Clair McCaskill has weighed in on the defeat in Massachusetts. From Politico:
"As I said to somebody last night:, everybody needs to get the Washington wax out of their ears and listen and pay attention that people out there believe that we are going too far, too fast," McCaskill told POLITICO.
I tied McCaskill's comment with the memo from the Senate staffer that Josh Marshall has posted and greensooner started a thread about and put up a rant that someone suggested I post as a diary.
My rant after the break.
What are we facing here in Missouri after the Coakley loss? Well, we now know that Ike Skelton (I live in his district) will never be associated with progressive legislation.
And, what will Robin Carnahan's platform be: I'm not Roy Blunt?
Dammit! I never spent so much of own money last year to elect Democrats.
I never knocked on so many doors last year to elect Democrats.
I really thought our party leaders weren't afraid to stand up and BE Democrats. In others words, to use government to improve the lives of people and make the future better for a children and grandchildren.
Did I waste my time and money last year? I'm going to be sixty years old very, very soon. Do I really want to spend two hours a day, six days a week from the middle of August to November knocking on doors and getting people registered to vote to work for people who believe our agenda is "going too far, too fast"? And, remember that agenda is providing health care to ALL Americans. No other advanced-industrialized country is as backward in health care as our country.
I hope the junior Senator from Missouri has someone reading the posts today and realizes people like me are essential for getting out the vote. We just had a candidate who was above motivating people like me in Massachusetts. Now, after becoming a minority with 59 votes out of 100, the junior Senator from Missouri tells us the agenda I was fighting for by registering 800 people who voted for Obama is "too far" and "too fast."
The staffer who sent Josh Marshall that email asked "what do Democrats stand for?" Hell, Claire and Ike and Robin, what do you stand for? If you want me to stand with you, and I have a record that very few if any Democrats in my area can touch, you had better articulate it pretty soon.
I'll be 60 years old in August, and I'm going to be very, very hard pressed to want to stand with anyone who thinks the agenda we had was "too far and too fast" and is no longer valid.
If Democrats want to give into the teabaggers and become Republicanlite, I can't stop them. But I'm not standing with any Democrat who becomes Republicanlite. I have better things to do then lift a finger to work for a Republicanlite candidate.
If . . . . if . . . the Democrats in DC and Jefferson City (hell, all over the country) realize we will fight like hell if they act like Democrats and we will do nothing if they don't, then maybe . . . maybe the Democrats who didn't turn out for Coakley have sent a HUGE message to the McCaskills that saying our agenda is "too far, too fast" guarantees a monumental defeats in November.
If we are going to lose in November, let's lose defending our principles and our agenda which is hardly too far or too fast!