The DCCC Is Still Recruiting "Ex"-Republicans

Every cycle I write this damn story. Maybe when Pelosi isn't Democratic Leader appointing her horrible losing DCCC chairs anymore, I'll be able to finally retire it-- maybe. For as far back as I can remember the self-loathing Democrats at the DCCC give potential congressional candidates extra points for serveral things-- being wealthy first and foremost, but being an "ex"-Republican a close second. In 2006. Rahm Emanuel and Steny Hoyer were just ga-ga over third-rate Republican rich person Tim Mahoney from the Palm Beach area. He was a life-long conservative Republican who made a fortune after lucking out when a computer parts company he worked for in New Jersey was sold. He used the money to start a shady venture capital firm in Boca Raton. Rahm recognized a kindred spirit and-- knowing that in a matter of months Republican Congressman Mark Foley was going to be exposed as a child predator-- persuaded Mahoney to switch parties and waltz into election. In Congress, Mahoney was a right-wing Blue Dog who voted consistently with his ideological brethren, the Republicans and was shown the door by the voters in the 2008 election.

Mahoney is one of dozens of "ex"-Republicans the DCCC is always trying to recruit-- almost always with disastrous consequences. Today, two of the worst Democrats in Congress-- Charlie Crist (FL) and Tom O'Halleran (AZ)-- were both Republican elected officials who switched parties for the sake of opportunism and careerism. Both generally vote a stridently anti-progressive line and both have "F" ratings from ProgressivePunch. Meanwhile, the DCCC has been trolling the political trash heaps of America looking for Republicans to run as make-believe Democrats in 2018.

You would think the Democrats' record of abject failure with recruiting Republicans and trying to pass them off as real Democrats-- as they did last year with failed candidates in Iowa (Monica Vernon),New York (Mike Derrick) and Florida (Randy Perkins)-- would be something they would have learned not to do. But you'd be wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. The DCCC believes down deep in their Emanuel-created DNA 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).

We can't blame "ex"-Republican rich person Robert Lee Ahn on the DCCC but I got a call from an establishment Dem the other day who was all giddy over a new candidate in TX-21, a gerrymandered Republican district that zigs and zags through mostly suburbs around Austin, San Antonio, San Marcos, New Braunfels and the Hill Country. This is GOP crackpot Lamar Smith's seat and a number of conservative Democrats have voiced interest in marching in and "building" on Berniecrat Tom Wakely's grassroots efforts from 2016. The DCCC seems particularly interested in one of them: very rich Republican-- yes, he already switched his registration, contributed a pile of cash to Hillary and to the DNC-- named Joseph Kopser, a self-admitted Reagan-worshipper. As you probably know, Blue America endorsed Tom Wakely in 2016. He defeated a conservative Democrat in the primary and went on to do better than any other Democrat ever had against Smith. We endorsed him again this cycle and you can contribute to his campaign here.

So what are "ex"-Republicans in Austin like? They're like most "ex"-Republicans anywhere. Regular non-millionaire people in Austin seem to know who Kopser is because of a local battle over Uber-- Prop 1-- that found Kopser on the wrong side of the issue.

Austin voters on Saturday decisively rejected Uber and Lyft’s $8.6 million bid to overturn the city’s rules for ride-hailing apps, bringing a stunning conclusion to the most expensive campaign in city history.

The failure of Proposition 1 brought new threats that the ride-hailing giants would retreat from Austin as the neighborhood and labor groups that defeated them on a shoestring budget celebrated.

“Uber, I think, decided they were going to make Austin an example to the nation,” said longtime political consultant David Butts, who led the massively outspent anti-Prop 1 campaign, Our City, Our Safety, Our Choice. “And Austin made Uber an example to the nation.”

With all precincts in, Prop 1 lost by 12 points as nearly 56 percent of voters rejected the measure, figures from the Travis County Clerk show. Turnout was 17 percent.

The results keep in place the ordinance that the City Council approved in December, which requires drivers with ride-hailing apps to undergo fingerprint-based background checks by Feb. 1, 2017. The city’s ordinance also prohibits drivers from stopping in traffic lanes for passenger dropoffs and pickups, requires “trade dress” to identify vehicles for hire, and imposes a variety of data reporting requirements on the ride-hailing companies.

Kopser, who had a substantial personal financial stake in the fight-- because of his own company, Ridescout-- came down against Austin progressives and campaigned for Prop 1, marking himself a "Republican-type" who activists now know not to trust. But totally perfect for the DCCC, of course.

If the DCCC is a joke, Lamar Smith isn't. Perhaps because of his bizarre religious beliefs, he's working full time to destroy the planet in a way few other Republicans can match-- making sure Trump has all the congressional support he needs to set climate science back by decades and threatening us all in the process. "With a pronounced climate change skeptic in the White House in President Donald Trump," wrote James Osborne at the Houston Chronicle Sunday, "Smith, the powerful Republican chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, has ramped up his campaign to pick at the foundations of climate science, battling against emissions policies that threaten fossil fuel industries and questioning the government's relationship with science itself."

For the better part of two years, Smith has staged regular hearings in which he has accused established scientists of manipulating data and bullying those with contrarian points of view. The campaign follows the 2015 climate accord in Paris, where nearly 200 world leaders agreed forecasts had become so dire that countries needed to work together immediately to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.

Smith's decision to take on that global consensus might generate cheers in the oil and gas fields, but in Washington the 69-year-old congressman is drawing heat - not only from Democrats and environmentalists but also universities and researchers. During the hearing last month, Michael Mann, a well-regarded climate scientist from Penn State University, compared the activities of the House Science Committee to that of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, whose decision to promote the theories of the fringe agronomist Trofim Lysenko contributed to chronic food shortages in that country.

...Smith represents a still powerful strain within the Republican Party for which climate change policy is a non-starter, said Bob Inglis, a former Republican congressman from South Carolina who lost his primary after favoring policies aimed at slowing climate change. Inglis said he believes Smith has stepped up his campaign because he sees the debate and facts shifting against him.

..."People put in that position usually start to dig in," he said.

Back in Smith's home district, which covers the bucolic Hill Country region between San Antonio and Austin, such a world view borders on anathema.

There is little in the way of oil and gas wells there, but it is a rural idyll where conservative principles stand tall and many have worked in the oil fields to the west in the Permian Basin and the south in the Eagle Ford, said Ruth Pharis, chair of the Republican Party in Comal County, which lies in Smith's district. Pharis said so much is still unknown about how climate change will play out that it doesn't make sense to stop using the plentiful oil and gas that lies beneath states like Texas.

"The people that settled here, they were mostly German, hard-working, grew their own food and didn't take a dime from anyone. It's changed with time, but there's still that strain of people living here," said Pharis, 83. "Lamar's a pretty conservative guy, and he pretty much listens to his constituents. I've never been disappointed."

And the DCCC's never-ending bungling and systematic, venal incompetence and overt corruption only make matters worse-- in TX-21 and every place else in the country where they involve themselves.

UPDATE: Further Discussion

Tom Wakely's Facebook page is one of several places where this post is being discussed in TX-21 now. I'm glad they're grappling with the concept of the political opportunists who run as Democrats and, when they win, revert to conservatism, the way Patrick Murphy did for the past 2 years in Florida.

Are You Going To Remember Who Tried To Help The Refugees In November, 2018?

The last time I drank a Coke (or Pepsi) I was barely 20; it was in 1970. There was no social media then (aside from postcards) and international telephone calls were way too expensive for someone like me. So, while I was making my way by land across the world I depended on letters from home for news. If you read the comments here at DWT, you've no doubt run across someone calling herself "Hone." She was a friend of mine in college and she sent me a letter-- to poste restante (I think in Kabul) which came to me months after the massacre at Kent State. Although she doesn't remember it today, her letter included a call to arms: American students would topple Coca Coca and Pepsi, two iconic American brands, as a response to the murders of the peaceful protestors. Foolishly I had been depending on Coke for hydration because the water was so dangerous to drink in countries like Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India in those days. The U.S. consulates in Iran and Afghanistan would warn American travelers to boil water for several minutes, let it cool down and then boil it again before drinking it. So it was a great sacrifice for me to give up consuming soft drinks. But I did and never touched one again. Yesterday I deleted my Uber app and I'll never get in another Uber. It'll be taxis and Lyft for me from now on.

OK, how about a few words from Pope Francis? This is what he told a group of Catholic and Lutheran pilgrims yesterday: "[T]he sickness or, you can say the sin, that Jesus condemns most is hypocrisy... You cannot be a Christian without living like a Christian. You cannot be a Christian without practicing the Beatitudes. You cannot be a Christian without doing what Jesus teaches us in Matthew 25," a reference to Christ’s injunction to help the needy by such works of mercy as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and welcoming the stranger. It’s hypocrisy to call yourself a Christian and chase away a refugee or someone seeking help, someone who is hungry or thirsty, toss out someone who is in need of my help. If I say I am Christian, but do these things, I’m a hypocrite.

Randian fake-Christian Paul Ryan, who can be eliminated, politically, in 2018, is still pissing off God by swearing that Trump's executive order is not a Muslim ban. He's lying. And most of the Republicans in Congress are right there with him. The relatively new congressman from Staten Island, Dan Donovan said the same thing a;most all the GOP members are saying, namely that "President Trump's decision is in America's best interest." Even the Republicans criticizing Trump-- so far Senators Susan Collins (ME), Jeff Flake (AZ), Lindsey Graham (SC), Lamar Alexander (TN) and Ben Sasse (NE) plus House members Mike Coffman (CO), Carlos Curbelo (FL), Elise Stefanik (NY), Will Hurd (TX), Mike Fitzpatrick (PA), Charlie Dent (PA), Justin Amash (MI), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL) and Barbara Comstock (Va), all from blue-leaning or swing districts-- are bing very circumspect. Barbara Comstock, for example, one of the most electorally vulnerable Republicans in Congress, issued a tepid statement saying, "As I consistently have said, I don't believe it is constitutional to ban people from our country on the basis pf religion. However, I do support-- and the House of Representatives has supported on a bipartisan basis-- increased vetting based on national security concerns. The president’s executive order yesterday went beyond the increased vetting actions that Congress has supported on a bipartisan basis and inexplicably applied to Green Card holders, people who are legally within our country who have followed the rules. Green Card holders go through a detailed legal process and are vetted. They are required to register with the selective service-- many serve in the military. They pay taxes. I find it hard to believe that green card holders-- legal permanent residents-- were intended to be included in this Executive Order. This should be addressed and corrected expeditiously."

It was addressed expeditiously, thought not corrected. When Department of Homeland Security officials asked the White House for a clarification, the neo-Nazi who Trump has put in charge of this whole mess, psychopathic right-wing blogger Steve Bannon, said Green Card holders were very much meant to be included. No comment on that report from Ryan or Comstock or any of the other Republicanos enabling Trump and Bannon. The only Republican who seems sincere and principled in his opposition to Trump's unconstitutional mayhem is Justin Amash, noting Trump's executive order "overreaches and undermines our constitutional system... The president's denial of entry to lawful permanent residents of the United States (green card holders) is particularly troubling. Green card holders live in the United States as our neighbors and serve in our Armed Forces. They deserve better... Ultimately, the executive order appears to be more about politics than safety. If the concern is radicalism and terrorism, then what about Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and others? Finally, we can't effectively fight homegrown Islamic radicalism by perpetuating the 'us vs. them' mindset that terrorists use to recruit. We must ensure that the United States remains dedicated to the Constitution, the Rule of Law, and liberty."

Politically, Democrats better follow the lead of resisters like Ted Lieu and Jerry Nadler and let their own base know they are fighting-- and for real-- and not let the story become a false narrative about a few"brave Republicans" standing unto Trump. But what Comstock and other Republicans are talking about when they refer to "bipartisan support" is the 289-137 approval of an ugly, bigoted anti-refugee bill by Texas' Michael McCaul. 47 Democrats-- mostly from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party-- joined forces with 242 Republicans to pass it. 135 Democrats and just 2 Republicans voted against it-- and one of the Republicans, Iowa extremist Steve King, voted NO because he didn't feel the bill was draconian enough. Over the weekend into today many of the 47 Democrats who voted with the Republicans are trying desperately to distance themselves from their own votes.

Take right-wing Blue Dog Jim Cooper, who represents (badly) a safe blue seat in Nashville. Yesterday he was trying to hide his bigotry with a tweet. Steve Israel, one of the leaders of the move to get Democrats to vote with the GOP against refugees, was practically rending his clothing today in sympathy for the immigrants. Here's a list of the worst of the traitors who are still in Congress:

• Pete Aguilar (New Dem-CA)
• Ami Bera (New Dem-CA)
• Sanford Bishop (Blue Dog-GA)
• Julia Brownley (worthless coward-CA)
• Cheri Bustos (Blue Dog-IL)
• Gerry Connolly (New Dem-VA)
• Jim Cooper (Blue Dog-TN)

• Jim Costa (Blue Dog-CA)
• Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX)
• John Delaney (New Dem-MD)
• Tulsi Gabbard (LOL-HI)
• Jim Himes (New Dem-CT)
• Steve Israel (Blue Dog-NY)
• Ron Kind (New Dem-WI)
• Ann Kuster (New Dem-NH)
• Dan Lipinski (Blue Dog-IL)
• Sean Patrick Maloney (New Dem-NY)
• Donald Norcross (Corrupt-NJ)
• Scott Peters (New Dem-CA)
• Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN)
• Kathleen Rice (New Dem-NY)
• Tim Ryan (Would-be Leader-OH)
• Kurt Schrader (Blue Dog-OR)
• David Scott (Blue Dog-GA)
• Terri Sewell (New Dem-AL)
• Kyrsten Sinema (Blue Dog-AZ)
• Filemon Vela (Blue Dog-TX)

There's only one group that has been working consistently to drive Blue Dogs and New Dems out of Congress for over a decade-- Blue America. No one else has dared. Want to help? You can here.

Since Mike decided to delete this tweet over the weekend, we decided to decorate it for him