"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross."
-- Sinclair Lewis
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Good For The Gays? Not Mary Bono Mack, Not Anymore
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Palm Springs, California, once best known as Frank Sinatra's and other retirees' homes, is now one of America's most gay-friendly communities. So gay friendly, in fact, that they elected a proudly gay mayor, Steve Pougnet, who is legally married to his partner and is raising their two adopted children. And now Pougnet is running against the incumbent congresswoman, Mary Bono Mack. Bono Mack more or less inherited her seat when ex-Palm Springs mayor Sonny Bono died in a freak skiing accident. She was an airhead waitress at the time. She's an airhead congresswoman now, married to an airhead congressman, Connie Mack. Mack inherited an easy smile, a House seat, millions of dollars and a really dull mind. He and Mary live in his mansion in Ft Myers, Florida, although she ventures back to Palms Springs to make the locals think she lives there. She also tries-- or at least used to-- persuade her gay constituents that she stands up for their interests. But that was a long, long time ago, before she desperately threw her lot in with the teabaggers who threatened to end her tenure for being "too liberal."
On Friday the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) released their annual congressional scorecard for 2010. Bono Mack, once a favorite of the organization, wound up with a 39% (an F, no matter how you cut it). She may not be as bad as Virginia Foxx (R-NC) or Steve King (R-IA)-- or even her hubbie Connie (R-FL)-- but her votes in the last session were toxic for gay people and for their families. HRC scored Congress on 9 pieces of legislation:
She voted against every bill but three, the legislation for the early treatment of AIDS and two votes on Hate Crimes. The other six bills... as bad as anyone on this list of Congress' worst homophobes. Anything that smacks of equality for the LGBT community, from repealing DADT to anything remotely involving marriage and suddenly Bono Mack is... well a lot more Mack than Bono. Friday the more grassroots and less-DC Insider gay civil rights organization, Stonewall Democrats, endorsed Pougnet against Bono Mack.
Throwing In The Towel In The Democrats' Great ATM State
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Let me start with California and I'll do the rest of the country soon. Obama won big in California in 2008. He beat McCain 8,274,473 (61%) to 5,011,781 (37%). All 51 of the state's incumbent House members were reelected, 34 Democrats and 19 Republicans. However, in 8 congressional districts with Republican incumbents, Obama beat McCain. Some were very close, like in the 48th CD (the heart of Orange County) where Obama edged McCain by just a few votes in a 49-49% finish and in the 3rd (the Sacramento suburbs), where it was almost an identical result. Other districts broke more resoundingly with their Republican pasts, particularly CA-45 (much of Riverside County) where Obama beat McCain 52-47%, a nine point swing after Kerry's dismal 43% in 2004. There were no congressional districts in California with Democratic congressmen where McCain beat Obama.
What this says is that, at least in theory, there are 8 Republican incumbents who should be in jeopardy in November. This is the list, along with Obama's winning percentage:
Dan Lungren (CA-03)- 49% Elton Gallegly (CA-24)- 51% Buck McKeon (CA-25)- 49% David Dreier (CA-26)- 51% Ken Calvert (CA-44)- 50% Mary Bono Mack (CA-45)- 52% John Campbell (CA-49)- 49% Brian Bilbray (CA-50)- 51%
Each of these Republican congressmen is running again this year and each has a Democratic challenger. These are the races:
Dan Lungren vs Ami Bera Elton Gallegly vs Tim Allison Buck McKeon vs Jackie Conaway David Dreier vs Russ Warner Ken Calvert vs Bill Hedrick Mary Bono Mack vs Steve Pougnet John Campbell vs Beth Krom Brian Bilbray vs Francine Busby
So is the DCCC seeing California as eight clear pick-up opportunities? Absolutely not. The DCCC is playing defense this year, not offense. Debbie Wasserman Schultz has made it clear the priority is to save seats of Blue Dogs and other conservative Democrats who have voted against Democratic priorities and thereby turned off the Democratic base. Virtually all the money the DCCC is collecting this year is going to shore up the desperate campaigns of reactionaries like Bobby Bright (Blue Dog-AL), Travis Childers (Blue Dog-MS), Chris Carney (Blue Dog-PA), Frank Kratovil (Blue Dog-MD), and Suzanne Kosmas (FL). The DCCC is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars per district-- as much as a million in some cases-- to help reelect members who vote anti-Choice, antigay, anti-healthcare. Some, like Bobby Bright and Walt Minnick, are even refusing to commit to vote for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker if the Democrats win in November.
Now, back to California and to the DCCC support for the challengers there. There's virtually none. Just two of the eight, Ami Bera and Steve Pougnet, are listed on the anemic, mostly ignored Red to Blue page, though neither of them, and none of the others, are getting any substantive help from the DCCC. Bera and Pougnet are, of course, grateful with the little help they are getting, though both campaigns, like the other six, are working hard on the ground and not counting on DC for anything. Like I said above, virtually every dime is going to bolster the conservatives who have caused the enthusiasm gap for the Democratic Party with their lockstep votes with John Boehner on so many crucial issues. So far the DCCC hasn't spent any money at all on media buys for any of the California challengers. Pougnet has raised $5,789 on the Red to Blue page and Bera has raised $1,255. Presumably, some Democratic donors will write checks because they're on that list. And the some media outlets interpret the list to mean they're "serious" candidates.
In 2008 the incumbent who came closest to be ousted was corrupt sex predator Ken Calvert, who beat challenger Bill Hedrick 129,937 (51%) to 123,890 (49%)-- in a district that is trending Democratic and where registered Democrats now outnumber registered Republicans. After Hedrick's shocking totals, the DCCC admitted they had made a mistake by not backing him and promised to not let that happen again. Although that's exactly what they're doing again. Not only haven't they given Hedrick any financial help-- which he can really use; they acknowledged last time that he would have won had they helped him-- but they haven't even given him the symbolic gesture of putting him on their limp Red to Blue list.
Calvert, a Big Business fave for his record of unwavering support for corporate bailouts and corporate welfare, has collected $1,368,747 so far this year. Bill's grassroots supporters have contributed $367,698 towards his campaign. (Blue America has helped him raise just over $10,000 so far and the PCCC is on the ground and working their butts off doing the functions that a less venal and confused and more competent DCCC should be doing.)
In CA-48 Beth Krom, the former Mayor of Irvine, is challenging John Campbell, an avowed “Birther” who is widely regarded as one of the most stridently partisan, do-nothing obstructionists in Congress. Beth is no naïve newcomer. She won five consecutive races as a Democrat in Irvine-- right in the heart of conservative Orange County. And she didn’t just win by a hair; she won her second term as Mayor with almost 60% of the vote. And guess what? Irvine is the largest city in the district, representing almost 30% of voters.
If that alone was not enough to catch the eye of the DCCC, she’s raised almost $600,000 with the vast majority coming from new contributors in the district. At a time when it’s pretty hard to separate people-- if not corporations-- from their money, Beth has built a whole new fundraising base. And get this... I'm hearing that more than 20% of her money has come from Republicans and another 20% from independents. That’s unheard of in Orange County, and demonstrates that Beth-- like Obama-- can get the crossover support necessary to win.
From what virtually every candidate and some Insider sources have told me, there are basically two criteria that guarantee the attention of the DCCC: raise $1 million without their help or run in a safe Democratic district where the minute you have won the primary you are the de facto winner of the general election.
I’ve met Beth Krom; she’s got moxy and Blue America was really proud to endorse her. To her credit, she doesn’t seem to have let the lack of enthusiasm by the power elite in Washington distract her from her goal. She made headlines a few months ago by winning the Democracy for America All-stars competition for grassroots organizing, beating out 99 other candidates nationwide. She’s exactly the kind of person we need in Washington, and if the DCCC or EMILY’s List (I don’t know what EMILY stands for today, but it definitely no longer means Early Money Is Like Yeast) were smart, they would have made Beth’s campaign one of their higher profile races.
I asked Beth how she feels about being ignored by these folks, and here’s what she said:
“Is it frustrating? Of course it’s frustrating. I see Joe Sestak on MSNBC talking about how he raised $4 million in four weeks following his primary win, and I understand the power that these endorsements have. Other than the $25,000 we raised following our DFA All-star win, every penny we’ve raised has been through a phone call or event. I’ve put every friendship and relationship on the line to raise what we need to fund a credible campaign-- I’m still $250,000 short, so tapping into a national network of support would be a dream right now. This is a race we can win. Partisan registration has changed dramatically with Republicans representing only 44% of registered voters, and many of those folks supporting me. We’d love to be put on the DCCC Red to Blue List, and know it would help us immensely, but with or without institutional support, our team is determined to do everything we can to make history in November.
I spoke to over a dozen candidates in districts across the country where Obama won but where the DCCC has just given up and there is tremendous frustration and even anger. Most of the candidates, understandably, were reluctant to go on the record and express their contempt for the party organizations. Russ Warner, however, is a straight-shooter and didn't hold back. He ran against David Dreier in 2008 and lost by approximately 32,000 votes out of around 150,000 cast. Russ has raised around a quarter million dollars this year which isn't bad until you see that Dreier, one of Wall Street bankster's most beloved California shills, has $1,021,140 in his campaign warchest. Needless to say, the DCCC has no interest in Russ' race whatsoever. Russ doesn't seem terribly interested in them either.
"The DCCC is one of the most self-serving organizations in Washington, DC. They only help those candidates in the 'good old boy' system. I'm not part of the good old boy system. They didn't help me much last time and this time they're not helping me at all.
Blue America is trying to help Russ overcome the immense financial wall he has to climb to be competitive with Dreier. If you can help, our DumpDavidDreier page is a good place to start. And what Russ had to say is pretty much what I heard from all the candidates who had run before and from almost all of the first time candidates as well. The feeling is that Obama ran a campaign that inspired hope among people disaffected from 8 years of Bush/Republican/corporate rule-- and then handed power to back to conservatives (an effective governing coalition of Republicans and Blue Dogs). It’s obvious the national Democratic party has chosen to play it’s power in ways that serve the party rather than the people. If incumbents lose their seats this November, they will have only themselves to blame.
The Democratic party used to stand for something more than protectionism. We can only hope the Democratic leadership will learn something from the pummeling that pollsters and pundits are predicting. Failing to embrace opportunities to pick up new seats seems like an obvious misstep. What a shame that with a Democratic President and House majority, the party is too short-sighted and self absorbed to support fresh ideas and help inspiring candidates.
Like vampires, Blue Dogs need fresh blood to survive. Yesterday several of the worst of the pack crossed the aisle into Republicanville, voting against federal aid to states seeking to keep teachers teaching, firefighters fighting fires and policemen policing. One of them, Bobby Bright, also joined Boehner and the Republicans in insisting on a paid two-month vacation in the expectation that the new Congress will be more conservative and less likely to want to do anything to help working families than the current one. (Fellow Blue Dogs Mike McIntyre, Charlie Melancon, Walk Minnick and Glen Nye, as well as corporate shill Michael McMahon, joined Bright on that one.) It's stunts like that though, which may please some Republicans in their districts, that absolutely drive core Democratic voters insane. And therein lies the problem for the reactionary Blue Dog caucus.
A few days ago we looked at how Henry Waxman was predicting how Congress would be better if without some of these Blue Dogs even if it meant a smaller Democratic majority. And then Monday Alex Isenstadt, writing at Politico, delved a little more deeply into the Blue Dog dilemma. The caucus, filled with odd men out, is hemorrhaging members, either because they eventually realize that no matter what their racist papa was, in 2010 they are Republicans, or because the voters make that realization first and they lose re-election bids, as is likely to happen to many of the worst of them in November.
Until now I only knew of one new recruit, a lackluster Florida reactionary named Lori Edwards who is likely to lose her August 24th primary battle to progressive Democrat Doug Tudor. Lately I've talked with several Democrats who the Blue Dogs may have thought they could recruit but who have made it clear that they're not interested. Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet was actually leaning towards the Blue Dogs-- he likes their purported and much ballyhooed "fiscal discipline"-- but then saw their devious role in the battle over health care reform and pulled away. And last week we met Georgia Democrat Russell Edwards who told us he didn't feel the Blue Dog caucus was a good fit either. "I am a progressive Democrat and have no plans to join the Blue Dog Caucus should I be elected. They have done absolutely nothing to help me, and I’m not courting them with talk about more tax cuts for the wealthy. I’m speaking candidly about how my District should fight to create jobs and support our schools. Issues that are important to build a strong middle class and ensure every one has a chance to live a life of dignity and respect." Others, however, primarily Southern racists, are eager to run with the pack.
Blue Dogs are throwing their support to a group of like-minded conservative Democrats that includes Steve Raby in Alabama’s 5th District, Chad Causey in Arkansas’ 1st District, Roy Herron in Tennessee’s 8th District, Trent Van Haaften in Indiana’s 8th District and Stephene Moore in Kansas’ 3rd District.
If elected, these hopefuls would join a thinned Blue Dog group in the upcoming 112th Congress. Reps. John Tanner and Bart Gordon of Tennessee, Marion Berry of Arkansas and Dennis Moore of Kansas are all retiring, while Reps. Brad Ellsworth of Indiana and Charlie Melancon of Louisiana are waging Senate campaigns. Alabama Rep. Parker Griffith, a freshman who started the cycle as a Blue Dog, switched to the Republican Party in 2009 before losing his seat in a primary.
The list of outgoing Blue Dogs outpaces the 110th Congress, in which the only Blue Dog who retired was Alabama Rep. Bud Cramer. Meanwhile Reps. Nick Lampson of Texas, Tim Mahoney of Florida and Don Cazayoux of Louisiana-- all freshmen-- lost their campaigns for reelection.
Causey, a former Berry chief of staff who is running for his one-time boss’s Jonesboro-area seat, said the turnover allowed for an infusion of new leadership into the influential coalition, whose focus on fiscal conservatism has put it at odds with the national party on issues including the health care overhaul and the economic stimulus package.
“People come and people go. Sometimes it provides some fresh air into the House. It gets a little musty in there sometimes, and it lets you gets some fresh ideas onto the table,” he said.
Causey, Herron, Van Haaften and Moore, who is the wife of Dennis Moore, are looking to fill seats of departing Blue Dogs. Raby, a former chief of staff for Alabama Sen. Howell Heflin, is running for the conservative-leaning 5th District seat that had been held by Griffith and, prior to him, Cramer.
Raby and Van Haaften secured their endorsements last week after meeting with groups of local Blue Dogs, according to their campaigns. Raby huddled with Reps. Travis Childers of Mississippi, Bobby Bright of Alabama, Allen Boyd of Florida and Tanner, while Van Haaften met with Indiana Reps. Joe Donnelly, Baron Hill, and Ellsworth, whose seat he is seeking.
The Blue Dog endorsement typically provides candidates with an opportunity to distinguish themselves from party leaders.
As you can see in this ad, one of the worst and most despicable of the current batch, Joe Donnelly, was so eager to distinguish himself from "party leaders" that his ad makes it clear that Pelosi and Obama are no friends of his.
Donnelly, of course, on the DCCC's must-save-the-asshole list and they'll be spending close to a million dollars on his campaign in the hope that he will return to Congress and continue voting an anti-Choice, anti-gay, anti-healthcare line, while denigrating Obama and Pelosi. That's Debbie Wasserman Schultz's brilliant strategy. Meanwhile, the DCCC won't left a finger to support any of the progressive challengers, not even official party candidates like Justin Coussoule, Bill Hedrick, Billy Kennedy, and Beth Krom running against some of the most monstrous Republicans walking the face of earth, respectively, John Boehner, Ken Calvert, Virginia Foxx and John Campbell. Blue America supports the good guys; you can too: no consultants and no Blue Dogs.
Steve Pougnet-- Better Than Mary Bono Mack, For Sure... But A DFA Candidate? What A Joke!
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A couple years ago I got into an unpleasant spat with the folks at EMILY's List. Without reliving the whole yucky episode let me just say that, with the encouragement of reactionary DLC frontman, Harold Ford, Jr, they endorsed a truly horrible corporate shill, Nikki Tinker, for a House seat held by a decent liberal, Steve Cohen. Tinker was the right color for the mostly black district and had the right plumbing for the women-oriented EMILY's List. That her policies and demeanor were far to the right of what Democrats expect from their candidates didn't come into the decision to endorse her. In the end-- like a day before the primary-- EMILY's List, embarrassed, even mortified, had to withdraw the endorsement after weeks of Tinker's divisive anti-Semitic campaigning. Tinker still had the right plumbing-- and EMILY's List still didn't care a bit about the innate conservatism of her political agenda-- but too many nice Jewish ladies make up the financial backbone of EMILY's List for them to let the overt anti-Semitism slide.
It's uncomfortable to tell a woman's group they're making a grievous mistake by endorsing a woman over a man, even if the woman is a terrible candidate and the man would be a far better representative of the issues that make women's lives better. I have less problems doing that with gay groups who would rather endorse crappy gay people than awesome straight allies. Next week Blue America will be explaining why we we're endorsing David Segal for the open House seat in Rhode Island over openly gay Providence Mayor David Cicilline. This week, though, there's a much tougher race we need to talk about, the one in the Riverside County, California, pitting GOP clothes horse and robot Mary Bono-Mack, the incumbent who inherited the seat when her husband, Sonny Bono died in a skiing accident-- and half the district mixed her up with Cher-- against the popular gay mayor of Palm Springs, Steve Pougnet. The first time I wrote about Steve, in March of 2009, I was gushing and enthusiastic-- not just an openly gay member of Congress, but one who is legally married to his partner and with two adopted children! And if I lived in CA-45, I would surely be voting for Steve in November. He's a better candidate than Bono-Mack in every single conceivable way. But I don't live in CA-45 and instead I'm looking at a wonderful and well-meaning gay civil rights group, Stonewall Democrats, endorsing him and pushing him in the DFA Grassroots All-Stars poll. Right after their letter, Pougnet shot to the #4 position, just behind fellow California candidates Beth Krom, Bill Hedrick and Ami Bera. Pougnet doesn't belong on that list at all. He's the only one on it who isn't a progressive. He's the only one on it who, in fact, is likely to join the hateful Blue Dog Caucus. I'll come back to that in a second. First the letter from the Stonewall Dems:
When I first heard about Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet’s campaign for Congress in California’s 45th District, I got very excited about the prospect of increasing the number of out Members of Congress-- and doing it with a candidate who has years of solid, problem-solving experience serving the people in and around Palm Springs. When elected, Steve will also be the first Congressman who is legally married to his partner and has children.
Steve is one of our ElectEquality candidates now and we’re thrilled to be helping him in any way we can to unseat Republican Mary Bono-Mack. Steve has been chosen for the DNC’s Red-to-Blue program because they feel-- like we do-- that not only is Steve the right candidate for the job, he also has a very good chance of winning.
Steve is already one of our ElectEquality 2010 candidates. With just a quick click of the mouse, you can help Mayor Pougnet become an All-Star.
Steve is one of the ten finalists (and the only openly LGBT one), in Democracy for America’s “Grassroots All-Stars” poll, a project that allows the candidate with the most online votes to receive support from DFA’s PAC and its network of supporters. With your help, we can help him win this crucial endorsement. A Pougnet win in November sends a message to Republicans everywhere that casting pro-equality votes only part of the time is simply not good enough. Vote for Mayor Steve Pougnet and help put him on the road to victory!
The benefits of this endorsement include:
• A fundraising email from DFA Chair Jim Dean to all DFA members, with a $20,000 commitment • In-state crowd-sourcing emails for volunteer events with a commitment to raise 500 volunteer hours from DFA members in the All-Stars' home state • At least one national volunteer e-mail to over one million DFA members with the commitment to deliver at least 200 national phone bankers. • A $5,000 contribution from Democracy for America PAC. • Appearances by DFA Chair Jim Dean at available campaign events
As you can imagine, the competition among the All-Stars is intense and Steve needs all the votes he can get. You can vote from each of your email accounts, but can only vote from each one once. Also, once you've voted, tell your friends and family through Facebook and Twitter that you voted for Steve to become a DFA All-Star!
Voting ends on Sunday at midnight (Pacific time), so don't wait.
I spoke with Pougnet last year and was pretty disappointed. He's great on gay issues, of course, but other than that... well, he's better than Mary Bono-- but far from a progressive. How far? He told me he would consider joining the Blue Dog Caucus if he's elected in November. That makes him ineligible for a Blue America endorsement, of course, but I couldn't help but ask him more about it. I asked him if he was aware that the only Democrats-- a dozen of 'em-- who were so homophobic that they actually refused to even vote for the Hate Crimes bill were all Blue Dogs. He doesn't care. I walked away with the impression that the guy's weak, confused, frightened and devoid of character, exactly what we don't need in the Democratic House Caucus-- and exactly the kind of easy to manipulate shill the DCCC thrives on. And, of course, he's one of theirs. He's not one of ours... no matter how upfront he is about his sexuality.
Will Gays Start Flocking To The GOP Now That Obama Has Been Such A Huge Disappointment?
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For now, conservative out of the closet gays like Steve Pougnet are only welcome in one party
I read a story about Palm Springs Mayor/Democratic candidate for Congress Steve Pougnet in the Advocate today. I gathered from chatting with him on the phone a couple months ago that he's a pretty conservative Democrat, not the kind that Blue America is likely to ever endorse. His Advocate story is called Married With Children. The Riverside County Democrat and his husband have a pair of young twins. Pougnet may be conservative for a Democrat, just the way Harold Ford is. But neither Ford nor Pougnet would feel all that comfortable in the Republican Party regardless of their policy ideas. Ford is African American and Pougnet is gay-- gay and out and married and proud of who he is. (I don't think Pougnet is quite as conservative as your garden variety 2010 Republican either-- and maybe not even as conservative as Ford.) Pougnet is running against Mary Bono Mack-- who is also having to fend off a pack of drooling fringy teabaggers howling for her blood for being, in their eyes, too liberal. She and Pougnet aren't all that far apart on economic issues.
[T]o portray the race as one between a gay rights activist and a right-wing obstructionist is arguably misleading. While not a leader on gay issues, Bono Mack, who was initially elected to fill the congressional seat of her late first husband, Sonny Bono, hasn’t been a true roadblock either. She broke party lines last fall to vote for hate-crimes legislation attached to a military spending bill and recently voiced support for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (Bono Mack voted for ENDA in 2007). A spokesman confirmed that she also supports gender identity protections in the current ENDA legislation (the 2007 House bill passed with no transgender-inclusive language). Bono Mack’s stepson Chaz Bono revealed last year that he was a transgender man and had begun taking steps in transitioning. Bono Mack declined requests for an interview.
“Mary is highly respected in Washington and has always been a strong supporter of gay rights,” says Chuck Vasquez, president of the Riverside County-Palm Springs chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans, which has endorsed Bono Mack. “She’s not a candidate of political party lines, but of her own convictions. And with the economic state of the district, and with city and local governments in California trying to get everything they can from the federal government, which has raided our budgets, I don’t see how changing to an unknown [candidate] will lead to getting a better job done.”
Pougnet, who has the support of California senator Barbara Boxer and gay representatives Barney Frank and Jared Polis, further points out that his opponent did not take a public stance on Prop. 8, nor has she been a strong advocate for repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” one of Pougnet’s chief concerns among gay issues. Bono Mack has said she believes any changes must be made only with extensive consultation with the Pentagon—a strategy that many DADT opponents insist would fail to end the policy.
“To me, ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ is something that should change as quickly as possible. If I were in Congress, I would have been cosponsoring the [repeal] bill with Rep. Patrick Murphy,” says Pougnet, referring to the lead sponsor of a House bill that would eradicate the 16-year-old ban. “Times are changing, and we’ll beat her.”
Yesterday CBS News did a canned feature called Have Gays Found Their Place In The GOP?, based on what they called "the dramatic moment" at CPAC last weekend in which a shrill, embarrassingly demented homophobe was vociferously boo-ed. It's certainly good that there were more boos than cheers, but then again, college student fave-rave Ron Paul beat slaughtered Palin, Newt and Pawlenty in the straw poll too. Does it mean there's really a place for gays in the GOP?
Interesting question. For one thing, there always has been. If you're rich and you stay in the closet, you could have a brightish future in the GOP. Self-loathing predator and vicious McCarthyite Roy Cohn was a gay Republican icon in his day. Terry Dolan, founder of CPAC back in Reagan's day was a raging homophobe who rarely missed a night in the sleaziest of gay s&m bars. The Bush Regime was loaded with closet cases from Karl Rove and Josh Bolton to Ken Mehlman and Scott McClellan. Anti-gay Republicans in Congress who have been outed in the last few years include Mark Foley (FL), David Dreier (CA), Larry Craig (ID), and Ed Schrock (VA). But there are a dozen currently serving in Congress-- like Dreier-- all as deeply in the closet as they can get, from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham to a whole array of House members like Patrick McHenry (NC), Aaron Schock (IL), Trent Franks (AZ), Mark Kirk (IL) and Adrian Smith (NE), all of whom, except Kirk, are raging homophobes. How could a handful of kids booing a psychopath be "a turning point" when all Republican gay electeds are cowering in their closets?
Gay Republicans say it was a telling moment: Evidence that the GOP is "moving away from a negative hate-based connotation with homosexuals in the Republican party," according to Charles T. Moran, spokesman for the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay Republican group.
"The conservative movement is so focused on the issues that bring us together-- limited government, personal responsibility and freedom-- that the social issues have kind of gotten pushed off to the side," he said. "Even the Tea Party movement-- these people are not talking about social issues."
That isn't to say there hasn't been controversy: Liberty University Law School pulled its sponsorship of the event over GOProud's inclusion as a sponsor, and the American Family Association's Bryan Fischer said following the conference that true conservatives should abandon CPAC for the AFA's Values Voter Summit, where organizers believe "that protecting one man-- one woman marriage is the most fundamental conservative value of all."
Maybe so... but gay Republicans say they have Dick Cheney on their side.
The Hill Gets It Wrong-- Real Democrats Embrace Healthcare Reform As Blue Dogs Slink Off To Perfect The Creigh Deeds Strategy
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Aaron Blake seems like a decent enough writer at The Hill but sometimes... I just get the idea those headlines come right from the RNC communications department. Like yesterday's: Few Dems In Big Races Jump Headlong Into Backing Health Bill. Unless he meant "Few Blue Dogs," he sure has that wrong, wrong, wrong.
The suicidal Blue Dogs and fellow travelers (like Artur Davis, the cowardly conservative making a hopeless run for the Alabama governor's mansion) are hell bent on following the Creigh Deeds campaign strategy of turning off the Democratic base and hoping Republicans will forget they're Republicans who vote for other Republicans when they get to the ballot box. It didn't work for Deeds-- in fact it didn't work for him spectacularly, as his dumbass remark about opting out of the public option kept Democrats home on Election Day while an Obama 6 point margin over McCain turned into an 18 point deficit for the hapless conservative quasi-Dem. But Democrats from that (home) school-- like John Barrow (Blue Dog-GA), Parker Griffith (Blue Dog-AL), Larry Kissell (D-NC), Travis Childers (Blue Dog-MS), Mike Ross (Blue Dog-AR), Suzanne Kosmas (D-FL), and Charlie Melancon (Blue Dog-LA) seem determined to ride that strategy to political oblivion. They won't be missed-- not even by John Boehner, who has come to count on their perfidy for his own ends.
Blake starts his story by admitting that the only reticence respectable, non-Blue Dog candidates have is the hideous billing-killing anti-Choice amendment that Bart Stupak worked with the U.S. Conference of Roman Catholic Bishops to put into the bill. Within minutes of the House passing the bill, Senate candidates like Jennifer Brunner and Lee Fischer in Ohio, Mike Capuano and Martha Coakley in Massachusetts, and Kirsten Gillibrand and Jonathan Tasini in New York were on the warpath against it, though all three pairs are major supporters of meaningful health care reform.
Blake points to Senate candidates, Robin Carnahan in Missouri, flirting with the Creigh Deeds strategy, and two conservative non-starters in Texas, Bill White and John Sharp, who have fully embraced it.
Among Senate candidates currently serving in the House, four Democrats voted for the bill, while one voted against it.
Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.) voted for the bill last weekend but now says he would oppose a bill with the Stupak language.
Among the other supporters, Reps. Paul Hodes (D-N.H.) and Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.) are both running in swing states, while Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) is challenging Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) from the left.
All three proudly cast their votes on the bill, and all three were met with criticism from the GOP opponents.
The lone dissenter, [reactionary Blue Dog] Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-La.), is running against Republican Sen. David Vitter in deep red Louisiana. Melancon was highly critical of the bill, saying: “I can’t support a government-run insurance option that the people of Louisiana don't want.”
...Among House candidates, some running in swing or conservative districts have expressed support for the bill, including physicians Ami Bera and Manan Trivedi, who are running against Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) and for the seat of Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.), respectively.
“It’s a good first step that’s starting to move the conversation forward,” Bera told The Hill. “There’s still obviously a lot that needs to be worked through.”
Trivedi said the bill was a “strong step in the right direction,” but that system-wide clinical reform is needed.
Conversely, candidates like Palm Springs, Calif., Mayor Steve Pougnet are hedging their bets and waiting to see what bill comes out of the Senate and conference committee.
Pougnet is challenging Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.).
“Mayor Pougnet is committed to reform and, although he believes there are many more questions to be answered, he wants to ensure the process advances and looks forward to seeing what develops in the Senate,” said spokesman Jordan Marks.
Pougnet is a social liberal-- he's an upfront gay man legally married to another man-- but he's a frightened and confused conservative who would be a surefire recruit for the Blue Dog caucus in the extremely unlikely event that he can rescue himself from Creigh Deedsism, a strategy that is tailor-made for him. Meanwhile, I've been barraged with e-mails from dozens and dozens of Democratic incumbents and challengers campaigning for healthcare reform. Blake has to either stop letting the RNC write his headlines... or stop mixing up Blue Dogs with real Democrats.
Will The Far Right Eat Its Own Children? Bye-Bye Mary Bono-Mack
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Meet the Bono-Macks: Oops... wrong GOP image this season
I hope you watched the video of Republican legislative candidate Catherine Crabill at a Virginia teabagger party a few days ago. Her sick, violent and sociopathic vision of America is all that's left of the Republican Party base. Hers is now the dominant wing of a once mainstream and respectable Republican Party. All over America very conservative Republicans in regions dominated by neo-fascist mindsets inculcated by Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly, Coulter, etc are being forced to take positions so far from mainstream thought that they are being looked at as dangerous or demented by normal Americans. Even extreme right-wing Republicans like John Cornyn (R-TX) and Gresham Barrett (R-SC) are being mercilessly booed at teabagger events they somehow think their partisan obstructionism entitles them to bask in if not lead. They should probably count themselves fortunate to have not been lynched or shot so far. The vice chair of the Davidson County Republican Party refused to shake hands with right-wing Congressman Zack Wamp, his party's candidate for governor, not because Wamp is a dangerous extremist but because he isn't far enough to the right! (And if you think I'm exaggerating, do yourself a favor and read Dave Neiwert's fantastic new book, The Eliminationists, which could easily have been dedicated to Ms. Crabill and her ilk in the center of the GOP.)
Yesterday mainstream conservative Mary Bono Mack, who has already been threatened by right-wingers for voting in line with her moderate constituents on a few occasions (much to the chagrin of the extremists), wound up with 100 demented teabaggers marching up and down in front of her Palm Springs office protesting and vowing to defeat her in 2010.
About 100 protesters from the Tea Party Patriots are outside Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack's office in Palm Springs waving signs and flags, and presenting her with pink slips that say "You're fired."
Christina Michas, regional coordinator for the group, said the protests are taking place all over the country about health care reform and cap and trade.
"It's going to continue on until the election, or at least until the people realize they work for us," she said.
Bono-Mack, who is already being outraised by the popular mayor of Palm Springs, Democrat Steve Pougnet, represents one of the California districts that Obama won last year. The 45th is a polarized district that has been devastated by the mortgage crisis and by unemployment (14% in Riverside County). There are enough ignorant, self-entitled extremists to control the local Republican Party but moderates and independents have been massively driven away from the GOP and the hateful lunatic rhetoric of Limbaugh, Beck, Coulter, O'Reilly, et al-- which all the angry, frustrated, miserable long-distance commuters are subjected to daily.
Yesterday the Desert Sun asked Bono-Mack and Pougnet if they think another stimulus bill is needed to guarantee a recovery for the hard-pressed Coachella Valley and the surrounding area. Bono-Mack, being attacked from the right as well as by normal voters, refuses to answer any questions from the press about policy matters. Pougnet has the debate all to himself and he told the biggest paper in the district that "When President Obama took office he was dealt a hand of trillion-dollar debt, rising unemployment and a crippled economy. And with an impending tsunami of economic deterioration, the administration took the extraordinary step of creating the stimulus plan to save and create jobs to get American working again." But Pougnet, a social progressive and a fiscal conservative-- possibly a potential Blue Dog-- opposes a second stimulus "until we have given the first package a chance to work.” Voters know where he stands. No one knows where Bono-Mack stands and she's being defined-- very badly-- by the radical right, by moderates and by Democrats.
Right-wingers Vow Revenge Against Mary Bono Mack AND Her Husband
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I never thought I'd step up to defend Mary Bono Mack, a very mediocre absentee representative from California's High Desert (Riverside County)-- and don't worry, I won't. She inherited her increasingly blue congressional district based in Palm Springs from her then-husband Sonny Bono after his fatal skiing accident. Since then she's married one of the most far right extremists in Congress-- a lunatic fringe kook named Connie Mack IV from Florida-- while managing to stay in office by voting 2 or 3 times a year with the Democrats, especially on gay issues, not because her marriage to Connie is a lesbian match but because Palm Springs is almost as gay as San Francisco, NYC, Miami Beach or West Hollywood. In a district that embraced Obama, Progressive Punch shows her lifetime voting record on crucial, substantive issues to be more mainstream conservative than radical right, but by no means moderate.
There are 33 Republicans-- including dependable rightists like Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Jimmy Duncan (R-TN), Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ), Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), Ed Royce (R-CA), Vern Buchanan (R-FL), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), and even full-fledged-no-foolin'-around fascist stooge Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL)-- who vote more frequently across the aisle than Bono-Mack. When it comes to economic issues facing ordinary American families-- like fair taxation, labor rights, equal justice, and corporate subsidies-- you'd have to search pretty hard to find many Republicans in Congress more reactionary and anti-family than Bono-Mack.
So it was probably a bit of a shock to her when she saw the headline above that I captured in a screen shot from the Republican Party blog, Red State: Mary Bono Mack Should Be Burned In Effigy And Voted out Of Office. It was written by Georgia Republican Party operative Erick Erickson and something tells me Erickson isn't about to endorse Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet, who's not just gay, but married (to another man) and happily raising their two children! Too far a stretch for Republicans who seem to always be involved with "opposite marriages," or whatever they call the degrading situations traditional marriage sanctity defenders like Mark Sanford, David Diapers Vitter, Larry Craig and John Ensign are in.
Erickson and the fringe loons on the furthest reaches of the non-criminal right are so upset with Bono Mack that they are threatening to not just defeat her but to go after the right-wing extremist husband to boot! He demands that she vote against health care reform and against the energy bill when it comes back from the Senate-- where it will probably be watered down and look more acceptable to mainstream conservatives!!!-- or face the consequences.
Otherwise, we beat her and her husband at the polls.
Yes, you heard me. We can get at Mary Bono Mack in two ways-- her district and that of her husband. He should feel the heat just as much as her.
DCCC Starting To Target California Republican Incumbents
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Lifestyles of the rich and Republican, representing 2 of the hardest hit districts in the country
Maybe you remember a big buzz early last month about how the Democratic Party was planning to target as many as eight Republican-held congressional seats in 2010. Roll Call covered it with a 3-page feature by Josh Kurtz, Democrats See Golden Pickup Opportunities in California. Normally national Democrats look at California as a political ATM, a place to go for campaign contributions, but not a place for serious targeting, primarily because the two very corrupt political parties conspired on an incumbent protection plan that has left the state hopelessly gerrymandered and next to impervious to change. And then came the 2006 earthquake when a grassroots Democrat, Jerry McNerney-- with nothing from the DCCC but sabotage and antipathy-- ousted one of the most powerful and entrenched Republican incumbents, Dirty Dick Pombo.
With that in mind, even the DCCC couldn't help but notice that Obama beat McCain in 8 California congressional districts with Republican incumbents. Although conventional wisdom has Dan Lungren, Ken Calvert and Mary Bono Mack looking the most vulnerable, the other 5 shouldn't be looking for a free ride. The fact that voter registration and demographic trends are all looking bad for the GOP makes it likely that most of them will have vigorous challenges in 2010.
Without any help from the national party, a few no-name Democrats came very close to ousting well-entrenched House Republicans last year, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is poised to do all it can to win those seats this cycle. Picking up seats in her home state will also be a priority of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
“California’s unemployment rate is in double digits and the state has been hit hard by the housing crisis, yet out of touch Republican Members have repeatedly voted against measures to help save and create jobs and restore the economy,” said DCCC spokesman Andrew Stone, previewing a line of attack that will be used against Golden State GOP incumbents in the months to come.
Today the DCCC fired a shot across the bows of 8 Republicans, Brian Bilbray (CA-50), Mary Bono Mack (CA-45), Ken Calvert (CA-44), Tom McClintock (CA-04), Dana Rohrabacher (CA-46), Gary Miller (CA-42 ), Kevin McCarthy (CA-22) and Dan Lungren (CA-03). Some of these districts went for Obama and some didn't, but all of them have significant Hispanic populations that are not happy with the way the first Hispanic nominee for the Supreme Court is being treated by the Republican Party.
Sonia Sotomayor has captured the imagination of Hispanics in California but instead of joining them in their happiness, the GOP and their vicious media surrogates are unfairly targeting her and smearing her. And none of these Republican incumbents have come to her defense. Let's take one of the most likely to be defeated in 2010, Mary Bono-Mack, an inconsequential backbencher who inherited the seat when her husband, Sonny Bono, skied into a tree and died. Many in the district thought they were somehow voting for Cher. Like most members of Congress, she lives in Washington, of course, and has lost touch with her constituents, who have drastically changed in a demographic sense since she was first elected. But Riverside County isn't even her secondary home! She recently married far right Florida extremist Connie Mack (no not a gay wedding; Connie is a male) and when they're not in DC, they're in their home in Fort Meyers, Florida. Look at this tweet from yesterday:
If she spent any time in her district it wouldn't come as something so out of the ordinary for her. And this year she has a major problem, Palm Springs' popular mayor, Steve Pougnet. CA-45 is one of the most Hispanic districts in the country represented by a Republican-- just under 40%. So the message the DCCC sent out today is sure to reverberate:
Representative Mary Bono Mack Refuses to Denounce Radical Right’s Offensive Remarks Against Judge Sonia Sotomayor
Last week, former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich joined the fringe voices of the radical right in making the outrageous claim that President Obama’s Supreme Court Nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, is a “racist.” Judge Sotomayor would be the first Hispanic member of the U.S. Supreme Court in American history. For a week, Representative Mary Bono-Mack refused to denounce Gingrich’s shameful rhetoric and now, even with the former GOP Speaker himself acknowledging that he shouldn't have called Judge Sotomayor a racist, Bono Mack remains silent.
Gingrich is headlining a lucrative fundraising dinner to benefit House Republicans on June 8th. “For five days, Representative Mary Bono Mack had a simple choice to make: She could strongly denounce Newt Gingrich’s shameful rhetoric or stay silent and just take his money,” said Ryan Rudominer, National Press Secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “With five days to go until the fundraising dinner with Gingrich, will Representative Mary Bono Mack finally speak out against the radical right or continue to remain silent and take their campaign cash”
Ken Calvert's neighboring district is 35% Hispanic; Gary Miller's is 24%; Kevin McCarthy's is 21%; Brian Bilbray's is 19%; Dana Rohrabacher's is 17% and Lungren's is 11%.
Of course it isn't only among Californians or among Hispanics that the Republican instinct to smear is getting it in trouble with voters. A new survey from Democracy Corps shows that most voters (56%) approve of the nomination while only 27% have been taken in by the ceaseless vituperation from Fox, Hate Talk Radio and extremist Republicans like Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Pat Roberts (R-KS).
Once again the base of the Republican Party finds itself at odds with the rest of the electorate. While conservative Republicans strongly disapprove of her nomination, Sotomayor earns at least plurality support from moderate Republicans, independents and Democrats. If Republicans give in to the right-wing activists calling for a bare-knuckled fight against Sotomayor, they run the risk of alienating not only Hispanics and women (about 65 percent of whom approve of the nomination), but the entire electorate outside of their base as well.
Mary Bono-Mack Draws A Challenge: Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet
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Democrats have long felt that the first of the Inland Empire congressional districts that would elect a Democrat to Congress would be CA-45, most of Riverside County and mostly desert. Aside from desert, it also includes Palm Springs-- and the desert itself has bloomed. It has been turning bluer and bluer and in November the district voted for Obama over McCain, 52-47% (after giving Bush 51% in 2000 and 56% in 2004). You may recall that in 2006, progressive Democrat Dave Roth wound up with 41% of the vote and that last year Democrat Julie Bornstein garnered 43%. In fact, every single year since first being elected in 1998, incumbent Republican Mary Bono-Mack has seen her margin of victory shrink. Democrats feel that 2010 will see the end of her political career and her retirement to her husband's Florida district; she's married to extreme right wing lunatic Connie Mack.
This year, Steve Pougnet has decided to take on Bono-Mack-- and from the same perch from which her husband, Sonny Bono, originally won the seat-- the Palm Springs mayor's office. Steve was elected to the City Council in 2003 and last year be was elected mayor. Steve is not just gay, but the father of two young twins who he and his partner of 15 years adopted.
Bono-Mack is an elusive target for the energetic can-do mayor. She tends to be a rubber stamp for the GOP leadership but always manages to pick out two or three controversial issues each year on which she loudly crosses the aisle so that she can tell the moderates and independents that dominate Riverside County politics that she's one of them. And yet full-blown GOP reactionaries like Brian Bilbray, Dana Rohrabacher and even Ed Royce have been voting more frequently to support elements of Obama's programs than Bono-Mack has. She's very, very frightened to rile up the off-the-rails fringe of the GOP who are quick to turn against any Republican that takes even a baby-step towards the mainstream.
Yesterday the DCCC sent a press release to media outlets in Riverside County entitled "Mary Bono Mack Could Have Stopped AIG Bonuses" that started like this:
Americans’ outrage over AIG and Congressional Republicans’ reaction to it doesn’t match the reality of what Representative Mary Bono Mack and Republican leaders have done in Washington to block limits on outrageous pay and bonuses.
“For years, President Bush and Washington Republicans led the charge to block any effort to limit the outrageous salaries and bonuses of corporate executives,” said Jennifer Crider, Communications Director at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “When Representative Bono Mack had the chance, she voted to allow outrageous pay and bonuses, like those for AIG executives, to continue.
“It’s easy for Republicans to play to angry Americans and say they’re offended by bonuses during a firestorm, but the reality is that Representative Bono Mack's indignation rings hollow when she is part of the Republican ‘just say no’ policies that led to outrageous executive pay and bonuses.”
And it's certainly true that Bono-Mack joined every single Republican member of Congress in opposing legislation that sought to eliminate all future golden parachutes for TARP senior executives and put a stop to incentives for top executives to take unnecessary risks, as well as to crack down on future bonuses, retention awards, and incentive compensation for all TARP executives.
If you're wondering if being gay has made a difference in how progressive or reactionary members of Congress have been, the answer is no. There are gay members, like Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), David Dreier (D-CA) and Patty McHenry (R-NC) who are arch-conservatives way on the far right of the political spectrum, and there are gay members like Barney Frank (D-MA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Jared Polis (D-CO) who spend every day fighting for working families and are genuine progressive leaders. The difference isn't sexuality; it's honesty. Polis, Baldwin and Frank accept themselves and are honest about who they are with their constituents. Graham, Dreier, McConnell, and McHenry loathe themselves, hide in dark closets, and live in shame and fear that one day they will be discovered like Larry Craig (R-ID), Mark Foley (R-FL) or Ed Schrock (R-VA) and their worlds will collapse around their ears. No wonder they are such terrible legislators and so screwed up as people. Steve Pougnet fits in with the upfront, self-accepting, family-oriented members. Judging by his work on the Palm Springs City Council he'll be a grassroots-oriented congressman, working for his community, unlike Bono-Mack who is completely in the pockets of the special interests that support his career. She's taken in $544,283 from the finance/insurance/real estate sector, the very folks who have brought on the economic crisis.
Someone asked me how Bono-Mack's district has been effected by the mortgage crisis and the unwillingness of the Republicans to do anything about it except call the victims of the banksters "losers." Interestingly, the hardest hit district, in terms of foreclosures, in the entire nation, is Bono-Mack's adopted home in Florida's 14th CD (which is represented by her newest husband Connie Mack). The overwhelmingly Republican district (PVI is R+10) has had 35,134 foreclosures, highest, by far, of any congressional district in the entire country. The California district suffering the most from Republican policy failure in the mortgage crisis is Dan Lungren's (CA-03) with 17,765 foreclosures so far, making it the 15th worst in the country. CA-45, represented by Bono-Mack has had 15,328 foreclosures, 4th worst in California (after Lungren's, Calvert's and McClintock's) and 25th worst in America. Her's, though, is the only one that isn't overwhelmingly Republican. Bono-Mack followed her husband's lead on voting against the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009, regardless of how devastating that is for thousands of families in both states. So let's not hear any talk about Mary Bono-Mack being a moderate or having any real independent thoughts in her head.
UPDATE: THEY'RE EVEN TURNING OFF HATE TALK RADIO IN RIVERSIDE COUNTY
Long, long commutes for the exurban pioneers from the Inland Empire-- long and through ugly, boring terrain. So they've turned to a plethora of hate talk radio stations and between the drive to work and the drive home, they were always ready to vote for Republicans no matter how deeply in the hole GOP policies put them. I got a clue about how severely that's been shaken lately. In what will be extremely good news for Mayor Pougnet, a woman in Indian Wells, whose license plate was "Rush," has removed the offensive plates and broken her addiction to the drug-addled Republican Party propagandist. Except for fans of Neil, Alex and Geddy, the Rush license plate fad looks like its going the way of the hula hoop, at least outside of the old slave holding states.
1) Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act (H.R. 1913)
