We know the odds are against Democrats this November. First off, there's history. It's the rare exception when the President's party doesn't take some hits in the midterms. Then there's the special circumstances of 2010, with an inherited economic crisis improved but far from resolved, a reversed flow of disappointed independent voters and some vulnerable seats in Congress that were won in 2008 by progressive Democrats against veteran Republican incumbents. One of those is Alan Grayson in Florida's 8th district.
Those of us in the leftmost reaches of the party have voiced a lot of criticisms over how things have gone since Democrats started regaining power in 2006. We demanded fighting Democrats, contributed money and worked our butts off to elect candidates who said they would be fighting Democrats, and then found out that some of them didn't have as much fight as they had claimed. We felt, well, scammed. And that generated both frustration and fury.
But there have been exceptions. And Alan Grayson is one.
Not only has he sought to point us in a better direction than that cohort of Democrats whose chief campaign message this year might as well be "vote-for-us-we're-not-as-bad-as-the-Republicans," but he's also done about as much as a freshman Congressman can to kick butt. When Republicans have gone on the attack, his reply hasn't been duck-and-cover. He has, pardon my American, called them on their shit. To their faces. In their faces. Push back. Exactly what we've been asking for.
That approach isn't, of course, the only thing Congress needs to get it moving in a better direction, but we certainly could use a lot more of it.
We have a chance for Democrats such as Alan Grayson to take a more prominent position within the party after 2010 and keep it primed for the many grueling fights we have ahead of us. But they can only do so, obviously, if they hang onto their seats.
So help us reach our updated goal of 1,000 Daily Kos members by contributing $5 to Alan Grayson today. Over the next two years, having a Democratic majority that includes Alan Grayson will make many of our future fights a whole lot easier.
Contribute $5 to Alan Grayson. I'll match each of the first 10 contributors with a $5 match of my own.
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