Saturday, March 11, 2017

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

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

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

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





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

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

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

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

Goal Thermometer

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7 Comments:

At 6:45 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's been my observation for a while, confirmed by many journalists more dialed in than I, that the so-called Democratic Party now stands approximately where the Republican Party once stood along the political spectrum. Bill Clinton managed to drift the Party to the right of Eisenhower, and possibly Nixon as well in some categories. Where the Democrats now stand on issues is approximately where Big Money is comfortable.

The Republicans, meanwhile, have drifted too close to the edge, making Big Money nervous that the excesses proposed by so-called Republicans could erupt into societal chaos as the masses awaken from their media-induced comas and stop buying useless crap for ridiculous amounts of money. I'm sure many of these moguls have read I Paid Hitler and don't want to end up like Fritz Thyssen.

So to accommodate the Big Money -large blocs of which the Democrats have clearly managed to woo away from the Republicans- they need candidates who remember what being a Republican in office is all about. This is why the Democrats keep drafting Republicans to run as Democrats. It's their side of the bargain to keep the masses despondent and silent so as to not upset the Golden Apple cart. Democrats get lots of money to throw the game (Is not Schumer the recipient of incredible amounts of "campaign contributions"?). This is all far too many Democrats of any stripe really desire anyway.

And We the People suffer. Look at what happens to The People's Champions. Not just Alan Grayson, but Dennis Kucinich and too many others. They get moved out of the picture so as not to call attention to the process and its excesses.

Bernie had to have terrified these people with the massive response he got to his candidacy. He's now been leashed. The threat is contained, and The Way Things Are can continue unabated. To those who benefit from this, it's worth every dollar they spend betraying the rest of the nation.

 
At 7:28 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

To 6:45's fine comment, I'd add Elizabeth Warren also. Her rhetoric matches at nearly 100% with Bernie's, yet she notably refused to endorse him during the primaries. EW then went on to endorse and campaign for $hillbillary, the anti-Bernie, anti-Elizabeth('s words).

In both cases, these were stunning betrayals. And one can only assume that they did so to remain "relevant" to (and paid by) the DNC and DSCC as they remake the democraps into republicraps.

What this article also illustrates is the democraps' tactic of allowing pure evil to flourish in the hope that it will eventually be uncovered and become "scandal" or just crush 50 million people into the realization that something needs to change; with the hope that the "change" will mean picking up democrap seats. "Impeachment is off the table", foley, Hastert, Iraq, torture... and now everything drumpf-related. It's gambling with lives while they HOPE for 2018 gains in the house. But by then there could easily be more wars and deaths, 200 thousand deaths due to deprivation of health care; millions impoverished/bankrupted due to health insurance/Rx costs and the real possibility of another deep recession (either realized or catalyzed).

When, oh when, will $hillbillary's 65 million voters finally realize that the democraps DO NOT GIVE A FLYING FUCK about them; that the democraps only care about the money that owns them; and that the ONLY REMEDY is to just, simply, finally STOP VOTING FOR DEMOCRAPS EVER!!

As long as the very right-wing democraps exist and can get members elected, there will never EVER again be a truly left party that acts like the Democrats of FDR and HST instead of the fascist neolib neocon gleefully corrupt party of Clintons, DWS, Rahm, scummer, reid, Pelosi, hoyer, perez and, of course, obamanation.

Until voters make that change happen, NOTHING can ever improve.

In fact, because voters have been so gawdawful stupid for nearly 4 decades, it may already be to the point where nothing can improve until after the massive crash or civil war or some other calamity.

 
At 7:37 AM, Blogger Anon said...

You need more all caps and childish name-calling in your post.

 
At 8:07 AM, Blogger Daro said...

I thought the issue was just the Iron Law of Institutions at work. People defending their personal positions at the expense of the organisation they worked in but the level of mendacity is so extreme I have to consider the idea that people like Rahm are ideologically driven to set up a system that excludes representing the lower-incomed. They must viscerally hate and despise people who aren't wealthy.

Hillary's daughter married an investment banker. Was he really the most interesting and wholesome character to be found? Wouldn't a progressive NY city educator with a talent for music and community outreach have been a better choice? It was the Benjamins that spoke. Despite Chelsea's public repudiation of money. They're loathsome, sure. Everyone is entitled to their beliefs and criteria. But if they're actively engaged in crushing you then it's gloves-off time.

But we're still being hindered by the asinine SJW's who insist Hillary was our Saint who got cheated by the Russians. The party is split and it won't fix in a generation. Game over, man, game over.

 
At 10:23 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

As long as the power centers in the Democratic Party refuse to stand up for and stand behind the party's principles and platform, the American people will continue to look with relative disdain on the party. People want politicians that believe in things, that have a plan, that will stand up for them, and that will stand behind their principles. One would think the Democrats in DC would survey what has happened since 2010 and stop with this BS notion that people hate ideologues and prefer centrists. People clearly don't want the status quo and are demanding bold action! Democrats have been railing against Republican ideologues for years and yet the Republicans have been kicking our asses. Seems like the people prefer politicians that believe in things, even if they believe in things that don't help most people. Maybe if we stood up and started making it clear that we believe, as a party, in our principles and in helping the people with bold solutions, we might do a little better.

 
At 5:11 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Daro, do you remember this quote attributed to Rahm when he was obamanation's chief of staff: "fuck the uaw!"?

The "party" is not split. The DNC just elected the Clinton/Obama corrupt-keeper. The congress has 240 democraps and maybe 8 actual progressives. That's not a split. It means that fully formed human beings are a tiny, tiny minority in the somewhat less racist party of/by/for the money.

 
At 5:14 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

10:23, if voters really were "demanding bold action", they'd be electing greens or someone other than democraps.

voters are stupid. they still think that if the democraps get majorities, they'll do something useful. They can't remember 2009-2011 or "impeachment is off the table" or anything else at all.

 

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