I received numerous emails on the Busby Loss in the last two days, from;.. Rahm Emanuel, The PDA, Moveon.org and John Kerry full of the crap of claiming that the Busby loss in the CA 50th District's special election was really a "victory" for our Party and this should really worry the Republicans about the outcome of the Fall Elections. This is my response to those emails with the special emphasis on addressing the analysis of Congressman Emanuel.
To the DCCC:
I think that your message in the DCCC email from Rahm Emanuel is nothing but a loser's excuse for a job that was botched from the beginning. This Progressive Democrat and others are tired of your and your fellow DLC member's failing election strategies and tired of your support of the corporatist agenda and tired of your support of Bush's failed war. It seems as if you keep setting out a strategy that is sure to fail, in order to keep the Democratic Party in the minority. I think that's the real goal of your corporate lobby and wealthy contributors. How can you say that by having Francine Busby "coming close" to winning is a victory for the Democrats. "Coming close" is only good in Horseshoes and Atomic Bombs. You don't get a vote in Congress if you're a runner-up in a political election. This is just another loss in a string of losses that have been engineered by your "centrist" (Republican Clone) organization. The apathy in the Democratic voter is really the fault of the Democratic Leadership. By becoming just another
"Me To" Party you are not giving voters a clear choice in their representation. No wonder the American voter has the idea that all the politicians are crooks and liars and they really have no clear choice to get a government that will represent them. That's why Busby's "Culture of Corruption" Strategy failed and that's why you have apathy in many of the Democratic voters and that's why you can't get the Democratic base to turn out.
Examples of real "red meat" issues for Democrats to use are:
1) a majority of Americans, as shown in the polls, are against this quagmire of Bush's War, but the Democratic Leadership and the DLC will not take an aggressive stance and demand a troop withdrawal and redeployment from Iraq by the end of 2006.
2) A majority of Americans think that the economy stinks and they are barely making ends meet. Prices for everything keep going higher and higher and real wages are either going down or are remaining stagnant. Real unemployment, despite the (Administration's) Labor Department statistics, is in the tens of millions and much higher than the rosy figures that are reported. This is because many of unemployed Americans have run out of unemployment assistance and dropped off the rolls or they are forced into part time employment or have taken jobs well below their skill level and former salary. It's a tragedy that the Democratic Leadership and the DLC will not speak out against:
* The idiotic free (unfair) trade agreements
* Outsourcing of good paying American jobs to cheap overseas labor
* The loss of whole American industries to foreign countries (i.e. Textiles, Steel, Call Centers, Technology Support, Software Development, Computer Programming, Electronic and Appliance Manufacturing and now Auto Parts Manufacturing)
* Corporate union busting tactics (i.e. Wal-Mart)
* The loss of employer paid health care and pension coverage.
* The immoral poverty level minimum wage
* The flood of cheap immigrant labor into the US (i.e. H1B Visas, the Democratic Leadership support for the "cheap labor" corporatist written "guest" [NOT!!] worker program)
* The exploitation of the American consumer by the Health Insurance and Pharmaceutical Industries
* The prohibitive cost of higher education
* Tax breaks and giveaways to corporations and the rich while cutting services to the poor and middle classes
* Price gouging of the American people by the Energy Industry
3) A huge percentage of Americans think we have a problem with illegal immigration and are demanding a solution for securing our borders, enforcing and even tightening our immigration laws, increasing and enforcing employer penalties for hiring illegal aliens and many other strict actions to curb this very real problem. But ignoring the will of millions of "American" citizens and "legal residents, the Democratic Senate Leadership joined with other corporatist "cheap labor" Republicans and pushed amnesty for the illegal aliens that are already here and a "guest" (NOT!!) worker program that will bring upwards of 60 million new uneducated and low skilled residents and naturalized citizens into this country over the next twenty years. And who will pay for this assault on American wages, government services and social services...The American worker, the American taxpayer and the American family.
4) There are over 40 million people living in poverty and 45 million people without health insurance living in this country. These numbers are increasing dramatically every year, especially since the Republicans took control of Congress and the Administration. I imagine that a very high percentage of these apathetic and discouraged citizens would get out and vote for the Democrats if they were promised a progressive solution for this shameful abyss of grinding poverty in which they find themselves. Where is the Democratic Party and DLC proposal to address their situation? I don't think the "centrist" Republican clone practice of ignoring their plight will work to energize them. I'd say 40 to 45 million angry, active and un-ignored Democratic voters would really bury Karl Rove's and Grover Norquist's 4 million Christian Conservative block of Republican voters.
3) Where is the outrage by the Democratic Leadership for this Administration's attack on the Constitution and on the civil and human rights of our citizens (i.e. The indefinite detention of American citizens, the torture of detainees, rendition to other countries for the purpose of torture, domestic spying without warrants, data mining, ignoring Congressional oversight, the push for a Unitary Presidency and the now famous Presidential Signing Statements saying that the Administration can ignore the Congressional Bills that he is signing.
4) The stealing of the elections in 2000 and 2004 by the Republicans using fraud and voter disenfranchisement. Where are the calls for election reform and voting transparency and integrity?
5) The lies and deceit used by this Administration to get us into the war in Iraq and the punitive measures taken against dissenters is outrageous and borders on an impeachable offense. Where is the cry and push for prosecution of this Administration for their crimes?
All of the above areas need to be aggressively addressed with progressive (liberal) solutions and with the moral and populist values of the Democratic Party's grassroots not with the Republican clone approach of the DLC. You are never going to get the vote of the Independent and Moderate Republican voter if you are just another one of the "crooks". And with that approach you are going to lose the votes of the many Progressive Democrats, like me, who want a "real" moral agenda from their Party.
These are the problems that doomed the Busby Campaign and that have really "pissed" off the activist base that is trying to win back control of our government for "We The People".
We need to shout to the hills that we are indeed liberals and progressives and that we will pursue progressive solutions for the disaster that the conservatives and the Republicans have visited on the American people, the American worker and the American family.
The nation and the news media were focused on this race as a bellwether of the voter's dissatisfaction with the Republican Party and what it would indicate about the Democratic Party's chances of regaining control of Congress in November. The Republicans realized this and outspent the Busby Campaign by more than times. ($4.5 million to $2 million). They also sent in planeloads of Congressional Republican staffers for a concentrated push for Bilbray in the last 72 hours before the election. The Busby Campaign had more volunteers than Bilbray but Bilbray's were led by these professional staffers from Washington. They also got a message out that Busby was soft on illegal immigration. This was caused by a slip of the tongue by Francine that seemed to indicate that she wanted illegal aliens to get out and vote for her. This was red meat for conservative talk radio hosts like Rush Limbaugh and they hammered on this talking point over and over. They also claimed that the Democrats supported amnesty for illegal aliens. (This is a natural conclusion that could be drawn from the Democratic support for the Senate Immigration Bill). Busby's message against Washington's "Culture of Corruption" was drowned out by the "soft on illegal immigration message pounded out on the airwaves. Once again the Democratic strategists were wrong by concluding that the 50th District voters were primarily concerned about corruption in Washington. The reality is the average man/woman on the street thinks that all politicians are corrupt or they will be once they hit Washington. So once again the Democrats hid their liberal bent and their populist solutions for the disaster that the Republicans have created. And once again the Democrats ignored the real issues as outlined above and let the Republicans sink their teeth into the only issue that they could possibly exploit. The Leadership left Busby swinging in the wind all by herself with only a handful of energetic but inexperienced volunteers to get out the vote. Even at that she only lost by some 4,700 votes in this race that should have been a top priority for the Democratic Party.
Where were the planeloads of Democratic staffers flying in to help Busby? Where was the campaign money from the DCCC and the DNC to help overcome the financial advantage that Bilbray had been given by the contributions from the RNC and the RCCC? Why were we hiding the real issues affecting the American family behind a "centrist" (Republican Clone) facade? Why didn't we have our progressive big guns from the Party, such as Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, Russ Feingold, John Kerry, Al Gore, etc. out there campaigning for Busby? Was it because they didn't fit into Rahm Emmanuel's DLC mold? Why wasn't "The Democratic Vision", the six point "bold new direction for a secure America" that was distributed on door hangers to Democrats all over this country by dedicated volunteers, like me, articulated in the Busby Campaign again and again. Was it because it came from the DNC and not approved by the "consultants" in the DLC and in the Beltway? Why wasn't it used on flyers, on campaign ads, on phone banking calls, on precinct walks again and again and again? Why wasn't this used to show voters that they "DID" have a clear progressive choice and they needed to get out and vote for the candidate that would deliver that vision? Why weren't the liberal talk show hosts used to pound this vision out on the airwaves to counteract the conservative talk show idiots?` You guys let talk radio sell this lobbyist, Bilbray, to the 50th District voters using the same kind of screeching rhetoric that they have used year after year to defeat good Democratic candidates that would work for the benefit of their constituents and not for the corporate lobby. Their lies and accusations should have been disputed many times over on progressive radio programs and by radio ads. Why haven't you learned from previous losses, like the 2004 Kerry Presidential Campaign?
This Bull that the 50th was a traditional conservative district and that all Busby had to do was make a good showing is absolute hogwash. This is the typical defeatist talk that we hear again and again from the Washington insiders, the DLC members and the idiotic Beltway Democratic consultants and pundits. These people only care about keeping their cushy jobs or get future employment from their corporate benefactors who are getting filthy rich from the pork that is dished out to them in a steady stream.
"You can fool some of the people all the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on." ~George W. Bush
"This is an impressive crowd: the Haves and Have-mores. Some people call you the elites. I call you my base." ~George W. Bush
"People are poor because they are lazy." ~George W. Bush, while attending Harvard Law School.
"It's (The Constitution) just a [profane expletive] piece of paper". ~George W. Bush