Authenticity Counts-- A Guest Post By Dayna Steele

Everyone at Blue America thought that the longest long shot we were taking this cycle was backing Alexandria Ocasio. "That's impossible," people told us. "If you couldn't take a nobody like Dan Lipinsky down, how you going to take down Joe Crowley?!?!" Well, to start, we didn't take down Joe Crowley. Alexandria did. The voters in the southwest Bronx and north Queens saw the contrast between the two candidates and made the easy choice. Alexandria and her team worked hard and worked smart. Our efforts were negligible in comparison. In fact it wasn't 'til we saw how smart and how tireless they are that we decided to back her. That Bernie platform she was running on... lots of people run on that-- and don't get nearly as far as Alexandria did. She has the authenticity-- and the secret sauce-- that makes it all come together in the minds of voters.

And now that she's won, who's the next biggest long shot? Old friend, Dayna Steele from Houston, running in a deep red district with an R+26 PVI, where Trump beat Hillary 72.0% to 25.2%. In 2016, the folks in TX-36 were not interested in even considering what the hallmark of the status quo was peddling. Dayna Steele has nothing to do with the status quo. Earlier today she wrote a guest post for us explaining how she's beating GOP extreme right backbencher Brian Babin in a district as red as her's is. She won her primary in a landslide... and the DCCC has ignored her ever since. Read what she has to say below and if you want to give her a hand... that's what the brand new 2018 "Abandoned by the DCCC" thermometer on the right is for. (Do you have any friends that might be interested too? This thing is getting close now-- and a lot is at stake.)

Trying To Be Republican-Lite Is A Losing Strategy
by Dayna Steele

If you listen to the "experts" and the "political pundits," I am in a very red district and they don't give me much of a chance of winning Texas Congressional District 36. If I listened to these so-called experts and political pundits, I would not have even bothered to run in the first place. But here I am, the first Democratic woman ever to run for Congress in this Southeast Texas district. I won the primary with 72% of the vote and just crossed $500,000 raised for this campaign. That is nearly 100 times more than any previous Democratic candidate in the district. In fact, I just had the best fundraising quarter of any TX-36 Democrat since the district was drawn.

 When I first started to run, the advice was fast and furious:

"Don't ever talk about guns."

Then multiple school shootings happened and a host of parents and sensible people joined me in talking about common sense gun legislation.

 Medicare For All is too socialist, just say healthcare."

Announcing I am 100% in support of Medicare For All gets the loudest cheer everywhere I speak.

"Stop saying you support Planned Parenthood."

No.

"Everyone has Internet these days."

A vast majority of my district has little to no Internet access. Those who do, outside of the Houston and Baytown metropolitan areas, usually have one provider, high prices, and slow speeds.

It is as if the established political operatives wanted me (and still want me) to run as a "Republican lite." After spending over a year on the ground, listening, shaking hands, talking to people, and traveling the district, I can tell you there are a lot more people interested in the same issues as our campaign than these political operatives would lead you to believe. There are MANY of us and we are growing stronger and louder.

My opponent Brian Babin is one of two Republicans who quit the Freedom Caucus because they "weren't conservative enough." He voted for the tax cuts for the wealthy, voted repeatedly to repeal the ACA, and said, "Sometimes a lady needs to be told when she is being nasty." He doesn't hold town halls, most of his offices are "by appointment only." and he rarely meets with anyone that is not a big donor. He takes money from corporate PACs and appears to be now getting funding from the Koch brothers.

The blue voters are coming out of the shadows in Southeast Texas. Our team has given them a safe haven and the knowledge that they are not alone. No one even bothered to run as a Democrat against Babin in the 2016 race. Why? Because Democrats have been sold a bill of goods that we are a "red state." We are not, we are a "do not get out and vote state." And, it's not because we are lazy or have given up, it is because Democrats have been bullied in this state. The more I learned about that, the more I knew I had to take a stand and run. To give people a voice in this state.

In the past and still today, if you run as a Democrat or anyone knows you vote Democrat, especially in the rural areas, your kids are bullied at school, your business is avoided, eventually driving you out of business, you are ostracized at church, insults are hurled your way. Well, that stops on my watch.

Let's be very clear here-- I am not running to be a politician. I am running for what is good and what is right. I am running for healthcare, education and jobs. I am running to make sure that Internet is accessible by everyone, that we continue to look at job training for the future, harnessing of solar and wind power in Texas. And, I run to help those still trying to rebuild not only from Hurricane Harvey but also from Ike, Rita, and several floods.

We are doing this. We are doing this with the grassroots support of people like you and we can only continue to do this if that support grows. The national party doesn't believe; the state party is overwhelmed. That's okay, we aren't doing this for the party. We are doing this for the people and we need their support, your support. We the People. Stand with me and Rock the 36th!

In Politics, There's A Difference Between Authentic And... Counterfeit

Authentic-- opposite of Trump

Authenticity matters. Sure, on one level I’m glad when careerist office holders with no core beliefs-- take Kirsten Gillibrand as the perfect example-- see the progressive path as something that will help their career. The opposite is much worse and the perfect example is… Kyrsten Sinema, the Arizona Blue Dog who went from being an socialist and a Green to being the single most right-wing fake-Democrat in Congress. One thing is sure… neither Kirsten-- who wants to run for president-- nor Kyrsten-- who wants to run for Senate-- belongs in public office. You can’t believe anything either one says and what one says today could easily shift with the winds tomorrow, as their past statements and positions have… many, many times.

And, of course, both are steeped in corruption. Both are creatures of corruption. Gillibrand takes more from Morgan Stanley than any other Democrat in Congress. And Sinema has used her position on the House Financial Services Committee to extort huge amounts of money from the banisters. In fact Gillibrand has taken $9,151,324 from the Financial Sector, more than anyone else currently serving in Congress other than presidential candidates John McCain and Marco Rubio and notoriously corrupt members Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Paul Ryan (R-WI), Rob Portman (R-OH) and Pat Toomey (R-PA). So far this cycle, more Wall Street bribes have flowed to Gillibrand than to anyone else in either house besides Paul Ryan. As for Sinema, the banksters are giving her more money than any other Democrat in the House (so far $710,656) and last cycle she took in $1,008,140 from the Finance sector, more than any Democrat currently serving in the House other than Wall Street whore Joe Crowley ($1,085,673), who the banksters intend to make Democratic House Leader when Pelosi and Hoyer finally step down.

Politico’s Elana Schor reported over the weekend that a half-dozen Trump foes are racing to embrace the liberal zeitgeist, occupying space Bernie Sanders once had to himself. I think it’s a requirement on the Politico job application that you have no knowledge of politics when you seek employment there as Schor demonstrated when she babbled nonsense about how Jeff Merkely-- the former Speaker of the Oregon House, where he had an incredible record of progressive leadership-- and Elizabeth Warren-- whose impeccable progressive credentials were in everyone’s face for over a decade before she ever even ran for office--have moved left. They didn’t move left; Warren and Merkley are part of what has been defining the left for years before Schor decided a job at Politico was part of her own career trajectory. She did manage to get it partially write though-- pointing out that Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Cory Booker (D-NJ) are trying to bite and claw their way to the front of the progressive parade and pretend to be leading it.

Bernie, Elizabeth Warren and Jeff Merkley are progressives. Gillibrand, Harris and Booker are… well, respectively, just Gillibrandists, Harrisians and Bookerites. They don’t stand for anything at all expect opportunism an d their own careers. “First,” wrote Schor, “they flocked to Sanders’ single-payer health care proposal. And then, almost in unison, they adopted two other stands popular among the Democratic base: Refusing to vote for any budget plan that didn’t include help for undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children, and calling for Donald Trump’s resignation over sexual harassment claims leveled against him last year by multiple women. The six Democrats also have been the most frequent foes of Trump’s nominees earlier this year.” Again, 3 of the 6 are real-- and 3 are opportunists. There’s a difference that’s too… subtle? for Politico, which is obsessed, though utterly out of touch with the grassroots energy outside the Beltway, in ginning up some contention over 2020. How’s this for the core stupidity and cluelessness that has always defined Politico from the day it was born?

The clustering could make for a crowded lane of very progressive candidates in 2020, a space that Sanders had virtually to himself in 2020. And if the trend continues and extends to other topics and candidates, it could allow Trump to more easily attack his reelection opponents as puppets of the activist left.

…Part of the reason the six liberal Democrats have moved so fast on debates that capture the anti-Trump zeitgeist is the current era’s emphasis on “rewarding authenticity,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the liberal group Progressive Change Campaign Committee and a leading organizer around the single-payer health care push.

OK, so Bernie, Warren and Merkley are authentic and Gillibrand, Harris and Booker are… what’s the polar opposite of authentic? Opportunistic? Fake? Untrustworthy? Counterfeit? Ungenuine? Implausible? They all work. Oh, yes, and Roget’s suggests “corrupt” as the top antonym for authentic. Awesome!

“On each of those issues, I feel very strongly about the importance of being a voice that reflects the voice of California,” Harris said in an interview after joining most of her fellow Democratic senators in opposing the government funding legislation.

Though none of the six Senate Democrats cited has formally declared intentions for 2020, each is on the list of potential candidates. And all six-- particularly Warren and Sanders, who also have seats at Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's (D-N.Y.) leadership table-- are poised to play an even bigger role in shaping the party's agenda ahead of the 2018 midterms.

What list is that? The “I’m a Beltway ‘tard who writes for Politico” list?