote against reinstating House ethics rules after they suspended them to protect Majority Leader Tom DeLay. He not only knowingly protected a felon in Congress, but he voted against reinstating rules that punished those who broke the law in Washington.

He voted against key legislation on ethics issues too like the DISCLOSE Act, which helps eliminate corporate and anonymous money in our politics, and he opposed a stronger STOCK Act, which makes it illegal for member of Congress to commit insider trading. He opposed them both!

That is a pattern, folks. Plain and simple-- and we have a chance to do something about it.

If you'd like to contribute to Patsy's campaign, you can do it here.

Blue America Welcomes Back Patsy Keever (D-NC)

The last time Patsy joined us for a chat she was going up against a conservative Democrat Steve Israel had recruited in the North Carolina primary. Patsy won-- and by a lot (Israel's candidate wound up with 26% of the vote)-- not just in her own Buncombe County but in every one of the district's seven counties.

Since then she's been running a grassroots campaign for a seat held by one of the banksters' favorite patsies, Wall Street shill Patrick McHenry who represents part of the district in the current Congress. The video above is a TV ad-- except it's not on TV. Patsy Keever has been one of the most consistently independent and progressive voices in the North Carolina legislature but that hasn't endeared her to the big money special interests she's been taking on on behalf on ordinary North Carolina working families. Meanwhile, as of June 30, McHenry had taken in over a million dollars-- only 2% of it from small grassroots contributions. He sits on the House Financial Services Committee and immense sums of money have flowed into his campaign from special interests with business before his committee. Wells Fargo, sleazy payday lenders Advance America Cash Advance Centers, American Bankers Association, Goldman Sachs, Koch Industries, and Moneytree, Inc. are among his biggest donors. They've been financing his scurrilous political career and counted on him to stab his own neighbors in the backs on their account. He adamantly opposes all regulations to keep banksters from ripping off consumers. And up against his million-plus haul, Patsy's grassroots campaign has raised $482,279. She doesn't have the money she needs to put that ad up on TV and she's going to be pushing it online. Blue America wants her to get it up on television in the 10th district.

Although cable TV is a lot less expensive and we can probably help her get the ad on Anderson Cooper's show in Gastonia, Rachel Maddow's in Asheville and Real Housewives of Atlanta in Hickory, because of the hard fought presidential campaign in North Carolina, broadcast TV rates have gone sky high. In Patsy's part of North Carolina it costs $322 per point. You have to buy 100 points at a time, and 100 points will guarantee that your ad will be seen once by your target audience in the space of a week. So we can say we want to target high-information voters... then 100 points will get us one ad seen by high information voters (during the news) in the space of a week. Would you like to help us try?

This afternoon (2pm, EST, 11am on the West Coast), Patsy will be joining us for a live chat at Crooks and Liars. There are no races in the country where the difference between the two candidates is clearer and more stark. his week Patsy told us that "Patrick McHenry wants to end Medicare and replace it with a voucher system that would cost seniors at minimum an additional $6,000 a year for their health care. I want to keep America’s promise to its seniors and protect the current Medicare benefits that they have earned by paying into the program throughout their lives. I would never support any effort to voucherize Medicare." And that's hardly the only difference between the two candidates. "Patrick McHenry voted to allow taxpayer money to be spent on companies that have outsourced our jobs to China, India and Mexico," she reminded us. "I will vote to support companies that keep our jobs right here in America... I think the flood of money pouring into campaigns from special interests is turning voters off and threatening our democracy. During this election cycle alone, PACs have contributed more than $500,000 to Patrick McHenry’s campaign, with Koch Industries’, Goldman Sachs’ and Morgan Stanley’s PACs contributing $10,000 each. To date, I have received an average donation of $138 from more than 2,700 people, showing I have strong grassroots support from voters who live in the 10th Congressional District."

Here's the page where you can watch the ad and contribute to Patsy's campaign at the same time. Do you have any friends you could send the link to? If they ask you why they should care about a district way out in North Carolina, remind them that, as Patsy told us, "McHenry voted to cut student loan assistance to middle and working class families. As a former public school teacher, I know that every child deserves the opportunity for a quality education–from early childhood through technical school or college. When elected, I will do everything in my power to see that they get it."

Very stark difference

Want To Help Patsy Keever Get An Ad Up On TV?

[Last Chance Announcement: Monday morning we'll pick the winner of the B-52's COSMIC THING platinum award. If you're still interested-- get the horse in gear now. All the info is right here.]

That video above is a TV ad-- except it's not on TV. Rep. Patsy Keever, one of the most consistently independent and progressive voices in the North Carolina legislature, is running for Congress in the newly redrawn 10th district. Her opponent is Wall Street shill Patrick McHenry and as of June 30, he had taken in $950,120. Of that money, 54% was from PACs, 44% was from large donors and only 2% came from small grassroots contributions. He sits on the House Financial Services Committee, so it may offend you, but shouldn't surprise you to know that he gets most of his money from special interests with business before his committee:

His half dozen single biggest contributors were Wells Fargo, sleazy payday lenders Advance America Cash Advance Centers, American Bankers Association, Goldman Sachs, Koch Industries, and Moneytree, Inc. These are all interests who count on McHenry to screw over his own constituents on behalf of predator banksters. They have financed his career and he has stabbed his own neighbors in the backs on their account. Up against his million dollars-plus, Patsy's grassroots campaign has raised $482,279.15. She doesn't have the money she needs to put that ad up on TV and she's going to be pushing it online. Blue America wants her to get it up on television in the 10th district.

Although cable TV is a lot less expensive and we can probably help her get the ad on Anderson Cooper's show in Gastonia, Rachel Maddow's in Asheville and Real Housewives of Atlanta in Hickory, broadcast TV in Patsy's part of North Carolina costs $322 per point. You have to buy 100 points at a time, and 100 points will guarantee that your ad will be seen once by your target audience in the space of a week. So we can say we want to target high-information voters... then 100 points will get us one ad seen by high information voters (during the news) in the space of a week. Would you like to help us try?

Tuesday afternoon (2pm, EST), Patsy, who we haven't talked with since she beat her ConservaDem opponent in the primary, will be joining us for a live chat at Crooks and Liars. She's been focused like a laser on making sure folks in western North Carolina know just who Patrick McHenry is and that "he voted to allow taxpayer money to be spent on companies that have outsourced our jobs to China, India and Mexico. I will vote," she told voters, "to support companies that keep our jobs right here in America."

Here's the page where you can watch the ad and contribute to Patsy's campaign at the same time. Do you have any friends you could send the link to?

Eric Clapton, B.B. King And... Patsy Keever

When I was a teenager I worked at the Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village for a stint. It's where I first met many artists I later became involved with, from Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, the Grateful Dead to the Jefferson Airplane and The Animals. In 1967 I saw Eric Clapton, then 22 and a member of Cream, perform with American blues great, B.B. King. More than 30 years later I was the president of Reprise Records when Eric, one of our biggest-selling and most respected artists, told me he had gone into the studio with B.B., who he idolizes, and they had recorded several songs. This turned into a collaborative album, Riding With The King, which hit #1 on the Billboard blues chart, #3 on the Billboard album chart, sold over 2 million copies and won a Grammy Award. The RIAA certified the album "double platinum" in 2000 and the custom award plaque is one of the most aesthetically beautiful RIAA awards ever made. Only a small handful were given out and, of course, it was never sold or made available to the public. Eric and B. B. gave me one. I want to use it to help raise some money for one of the most deserving progressives running anywhere in America, Rep. Patsy Keever, an intrepid Democrat taking on Wall Street shill Patrick McHenry-- much the same way we used the Green Day signed guitar to raise $37,000 for Alan Grayson's campaign a few weeks ago.

Another fighter for working families from North Carolina, Congressman Brad Miller, is supporting Patsy's run. He told us that "The contrast between Patsy and Patrick McHenry couldn't be greater. Patsy is a respected community leader, not a self-promoting political operative. Patsy has strong progressive instincts grounded in her understanding of what people's lives are really like." Patsy's record as a representative of the North Carolina legislature showed she is a staunch believer in helping working families, standing up for civil rights and including everyone who wants to pitch in and work hard in the American dream.

I never talked with either Eric or B. B. about politics and don't know where they stand on the issues... but they did cover Charlie "Hoss" Singleton's classic "Help the Poor" [below] on Riding With The King-- and they're both very decent, generous human beings so... I'll just jump to the logical conclusion. To get a chance to wind up with this plaque on your wall, just contribute to Patsy's campaign-- any amount-- at this ActBlue page. We'll randomly select one person to thank by sending him or her the plaque.

McHenry is widely considered one of the worst Members of Congress and his record shows him to be a total shill for Wall Street's corrupt banksters. On issue after issue after issue, Patsy Keever is showing the voters how they differ. "Patrick McHenry," she told North Carolina voters last week, "wants to end Medicare and replace it with a voucher system that would cost seniors at minimum an additional six thousand dollars a year for their health care. I want to keep our promise to our seniors and protect the current Medicare benefits that they have earned by paying into the program throughout their lifetimes." Clear and simple, so there can be no confusion in voters' minds who's with them and... who's not. Please consider standing with Patsy today and contributing whatever you can spare. And if you wind up with an Eric Clapton/B. B. King collectible, all the better. You can contribute by clicking on this link or by sending a check to Blue America at P.O. Box 27201, Los Angeles, CA 90027. And if you want a chance to win the award plaque but don't have even a dollar to spare, just send us a note to that P.O. Box and we'll include you're name as well.

Republicans Are Way Out On A Limb When It Comes To Ryan's Plan To Kill Medicare

Father Stephen Umhoefer, 72, was the pastor for Paul Ryan when he was growing up. The idea of Ryan becoming vice president has him "worried" because Ryan‘s austerity budget and proposed steep cuts in social programs are inconsistent with the Catholic teachings that Ryan cites to justify the policies. "He shouldn't wrap himself in Catholic teaching because he is not using that [teaching] in what I would say is a balanced way," said Umhoefer.

For Umhoefer, the test of the budget is a simple one: "The first question is how does this affect the poor. And everything else follows from that. That doesn't mean it's a Republican or Democrat [question]-- you could argue that. But the primary question is how does this affect the poor?"

Umhoefer said that Ryan's lack of attention to the poor and the emphasis on individualism espoused by role models such as Ayn Rand concerned him. "Paul would say that the only way to save the country from a coming [fiscal] disaster is 'follow my plan.'" But according to Umhoefer, the problem is "you can't tell somebody that in ten years your economic situation is going to be just wonderful because meanwhile your kids may starve to death."

Umhoefer said that in Janesville, which lost some 5,000 jobs related to the auto industry after a GM plant closed in 2009, residents continue to seek emergency food and housing support and social service organizations have been running out of funds. A house across the street from the church sits with a red "condemned" sticker prominently on the door, and another house on the block has a sign that declares, "Price Reduced."

"The welfare check runs out and people are suffering now in ways that they haven't before," he said, noting that the church has hired two former auto workers with wages and benefits far below their former level.

Umhoefer said that wealthy church members have offered support for shared sacrifice and revenue raising proposals such as the Warren Buffet rule that asks millionaires to avoid loopholes and pay a tax rate of 30 percent. "I can't always invite my neighbor over to dinner, but I... need to pay a certain amount of taxes. And I need to vote to make sure taxes are used to help make sure that my neighbor isn’t starving," he said.

The video up top is the first DCCC television independent expenditure and, in his attempt to elect reactionary Blue Dog Gary McDowell (MI-01), Steve Israel seeks, appropriately enough, to tie Republican freshman Dan Benishek to Paul Ryan's plan to kill Medicare. Kill Medicare? Is that really what Ryan, Benishek and the rest of the GOP want to do? Oh, absolutely. Yesterday, Paul Krugman did what he calls a utility post as "a summary of what’s actually in the Ryan plan."

In the first decade, the big things are (i) conversion of Medicaid into a block grant program, with much lower funding than projected under current law and (ii) sharp cuts in top tax rates and corporate taxes.

...After the first decade, Medicare is gradually transformed into a voucher scheme, with the value of the vouchers lagging well behind projected health care costs. Even so, however, much of the supposed deficit reduction comes not from Medicare but from further cuts in discretionary spending relative to GDP, with the number eventually falling to 3.5 percent of GDP (see Table 2 in the CBO report). There is, once again, no specification of how this is to be accomplished; bear in mind that this number includes defense, which is currently around 4 percent of GDP.

Ryan basically proposes three big things: slashing Medicaid, cutting taxes on corporations and high-income people, and replacing Medicare with a drastically less well funded voucher system. These concrete proposals would, taken together, actually increase the deficit for the first decade and beyond.

Krugman claims the Ryan plan is so vague and so filled with untenable assumptions that it "isn’t even a plan, it’s just a set of assertions." For a someone who idiots inside the Beltway have been trying to sell for several years as "serious" and a "wonk," Ryan, it turns out, really is just a well-scrubbed gym bunny who can usually regurgitate Wall Street and Insurance Industry talking points fairly well-- even though the talking points don't add up. And now that he's playing in the Big Times, and coming under real scrutiny for those assertions, he's looking more and more like a goof ball and another major Romney embarrassment. Josh Barro's report for Bloomberg yesterday detailed the confusion for the Romney campaign which is hammering Obama for cutting $716 billion out of Medicare even while Ryan's budget, approved by the Republican-controlled House, includes those same cuts. "Conservatives," Barro writes, "are protesting that Ryan's plan to cut Medicare is different from the president's. They're right-- Ryan would actually cut $205 billion more out of Medicare over the next ten years than Obama would... What Romney and Ryan are up to is simple: They want to have it both ways on Medicare. They are for Medicare cuts, because Medicare is expensive and the federal budget needs to be controlled. And they are against Medicare cuts, because Medicare cuts are unpopular. The political impulses behind this strategy are clear. Why any policy experts would try to offer a substantive defense of it is not."

Steve Benen helped clarify what the argument is all about-- inasmuch as anyone could given the confusion at the base of it. "Consider," he suggests, "this remarkable series of events:"

1. President Obama extends new benefits to seniors on Medicare and finds savings in the system to strengthen Medicare's finances.

2. Paul Ryan approves of Obama's Medicare savings and incorporates them into his own budget plan.

3. Mitt Romney endorses Ryan's plan, which includes Obama's Medicare savings.

4. Romney changes his mind, and tries to argue he's for and against the Medicare savings at the same time (for them in Ryan's plan, against then in Obama's law).

And finally 5. Ryan denounces the Medicare savings he supports.

So to review, the Romney/Ryan ticket is for and against Obama's Medicare savings, for and against including Obama's Medicare savings in the Republican budget, for and against extending benefits for seniors, and for and against strengthening Medicare's finance-- all at the same time.

Democratic challengers to Republicans who voted for Ryan's plan to kill Medicare and Medicaid have to figure out how to clarify the issue to local voters. And if they're not anti-Choice and antigay Blue Dogs, it's not very likely Steve Israel will allow the DCCC to help them. They're on their own. In NC-10, for example, state Rep. Patsy Keever gets no help from the DCCC in her battle against Ryan lackey Patrick McHenry, despite the fact that McHenry's support for Ryan's budget who have been absolutely devastating for the residents of the area, raising costs for seniors and individuals with disabilities enrolled in Medicare, reducing their benefits, and putting predatory private insurance companies in charge of the program. For current beneficiaries, important benefits-- such as closing the hole in Medicare’s drug coverage-- would be immediately eliminated. For individuals age 54 and under, Medicare’s guarantee of comprehensive coverage would be replaced with a “voucher,” what Ryan, Romney and McHenry call "premium support,” to buy private health insurance. By design, this federal contribution does not keep pace with medical costs, shifting thousands of dollars in costs onto the individual. Under the old boundaries of NC-10, the budget would have increased prescription drug costs for 8,800 Medicare beneficiaries in the district who enter the Part D donut hole, forcing them to pay an extra $87 million for drugs over the next decade. It also would have eliminated new preventive care benefits for 120,000 Medicare beneficiaries in the district. According to a study for the House Energy and Commerce Committee the Ryan-McHenry plan "would have even greater impacts on individuals in the district age 54 and younger who are not currently enrolled in Medicare." It would:

• Deny 510,000 individuals age 54 and younger in the district access to Medicare’s guaranteed benefits.

• Increase the out-of-pocket costs of health coverage by over $6,000 per year in 2022 and by almost $12,000 per year in 2032 for the 115,000 individuals in the district who are between the ages of 44 and 54.

• Require the 115,000 individuals in the district between the ages of 44 and 54 to save an additional $26.9 billion for their retirement – an average of $182,000 to $287,000 per individual-- to pay for the increased cost of health coverage over their lifetimes. Younger residents of the district will have to save even higher amounts to cover their additional medical costs.

• Raise the Medicare eligibility age by at least one year to age 66 or more for 64,000 individuals in the district who are age 44 to 49 and by two years to age 67 for 393,000 individuals in the district who are age 43 or younger.

With no help from the venal, Blue Dog-loving Israel, how is a progressive like Patsy Keever going to get the money she needs to get the message out in the sprawling North Carolina district. That's where we come in.

And this morning Patsy weighed in-- and very specifically:

By choosing Ryan as his running mate, Governor Romney sent a loud and clear message to all Americans: he’s betting on the far right. We now have a crystal-clear picture of the plan Romney has for America, because it’s the same plan that Congressional Republicans like Patrick McHenry have been trying to push on us for years. Congressman Ryan has been its chief architect, Patrick McHenry has been his faithful servant, and now Mitt Romney has hopped aboard.

The Romney-Ryan-McHenry plan would end Medicare as we know it by turning it into a voucher system and leaving seniors to fend for themselves in the private market. A nonpartisan expert found that the Ryan/McHenry proposal would cost seniors up to $6,350 every year in additional health care costs. I don’t know where Romney, Ryan and McHenry come from, but most seniors I know can’t afford to pay over $6,000 more a year for health care.

With that-- I’d like to announce my second policy difference in the series of differences that my campaign will be laying out to illustrate the choice voters have to make this fall:

Patrick McHenry wants to end Medicare and replace it with a voucher system that would cost seniors at minimum an additional six thousand dollars a year for their health care. I want to keep our promise to our seniors and protect the current Medicare benefits that they have earned by paying into the program throughout their lifetimes.

We need congressmembers like Patsy Keever to replace corporate shills like McHenry but we're not going to wake up on the first Wednesday in November and find the good fairy waved a magic wand. It's going to take a lot of work between now and then-- and Patsy and her team are willing to do it. And they need help.

Patsy Keever And Sue Thorn Show Democrats How To Kick Some Butt On The Ryan Budget

Meh and meh

Yesterday we talk about how the disdain with which Floridians hold the Ryan plan to kill Medicare and privatize Social Security is likely to help Democrats reelect Bill Nelson to the Senate and defeat a few House Republicans in that state, particularly John Mica, Allen West, David Rivera (unless the widespread rumors are true that the Fanjul brothers have tasked their puppet, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, with saving his seat), Bill Young and Vern Buchanan-- as well as a few hapless boobs, like Adam Hasner and Todd Long, who have gratuitously embraced killing off Medicare. OK, well Florida's a good state that needs some shaking up-- but it turns out Republicans all across the country are worried that Ryan's selection is screwing up GOP incumbents' chances for reelection... from sea to shining sea.

Republicans strategists are worried that Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) addition to the presidential ticket will cost their party House and Senate seats this fall.

Their concern: Democrats will successfully demonize Ryan’s budget plan, which contains controversial spending cuts and changes to Medicare.

“There are a lot races that are close to the line we're not going to win now because they're going to battle out who's going to kill grandma first, ObamaCare or Paul Ryan's budget,” said one Republican strategist who works on congressional races. “It could put the Senate out of reach. In the House it puts a bunch of races in play that would have otherwise been safe. ... It remains to be seen how much damage this causes, but my first blush is this is not good.”

Many Republicans in tough races this year, especially in the House, voted for Ryan’s proposal, which makes it hard for them to distance themselves from it... Former Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.), who chaired the NRCC from 2003-2006, warned that he foresaw in this election shades of President George W. Bush’s fight to create a voucher program for Social Security early in his second term, which many say cost the GOP seats in 2006.
 
“You saw what happened to Bush with Social Security in the 2006 election,” he said. “This is deja vu.” ... He also commended Republican House candidates like Maggie Brooks and Chris Collins-- both Republicans running in New York-- for “accepting no responsibility” for Ryan’s plan.

...[O]ne Republican strategist who’d seen the NRCC’s memo worried that the plan offered little new advice, and having Ryan at the top of the ticket lent additional credibility to Democrats on the issue.

“It becomes more difficult. The Republican argument and Democrat argument on Medicare now aren't on equal footing anymore-- Ryan being on the top of the ticket gives Democrats more credibility,” the strategist said. “There's going to be more resonance when the Democrats attack our guys. It's going to be a part of the national discussion, there's going to be more credibility on this now, and we're not going to be able to wave them off as nonsense."

Kate Nocera at Politico reinforced the notion that many Republicans are freaking out about Ryan. After all, it wasn't just Connie Mack-- who voted for his flimflam budget one year and then ducked out on the vote the next time around-- who admits the budget is "a joke." Nocera points out that relatively "normal" conservatives like incumbent Robert Dold (R-IL) and challenger Richard Tisei (R-MA), "are trying to create some distance from the Ryan worldview. Other congressional Republicans in tight races, like New York’s Ann Marie Buerkle and Florida’s Allen West [both deranged, over-the-top teabaggers] are launching into vigorous defenses of their votes for the Ryan budget" to kill Medicare.

The reality is that Ryan is now every Republicans’ running mate whether they like it or not, forcing GOP candidates who would just as soon run from the debate over senior citizen entitlements to embrace the third rail of American politics like never before.

One GOP insider lamented that party leaders “have spent the last year” trying to take Medicare off the political front burner, but the Ryan pick “puts it all back out there now.” ... Republican unease with the Ryan plan was on full display earlier this summer, when the National Republican Senatorial Committee put money behind an ad that touted Rehberg’s opposition to the polarizing budget plan.

“And Rehberg refused to support a Republican budget plan that could harm the Medicare programs so many of Montana’s seniors rely on,” the 30-second commercial promoting Rehberg’s Senate candidacy blared.

One of the most likely wins for a real Democrat in a congressional district captured in a battle between a slimy Blue Dog and a slimy teabagger is Sue Thorn's campaign against David McKinley who voted against Ryan's budget once and then for it the next time. Sue was happy to welcome Paul Ryan into the West Virginia campaign, where Medicare and Social Security are highly prized:

"Now that Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) is in the limelight as the Republican vice presidential candidate, Rep. McKinley is seeking to distance himself from the extreme policies Ryan has proposed. Don't be fooled. The Ryan budget ends Medicare and raises health care costs for seniors, while giving tax breaks to millionaires, Big Oil, and companies shipping jobs overseas. McKinley voted to pass the Ryan budget and send the middle class into poverty (after he voted against it.)"

Sue is a Blue America candidate, as is Patsy Keever, who is opposing close Ryan crony Patrick McHenry, another right-wing extremist. Sue and Patsy are both incorruptible populists, making them ineligible for help from Steve Israel's DCCC which is primarily interested in finding transactional crooks like Israel himself. Please consider contributing to Sue and Patsy directly through Act Blue-- no sticky DCCC fingers walking away with over half the money. Sue and Patsy are both on this page and both are on the same page in regard to Ryan's likely impact on their own race. Sue agrees with Patsy's assertion that she "believes the Social Security retirement age should stand at 65 and Patrick McHenry voted to increase it to 70. If you want the retirement age raised to 70, then vote for Patrick McHenry. If you want it at 65, then vote for Patsy Keever." This afternoon, Patsy called a press conference to explain to NC-10 media how Paul Ryan is going to help North Carolina voters focus on McHenry's voting record:

Mitt Romney’s choice of Paul Ryan is bad for North Carolina and bad for America.

On March 29, 2012, Paul Ryan, aided and abetted by my opponent, Patrick McHenry, passed a budget in the U.S. House of Representatives that betrayed every man, woman and child in North Carolina.

The Ryan/McHenry budget would have destroyed Medicare, cut agriculture by $60 billion, cut taxes for the super rich and increased the budget deficit by 3 trillion dollars.

That would have hurt every man, woman, child and business in North Carolina.

By choosing Ryan as his running mate, Mitt Romney has embraced the most extreme posture of the most extreme parts of the Tea Party Republicans.

Bizarrely, Patrick McHenry even found a way to be more extreme than Ryan and his fellow Tea Party Republicans. On the same day he voted for the Ryan budget, McHenry voted for a budget that would have, among other things, raised the Social Security retirement age to 70. More than 100 of his fellow Republicans, including Paul Ryan, did not vote for this budget… but Patrick McHenry did.

The conventional wisdom about my campaign is that this district is so Republican that I will struggle to be competitive. That changed when Mitt Romney picked Paul Ryan as his running mate.

Paul Ryan is too extreme to be elected in North Carolina… and Patrick McHenry is more extreme than Paul Ryan. Democrats, Independents and mainstream Republicans in North Carolina’s 10th District all share one thing in common… they are not extremists.

Beginning today, my campaign will focus on the hijacking of the Republican Party by extremists including Paul Ryan and Patrick McHenry. Mitt Romney may be willing to embrace an extremist to win an election but I don’t think Democrats, Independents and mainstream Republicans of North Carolina will.

I am going to present policy alternatives to the extremism of Ryan and McHenry. I am going to make the argument that these are serious times, and we need serious people to address serious problems. Neither Paul Ryan nor Patrick McHenry can be taken seriously because of the extreme positions they have adopted.

I love these mountains and the piedmonts that sweep down from them into rich valleys and farmland. I love the people who inhabit the cities, towns, villages and neighborhoods across the 10th District. It has been my pleasure to be of service to them as a teacher, a member of the Buncombe County Commission and a member of the state legislature. I owe the people a debt. A debt of gratitude. A debt of honesty. A debt of fearlessness.

I stand now against the extremism that has hijacked a once great political party in the form of extremists like Paul Ryan and Patrick McHenry. I stand for the seniors, the working people, the teachers, the small business owners, the farmers and their children and grandchildren. I stand for the Democrats, the Independents, and, yes, I stand for the Republicans who look at these extreme policies and say, “These are not my values.”

Patrick McHenry can run but he can’t hide. I will expose his extremism. I will expose his betrayal of our values. I will not rest until the truth is known.

In my heart of hearts I hope that those who hear and read these words will decide to stand with me. I hope that reporters and editors who read my words, on this and in coming days, will make a decision to hold Patrick McHenry accountable. To make a decision to stand silently in this dire moment for our republic is to give in to the darkness and despair that has given rise to these extreme policies.

I see a better day for America. I see a bright sunrise that ends this season of darkness. I believe the policies of the Democratic Party, as championed by Barack Obama and Joe Biden, will hasten us toward this sunrise and that the policies of Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and Patrick McHenry will deepen the gloom at the expense of the people whom I have served as a teacher and elected official and whom I seek to serve in Congress.

Perhaps I will win this election. Perhaps I will not. The record will show, however, that Patsy Keever stood square shouldered against the madness in 2012 and said, “Enough is enough.”

So let us begin.

Patsy Keever versus Patrick McHenry Policy Difference #1: Patsy Keever believes the Social Security retirement age should stand at 65 and Patrick McHenry voted to increase it to 70. If you want the retirement age raised to 70, then vote for Patrick McHenry. If you want it at 65, then vote for Patsy Keever.

Larry Kissell... Very Sad

If you just discovered DWT or Blue America in the last 2 or 3 years this may sound incongruous, but there was a time we used to cooperate, to one extent or another, with the DCCC. After all, they were trying to elect Democrats, occasionally even progressive ones, and they were the guys with the big bank account holding back the Republican barbarian hordes. Or so we told ourselves.

In 2008 Blue America took a big interest in the Robin Hayes/Larry Kissell rematch. Two years earlier the progressive school teacher Kissell-- with no help from the DCCC-- had nearly bested the multimillionaire incumbent Hayes. The 50/50 vote was Hayes- 60,926; Kissell- 60,597-- a 329 vote difference. Blue America got behind Kissell in a much bigger way than how we supported most candidates. Aside from raising money for his campaign, we gave him tactical advise and, in late October we did the single biggest independent expenditure in our history. Kissell, running on an entirely progressive/populist platform won a smashing victory, clobbering Hayes 157,185 (55%)- 126,634 (45%)... 3 points better than Obama's 53% win over McCain in the district.

But almost as soon as Kissell got to Congress, he started to change. The outspoken progressive champion wasn't quite so outspoken at first. And then he wasn't progressive either. The DCCC got to him and told him that if he hoped to hold the seat, he would have to vote like a conservative. He's a weak, insecure, vane and vacillating man-- and he flipped. He started voting regularly with the Blue Dogs and, shockingly, after the Great Blue Dog Apocalypse of 2010, he actually joined the shriveled, shrunken caucus. Now he has no support among the progressives who elected him in the first place and the Republican-controlled legislature has redistricted him in such a way that he can't possibly win. Recall a minute ago when I mentioned Obama scored 53% in NC-8? Under the new lines, he would have scored 42%. Kissell is toast and he has virtually no chance to beat a corrupt Republican establishment hack named Richard Hudson, who won the GOP primary a couple weeks ago with a gigantic cash infusion of Chinese prostitution money (via Sheldon Adelson and Eric Cantor). A real Democrat would be able to make that work for him. But not Kissell. He has no credibility with anyone. Yesterday Think Progress reported that he's now trying to take credit for the benefits his constituents are starting to get from the Affordable Care Act, even though he was one of the Blue Dogs who voted against it-- and then joined with the GOP to repeal it!

Rep. Larry Kissell (D-NC) voted against the Affordable Care Act in 2010 and was one of five Democrats to support repeal of the law earlier this year. But opposition to health care reform hasn’t stopped this two-term Congressman from taking credit for it.

In June, Kissell bragged about helping secure $379,167 in federal money provided by the Act “for a new health care clinic near China Grove in Rowan County.” “I’m glad to have worked to help secure this funding and will continue to make sure that our tax dollars are being spent here at home to put people to work and take care of our citizens,” Kissell said in a release and then dodged reporters who pressed him on the hypocrisy...

Kissell has also “refused to endorse Obama’s re-election bid” and joined Republicans in voting to hold U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress.

But guess who loves Larry Kissell? "Ex"-Blue Dog Steve Israel, chairman of the DCCC, won't help endangered progressives who are struggling for reelection-- let alone progressive challengers going up against GOP monstrosities like Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan and Buck McKeon-- but he sure put Kissell right up on the DCCC Frontline candidates list, making him eligible for millions of dollars in ad money the DCCC will waste on trying to reelect him. Kissell doesn't deserve reelection-- and he certainly doesn't deserve any help from real Democrats. If you contribute to the DCCC, some of that money will find its way into Larry Kissell's campaign. If you want to see a more progressive, pro-family, pro-worker, pro-environment Democrat in Congress from North Carolina, think about Patsy Keever. She's running against corporate whore and deceitful closet case Patrick McHenry in a district that is somewhat bluer than it's ever been-- bluer because the state legislature was trying to make Kissell's district redder. It would be a GREAT trade-off. Needless to say, Steve Israel and the DCCC isn't lifting a finger for Patsy. Once she beat Israel's handpicked recruit, an anti-Choice, antigay conservaDem, the DCCC decided the district was no longer viable. That's how they roll. If you can, please consider making a contribution to Patsy's campaign in NC-10. She has a sterling voting record as an activist and as a state Rep.

"Independent-Minded Democrats" Today Is What "More And Better Democrats" Was In 2008

Being embraced by the DCCC doesn't automatically disqualify a candidate from being endorsed by Blue America-- Ann Kuster and Joe Miklosi are on their Red-to-Blue list-- and both are also Blue America endorsees. Being on that list could mean, potentially, the kind of financial support candidates need to be able to battle heavily financed Republicans. But when the DCCC gets behind someone early, it usually means that person is conservative politically and, at minimum, suspect ethically. Ann Kuster and Joe Miklosi are neither. We know that; we check. But most of the people on the list are the worst kind of trash-disguised-as-Democrats, from lifelong Republican and Mitt Romney donor Patrick Murphy to a bevy of typically reactionary, bigoted Blue Dogs (Nick Lampson, Hayden Rogers, Pam Gulleson, Gary McDowell, David Crooks, Charlie Wilson, Brendan Mullen) and shills for Big Business like New Dems Shelley Adler, Ron Barber, Val Demings, Bill Foster, Denny Heck, Dan Maffei, Patrick Murphy, Scott Peters, Brad Schneider, Julian Schreibman, and Jamie Wall. These are some of the examples of the just-as-bad-as-Republican garbage "ex"-Blue Dog Steve Israel is dead set on larding up the House Democratic caucus with again (not having learned in the 2010 Great Blue Dog Apocalypse that normal Democratic voters don't want to vote for anti-family conservatives even if they are wearing blue shirts.

Let me just pick one out at random-- eeny, meeny, miny, moe... Hayden Rogers, a virulent anti-gay, anti-Choice corrupt corporate hack recruited personally by Steve Israel for NC-11. Though he has absolutely zero chance of winning, he's on the DCCC Red-to-Blue list and God-only-knows how much money will be wasted on him... money that would be much better spent next door in NC-10. On the same day conservative DC insider Hayden squeaked through to a primary win, progressive state Rep. Patsy Keever rolled up an impressive victory against another conservative hand-picked by Israel. So, of course Rogers gets the Red-to-Blue nod and Patsy's left out in the cold by the DCCC. And that's despite a gerrymander by the Republican-controlled state legislature that made NC-11 impossible for a Democrat to win, mostly by dumping Democratic Asheville into... NC-10-- and making it slightly more possible that the right Democrat-- say Rep. Patsy Keever-- could beat nasty and unpopular little Republican Koch-head Patrick McHenry. Under the new boundaries Obama performs 6% better in Patsy's district-- and 7% worse in Rogers'.

Neither Rogers nor Patsy toes the party line. If Rogers is elected he will distance himself from Democratic principles and values, will be an icon for anti-FDR strains and won't even commit to voting for President Obama, let alone Nancy Pelosi. And late last week Patsy Keever, when expressing a very different kind of independence, got tarred with that same kind of Hayden Rogers brush. Unlike slimy North Carolina Blue Dogs Mike McIntyre, Larry Kissell and Hayden, Patsy is eager to attend the Democratic National Convention and is certainly voting for President Obama with the same degree of enthusiasm most progressives feel. Her exact quote, in fact, was: “I am a Democrat, and I will vote for President Obama, but I’m not willing to hand him, or any president, my vote in Congress. I will stand with the people of my district and cast votes that are best for them.” That's the kind of attitude Blue America is hoping all of our candidates feel with their hearts and souls. The same reporter semi-corrected his misinterpretation of what she said the following day, although he claimed she did it because she was "under pressure from supporters" and would now endorse Obama. Fortunately the readers of the Asheville Citizen-Times are cooler than the reporters. The Letters to the Editor section showed a lot more ability to understand what's going on than the articles.

Regarding “Keever won’t endorse Obama” AC-T July 11: Oh, my. What a misleading headline I read on the front page on Wednesday: “Patsy Keever won’t endorse Obama.” Have you seen the signs in her campaign headquarters, or the bumper stickers on her car? Of course, she supports the president and his bid for re-election. Patsy is a loyal Democrat with an independent mind and an informed conscience. She currently serves the people of her district in the N.C. House, not the bidding of our Democratic governor, so why would she promise to hand any president her vote in Congress? She puts people first, and will serve everyone in District 10, including those who do not vote for her. Patsy is a patsy to no one; she is a public servant who listens to the people. How fortunate we are to have this woman of amazing character running for Congress.

Sarah York, Fairview

* * *
I was amused to read in today’s paper, July 12, that our Democratic candidate for congress, Patsy Keever is now going to endorse our president, Mr. Obama, for re-election. In yesterday’s paper, July 11th, she was not going to endorse him. What a sudden change of heart. This is typical of most of our elected officials-- what is best for them and not our country.

Charles D. Owen Jr., Asheville

* * *

I am a Patsy Keever supporter and volunteer and the story on her stand in relation to President Obama took me by surprise. I had to study on it awhile until I realized that the headline regarding “endorsement” of the president did not reflect what she actually said in the body of the story.

She is running in a largely conservative district against a strict GOP party-line incumbent. Her pitch all along has been that she will represent all of the people in the new 10th district, from Asheville to Gastonia.

Her comments Wednesday are a clear message assuring voters that she will not just vote along party-lines or blindly follow the Obama Administration’s direction, but will support legislation that she feels is in the best interest of the people in all seven counties she is representing.

Her motto is “Putting People First.’’ I truly believe she will do just that.

Sharon Schuster, Arden

I reached Patsy last night on the phone and asked her to give me the straight and narrow on this. And she did:

Plenty of fine men and women in Washington are doing their best to serve our country. But too many of their votes support the interests of big contributors and lobbyists rather than the citizens of this nation. What we need in Congress is more members working together for the good of everyone.
 
I spent my career as a public school teacher helping my students reach their academic and human potential. I also served my community for 12 years as a county commissioner, and I am now a state representative. I'm running for the US House of Representatives now because I have an abiding belief that our political system and our government can work if we are willing to find common ground on which to stand.
 
I have a great deal of respect and admiration for President Obama. I voted for him in 2008, and I will proudly vote for him again in November. That doesn't mean I agree with him on every single issue. The Affordable Care Act, for example, needs tweaking. It has some excellent components that are already making people's lives better, such as the ability for parents to carry their dependent children on their health insurance until age 26. That is a huge boon to young people starting out in jobs that don't include health insurance. Eliminating pre-existing conditions is another excellent aspect of ACA. When I get to Congress, I will work with my colleagues to strengthen the Affordable Care Act so that its benefits reach even more people who need them.
 
The bottom line is this: We need people in Congress who understand the needs of the middle class and working people throughout this great land. Our success as a nation depends on it.

Easy to understand? That's an independent-minded Democrat-- in the best sense of the term. That's why she's on the Blue America list.

Patsy Keever (D-NC) Takes On One Of The Banksters' Favorite Patsies, Patrick McHenry

Back in early May we mentioned that not all the news from North Carolina was bad, and we were proved right. Blue America endorsed Patsy Keever has been finishing up her last term in the State House by waging some serious progressive fights. It's her last term because she's taking on Patrick McHenry, North Carolina's most pernicious and reactionary Member of Congress in a new district that's far more swingy than the deep red one that's been reelecting him again and again.

Because of the legislative session, she hasn't been campaigning since the landslide primary win (58-26%) over the conservative Democrat Steve Israel recruited against her, but she's hardly been wasting her time in Raleigh. She and fellow progressive, Congressman Brad Miller, took on right-wing class war brawler Paul Ryan while he stumped for Romney in North Carolina. As Ryan was pushing his plan to cut taxes for the top 1% and strip the Medicare guarantee from seniors, Patsy was blasting his ludicrous plans to the press. She pointed out that "Ryan’s proposed budget would significantly shrink the safety net for our seniors by sharply reducing Medicare. This could increase expenses for seniors by as much as $6,400 per year.”

Patsy was also quick to point out that the Romney-Ryan budget would “grant America’s wealthiest citizens at least $265,000 each in tax cuts while raising taxes on the middle class.” People who have followed Patsy's career know she's a proud, independent-minded Democrat who talks common sense, not DC mumbo-jumbo. She's very clear that she's running to represent the people of Buncombe, Polk, Rutherford, Cleveland, Gaston, Lincoln, Catawba counties and not the corrupt DC Establishment of either Washington party. I wouldn't expect to find someone who speaks her mind and represents the middle class as forthrightly as Patsy to wind up on any preferred lists of corrupt political hacks and lobbyist-driven politicians in DC. She's eager to come right out and say that if we grant more tax cuts for the wealthiest, then Congress is going to raise taxes on the middle class. McHenry and other career politicians of both parties have been doing just that-- and Patsy want to stop it... now!

She also stood up to fracking in North Carolina. As Republicans and pro-fracking Democrats-- you know the kind-- were kowtowing to the natural gas industry, Patsy was fighting for more impact studies. To no one's surprise, the frackers won. At least Patsy and fellow environmentalists won “an improved version of the original, but still moves ahead more quickly and with less study than many of us would like.” State regulations need to be drawn up before fracking starts, and the legislature has to grant final approval before drilling starts.

Now as the NC Legislature is finishing up, she is leading the charge in the Move To Amend campaign in the NC State House by proposing a resolution urging Congress to amend the Constitution to overturn Citizen’s United. In an email to supporters Patsy wrote:

Can you believe that Karl Rove and GOP front organizations plan to spend more than $1 billion during this year’s election to advance their extreme agenda? Just last week we saw the power of unlimited corporate cash in Wisconsin’s recall election in which the Democratic candidate for governor was outspent by a whopping 10 to 1 margin.

That’s why eleven of my fellow North Carolina state legislators and I have proposed a resolution calling on Congress to ban unlimited corporate cash in elections. However, the Republican leadership in Raleigh is ignoring our resolution and refusing to even debate it.

Her campaign informed me, that in under a week her team has collected more than one thousand signatures of what they’re calling “citizen co-sponsors” in support of the resolution. You can click here to sign up as a co-sponsor or learn more about the legislation.

McHenry is a Member of the House Financial Services Committee-- remember when he was unspeakably rude to Elizabeth Warren when she testified about protecting consumers from predatory banksters? His attack dog role has been to protect the interests of the financial predators on Wall Street, not something most folks back in western North Carolina are cognizant of. But look at who has financed McHenry's despicable political career. Banks and Insurance companies are his biggest donors and his top 2 lifetime contributors are Bank of America and the American Bankers Association. He's a member of the committee charged with regulating this industries. Should he be taking bribes from them? The Bank of America PAC rewarded McHenry with $49,999 for his services to prevent them from being regulated. And the American Bankers Association gave him $50,000 to help them block rules that would keep their members from ripping off consumers.

And this year, his top three donors are Wells Fargo, sleazy pay day lenders Advance America Cash Advance Centers and his old pals at the American Bankers Association. Here are the industries paying to keep Patrick McHenry in Congress this year:


So far the Finance Sector has given McHenry $1,555,587 in legalistic bribes to keep him doing what they love him doing on the Financial Services Committee. Shouldn't that be illegal? But Congress decides what's legal and illegal and both party establishments have long ago decided that taking bribes from the industries you are charged to watch over is not illegal. It's up to the voters to police those kinds of activities. And here's how the McBanksters have been treating the McCongresscrooks. Notice that not everyone gets over a million, the way McHenry does-- and that those who do are usually in Congress for three times longer than he is. At this rate, by the time tiny little McHenry grows up to be as senior as a Buck McKeon, he'll have taken in $5,000,000 in bribes from the banksters. Of course, to them it's an investment that pays off very well.

So far this year-- as of the April 18 FEC filing-- McHenry has taken in over $800,000, most of it from PACs. Patsy has taken in just over $120,000, 84% of it from grassroots donors. Thanks to Steve Israel recruiting an anti-Choice, anti-LGBT reactionary to run against her in the primary, she was forced to spend $91,073. Now that she won, Israel is no longer interested in North Carolina's 10th congressional district or in defeating Patrick McHenry, many of whose biggest donors just happen to be big Steve Israel donors as well. Funny how bipartisan old fashioned Inside-the-Beltway corruption can be, isn't it? Patsy can win this race. Voters in western North Carolina are learning that McHenry doesn't align with them on any important issues and that he's working fro the banks against them. Patsy will never outraise him and his bankster buddies-- but she doesn't have to. She just has to raise enough to get her message out to the voters. The DCCC is never going to give her a dime-- she's too independent-minded for them. It's up to people who understand the difference between having a Patrick McHenry in Congress and having a Patsy Keever in Congress. Can you help? You can do it here on the Blue America page.

Yes, There Was Some Very Good News Out Of North Carolina Tuesday-- Patsy Keever

We had some sad news out of North Carolina on Tuesday, the approval of the homophobic Amendment One. We did, however, have one powerful victory that night too. In the Democratic primary, one district, NC-10, voted overwhelmingly for a progressive state Representative, Patsy Keever, to go up against Republican incumbent Patrick McHenry. Blue America endorsed Patsy early because of her progressive record in the state legislature, because of her effectiveness as a leader, and because Steve Israel of the DCCC had recruited and helped finance a conservative opponent, someone who opposes a woman's right to Choice and someone who claims God opposes the LGBT community. Had she won, she and Patrick McHenry could have had a real love-fest. But she lost and Patsy won. In fact, Patsy won by a landslide. Steve Israel's recruit wound up with 25% of the vote-- and lost every single county to Patsy.

But now the real work begins. Patsy won't have as easy a time in the general as she did in the primary. Democrats admire her work in the state legislature and admire her for sticking up for working families and for equality. Although the new 10th Congressional District is far bluer than the old district that used to elect and reelect McHenry, Patsy is still going to have to get her message out to independents and mainstream Republicans. (Note: Buncombe County, the heart of the district, was one of the counties that voted against Amendment One.) If you'd like to help Patsy move on and win the general election, please consider making a contribution here at our ActBlue page.

In Patsy's own words:

• I will be a voice for all children looking for a world-class education.

• I will be a voice for every man or woman looking for quality work at a fair wage.

• I will be voice for our grandchildren who deserve clean air and clean water.

• I will be a voice for our seniors who have earned a fully funded Medicare and Social Security program.

• Finally, I will be a voice for equality for all people.

Patsy is dedicated to helping her constituents no matter their political persuasion. As she said before, "As a schoolteacher you are there to teach and mentor every student, no matter what." She has always put people before politics and has a history of bringing people together to find solutions to real life problems.

On the other hand, we have Congressman Patrick McHenry, who has consistently put his political career ahead of his constituents. More than simply putting his career first, he doesn’t understand the difficulties facing North Carolina’s or America's working families. The difference is clear: Patsy Keever has been fighting for her community and state for a long time and always puts its people first. McHenry's career is an egregious example of always putting powerful interests ahead of his own constituents. He's the most unethical and dishonest member of North Carolina's congressional delegation and Patsy has an opportunity to work with voters from across the district who are sick of him and his own personal war against women.

I'm not going to talk about McHenry being a hypocritical closet case today or even about his involvement in a gay triple homicide in Orlando. Today let's just take a look at McHenry's "greatest hits" (against the American people)-- themes we'll be coming back to a lot between now and November. And this rollcalls are all just from the current session of the House!

WOMEN'S REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH

Voted to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood

Description: An amendment offered by Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) would have prohibited any funds in the bill from being made available to the Planned Parenthood or its affiliates.

Date: February 18, 2011
Link to vote: Vote #93
Bill: H.Amdt. 95 to H.R. 1

Voted against life-saving health care for women

Description: The measure, which did not pass, would have ensured that no hospital or health care provider can be exempted from any Federal or State law that requires them to provide any medical examination, treatment, referral, or transfer to prevent the death of a pregnant woman with an emergency medical condition.

Date: October 13, 2011
Link to vote: Vote #788
Bill: H.R. 358
Note: This vote was not on the underlying bill, but rather on the Democratic Motion to Recommit.

Voted against protecting the medical records of victims of rape and incest from government invasion

Description: The measure, which did not pass, would have clarified that the federal government is expressly not permitted to gain access to the private medical records of victims of rape and incest.

Date: May 4, 2011
Link to vote: Vote #291
Bill: H.R. 3
Related story: No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act Passes House
Note: This vote was not on the underlying bill, but rather on the Democratic Motion to Recommit.

EDUCATION

Voted against Pell Grant assistance

Description: The measure, which did not pass, would have increased funding for Pell Grants.
Date: February 19, 2011
Link to vote: Vote #146
Bill: H.R. 1
Note: This vote was not on the underlying bill, but rather on the Democratic Motion to Recommit.

Voted against protecting students from violent and sexual predators through background checks of prospective employees (by voting “no”)

Description: The measure, which did not pass, would have required charter schools receiving federal funding to conduct background checks to determine whether prospective employees have been convicted of sexual or violent crimes.

Date: September 13, 2011
Link to vote: Vote #704
Bill: H.R. 2218
Note: This vote was not on the underlying bill, but rather on the Democratic Motion to Recommit.

ENVIRONMENT

Voted to block oversight of mountaintop removal coal mining

Description: House Republicans overwhelmingly against an amendment that would have prevented the EPA from vetoing permit applications for mountaintop removal.
Date: February 19, 2011
Link to vote: Vote #135
Bill: H.Amdt. 157 to H.R. 1

Voted against protecting seniors and children from asthma and lung disease

Description: The measure, which did not pass, would have prohibited the underlying bill from limiting EPA’s Clean Air Act authority to protect the health of children, seniors, and those with asthma and lung diseases from the effects of air pollution emitted by large sources (those that emit 75,000 tons or more of carbon pollution annually).

Date: April 7, 2011
Link to vote: Vote #248
Bill: H.R. 910
Note: This vote was not on the underlying bill, but rather on the Democratic Motion to Recommit.

Voted to repeal safeguards that protect our drinking water from arsenic and perchlorate (by voting “no”)

Description: The measure, which did not pass, would have retained the EPA’s authority to set water pollution standards and review permits when certain pollutants, including arsenic and perchlorate, are being discharged into waters that are a source of public drinking water.

Date: July 13, 2011
Link to vote: Vote #572
Bill: H.R. 572
Note: This vote was not on the underlying bill, but rather on the Democratic Motion to Recommit

Voted to protect polluters over children and pregnant women

Description: The measure, which did not pass, would have required safer air standards for giant cement plants near schools, day care centers, and hospitals with maternity wards or neo-natal units. The measure also would have kept communities informed when nearby cement plants are exempt from cleaner air standards.

Date: October 6, 2011
Link to vote: Vote #763
Bill: H.R. 2681
Note: This vote was not on the underlying bill, but rather on the Democratic Motion to Recommit.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

Voted to undermine the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Description: The bill would replace the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s director with a five-member commission. It also would lower the vote threshold required for the Financial Stability Oversight Council to override Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rules from two-thirds to a simple majority and allow the council to override regulations that threaten the stability of individual institutions.

Date: July 21, 2011
Link to vote: Vote #621
Bill: H.R. 1315

Voted with congressional crooks to exempt themselves from insider trading laws

Description: The measure, which did not pass, would have provided a 3.1% payroll tax cut, an expansion beyond the Republican bill’s 2% cut, paid for by a surtax on millionaires. This would not have affect the Social Security Trust Fund, which would have been held harmless for the lost revenue. The MTR would also have prevented insider trading by Members of Congress by enacting the STOCK Act into law and freezes Member pay.

Date: December 13, 2011
Link to vote: Vote #922
Bill: H.R. 3630
Note: This vote was not on the underlying bill, but rather on the Democratic Motion to Recommit.

Last thought: please consider helping Patsy's campaign here.