DAN BOREN-- REPUBLICAN IN SEMI-DEMOCRATIC CLOTHING

Yesterday Dem4evr posted a diary at Daily Kos about Oklahoma Congressman Dan Boren, appealing to progressives to mount a primary against the reactionary Democratic rep, Oklahoma's last. A quick blog search shows me that DWT has over a dozen mentions of Boren, although no stories on him. All the mentions concern his status as one of the 2 or 3 most reactionary Democrats in the House, someone as likely to vote with Republicans on substantive matters as with Democrats. The latest on DWT-- and the cause of Dem4evr's diary-- concerned how Boren was only one of two Democrats, along with Mississippi Republicrat Gene Taylor, to vote against a worker's right to join a union last week, a position so inherently un-American and vile that even 13 Republicans joined the House Democrats to beat back the Republican opposition.

As Dem4evr points out, there may be virtually no difference between the way Taylor and Boren come down on the issues-- they are, respectively, the #1 and #2 most reactionary Democrats in the House-- but that there is a significant difference in the nature of the districts that the two men represent. Taylor has been elected in a solid Republican seat. MS-04 has a +16 Republican rating on the Cook Partisan Voting Index. Taylor's constituents, while returning him to office with massive majorities (75% in 2002, 64% in 2004, 80% in 2006), gave Bush 65% in 2000 and then liked what they saw so much that they gave him 68% in 2004.

Boren's district (OK-02), the poor, mostly rural eastern third of Oklahoma (including Muskogee), is a traditional Democratic district that has been trending Republican in national elections. It is considered a competitive district that leans Republican, although Brad Henry carried every single county in the district when he ran for governor in 2002 and two years later Brad Carson carried every county in the district except two when he ran for Senate. Gore and Kerry did better in OK-02 than in any of Oklahoma's other congressional districts, with Bush getting 52% in 2000 and 59% in 2004. Boren was first elected in 2004 with 66% of the vote and in November he was re-elected with 73% against Republican wingnut Patrick Miller.

If the reactionary Taylor were successfully primaried by a moderate Democrat, a Republican would probably win the seat. On the other hand, if a moderate Democrat beat Boren in a primary, there's no reason to believe there wouldn't be a good chance for a moderate to replace a reactionary in OK-02. As Dem4evr says: "While this district has sadly shifted red in presidential elections, at the state and local level, Democrats still dominate. Furthermore, this is a hotbed for populism and congressman like Boren who votes against blue collared workers is not a good fit. On state question 695, which unfortunately brought the anti-union "right to work" laws to our state, the vast majority of Boren's district... voted against the state question.

Boren has been a disgrace to the Democratic Party and a disgrace to his family's good name in Democratic politics. His dad, David Boren, was a U.S. Senator and a Governor and is now president of the University of Oklahoma. When the egregiously unaccomplished dim son first tried to win the seat he was nearly beaten by an unknown and un-funded progressive, Kayln Free. Boren was supported by all the traditional Republican sources of campaign contributions and he still gets more financial support from Big Business than from Labor. He has a solidly pro-corporate, anti-worker voting record, just like the typical Republican he is in all but name. He's one of the most anti-environmental Democrats and he joined right-wingers to try to eliminate net neutrality.

The picture was done by Conium at PhotoTune.

REACTIONARY PSEUDO-DEMOCRAT DAN BOREN USES FALSE GOP TALKING POINTS TO SMEAR BARACK OBAMA

Dan Boren courtesy of Photo Tune

There are very few Democrats who vote with the GOP as frequently as Oklahoma arch-reactionary Dan Boren, who calls himself a Democrat because his father was a popular Oklahoma Governor and Senator and the light-in-the-brains-department son did figure out that that being a Democratic politician-- even if in name only-- would be his meal ticket. Today Boren joined a small handful of extreme right Democrats who often join the GOP on substanbtive matters-- like Tim Mahoney of Florida-- in declaring he would not endorse Barack Obama. (The father, currently the president of the University of Oklahoma, has endorsed Senator Obama.)

Obama doesn't need Junior's endorsement and, in fact, being freed from having defend such a creature of the Bush staus quo will make it easier for Obama to campaign in Oklahoma. But what irks many Democrats is that Boren picked up on patently false Republican propaganda, calling Obama "the most liberal senator." Don't we wish he was! But, alas, it isn't even close. In 2004 Republican medi allies designed a score card that "proved" John Kerry was the most liberal; he wasn't either. This year, the same hacks designed a new scorecard to "prove" Obama is the most liberal. No matter which way you look at all the votes-- just tough substantive ones, all votes for the current session, all votes for his Senate career, Obama is a solid moderate. Looking at the Progressive Punch Chips Are Down ranking, Obama comes in as the 43rd most liberal senator out of 50 Democrats. His voting record is about halfway between moderate Republican Olympia Snowe and the other senator from Illinois, Dick Durbin. Obama ranks between conservatives Max Baucus and Blanche Lincoln. He never came close to Hillary Clinton, let alone real liberals like Frank Lautenberg, Sheldon Whitehouse, Sherrod Brown, Barbara Boxer and Bernie Sanders. His votes have more in common with moderates like Jon Tester and Claire McCaskill and with conservatives like Evan Bayh and Mark Pryor.

Of course, compared to Boren, any real Democrat would like like a liberal. On the same Chips Are Down rankingBoren, who votes far more to rubber stamp the worst of the Bush agenda than to join Democrats in opposing it, ranks a dismal 34.72 (out of 100). Only 5 reactionay Democrats-- Don Cazayoux (LA), Jim Marshall (GA), Nick Lampson (TX), John Barrow (GA) and Joe Donnelly (IN)-- have worse voting records. (And I should add that Cazayoux shouldn't even be considered a Democrat since he is adhering to the Bush line more religiously than more than a dozen Republicans!)

Boren is an anti-choice fanatic-- voting against women and with the religious right every single time-- and a vicious homophobe, even though his father is a bisexual. He has one of the worst records of any Democrat on the environment and is actually much worse on the environment than scores of Republicans. And I doubt it will surprise anyone that he has been one of the main Democratic supporters of Bush's Iraq agenda.

Right-wing bloggers have already picked up on Boren's slimy characterization of Senator Obama-- even the really lunatic fringe ones.


UPDATE: IS BOREN A RACIST?

Our pals at the Seminal point out that Boren endorsed Hillary-- and her voting record is more liberal than Obama's. So what's the problem for the representative from "Little Dixie?" Is it the color of Obama's skin? I wonder what Boren's dad thinks about the little turd he spawned.


UPDATE: BUT McCAIN'S WOES ARE WORSE WITH REPUBLICANS WHO SERVED WITH HIM IN CONGRESS AND KNOW EXACTLY HOW UNFIT HE IS TO LEAD THE COUNTRY

We've been writing about right-wing Dixiecrat shitheads and racists like Boren, Boyd and Mahoney who have refused to endorse Obama. McCain has a much more extensive problem with his party. Today's Hill emphasized that more than a dozen Republican members of Congress haven't endorsed McCain.

Republican members who have not endorsed or publicly backed McCain include Sens. Chuck Hagel (Neb.) and Jeff Sessions (Ala.) and Reps. Jones, Peterson, John Doolittle (Calif.), Randy Forbes (Va.), Wayne Gilchrest (Md.), Virgil Goode (Va.), Tim Murphy (Pa.), Ron Paul (Texas), Ted Poe (Texas), Todd Tiahrt (Kan.), Dave Weldon (Fla.) and Frank Wolf (Va.).

Throughout his career in the House and Senate, McCain has been at odds with his party on a range of issues, including campaign finance reform, earmarks, immigration, healthcare, taxes and energy.

Some Senate Republicans were especially irked with McCain’s role in the “Gang of 14” deal on judicial nominations.

Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), who has been sharply critical of McCain on immigration, told The Hill in February, “I don’t like McCain. I don’t like him at all.”

Tancredo spokesman Mac Zimmerman said Tancredo won’t endorse McCain because he fears the senator would repudiate it like he did with the formal backing of controversial pastor John Hagee.

However, Tancredo told ABC News this week he will reluctantly vote for McCain.

... Jones, who has voted repeatedly with Democrats on Iraq, said he can’t back McCain until he gets “a better explanation of the plans for Iraq and more discussion on the economy.” Jones added that no one from McCain’s campaign has reached out to him.

And, unlike Ron Paul, at least Boren and his KKK allies aren't holding a competing convention.

Is Dan Boren (Blue Dog-OK) The Joe Barton Of The Democratic Party?

Earlier today I was tweeting about Blue Dog Dan Boren's repulsive attack ad against populist Oklahoma state Senator Jim Wilson. It looks like someone had the foresight to cut off the pricetags but Boren is clearly out of place in the tree and clearly wearing brand new, never-before-worn hunting duds that someone from a movie prop shop had bought for the ad shoot. Inspired by the ridiculous and outrageous ad by a gun-toting Dale Peterson, at least Peterson did serve in the military. So did Senator Wilson. Gun-toting, inauthentic loudmouth Boren? Draft dodger just like his hero, Dick Cheney.



But... but, just because Boren paid off an ad firm to make a slick ad for him that doesn't mean that all of Hollywood is on his side. Filmmaker Josh Fox has a new film, being shown now on HBO, Gasland. You can watch the trailer below. In it you will notice that there's a congressman defending the outrageous behavior of Big Oil corporations poisoning ground water across America. That isn't an actor. It's Oklahoma's own Dan Boren, one of Big Oil's most dependable fully-owned subsidiaries. Since 1990 Big Oil has invested around $144 million in the careers of congressmen, almost all conservatives. Almost 70% of the payoff have gone to Republicans. And among current members of the House there's only one Democrat in Big Oil's Top 10: Dan Boren ($565,460). As you can see, Big Oil is, by far, the biggest source of cash for his political endeavors. What you haven't been able to see, until Fox caught it on tape, is that Boren, who bragged about not voting for Obama and who has voted against virtually every piece of Democratic legislation since Obama has become president, has never found anything in the oil industry's agenda that he didn't get behind. And, as a member of the Committee on Natural Resources-- and on the Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources-- that support has been worth a lot more to Big Oil than the $565,460 they've given Boren for his campaigns.

On May 19, 2005 Boren voted with Republicans to allow the kind of deep water drilling that led directly to the current Gulf of Mexico ecological disaster. In fact, a few weeks earlier, on April 21, 2005, he voted, again with the GOP, against Raul Grijalva's amendment to the Energy Policy Act that would have stricken from the bill a provision directing the Secretary of the Interior to stop collecting royalty fees for the government from oil and gas companies operating in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, a giveaway to his gas and oil patrons and as clear a case of bribery as you'll find in Congress.

A week from Saturday Sen. Jim Wilson will be joining the Blue America team at Crooks and Liars for a live blog session. He's not just "good for Oklahoma"-- he's just plain good. Please take a look at the Gasland trailer, get a feel for what a corporate shill Dan Boren is, and consider helping Jim get the resources he needs to get his message out in the face of Boren's-- and Big Oil's-- onslaught.

Dan Boren-- Leading Democrats Astray For Boehner

Last year Alabama Blue Dog Bobby Bright had the worst voting record of any Democrat in the House-- voting far more frequently with the GOP than with the Democrats on issues with partisan divisions. Blue America reminded his Democratic constituents of some of his votes against their interests and his margin in the blue areas of his district fell down and he was defeated. His replacement as the worst Democrat in the House is someone never far from that appellation anyway, Oklahoma corporate whore, Dan Boren.

According to ProgressivePunch's algorithm, Boren was worse than just the worst Democrat. His abysmal 15.87 score-- meaning he's voted with the GOP over 84% of the time-- is worse than two dozen Republicans! Boehner and Cantor have been able to count on Boren for nearly every important vote in the House. He's more reliable for them than extremist teabaggers Tom McClintock (R-CA) and Justin Amash (R-MI) and worse than rubber stamp corporate shills like Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), John Campbell (R-CA), Tom Petri (R-WI), Connie Mack (R-FL) and Steven LaTourette (R-OH). He has the exact same voting score as Dean Heller (R-NV), the newly appointed Republican Senator from Nevada. That's how much the GOP approves of Boren's voting score!

And, of course, he goes beyond just the voting when it comes to showing fealty to all the extremist positions embraced by the GOP. He's far to the right-- across the board-- of any other Blue Dog. In fact Boren, a poster boy for the NRA wrote one of the worst of the gun-loon bills of the year. Is was so extreme that there were even a couple of Republicans who couldn't vote for it!

Boren's amendment passed the House 277-149, with the support of a disgraceful 41 Democrats, mostly Blue Dogs but also some cowardly types from "gun states." Boren's bill-- which was eventually killed in behind the scenes congressional negotiations (a clue that even the GOP leadership though Boren's extremist was too dangerous and deranged-- had nothing to due with "gun states" though. His intention was to prevent the ATF from regulating the deadly, if not catastrophic, firearm sales along the Mexico border. Specifically, what Boren was proposing was to stop ATF from tracking bulk sales of assault weapons headed to Mexico.

But sometime before the final deal was announced on Friday night, lawmakers stripped the rider from the bill. The move came after concerned lawmakers and even Mexico's Ambassador to the United States lobbied congressional leadership and the White House to strip the language from the bill.

"ATF is already chronically underfunded and has been without a confirmed director since 2006 as a result of inaction by past sessions of Congress," New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a co-chair of the coalition Mayors Against Illegal Guns, said in a statement. "We welcome this sign that leaders in Washington may be ready to step up and help law enforcement save lives."

Instead of railing against the regular cast of characters who can always be counted on to support these kinds of lunatic pieces of legislation-- and did-- like slimy Blue Dogs John Barrow (GA), Heath Shuler (NC), Mike Ross (AR), Jim Cooper (TN), Mike McIntyre (NC), Joe Donnelly (IN) and Jim Matheson (UT), let's look at some House Democrats being pushed forward towards higher office who also joined Boren in his efforts-- Shelley Berkley, the Democratic nominee for the Nevada Senate seat and Martin Heinrich, the favorite to get the Democratic nomination for the open Senate seat in New Mexico. When the DSCC approaches you for support for these two, be sure you understand what you're voting for-- not just people willing to stand up for Second Amendment gun ownership rights-- important to their constituents-- but people without the moral backbone to oppose the bloody drug war along the Mexican border. or do you think voters in New Mexico and Nevada would be outraged if Mexican drug lords couldn't be arsenals of assault weapons here?

It's On! Progressive State Senator Jim Wilson Is Challenging Blue Dog Dan Boren In Oklahoma's Democratic Primary

Jim Wilson, flanked by Senators Andrew Rice and Debbe Leftwich, surrounded by Oklahoma medical professionals

More than a few Blue Dog watchers think that the worst of the whole mangy bunch is Oklahoma son of privilege Dan Boren. It would be hard to argue otherwise. To the delight of Oklahoma Democrats and independents news started leaking out yesterday that the most beloved-- and progressive-- state legislator in Oklahoma, state Senator Jim Wilson, has decided to challenge Boren in the July 27th primary. Wilson represents a rural district in the northeast part of the state.

Adair County, which is on the Arkansas border, is about 42% Native American. The per capita income in 2000 was $11,185. Around 20% of the people live below the poverty line. Just to the west is Cherokee County, which is around 32% Native American and where the per capita income is $13,436, and where something like 1 in 5 residents live below the poverty line. Sequoyah County is south of the other two and its population is around 20% Native American. Per capita income was $13,405; and slightly less than 20% of the population lives below the poverty line. The three counties are part of Oklahoma's sprawling second Congressional District (25 counties), represented by, like I said, one of the most conservative of all the Blue Dogs. And yet these three counties are represented by the most progressive member of the Oklahoma state legislature, Jim Wilson, once a state Rep, now a state Senator.

The two lawmakers, both Democrats, could hardly be further apart politically. Boren flaunts his default position as an aisle crosser who votes against most Democratic Party initiatives, healthcare reform being only the most recent. Wilson's signature issue in the state legislature has been fighting for the kind of healthcare reform his constituents need so badly.

Wilson is challenging one of the House's most entitled members. Boren, widely viewed as among the most mediocre and ineffective politicians in Washington, is the son of David Boren, a former Oklahoma Governor and Senator, currently the president of the University of Oklahoma. Dan's grandfather, Lyle Boren, also represented a large portion of the district on Congress. Among the most reactionary Democrats in Congress, Boren is on the board of directors of the NRA and made a news splash by refusing to endorse President Obama. A member of the Natural Resources Committee, he takes immense amounts of money ($504,610 so far), generally seen as thinly veiled bribes, from the oil and gas interests whose profits he protects.

Boren is a sponsor of H.R. 25, John Linder's proposal to abolish progressive income taxes and replace them with a highly regressive flat sales tax, something that would dramatically shift the burden of taxation away from the wealthy and powerful and onto the backs of the middle class and would likely destroy the federal government's already limited ability to act as a control on the power of avaricious transnational corporate predators. Every other sponsor is an extreme right wing Republican, characters like Steve King (R-IA), Mike Pence (R-IN), Paul Broun (R-GA) and Trent Franks (R-AZ).

Boren is even better known as one of the least environmentally-friendly members of Congress and has the lowest environmental score of any Democrat in the House. On the other hand, Boren's the only politician other than George W. Bush, who was endorsed by Toby Keith.

Wilson won't be running as another Republican-lite reactionary but on a solid record as a forward-looking state legislator. In 2007 he was one of only 13 members of the state Senate to vote against Oklahoma's ban on funding abortions and one of only 8 members to oppose redefining homicide as to include a fetus. In 2006 He was one of only 5 members of the Senate to vote against a law that made it legal to shoot anyone you feel threatened by, including in public areas. And last year when the governor vetoed a ban on stem cell research, Wilson was one of the 19 members to keep the veto from being overridden.

I managed to get a hold of Jim late yesterday and he went through some of the dynamics on the ground that have compelled him to enter the race. "I've been working on healthcare in the state legislature for 10 years," he told me. "Oklahoma ranks 50th in overall delivery of healthcare statewide. And we're 49th in education funding." But the movers and shakers in the state-- wealthy oil and gas interests and the big media outfits-- are eager to continue defunding public education, while having no problem at all for $60 million of taxpayer money going into incentives to lure the Seattle Sonics, now the Oklahoma City Thunder, to the state. Jim has a different set of priorities. "21% of the people in the second district are living below the poverty level. Average household income in around $32,000 but for a family that has to pay for their own health insurance there's a $13,000 outlay. It's just unachievable... The Oklahoman is the state's ultra-right big newspaper. Yesterday in an editorial they tried disparaging me as the Harry Reid of the Oklahoma Senate because I reject further cuts to education. I'll wear that as a badge of pride."

This is going to be a tough, uphill battle and the second Jim was on ActBlue, Blue America added him to our BadDogs page. I hope you'll want to click on the link and welcome Jim to the race with a contribution for feel comfortable with.

The History Of Oklahoma's Democratic Party And The Future Of Progressivism

Tom Guild, the progressive candidate who ran for the Oklahoma City congressional seat that was abandoned by James Lanksford, who's taking Tom Coburn's Senate seat, lost out, narrowly, to a sad sack Blue Dog-type, Al McAffrey, who offers virtually no choice and has virtually no chance to win. Not even fellow Blue Dogs like him. The 2010 Blue Dog nominee, Billy Coyle, endorsed Republican Steve Russell. This morning he sent us the guest post below, The History Of Oklahoma's Democratic Party And The Future Of Progressivism.

Part I

Why is Oklahoma currently a very conservative Republican bastion? Oklahoma became a state in 1907 during the bubbling up of a national progressive movement. Teddy Roosevelt was famous for busting up "big" things... like business. He made an ill-fated promise to not run for another term as president in 1908. This led to the regime of his hand-picked successor William Howard Taft, who was a great disappointment to TR and a welcome surprise to big business and the status quo. TR ran as the Bull Moose third party progressive in 1912 and finished second to the new president Woodrow Wilson. In the early days of socialist elective politics in America, the socialist candidates often ran as well or better in Oklahoma than in the other states. Oklahoma was trending towards prairie populism in many respects. By the 1930's and the election of Franklin Roosevelt, Oklahoma had become a reliably Democratic state.

Part II

Oklahoma continued to be governed by the New Deal coalition throughout the 1940’s and 1950’s. In the early 1950’s Oklahoma elected Raymond Gary as its Governor. Although a Democrat, Gary was very conservative in many respects. Oklahoma was represented in the U.S. Senate by the legendary Democrat Robert S. Kerr. Kerr carried enormous clout in the U.S. Senate and brought home the bacon in abundance for his home state. In 1958, J. Howard Edmondson ran his famous "prairie fire" campaign and was elected governor in a big landslide. In 1962, the Democratic Party was badly split in the primary and runoff. The split led to the election of Henry Bellmon from Billings, as the first Republican Governor in state history. The rural/urban split in the Democratic Party allowed the election of a second Republican Governor Dewey Bartlett in 1966 and election of the first Republican Attorney General in state history, GT Blankenship. Bellmon had benefitted from a big chunk of votes in the traditionally Democratic rural areas, whereas Bartlett was elected on the strength of large margins in the big metropolitan areas. The state legislature, congressional delegation, and statewide offices otherwise remained firmly in Democratic hands. In 1970, Oklahoma returned to its Democratic traditions and elected the Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate David Hall from Tulsa, by a small margin. Hall ran extremely well in the traditionally Democratic rural areas and pulled ahead when those late were reported. At least one national network had called the race for Bartlett on election night.

Part III

Even as the GOP slowly gained a little traction for a few years in statewide offices, the congressional delegation remained nearly completely Democratic until 1968. Bob Kerr died suddenly and the iconic Bud Wilkinson was unable to capture a U.S. Senate seat as a Republican in 1964. He was demolished in the LBJ landslide in 1964. For a short time liberal lion Fred R. Harris held a seat in the U.S. Senate. It took until 1968 for the first Republican candidate, Henry Bellmon, to win a place in the U.S. Senate in modern day Oklahoma politics by wresting the Senate seat from the venerable and popular incumbent Democrat Mike Monroney. In 1972, the recently defeated Dewey Bartlett rose from the ashes and was elected to the U.S. Senate from Oklahoma. He had thousands of billboards all over the state that said... "Dewey Bartlett... Nixon Needs him." In the last electoral hurrah for Richard Nixon before the Watergate scandal exploded, Nixon's coattails were long enough to elect Bartlett in 1972. In the depths of Watergate, Bellmon was very narrowly re-elected to the U.S. Senate in 1974 over the extremely popular Democratic congressman from the old second district Ed Edmondson. Ever so slowly Republicans were becoming somewhat more electable to Congress from Oklahoma, especially the Senate. The venerable Carl Albert, Oklahoma's Little Giant from Little Dixie and the old third congressional district, came within an eyelash of becoming president due to his powerful position as the Democratic Speaker of the U.S. House. At times he was second in line to be president, and when Nixon's Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned in disgrace, Albert was for a short time next in line to the American throne. The bad news for Democrats was that presidential candidates from the Democratic Party were becoming less competitive in Oklahoma in presidential contests. In 1968, the Democratic Presidential candidate Hubert H. Humphrey was crippled by the third party candidacy of George Wallace, the southern segregationist from Alabama. This allowed Richard Nixon's narrow victory in 1968.

Part IV

David Hall was engulfed in a scandal near the end of his term as governor. Hall ran for re-election, and was challenged by the potent Clem McSpadden, and a dark horse challenger from Seminole, David Boren. Boren and his Boren Broom Brigade promised to sweep out the old guard. His father had been a congressman, so a case could have easily been made that David Boren represented the old guard. In politics perception is reality. Hall was damaged goods and finished third in the Democratic Primary. McSpadden ran first, but he lacked enough political strength to beat the broom brigade, and Boren surged to a victory in the runoff election. The Republicans nominated State Senator Jim Inhofe over his senate colleague Denzil Garrison. Boren was running as a reformer and so was Inhofe. Boren had become a political phenomenon overnight. In the November general election Boren carried 73 of the state's 77 counties (losing only Tulsa, Nowata, Washington, and Major Counties). Boren crushed Inhofe. The state legislature remained firmly in control of the Democratic Party as did most of the county offices in the vast majority of the 77 counties statewide. Boren governed as a centrist. He had once been the butt of jokes among his colleagues in the state legislature, but as they say in dog sled racing, "If you're not the lead dog, the view never changes." Boren now had tens of thousands of politicos as his "best" friends. These newly found friends had laughed and scoffed at him and marginalized his campaign for governor when he first announced his candidacy. David Hall was indicted and convicted of political corruption immediately following his term as governor and spent time in a federal penitentiary. Dewey Bartlett was losing his battle with cancer and not able to seek another term in the U.S. Senate. Boren withstood sensational accusations regarding his personal life in the Democratic Primary, and easily beat former OSU President Bob Kamm to capture a seat in the U.S. Senate.

Part V

George Nigh's election in 1978 and easy re-election in 1982 ushered in an era of good feelings in Oklahoma politics. Nigh had served for decades as the lieutenant governor. He had spoken at hundreds of graduations, fish fries, receptions, installations, and other events over the years. He had even served short stints as acting governor for various reasons. He won a tough primary and runoff in 1978 and glided to re-election in 1982. He was the first Democratic Candidate for Governor who in 1982 finally carried Major County for the first time in state history. The economy went south during Nigh's second term. He was happy as a clam and later served a five-year stint as president of Central State University, that experienced a name change to the University of Central Oklahoma. Nigh had a knack for remembering names and an easy relationship with a wide variety of Oklahomans all the way up the political and economic spectrum. Nigh tends towards egalitarianism, but was stubbornly mainstream and not polarizing in his politics. The father of the modern Republican Party in Oklahoma Henry Bellmon succeeded Nigh as governor in 1986, much to the chagrin of hard right conservatives and to the delight of many civil libertarians. Democratic Progressive David Walters followed Bellmon for one term as governor in 1990. Walters was likely unfairly tarred by a somewhat complicated campaign finance "scandal" and almost run out of elective politics by the Daily Oklahoman and his political enemies on what seemed to many observers to be trumped up criminal charges. 1994 was a watershed year for the changing of the partisan political guard in Oklahoma. Frank Keating was elected as a Republican Governor in 1994 and served two terms. Also in 1994 King David Boren renounced his throne in the U.S. Senate and followed his passion to become the president of the University of Oklahoma. Jim Inhofe moved from the U.S. House to Boren's unexpired Senate seat by defeating moderate to moderate conservative U.S. House Colleague Dave McCurdy. This special election more than ever indicated that "blue dog" Democrats were fast becoming a dying breed in Oklahoma electoral politics. McCurdy was bright, energetic, and popular, but still was no match for the now very conservative Inhofe. The march towards a 100% Republican congressional delegation was nearly complete.

Part VI

Ronald Reagan was controversial to say the least. Reagan raised taxes as governor of California. He raised taxes and raised the debt ceiling multiple times as president. His die hard supporters today invoke his name when opposing tax hikes or raising the debt ceiling. A little bit of Alice in Wonderland sometimes goes a long way in American politics. He used the creation of the Reverend Jerry Falwell, the Moral Majority, to his political advantage, but often gave only lip service to the stated goals of the Moral Majority, and did little to substantively advance their agenda. He was the darling of the Falwell group, while at the same time being the first divorced president, surviving a messy and well publicized break up with his first movie star wife Jane Wyman. One thing is certain in Oklahoma. Oklahomans were buying what Reagan was selling when he ran for president in 1968, 1976, 1980, and for re-election as president in 1984. Pollsters found a surprise in the polling in Oklahoma for the 1980 general election between Reagan, Democratic Incumbent Jimmy Carter, and Republican Third Party Candidate John Anderson. Reagan was polling as much, or more, support in Oklahoma among Democrats as was the Democratic Incumbent President. Reagan's popularity in Oklahoma among so-called "Reagan Democrats" hastened the realignment from the Democratic Party to the GOP. One of Reagan's fervent acolytes, State Senator Don Nickles, a Republican from Ponca City, stormed the Oklahoma political stage in 1980 by wresting the nomination for the U.S. Senate to replace Henry Bellmon, from a megabucks contender representing the Noble family and Tulsa philanthropist John Zink. Nickles and Zink ran close in the primary that eliminated Ed Nobel, and Nickles pulled away to a convincing win in the runoff. He fairly easily dispatched a strong Democratic Nominee Andy Coats in the general election. The one thing Nickles brought to the table that no other Oklahoma Republican U.S. Senator had before, was a long tenure in the Senate. He served from 1980 until January of 2005, when he was replaced by GOP Congressman Tom Coburn. By the time Nickles retired from the Senate, after an unsuccessful revolt against Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott, Oklahoma had become a Republican state in all but voter registration figures that still showed many more Democrats than Republicans registered to vote in the state. Today, many of those formerly Blue Dog or Reagan Democrats have joined the GOP or re-registered as independents.

Part VII

Democrats have come full circle in the history of the state of Oklahoma. In the first decade of the 21st century, Democrats lost control of the Oklahoma State House of Representatives and a few years later lost control of the Oklahoma State Senate. Previous to this takeover of the house, Republicans had only controlled the state house for a two-year period in 1921-2 after the Warren Harding presidential landslide in 1920. Until the 21st century takeover, the GOP had never controlled the state senate. Takeover of the state legislature was hastened by weak showings in Oklahoma by Democratic Presidential Candidate John Kerry in 2004, and President Barack Obama in both 2008 and 2012. Kerry and Obama both had identical percentages in 2004 and 2008, with Kerry running somewhat stronger in the traditionally Democratic rural areas in 2004 and Obama running a bit stronger in the urban areas in 2008. Obama ran a few tenths of a percentage point worse in 2012 in Oklahoma than in 2008. Republicans have quickly strengthened their grip on the state legislature with a 3 to 1 advantage in the state senate and approximately a 2.5 to 1 advantage in the number of seats currently held in the state house. Democrats had a good election cycle in 2006 when Democratic Governor Brad Henry was easily re-elected over Congressman Ernest Istook, and Democrats won all statewide offices on the ballot except corporation commissioner. The fleeting success was wiped out when Congresswoman Mary Fallin was easily elected governor in 2010 by dispatching Lieutenant Governor Jari Askins in the general election. Askins had survived a brutal primary with Attorney General Drew Edmondson. Askins won the primary by a political whisker. Both Askins and Edmondson were accomplished, strong, and attractive candidates, but it didn't change the dynamics of the election. In 2010, Republicans won every statewide state race, and now hold every single statewide state office, including all three corporation commissioners. To add insult to injury, when Blue Dog Democrat Dan Boren, son of OU President David Boren, voluntarily retired from the U.S. House in 2012, Republicans captured the lone remaining Democratic seat on the congressional delegation, by taking the second congressional district. 2014 finds that Democrats have no representation in statewide state office and no representation in the congressional delegation, and are badly outnumbered in both houses of the state legislature. The Democratic lead in voter registration by 2014 had shrunk to a mere 5,000 in recently released figures from the Oklahoma State Election Board. This is almost certainly the last election cycle for the foreseeable future, when Democrats will outnumber Republicans among registered voters in the Sooner State.

Conclusion and Recommendations

It is abundantly clear that the Democratic Party in Oklahoma has become a weak and relatively uncompetitive institution. The metamorphosis from 800 pound gorilla in Oklahoma to a minority party losing ground nearly every election cycle has taken place over many decades. Republicans have long played demagogue on race, immigration, God-gays-and guns, the Panama Canal Treaty, the federal "takeover" of health care, public schools etc. to convince Oklahoma voters to vote against their best interests. It is also a tactic for absolving the GOP of their failures to provide health care, healthy and well-funded public schools etc.

Progressives must fight back by continuing to building their own organizations and infrastructure to supplement whatever support the Democratic Party can afford to progressives running for public office in our state. There are a number of good progressive organizations such as Change Oklahoma, the Brennan Society, the Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice, the Peace House, Oklahomans to Abolish the Death Penalty, LULAC, the NAACP, the Sierra Club, OKC Pride, and many others. One of the weaknesses is that these good progressive organizations don't always coordinate their activities and their efforts. To be successful more needs to be done in that regard. Progressives need to be able to recruit, train, and fund progressive candidates in Oklahoma to reverse course and put public education, health care, civil and voting rights, protecting the middle and working classes, and protecting the environment back in the forefront of public policy in our state.

Carlos Ortiz and I, and the leadership and membership of Brennan Society and Oklahomans of South American origin have started a dialogue about starting a Brennan Institute that would be formed for the purposes of cultural and political engagement in our state. Portfolios on a governing board would be afforded to leaders willing to join the effort, like leaders of Change Oklahoma, the Brennan Society, the OCRJ, LULAC, the NAACP, the Peace House, Oklahoma leaders from the Hispanic Community who hail from South America, the Sierra Club, the Peace House, Oklahomans opposed to the death penalty, OKC Pride, and many other groups already in existence.

The Brennan Institute would have a permanent office, perhaps stand alone or perhaps using a space available donated by one of the progressive groups in our state. We are in the very preliminary stages of working out the details for the new institute.

We have an emergency on our hands, and we must urgently come together to do what we can to take the necessary steps to move our state forward again. If not us...who? If not now, when?

Blue America Welcomes State Senator Jim Wilson (D-OK)

A labor union president once told me that the worst Democrat in Congress, at least from the point of view of ordinary working families, is Oklahoma reactionary Dan Boren. I've never been able to find anyone to persuade me that he was wrong. The video above should explain that pretty well.

Today Blue America is very proud to present the courageous populist who's decided Boren doesn't deserve a free ride from Oklahoma Democrats. State Senator Jim Wilson, long considered Oklahoma's most pro-family state legislator, made up his mind after Boren voted in favor of the anti-Choice Stupak amendment and then against the overall healthcare reform bill-- twice. Healthcare reform has been one of Jim's signature issues as a state Rep and state Senator. He'll be joining us over at Crooks and Liars at 11am (PT)/1pm in Oklahoma.

Jim, whose political career has been dedicated to the most needy in his community and who has fought a long and unrelenting battle on behalf of public education, the environment and health care reform, decided to take the plunge into national politics when his congressman, Dan Boren, once again joined the Republican Party in trying to derail healthcare reform.

"I've been working on healthcare in the state legislature for 10 years," Jim told me. "Oklahoma ranks 50th in overall delivery of healthcare statewide... Health care costs are escalating at the compound rate of 6.7% per year. This year's increase for every man, woman and child, directly or indirectly, is $428. That represents income that can't be used elsewhere in the economy which removes, to some extent, discretionary spending which in turn hurts other business or quality of life segments."

There doesn't seem to be a resulting justification for the increased expenditures. One-third of health care spending doesn't seem to help or prevent sickness. If in Oklahoma we were to return the waste in health care to the people, the savings would be equivalent to all the state taxes paid by individuals and businesses. In Oklahoma we have in statute a floor of 60% for a medical loss ratio. The new federal reform legislation will require a medical loss ratio of not less than 85% for big groups and not less than 80% for small groups. The savings in Oklahoma will be at least $210 million. 

Just automating health records in Oklahoma would save $800 million and 750 lives annually.  Nationally we have one medical error per patient day and have an 80% error rate on provider billing. Cleveland clinic has to have 1,400 clerks to support 2,000 doctors-- and it's more cost effective than any other major provider with the possible exception of Mayo and the VA. 
 
To improve quality of life for our citizens we should strive to improve disposable income. If we are resistant to increased pay or if increases in pay are mitigated by rising health care costs, we owe it to the citizens to make the health care system more efficient which will produce better health outcomes at less cost.

Jim, a former combat marine in Vietnam, who walked away with the valuable lessons of that tragic conflict, would be another voice of reason in Congress regarding Afghanistan. His astonishingly progressive record in Oklahoma shows what kind of a Member of Congress he would be. We can be absolutely certain we'd be trading in the worst Democrat for someone who will be giving Members like Alan Grayson and Raul Grijalva a run for their money! After Boren crossed the aisle again to support Boehner, Wall Street and the GOP in their jihad against regulating the money-changers in the temple, Jim issued a simple and direct statement that shows the contrast between the two of them:

“While driving around Eastern Oklahoma in my pickup truck, I have met thousands of people whose lives were ruined by the crash just two years ago. How can Dan Boren forget about those people and vote for his donors instead? It's a shame that he’s been in Washington so long he’s forgotten about the people in Eastern Oklahoma... This is common sense legislation. I have not met a single person on the campaign trail begging me to be compassionate to Wall Street. Dan Boren needs to spend less time in Washington with his Wall Street lobbyist friends and more time in Eastern Oklahoma."

The last two mangy Blue Dogs we're trying to dislodge in this cycle are John Barrow-- who faces off against Regina Thomas on July 20-- and then Boren, who will be facing Jim on July 27. If you can, please consider donating to Jim's campaign so that he can continue getting out his message to Oklahoma Democrats. By the way, that labor union president I referred to above? Nowhere to be seen on this race-- or in Regina's. I guess we should be happy his union isn't endorsing their Blue Dog opponents this time.

How Many "Democrats" Will Desert Working Families On Employee Free Choice?

I've never met Arkansas Senator Mark Pryor. His voting record is pretty Republican-- the 52nd "most progressive" out of 58 Democrats (and just slightly better than fellow Arkansas reactionary Blanche Lincoln)-- but I never sat down face to face with him (or her). Pryor, however, showed America what he's made of in an interview with Bill Maher for the film Religulous. Watch the one minute clip in which he sums up his performance accurately: "You don't have to pass an IQ test to be in the Senate." Yes, he was talking about himself and with a shit-eating grin on his face. He knew, when telling Maher that he believes in a talking snake he was appealing to a sad and politically uneducated electorate, brainwashed by Limbaugh, Coulter and O'Reilly. It's a lot easier to tell them that you, like them, believe in talking snakes than it is to try to educate them.

And probably because of that, both Pryor and Lincoln told the Chamber of Commerce that they are not committed to supporting the Employee Free Choice Act this year. Neither said they would oppose it but neither would commit to supporting it either (though both voted for it in the past).

Even though Lincoln hasn’t officially signaled which way she intends to vote, she may be edging closer to voting against it.

The senator’s campaign staff has been busy making phone calls trying to round up support for her second re-election campaign in anticipation her March 14 fund-raiser with Vice President Joe Biden. At least two times when individuals who were called expressed apprehension about Lincoln’s indecisiveness on EFCA, they were told in response not to worry about that.

Lincoln’s possible new direction makes sense. The co-host committee for her re-election kickoff reads like a virtual laundry list of business executives from industries opposing EFCA. A “no” vote from Lincoln would be major blow to the Democratic leadership and the White House, which strongly supports the legislation.

As for Pryor, after being a co-sponsor in the past, he said he would not attach his name to bill this time around.  Pryor believes a compromise bill that both business and labor could agree to should emerge.

In recent days both Obama and Biden have been clear that passing the Employee Free Choice Act is part of their agenda for rebuilding the American middle class, which has been so devastated by decades of Republican activities against unions, activities that are sometimes supported by a small handful of reactionary fake Democrats.

When the House took up the Employee Free Choice early in 2007, it passed 241-185, Every Democrat but two voting in favor, joined by 13 Republicans too embarrassed to vote against working families. And the two "Democrats?" Both are reactionary Blue Dogs, Mississippi's Gene Taylor and Oklahoma's Dan Boren. Both represent incredibly Republican districts and neither has attempted to help their constituents get over their 19th century prejudices. Boren, for example, is abysmal on most issues impacting the lives of working families. In fact, except for his own family ties to the Democratic Party-- his daddy was a Democratic governor and a senator from Oklahoma-- he would certainly be a Republican in name as in deed.

After generations of populism Oklahoma has morphed into one of the furthest right states in the union. Obama only took 34% of the vote there, his second worst showing anywhere (tied with Utah but beaten out by Wyoming... by 1%). And Boren's district gave Obama the exact same percentage-- 34%, less Democratic than the Republican-held districts represented by Mary Fallin or John Sullivan which include, respectively OK City and Tulsa. Boren's district, on the other hand, includes something called "Little Dixie." And that's the part of the district he counts on to split tickets and re-elect him.

It couldn't have surprised anyone that he bragged to his Chamber of Commerce backers the other day that he's opposing the Employee Free Choice Act again this year. I'd like to see unions go further than just hissing and spluttering when they push back against this dyed-in-the-wool enemy of working families-- although SEIU Political Director Jon Youngdahl took a good first step today:

“Rep. Dan Boren chose to turn his back on the needs of struggling Oklahomans-- in this unprecedented economic crisis, nearly one million residents of his state are unemployed, underemployed, or lacking adequate healthcare coverage.

“That’s why we’re surprised Rep. Boren has already pledged to vote against the Employee Free Choice Act before it’s even introduced in Congress. He apparently has some fundamental misconceptions about what the bill actually does.

“Oklahomans would be able to bargain for better wages, benefits, and job security while helping his state’s economy. If the Employee Free Choice Act passes, 900,000 Oklahomans would see a 14% raise-- bringing more than $410,000,000 straight back into the state economy, every year.

“That’s math even Dan Boren can understand.”

I think it's crucial for SEIU and other labor unions to not leave it at that. Unions have contributed over $273,000 to Boren's political career, more than $42,000 after he voted against the Employee Free Choice Act in 2007. It's time for some real action. After all, the battle begins, in the Senate, next week... Tuesday to be precise.

A Promise To Screw Oklahoma Voters Over Again That Dan Boren Will Certainly Keep

The report last night that Obama is getting so frustrated with the blatant obstructionism from the Republican Party regarding health care reform-- like the "need" for 80 votes instead of 51-- and that he's prepared to just give up on them and let the Democrats pass the legislation without them, may be true. I doubt it but it may be true. But none of that matters to the House's worst Democrat, Blue Dog Dan Boren (OK).

Boren, who represents the "Little Dixie" section of the state that voted heaviest for McCain in the country, is the only Democrat in Oklahoma's congressional delegation. He usually votes with the Republicans when it comes to substantive, contentious issues. Like Republicans and other Blue Dogs, he voraciously scoops up massive (legalistic) bribes from corporate America and then does their bidding regardless of the impact on his own constituents, by far, the poorest, least educated and most poorly served in the state. Boren has taken $121,985 from the Insurance Industry to whom he is so loyal, and another $267,710 from the Medical-Industrial Complex (all in just 4 years!). He's already announced that he's a definite "no" vote on health care reform (just like his bribe-besotted fellow reactionary Blue Dog Allen Boyd in Florida did at a town hall meeting this week.) In fact, according to the Tulsa World he said he was so certain he would join his pals and fellow-bribees the Republicans to kill health care reform that if he votes yes, "I'll shave my head."

Boren is enough of a clown already that he surely needn't shave his head to play the fool. He brags how he didn't vote for Obama for president and how he opposes Employee Free Choice. This year he voted against equality for women in the workplace and against hate crime legislation that would help protect gay men and women from violence and he seems to revel in distancing himself from President Obama and calling him a political liability.

Last year Boren beat his GOP for with 70% of the votes slightly down from the 73% he received in 2006. Supposedly the NRCC is targeting him next year. I hope they beat him but judging by the imbecile they're putting up against him (see video below), Howard Houchen, a clueless dittohead, Boren will be safe to wear out the carpet across the aisle for two more years. The Chairman of the state GOP referred to Houchen as "well educated" after he ascertained that he could read.

Two More Slimy Self-Serving Conservatives Headed From Congress To K Street

Earlier in the week many of his were chuckling in resignation when it was announced that Indiana corporate shill and reflexive reactionary Evan Bayh-- also well as paid Fox contributor-- is going to work for a long-time fascist organization as a lobbyist.

Not long after announcing his plans to retire in 2010, then-Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) offered this bit of commentary on why he'd opted to leave Congress after two terms in office: "I want to be engaged in an honorable line of work." It was taken as a biting critique of the increasingly polarized and dysfunctional Senate, and a hint that Bayh's post-Senate plans might include a quiet career in academia, away from politics.

Now Bayh is eating his words. As iWatch News' Peter Stone reports, Bayh has signed on with one of the most corporate-friendly, anti-environment shops in all of Washington, DC: the US Chamber of Commerce. According to an internal memo penned by Chamber president Tom Donohue, Bayh, along with former Bush White House chief of staff Andy Card, are now part of the Chamber's anti-regulation messaging team, doing "speeches, events, and media appearances at local venues."

The Chamber's hiring of Bayh, a big name in Washington circles, will only help its efforts to delay or kill new regulatory legislation in Congress. Indeed, Donohue's memo touts how the Chamber has filed legal briefs to challenge the validity of President Obama's health care reform bill; successfully delayed a new Securities and Exchange Commission rule on giving shareholders a say on corporate directors; unveiled plans to undermine the clout of the fledgling Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; and delayed a rule forcing companies to disclose when they use conflict minerals from the Congo in their products. Bayh and Card, the memo says, will help the Chamber push this pro-corporate agenda in Washington and beyond.

But just as we were hoping Bayh's revolving door would hit him in the butt on the way out, news broke that an even worse example of a right-wing Democrat would soon be scurrying from Capitol Hill to K Street. This year-- as almost every year-- spoiled child of privilege and scummy dishonorable Blue Dog Dan Boren was the Democrat who voted most frequently with the Republicans on key substantive issues before the House. His ProgressivePunch Crucial Votes score for the current session is a dismal 17.43, not just the worst for any Democrat, but worse than 16 Republicans. Boehner and Cantor have been able to count on his support as much as George Bush always did. The Democratic caucus will be infinitely better off without him, even if fellow Blue Dog Brad Carson, the district's former congressman, wins the seat.

With Boren gone the once-mighty Blue Dog caucus of rightists and racists will have been cut down from 54 to 23. That's 23 too many. As Politico reported, former Tennessee Rep. John Tanner, a leading conservative Democrat who helped found the coalition in 1995, acknowledged that the Blue Dog wing is, for the time being at least, struggling for survival.

“It ought to concern us from the standpoint that we need to put aside strongly held philosophies,” said Tanner, who retired last year.

Former North Dakota Rep. Earl Pomeroy, a Blue Dog who lost his seat last November, put it more directly: “I think you could say this was the most disastrous House election that Democrats ever had, and those who paid the highest price were those in swing districts and those who were Blue Dogs.”

While Boren didn’t announce his plans, many in the growing ranks of former Blue Dogs have beaten a path to the lucrative environs of K Street, where they aren’t regularly berated by progressives who resent their departures from party orthodoxy or Republicans insisting they are tools of a liberal national party. In just the past few months alone, former South Dakota Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, former Tennessee Rep. Bart Gordon, Pomeroy and Tanner are among those who have taken the lobbying path.

I was on the phone with a senior progressive Democrat when the news of Boren's retirement hit the transom. I asked her if she had heard the news about Boren. And she shot back, "Did he finally make if official and switch parties?" I told her he was retiring and she asked me if I knew he was related to Paul Ryan by marriage. Boren, who's on the Board of Directors of the NRA, didn't endorse Obama in 2008 and voted against healthcare reform and was always strictly anti-Choice.

Last November Blue America helped defeat the only Democrat with a worse voting record than Boren: Bobby Bright, an Alabama Blue Dog. This year our ActBlue page, Send The Democrats A Message They Can Understand is assisting progressives who fighting for nominations against Blue Dogs and other conservative Democrats. We have three on our list so far and if you'd like to help them in their struggle we'd be most appreciative.

DAN BOREN DRAWS A DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY OPPONENT

Democrats in Oklahoma were outraged yesterday by reactionary Dan Boren's anti-Obama statements. One of my friends in Tulsa called me and said "It sounded like it could have been written by Karl Rove." Boren, a clueless Democrat who votes with the GOP more often than with the Democrats on substantive matters, used false Republican Party talking points when he claimed Barack Obama is the "most liberal senator." (He's the 44th most liberal senator.)

Boren even has conservative Democrats in his district, some of whom aren't even big fans of Obama, mad at him over this because they think his trying to have it both ways (he said he'd vote for Obama, but not endorse) and they think this shows weakness and a lack of conviction. Boren has always been a worm and people in Oklahoma are sick and tired of him. And one Oklahoma Democrat has filed to run against him in the July 29th primary. Kevin Coleman of Grove, Oklahoma is taking Boren on. I have a call in to his office and I'll update after I speak with him.

Dan Boren, Another Blue Dog Who Doesn’t Know What He’s Talking About-- Probably Doesn’t Care Either

Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping through the vast emptiness between Dan Boren’s ears

-by Doug Kahn

I’ve begun to understand something about politics in the American West; it’s a lot like my home state of Florida and the rest of the Deep South. Any politician who makes it obvious he or she is proud of being ignorant has an automatic following. This item from Talking Points Memo proves that one of my favorite Bad Dogs is as dumb as a stump, as we say in the South. (That expression seems to have become overused. I promise to dredge up better insults, if my memory cooperates.) 

Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK), one of the most conservative Democrats in the House, is not only predicting that the party will lose a significant number of seats in the House-- he's welcoming it, saying it will be a "good thing for Oklahoma and for me."
 
"If we have a tight majority one way or another, that puts me in the driver's seat," Boren told the Tulsa World. "In the 112th (Congress), I probably will have the most influence I have ever had, no matter who has the majority."
 
Boren did say that a Republican takeover of the House was a "tall order," but also added that the Democratic Party would be forced to move more toward the center politically with a smaller majority.

The Tulsa World’s report on key votes in Congress for the week of December 20, 2009 covered 6 votes. Oklahoma has 6 Representatives, 5 of them Republicans, and Dan voted with the Republicans all 6 times. Earlier, he voted against the House’s version of Health Care reform, and against the Clean Energy and Security Act (Cap and Trade). 

Dan’s lifetime Progressive Punch ranking is 245th out of 435 House members. [His ProgressivePunch score has dropped significantly since Obama came to the White House. His lifetime score of 44.69 sank to a 18.46, reflecting his tendency to cross the aisle and vote with the GOP as his normal default position.] 246 through 257 are the only Democrats worse on progressive issues: Jim Marshall (GA-08), Mike McIntyre (NC-07), Parker Griffith (AL-05), John Tanner (TN-08), Glenn Nye (VA-02), Ike Skelton (M)-04), Frank Kratovil (MD-01), Collin Peterson (MN-07), Travis Childers (MS-01), Gene Taylor (MS-04), Bobby Bright (AL-02), and Walt Minnick (ID-01).  (Note: Parker Griffith claims he’s a Republican now. They may throw him back in November. All the rest are Blue Dogs, except Ike Skelton.)
 
He’s consistent, anyway: his score for 2009-2010 was tied for 244th. The Dems in his vicinity have changed, though. Some are voting a bit more like Democrats, while others are excelling in their stupidity. Harry Mitchell (AZ-05) is one of those diving towards the bottom, now ranking 247th (previously 232nd). That district interests me because my kids live there, and I visit a lot. I guess old Harry is better than the Republican he beat, J.D. Hayworth, but that’s just a guess. In 1998 (and again in 2006), Hayworth was voted the second biggest "windbag" in Congress in Washingtonian magazine's survey of 1,200 congressional staff members of both parties. He said he wasn’t happy about slipping out of the top spot. Ignorant. Proud of it. 

What Dan said; why is it dumb? Because even if we at BlueAmerica and around the progressive community do nothing, a lot of Bad Dogs are going to lose, making the Democratic Caucus more progressive. Democrats who campaign as real Democrats will get more of the base out to vote (duh), increasing victory margins, which will demonstrate that moving towards the right is exactly the wrong thing to do. This isn’t wild speculation, it’s the safe bet, given the history of Congressional politics. It could turn out differently, but you’d lose money betting the long shot. The long shot is what Dan Boren is talking about, that the Democratic Party gets more conservative. Dan is going to end up with less company in the Beavis Wing of the party. 

And the thing about Republicans always voting "no" unanimously; all that matters is the Democratic majority in the House, and the Democratic majority in each committee and subcommittee. The difference between Bad Dogs voting the Republican line and Bad Dogs losing, being replaced by Republicans: we get better legislation out of committee in 2011. Instead of the heap of stinking garbage that made 2009 so nauseating. 

Another Of Congress' Worst Blue Dogs, This Time Mike Ross (AR), Is Leaving

This morning, after the President's speech to the nation last night, the Washington Post and ABC News released a poll showing that 77% of Americans think the Republicans aren't willing enough to compromise with the president over the debt ceiling problem. That's a kind of bipartisanship that transcends Beltway politics. But if you bother to listen to Boehner and Cantor and the other right-wing leaders arguing for more tax breaks for millionaires and more loopholes for companies that ship American jobs to China, you may have noticed that they claim that their my-way-or-the-highway approach has "bipartisan support." What are they talking about? Blue Dogs.

Although the GOP managed to devastate the Blue Dog conservative Blue Dog coalition last November-- less than half of them are still serving in Congress-- many of those who are left have consistently supported Boehner's and Cantor's approach on the vast majority of crucial votes this year. And with Boehner and Cantor insisting that July 19th's passage of their Cut, Cap and Balance Act in the House (it failed in the Senate) that's the proof that their plot to gut Social Security and Medicare is bipartisan. It passed 234-190... 5 mangy Blue Dogs voting with the Republicans.

The 5 culprits were Dan Boren (Blue Dog-OK), Jim Cooper (Blue Dog-TN), the only one of the 5 to represent a solidly Democratic district, Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT), Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog-NC) and Heath Shuler (Blue Dog-NC). This year Boren, who has already announced that he will be retiring from Congress next year, has, on crucial votes, sided with the Democrats 17.28% of the time. Yes, he's stuck with Boehner and Cantor on a whopping 82.72% of the key votes the House took this year. Just for the sake of comparison, that's more loyal to the right-wing line than 15 Republicans, including die-hard conservatives like Justin Amash, a teabagger from Michigan, and California nutcase Dana Rohrabacher. That dismal 17.28% adherence to Democratic positions is exactly the same percentage that California's most extreme right-wing congressional imbecile, Tom McClintock, voted with the Democrats.

Matheson, who is being wooed by the DSCC to run for a shaky Senate seat in Utah, isn't quite as bad as Boren. He's voted with the Democrats 27.50% of the time. The House Democratic caucus will be much better off without these two corporate shills-- if Matheson can be lured out of (or gerrymandered out of) a relatively safe seat and into a Senate race he's bound to lose. These two, and the rest of the Blue Dogs, are not just giving Boehner and Cantor cover to call their outrageous and extremist right-wing bills "bipartisan," they are consistently pushing the anti-family corporate line within the caucus, undermining cohesion and pulling Democratic positions further and further right, confusing the public about what it means to support Democrats.

Two days after the 5 Blue Dogs supported Cut, Cap and Balance, Cantor pushed through legislation to take the teeth out of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, basically giving the banksters a big wet kiss by ending the Consumer Protection part of the bill. It passed 241-173, 10 right-wing, corporate-oriented Democrats joining the GOP on this one. This is the kind of vote the DCCC likes to go out and raise money on, claiming the Democrats want to protect consumers and the Republicans want to make them easy prey for ravenous and greed-obsessed banksters. It's mostly true... except for the folks who live in districts represented by John Barrow (Blue Dog-GA), Dan Boren (Blue Dog-OK), Ben Chandler (Blue Dog-KY), Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX), Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT), Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog-NC), Bill Owens (Blue Dog lite-NY), Nick Rahall (Blue Dog lite-WV), Mike Ross (Blue Dog-AR), and Kurt Schrader (Blue Dog-OR). That's how they roll... on virtually every vote in the House.

Yesterday, while working-family champion Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was railing at the far right for demanding that Congress balance the budget on the backs of seniors, orphans and disabled veterans, there was another development, of a more partisan nature, taking place in Little Rock, Arkansas, where Mike Ross-- the second-worst Blue Dog (21.47% with the Democrats this year) after the execrable Boren-- was announcing his retirement, probably foreshadowing a run for governor in 2014.

Last year Blue America worked tirelessly to defeat the worst Blue Dog in the 2009-10 session, Bobby Bright (AL). We take some credit for his narrow 51-49% loss-- a less than 5,000 vote margin. Here's how we put it right after the election:

The silver lining last night, as I predicted a week ago, was the political demise of the Blue Dogs. Over half the caucus was defeated, including the most reactionary members-- those who voted most frequently with the GOP against working families: Bobby Bright (AL-19.83% with Democrats), Gene Taylor (MS- 22.50), Travis Childers (MS- 22.95), Walt Minnick (ID- 27.64), Harry Mitchell (AZ- 28.46), Glenn Nye (VA- 30.08), Charles Melancon (LA- 32.17), Jim Marshall (GA-32.52). In fact all the Blue Dogs who voted less than a third of the time with the Democrats except for arch-reactionary Dan Boren (OK- 26.50), were defeated, as were so many of the ones who voted against the Hate Crimes bill, for the Stupak Amendment, against the health care bill, against the Wall Street reform legislation. And in the Senate, reactionary Arkansas bootlick to the Walton family, Blanche Lincoln wound up with a stunning 37.2% of the vote.

Blue America started the ball rolling against Blanche over a year ago by letting loyal Democrats in Democratic parts of the state know what she was up to. And we just did the same thing-- with equal success-- to Bobby Bright in Alabama. With 217,777 votes cast yesterday, Bright won 106,455 (48.9%) to Martha Roby's 111,322 (51.1%). We were able to depress his vote in 4 counties crucial to Democratic candidates, Lowndes, Barbour, Bullock and Butler. Below is a comparison of the votes Bright got in each of these candidates when he won in 2008 and when he lost last night:

Lowndes- 5,667 (79%) in '08 and 3,874 (74%) Tuesday
Barbour- 6,889 (61%) in '08 and 4,822 (59%) Tuesday
Bullock- 4,203 (79%) in '08 and 2,980 (77%) Tuesday
Butler- 5,601 (59%) and 3,878 (55%) Tuesday

We hope right-wing Democrats willing to shill themselves out to Big Business will know there's a price to pay for their perfidy. We'll be thinking carefully about Ben Nelson's race in 2012-- as well as Jim Cooper's, Joe Donnelly's, Mike Ross' and John Barrow's. And then there's our fearless leader.

Our first choice for this year was Boren and our second choice was the grossly corrupt Ross. Donnelly has been redistricted out of a seat and will make some silly run for the Senate and then go to work on K Street. We're looking closely at Barrow and Cooper, each of whom represents a Democratic district. McCain only took 45% of the votes in Barrow's Georgia district and only 43% in Cooper's Nashville district. Either of those Republican-supporting corporatists can be beaten in a Democratic primary. If you'd like to help, please surf over to our Bad Dogs page and lend a hand. We have several leads in across the country for progressives willing to challenge Blue Dogs.

Last year 28 Blue Dogs-- and another dozen or so Blue Dog allies like Ann Kirkpatrick, Suzanne Kosmas and Melissa Bean-- were either forced into retirement or were defeated at the polls. These were the Blue Dogs who were voting with the GOP in 2010 but are no longer in the House:

Mike Arcuri (NY-24)
Robert Marion Berry (AR-1)
Allen Boyd (FL-2)
Bobby Bright (AL-2)
Chris Carney (PA-10)
Travis Childers (MS-1)
Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-3)
Lincoln Davis (TN-4)
Brad Ellsworth (IN-8)
Bart Gordon (TN-6)
Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (SD-AL)
Baron Hill (IN-9)
Frank Kratovil (MD-1)
Betsy Markey (CO-4)
Jim Marshall (GA-8)
Charlie Melancon (LA-3)
Walt Minnick (ID-1)
Harry Mitchell (AZ-5)
Dennis Moore (KS-3)
Patrick Murphy (PA-8)
Scott Murphy (NY-20)
Glenn Nye (VA-2)
Earl Pomeroy (ND-AL)
John Salazar (CO-3)
Zack Space (OH-18)
John Tanner (TN-8)
Gene Taylor (MS-4)
Charlie Wilson (OH-6)

Several are trying for comebacks. We'll be doing our best to make sure that doesn't happen, particularly in the case of the mendacious Chris Carney, who's looking to move down to a bluer district and challenge GOP racist Lou Barletta.

UPDATE: Bleak Future For The Blue Dogs

This morning Aaron Blake and Rachel Weiner laid out a scenario for the likely extinction of the Blue Dogs as a species. There are only 25 left-- although they neglect to mention there are plenty who vote with the Blue Dogs but fear affiliating themselves with the hated caucus-- and prospects for the future look very dim. They make Altmire, Boswell, McIntyre and Shuler as the mostly likely to face defeat in 2012 but point out that John Barrow, Sanford Bishop, Dennis Cardoza, Ben Chandler, Jim Cooper, Jim Costa, Adam Schiff and several others could be redistricted into oblivion. There are only 6 "safe" Blue Dogs by their calculations-- and I think they're being overly generous to Mike Thompson, although that depends on which district he winds up running in.

Two Top 12 Congressional Lists

There's a report circulating in Washington from a Democratic think tank, the Center for American Progress, that enumerates the dozen House votes in which Republican Members of Congress most clearly voted against the 99% and took up the cudgel of class war for their one-percent benefactors. Republicans did this almost 300 times in the last year but they sorted and sifted and came up with the dozen most egregious examples:

• Repealed health coverage for 32 MILLION Americans and countless new benefits and protections for all Americans (January 19, 2011).

• Blocked new essential health benefits that must be covered by insurance companies (including things like contraception), putting Americans back at the mercy of the insurance companies (February 19, 2011).

• Ended Medicare and gutted Medicaid in order to pay for more tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations (April 15, 2011).

• Blocked a new database for consumer product safety information, making it more difficult for consumers to find out information about dangerous or unsafe products (February 19, 2011).

• Blocked the Treasury Department from helping more homeowners avoid foreclosure under the Home Affordable Modification Program by terminating the program and providing no replacement (March 29,2011).

• FOUR votes to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from protecting our clean air and clean water, essentially bailing out big polluters at the expense of the rest of us (April 7, July 13, and October 5 and 13, 2011).

• Guaranteed 700,000 jobs would be killed and slashed programs for the 99 Percent, including Medicare and Social Security via the Tea Party-inspired Cut, Cap, and Balance plan (July 19, 2011).

• Encouraged more economy-collapsing financial fraud by attempting to gut the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (July 21, 2011).

• Put corporations above the law by allowing them to ignore 76 year-old protections for workers and labor unions (September 15, 2011).

• Launched mean-spirited attacks and cuts in benefits directed at millions of unemployed Americans (December 11, 2011).

I agree that each of these votes was a disgrace for any Member of Congress to take the position hammered home by Eric Cantor and John Boehner and the rest of the GOP leadership team. These voters were, basically, just plain anti-American... if we define "American" as having anything at all to do with the ordinary working families who make up the nation. But it's very touchy for the DCCC to hammer the Republicans on these votes for one simple reason: plenty of Blue Dogs and other conservative Democrats the DCCC is in bed with voted with the Republicans. Let's start at the top, the House's vote to repeal healthcare reform soon after the new Congress was sworn in. It passed 245-189, every single Republican voting for repeal-- along with 3 Democrats: Dan Boren (Blue Dog-OK), Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog-NC) and Mike Ross (Blue Dog-AR). Boren and Ross have announced their retirements. The DCCC will try to hold onto McIntyre for another term of voting with the GOP.

On March 29, there were 18 Democrats off the reservation-- voting with Boehner and Cantor to terminate the program that would keep more homeowners from being foreclosed on: Jason Altmire (Blue Dog-PA), Shelley Berkley (now running for Senate from Nevada one of the hardest hit states by the great mortgage swindle), Dan Boren (Blue Dog-OK), Dennis Cardoza (Blue Dog-CA), Ben Chandler (Blue Dog-KY), Jim Cooper (Blue Dog-TN), Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT), Mike Michaud (Blue Dog-ME, eagerly trying to run for the now open Senate seat there), etc.

Then there's that whole slew of bill to wreck the effectiveness of the EPA, starting with Fred Upton's bill to basically kill the EPA's ability to ameliorate industrial air pollution. It passed 255-172, 19 Democratic corporate whores joining all the Republicans this time-- notorious bribe takers like Tim Holden (Blue Dog-PA), John Barrow (Blue Dog-GA), Leonard Boswell (Blue Dog-IA), Collin Peterson (Blue Dog-MN), Jason Altmire (Blue Dog-PA), Joe Donnelly (Blue Dog-IN), Terri Sewell (Corrupt-AL), Jim Costa (Blue Dog-CA)... and all the usual suspects.

Then on July 13, we got John Mica's water pollution bill. This time there were even 13 Republicans who got cold feet when it came to taking such a giant step backwards into the bad old days. It still passed, of course, 239-184, with 16 Blue Dogs more than making up for the Republican defections-- all the worst scum in the Democratic House caucus from Altmire, Barrow, Boren, Baca, and Boswell right down the food chain to crooks like Holden, Matheson, McIntyre and Peterson.

On July 21, Cantor rammed through Sean Duffy's bill to wreck the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act by making sure it wouldn't be able to protect anyone from predatory banksters. It passed 241-173, this time only 10 of the worst, corporate whores from the Democratic side of the aisle joining the GOP and their Wall Street allies: John Barrow (Blue Dog-GA), Dan Boren (Blue Dog-OK), Ben Chandler (Blue Dog-KY), Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX), Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT), Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog-NC), Bill Owens (NY), Nick Rahall (WV), Mike Ross (Blue Dog-AR), and Kurt Schrader (Blue Dog-OR).

Embarrassing for Steve Israel that so many of his prized pets are the ones who are giving aid and comfort to the enemy-- at least the enemy of the 99%, if not the enemy of Steve Israel. I might add that Blue America is trying to help progressive Democrat Matt Cartwright replace one of the worst of this lot, Blue Dog Tim Holden, and he has a better than even chance of making it work. He needs some help, but it looks like a decent investment-- in America.

Anyway, we have a Top Dozen list of our own, the top dozen worst Democrats for 2012. According to ProgressivePunch these are the 12 Democrats, from bad to worse, who voted most frequently with the GOP on crucial roll calls since Jan. 2011:

• Mark Critz (PA)

• Tim Holden (PA)

• Ben Chandler (KY)

• Henry Cuellar (TX)

• Joe Donnelly (IN)

• John Barrow (GA)

• Jim Costa (CA)

• Collin Peterson (MN)

• Jason Altmire (PA)

• Jim Matheson (UT)

• Mike Ross (AR)

• Dan Boren (OK)

Reminder-- donate to the DCCC and the bulk of your money will go towards propping up the careers of these faithless Democrats and others just like them. I don't know why Steve Israel doesn't just get Boehner and Cantor to chip in for them.