Recruiting Republicans To Run For Congress As Democrats Has Usually Ended Badly For All Concerned

Rahm's revolting stench is still the only smell at DCCC headquarters

I'm going to start talking about a rule of Beltway politics by immediately pointing to an exception: Elizabeth Warren, who today-- along with men and women like Bernie Sanders, Ted Lieu, Pramila Jayapal, Raul Grijalva, and Jeff Merkley-- defines what it means to be a real Democrat, was once an Oklahoma Republican! That's a long time ago, the Democratic Party didn't recruit her as a Republican, and, like I said, that's the glaring exception to the rule.

About a decade ago, Blue America was toiling away on behalf of school teacher and union member Dave Lutrin, running for Congress in the Palm Beach area of Florida, a pretty red district represented at the time by hypocritical Republican closet case Mark Foley. We knew that sooner or later Foley would slip up-- they always do-- and expose himself and become very defeatable. But suddenly Lutrin was getting all this intense pressure from Rahm Emanuel, then head of the DCCC, and Steny Hoyer to withdraw from the race. It made no sense. Florida's 16th congressional district was pretty red and not a district that the DCCC ever paid any attention to. It turns out, though, that my hunch about Foley was more than a hunch for Emanuel. Foley's alcoholism and closeted homosexuality were widely known Inside-the-Beltway but it was not as widely known that those two factors had combined to create a very sick yen for being caught molesting underage boys. And he was-- both molesting the boys and caught. But congressional leadership, primarily Republican congressional leadership under fellow closet case Denny Hastert, covered up for him. Rahm Emanuel was very much clued in to what was happening but he saw Mark Foley's tragic crumbling universe as an opportunity to pick up a House seat the Dems weren't counting on. So... he kept his mouth shut too-- complicit in allowing Foley to have his way with young congressional pages (primarily the sons of big GOP donors). Long story, short: Emanuel with Steny Hoyer, froze Lutrin, the legitimate Democratic candidate, out of the race and enticed a wealthy lifelong, conservative Republican, Tim Mahoney, into the race (delivering on their promise of an uncontested primary and a "special circumstance" for the general). The special circumstance was how the media exploded into an orgy of Mark Foley Caught With His Pants Down (in a boys dorm).

Although Foley resigned and checked into a posh clinic for naughty Republicans, it was conveniently too late to get his toxic name off the ballot... and converted "Democrat" Mahoney was elected-- though just barely (49-48%). Mahoney immediately joined the Blue Dogs and reverted to voting with his fellow-Republicans on virtually every crucial issue... and to chase women all over town. His one term ended in scandal, amid sexual escapades, payoffs, hush money and all sorts of things normally associated with Republicans (which, of course, he was, despite the deceptive "D" next to his name). He lost his seat to a Republican. The district was soon redrawn and re-numbered and came to be represented by war criminal and right-wing extremist Allen West who was eventually beaten by yet another DCCC-recruited lifelong corrupt Republican, Patrick Murphy, who Wall Street and Chuck Schumer-- I know, I know: redundant-- picked to oppose Marco Rubio, destroying Alan Grayson in the process and guaranteeing Rubio another 6 year term.

It used to surprise me when crooked conservative Dems like Emanuel, Hoyer and Chris Van Hollen recruited Republicans to run as Democrats. Now it's practically standard operating procedure for the DCCC. Last cycle DCCC-recruited Republicans masquerading as Democratic candidates (like Monica Vernon in Iowa, Mike Derrick in New York, Randy Perkins in that old Palm Beach seat... just a few examples) went down in flames. Unfortunately two former Republican office-holders didn't. Charlie Crist (FL) and Tom O'Halleran (AZ) are both in Congress now and, predictably, both are spending more vote time across the aisle than with the Democrats. O'Halleran is a full-fledged Republican in all but party affiliation. His ProgressivePunch crucial vote score was a ZERO until last week when he finally found something to vote on with the Democrats. His score-- still an "F"-- obviously, is now 27.27-- third worst after wretched Blue Dogs Stephanie Murphy (FL) and Josh Gottheimer (NJ). Crist's score is also among the dozen worst Democrats in Congress-- 40.0. Ryan and McCarthy can count on them both whenever they want to pretend one of their murderous agenda items is "bipartisan."

You would think the Democrats' record of abject failure with recruiting Republicans and trying to pass them off as real Democrats would be something they would have learned not to do. But you'd be wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. The DCCC believes it's how to win seats and they continue doing it-- in the face of years of evidence to the contrary-- compliments of brain-deficient conservative shitheads on the DCCC recruitment committee like Blue Dog Cheri Bustos (IL) and New Dem Denny Heck (WA). The DCCC's favorite recruits are always wealthy Republicans who they can get to "switch" their registration from GOP to Democrat. Even though Kelly Ward is finally gone as executive director, just watch all the garbage candidates the DCCC drags out from under rocks in the red districts Hillary won in November. They're already up to their old tricks.

For example... they're interested in 2 Austin Republican multimillionaires, Joseph Kopser and Chad Kissinger. (One of the DCCC idiots told me that Berniecrat Tom Wakely is "too progressive for the district," even though he beat the conservative Democrat in last year's primary and then went on-- with no money and no support from the DCCC-- to come closer to beating Lamar Smith than any Democrat ever has previously. You can contribute to Tom's campaign here.) One of the worst of the new dip-shits the DCCC hired, Kyle Layman, is running around trying to recruit conservative candidates for California seats. Perhaps that was how Orange County wound up with "ex"-Republican Harley Rouda running against current Republican Dana Rohrabacher in CA-48, a district where Republicans just couldn't pull themselves to vote for Trump. Though Romney beat Obama there 54.7% to 43.0%, Hillary bested Trumpanzee 47.9% to 46.2%. The DCCC has never run a candidate against Rohrabacher so unless an anti-Trump/Ryan tsunami does all the work for them, they'll fail again in 2018 with their pet Republican. And there are lots of little assholes like Kyle Layman working, coast to coast, for the DCCC, digging up Republicans to pretend to be quasi-Democrats. We talk a lot about the Republican wing of the Democratic Party here but that isn't just Blue Dogs and New Dems; it's also actual Republicans recruited by the DCCC. No quasi-Democrats at the Blue America 2018 thermometer below:

Why Hasn't Anyone Done A Reality Show About Congress Yet? Or Did I Miss It?

I had a wonderful dinner last night with a former Republican congressman. He's still a Republican-- a relatively enlightened one--but he's no longer a congressman, although he could be again someday. What a delightful and erudite guy... and so chock full of stories that I hope I can remember and relate to everyone as time passes. Like this one...

It's late summer, 1998. Clinton is presidente and Newt is Speaker. Clinton has signed a not very substantive bill prohibiting discriminating against federal workers because of their sexual orientation. (Remember Joe McCarthy is long dead and no one has tried this since... but Clinton had to give the gays something after he inflicted DOMA and DADT on the country.) But the religious right went berserk, as they tend to. And back then one of the crazier of their pet members was a Colorado sociopath named Joel Hefley. He proposed an amendment to the Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations bill that was meant to roll back Clinton's meager pro-equality policy. My dinner partner went charging into Gingrich's office, past startled and unhappy flunkies, and demanded Gingrich stop what he was doing to talk with him about Hefley. They argued but eventually Gingrich agreed to force Hefley to withdraw the offensive amendment. And then our hero, said, "No, don't... we'll beat him on the floor tomorrow." And they did. 63 Republicans joined 188 Democrats to defeat the hateful and bigoted amendment. It went down 252-176. Of course 15 homophobic and reactionary Democrats, mostly Blue Dogs, voted with the GOP. Several of the Blue Dogs subsequently became Republicans, as Blue Dogs eventually do, and most of the rest were subsequently defeated or retired; the only ones who are still in Congress today who voted for the amendment are Ralph Hall (now a Republican), Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog-NC) and Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN). Many Republican bigots who voted for Hefley's amendment are still in Congress today-- and still voting against equality for he LGBT community. Among those who are vulnerable to defeat in November are Charlie Bass (R-NH), Buck McKeon (R-CA), Joe Pitts (R-PA), and Ed Royce (R-CA). If you want to help their opponents this year, you'll find Ann Kuster, Lee Rogers, Aryanna Strader and Jay Chen here on this page. And by the way, most of the GOP closet queens in the House at the time voted NO, except Lindsay Graham (R-SC). So who's the hero of which I speak? Get ready... Mark Foley. Long time DWT readers might find that somewhat ironic. But, on the other hand, we had lots to talk about.

Unlike right-wing extremists Rick Santorum, Roy Blunt and Jim DeMint who endorsed him this morning, Rep. Foley is no fan of Todd Akin-- who once offered to "cure" him-- and something happened to Akin yesterday that is also an important piece of the Mark Foley puzzle, a piece I have written about before but a piece no one has ever been in the slightest bit interested in. It's about the important date a toxic candidate can no longer withdraw from an election, or at least a date on which the candidate's name will be on the ballot no matter what happens. Dead candidates have been on the ballot because of that and, as long as we're discussing a Missouri Senate seat, a candidate for that, Gov. Mel Carnahan died in a plane crash on October 16, 2000 and was elected to the U.S. Senate three weeks later, beating unhinged right-wing fanatic and incumbent John Ashcroft. Anyway, yesterday at 5pm, the deadline passed for Todd Akin-- Claire McCaskill's handpicked candidate-- to get off the ballot. He's widely viewed as unelectable, generally because he's deranged and insane and specifically because of that whole "legitimate rape" thing. Even if Karl Rove has him murdered-- as he threatened to do and as he probably did to Paul Wellstone-- Akin would still be on the ballot in November. Claire McCaskill has been such a pitifully mediocre senator that it would have been inconceivable she could have been reelected unless someone as bad as Akin were her opponent.

Now, back to Foley. Back in 2006 Blue America was backing a hardworking grassroots school teacher against Foley, who was one of the better-financed Republicans, a guy who was well-known and well-liked in his district. Our school teacher, Dave Lutrin, had little money and less chance to beat Foley, although with Foley there was always the chance that something would happen to out him as a closeted homosexual. It shocked me when Rahm Emanuel and Steny Hoyer went nuclear on Lutrin and forced him out of the race. I'd seen them do similar things to progressives candidates, but never in a district where it didn't matter. I mean, why play so dirty when Foley was going to win anyway? But dirty it was-- they dried up all Lutrin's support and cash and literally forced him out of the race. And why? Rahm had found his favorite kind of candidate, a sleazy, corrupt conservative Republican who was willing to change his registration-- the way Patrick Murphy recently did to run in the same district by the way-- but only if Rahm and Hoyer could guarantee there would be no primary. Tim Mahoney was that Republican and he switched parties and started bragging to everyone that he would win because a huge scandal was going to break that would destroy Foley. He knew. He knew because Rahm told him. The problem is that knew for over a year but instead of moving to protect the congressional pages, Rahm moved to use the information for partisan gain-- and the hell with the pages. If they were in danger, he didn't give a damn. That's Rahm, always the sociopath and narcissist. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, needless to say, was in on this caper as well. Everyone sat tight on the info and they broke the story the day after it was too late for Foley-- who immediately resigned his seat (September 29, 2006) under threat of expulsion from Denny Hastert-- to get his name off the ballot. What a coincidence, huh?

Mahoney ran, as a Democrat, against Foley's name (with some other poor schnook explaining that if voters voted for the "child molester" he-- the schnook-- would get the seat. It actually almost worked! Mahoney won with 49% while "Foley" got 48%, 3% going to an independent. In Congress Mahoney promptly joined the Blue Dog caucus, set about compiling a corporately-funded campaign chest, a quasi-Republican voting record-- and a sex scandal to rival Foley's. He lost his re-election bid and a pathetic Republican zombie, Tom Rooney, replaced him after one pathetic term. Rahm Emanuel's greatest hit!

Monday I got to ask Foley if he knew. Did he ever! 

File Under: You Can't Make This Stuff Up (FL-16 Again)

Florida's 16th congressional district is famous for roughly the same reason I started treating the DCCC as the bad player it has proven itself to be. Start with a longtime incumbent, whose alcoholism and closeted homosexuality-- both widely known Inside-the-Beltway-- had combined to create a very sick yen for being caught molesting underage boys. And he was. But congressional leadership, primarily Republican congressional leadership, covered up for him. Rahm Emanuel, then head of the DCCC saw Mark Foley's crumbling world as an opportunity to pick up a House seat in a relatively red district. So he kept his mouth shut too-- complicit in allowing Foley to have his way with young congressional pages (primarily the sons of big GOP donors). Long story, short: Emanuel with Steny Hoyer, froze the legitimate Democratic candidate running against Foley-- Dave Lutrin-- out of the race and enticed a wealthy lifelong Republican, Tim Mahoney, into the race (delivering on their promise of an uncontested primary and a "special circumstance" for the general). The special circumstance was how the media exploded into an orgy of Mark Foley Caught With His Pants Down (in a boys dorm).

Although Foley resigned and checked into a posh clinic for naughty Republicans, it was conveniently too late to get his toxic name off the ballot and Mahoney was elected-- though just barely (49-48%). Mahoney went on to revert to voting with his fellow-Republicans and to chase women all over town. His one term ended in scandal, amid sexual escapades, payoffs, hush money and all sorts of things normally associated with Republicans (which, of course, he was, despite the deceptive blue jersey) and now extremely entitled son of Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney has taken possession of the seat. Old news, right? Certainly... but whatever is old...

A few weeks ago David Lutrin called and asked if Doug Kahn and I would help him run against Rooney. We agreed and were especially excited because there was already a raving teabagger, Republican Jim Horn, in the race which would surely split the Republican base allowing a Democrat to win. (Obama only took 47% of the district, about the same as Gore and Kerry.) Horn is a kook who went to the same college-- SUNY, Stony Brook-- as I did and he was a typical Republican climber, devoted in all ways to the whole Greed and Selfishness ethos that so afflicts right-wingers.

Anyway, a week later Lutrin decided his family wasn't prepared for him to run and he withdrew, leaving a retired airline pilot, Stan Smilan, as the Democrat in the race. Problem was Smilan didn't want a primary so when the teabagger decided to pull off his red jersey and don a blue one, declaring himself a candidate for the Democratic nomination, Smilan withdrew, leaving FL-16 voters with a choice between two Republicans... again!

I wonder how long it will take Debbie Wasserman Schultz to embrace Horn, despite this public record of political contributions:

Jim Horn, a Palm City businessman, on Monday changed his voter registration from Republican to Democrat at the Martin County Supervisor of Elections Office, and also amended his ballot designation for the Congressional District 16 race from no party affiliation to Democrat... Horn, calling himself a “Traditional Values Democrat,” noted that he comes from a family of Democrats from New York.

“I was talking to my uncle the other day about my candidacy, he’s still in Manhatattan, he said, “Bring your values to the Democratic Party like we did when we were younger,” Horn said. “You don’t have to accept what everyone is saying.”

“Unfortunately, I believe he will be an embarrassment to the Democrats,” Smilan stated. “In my opinion his presence on the ballot will be very divisive. He will reflect very poorly on the Democratic Party and drag down the ticket.”

Friday's the last day for filing... and, believe it or not, Mahoney wants to give it another shot.

There's Only One Good Guy In This List Of Characters: Dave Lutrin, Mark Foley, Rahm Emanuel, Tim Mahoney, Tom Rooney

In our one brief phone conversation, Democrat Chris Craft didn't impress me much. The popular St. Lucie County Commissioner seemed like a nice enough guy but wet behind the ears, not terribly savvy on the national issues and likely to follow a conservative Blue Dog line in national politics. I talk to cookie cutter DCCC candidates like that all the time. I didn't think he'd be able to make much of a dent in any incumbent's armor with his me-too brand of Republican-lite messaging, not even against a dim bulb like Tom Rooney (R-FL). When, predictably, he dropped out of the race a couple weeks ago I think I may have tweeted it. He wasn't only unimpressive; he was uninspiring.

The district, on the other hand (FL-16), is one I follow closely. Adam, the old DWT art director, lives there and Doug, the guy who's running Blue America's anti-Blue Dog efforts, lives a few blocks out of the district. And the district has an interesting recent history. Mark Foley was elected congressman in 1994, got caught molesting congressional pages, and resigned in 2006. Before it became known outside of political circles that he was gay-- let alone imposing on young boys-- Foley was seen as unbeatable by Democrats; the district has a PVI of R+2 and the incumbent was well-liked. He had been re-elected in 2004 with 68% of the vote (while Bush only won the district with 54%). But an idealistic, progressive school teacher, Dave Lutrin, decided to run anyway; brave soul. And Blue America decided to back him. And along came... Rahm Emanuel (with Steny Hoyer, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Republican hack Tim Mahoney in tow). Emanuel knew what few others at the time did: the Foley case was going to explode in the national media. He scrambled to recruit a conservative who he felt-- for whatever reason-- could win the race. That would exclude a progressive person without the capacity to self-fund: Dave Lutrin. Instead he persuaded a registered, putatively wealthy shady Republican business man-- Mahoney-- to switch registration and "become" a Democrat. Hoyer, Emanuel and Wasserman Schultz clamped down on endorsements, campaign funds and everything else for Lutrin and forced him out of the race, giving the Republican a clear path to the Democratic nomination.

Mahoney ran, as a Democrat, against Foley's name (with some other poor schnook explaining that if voters voted for the child molester he-- the schnook-- would get the seat. It actually almost worked! Mahoney won with 49% while "Foley" got 48%, 3% going to an independent. In Congress Mahoney promptly set about compiled a corporately-funded campaign chest, a quasi-Republican voting record-- and a sex scandal to rival Foley's. He lost his re-election bid and a pathetic Republican zombie, Tom Rooney, is holding the seat, getting the idea that rote obstructionism is what being in Congress is about.

It was widely reported last week that Mahoney thinks it may be time for him to run for the seat again, presumably as a Democrat. Apparently, someone has told him that... scandal is back in again? Yesterday Dave Lutrin called me and told me he's running. This will be a classic example of the media and the DC insiders looking down their noses at a regular middle class American who dares to think he can run for what is increasingly an all millionaires club. We'll schedule a live session with him at C&L asap.

Former Florida Congressional Candidate Spills The Beans On The DCCC

I didn't know Carol McLean when she was a congressional candidate in Mark Foley's old district, FL-16, but I just did a search of her name here at DWT and came up with one mention of a race that the DCCC ruthlessly cleared the field for their candidate, a Rahm Emanuel-recruited Republican sex predator, Tim Mahoney, who spent his entire one term in office voting with the GOP and then got caught in a sex scandal and was defeated in what turned out to be an otherwise major Democratic year. Carol, from the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party, wrote eloquently about her experience as a Democratic candidate the DCCC deep-sixed in favor of the Republican predator.

She talked about how the DCCC had recruited Mahoney, still a wealthy-- and lame-brained, corrupt and stinking from shady business practices-- Republican to run for Foley's seat (at a time when Emanuel, who never reported it to the police, knew Foley was sexually preying on underage congressional pages).

I too had gotten a call from DC, as did David Lutrin, about the election. However, it wasn't to ask me to run-- it was to ask me to drop out. When I inquired why, they told me that they already had a good candidate (Mahoney) who had $2 million to put into his campaign. They asked me how much I had. Well, if I counted the $5 McDonalds coupon in my wallet, it came to exact $13. I was going to raise my funds by grassroots. They scoffed that off, and told me they would not back me. Fine! However, as a person who has been a member of the Democratic Party longer than Mahoney's seven weeks, I was still going to run-- with or without them. I added that I was unaware that the elections were limited to only rich candidates. Congress is already filled with rich, good old boys ... And they've gotten us to where we are today. Perhaps its time to vote in the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker... and the teacher.

I turned to David Lutrin who was beaming at this point, and said, you people know that Mr. Lutrin and I are both teachers. You know how we earn our money, and you know how much we make. I don't know what Internet finance is, but I know that mainstream America doesn't have millions, and that these rich good old boys are so far detached from mainstream America that they have no idea how we live... The rich good old boys passed CAFTA to outsource our jobs to Central and South America. They have us import our food from Mexico, why won't they let us import our medicines from Canada? …Because the rich good old boys run the pharmaceutical companies.

But this post was meant to be about 2006. It's about 2010. Yesterday I ran into Carol and we wound up exchanging horror stories about the DCCC. Right now they are attempting to do to Doug Tudor just what they did to her and Dave Lutrin. In 2006 the reactionary they pushed was Tim Mahoney. This year it's Lori Edwards, an even worse candidate who bragged in a fundraising letter yesterday that "we have been designated a "Top Target" by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee! She claims it was because of all the money she brought in, but that money was given to her by the Blue Dogs and at a fundraiser given by sleazy Florida Democrats Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Allen Boyd at a DC lobbyist firm. Here's an invitation (in case you weren't invited):


Today Carol shared with me an exchange of letters with DCCC Executive Director Jon Vogel. Since I don't have his permission, I won't publish his defensive letter to Carol. But I do want to share her final letter to him (with her permission, of course):

At least the DSCC has the decency not to keep hitting me up for money. But I'll forward my earlier email to them too.

The DCCC feigns support for the Democratic congressional candidates but that's not what really happens, is it? Here's my personal experience:

In 2006 I ran for US Congress in Florida #16 as a Democrat. David Lutrin, a good and decent family man and a true Democrat also ran for the same seat as a Democrat against me. Mark Foley held the position-- but after I decided to run the Foley scandal came to light. That's when the DCCC got involved, when Foley vacated the seat. When we went to meet with the DCCC in Washington DC, Rahm Emmanuel agreed to meet with us only if we didn't get "pushy."

The DCCC Chairman asked me how I was going to raise funds for my election. I told them it would be a grassroots campaign since I was just a school teacher. He told me directly that the DCCC didn't believe in grassroots, wouldn't support a grassroots, and that I had to have $250,000 in my war chest before they would even consider me a candidate.

Although DFA was very supportive, apparently neither Lutrin nor I were viable candidates in the eye of the DCCC. So Rahm, along with Nancy Pelosi told David and me to clear the field for their chosen candidate. They said he was a millionaire and had $2 million to put in to the campaign. I asked "if I have $3 million does that make me a better candidate?" They missed my sarcasm. "Do you have $3 million?"

My response was, "No, I just wanted to see how much you charge me to run for office."

This guy, Tim Mahoney, was perfect in that he was rich. In fact he was not a liberal or progressive; he was not pro-union, he was anti-choice... HE WASN'T EVEN A DEMOCRAT!! But Rahm and Nancy wined and dined this guy, convinced him to run and took him down to file his papers for candidacy. But first, they asked him to make one small change... they said he really should quit the GOP and join the Democratic party. He joined that morning and filed that afternoon. He was a "Blue Dog" ... nice name for Republican in Democrat's clothing. I assume you know the rest of the story. How many ladies did he have sex with and get pregnant? That's his family values? He voted with the Republicans. He got thrown out of office. His wife divorced him and cleaned out his millions (good for her!) and the Republicans got the seat in Congress back in 2008.

Good job, DCCC!!

I am now with a support group that mentors neophyte Congressional candidates and tries to raise money for them when the DCCC won't. We want the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker in Congress. You can keep the Mahoneys and the other bums.

Carol McLean

And here they are doing it in Florida again, this time trying to strong arm Doug Tudor's allies and past supporters into endorsing their vile and reactionary Blue Dog. We can't let them keep getting away with this kind of behavior. I doubt anyone who reads this blog gives money to the DCCC or its equally reprehensible anti-grassroots sister organizations, the DSCC and the DNC. But spread the word; tell your friends and please consider donating to real deal progressives instead of Insider hacks. Give to Dog Tudor and other non-DCCC candidates and Send the Democratic Party a Message It Can Understand.

Rahm Emanuel Reaches Out To Republicans-- And THAT Is Supposed To Be News?

About a month or so ago an old friend, know of the antipathy and disdain with which I hold Rahm Emanuel, asked me if I would have voted for Obama even if I knew he was going to appoint Emanuel his chief of staff. Before I blurted out, "No!," I said, "Well there's nothing that would have ever gotten me to have voted for John McCain. Ask me in a year and hindsight we allow me to give you  a better answer."

Mike Leibovich pridefully referred to his co-religionist-- a man I've often called the Democratic Party's doppelganger for Tom DeLay and with whom I nearly had a first fight last April in a Washington bar-- "arguably the second most powerful man in the country and, just a few days into his tenure, already one of the highest-profile chiefs of staff in recent memory."

Leibovich professes shock and awe that Emanuel "has been an ardent ambassador to Republicans, including Mr. Obama’s defeated rival, Senator John McCain of Arizona." Why? Yes, Emanuel has long been a "fierce partisan," as is always pointed out, but not especially on behalf of Democratic Party values or principles. Emanuel's always been a vicious little gut fighter who likes to win-- regardless of what the game is or how the teams are divided. As for reaching out to Republicans... Emanuel was wrongly credited with the Democratic midterm landslide of 2006, when he was chair of the DCCC. By using DCCC financial clout as a club he was able to "persuade" countless grassroots, anti-war progressives to either drop out of contested primaries or to "moderate" their views, especially the anti-Iraq war views. (Emanuel is and has always been a die-hard Iraq War supporter and, basically, and American Likudnik.) I may blame him for the defeats of progressive candidates like Lois Murphy, Christine Cegelis, Dave Lutrin, Steve Porter, Charlie Brown, Larry Kissell, Diane Benson, Angie Paccione, Ellen Simon but there are two candidates even I give him total credit for: Tim Mahoney and Heath Shuler. Both are Republicans.

Heath Shuler was a Tennessee celebrity, a mediocre quarterback whose only recorded political contribution before he recently decided he was a Democrat-- and a candidate-- was $1,000 for Republican Lamar Alexander. Shuler's family gave generously to familiar names-- almost exclusively Republican names-- like George Bush, Zach Wamp, Bob Corker, and John Duncan. The GOP was trying to entice him to run for Congress in Tennessee. Emanuel swooped in and persuaded him he would have a far better chance to win in North Carolina against corrupt and damaged Charlie Taylor-- as a Democrat, a pro-war, pro-business, anti-choice, xenophobic, reactionary... Democrat. Shuler did win and has racked up a voting record in Congress that Emanuel is probably very proud of: on substantive matters he's been the 4th most frequent aisle crosser in the Democratic caucus, only marginally less likely to support the GOP agenda than fellow Dixiecrat Travis Childers (MS) and a pair of Indiana reactionaries, Joe Donnelly and Brad Ellsworth, also Emanuel recruits.

Mahoney is an even clearer case of reaching out to Republicans. Mahoney was a lifelong Republican. But he was a rich one and Emanuel knew a little secret about a certain closeted GOP incumbent in Florida. It was hardly news that Mark Foley was gay and alcoholic. What Emanuel did know was that Foley was about to star in his own TV scandal: Republican hypocrite resigns after molesting young male pages. Emanuel told Mahoney that if he switched his party registration to Democrat, he would clear the primary field for him and guarantee him a seat in Congress. And he did and Mahoney promptly joined the Blue Dogs-- as Shuler did-- and started voting like the Republican he still was.

Mr. Leibovich may not know that. The Times is in financial trouble and they don't hire qualified reporters any longer; too expensive. It doesn't cost nearly as much to hire puff piece writers. And if there is one thing Rahm Emanuel knows how to do well, it is to work with puff piece writers. That, after all, is how he got where he is. Some of the puffery sounds exactly like the kind of stuff Rahm and his staff have written for "reporters" in the past:

He is not accustomed to fading discreetly into the background. As a staff member in the Clinton White House, a three-term House member from Chicago and the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, he was viewed by many as a consummate purveyor of a crass, kneecapping brand of politics.

This also sounds like it was more likely to have come from Emanuel's office than from... say, Joe Biden's:

Emanuel initially resisted taking the job. He came around after Mr. Obama insisted, saying these were momentous times and that the awesome tasks he faced required Mr. Emanuel’s help. The president-elect also assured Mr. Emanuel that the position would be the functional equivalent of “a No. 2” or “right-hand man,” according to a person familiar with their exchanges.

When Leibovich quotes Emanuel saying that Republicans are “bad people who deserve a two-by-four upside their heads,” he doesn't seem to realize that the word "Republicans" would just as easily be "progressives," "grassroots upstarts," or, better yet, "anyone not on my team."

It Isn't Only Republican Slime Who Need To Be Driven From Office... There Are Also Nominal Democrats Just As Bad... Remember Tim Mahoney?

Tim Mahoney: GOP hypocrite disguised as nominal Democrat

Regular DWT readers already know that we help raise a good deal of money for progressive candidates. As you can see at ActBlue, the only netroots fundraising operations that have surpassed ours was John Edwards' presidential campaign and the DailyKos, MyDD & Swing State Project effort, Netroots Candidates. We have more donors and have raised more cash than even Barbara Boxer's professionally-run PAC For Change, or Wes Clark's WesPAC. And, believe me, it's a lot tougher raising money for congressional candidates-- our job-- than it is raising money for Obama. That guy's on the TV every day! Eleven of our 2006 candidates are now members of the House and three U.S. Senators were elected with our help. This year we think more than a dozen of our House challengers will win and at least a few of our tough race Senate candidates will also win.

But you've probably also noticed that here at DWT we don't hesitate to call out reactionary and corrupt Democrats. We're in the business of helping to elect progressive leaders, not coddling nominal Democrats from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. We don't endorse them and we don't look the other way when they, inevitably, get into trouble.

There's a huge buzz today about public enemy #1, Rahm Emanuel, and one of his butt-boys, Tim Mahoney, a Republican he recruited in 2006 to run as a Democrat based on one factor: Republican incumbent Mark Foley is a sex pervert. Emanuel and Hoyer drove a progressive, grassroots union member, Dave Lutrin, out of the primary to make way for a repulsive countryclub Republican, Mahoney. Since getting into the House, Mahoney has had a basically moderate Republican/Blue Dog voting record. Judging from the tough substantive votes that divide the two parties, Mahoney has basically rubber stamped Bush's agenda 48% of the time and voted with the Democrats 52% of the time. Only 12 Democratic freshmen have worse voting records (i.e., voting more with the GOP than with their own party). Across a broad array of issues, Bush and John Boehner have been able to count on Mahoney.

And if Mahoney votes like a Republican, and seems like a Republican, and sounds like a Republican, it's because he is, to the depths of his being, a Republican. You want proof? He was caught in a sex scandal. He and Emanuel have been covering it up and there's a tape of him treating the woman exactly how you would expect a Republican to treat someone in this situation. "The only person that matters is guess who? Me," said Mahoney. "You understand that. That is how life really is. That is how it works." You can listen to the tape and read more about it TPM. Pelosi has called for an investigation. Let's hope this wrecks Emanuel's career. He's the biggest impediment to progressive values in the entire Congress. Needless to say, John Boehner, a typically corrupt bucket of slime, is trying to drum up some outrage over this mess but all he'll do is make people think it's typical partisan bickering with pots calling kettles black.

Less well known, and less likely to impact anyone's election chances, is how another fake Democrat, Bill Foster, the conservative who replaced Denny Hastert, has been distancing himself from the Democratic Party. During the high-profile primary and original race against Jim Oberweis, a multimillionaire, lunatic fringe ice cream maker the GOP put up to replace Hastert, Foster used the tagline "Scientist, Businessman, Democrat" on his website and on all his ads. Since getting into Congress and voting with the Republicans on key issues-- like keeping the war in Iraq going-- Foster has also changed his little slogan. Now he's using:

"Scientist, Businessman, Independent Solutions"

And instead of helping to build the Democratic brand in IL-14, he's doing all he can to distance himself from it and brag to voters that he's just the same as a Republican, the worst thing a Democrat can ever do.

"I'm getting a lot of people saying they're supporting McCain," Foster said of voters who plan to punch Foster's name on Nov. 4.

He reports a lot of McCain supporters have said they'll punch Foster's name on the ballot on Nov. 4.

Obama's home state! And Foster's campaign-- and his voting habits-- are playing to Republicans and ignoring progressives. So... Blue America will never ask you to endorse these kinds of make believe Democrats. The ones we endorse are progressives in their hearts and souls and who are in politics to serve the needs of working families. That's not Tim Mahoney and it's not Bill Foster. We should deal with Foster with a carefully planned primary for 2010. As for Mahoney, he could well lose his seat in 3 weeks. If he doesn't we should replace him-- again via primary-- with an actual Democrat. If he does manage to win again, it will probably be attributable to an anti-Republican tsunami getting ready to sweep that party from power in all but the most backward precincts. In case you're wondering what Republicans are saying about John McCain now and what's he done top their party, watch this:

COULD THE DEMOCRATS LOSE A HOUSE SEAT IN FLORIDA IN NOVEMBER? DEPENDS HOW YOU DEFINE "DEMOCRATS"

Last week Congressman Tim Mahoney of Florida voted for continuing the war in Iraq and for retroactive immunity. And why shouldn't he? After all, every single Florida Republican voted for both of those bills. All the Florida Republicans want to continue the war and all the Florida Republicans want to give Bush-- of all people-- the power to spy on people without warrants and the power to provide retroactive immunity to anyone inside or outside his regime who spied on American citizens illegally so that there are never trials and we never find out who got spied on or why. (And you may recall that, like all the Florida Republican congressmen, Mahoney has announced he does not support Barack Obama for president.) The problem, though, is that 2 years ago lifelong Republican Tim Mahoney, at the urging of Rahm Emanuel, switched his party registration and became a "Democrat."

I love when bigoted, greed-obsessed Republicans like Mahoney see the light and flee from the GOP embracing the progressive values and principles of the Democratic Party. Unfortunately, that isn't what happened... not at all. What did happen is that Emanuel got drift of the yet-to-be-revealed Mark Foley sex scandal-- still being referred to by the corporate media as a case of inappropriate e-mails even though several former congressional pages have talked openly about Foley have sexual relations with the pages; besides when Foley was caught breaking into the males pages dormitory after midnight, I sincerely doubt he was trying to borrow someone's laptop so he could send an inappropriate e-mail. In any case, Emanuel didn't take his information to the police or in any way seek to protect the innocent pages in Congress' charge. Instead he found a wealthy Republican who he promised the Democratic nomination to run for what he knew would be an open seat. Mahoney jumped at the chance and Emanuel and Hoyer then put immense pressure on progressive, anti-war school teacher, Dave Lutrin, an actual Democrat, to get out of the race. The congressional heroes of continued war funding and warrantless wiretaps managed to dry up Lutrin's donor base-- a slimy tactic they used over and over and over in 2006 in race after race-- and forced him out of the race.

So why rehash that today? Is it just because Mahoney has gone on to distinguish himself as one of the 20 Democrats who votes most frequently-- on contested substantive matters-- with his old mates, the Republicans? He certainly does, but that isn't the reason for today's post. Instead, the inspiration was a story in this morning's CQPolitics, Republicans in Florida Race Try to Move Past Foley Scandal by Rachel Kapochunas. CQ rates the race a toss-up, a really big danger sign for an incumbent. I suspect they're not even taking into account that Mahoney's voting record, closer, substantively, to local right-wing Republicans like Mario and Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Ric Keller, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Bill Young, and Vern Buchanan than it is to Robert Wexler's or Alcee Hastings', the progressive Democrats with whom he shares Palm Beach County, is likely to depress turn out from at least some traditional Democrats who are not eager to support a Republican-lite candidate like Mahoney. Joe Negron, who battled Mahoney for the seat in 2006 after the scandal forced Foley to retire prematurely, says the race could go either way.

It's ironic that the enthusiasm for change being generated by Barack Obama, a candidate Mahoney won't even endorse, is likely to save his worthless skin. And then he can work towards defeating all the initiatives Obama wants to make.

Meanwhile the three in the race who admit they are Republicans, Tom Rooney, who owns the Pittsburgh Steelers, far right state Rep. Gayle Harrell, and equally right-wing Palm Beach Gardens City Councilman Hal Valeche, are concentrating on undercutting each other in a vicious and incredibly expensive primary battle while attempting, incomprehensibly, to paint the very conservative Mahoney as a liberal. So far Valeche raised (or self-funded) $738,000; Rooney reported $693,000, and Harrell raised $547,000. Mahoney, a Blue Dog who caters to every special interest with a checkbook, was rewarded for voting with the GOP more than almost any other Democrat with a very plum assignment on the House Financial Services Committee, which lends itself well to massive bribes. He has raised more than the 3 Republicans combined.

Mahoney authored two bills, an incontroversial one establishing a Navy SEALS museum in Fort Pierce and one to protect businesses from class action lawsuits by consumers who have been victimized by businesses inadvertently leaving credit card expiration information on receipts. According to CQ's calculations, Mahoney is one of the 15 most disloyal Democrats, right up there with right-wing Dixiecrats and Blue Dogs like John Barrow, Jim Marshall, Melissa Bean, Heath Shuler, Chris Carney, Joe Donnelly, Dan Boren, etc.

Mahoney, who has pushed a “pro-business” agenda, is a member of the Blue Dogs, a coalition of Democrats who consider themselves fiscal conservatives, and the New Democrat Coalition, made up of party members who tout themselves as moderate, pro-business lawmakers.

Mahoney voted with most House Republicans against most members of his own party on 15 percent of the mainly party-line votes held in 2007, according to a Congressional Quarterly vote study. That opposition score put Mahoney among the 15 Democrats who broke with their party most often that year.

Mahoney goes to great pains to convince the lazy, credulous media that he is a moderate. And he is-- if you compare him to Mean Jean Schmidt, John Boehner, Mike Pence, Marilyn Musgrave or Patrick McHenry. If you stack up his voting record against the records of actual moderate Democrats like Bruce Braley, Chris Murphy, Mike Arcuri. Phil Hare or Joe Sestak (all freshmen elected on the same day as Mahoney) then you see that Mahoney is not a moderate at all, but a right-wing Republican disguised as a Democrat... and it pays well.

Tim Mahoney: "I don't owe the (Democratic) Party anything."

Slimy fake Democrat Mahoney

Both our Art Director, Adam, and our Constitutional Law Expert, Jon, live in West Palm Beach, the district that was formerly represented by Republican Mark Foley, who was caught molesting young boys, and is now represented by Republican Tim Mahoney, who was caught changing his voter registration when Rahm Emanuel found out about the pending sex scandal and allowed Foley to keep right on keeping on. So presto, lifelong corrupt countryclub Republican Tim Mahoney became an instant Democrat, Emanuel and Hoyer chased school teacher and Democratic activist Dave Lutrin out of the primary by drying up his fundraising-- after all, he was not only in a labor union, he was against the war at a time when Emanuel was telling Democratic candidates that being against the war was the kiss of death-- and it was; he and Hoyer would destroy your campaign if you persisted. Anyway, yesterday, Adam, who was very much part of the lost battle to keep Lutrin in the race in 2006, breathlessly warned me that Jon was considering going to work for Mahoney. That turned out to be baloney, of course, although Jon was doing some research on one of the worst of the Democratic freshmen. Here's Jon's report:


What do you call a freshman Congressman who publicly refuses to endorse his party's nominee? My Republican friend tartly responded "one who doesn't want to be a sophomore Congressman." For once, I agree with him.

Congressman Tim Mahoney told reporters he would remain uncommitted in the presidential primary, and would probably skip the Convention altogether. From the Palm Beach Post: "I'm a Democrat, but am I going to have a pep rally or something like that? No, I'm not going to do that." Translation: I'm technically a Democrat, but only because that position was open.

Tim Mahoney was a Republican as late as the 2004 election. He switched to the Democratic Party in 2005 and squeaked by in Florida's 16th District in 2006, barely beating the stand-in for Mark Foley. (Foley's name was still on the ballot). As noted in the Miami Herald:

The Democratic establishment went to bat to help Mahoney beat a more experienced Republican, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars and fighting the GOP's perfectly reasonable effort to take Foley's name off the ballot. Union officials knocked on doors. Former Sen. Bob Graham campaigned with Mahoney in the homestretch.

But Congressman Mahoney doesn't appreciate the help.

''I don't owe the party anything,'' said Mahoney, whose election helped the Democrats take control of Congress. "If anybody owes anybody anything, it's [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi who owes a debt to me.''

One might be tempted to assume that any district which would almost pick Foley over the challenger is a bastion of conservatism. Not true. Florida's 16th district is only R+2. So why does Congressman Mahoney feel it necessary to go out of his way to bash his party and their brand new presidential nominee? [Remember, he was one of only 7 reactionary, anti-military Democrats (craven Blue Dogs Melissa Bean, Dan Boren, Joe Donnelly, Brad Ellsworth, Nick Lampson, and Jim Matheson) to join the far right Republican dead-enders in opposing the 2008 GI Bill.] Mahoney says his stance is not politically motivated. I would hope not. It would be quite disingenuous, politically speaking, for a brand new Democratic Congressman to distance himself from his party's wildly popular presidential candidate in what could be a transformative election that results in an abiding new ruling coalition.

Although Congressman Mahoney's political strategy might be wrongheaded, I find it hard to believe that his decision is unrelated to self-interest. Mahoney's boilerplate rationale is that he "wasn't elected to be a role model as to how people should vote." No, he was elected to represent his constituents, who chose him over the Republican candidate. When a majority votes a candidate in, under the Democratic Party label, it should go without saying that the person will caucus with, and stand by, the party under whose banner he ran, at least when it comes to supporting that party's new leader. Instead, Congressman Mahoney bites the hand that fed him. He does so with the sure knowledge that Florida, per usual, could put the Democrats over the top this election, and that a high turnout in Palm Beach County is essential to that end.

If Congressman Mahoney thinks he can save his endangered seat by pretending to be a Republican, he's crazy. Its one thing to compromise on a policy issue in order to appease a moderate base. Such an action might be admirable to many independent voters, peel off some Republican voters, and be at least palatable to the Democratic base as part of the compromise and the rough-and-tumble of politics. Its quite another thing to publicly dismiss an historic candidate in the week following his victory, at a time when even President Bush and Condi Rice are reveling in the excitement.

You can say what you want, but most Republicans value loyalty, and will see right through Mahoney's pathetic attempt to pander to them by publicly dismissing his party and their nominee in the most important election of our lifetimes. No one who was already going to vote against Congressman Mahoney will change his or her mind based on this decision. Most rank-and-file Republicans have the discipline to vote the party line regardless. This has always been a Republican strength. An unremarkable display of cowardice on Congressman Mahoney's part will do little to sway them. Moreover, Congressman Mahoney's betrayal burns a bridge with perhaps one constituency with the power to bankroll his fledgling re-election campaign: the netroots. When I personally heard that Congressman Mahoney is "the most endangered Congressman," I thought about volunteering and contributing to his campaign. But I quickly learned better. I will focus on canvassing for Obama, and will spend my limited resources on those local Democrats, such as Congressman Wexler, who I know will work with the Democratic Party, and with independent Republicans, to fundamentally change the direction of our country. When Obama is competing in every state, and there are true progressive candidates across Florida and around the country, no Democrat or progressive should waste their time and money on the candidacy of someone who is transparently biding his time, awaiting his "Zell Miller" moment. One lesson we might learn from the 2006 election is that the only thing worse than no change, is the illusion of change.

Cross-posted at FLA Politics.

-Jon Dodson

Democrats in south Florida should let Rahm Emanuel and the DCCC contribute to the swinish Mahoney. Democrats in FL-16 should instead consider donating money to a real Democrat-- really as in really great-- Joe Garcia, who will get to Congress and cancel out Mahoney's frequent votes for Bush's agenda. Garcia is running a grassroots campaign against Mario Diaz-Balart in FL-25 and you can donate to him at our Blue America page. Joe respects and admires both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and, unlike the craven Mahoney, is proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with Barack Obama to rescue our country from the mess Bush, the GOP and a small handful of treacherous Blue Dogs like Mahoney have made.

REPUBLICANS INTENT ON PICKING OFF REACTIONARY DEMOCRATS WHO VOTE LIKE REPUBLICANS

Bush Regime mouthpiece/right-wing propaganda sheet Weekly Standard is trying to bolster a counterintuitive notion that the GOP is not dead yet by quoting Democratic pollster Stu Rothenberg. Rothenberg acknowledges that the NRCC has some reason to be hopeful that they can minimize House losses by winning back a handful of seats that Democrats captured in deeply red districts. Rothenberg lists 5 as problematic for the Democrats.

Of them, a handful stand out because of their fundamentally Republican nature. Rep. Nick Lampson’s Texas district is horrible for Democrats, and that’s why he probably is the single most endangered Democrat who won in 2006. Yes, the Republican field has evolved in such a way that it now lacks big-name local officeholders, but that doesn’t change Lampson’s dubious prospects.

Reps. Nancy Boyda (Kan.), Christopher Carney (Pa.), Tim Mahoney (Fla.) and Jerry McNerney (Calif.) probably round out the top five ‘06 Democratic takeovers who are now vulnerable to a snapback...

If you examine the Progressive Punch rankings of every Democrat in the House you find Lampson way at the bottom of the barrel, far more likely to vote with the GOP than all but 3 reactionary Dixiecrats, John Barrow (GA), Gene Taylor (MS) and Jim Marshall (GA). Lampson's the 4th worst; not very inspiring for Democrats to go out and vote or to volunteer. But is it enough to convince actual Republicans to vote for him?

Chris Carney finds himself in a similar situation-- very red district, very Republican-friendly voting record that antagonizes every Democratic constituency except die-hard partisans who just want someone with a "D" next to their name, regardless how he votes on crucial values issues. Carney not only has a decidedly reactionary voting record, he has also developed a reputation for dishonesty and political expediency.

Tim Mahoney isn't even really a Democrat. Last year when Rahm Emanuel decided to take out hypocritical Republican closet queen/child predator Mark Foley, he found a wealthy countryclub Republican, Mahoney, convinced him to switch his party registration and run as a Democrat. In return Emanuel and Hoyer and their puppets at the pathetic excuse for a Florida Democratic Party knifed an anti-war grassroots progressive, Dave Lutrin, in the back so that Mahoney the Republican would have no opposition in a Democratic primary, and then made sure the Foley news was timed just right for an electoral win, Since coming to Congress Mahoney has supported the Bush Regime far more frequently than almost any other freshmen Democrats.

Nancy Boyda and Jerry McNerney have both racked up moderate voting records that reflect their red-leaning moderate districts. Each has a reputation in their district as a popular political straight-shooter and, although the DCCC is clueless about how to operate-- or even read-- either district, both seats are probably safe. Boyda was smart enough to tell the DCCC to keep out of her race altogether and let her do it on her own, the way she did last time. If McNerney is in trouble at all, with I doubt, it is because he has alienated his own personal core supporters in the progressive activist base. By burnishing his moderate credentials he may have lost many of his most avid volunteers and the goodwill of bloggers and activists but he has endeared himself to independents and moderate Republicans in the district and his seat looks far safer than freshmen who have chalked up truly reactionary voting records, particularly Lampson and Carney, the two Democrats I would bet will lose next year.

HOW BADLY DID RAHM EMANUEL'S ILLICIT TACTICS AT THE DCCC HURT THE DEMOCRATS' ABILITY TO END THE WAR AND PUT FORWARD PROGRESSIVE POLICIES?

Some of our readers thought DWT wasn't always fair to Rahm Emanuel last year. They wondered why they weren't reading about Emanuel's campaign antics anywhere else. Today Matt Renner published a very serious report at Truthout about Emanuel's Tom DeLay-like tactics in recruiting conservative, anti-grassroots candidates while knifing real Democrats in the process. He was rewarded with the #4 slot in the House Democratic leadership (and the #2 slot for his puppet ally). And, although he is no longer the head of the DCCC, he and his anti-grassroots faction are running the DCCC's recruitment operation.

According to Democratic candidates who ran for House of Representative seats in 2006, Rahm Emanuel, then head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, took sides during the Democratic primary elections, favoring conservative candidates, including former Republicans, and sidelining candidates who were running in favor of withdrawal from Iraq.

...According to his critics, Emanuel played kingmaker by financially supporting his favored candidates during primary contests with other Democrats. His critics say that this interference was in direct contradiction of a DCCC policy to "remain neutral" in party primaries.

Renner examines Emanuel's disastrous and counterproductive interference in IL-06's primary between Christine Cegelis and his own candidate, heavy handed anti-grassroots interference that guaranteed retention of the seat by the GOP. Renner also looked into a similar-- if less well-known-- situations in FL-13 between Jan Schneider and Christine Jennings and in FL-16 between Tim Mahoney and Dave Lutrin. Fortunately Emanuel failed in California where he and Ellen Tauscher tried inserting Steve Filson into the Democratic candidacy instead of eventual Pombo-slayer Jerry McNerney.

While Emanuel is given credit for turning power over to the Democratic Party in the House of Representatives, the majority is fractured.

Many of the candidates that Emanuel helped elect have joined with a group of self-styled conservative Blue Dog Democrats and have cast key votes with Republicans and stymied Democratic efforts to end the occupation of Iraq and the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program.

Thirteen of the Democratic members of the House elected in 2006 joined The Blue Dog Coalition; a group that, according to its spokesperson, has no official stance on withdrawal from Iraq or the president's warrantless wiretapping program. However, 30 out of 47 of the Blue Dog members broke with the majority of Democrats and cast votes in favor of the recent Protect America Act, a bill that greatly expanded the power of the executive branch to spy on Americans. The caucus also broke with the majority of Democrats when 40 of the Blue Dog members voted to continue funding the occupation of Iraq without a timetable for withdrawal.

In an interview shortly after his election, freshman Blue Dog member Tim Mahoney told the Charlotte Sun, a local paper from his district, that he attended a meeting with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and told her "The president should be free to maintain troops in Iraq, if the purpose is to thwart terrorism."

DEMOCRATS WHO HAVE NO CONVICTIONS ARE AS WORTHLESS AS REPUBLICANS-- MEET TIM MAHONEY OF FLORIDA

Today's NY Times, the paper of record, has published a story that purports to examine the plight of "moderate" Democrats stuck between rocks and hard places regarding Bush's war agenda and America's desire to end the war and get some action on turning the dire and worsening domestic economic situation around. The writer David Herszenhorn, or his editors, apparently didn't think it was relevant to the story to mention that the personification of the plight they are discussing, Rep. Tim Mahoney of Florida, was a Republican himself until just 14 months ago.

Mahoney's tale is far from typical. A lifelong countryclub Republican, a less than scrupulous venture capitalist with extensive and somewhat shady dealings in China-- something like a junior Mitch McConnell in that way-- Mahoney, a foul-mouthed homophobe, was approached by then DCCC-chair Rahm Emanuel once Emanuel found out Mahoney's predecessor, Republican Mark Foley had a long and accelerating history of relations with congressional pages that can be described as anything from unethical to predatory. No, Emanuel didn't mistake the wealthy Mahoney for a police officer or child protection specialist. Instead of going to a law enforcement official with his knowledge about Foley's criminal behavior, Emanuel-- not unlike Republicans Denny Hastert, John Shimkus, Tom Reynolds, Rodney Alexander, John Boehner-- decided to let the young male pages fend for themselves while he waited for the election to draw closer and while Foley tried breaking into their dorm rooms.

First Emanuel felt he needed to deep six the progressive Democrat, a union member, grassroots, anti-war activist, Dave Lutrin, who was running against Foley. Emanuel wanted a self-funder who wasn't going to make any noise about the war in Iraq and who would appeal to Republicans. He recruited the ambitious Mahoney while he and Steny Hoyer did all they could to turn the Florida Democratic Party against Lutrin. It worked; Lutrin pulled out. Mahoney, with a brand new voter registration card that showed he was now a Democrat, although he had never voted as one before, got the Democratic nomination. Emanuel is widely alleged to have surreptitiously helped push the Foley story out to the media just in time for his name to be unremovable from the ballot. FL-16 soon had a new Republican congressman, one with a (D) next to his name.

Mr. Herszenhorn or his editors didn't think this was important enough to mention as they attempted to pass him off as a typical "moderate" freshman Democrat trying to figure out what to do about Bush's big bad war and abysmal economic policies. Mahoney, a man with no firm convictions is like a leaf in the wind. He came back from Iraq impressed with the slick and misleading dog and pony show Petraeus' officers show visiting congressional delegations in their quick in and out Greed Zone toe-dips. He saw what happened to Brian Baird (D-WA) when he announced he would vote with the Republicans and he's pulled back to wait and see... which way the wind blows. Thanks again, Rahm Emanuel. Dave Lutrin would be leading now. Instead we have useless human refuse like Tim Mahoney and Heath Shuler, another Rahm Emanuel creation and another Democrat who just loves votin' with the Republicans.

CATCHIN' UP WITH OUR OLD PAL DAVE LUTRIN-- POST FOLEY SCANDAL, PRE MAHONEY/EMANUEL SCANDAL

David Lutrin has been a good friend to DWT and has always been available and candid with us. He kept in great contact with us when he was running for Congress in FL-16 last summer, made several announcements about his campaign at Down With Tyranny and, after he withdrew from the race, he sent a note back to every single Blue America contributor-- along with a check for the amount they had donated to his campaign. Today Dave is joining us at Firedoglake to talk about the nuts and bolts of the primary race he started but never finished in south Florida.

First a little background on the district and race. FL-16 wasn't exactly a district anyone was really targeting for a Democratic take over. It's a pretty Republican, rural district cutting right across the state from coast to coast, and it was represented by a fairly popular, well-entrenched incumbent, albeit a Bush rubber stamp. When school teacher and union member Dave Lutrin decided to run, it was because of his dismay with the occupation of Iraq and his dismay about how Bush had been running our country into the ground. He wanted something better for his young daughter and, as an idealistic and progressive Democrat, he decided Foley didn't merit a free ride to re-election. Not what you'd call a political insider, and severely un-financed, Dave vowed to give incumbent Mark Foley a grassroots race based on the day's burning issues, the kind of race that swept similar Democratic outsiders like Jerry McNerney, Carol Shea-Porter, John Yarmuth, Nancy Boyda, Chris Murphy, John Hall, Jason Altmire, Chris Carney, Patrick Murphy, Bruce Braley and Paul Hodes into office.

Early on in the process-- in mid-2005-- Dave contacted Democratic Party organizations throughout the district, as well as the state party and the DCCC in Washington. Everyone was enthusiastic and encouraging. Glen Rushing, the DCCC point person for the region, told Dave he was "just the type of candidate we're looking for." He offered to introduce him to Alabama Congressman Artur Davis, the DCCC-appointed mentor for Democratic candidates in the region, who following their first phone conversation offered to help him with his race. Rushing then promised to get him in touch with Florida DCCC chief, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Emanuel's lieutenant for the Southeast.


Then something happened, something very dark and secretive, something people are just uncovering now. DCCC Chairman Rahm Emanuel found out something that could-- and did-- change the dynamics of the race in FL-16 dramatically. Emanuel became aware that Mark Foley-- well-known for years Inside-The-Beltway, albeit not among his church-going constituents, as a very active (and very hypocritical) homosexual-- was molesting the underage male congressional pages, and that he had been for many years. Did Emanuel call the police? Did he even call the staffers who are charged by Congress with looking out for the welfare of the pages? Doesn't look that way. What it does look like is that he called a fast-and-loose Republican businessman he knew, someone, like Emanuel, with elastic values and an even more elastic code of personal ethics. He offered him a congressional seat and all he'd have to do was switch party registration and become a Democrat. That man is freshman Congressman Tim Mahoney.

Suddenly there was a new DCCC point person, John Vogel, and he claimed he had no idea who Dave was. Rushing called and suggested Dave talk to someone named... Tim Mahoney. Dave did. And Mahoney offered him an intricate bribe to drop out of the race and run against Republican Bill Young in FL-10 instead. Dave Lutrin never had a single conversation with Rahm Emanuel. But Emanuel's paw finger prints are all over this operation. It's the way he worked in district after district, everywhere in the country, seeking to find business-friendly, quasi-Republicans who would soft-peddle their opposition to the war in Iraq and never mention "impeachment." Many of us have experienced first hand Emanuel's tactics in CA-11, FL-13, and IL-06 to name a few. Scared of career-ending retribution, virtually no Democrats have been willing to go on the record about DCCC practices that are at variance with internal party rules. Dave has no such fears.

RAHM EMANUEL SHOULD RESIGN FROM CONGRESS IMMEDIATELY AND GO BACK TO BEING A CROOKED STOCKBROKER OR BALLERINA

The "Garden of Eden" legend supposedly places that place in modern-day Iraq, pre-serpent/pre-Bush. But right now I feel like the place I'm in could have been the Garden of Eden. Regular DWT readers know I'm traveling around South America, recovering from entirely too much electoral blogging in the past 6 months. Notice how I've generally stayed away from the computer other than to write a short post every day or two at my travel blog? This morning I got some e-mails that just demand to be addressed. First I went with Maximllian out on the laguna here in Colonia Carlos Pelligrini in the heart of Esterios de Iberà in Corrientes Province. It's an incredibly beautiful and tranquil wetlands-- I was refering to it as "a swamp" before I got here. Anyway, for the last 3 hours I've been floating around and watching alligators and walking in the jungle looking at monkeys. And all the time Rahm Emanuel kept coming into my mind. Elsa, the proprietess of this incredible place I'm staying, Posada de Laguna, is letting me use her laptop. There's no TV here at the lodge but there is a satellite hookup for internet.

I can't paste and copy on this thing so I beg you to read this short CNN story on the Rahm Emanuel/Mark Foley connection.

[Here's the CNN report.--Ken]

Aide: Democrat leader heard of Foley e-mails in 2005

WASHINGTON (CNN)--The head of the House Democrats' campaign committee, Rep. Rahm Emanuel, had heard of former Rep. Mark Foley's inappropriate e-mails to a former male page a year before they became public, a campaign committee aide told CNN.

Foley, a Republican, resigned after the scandal broke. House Speaker Dennis Hastert and other Republicans have suggested repeatedly that some Democrats knew about the e-mails earlier than they have acknowledged, but waited till midterm elections approached to bring up the issue.

Emanuel's campaign committee aide said Friday that the Illinois Democrat was informed in 2005, but never saw the correspondence and did not have enough information to raise concerns. The aide said Emanuel took "no action" because his knowledge was "cursory" and little more than "rumor."

The aide's acknowledgement differs from the flat "no" Emanuel gave in October when asked--during an interview on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos"--if he or anyone on his staff knew of the e-mails before the scandal broke.

The e-mails surfaced when House Democratic staffer Matt Miller sent a copy of them to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's communications director, Bill Burton, in fall 2005, according to an investigative report released Friday.

Burton told Emanuel about the e-mails but did not tell reporters, the aide said.

In his deposition to the ethics committee, Miller said he also sent Foley's e-mails to the St. Petersburg (Florida) Times, the Miami Herald and Roll Call, according to the report.

Miller also sent the material to Harper's Magazine "and possibly others," the report said.

Miller told the ethics committee he had sent the e-mails to the media because he considered them inappropriate and predicted "nothing would come" from giving them to the ethics panel or the House Page Board, according to the report.

Miller had sent the e-mails to the Democratic campaign committee with the expectation they would be shared with the media, he testified.

It wouldn't be until late September--six weeks before midterm elections--that media reports on those e-mails led to Foley's resignation and a political firestorm that contributed to Republicans' loss of the majority.
How e-mails got to Miller

The report released on Friday outlined how Miller received the e-mails:

* The former page--who had been sponsored by Louisiana Republican Rep. Rodney Alexander--was troubled by the e-mails. He sent them, along with Foley's request for a picture, to an employee in Alexander's office.

* The employee, Daniel Savoy, forwarded them to a friend, Kelley Halliwell, a former House employee who was working for a lobbying firm.

* Halliwell sent the e-mails to her boyfriend, Justin Field, who worked at the House Democratic Caucus with Miller.

Both Field and Miller testified that no one in the caucus office--including then- Chairman Rep. Bob Menendez of New Jersey--received the e-mails or was "involved in the decision to provide them to the press," the report said.

Menendez told CNN last week in a statement that he was never told about the e-mails.

Because Halliwell no longer works for the House, the ethics committee "did not attempt to reach a conclusion regarding whether her conduct could provide a basis for disciplinary action."

The panel only has jurisdiction over current House members and employees.

On Friday, the committee said although GOP leaders were negligent by not protecting teenage pages from possible improper advances but had broken no rules, and no one will be reprimanded.

This is a story I have been looking at since Dave Lutrin started telling me how Emanuel and his bullyboys were trying to drive him out of the Democratic primary. At the time I was very aware that the entrenched incumbent in a very Republican south-central Florida district was gay. But it was no secret from anyone, except of course the suckers and rubes who vote in the district, that Foley was a flaming homosexual who was out of control and couldn't keep his hands off young men. It was over a year ago I started writing about Foley and young military boys. What I didn't know at the time-- but, we now find out (despite his earlier public denials on TV)-- is that DCCC head Rahm Emanuel was aware at least since 2005 that Foley was molesting young male pages. Emanuel, every bit as bad a scumbag as Foley and the GOP leadership who covered up for Foley, did nothing to protect the young pages from predators like Foley and Arizona Republican Jim Kolbe (who was also preying on them). Instead he decided to use the info as ammo in his partisan war to win a seat from the Republicans.

I was scatching my head at the vehemence Emanuel employed in the run up to the primary in trying to drive Dave Lutrin out of the race. Lutin is a school teacher and union member and a good family man. He's also an independent-minded progressive, passionate about Democratic ideals and values-- exactly the kind of Democrat Emanuel loathes. Lutrin opposes the systemic corruption that allows weasels like Emanuel to thrive in DC and he opposed the war in Iraq that Emanuel was warning Democratic challengers to be quiet about.

Last June the current Emanuel-backed congressman-elect, Tim Mahoney, was a rich countryclub Republican and a corrupt businessman, Emanuel's cup of tea. Emanuel, already aware that he could force Foley to resign, convinced Mahoney to switch party registration-- although not values and principles; I mean there is a difference between Democratic values and Republican values... right?-- and voila! all Emanuel and his stooges, like Steny Hoyer and Ellen Tauscher, had to do was drive the real Democrat out of the primary and clear the way for Mahoney. This he did, employing all the dirty tricks he used during the election cycle to attack the campaigns of true Democrats like Jerry McNerney, Christine Cegelis, Carol Shea-Porter, Larry Kissell, Paul Hackett, John Hall and dozens of others all over the country.

When I get back from Argentina in January I plan to invite Dave Lutrin over to Firedoglake to talk about what happened in the district and how progressives can move forward inside of a Democratic Party dominated by slime like Emanuel and his coterie.

Yesterday, there was a run-off in New Orleans. It isn't a district a Republican can win. So Republicans joined corporate-oriented Democrats (plus normal Democrats sickened by the incumbent William Jefferson's barefaced corruption) to back the DLC candidate. Jefferson was caught with $90,000 in cash up his ass or in his freezer or something-- far less cash than Joe Lieberman was passing around in his re-election bid in Connecticut. Jefferson represents a Cunningham-like lone-wolf sort of corruption. The kind of corruption that is the hallmark of the Republican Party and their Democratic counterparts like Emanuel and the DLC is a far worse, far more pervasive systemic corruption that makes good government all but impossible in Washington. Jefferson won re-election. The idea is revolting. Of course, the idea of another DLC shill in Congress is also revolting.

Nancy Pelosi, properly, moved against Jefferson as soon as the $90,000 was discovered. Let's see what she does against her boy Rahm now. He should, at the very minimum, be immediately removed from any kind of leadership position inside the Democratic caucus. He should also resign from Congress, but I don't expect to see that until he's eventually caught for many more crimes than those just involving the Foley scandal. Emanuel is worse for the Democratic Party than anything the Republicans can throw our way.