lincoln

If there is any silver lining to the Democrats losing the House last night, it is this:

In a fell swoop, the once-powerful Blue Dog caucus of conservative House Democrats was reduced from 54 members to 26 in Tuesday’s midterm election.

The caucus lost two members to retirement and two others who ran for higher office, and out of the remaining 50 members, 24 Blue Dogs lost.

There were still a few Blue Dogs in tight races that had yet to be called early on Wednesday morning. There is the potential for more losses, though most of them look likely to hold on.

Add to that the fact that we are now rid of Evan Byah and Blanche Lincoln in the Senate, we are left with something we can better work with. It’s time for us to start focusing on more progressive candidates for these lost Blue Dog seats and work towards 2012.

Bob brings up an excellent point today:

The retirement of Byron Dorgan is a solid example of why, in many cases, legislation is at the mercy of conservative-leaning states, and nothing the president can- or should do will change it.

With Dorgan out, it's very likely that a Republican will win that seat. If Ben Nelson were to resign, he'd probably be replaced by a Republican. Blanche Lincoln is likely to be replaced by a Republican. It goes without saying that those Republicans won't be very receptive to robust public options or passing the Obama agenda.

Progressive groups would be helped to remember one of the greatest quotes given by Tipp O’Neil, “all politics is local”. Let’s go with the example of Blanche Lincoln and Arkansas.

GovTrack ranks Lincoln as a moderate Democrat, something we all know. In 2008 Arkansas went for McCain by +7, so Arkansas is a red state. That pretty much means that Lincoln and Pryor are the most liberal we will get out of Arkansas, unless the state makes a dramatic shift to the left.

This brings us to the point of primaries. A lot of national organizations will be focusing on unseating Lincoln in the primary, a very possible feat, but at what costs? If we end up replacing Lincoln with a more liberal/progressive candidate, will they hold up against the general electorate, which is much more right leaning? Most likely not.

So where does this leave us?

Well Lincoln is out as the Democratic candidate and replaced with someone far more progressive, then we will lose a Senator that votes with the Democrats somewhere along the lines of 30-40% of the time. That will be replaced by a Republican who will vote with Democrats 0-10% of the time. In the long run we will lose.

This is something that shouldn’t even be an amendment – it should have been in the bill from the get go:

Senate Democrats will offer an amendment this weekend to curb the pay of executives at health insurance companies that benefit from federal subsidies, fueling the growing feud with the powerful industry.

Sens. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) and Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) have sponsored an amendment that would prohibit health insurance companies from deducting more than $400,000 in executive compensation per individual. The cap would apply to companies that earned 25 percent or more of their income from Americans who buy insurance from government-created exchanges.

I’m sure the GOP will attack this from all angles. Get ready for a weekend of hearing Socialist and Communist over and over again.

The health clinic held in Arkansans Saturday saw 1,500 uninsured Arkansans come through to receive care on the very same day Blanche Lincoln was toying with the idea of killing healthcare reform. Here is a video from the event:

But somehow Bill Clinton has totally lost the message on this great endeavor, lead by Keith Olbermann:

Bill Clinton told FDL’s Eve Gittelson that it would be problematic for him to attend a free medical clinic being held in Little Rock, Arkansas tomorrow because MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann had “politicized” the event.” He indicated that some were turning the event into a primary kickoff against Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln.

I guess Clinton has missed the entire healthcare debate, considering it has been nothing but politics. Two-thirds of Arkansans support the public option, yet their senator Blanche Lincoln is dead set against it, totally ignoring the will of the people she was elected to represent. That right there is fodder to turn the event into a anti-Blanche event.

Yesterday there was a pro-secession rally in Texas, or as I like to call it “the Rick Perry fan club”. One of the chants they were yelling - “we hate the United States”. Could you imagine that being yelled by people on the left during the Bush years? Welcome to the no-fly list, being intercepted by NSA and followed by the Pentagon.

But this doesn’t seem to be a problem confined to Texas. At the tea rallies and townhalls the right exhibiting more and more hatred to our nation. When we have people proudly declare they are “right wing terrorists” and Republican congressmen offering them support, then the problem becomes symbolic with the Republican Party.

It’s amazing that the party of Lincoln is so damn set on tearing this nation apart. Could you imagine if he was alive today to see this? Hell – could you imagine if Reagan was alive today to see this? The Republican Party has become a party of whackos and until it finds true leadership the membership will continue to deteriorate.

Joe Wurzelbacher, aka Joe the Plumber, has some interesting ties that are really close to McCain:

Turns out that Joe Wurzelbacher from the Toledo event is a close relative of Robert Wurzelbacher of Milford, Ohio. Who’s Robert Wurzelbacher? Only Charles Keating’s son-in-law and the former senior vice president of American Continental, the parent company of the infamous Lincoln Savings and Loan. The now retired elder Wurzelbacher is also a major contributor to Republican causes giving well over $10,000 in the last few years.

So Joe the Plumber is tied to the figure at the center of the Keating Five scandal. Maybe this should bring the entire Keating scandal to center stage now.

The Republicans love talking about how people hated Lincoln. Even Tony Snow can't refuse.

I posted earlier today on Don Young (R-AK) using this bogus quote, which he attributed to Lincoln,  on the House floor:

Congressmen who willfully take actions during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hanged

As I said - that quote was not from Lincoln, but instead a right-wing fabrication. Young's office said he would not rescind the comments since the Washington Time has used it. Well the Washington Times has now retracted the statement, but will Young? Nope - instead he still wants to keep it:

Young's spokeswoman, Meredith Kenny, said the congressman took the quote directly from The Washington Times column. "Now that he's been informed these are not the actual words of Lincoln, he will discontinue attributing the words to Lincoln. However, he continues to totally agree with the message of the statement," Kenny told The Washington Post.

This actually puts Young in a worse off position. He is now saying members of Congress should be "hanged" for doing their constitutional duty of oversight. This is almost criminal and the media is not picking up on it? Why hasn't the Republican leadership come out in opposition to one of their members calling for the murder of member of Congress?

I believe we need to push more Don Young quotes out there. Since he feels it is alright to use faux quotes, then we should follow by his example. Atrios has posted one here and I got another one:

"Allah is great and death will come to the infidels of the west!" - Congressman Don Young (R-AK)