The NRCC Wants Everyone To Know Who Their Weakest Incumbents For 2020 Are

The GOP defeat was so stunning and so overwhelming that HALF of these 10 random losing incumbents didn't even get into the NRCC Patriot Program

The NRCC Patriot Program-- which is charged with protecting vulnerable Republican incumbents-- was a total hot mess last year. Of the 30 members included in the program, 20 were defeated. These were the victims of the Patriot Program's inability to fight an anti-red/anti-Trump wave (the is bound to remain strong, or even strengthen, in 2020):

• Mike Bishop (MI)
• Rod Blum (IA)
• Mike Coffman (CO)
• Barbara Comstock (VA)
• John Culberson (TX)
• Carlos Curbelo (FL)
• Jeff Denham (CA)
• John Faso (NY)
• Steve Knight (CA)
• Jason Lewis (MN)
• Tom MacArthur (NJ)
• Erik Paulsen (MN)
• Bruce Poliquin (ME)
• Dana Rohrabacher (CA)
• Keith Rothfus (PA)
• Scott Taylor (VA)
• Claudia Tenney (NY)
• David Valadao (CA)
• David Young (IA)
• Kevin Yoder (KS)

On Friday the NRCC announced the first 8 members they added to the doomed program. It's a nice roadmap for Democrats to check who the opposition party thinks their weakest incumbents are. No surprises at all though:

• Fred Upton (MI)- won re-election with 50.2%. Trump carried the 6th district by 8.4 points.
• Don Bacon (NE)- won re-election with 51.0%. Trump carried the 2nd district by 2.2 points.
• Lee Zeldin (NY)- won re-election with 51.5%. Trump carried the 1st district by 12.3 points.
• John Katko (NY)- won re-election with 52.6%. Trump lost the 24th district by 3.6 points.
• Brian Fitzpatrick (PA)- won re-election with 51.3%. Trump lost the 1st district by 2 points.
• Michael McCaul (TX)- won re-election with 51.1%. Trump carried the 10th district by 9.1 points.
• Pete Olson (TX)- won re-election with 51.4%. Trump carried the 22nd district by 7.9.
• Will Hurd (TX)- won re-election by less than half a point (49.2%). Trump lost the 23rd district by 3.4.
• John Carter (TX)- won re-election with 50.6%. Trump carried the 31st district by 12.7.
• Jaime Herrera Beutler (WA)- won re-election with 52.7%. Trump carried the 3rd district by 7.4.

The DCCC and the NRCC are two of the lamest and most incompetent organizations in American politics-- and every year they battle it out, wasting tens of millions of dollars with their lame and ineffective strategies. One of the ugliest dances I see them doing every year is for the DCCC to warn their swing district candidates to trying to sound like Republicans as much as possible and to even vote like Republicans when they can. Two great examples are Blue Dogs Joe Cunningham (SC) and Charlie Crist (FL). Both have extraordinarily low "F" grades from ProgressivePunch. In fact, Cunningham has the single worst voting record of any Democrat this session-- a 30.77 lifetime crucial vote score. Two Republicans-- Justin Amash (MI) and Brian Fitzpatrick (PA)-- vote more progressively than Cunningham! Crist's lifetime crucial vote score is 56.77, indicating he votes slightly more frequently with Democrats than with Republicans. The DCCC tells them that will make them safer. But does it? Do they attract Republican voters? Not many, but that strategy sure turns off progressives and other Democratic base voters. And, instead of staving off criticism from the Republicans (and their right-wing media allies), it attracts it. Which Democrats do they put the most money and energy into attacking? The 3 most recent posts on the official NRCC blog were all posted on Thursday by Camille Gallo-- one on North Carolina Blue Dog candidate Dan McCready which also allowed them to sling some mud at Ilhan Omar:

Last night Dan McCready tried to thread the ol’ anti-Semitism needle, tweeting that he refused racist Ilhan Omar’s donations because he disagrees with any anti-Semitic comments.

But then he oddly stood up for the anti-Semite in his very next tweet.

Democrats were not happy, as one state Senator slammed McCready’s wish-washy decision to refuse Omar’s money.

Looks like McCready can’t have it both ways.

NRCC Comment: “Dan McCready’s faux condemnation of anti-Semite and racist Ilhan Omar is pathetic. If McCready is this feckless now, how can North Carolinians expect him to stand up to the socialist Democrats in Congress?” -NRCC Spokeswoman Camille Gallo

And the other two posts? Crist and Cunningham. No matter how many times they vote with the Republicans, the will always be attacked by the Republicans-- until they flip their registrations and become Republicans. Cunningham:

On the campaign trail, Joe Cunningham couldn’t stand lobbyists.

...He even said, lobbyists have had “a stranglehold over American politics for far too long.”

But now that he’s in the swamp, he’s fallen in love with them. The Charleston Post and Courier reports that Cunningham has hired THREE DC lobbyists to work for him.

That "stranglehold" is strong in Joe’s office.

NRCC Comment: “One of Joe Cunningham’s first decisions after being elected was to hire a bunch of DC lobbyists-- the very same thing he railed against on the campaign trail. Joe Cunningham is a joke, period.” -NRCC Spokeswoman Camille Gallo

The title of the post about "former" life-long Republican Charlie Crist is hilarious, especially since it beckons back to when he was the Republican governor of Florida: Charlie Crist-- The Socialist Democrats' Congressman. See? No matter how right-wing the voting record-- and Crist's is pretty right-wing-- the NRCC has a formula they'll stuff you into anyway: "Socialist! Socialist! Socialist! Venezuela!"

When Charlie Crist was Florida’s governor he ran as "The People’s Governor" and now proudly refers to himself as "The People’s Congressman." Through his long political career he’s claimed to put "people over politics," and that being loyal to a political party over the people is wrong.

But it looks like Charlie has ditched this conviction quicker than he’s switched political parties by joining the DCCC’s leadership team with the main goal of electing more socialist Democrats to Congress.

So much for putting people over politics, right?!

NRCC Comment: “Charlie Crist is going to need a new catchy campaign slogan. By joining the DCCC’s leadership team, Charlie has proven he’d rather be a party boss for the socialist Democrats than represent the people of Florida.” -NRCC Spokeswoman Camille Gallo

Democrats-- like Crist and Cunningham-- would be better off to stop dancing with the GOP and go for the jugular-- like like the Republicans do. The Democratic Establishment is whispering already about abandoning the state of Ohio because it's just "too red" for them to deal with. Bernie's having none of that bullshit. Last year Sherrod Brown, an unapologetic progressive, was reelected convincingly, beating multimillionaire Trumpist congressman, Jim Renacci 2,358,508 (53.4%) to 2,057,559 (46.6%), despite Renacci dumping over half a million dollars of his own it his failing campaign. Likewise, Obama beat McCain there is 2008 and then beat Romney in 2012. So why is it too red to contest for the establishment goof-bags? They all come from Hillary's failed campaign and she lost badly, after not seriously contesting the state anyway. Bernie's response? Watch this video his campaign released yesterday; this is how it's done-- right in their faces:

Ready To Start Wasting Your Money On DCCC Candidates Who Back Boehner?

Steve Israel sock puppet, Ben Ray Luján, announced the names of the first 14 incumbents who will be eligible for massive amounts reelection money through the DCCC's Frontline program. 13 of them are from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party and almost all are either Blue Dogs and/or New Dems. They all vote with Republicans against core Democratic principles and values and have a rough time getting voters to bother coming to the polls. This is the whole list, although at least another dozen are likely to be added in the coming months:

• Ann Kirkpatrick (New Dem-AZ)
• Kyrsten Sinema (Blue Dog/New Dem-AZ)
• Ami Bera (New Dem-CA)
• Julia Brownley (New Dem-CA)
• Pete Aguilar (New Dem-CA)
• Raul Ruiz (CA)
• Scott Peters (New Dem-CA)
• Gwen Graham (Blue Dog/New Dem-FL)
• Patrick Murphy (New Dem-FL)
• Cheri Bustos (Blue Dog-IL)
• Rick Nolan (MN)
• Brad Ashford (Blue Dog/New Dem-NE)
• Ann Kuster (New Dem-NH)
• Sean Patrick Maloney (New Dem-NY)

This list correlates very well with ProgressivePunch's crucial lifetime vote scores. Among all House Democrats, the two worst voters have been Gwen Graham and Brad Ashford, each with an abysmal 12.5-- tied with 5 Republicans and worse than 18 other Republicans. Ironic that the DCCC is likely to be spending money trying to save seats for reactionaries like Graham and Ashford while campaigning against Republicans who vote more inline with a progressive agenda!

But the abysmal voting records don't stop with Graham and Ashford. The whole list is pocked with DINOs. The two next worst Dems in the House-- Kysten Sinema (36.36) and Sean Patrick Maloney (39.33)-- also find themselves in need of massive cash infusions from the DCCC. Also at the very bottom of the bucket: Cheri Bustos (44.02), Raul Ruiz (45.53), Patrick Murphy (45.76), Ann Kirkpatrick (49.86), Scott Peters (50.42) and Ami Bera (50.84.)

Before you contribute any money to the quest by Israel and Luján to build a more conservative Democratic House caucus, think about what's behind those DCCC letters that flood your inbox. These Members vote against what working families want and need-- so working families, sensibly, don't want to vote for them. The Members hope they can make up for the deficit by appealing to conservative voters-- Bustos, Murphy, Nolan, Maloney, Graham, Ashford, for example, all voted for the GOP Keystone XL Pipeline proposal this week-- although conservative voters are usually happy enough voting for their own Republican candidates. That helps explain why in a low voter turnout year, Republicans got 39,890,210 votes and Democrats only got 35,439,652. (OMG-- it wasn't only evil GOP gerrymanderers after all, was it?) And that's why 8 conservative Democratic incumbents from last year's Frontline List-- Ron Barber (Blue Dog-AZ), Joe Garcia (New Dem-FL), John Barrow (Blue Dog-GA), Brad Schneider (New Dem-IL), Bill Enyart (IL), Dan Maffei (New Dem-NY), Pete Gallego (Blue Dog-TX), and Nick Rahall (Blue Dog-WV) were defeated despite millions and millions of wasted DCCC dollars.

The NRCC also announced who they reckon their dozen weakest incumbents are, all, except David Valadao, freshmen who barely won their 2014 races:

• Martha McSally (AZ)- R+3
• David Valadao (CA)- D+2
• Carlos Curbelo (FL)- R+1
• Robert Dold (IL)- D+8
• Mike Bost (IL)- even PVI
• David Young (IA)- even PVI
• Bruce Poliquin (ME)- D+2
• Frank Guinta (NH)- R+1
• Cresent Hardy (NV)- D+4
• Lee Zeldin (NY)- R+2
• John Katko (NY)- D+5
• Will Hurd (TX)- R+3

Steve Stivers, head of the NRCC's "Patriot Program," must have been drunk when he left Rod Blum (IA), John Mica (FL), and David Jolly (FL)-- all in blue districts-- off that list. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL) belongs on there too but the GOP knows Debbie Wasserman Schultz won't allow any Democrat to seriously contest that seat.

Florida Blue Dog Gwen Graham already has the worst voting record of any Democrat in Congress

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.

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