Patsy Keever And Sue Thorn Show Democrats How To Kick Some Butt On The Ryan Budget

Meh and meh

Yesterday we talk about how the disdain with which Floridians hold the Ryan plan to kill Medicare and privatize Social Security is likely to help Democrats reelect Bill Nelson to the Senate and defeat a few House Republicans in that state, particularly John Mica, Allen West, David Rivera (unless the widespread rumors are true that the Fanjul brothers have tasked their puppet, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, with saving his seat), Bill Young and Vern Buchanan-- as well as a few hapless boobs, like Adam Hasner and Todd Long, who have gratuitously embraced killing off Medicare. OK, well Florida's a good state that needs some shaking up-- but it turns out Republicans all across the country are worried that Ryan's selection is screwing up GOP incumbents' chances for reelection... from sea to shining sea.

Republicans strategists are worried that Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) addition to the presidential ticket will cost their party House and Senate seats this fall.

Their concern: Democrats will successfully demonize Ryan’s budget plan, which contains controversial spending cuts and changes to Medicare.

“There are a lot races that are close to the line we're not going to win now because they're going to battle out who's going to kill grandma first, ObamaCare or Paul Ryan's budget,” said one Republican strategist who works on congressional races. “It could put the Senate out of reach. In the House it puts a bunch of races in play that would have otherwise been safe. ... It remains to be seen how much damage this causes, but my first blush is this is not good.”

Many Republicans in tough races this year, especially in the House, voted for Ryan’s proposal, which makes it hard for them to distance themselves from it... Former Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.), who chaired the NRCC from 2003-2006, warned that he foresaw in this election shades of President George W. Bush’s fight to create a voucher program for Social Security early in his second term, which many say cost the GOP seats in 2006.
 
“You saw what happened to Bush with Social Security in the 2006 election,” he said. “This is deja vu.” ... He also commended Republican House candidates like Maggie Brooks and Chris Collins-- both Republicans running in New York-- for “accepting no responsibility” for Ryan’s plan.

...[O]ne Republican strategist who’d seen the NRCC’s memo worried that the plan offered little new advice, and having Ryan at the top of the ticket lent additional credibility to Democrats on the issue.

“It becomes more difficult. The Republican argument and Democrat argument on Medicare now aren't on equal footing anymore-- Ryan being on the top of the ticket gives Democrats more credibility,” the strategist said. “There's going to be more resonance when the Democrats attack our guys. It's going to be a part of the national discussion, there's going to be more credibility on this now, and we're not going to be able to wave them off as nonsense."

Kate Nocera at Politico reinforced the notion that many Republicans are freaking out about Ryan. After all, it wasn't just Connie Mack-- who voted for his flimflam budget one year and then ducked out on the vote the next time around-- who admits the budget is "a joke." Nocera points out that relatively "normal" conservatives like incumbent Robert Dold (R-IL) and challenger Richard Tisei (R-MA), "are trying to create some distance from the Ryan worldview. Other congressional Republicans in tight races, like New York’s Ann Marie Buerkle and Florida’s Allen West [both deranged, over-the-top teabaggers] are launching into vigorous defenses of their votes for the Ryan budget" to kill Medicare.

The reality is that Ryan is now every Republicans’ running mate whether they like it or not, forcing GOP candidates who would just as soon run from the debate over senior citizen entitlements to embrace the third rail of American politics like never before.

One GOP insider lamented that party leaders “have spent the last year” trying to take Medicare off the political front burner, but the Ryan pick “puts it all back out there now.” ... Republican unease with the Ryan plan was on full display earlier this summer, when the National Republican Senatorial Committee put money behind an ad that touted Rehberg’s opposition to the polarizing budget plan.

“And Rehberg refused to support a Republican budget plan that could harm the Medicare programs so many of Montana’s seniors rely on,” the 30-second commercial promoting Rehberg’s Senate candidacy blared.

One of the most likely wins for a real Democrat in a congressional district captured in a battle between a slimy Blue Dog and a slimy teabagger is Sue Thorn's campaign against David McKinley who voted against Ryan's budget once and then for it the next time. Sue was happy to welcome Paul Ryan into the West Virginia campaign, where Medicare and Social Security are highly prized:

"Now that Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) is in the limelight as the Republican vice presidential candidate, Rep. McKinley is seeking to distance himself from the extreme policies Ryan has proposed. Don't be fooled. The Ryan budget ends Medicare and raises health care costs for seniors, while giving tax breaks to millionaires, Big Oil, and companies shipping jobs overseas. McKinley voted to pass the Ryan budget and send the middle class into poverty (after he voted against it.)"

Sue is a Blue America candidate, as is Patsy Keever, who is opposing close Ryan crony Patrick McHenry, another right-wing extremist. Sue and Patsy are both incorruptible populists, making them ineligible for help from Steve Israel's DCCC which is primarily interested in finding transactional crooks like Israel himself. Please consider contributing to Sue and Patsy directly through Act Blue-- no sticky DCCC fingers walking away with over half the money. Sue and Patsy are both on this page and both are on the same page in regard to Ryan's likely impact on their own race. Sue agrees with Patsy's assertion that she "believes the Social Security retirement age should stand at 65 and Patrick McHenry voted to increase it to 70. If you want the retirement age raised to 70, then vote for Patrick McHenry. If you want it at 65, then vote for Patsy Keever." This afternoon, Patsy called a press conference to explain to NC-10 media how Paul Ryan is going to help North Carolina voters focus on McHenry's voting record:

Mitt Romney’s choice of Paul Ryan is bad for North Carolina and bad for America.

On March 29, 2012, Paul Ryan, aided and abetted by my opponent, Patrick McHenry, passed a budget in the U.S. House of Representatives that betrayed every man, woman and child in North Carolina.

The Ryan/McHenry budget would have destroyed Medicare, cut agriculture by $60 billion, cut taxes for the super rich and increased the budget deficit by 3 trillion dollars.

That would have hurt every man, woman, child and business in North Carolina.

By choosing Ryan as his running mate, Mitt Romney has embraced the most extreme posture of the most extreme parts of the Tea Party Republicans.

Bizarrely, Patrick McHenry even found a way to be more extreme than Ryan and his fellow Tea Party Republicans. On the same day he voted for the Ryan budget, McHenry voted for a budget that would have, among other things, raised the Social Security retirement age to 70. More than 100 of his fellow Republicans, including Paul Ryan, did not vote for this budget… but Patrick McHenry did.

The conventional wisdom about my campaign is that this district is so Republican that I will struggle to be competitive. That changed when Mitt Romney picked Paul Ryan as his running mate.

Paul Ryan is too extreme to be elected in North Carolina… and Patrick McHenry is more extreme than Paul Ryan. Democrats, Independents and mainstream Republicans in North Carolina’s 10th District all share one thing in common… they are not extremists.

Beginning today, my campaign will focus on the hijacking of the Republican Party by extremists including Paul Ryan and Patrick McHenry. Mitt Romney may be willing to embrace an extremist to win an election but I don’t think Democrats, Independents and mainstream Republicans of North Carolina will.

I am going to present policy alternatives to the extremism of Ryan and McHenry. I am going to make the argument that these are serious times, and we need serious people to address serious problems. Neither Paul Ryan nor Patrick McHenry can be taken seriously because of the extreme positions they have adopted.

I love these mountains and the piedmonts that sweep down from them into rich valleys and farmland. I love the people who inhabit the cities, towns, villages and neighborhoods across the 10th District. It has been my pleasure to be of service to them as a teacher, a member of the Buncombe County Commission and a member of the state legislature. I owe the people a debt. A debt of gratitude. A debt of honesty. A debt of fearlessness.

I stand now against the extremism that has hijacked a once great political party in the form of extremists like Paul Ryan and Patrick McHenry. I stand for the seniors, the working people, the teachers, the small business owners, the farmers and their children and grandchildren. I stand for the Democrats, the Independents, and, yes, I stand for the Republicans who look at these extreme policies and say, “These are not my values.”

Patrick McHenry can run but he can’t hide. I will expose his extremism. I will expose his betrayal of our values. I will not rest until the truth is known.

In my heart of hearts I hope that those who hear and read these words will decide to stand with me. I hope that reporters and editors who read my words, on this and in coming days, will make a decision to hold Patrick McHenry accountable. To make a decision to stand silently in this dire moment for our republic is to give in to the darkness and despair that has given rise to these extreme policies.

I see a better day for America. I see a bright sunrise that ends this season of darkness. I believe the policies of the Democratic Party, as championed by Barack Obama and Joe Biden, will hasten us toward this sunrise and that the policies of Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan and Patrick McHenry will deepen the gloom at the expense of the people whom I have served as a teacher and elected official and whom I seek to serve in Congress.

Perhaps I will win this election. Perhaps I will not. The record will show, however, that Patsy Keever stood square shouldered against the madness in 2012 and said, “Enough is enough.”

So let us begin.

Patsy Keever versus Patrick McHenry Policy Difference #1: Patsy Keever believes the Social Security retirement age should stand at 65 and Patrick McHenry voted to increase it to 70. If you want the retirement age raised to 70, then vote for Patrick McHenry. If you want it at 65, then vote for Patsy Keever.

North Carolina Has OutLawed Payday Lenders-- But Patrick McHenry Is The Industry's Champion Even More So Than Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Patrick McHenry got into Congress just as DWT was getting started in 2005-- and we've watched for over decade as he built a career based on blatant and unaccountable corruption, using his position on the House Financial Services Committee to raise $3,717,511 from the Finance Sector he's supposed to be protecting the public from. This year alone, the Finance Sector has given McHenry $1,176,225 in legalistic bribes, the 4th most of any member of Congress other than Speaker Paul Ryan, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Wall Street's favorite Senate errand boy Patrick Murphy. It's almost unfathomable that a reform-minded good government city like Asheville would be represented in Congress by someone as corrupt as McHenry. Unfortunately, though, the Republican legislature has drawn NC-10 to negate Buncombe County's voice with Hate Talk Radio listeners in Catawba, Lincoln, Gaston, Cleveland and Rutherford counties.

This year the Democratic Party has gotten behind Andy Millard, a first time candidate from Polk County who is a financial planner, author, former teacher, principal and small business owner. You can learn more about Andy and the issues he's highlighting in his campaign here on his official website or on his Facebook page. We asked Andy to help us understand the eye-popping relationship between McHenry and the predatory Pay Day Lending Industry which we've been through the actions of corrupt Democrats like Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Patrick Murphy but is one of those areas of Congress where guilt is shared equally on both sides of the aisle. As you read his guest post, please consider contributing to his grassroots campaign by tapping the thermometer on the right.


Here’s Why People are Fed Up with Congress
By Andy Millard



Want to see a microcosm of everything that’s wrong with Congress in 2016? Just look at my opponent, six-term incumbent Rep. Patrick McHenry. He is a career politician whose influence in Congress comes in part from the immense amount of money he raises from unsavory institutions. And he pays them back by doing their bidding. His relationship with the payday lending industry is a perfect example.

Payday lenders are illegal in my home state of North Carolina. Their customers-- everyday folks living paycheck-to-paycheck-- take out short-term loans with interest rates as high as 400% or more. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), four out of five borrowers are unable to repay the loan on time (usually two weeks), so they roll it into a new loan with even more interest and fees. The majority of borrowers end up paying more in fees than they borrowed to begin with. Bottom line: the industry makes big profits by driving struggling families into a downward cycle of debt.

Numerous groups, including a broad coalition of religious groups, have condemned payday lenders and their usurious practices. So you would assume a Congressman representing North Carolina would never support the payday lending industry.

You would be wrong. Patrick McHenry is one of payday lending’s best friends in Congress. He has spoken against proposed tighter regulations on the House floor as recently as last month.

Why? Follow the money. Payday lenders are very profitable-- and they use some of those profits to support members of Congress who support them, including Mr. McHenry. The following is a litany of his entanglements with payday lenders:

In January 2011, McHenry was the keynote speaker at the Community Financial Services Association conference at the plush Westin Diplomat Resort and Spa in Hollywood, Florida. The CFSA is a trade group created by payday lenders to fight laws that might hinder them from taking advantage of those in need. Their biggest enemy is the afore-mentioned CFPB, which is a government agency created to help consumers avoid being ripped off in financial transactions.

According to the CFSA conference brochure, the gathering would answer such burning questions as, “Are there ways that I can maximize long-term profits and minimize regulatory risk?”; “What can I do to avoid getting sued?"; and, “What’s next for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau?”

Apparently, McHenry paid close attention to that last question--  that March, he co-sponsored a bill to cripple the CFPB’s ability to protect Americans from payday lenders, and was promptly rewarded with over $30,000 in contributions from the payday lending industry a few days later. Perhaps coincidentally, a few weeks later, McHenry very publicly antagonized Elizabeth Warren, the then-leader of the CFPB, accusing her of lying as part of his campaign to undermine the agency.

On August 22, 2013, McHenry signed a letter criticizing the Department of Justice’s efforts to punish payday lenders. The payday loan industry had donated almost $13,000 to McHenry the previous month, and they gave him another $2,600 after the letter was sent.

In October of 2014, McHenry again spoke at a conference for payday lenders. This time, he was the keynote speaker at the FiSCA Conference and Exposition at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas. Similar to the CFSA, the Financial Service Centers of America (FiSCA) is another group that regularly works to minimize regulation of the payday loan industry.

McHenry gave his FiSCA Conference address on October 10. According to disclosure forms his PAC, the McHenry Leadership Fund, filed with the FEC, McHenry received $50,000 from FiSCA and its affiliated companies on October 17-- just one week after he spoke at their conference. On November 17, those same forms show, he received ten donations from FiSCA board members in one day. Those donations added up to $9,500. That’s almost $60,000 from FiSCA, within a month of speaking at their conference. When you add it to the $15,000 McHenry also received from CFSA board member Dan Adams on November 17, that total amount that McHenry accepted from payday lenders in one month becomes $75,000.

In January of 2015, McHenry was named Vice Chairman of the House Financial Committee, where he found himself in an even better position to antagonize the CFPB. Just one month later, he voted against protecting veterans from predatory lending practices. In March, he co-sponsored one bill that would abolish the CFPB, and co-sponsored another that would slow it down while limiting its funding. He received a $5,000 check from the National Installment Lenders Association at the end of March, and then another $2,500 from the Online Lenders Alliance at the end of April.

That June, McHenry signed a letter criticizing the CFPB director, while voting for legislation that would decrease government scrutiny of the payday lending industry. Two weeks later, McHenry received $2,000 from the American Financial Services Association, which lobbies against the CFPB on behalf of installment loans, which are similar to payday loans. Then in July, he co-sponsored yet another bill attempting to abolish the CFPB. On September 14, he received a total of $4,500 from the American Financial Services Association.

Last October, the nonpartisan Campaign for Accountability called for an ethics probe of McHenry due to the amount of money he’s accepted from the payday loan industries in proximity to acting in their favor.

Payday loans are illegal in Patrick McHenry’s home state, and he knows it. Yet the payday loan industry has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to his campaigns and PACs. He speaks at their conferences, and argues on behalf of their interests in Congress. As Patrick McHenry’s opponent in North Carolina’s 10th Congressional District, I have called for him to return any and all contributions he has received from payday lenders and their employees, as well as the PACs who have donated to him on their behalf.

No wonder Congress’ approval rating is in the cellar. It’s a rotten system that results in rotten legislators. We can change this mess, but it’s going to take a new group of clean politicians. Despite what some might have you believe, the VOTERS alone can fix it.

How crazy have things gotten? Patrick McHenry now "stands guard" against abuse of "unparalleled powers"

The idiot degenerate Patrick McHenry imagines himself as a bulwark against abuse of government powers? Is there anyone on Capitol Hill with a working set of marbles?

by Ken

Amid the hubbub prompted by President Obama's (finally!) bold-ish use of his recess-appointment powers (my goodness, according to the White House figures he's made 46 percent the number of recess appointments that his constitution-shredding predecessor had at this point in his regime -- isn't it about time that Chimpy the Ex-Prez was arrested and tried?) this week, did you catch this little detail? It was reported yesterday by the Washington Post's Al Kamen:

Just a meet-and-greet

While Senate Republicans were outraged over Obama’s appointment of Cordray, House Republicans quickly invited the newest appointee to come over for a chat -- perhaps under oath?

And this shindig is BYOL, as in "bring your own lawyers."

Just hours after Obama named Cordray to the post, Cordray got what might be his first missive as head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), who heads a subcommittee of the oversight committee, chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), issued a none-too-friendly summons. And there wasn’t even an RSVP card included.

Noting his "unprecedented" appointment, McHenry told Cordray that he’s quite looking forward to their little visit.

"The Subcommittee is deeply interested in how you will enforce and implement the unparalleled powers of your new office."

Cordray will have the chance, during the Jan. 24 hearing, to tell the panel what he’s been up to in the first 20 days of his tenure.

Patrick McHenry? Patrick McHenry? This is what stands between the American public and abuse of government powers? That low-life degenerate and criminal Patrick McHenry? (If your stomach isn't churning, I suggest clicking on the "McHenry" label below to view some of the reporting Howie has done on this wacko scumbag.) Not to mention his arch-criminal chairman, Darrell Issa?

I know the Righties like to pretend to be imbued with and motivated by profound religiosity, but in reality they keep proving more and more conclusively that there can't possibly be an all-knowing and all-powerful divinity, unless that divinity is a scumbag (created, after all, in their own image). Because if there were such a divinity, it's impossible that the earth wouldn't open up and swallow all these sociopaths.


UPDATE: McHenry Can Be Beaten

North Carolina state Rep. Patsy Keever wants to take McHenry on-- in a district that is quite a bit bluer than it was last year. The DCCC has a conservative corporate shill in the primary, of course. And McHenry has a strong mainstream conservative opposing him in the GOP primary. But in all likelihood, we'll see McHenry in an epic battle with a populist champion, Patsy Keever. You can help her campaign here.

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Patrick McHenry Senses A DWT Vendetta Against Him

This week Joe Conason did a perceptive post for the National Memo on why the GOP breeds politicians like Todd Akin. "The embarrassing fall of Todd Akin," he writes, "should induce Republicans to confront their own responsibility for the low quality of politicians they are inflicting on us (and themselves). Having developed an extremist culture that encourages figures such as Akin to seek legislative office, GOP leaders should hardly be surprised when idiotic and reprehensible remarks spill from the mouths of their candidates. (Candidates who insist, by the way, that English should be our official language when their own diction is often incomprehensible.) He goes on to talk about other GOP cretins like Christine O’Donnell (DE), Sharron Angle (NV), Rand Paul (KY), Sarah Palin (AK), Carl Paladino (NY) Ken Buck (CO) and Ron Johnson (WI). But, aside from mentioning that Michele Bachmann tops any such list, left out the whole House Republican caucus (which, of course, is where Akin became Akin). No Paul Broun (GA), Steve King (IA), Lynn Westmoreland (GA), Jim Jordan (OH), Virginia Foxx (NC), Joe Wilson (SC), Allen West (FL), Louie Gohmert (TX)...? The list is virtually endless.

This morning I was reminded of one of the most cracked of the crackpots, little Patrick McHenry, when I got an e-mail from a local writer wondering why I had tweeted that I would pay $5,000 to anyone who could send me a video of McHenry, a notorious and hypocritical Republican closet case, having sex with a gay prostitute in Tampa next week. ($5,000 cash on the barrel... same for Miss McConnell but only $1,000 for Aaron Schock, since there will probably be so many videos that it could bankrupt me.) I called the earnest writer and we had a very pleasant conversation which began with him telling me that he had called McHenry's office and that a staffer told him that I had a vendetta against the congressman. Moi? Here's the e-mail that got this started:

Dear Mr. Klein,

My name is Jack. I am a staff writer for Oh My Gov, Inc. (www.ohmygov.com), a media analytics and intelligence company focused on the intersection of social media, government and media. Recently, it has come to our attention that you've made some comments on Twitter regarding a possible cash-for-sex tape offer regarding Representatives Patrick McHenry (R-NC) and Aaron Schock (R-IL).  We're wondering if we could ask a few questions about what prompted you to make those comments, and why you singled out those two Congressmen in particular. Please find them enclosed below...

1) On August 21, you tweeted a message that says in part, "I'm offering $5,000 cash for a video of a hooker doing it with  [Representative] Patrick McHenry or Miss McConnell; $1,000 for Aaron Schock".  What was the purpose of the comment?  Were you venting or blowing off steam, being facetious, or are you really interested in obtaining video of these individuals?

2) Why are/were you interested in McHenry and Schock?  Neither men have a history of any sexual improprieties.  Did you single them out for shock value, or are do you genuinely suspect something?

3) Your message was retweeted several times on the same day, including by @crooksandliars and several admirers and fans. Do you consider yourself the 21st Century Larry Flynt?

4) Our inquiries aside, are you worried that your comments will be taken out of context?  What do you say to others who may take them a little more seriously than you intended?

5) Final Q: Now that you've made a splash on social media, is there a possibility that your writings will extend to exposing sexual hypocrisy in Congress and state legislatures as well?

I called Jack on the phone and we had a lovely talk. He had already found my 2007 post about the triple gay homicide in Orlando that included one of McHenry's boyfriends. I told him how a McHenry congressional staffer had confirmed to me that one of the victims had a relationship with McHenry before he was told to shut up. I guess he had read some of the other McHenry posts-- there are scores of them-- because he asked me if McHenry had ever sent me a cease and desist letter. He hadn't/hasn't.

I told him about Mark Foley and Larry Craig and about Bob Bauman and his awesome book, The Gentleman From Maryland: The Conscience of A Gay Conservative. And I explained that it would just be a matter of time before McHenry has his Roy Ashburn moment. I forgot to send him this video of California state Senator Roy Ashburn, something that should tell people in North Carolina exactly why they should dump Patrick McHenry:



So far this election cycle, McHenry is the only homosexual being targeted on the ActBlue Homophobes page.

Can A Democrat Displace Reactionary Republican Villain Patrick McHenry In A Deep Red North Carolina District?

One year ago to the day (well... to yesterday), in an update of a post about how the Republican Party had changed into something unrecognizable on the American political landscape, we promised to keep you updated on a fresh new face in North Carolina politics. Meet Daniel Johnson, the Democratic war hero who is running for Congress against the most reactionary and dishonest member of the North Carolina delegation, Patrick McHenry. During that time DWT has run over a dozen posts on Patrick McHenry, on everything from his abysmal anti-family voting record to his extremism to his disrespect for American soldiers to his alleged involvement in a gay prostitution ring and triple murder.

But we haven't done much on Daniel, who, we were happy to see, was added to the DCCC's Red to Blue list last week. Daniel is a decorated military veteran from Hickory, N.C. who learned right from wrong as the son of a minister and a public school teacher. He lost both legs below the knee while risking his life to save a fellow serviceman, and received the Navy's highest peacetime medal for heroism. After recovering at Walter Reed, Daniel worked for U.S. Senator Max Cleland on military and veterans issues. A graduate of UNC Chapel Hill's highly regarded law school, Daniel has been working for North Carolina as an effective prosecutor. We asked him to introduce himself to DWT readers on a topic he thought might be relevant today. I hope you can guess the subject. Daniel Johnson:

One of the reasons that I am running for Congress is because the economic trends of the past ten to fifteen years-- from unfair trade deals to the rising cost of food and fuel to the increasing unavailability of healthcare-- has stacked up against the working families of Western North Carolina. The implosion of big banks like this will make it even more difficult for the people of our district to get the funding to expand their small businesses or buy their first homes. The financial meltdown that played out today shows the great damage done politicians like Congressman Patrick McHenry who abdicated their responsibility to crackdown on abuses in the housing market. While the subprime crisis was caused by the actions of irresponsible lenders and irresponsible borrowers, failure to act to stabilize the housing market affects all homeowners and drags down the entire economy.

Time and time again, McHenry, who has accepted campaign contributions from subprime mortgage lenders like Countrywide, has taken the side of big Wall Street banks over the families of Western North Carolina. McHenry, who sits on the Financial Services committee, not only didn’t lift a finger to take action before problems in the mortgage industry rose to crisis level, for years he advocated for subprime lenders. In an October 27, 2005 op-ed in the Charlotte Observer, McHenry praised the subprime industry and argued against “burdensome regulations” on such lenders. Most recently, McHenry voted against a comprehensive, bipartisan response to the current mortgage crisis that would have empowered more families to stay in their homes and prevent further disclosures (American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act [HR 3221]).
   
For most Western North Carolina families, their most important asset is their home, and we need a leader in Washington who represents homeowners, not subprime lenders. In Congress, I will advocate for increased consumer protections and for responsible and reasonable oversight of the mortgage industry. I will fight for additional deductions for property taxes for middle class Americans, and for an increase to the VA home loan limit so that returning veterans can realize the dream of home ownership. Western North Carolina’s families can’t afford another two years of Congressman McHenry.

And neither can the rest of America. There is literally no worse member of Congress than Patrick McHenry, a disgrace to his office. If you are so moved to lend a hand to a genuine American hero, who needs to get out a message of hope and change against a deluge of corporate bribes that are flooding into McHenry's campaign accounts, here's Daniel's contribution page. McHenry has already spent nearly a million dollars on the race and as of June 30 had nearly half a million on had. So far Daniel has raised $341,942, almost entirely from small donors, while McHenry's biggest "contributors" are from the Real Estate Industry, the insurance industry and commercial banks, all the industries that have done so much to wreck the economy for ordinary folks by buying off political hacks like McHenry with bribes disguised as donations. He has served them well-- voting against every single regulation meant to protect workers and consumers from the unbalanced and unbridled excess of corporate power.

Let me leave you with one last thought while you decide whether or not to donate-- even $5 or $10-- to Daniel's campaign: Since being elected to Congress in 2004, McHenry has accepted $26,000 in "contributions" from Big Oil. Since then he has voted for every single thing Big Oil has wanted and against every single reform and every single alternative energy bill Big Oil has opposed.

THE FARCE OF REPUBLICAN FINGER POINTING-- NORTH CAROLINA WINGNUT PATRICK McHENRY DISGRACES HIMSELF

"How would Mussolini vote?" That's what Patrick McHenry may well ask himself before every House vote. The North Carolina congressloon isn't a bright person. He's just some kind of nut case who mutters to himself and grimaces and votes awfully-- on everything. He went to school at a Benedictine monastery that doubles as a religionist "college," Belmont Abbey. He was president of the Young Republican Club there and made a name for himself by dressing up like Abe Lincoln and waving a sign that read "Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?" somewhere near a Bill Clinton appearance. A couple years later he started and ran a website called notHillary.com, for which Bush rewarded him with a sinecure at the Department of Labor. Claiming his role model is Jesse Helms, McHenry has the #1 most recationary voting record in the entire U.S. Congress. That's right, when you scrape the very, very, very bottom of the congressional garbage can you find Patrick McHenry.

Thankfully, we don't hear much from McHenry. Today however, he has crawled out from under his toadstool to blurt out some nonsense, attempting, lamely and ineffectively, to somehow smear Democrats for the Republican policy of covering of the Foley case. Presumably frightened because Nancy Pelosi has a demanded serious, non-partisan investigation into the cover-up, McHenry is yelping that Democratic leaders "testify under oath about when they knew of former Rep. Mark Foley’s (R-Fla.) Internet communications with a House page. Writing to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) Chairman Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), McHenry questioned whether Democrats had a role in publicizing the e-mails, which broke in the middle of the fall election season creating a furor rarely seen in congressional politics. "Is the American public to believe that neither of you nor your staffs nor anyone associated with your staffs had prior knowledge or involvement with the release of Foley’s e-mails and/or explicit instant messages? Is the American public to believe that ABC News stumbled haphazardly on this story without Democratic assistance?" wrote McHenry, a freshman Republican who has emerged as an attack dog for the GOP."

Bowzer is less than effective and the Democrats dismissed him as the imbecile he has shown himself to me. "'Republicans just don’t get it; every mother in America is asking how Republicans could choose partisan politics over protecting kids, and the Republicans are asking who could have blown their cover-up,' said Pelosi spokeswoman Jennifer Crider. 'If we had seen Mark Foley's horrific e-mails or instant messages, we would have immediately acted to protect these kids.' DCCC spokeswoman Sarah Feinberg said, 'Of course we did not have the e-mails or instant messages. Give me a break. If you recall, they also blamed us for indicting [former Majority Leader Tom DeLay [R-Texas]. Speaker Hastert and his staff have known about Foley’s inappropriate behavior for years and their attempt to deflect their responsibility is absurd.'"

Brian Ross, the ABC News reporter who first broke the story says his original source was a lifelong Republican. Republican efforts to spin this have met with derision and hostility from the public. But that hasn't stopped clods like McHenry or knaves like Gingrich. Most unbiased observers see the cover-up as the death-knell for whatever slim chances the Republicans had to hold on to power in the House after the midterm elections November 7th. And well deserved.


UPDATE: McHENRY IN THE NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT-- CHOKES UP AND CRAPS HIS PANTS

Poor thing. Little tiny Patsy McHenry was sent out by the big boys in the GOP to be their snarling pit bull of an attack dog against that awful pair of villains Nancy Pelosi and Rahm Emanuel, who he insists are somehow responsible for Denny Hastert, John Boehner, John Shimkus, Roy Blunt and Tom Reynolds (R.I.P.) covering up for a serial Republican predator molesting congressional pages. So Lil' Patsy gets on TV with CNN and even Wolf Blitzer turns him into chopped liver in the blink of an eye. Blitzer asks the silly McHenry for some evidence of his patently absurd statement. Instead of politely asking to be excused so he can go to the bathroom, he just... make sin his pants.


BLITZER: Do you have any evidence at all that Democrats or others might have been behind the timing of this scandal?
MCHENRY: Look, let's be honest…
BLITZER: Do you have any evidence to back that charge up?
MCHENRY: No, no, actually, if the Democrats had any issue with saying this, putting all the facts out on the table, they would say, certainly, I'll testify under oath that I had no involvement in it. They've said no.
BLITZER: Well, you don't have any evidence, though, right?
MCHENRY: Well, look at the fact points.
BLITZER: Yes or no, do you have any evidence, Congressman?
MCHENRY: Do you have any evidence that they weren't involved?
BLITZER: I'm just asking if you're just throwing out an accusation or if you have any hard evidence.
MCHENRY: No. It's a question, Wolf. The question remains, were they involved? And if they were not involved, they need to say clearly. And it's a question. It's not an accusation.

Patsy Keever (D-NC) Takes On One Of The Banksters' Favorite Patsies, Patrick McHenry

Back in early May we mentioned that not all the news from North Carolina was bad, and we were proved right. Blue America endorsed Patsy Keever has been finishing up her last term in the State House by waging some serious progressive fights. It's her last term because she's taking on Patrick McHenry, North Carolina's most pernicious and reactionary Member of Congress in a new district that's far more swingy than the deep red one that's been reelecting him again and again.

Because of the legislative session, she hasn't been campaigning since the landslide primary win (58-26%) over the conservative Democrat Steve Israel recruited against her, but she's hardly been wasting her time in Raleigh. She and fellow progressive, Congressman Brad Miller, took on right-wing class war brawler Paul Ryan while he stumped for Romney in North Carolina. As Ryan was pushing his plan to cut taxes for the top 1% and strip the Medicare guarantee from seniors, Patsy was blasting his ludicrous plans to the press. She pointed out that "Ryan’s proposed budget would significantly shrink the safety net for our seniors by sharply reducing Medicare. This could increase expenses for seniors by as much as $6,400 per year.”

Patsy was also quick to point out that the Romney-Ryan budget would “grant America’s wealthiest citizens at least $265,000 each in tax cuts while raising taxes on the middle class.” People who have followed Patsy's career know she's a proud, independent-minded Democrat who talks common sense, not DC mumbo-jumbo. She's very clear that she's running to represent the people of Buncombe, Polk, Rutherford, Cleveland, Gaston, Lincoln, Catawba counties and not the corrupt DC Establishment of either Washington party. I wouldn't expect to find someone who speaks her mind and represents the middle class as forthrightly as Patsy to wind up on any preferred lists of corrupt political hacks and lobbyist-driven politicians in DC. She's eager to come right out and say that if we grant more tax cuts for the wealthiest, then Congress is going to raise taxes on the middle class. McHenry and other career politicians of both parties have been doing just that-- and Patsy want to stop it... now!

She also stood up to fracking in North Carolina. As Republicans and pro-fracking Democrats-- you know the kind-- were kowtowing to the natural gas industry, Patsy was fighting for more impact studies. To no one's surprise, the frackers won. At least Patsy and fellow environmentalists won “an improved version of the original, but still moves ahead more quickly and with less study than many of us would like.” State regulations need to be drawn up before fracking starts, and the legislature has to grant final approval before drilling starts.

Now as the NC Legislature is finishing up, she is leading the charge in the Move To Amend campaign in the NC State House by proposing a resolution urging Congress to amend the Constitution to overturn Citizen’s United. In an email to supporters Patsy wrote:

Can you believe that Karl Rove and GOP front organizations plan to spend more than $1 billion during this year’s election to advance their extreme agenda? Just last week we saw the power of unlimited corporate cash in Wisconsin’s recall election in which the Democratic candidate for governor was outspent by a whopping 10 to 1 margin.

That’s why eleven of my fellow North Carolina state legislators and I have proposed a resolution calling on Congress to ban unlimited corporate cash in elections. However, the Republican leadership in Raleigh is ignoring our resolution and refusing to even debate it.

Her campaign informed me, that in under a week her team has collected more than one thousand signatures of what they’re calling “citizen co-sponsors” in support of the resolution. You can click here to sign up as a co-sponsor or learn more about the legislation.

McHenry is a Member of the House Financial Services Committee-- remember when he was unspeakably rude to Elizabeth Warren when she testified about protecting consumers from predatory banksters? His attack dog role has been to protect the interests of the financial predators on Wall Street, not something most folks back in western North Carolina are cognizant of. But look at who has financed McHenry's despicable political career. Banks and Insurance companies are his biggest donors and his top 2 lifetime contributors are Bank of America and the American Bankers Association. He's a member of the committee charged with regulating this industries. Should he be taking bribes from them? The Bank of America PAC rewarded McHenry with $49,999 for his services to prevent them from being regulated. And the American Bankers Association gave him $50,000 to help them block rules that would keep their members from ripping off consumers.

And this year, his top three donors are Wells Fargo, sleazy pay day lenders Advance America Cash Advance Centers and his old pals at the American Bankers Association. Here are the industries paying to keep Patrick McHenry in Congress this year:


So far the Finance Sector has given McHenry $1,555,587 in legalistic bribes to keep him doing what they love him doing on the Financial Services Committee. Shouldn't that be illegal? But Congress decides what's legal and illegal and both party establishments have long ago decided that taking bribes from the industries you are charged to watch over is not illegal. It's up to the voters to police those kinds of activities. And here's how the McBanksters have been treating the McCongresscrooks. Notice that not everyone gets over a million, the way McHenry does-- and that those who do are usually in Congress for three times longer than he is. At this rate, by the time tiny little McHenry grows up to be as senior as a Buck McKeon, he'll have taken in $5,000,000 in bribes from the banksters. Of course, to them it's an investment that pays off very well.

So far this year-- as of the April 18 FEC filing-- McHenry has taken in over $800,000, most of it from PACs. Patsy has taken in just over $120,000, 84% of it from grassroots donors. Thanks to Steve Israel recruiting an anti-Choice, anti-LGBT reactionary to run against her in the primary, she was forced to spend $91,073. Now that she won, Israel is no longer interested in North Carolina's 10th congressional district or in defeating Patrick McHenry, many of whose biggest donors just happen to be big Steve Israel donors as well. Funny how bipartisan old fashioned Inside-the-Beltway corruption can be, isn't it? Patsy can win this race. Voters in western North Carolina are learning that McHenry doesn't align with them on any important issues and that he's working fro the banks against them. Patsy will never outraise him and his bankster buddies-- but she doesn't have to. She just has to raise enough to get her message out to the voters. The DCCC is never going to give her a dime-- she's too independent-minded for them. It's up to people who understand the difference between having a Patrick McHenry in Congress and having a Patsy Keever in Congress. Can you help? You can do it here on the Blue America page.

Who Outed Patrick McHenry?

On May 8, North Carolina voters go to the polls both for their primaries and to decide the fate of the homophobic Amendment One, widely supported by bigots and most-- though not all-- Republicans. One Republican who does support it, oddly enough, is notorious gay closet case Patrick McHenry (NC-10). McHenry's campaign is working full time to bank as many early votes as he can because of the widespread fear that his constituents are on the verge of finding out that his hasty marriage is fake and that he's still having sexual liaisons with young men. (He was seen, drunk, kissing a man in a Hickory bar recently.) But the rumors about McHenry being gay-- and even being a part owner of a gay escort service in Virginia-- have been around for years. They just never penetrate into the mainstream media. It was the same for Mark Foley and Larry Craig before they were finally outed-- years after "everyone" knew they were constantly chasing young men and soliciting sexual favors from strangers. McHenry wants the early vote in before that news breaks in NC-10... if it does.

Well this week it sort of did. And speaking of Mark Foley and Larry Craig, a robo call that went out to Republicans and some independents (who can vote in the GOP primary) tie McHenry to both of them... or at least to their hypocrisy and promiscuous gay activities. The Lincoln Times-News is trying, so far unsuccessfully, to find out who paid for the robo calls. (It's illegal to authorize robo calls without clearly identifying who they're from. This one, which makes the point pretty clearly that McHenry has been deceiving NC-10 voters about his sexuality in the same way Mark Foley and Larry Craig did, doesn't give any indication of who sent it.

Phone calls to Lincoln County voters with a recorded message that appears intended to discredit a North Carolina congressman are drawing complaints and a possible state investigation this week, after the Lincoln Times-News brought the calls to the attention of the N.C. Department of Justice.

With six candidates competing for the state’s 10th District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives this year, some aggressive campaigning is hardly a surprise. But DOJ spokesperson Noelle Talley said Monday the anonymous robo-calls appear to cross the line and be illegal.

Who’s behind the calls is unclear. The Times-News contacted all six campaigns on Tuesday, with each denying responsibility for the calls criticizing U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry’s fitness for office based on insinuations about his moral character.

Several citizens have talked with the Times-News about the calls, some expressing disgust. Most of the call recipients appear to be Republicans, but it’s unclear whether the smear effort was specifically targeting those expected to participate in the May 8 GOP primary.

Tom Hawk of Lincolnton, who describes himself as a McHenry supporter, contacted the newspaper about the situation by email over the weekend.

“I believe you will agree with me that this type of call has no place in our political campaigning efforts,” Hawk said. “The call never identified who was calling or who was funding the effort. This moves the call from annoying into the illegal category.”

According to Hawk and others, the recorded caller identified herself only by a woman’s first name and said she was a Republican married to an unaffiliated voter. She said she and her husband agreed that it would be a mistake to re-elect McHenry, then said wasn’t “one of us.” The caller then made references to politicians involved in past scandals to imply that McHenry was hiding aspects of his personal conduct from voters.

Among the campaigns denying any ties to the calls this week was McHenry’s own. It’s not unheard of for candidates to engage in over-the-top dirty tricks targeting themselves in order to make it appear that their opponents are using dirty tricks.

...While the source of the calls remains unclear, one candidate offered a theory that it could be part of an effort from a national organization that has previously attacked McHenry and other members of Congress with allegations similar to those in the robo-calls.

The organization, Republicans for Family Values, is based in Illinois and operates a website www.rffv.org, which includes a call for McHenry to deny charges about his personal behavior. The site’s owner did not immediately respond to a Times-News email asking whether he was behind the calls or knew who was.

The Democrats are too busy with their own campaigns to get involved with the GOP swamp. Blue America is supporting Rep. Patsy Keever, who has a long record of supporting equality under the law for all North Carolinians and has already declared she opposes Amendment One. If you'd like to see her replace McHenry in Congress, please consider a contribution to her campaign here.

Steve Scalise Admires Patrick McHenry's "Judgment"

The House Republicans' new odd couple-- with whips, no less

One of the all-time silliest congressional debuts was made by bombastic little North Carolina closet case Patrick McHenry in 2005. He went to school at a Benedictine monastery that doubles as a religionist "college," Belmont Abbey. He was president of the Young Republican Club there and made a name for himself by dressing up like Abe Lincoln and waving a sign that read "Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed?" somewhere near a Bill Clinton appearance. A couple years later he started and ran a website called notHillary.com, for which Bush rewarded him with a sinecure at the Department of Labor. McHenry had previously worked for Karl Rove on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign and he was eager to get to Washington and make a name for himself. An unimpressive and diminutive figure he started bragging that he would be the model for how Republicans should vote and vowed to never vote with the Democrats. Although his 1.86 lifetime ProgressivePunch crucial vote score is pretty horrible, there are now several dozen Republicans with even more right wing voting records, including Eric Cantor (1.41), who was just disowned by the party for not being right-wing enough.

McHenry took a more garden variety conservative approach after several career threatening scandals. He seems to have made a deal with the devil and was given a seat on the very lucrative HouseFinancial Services Committee, which he has used to further his ambitions by taking $2,068,336 in legalistic bribes from the finance sector he's supposed to be overseeing.

Yesterday at this time, Steve Scalise, the new GOP Whip-designee, appointed the clownish, bowtie-wearing McHenry his chief deputy-dawg. Under Scalise and McHenry, the senior whip team is made up of Kristi Noem (SD), Dennis Ross (FL), Aaron Schock (IL), Steve Stivers (OH) and Ann Wagner (MO), a lackluster team of hawkish right-wingers. Like McHenry, Schock is also a closet case and Stivers' normally quiescent office was shaken up by a scandal involving photos of his chief of staff's penis. Schock was widely expected to get the Chief Deputy Whip job but he's a "confirmed bachelor" and McHenry found a beard and married her.

When Chad Pergram, a reliable reporter who covers Congress for Fox News, tweeted out the news before it hit the transom, I took the opportunity to share a couple of good-natured laughs at McHenry's expense, especially when he mentioned how Scalise, seeking to calm Schock down, mentioned that McHenry's role as Deputy Whip "gibes him the invaluable experience, insight and judgment to help me lead." Wow! Where does he think he's leading the crackpot House Republicans to? It wasn't long after McHenry was elected that he was implicated in a string of Republican gay murders. That's what happens when you get too involved with gay escort service, I guess.

The murdered gay Republicans include Ralph Reed's purported ex-lover, Ralph Gonzalez (former head of the rabidly homophobic Georgia Republican Party), David Abrami and McHenry guy-pal Robert Drake, the shooter. All three were found last week in a murder-suicide in an Orlando apartment. According to right-wing website, the North Carolina Conservative "All three men were active in Republican politics." They mention that Drake is "an associate" of McHenry's but don't define that. McHenry is alleged to be an associate of quite a few younger men, some of whom are gay and some of whom are just gay-for-pay.

Gonzalez was an influential political consultant, who owned Strategum Group, and managed Congressman Tom Feeney’s 2002 campaign. The house was owned by Gonzalez; Abrami lived with Gonzalez. Newspapers and political websites have been abuzz with posts from friends and associates of Gonzalez, who speculate the motive for the murder-suicide as being a gay love triangle gone wrong.

...Another, more sinister motive has been put forth by several sources, including CrimeBlog.us. Reports there say that Drake was associated with the owner of a gay escort service in the Virginia Beach area. The owners of that escort service are facing charges that they murdered the owner of a rival company catering to the gay community. A source for the Crime Blog reporter states:

“My solid, but unconfirmed, sources say that Drake was trying to hit Gonzalez up for cash to raise money to defend a kid (Harlow Cuadra) who is on trial for murder up in Pennsylvania. The 26 year old “kid” ran a gay escort and porn business in Virginia Beach and may have had several Republican clients–Drake being one. (See www.norfolkmaleescorts.com and www.boybatter.com). . . My sources say Drake may have approached Gonzalez for funds for Cuadra’s defense, threatening to blow the lid off everything by MAKING THE REPUBLICAN CLIENT LIST OF THE GAY ESCORT BUSINESS PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE.”

There are jailed Republicans, dead Republicans, outed Republicans... And McHenry's office... well, when I called McHenry's congressional office, the guy who answered the phone confirmed that Drake "worked" there but said he didn't know what his duties were. When I asked to speak to the congressman or someone who would know, he put me on hold, then came back, audibly upset, and said he was mistaken and that he didn't know anything and no one else was in the office and then quickly hung up on me. The murder was completely covered up by the Orlando police department and everything about it pretty much disappeared.

In 2012, McHenry's primary opponent, newspaper publisher Ken Fortenberry, showed up at a McHenry town hall and started peppering him with questions about McHenry's overt corruption on the House Financial Services Committee. Nothing phased the smug little McHenry until the end of the meeting when Fortenberry pulled out the photo of McHenry's murdered love, Jason Robert Drake (below). He asked the startled McHenry if he could deny any knowledge of the murdered ex-Marine. McHenry, looking like a rainbow flag, stammered and stuttered, said nothing intelligible and the meeting came to a screeching halt. I guess Scalise didn't look into it-- or didn't care.

McHenry is fond of rough trade

Gay Romney Supporter Patrick McHenry (R-NC) Finally Confronted Publicly About His Connection To Jason Robert Drake

McHenry "associate" Jason Robert Drake (RIP)

I hope you're not surprised that all the GOP closet cases-- well, not whack job Trent Franks, but the rest of them-- have endorsed Mitt Romney. I mean, last time around his campaign co-chair, Larry Craig, was working the public toilets for his boy Willard. There's just something about Romney that the Republican closet queens, from Lindsey Graham to David Dreier, just love.

Take fire-breathing little Patrick McHenry, for example. McHenry, who obsessively fingers the wedding ring symbolizing the fake marriage to a woman he doesn't live with, styles himself the biggest, baddest right-wing fanatic in the whole wide world. "I'll be the example for everyone else in Congress to follow," he has bragged. He was the attack dog against Elizabeth Warrenthe Republicans unleashed lamely at the House Financial Services Committee-- you know, the committee where little McHenry is trying to prevent a bill to prohibit Members of Congress from engaging in insider trading. But how much of a conservative is McHenry really, to have been one of the first right-wing congressmen to kick Newt, Perry, Bachmann, Cain et al. to the curb and jump aboard the Romney Express? Must be the animal magnetism... or McHenry's uncanny ability to always go where the cash is.

Today was an interesting day for Lil' Patrick McHenry. At noon he had a faux-townhall meeting at the Stanley Town Hall in Gaston County-- having invited no one but town employees and his own staffers. His Republican primary opponent, the intrepid Ken Fortenberry, showed up as well. McHenry wasn't prepared for that, especially not when Fortenberry started peppering him with questions about his shady record on the House Financial Services Committee and when he challenged him to debate in every county in North Carolina's sprawling 10th District so that Republican voters there could get to know each of them. McHenry dodged and demurred. But then it got really interesting.

I hate to do this to you, but it would really help if you could surf over to this 2007 post about McHenry's involvement in a triple gay homocide-suicide. Short version: The murdered gay Republicans include Ralph Reed's purported ex-lover, Ralph Gonzalez (former head of the rabidly homophobic Georgia Republican Party), GOP lobbyist David Abrami and McHenry guy-pal Robert Drake, allegedly the shooter. All three were victims in a murder-suicide in an Orlando apartment. According to right-wing website the North Carolina Conservative, "All three men were active in Republican politics." They mention that Drake is "an associate" of McHenry's but don't define that. He is alleged to be an associate of quite a few younger men, some of whom are gay and some of whom are just gay-for-pay.

Drake was associated with the owner of a gay escort service in the Virginia Beach area. The owners of that escort service-- there have been unconfirmed rumors that McHenry was both a client and a silent partner-- are facing charges that they murdered Bryan Kocis, the owner of a rival gay escort service. When I called McHenry's congressional office, the guy who answered the phone confirmed that Drake "worked" there but said he didn't know what his duties were. When I asked to speak to the congressman or someone who would know, he put me on hold, then came back, audibly upset, and said he was mistaken and that he didn't know anything and no one else was in the office and then quickly hung up on me. The murder was completely covered up by the Orlando police department and everything about it pretty much disappeared.

Now, back to today's confrontation. After Fortenberry couldn't get any answers from the smug, self-entitled McHenry to any of his questions, he whipped out a large photo of Drake-- the one above-- and asked a startled McHenry if he could deny any knowledge of the murdered ex-Marine. McHenry, looking like a rainbow flag, stammered and stuttered, said nothing intelligible and the meeting came to a screeching halt. At some point, Republicans in North Carolina are going to want to know who closet case McHenry really is and what he knows about these murders and the gay escort services in northern Virginia.

As for his endorsement of Romney... psychotic right-wing fanatic Steve Baldwin went bonkers this week on Steve Deace's crazy hate-talk radio show. His gripe is that Romney was “obsessed” with gay rights as governor of Massachusetts, and he's blaming the right-wing media itself for giving Romney a free pass. In the past he's insisted that Jeff Carneal, president of Human Events' publisher, Eagle Publishing (a subsidiary of extremist publishing house Regnery), is an “avowed homosexual” who has supported pro-equality causes. Who knows? Maybe all this stuff is why all the gay Republicans in congressional closets are supporting Romney:

Baldwin: Our conservative media won’t write negative stories about Romney. They won’t even investigate him. I’ve submitted story after story to National Review, to Human Events, to American Spectator, and every once in a while they’ll do a story with a few negative things about Romney, but a full-scale investigative piece about Romney has not appeared in most of the conservative movement’s media. And you’ll find out there’s conflicts of interests, you’ll find out National Review endorsed Romney last year, they like him this year. You’ll find out that the chairman of Regnery Gateway, that publishes Human Events, is a homosexual who likes Romney. You find out these editors have various biases. And as a result, they have collectively, along with talk radio I have to add-- Sean Hannity likes Romney, a lot of our radio talk show hosts have been very hands off when it comes to Romney’s record, even though they have all been briefed and all been given information about Romney’s background. Coulter and other national columnists and Hannity and even Mark Levin say very little about Romney’s record and refuse to dig into it. So you hear nothing from our own media, so the mainstream media, they’re too lazy to dig up the stories. And so as a result, Romney’s getting a free pass here...

Deace: Does Mitt Romney have a history of supporting homosexual issues beyond the gay scoutmasters thing that we saw from 1994? What did he do in Massachusetts when he was governor?

Baldwin: Oh my goodness. Gay proclamations, gay dances, gay proms, gay assemblies, gay this, gay that. He had an entire commission called the Governor’s Commission, which served at his own discretion, and they funded gay events and programs in the schools. He promoted all kinds of laws, rules, internal, a lot of internal things, like his department of social services awarded Family of the Year, Parents of the Year, to a gay couple. He appointed homosexual leaders to key positions throughout his administration. I mean, his whole administration was characterized by an almost obsessive devotion to the homosexual agenda. I would venture to say that Mitt Romney was the most aggressive pro-gay governor in American history, either party. Period. I mean Amy Contrada wrote a thousand page book documenting hundreds of actions by this man to advance the homosexual agenda. Hundreds. He was obsessed with it. You gotta start wondering here.

Par for the course, the Gaston Gazette was too freaked out to mention anything about Drake in their coverage of the townhall today. What else is new? Mostly boring video... but watch at 13:05:

Patrick McHenry Poses As A Republican Square But He Lives A Far Racier Lifestyle Than North Carolina GOP Voters

Patrick McHenry got into Congress from an exurban district in western North Carolina and immediately declared himself the model of congressional conservatism who would define ideological purity for the whole GOP House caucus. He was elected class clown by the freshmen but managed to vote no on everything that could even remotely be seen as beneficial to working families. His career-long ProgressivePunch score is 1.36 and since Obama has been elected, his score is... yes, a zero (among 30 Republicans who have taken that "no on everything approach, like fellow lunatic fringe NC congressmember Virginia Foxx).

North Carolina's ideological twins may agree on every single vote but their sameness ends abruptly when it comes to lifestyle. Foxx's life's mission seems centered on a mania of hatred towards LGBT people. Since her earliest forays into politics she's identified herself as a "gay hater." McHenry may have a 100% anti-LGBT voting record but he is, albeit a closeted one, gay. And not just gay, closeted, homophobic, and utterly self-loathing but also mixed up in one of the most jaw-dropping gay congressional scandals of all time, something that makes Mark Foley's and Larry Craig's look like child's play. (We covered it in 2007 but it's been so covered up and papered over that it still amazes me that a triple Republican gay homicide/suicide involving a sitting U.S. congressman is almost totally unknown to the public. You should hit that link above to read the whole story.

The murdered gay Republicans include Ralph Reed's purported ex-lover, Ralph Gonzalez (former head of the rabidly homophobic Georgia Republican Party), David Abrami and McHenry guy-pal Robert Drake, the shooter. All three were found last week in a murder-suicide in an Orlando apartment. According to right-wing website, the North Carolina Conservative "All three men were active in Republican politics." They mention that Drake is "an associate" of McHenry's but don't define that. He is alleged to be an associate of quite a few younger men, some of whom are gay and some of whom are just gay-for-pay.

Gonzalez was an influential political consultant, who owned Strategum Group, and managed Congressman Tom Feeny’s 2002 campaign. The house was owned by Gonzalez; Abrami lived with Gonzalez. Newspapers and political websites have been abuzz with posts from friends and associates of Gonzalez, who speculate the motive for the murder-suicide as being a gay love triangle gone wrong.

...Another, more sinister motive has been put forth by several sources, including CrimeBlog.us. Reporters there say that Drake was associated with the owner of a gay escort service in the Virginia Beach area. The owners of that escort service are facing charges that they murdered the owner of a rival company catering to the gay community. A source for the Crime Blog reporter states:

“My solid, but unconfirmed, sources say that Drake was trying to hit Gonzalez up for cash to raise money to defend a kid (Harlow Cuadra) who is on trial for murder up in Pennsylvania. The 26 year old “kid” ran a gay escort and porn business in Virginia Beach and may have had several Republican clients–Drake being one. (See www.norfolkmaleescorts.com and www.boybatter.com). . . My sources say Drake may have approached Gonzalez for funds for Cuadra’s defense, threatening to blow the lid off everything by MAKING THE REPUBLICAN CLIENT LIST OF THE GAY ESCORT BUSINESS PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE.”

Old news, even if it never made the news? Sure, but with three Republicans challenging McHenry from, believe it or not, the right, the sketchy details of the murders and the closeted lifestyle that McHenry has led are starting to circulate again. Just yesterday a very credible hard core conservative in Burke County, Dennis Benfield, asked what kind of trouble McHenry is in to be spending $3,000 a month of campaign contributions on a fancy DC law firm.

I have been accused of having a long-standing grudge against Congressman Patrick McHenry because he defeated my candidate in 2004. Baloney. The only reason I need to vote for someone else in the May 4 Republican primary is McHenry's unvarnished ineffectiveness.

This last week's news revealed the good congressman's real legacy in the 10th District-- the Hickory-Lenoir-Morganton metropolitan area had a 15.8 percent unemployment rate in January, highest of all 14 N.C. metropolitan statistical areas. Caldwell County saw its highest rate ever at 17.5 percent.

Tea-party folks have it right: "Throw all the bums out!" McHenry has been in Congress for almost six years and how's he done? He wants Ronald Reagan on the $50 bill! Amazing. Reagan himself wouldn't support that.

I challenge all you McHenry lovers out there to find just one bill where he led the fight (against those awful Democrats) that created even a single job in western North Carolina. Instead, he votes against Pell Grants that send poor kids to college-- legislation that has had bipartisan support since 1965.

And where was he during the health-care debate? Yes, he may have voted the right way, but you never heard his voice or saw his face in the media and I doubt he persuaded any "Blue Dog" Democrats to vote with the GOP.

He likes to take credit for bringing money here, but he's more successful scoring real-estate deals to make himself a millionaire. He likes his picture made with volunteer firefighters, deputies and first-responders, but, besides delivering their check, what does he do to help them qualify for those grants?

Meanwhile, he spends $3,000 a month from campaign funds to retain a Washington law firm. Why? What trouble is he in?

And he meddles in local Republican primaries where he shouldn't.

McHenry is part of the problem, not the solution.

There are three other Republicans running against him this spring. We are absolute fools, as a party, to keep sending this self-serving professional politician back to Congress.

Now, what about that photo above and this photo down here? Up top is McHenry frolicking with the fabulous Jackie Sullens, a GOP lesbian political activist in Gaston County and down here McHenry's having a good old time with Jackie and her housemate Ann LaFarr. What would Virginia Foxx say? Well, North Carolina Republicans haven't been terribly thrilled about these photos since they first surfaced in 2008. In fact, Virginia Foxx type Republicans were appalled:

The best part about these photos (other than the fact that McHenry is grabbing Sullens’ breasts in the second photo) is that Jackie Sullens is an open Lesbian. Not only does Sullens work for the GOP as the Gaston County Republican Women’s newsletter lady, but she openly lives with another woman, whom she is in a lesbian relationship with.