Oh no they di'int!
Yes; yes, they did. In the fine, scorched Earth tradition of declaring Bernie !@#$%& Sanders a pork lovin' ne'er do well, that wacky blog is now targeting -- you're not gonna believe this –- Earl Blumenauer. Earl effin' Mr. Bicycle Blumenauer!
I am not kidding. Follow me down the rabbit hole, here, and we'll explore how up is absolutely down, war is totally peace and progressive champions simply must be primaried.
For those needing a refresher, here's what they had to say about Bernie "I'm a Socialist" Sanders:
Bernie Sanders is the latest "progressive" to fall in line as a supporter.
......Sanders needs to spend less time trying to cover up his mistakes with pork for Vermonters and invest his energy in fighting for true reform that will reach all Americans instead.
We want to let Senator Sanders know that he’s headed down a path with ramifications so serious that can threaten his seat.
That's right; Bernie !@#$%& Sanders is a "progressive," not a Progressive™. And they want to threaten his seat, the seat of an Independent Senator who routinely wins with over 80% of the vote. Now they appear to have turned those same disaffections to Portland, OR Rep Earl Blumenauer. Earl "I do five progressive things before breakfast" Blumenauer!
I kinda feel like Norman here. But truly; apparently a lot of these folks feel that Blumenauer deserves to be primaried:
And that 76% of those responding to another survey (10,814) think that Democrats who go back on their pledge should be primaried.
I know; going back on one's pledge does sound awful. Except Earl Blumenauer never signed any pledge. What he did sign was a letter to Pelosi and some Committee leadership, which FDL describes thusly:
In July, 60 Democratic Members of Congress signed a letter (PDF) to Speaker Pelosi and House Leadership saying they would vote against a health care bill from conference committee if it didn't have a public option.
But the letter doesn't say anything about conference committees, nor is there any commitment to vote against any particular bill. The letter was written in opposition to the PO on negotiated rates compromise Waxman forged with the Blue Dogs to get them on board.
We write to voice our opposition to the negotiated health care reform agreement under consideration in the Energy and Commerce Committee. We regard the agreement reached by Chairman Waxman and several Blue Dog members ofthe Committee as fundamentally unacceptable.
In short, this agreement will result in the public, both as insurance purchasers and as taxpayers, paying ever higher rates to insurance companies.
We simply cannot vote for such a proposal.
So the signatories to this letter have stated that they cannot vote for the Waxman-Blue Dogs proposal. That's it. They never made any promise to not vote for a bill out of conference; the letter doesn't even include the word "conference."
I'm trying to track down the exact language of that Waxman deal to get a sense of how closely it hews to the final House Bill. Blumenauer did vote for the House HCR bill, despite its being pegged to negotiated rates opposed in the above letter. I don't know what other measures and carrots were negotiated in the House; perhaps some other things of importance were traded off for the negotiated rates to Blumenauer's and others' satisfaction. Maybe the difference from July to November and the subsequent meaninglessness of the Public Option that did survive changed people's minds. I really don't know. But here are some things I do know:
Earl Blumenauer voted against the Iraq War.
Earl Blumenauer voted against the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act.
Really, I could stop right there. Those two alone so far outweigh whatever's going on with that letter. But I won't. Because Blumenauer does all kinds of awesome stuff. Did you know that Portland, OR is one of the "most livable" cities in the United States? Did you know that Portland is quasi-legendary for their visionary expansion and use of light rail, other public transportation and bike use? This city rocks and Earl "His pinky is more progressive than your entire life" Blumenauer has had a lot to do both with creating that and exporting our pioneering livability and sustainability standards to communities across the world.
His nickname is the "Johnny Appleseed of Livability," but apparently, he deserves to be primaried! Is Blumenauer's voting record perfect? Of course not. No one's is. But when it comes to moving this country in the right directions, Blumenauer is light years ahead of most in D.C. And he now finds himself a target of ire because he refused to vote against a bill that didn't include the ideal public option.
And here's the thing about that: Blumenauer is not the only person who signed that letter and subsequently voted for the House bill, which did not meet the standards laid out in the signed letter. In fact, there are supposedly in excess of 60 signatures on this letter. So let's do some quick math here:
258 Dem Reps - 60 letter signers = 198 votes = not enough to pass a bill
So we know that at least 20 of these letter signers joined Blumenauer in voting the House HCR bill forward. But Blumenauer is being targeted? There was truly nobody else who both signed the letter and voted for the bill with a worse record than Blumenauer's? Johnny Appleseed of livability was really the best bogeyman to be had of the lot?
The mind boggles. If someone can explain this to me, I'd appreciate it. Because I cannot, for the life of me, get behind the logic in going after one of the best we've got over a joke of a Public Option that would only have helped some 2% of the population.
The logic (and I use the term loosely) of "let's attack progressive stalwarts" simply eludes me.