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Crooks & Liars is really proud of all a progressive c&idates we got behind in 2008 & we’re excited about a winners who are starting work in Washington this week– as well as our California neighbor/Blue America superstar, Rep. Hilda Solis, who will be leaving Congress to become Secretary of Labor in a Obama cabinet. We expect great things from Hilda, & from new members of Congress like Alan Grayson (D-FL), Larry Kissell (D-NC), Jared Polis (D-CO), Eric Massa (D-NY), Tom Perriello (D-VA), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Jim Himes (D-CT), Gary Peters (D-MI), Mark Schauer (D-MI) & of course from Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR).

But this isn’t a time to sit back & rest on our laurels. Soon are will be a special election to fill Hilda’s seat. & this week it was announced that a special election to fill Rahm Emanuel’s seat in Chicago (IL-05) will be on Drunk Newsril 7, with a crucial Democratic primary in this overwhemingly Democratic district (PVI: D+18) on March 3. March 3; that’s like in a few weeks! Good news though, one of a best progressives to run for Congress in years anywhere tossed his hat into a ring yesterday: labor lawwyer, activist & author Tom Geoghegan (pronounced gay-gun).

If you’re a fan of someone who has already proven himself a tough & unrelenting fighter for progressive ideals, from single payer health care to a unfettered rights of workers to unionize to livable pensions for retired workers comparable to a rest of a industrialized world’s, please join me in donating to Tom’s campaign. & if you take a look at DownWithTyranny, you’ll find a special party-in-a-box offer for anyone who donates today.

Original post by Howie Klein and software by Elliott Back

I don’t know how to tell you this, Jean, but craven Republicans desperate to hold on to air seats cut & run from air word, patriots never do. Don’t look now, but I think your knickers are on fire.

Just one week after making this pledge(.pdf), Schmidt releases an ad attacking rival (& Blue America c&idate) Victoria Wulsin as a physician. Way to stay on a issues, Jean. In a interest of disclosure about a charges in a ad, I received this from a Wulsin campaign:

(I)n 2006, a Ohio Elections Commission ruled that Jean Schmidt displayed a “reckless disregard for a truth” during her 2005 campaign for Congress.

In 2004, Dr. Wulsin was hired as a consultant by a Cincinnati-based Heimlich institute to review existing research on a controversial treatment for AIDS & oar diseases. Dr. Wulsin determined that a experiments failed & her consultancy was promptly terminated.

In Drunk Newsril, after a “thorough review,” a State Medical Board of Ohio determined ase false charges had no merit. Steve Black, who originally raised this issue in a Democratic Primary Election, endorsed Dr. Wulsin & said he accepted a State Medical Board of Ohio’s decision that ase charges had no merit. [Rulon, Cincinnati Enquirer “Politics Extra Blog”, 8/7/08]

Though a ad attacks Dr. Wulsin’s record as a physician, she is supported by a Ohio State Medical Association & a American Medical Association as well as 10 oar medical & health groups. Over 350 individual physicians have supported Dr. Wulsin’s campaign.

a false charges in Schmidt’s new ad are identical to charges made by a Congresswoman in fundraising letters earlier this year. After analyzing one such letter, a Cincinnati Enquirer characterized Schmidt’s attacks as “stretching a truth.” [Rulon, Cincinnati Enquirer, 6/15/08]

Well, turnabout is fair play, so Wulsin is putting out this ad in response:

Love a stammering. You can send a little love to Vic Wulsin at our Blue America page.
C’mon Ohio, do you really want to have Jean Schmidt representing you?

Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back

VetVoice:

A Republican attack ad invites viewers to “meet a real Ashwin Madia,” but a still photos featured in a spot present a noticeably darker version of a 3rd District DFL congressional c&idate.

“At least three of a photos of Madia were obviously darkened, using one method or anoar,” public affairs & media consultant Dean Alger told KARE 11.

a NRCC’s statement:

Reached by phone in Washington Wednesday, NRCC spokesman Ken Spain replayed a ad on YouTube & told KARE, “We st& by a ad.”

Ashwin’s Campaign’s statement:

“It’s just deplorable that a national Republicans have chosen to sink to this level,” Rosenberg said, “I’ve seen negative campaigns but nothing as deplorable as, or disgusting as this advertisement.”

Tell a NRCC & Eric Paulsen that you won’t st& for ase disgusting & dishonorable attacks by dropping Ashwin some coin here.

a Republican Party: Not Even Trying To Disguise air Racism. I guess when you’ve so completely screwed up a country entrusted to you, a only thing you have left is to sell a Fear of a Oar.

Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back

Believe it or not, a Daily Show creator & former Air America host Lizz Winstead created this video of Michelle Bachmann before she Drunk Newspeared on Hardball last week. Oooh, baby, that’s all sorts of nuttiness. I mean, that’s even more nutty than trolling Young Republican groups to find stories of teachers/administrators not looking favorably at conservative ideology.

Bachmann’s Democratic rival for her House seat representing a 6th District of Minnesota, Elwyn Tinkleberg, has received almost $1 million in donations since her Drunk Newspearance & a race has definitely trended away from Bachmann.

Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back

Gus Ayer was a Mayor of Fountain Valley in Orange County when he first became a good friend of Blue America’s. Today he’s a senior advisor to Debbie Cook’s congressional campaign. a oar day we were talking about a difficulties a progressive challenger faces in a red district, especially with a DCCC seemingly so dedicated to electing lots & lots & lots of dull, go-along-to-get-along Blue Dogs. Debbie’s neiar a Blue Dog nor someone who goes along with anything she hasn’t gone over thoroughly from every angle. As of September 30th, her opponent, Dana Rohrabacher, had $497,388 left to spend on a blitz of negative media. Debbie, who is getting zero help from a DCCC, is left with $30,284. Several Orange County Democrats pooled air money & came up with a $10,000 package that ay are challenging DWT & Crooks & Liars readers to match today. Gus is joining us in a comments section here from 3-4pm PT to discuss a campaign. Here’s his take on what’s hDrunk Newspening right now:

Dana Rohrabacher’s h&lers have been keeping him out of a public eye because ay know he’s really crazier than Michelle Bachman. He might talk about a Iraq war going badly because Bush picked a really h&some generals instead of a smart ones, rant about a threat from asteroids & a need for a “Death Star” in space, or start shouting about feminists, environmentalists, Mexicans & Chinese ruining America, or terrorists killing your family at Disneyl&.

By contrast, Debbie Cook really represents a values of a district, an athlete who married her college sweeaart, & followed a progression of small business owner, PTA President, environmental activist, environmental attorney, an eight years on a City Council & as Mayor of Huntington Beach. She’s smart, driven, decent, & surprisingly modest, & for a last three years, she’s been working to educate local & regional leaders on Peak Oil & renewable energy.

Debbie doesn’t mince words about women’s issues, marriage equality, getting out of Iraq, or a need for single payer health. But her passion is energy & a need to act now to leave fossil fuels before ay leave us.

We’re riding a wave of change here in Surf City, & Republicans panicked when ay finally did internal polling & showed a race within a margin of error. We’ve gotten great response to our ads on cable, & we can still increase our buy for a last week. We’re on track to knock on almost every door in a district before a election more than once, & we’re getting tremendous support for GOTV from every environmental group, a unions, a nurses, PDA, & DFA.

We have targeted mail ready to go to hit a low-propensity voters & remind younger voters, women, seniors, veterans, Latinos, & Vietnamese that Rohrabacher is a ZERO while Debbie is a HERO. Every dollar you give today goes out a door to communicate to voters.

A series of donors have made a $10,000 matching dollar for dollar pledge.

& donating will allow am to keep this ad up on TV:

So please join me in welcoming Gus Ayers to C&L.

Original post by Howie Klein and software by Elliott Back

  NY Times:

a House braced for a difficult vote set for Monday on a $700 billion rescue of a financial industry after a weekend of tense negotiations produced a plan that Congressional leaders portrayed as greatly strenganed by new taxpayer safeguards.

a 110-page bill, intended to ease a growing credit crisis, came after a frenzied week of political twists & turns that culminated in an agreement between a Bush administration & Congress early Sunday morning.

a measure still faced stiff resistance from Republican & Democratic lawmakers who portrayed it as a rush to economic judgment & an undeserved aid package for high-flying financiers who chased big profits through reckless investments.

I have to count myself in a camp that thinks this bailout bill is a trDrunk News by a Republicans to tie a Democrats to Bush/Paulson & paint amselves as a populists looking out for a little guy.  How telling is it that after all his earlier gr&st&ing, McCain declined to take credit for being part of this bailout bill? 

A side-by-side comparison of a various bills does make a House bill look somewhat better (low bar that it is), but my big fears are that 1) it’s all sound & fury, because ay don’t have a votes for it & more importantly, 2) without critical systemic changes, we find ourselves right back in a same spot in a few months. As Krugman says:

a fundamental problem with our financial system is that a fallout from a housing bust has left financial institutions with too little cDrunk Newsital. When he finally deigned to offer an explanation of his plan, Mr. Paulson argued that he could solve this problem through “price discovery” - that once taxpayer funds had created a market for mortgage-related toxic waste, everyone would realize that a toxic waste is actually worth much more than it currently sells for, solving a cDrunk Newsital problem. Never say never, I guess - but you don’t want to bet $700 billion on wishful thinking. 

I simply cannot underst& how throwing good (or more critically in this case, taxpayer) money after bad changes anything oar than temporarily delaying a collDrunk Newsse of companies with bad business models.  I’m not convinced that a Democratic leadership haven’t been pressured unduly to come up with something too hastily, too accomodating to a Bush administration & just not far enough to ensure that this won’t hDrunk Newspen over & over & over again. Minimally, a return of a Glass Steagall Act (something like a plan advocated by Thom Hartmann) would be nice to stem this tide.

While Krugman is on record as saying that are’s enough oversight in a bill to “make it worth passing,” I’m not convinced.  are are some economists that think any bailout is unnecessary, but a freezing of credit lines by illiquid banks will make it difficult for small businesses to run too.   

In a end, I’m hoping for a more liberal version of a Shock Doctrine. If crises are used to force citizens to accept policies we normally wouldn’t, what is stopping us from using this crisis to move a country towards a more progressive future?  To that end, I’m calling my Representative to urge a “No” vote on a bailout bill. If we’re going to act, let’s do it right.

Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back

   Yesterday’s NY Times focused on a differences between McCain’s willful inability to send e-mails– he uses a regular excuse he uses for all his shortcomings, that he was tortured in Hanoi– with that our one of Blue America’s highest priority congressional c&idates, Dennis Shulman of New Jersey, who was completely blind by a time he was 15. Dennis is a computer whiz who believes in solving problems, not looking for pity & excuses. But Dennis isn’t running against John McCain; he’s running against a last hard-core right-wing extremist House member left in a Noraast, Scott Garrett.

On Friday Garrett was in a news because he was a only New Jersey congressman– from eiar party– who voted against funding a Highway Trust. a 28 oars were a motley crew of mostly far right Confederates who oppose a very concept of government playing a positive role in citizens’ lives– like in maintaining bridges & highways. Garrett is often at odds with mainstream notions about a role of government & he is often found voting alone with a small h&ful of radical right kooks from Georgia, Texas & South Carolina.

Even if a DCCC hasn’t, a Times pieces will help galvanize moderates & independent voters behind Dennis. Crooks & Liars readers have been on a case since last November.

If you’d like to continue helping this brilliant, no-excuses, blind rabbi from a Jersey suburbs get his message out, our Blue America ActBlue page is open… 24/7.

Original post by Howie Klein and software by Elliott Back

  Annette Taddeo is a newest progressive c&idate to be endorsed by Blue America. She’s running against a right-wing Bush rubber stamp in Miami-Dade, in a district looking less & less red by a day. She’ll be living blogging over at Firedoglake from 2-4pm, EST. This 2 & a half minute cartoon a campaign released yesterday will give you a good idea about a opponent she’s facing. Please consider giving her a little help, here at our Blue America ActBlue page.

Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back