Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez-- Not A Garden Variety Democratic Back-Bencher

I couldn't vote in my own Twitter poll, but if I could have, I would've picked "inspirational." Maybe I should have offered "inspiring" instead. One respondent suggested "fierce" should've been an option. Another castigated me for not making "courageous" an option. As you can see, it was a battle between those who see her as inspirational and those who see her as brilliant. The youngest woman ever elected to Congress, Ocasio-Cortez has drawn the wrath of the establishment, first by beating "the next Speaker of the House," icon of congressional corruption Joe Crowley, and then by stepping on every toe she could find by behaving as though her campaign promises to her constituents in Queens and the Bronx actually mean something. She hasn't even been sworn in yet and she's already accomplished more than most-- yes-- MOST-- members do after 20 years... and she's become a Fox News Enemy Of The (Dumb) People. And Fox isn't the only media outlet gunning for her. Over the weekend, when Bloomberg News wanted to introduce 5 conservative Democrats who are unlikely to every have anything meaningful to say or ever accomplish a thing-- 5 Blue Dogs and New Dems from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party they would like to see get some attention, their headline was Five House Democrats to Watch (Not Named Ocasio-Cortez).

The other day, a member of the freshman class I've known for 5 or 6 years was grousing-- in a real mean-spirited way-- that he couldn't get any press attention because he isn't a woman of color. He was referring to Ocasio, Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Ayanna Pressley (MA), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Deb Haaland (D-NM). What an asshole! First of all, he's a man of color and, like the five of them, a member of the Progressive Caucus. He campaigned on many of the cutting edge issues that they campaigned on, although I suspect he doesn't give a damn about any of them and is just mouthing what his consultants told him to mouth to win his super-progressive district. And he isn't the only member burning up with jealously over the attention Ocasio and "her gang" are getting.

I told him if he wants attention, DO something. Don't just sit around waiting for Pelosi and Hoyer to tell you what to do. Ask your constituents what they want and start making waves. That's what Ocasio is doing. That's what Omar, Pressley, Tlaib and Haaland are doing. They know why they're in Congress even if he doesn't. (And he doesn't... for him-- at least in his mind-- its just a career step.)

I don't know the guy who wrote the Bloomberg story, Albert Hunter, so I'm not going to call him a boob, but he did write that "These five members-- Sherrill of New Jersey, Hill of California, Allred of Texas, New York’s Rose and Spanberger of Virginia-- are the story of what is potentially the most significant new class of House members in our lifetime." I disagree. Their significance is strictly in what they can prevent from happening. These are conservatives running-- for whatever reason-- as Democrats who have thrown in their lots with the New Dems and Blue Dogs and who, whether they know it or not, will be, for as long as they remain in Congress, drags on progress that inspirational leaders like Ocasio and his friends are the new face of. None of Hunter's 5 faces, of course, have signed onto the GreenNewDeal. And none of them will, at least not before Hoyer says too.

Hunter's article reminds me of something a worthless old fossil from Nebraska once said, the two decades dead Republican Senator Roman Hruska. Hruska is known for exactly one thing, even apart from being one of the most conservative senators of his day and for going to his end still certain that Watergate was just a hoax to get Nixon. After overt racist Clement Haynsworth was rejected by the Senate for a Supreme Court job, Nixon's second pick-- a notorious closet case named G. Harrold Carswell who was soon after arrested by an undercover cop he groped in a Tallahassee public toilet-- was also under attack. Hruska went to the well to defend him: "Even if he were mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren't they, and a little chance? We can't have all Brandeises, Frankfurters and Cardozos." Sorry for the tangent but Hunter-- the guy from Bloomberg I'm not calling a boob-- wrote that "A few bomb-throwers have attracted the most attention. New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, for example, has become the darling of the left wing for her views and the favored target of the right wing, which portrays her as the face of new Democrats. But it’s the first group that could shape the new House. All five new representatives captured Republican-held seats, and four of them beat incumbents... Many of these five are mainstream progressives, who overall trounced Bernie Sanders lefties in the primaries this year, and who are more interested in results than rhetoric."

Maybe I will have to start calling Hunter a boob after all. None of them are "progressives," mainstream or otherwise. And only Mikie Sherrill "beat"-- in a David v Goliath contest, Sherrill being Goliath-- a Bernie Sanders lefty. And what results? Ending regulation on banksters? Loosening gun restrictions? Or, at least in Abigail Spanberger's case, building a wall to keep out immigrants from Mexico? "If successful," wrote the boob from Bloomberg, "they will shape the House majority in the era of Trump. They also will be the top targets of Republicans in the next election and the most at risk if Democrats fail." They are likely to lose their seats in 2022 by deflating the Democratic base in their districts. It's what always happens when garbage center-right candidates get swept into Congress in wave elections.

Spanberger acknowledges that some other rookies in Congress “want to put down a marker as opposed to enacting policies.” But she already sees “common ground” emerging on a number of issues.

The newcomers may be in for a shock when they try to deal with House Republicans. The party’s new leader, Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, will be constantly looking over his right shoulder and is interested solely in winning political advantage.

But some newcomers say they are already talking to colleagues on the other side of the aisle.

Allred, a young African-American lawyer and former professional football player from an upscale Dallas district, has been talking to Van Taylor, a conservative Republican just elected from an adjoining district, about possible common ground.

Next week Allred has scheduled coffee with a constituent: former President George W. Bush.

While these goofballs posture with Republican bloodsuckers, Ocasio is fighting her way to power-- something that is NEVER given, only taken-- by trying to get a position on the vert consequential House Ways and Means Committee. Grassroots allies like DFA, who brush flees like the boob's 5 candidates off like dandruff, are fighting behind her. "If this November’s elections showed us anything," wrote DFA senior staffer Karli Wallace Thompson over the weekend, "it’s that people are ready for fresh, bold, progressive leadership in Congress-- and Representative-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez embodies that. [Note to Bloomberg's boob: pay attention and maybe you'll start getting a clue about what the word "progressive" means.] January hasn’t even begun and already Alexandria is making waves on Capitol Hill by shining a light on the causal corruption and hypocrisy in Washington, and by paying her interns at least $15/hour when many of her colleagues pay them nothing. She’s clearly keeping her promises and continuing to challenge the status quo... Alexandria is in the running for a spot on one of the most powerful committees in the House, the Ways and Means Committee, even though freshmen members are rarely appointed to it. Why? Alexandria is boldly pushing for this position because she firmly believes that Americans deserve to have someone who has shared their struggles representing their interests on the committee that oversees most of the economy, including taxes and revenue. And she’s going up against a Wall Street-backed establishment Democrat in the process."

Urging DFA's tens of thousands of activist members to sign a petition to Pelosi about the appointment, Thompson urges people who back Medicare for All, lower drug prices, and a fair economy for everyone, to have Alexandria’s back. What about Spanberger's back? The xenophobes and Know Nothings are in the other party.

Ever Think About The Nature Of Conservatism?

Active Shooter by Nancy Ohanian

When I was a kid, there was a really clownish conservative douche of a senator from Nebraska, Roman Hruska. What's the opposite of a brain scientist? A Roman Hruska. He was a one-term congressman from Omaha before winning for an open Senate seat in 1954-- and then getting reelected over and over until he finally retired in 1976. He died in 1999 (age 94) but never stopped defending Nixon and claiming Watergate was somehow a Democratic plot to get Nixon. He's best known for his defense of mediocrity, an anti-Semitic speech he delivered on behalf on Nixon's failed Supreme Court nominee G. Harrold Carswell in 1970. "Even if he were mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren't they, and a little chance? We can't have all Brandeises, Frankfurters and Cardozos." Louis Brandeis, Felix Frankfurter and Benjamin Cardozo were all Jews and all widely considered among the most brilliant Supreme Court justices in history. Carswell was a third rate jurist who is best known for groping men in public toilets and for being beaten up by some guy in Atlanta he lured to his hotel room and tried felating. From Nixonland by Rick Perlstein:

Really horrid people, these crackpot right-wing Republicans, right? Fake Democrat Brad Ashford-- a frequent party switcher who claims to be a "Democrat" now and who the DCCC and the Blue Dogs are running for Hruska's old Omaha congressional seat again recently posted this photo of himself on Facebook from when he was first learning politics from his mentor, Roman Hruska:

Largely because of the advent of Señor Trumpanzee, some people are just beginning to discover just how disgusting and self-centered these conservatives are. Take Charlie Sykes, the conservative talk show host from Wisconsin. He's been coming to a different conclusion about the world around him. This week, in an essay for Time Magazine, Roy Moore Signals the End of the Republican Party, Sykes noted that "[c]onservatives who pride themselves on their respect for the constitutional rule of law now find themselves embracing a former judge twice removed from the bench for flouting the law. Moore has suggested criminalizing homosexuality and banning Muslims from political office. The man who may soon be the newest member of the U.S. Senate has suggested that some communities in Illinois and Indiana are under Sharia law. (They aren’t.) Moore backs Trump’s hardline on immigration, but seemed to know little about what and who the Dreamers were. The GOP nominee is an unrepentant 'birther' and has suggested that the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 were God’s punishment for America’s sins, including 'legitimized sodomy.' (Naturally, his candidacy was embraced by Sarah Palin as well as Steve Bannon.)"

For decades, conservatives have struggled with containing crackpottery, most notably William F. Buckley’s famous excommunication of the John Birch Society in the 1960s. Responsible thought leaders have also pushed back against a variety of paranoid conspiracy theorists, including anti-Semites and the denizens of the fevered swamps who became known as the alt-right.

But in 2016, Trump first emboldened, then empowered those various paranoiacs who until then had only made cameo appearances on the national stage. Now they gleefully crashed the party, overturned the furniture and settled hierarchies as they raucously dismissed traditional gatekeepers. Those who were slow to join the bacchanal were denounced as sellouts and traitors or, perhaps worse, dismissed as elitists, as have George Will and the editors of the venerable National Review magazine. This breakneck transition required extraordinary nimbleness: Conservatives who had just five minutes earlier agreed that Russia posed a global threat, pivoted to embrace Vladimir Putin as an exemplar of white Christian civilization; Tea Party activists who had railed against deficit spending accepted calls for massive stimulus spending the party of free markets endorsed protectionism and an economic policy that seemed driven by personal fear and favor; constitutionalists watched silently as the rule of law was undermined and norms of public integrity were ignored.

...It turns out that many of the Trump voters who had said they wanted to burn it all down meant it, and they are taking to the task with great relish. The result, the punditocracy declares, will be a full-out civil war in GOP. But it’s actually worse, quite a bit worse... The GOP was once the party of William F. Buckley Jr., Ronald Reagan and John McCain. Today, Donald Trump is the face of what the GOP has become. Roy Moore is the face of what it is becoming.

Inevitably. Remember, it was also the party of Roman Hruska. And Brad Ashford.