Hilarious NRCC release uncovers 2010 target list

Kagro X at Congress Matters reported on this Friday; following the very first act of the fighting 111th Congress, the National Republican Congressional Committee, under the bold new leadership of Texas Representative Pete Sessions, sent out a press release to their targeted Democrats for the new cycle.

We'll get to the (pathetic) press release in a bit (it refers to an essentially party-line vote approving the Democratic House Rules package) . First, let's focus on the fact that the NRCC has helpfully provided their target list online. So now we have an idea of where the Republicans intend to strike...and perhaps, of where they don't.

Obviously, they're taking the "shotgun approach" at this point, which you kind of have to do when you're 39 seats shy of a majority, as the red-faced Red Army currently is. So there are a lot of names on the list, some of which will disappear (and others which might be added later).

Without further ado, the victims of the Republicans' first salvo...

Bobby Bright (AL-02)
Parker Griffith (AL-05)
Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-01)
Harry Mitchell (AZ-05)
Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-08)
Jerry McNerney (CA-11)
Betsy Markey (CO-04)
Jim Himes (CT-04)
Alan Grayson (FL-08)
Ron Klein (FL-22)
Suzanne Kosmas (FL-24)
Jim Marshall (GA-08)
John Barrow (GA-12)
Debbie Halvorson (IL-11)
Joe Donnelly (IN-02)
Brad Ellsworth (IN-08)
Baron Hill (IN-09)
Dennis Moore (KS-03)
Chellie Pingree (ME-01)
Frank Kratovil (MD-01)
Bart Stupak (MI-01)
Mark Schauer (MI-07)
Gary Peters (MI-09)
Tim Walz (MN-01)
Travis Childers (MS-01)
Dina Titus (NV-03)
Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01)
John Adler (NJ-03)
Martin Heinrich (NM-01)
Harry Teague (NM-02)
Michael McMahon (NY-13)
Kirsten Gillibrand (NY-20)
Michael Arcuri (NY-24)
Dan Maffei (NY-25)
Eric Massa (NY-29)
Larry Kissell (NC-08)
Steve Driehaus (OH-01)
Mary Jo Kilroy (OH-15)
John Boccieri (OH-16)
Zack Space (OH-18)
Kurt Schrader (OR-05)
Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-03)
Jason Altmire (PA-04)
Chris Carney (PA-10)
Paul Kanjorski (PA-11)
Glenn Nye (VA-02)
Tom Perriello (VA-05)
Gerry Connolly (VA-11)
Chet Edwards (TX-17)
Ciro Rodriguez (TX-23)
Steve Kagen (WI-08)

Few surprises here (Stupak being one exception), though I expect that more than a few of these will no longer be serious NRCC targets by midsummer 2010. The surprises are in the exclusions; here's a partial list of prominent Democrats who have been serious targets in recent years, but aren't on this list.  

John Salazar (CO-03)
Ed Perlmutter (CO-07)
Joe Courtney (CT-02)
Chris Murphy (CT-05)
Walt Minnick (ID-01)
Melissa Bean (IL-08)
Bill Foster (IL-14)
Bruce Braley (IA-01)
Leonard Boswell (IA-03)
John Yarmuth (KY-03)
Charlie Melancon (LA-03)
Paul Hodes (NH-02)
John Hall (NY-19)
Heath Shuler (NC-11)
John Murtha (PA-12)
Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (SD-AL)
Jim Matheson (UT-02)

Minnick (who will almost certainly be a top GOP target) didn't qualify for the release, because he actually voted against the rules package - one of only six Democrats to do so. Even stranger, the other five are quite liberal - Ed Pastor, Maxine Waters, Brian Baird, Mike Michaud, and Progressive Caucus chair Lynn Woolsey.

Again, there are relatively few surprises here, but one that sticks out like a sore thumb is Bill Foster (IL-14). He would seem to be a likely target for the GOP, one that anyone not named "Oberweis" would have a decent shot at taking out. It would be an unexpected bonus for Foster and the DCCC if the Republicans plan to leave him alone. Paul Hodes (NH-02) and John Hall (NY-19) are also noticeable for being left off the list.

Of the others, most have evidently done a pretty good job of entrenching themselves - Melissa Bean is finally off the list, and after failing miserably in 2006 and 2008, the GOP seems to have finally learned that it's a fool's gambit to try and beat Murtha.

But now that that's out of the way...let us take a look at the actual press release on the Democratic rules package. Just what is it that the NRCC finds so heinous about it?

Debbie Halvorson Voted to Make it Easier to Raise Taxes on the American People:

During the last Congress, Republicans repeatedly used the "motion to recommit" to try and stop the Democrats’ crippling the tax increases. But, Halvorson voted today for the Democrats’ rules package, which will change the only opportunity for Republicans to challenge their tax increases.

Taxes?!?!?! Taxes!!!!! Yes! Taxes! You hear that? Taxes! Let me turn it up!

It really is remarkable, this GOP obsession with taxes. They see taxes in everything. Motions to recommit are all about taxes. Sunday dinner is all about taxes. The Nintendo Wii is all about taxes. The physical act of love is all about taxes.

Kagro X opines on the Republicans' ridiculous canard that the rules package is somehow even tangentially related to blocking Big Bad Mean Nasty TAX Increases:

Seriously, the motion to recommit recast as kryptonite to the Big, Mean Tax Bogeyman? Please. Stop taxes with a motion with no instructions. Strip the taxes out with a motion to report back forthwith. Or just convince America for once that you actually know what the hell you're talking about on issues of taxation and the economy and win a damn vote.

Or, you can try to convince poor ol' Joe Sixpack that only the motion to recommit with instructions to report back promptly can save him from Socialism. It's a winner! All the kids will be sayin' it!

Indeed.

I understand that there is not one single issue in the Republican arsenal which has the slightest appeal to working American families other than Lowering Your Taxes.

Nevertheless, the contortions which Republicans will perform to transfer even the most innocuous occurrence of everyday life into the Tax Bogeyman are second only in silliness to the idea that the Motion to Recommit is going to be a winner at the polls come Election Day.

If this is the best Pete Sessions has to offer, 2010 won't be so bad after all.