https://www.dailykos.com/news/SpeakerPelosiProject News Community Action Copyright 2005 - Steal what you want Mon, 27 Jan 2020 11:24:50 +0000 Mon, 27 Jan 2020 11:24:50 +0000 Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) Daily Kos rss@dailykos.com (Daily Kos) https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/7/1157835/-Speaker-Pelosi-Project <p>We have won the Presidency. &nbsp;We have increased the Democratic majority in the Senate, as well as increased the number of women in the Senate. &nbsp;But we have lost the House of Representatives. &nbsp;This is what I am hearing from the pundits.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Debis Diatribes) SpeakerPelosiProject US House of Representatives _1157835 Wed, 07 Nov 2012 12:08:43 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/29/1152217/-House-Republican-says-Obama-hurt-car-company-that-closed-in-the-80-s <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><br /> <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=10_28_Blackburn_idiocy"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1653/small/PelosiProject.png?1342813041" alt="Speaker Pelosi project bug" /></a></span></div> Here's another Einstein in the Republican House caucus distinguishing herself on the issue of auto manufacturing on national cable television, because President Barack Obama's action to rescue the auto industry was the worst thing to happen to the industry, ever. <p>This time it's Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), who is so on top of the concerns of the industry (that she actually does represent) that she's <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/10/29/1105071/congresswoman-accuses-obama-of-harming-auto-company-that-went-defunct-in-1988/">not really sure</a> which auto companies still exist.<br /></p> <div class="dkimg-c"><iframe width="550" height="309" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5zJ-od_4Htc?rel=0" frameborder="0" defang_allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div> <blockquote>CHRIS JENSING (HOST): Let me ask you about some of the things going on on the campaign trail, and there’s a controversy about Mitt Romney telling voters that Jeep is going to move production to China. According to the company that’s entirely false. Is he lying about that? <p>BLACKBURN: Oh, well, I don’t know. I haven’t talked with with the campaign staff about that. I will say this. For workers in the auto industry, across the board, whether it is GM, whether it’s Nissan, whether it’s American Motors, individuals are very concerned about the impact of regulation that the EPA and OSHA and other federal agencies are heaping on our manufacturers.</p> </blockquote> <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=10_28_Blackburn_idiocy"><img align="right" src="http://i.actblue.com/page/speakerpelosi/thermometer/dark.png" alt="Goal Thermometer" /></a><br /> As Think Progress points out, American Motors (George Romney's old company) hasn't existed since the Reagan administration, when Chrysler took it over. Details, details. Look how deftly Blackburn took a question about Mitt Romney lying to non-existent car companies complaining about burdensome regulation! Just like that, the lies are dispatched in a flurry of convincing-sounding word salad nonsense. <p>That, America, is your House of Representatives.</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=10_28_Blackburn_idiocy">So let's take it back, and put the gavel back in Nancy Pelosi's hands. Please donate $1 to all of our House candidates on ActBlue.</a></p> rss@dailykos.com (Joan McCarter) 2012 Auto Industry AutoIndustry MarshaBlackburn O2B Orange to Blue OrangetoBlue SpeakerPelosiProject _1152217 Mon, 29 Oct 2012 20:01:37 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/24/1149501/-Effects-of-raising-the-minimum-wage-An-extra-dime-a-day-for-food-A-raise-for-29-million-people <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=10_24_minwage"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1653/small/PelosiProject.png?1342813041" alt="Speaker Pelosi project bug" /></a></span></div> Democrats, led by California's Rep. George Miller and Iowa's Sen. Tom Harkin, <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/27/1114221/-Democrats-introduce-bill-to-raise-minimum-wage-to-9-80?detail=hide">have proposed</a> the first law raising the minimum wage since Democrats took the House and Senate in 2007. The proposed bill would raise the minimum wage to $9.80 over three years, then link it to inflation so that minimum-wage workers wouldn't have to wait for Democrats to hold big majorities in Congress to get a raise. The minimum wage for tipped workers, which has been stuck at $2.13 since 1991, would go up by 85 cents at a time until it was 70 percent of the regular minimum. <p>One of the big objections Republican politicians and low-wage employers always raise to increasing the minimum wage is that it will increase costs for the very people it's supposed to help. But a new study from the Food Labor Research Center at the University of California, Berkeley, the Food Chain Workers Alliance, and Restaurant Opportunities Centers United shows that the <a href="http://rocunited.org/dime-a-day/">added food costs would be very low</a>.<br /></p> <div class="dkimg-c"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/8878/large/minimum_wage_food_costs_ROC_small.jpg?1351102719" alt="Infographic showing that raising the minimum wage, including for tipped workers, would benefit 20 million workers directly and raise the price of food by an average of less than a dime a day per household." /></span></div> The new study includes increased labor costs at every step of the food chain—not just grocery stores and restaurants but poultry processors and warehouses—and assumes that the entire cost of a higher minimum wage would be passed directly to consumers. It also takes into account a possible ripple effect as workers currently making just above the minimum wage get raises to stay just above the new minimum. With all that care to be generous to the people who want to keep the minimum wage low, what's the result? <ul> <li>"The average U.S. household spends $3,827 a year on food at home and $2,634 on food away from home. ... [T]his means that on average over the next three years, the average households would pay less than 3 cents more a day on grocery retail, and, combining both food at home and away from home, less than 10 cents a day."</li> <li>At the end of three years, with the minimum wage having gone from $7.25 an hour to $9.80, the average household would see its food costs going up by just $32.96 a year.</li> <li>Over three years, you might see a $20 restaurant meal go up by 45 cents.</li> <li>The 20 million workers who can least afford that $32.96 a year, meanwhile, would have had their wages more than doubled, for tipped workers, or have gotten a 33 percent pay raise, for regular minimum wage workers.</li> </ul> <p>Opponents of raising the minimum wage don't really care about whether minimum-wage workers can afford increased food costs, of course. They're trying to scare people who make enough more than minimum wage to not see their paychecks go up into thinking costs will go up, while seeming humanitarian.<a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=10_24_minwage"><img align="right" src="http://i.actblue.com/page/speakerpelosi/thermometer/dark-short.png" alt="Goal Thermometer" /></a> The reality is anything but—the people who want to keep the minimum wage low are the people who profit from keeping it that way, at whatever cost to workers.</p> <p>Raising the minimum wage is <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/10/1082206/-Raising-the-minimum-wage-The-right-thing-to-do-and-a-winning-issue-too?detail=hide">popular</a> with voters, in addition to being the right thing to do. But it's not going to happen as long as Republicans control the House. The choice is clear: We can have Speaker Pelosi and people who have been stuck making $7.25 for three years will get a much-needed raise. Or we can stick with Speaker Boehner and low-wage workers will stay stalled in poverty.</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=10_24_minwage">Let's take back the House and give minimum workers a chance at a raise. Please give our House candidates $3.</a></p> rss@dailykos.com (Laura Clawson) Labor MinimumWage O2B SpeakerPelosiProject _1149501 Wed, 24 Oct 2012 19:20:21 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/10/1142812/-Insurers-hoping-for-billions-in-Medicare-profits-back-Ryan-budget-supporters <div class="dkimg-c"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/4157/large/MONEY-large570.jpeg?1345755740" alt="Money" /></span></div> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=10_10_blog"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1653/small/PelosiProject.png?1342813041" alt="Speaker Pelosi project bug" /></a></span></div> Health insurers love the idea of the Romney/Ryan plan to turn Medicare into a voucher system. They love it so much that they are rewarding all of the Republicans who voted for it, according to <a href="http://healthcareforamericanow.org/health-insurance-contributions-to-ryan-budget-supporters/">new analysis</a> by Public Campaign Action Fund (PCAF) and Health Care for America Now (HCAN).<br /> <blockquote>A Romney-Ryan victory coupled with a Republican takeover of the Senate would boost health insurance company stock prices by 10 to 20 percent, according to Citigroup analyst Carl McDonald. Based on share prices on Aug. 18, the day McDonald published his report, a GOP sweep in Washington would quickly jack up the total market value of the 10 largest health insurers by $12 billion to $25 billion. [...] <ul> <li>Current U.S. House Members who voted for Ryan’s budget plan to turn Medicare into a voucher program have received nearly twice as much insurance industry campaign cash this cycle as those who voted against the bill. Supporters of the bill have received at least $14 million this cycle from the industry while opponents received $7.4 million. [...]</li> <li>Eight of the top 10 recipients of insurance industry money this cycle are Ryan plan supporters – including every member of House Republican leadership.</li> </ul> </blockquote> The opposition members our Orange to Blue candidates received almost $1.05 million from the insurance industry this year, hoping to see the big boon that Medicare vouchers would mean for them. Among the big recipients:<br /> <ul> <li>Bass, Charlie (NH-01): $70,250</li> <li>Duffy, Sean (WI-07): $99,812</li> <li>Fitzpatrick, Michael (PA-08): $96,000</li> <li>Gerlach, Jim (PA-06): $164,928</li> <li>Guinta, Frank (NH-02): $88,825</li> <li>Hayworth, Nan (NY-18): $190,856</li> <li>Renacci, Jim (OH-16): $105,685</li> <li>West, Allen (FL-18): $68,090</li> </ul> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=10_10_blog"><img align="right" src="http://i.actblue.com/page/speakerpelosi/thermometer/dark.png" alt="Goal Thermometer" /></a><br /> Insurance companies are banking on getting the Ryan plan enacted. This year alone they've given a combined $1.4 million to the four members of Republican leadership: Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Cantor, Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy and Conference Chair Jeb Hensarling. We need a backstop.</p> <p>That means getting rid of these very reliable votes against Medicare and putting people who will protect it in the House, as all of the candidate endorsed by Daily Kos have pledged to do. It also means <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=10_10_blog">putting Nancy Pelosi back in the speaker's chair.</a> We don't have the kind of money that the Medicare marauders have, but there are a lot more of us. We can fight back</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=10_10_blog">Let's take back the House. Please donate $1 to all of our House candidates.</a></p> rss@dailykos.com (Joan McCarter) Medicare O2B Orange to Blue OrangetoBlue Ryanbudget SpeakerPelosiProject _1142812 Wed, 10 Oct 2012 21:37:41 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/8/1141584/-Democrats-get-smart-use-Todd-Akin-as-poster-boy-for-Republican-Party <div class="dkimg-c"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/2040/large/Issa_hearing.jpeg?1343242179" alt="An all male panel of clergy testifies before Darrell Issa's House Oversight Committee on birth control access. 2/16/2012" /></span> <div class="dkimg-cap">Remember: This is what a hearing on women's health care looks like when Republicans are in charge.</div> </div> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1653/small/PelosiProject.png?1342813041" alt="Speaker Pelosi project bug" /></span></div> More of <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1012/82125.html?hp=f3">this</a> please:<br /> <blockquote>Democrats are running hard against Todd Akin in Missouri — and in Washington state, New York, Arizona and California. <p>The Republican Senate candidate whose comments about “legitimate rape” caused a stir in August has become Democrats’ favorite opponent, even in places where he’s not on the ticket.</p> </blockquote> Todd Akin's name may only be on the ballot in Missouri, but his extremism is a hallmark of the Republican Party, and that's why Democrats are smart to remind voters nationwide that Akin is <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/20/1122030/-Akin-wasn-t-out-of-line-he-was-toeing-the-Republican-Party-line?detail=hide">the perfect representation of his party</a>. When Akin said it was perfectly reasonable to ban abortion in all cases, including rape, because women have magic lady parts that can detect legitimate rape sperm and "shut that whole thing down" to prevent pregnancy, Republicans <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/21/1122504/-Republicans-in-disarray-thanks-to-Akin-explaining-what-they-all-think-about-rape?detail=hide">tripped all over themselves</a> trying to pretend they didn't agree with Akin. <p>The problem is that Republicans <em>do</em> agree with Akin and <em>do</em> think there are varying degrees of rape, some of which isn't <em>really</em> rape so much as just an excuse women invoke to exploit loopholes to cash in on fabulous gifts and prizes for rape victims. They believe that, they've tried to legislate that, and even as they were trying to distance themselves from Akin's remarks, they were <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/21/1122566/-Republicans-officially-endorse-exact-same-abortion-position-they-re-claiming-is-so-offensive?detail=hide">adopting his radical position</a> into their party platform.</p> <p>This is the party, after all, that has <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/23/1123296/-New-GOP-scare-tactic-OMG-Obama-is-pro-choice-But-like-for-reals?detail=hide">introduced 54 bills in the House</a> since January 2011 to restrict women's health care, including the noxious bill that would, among other things, differentiate between rape-rape and sorta-but-not-really rape.</p> <p>As Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Dawn Laguens <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1012/82125_Page2.html">pointed out</a>:<br /></p> <blockquote>Todd Akin is just the impolite expression of an array of policies that a Republican platform and Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan support and are pretty unpopular and try to avoid talking about [...] It’s like letting the crazy relative out of the back room and into the party. It just shown a light for most people are appalled by the ignorance of these politicians when it comes to women’s lives and to their health and to their reproductive systems.</blockquote> <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=10_08_blog"><img align="right" src="http://i.actblue.com/page/speakerpelosi/thermometer/dark.png" alt="Goal Thermometer" /></a> <p>That's why not just candidates, but the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and outside advocacy groups like EMILY's List and Planned Parenthood are running ads to tie Republicans to Akin. Because it's important for voters to remember that what Akin said, and the agenda he has tried to promote as a member of Congress, is exactly what the Republican Party stands for. He's not outside the mainstream; he's the perfect poster boy for the party that has been waging a non-stop War on Women.</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=10_08_blog">Please give $3 to each of our Daily Kos-endorsed candidates for the House so we can give the gavel back to the once and future Speaker Pelosi and put a stop to the Republican agenda.</a></p> rss@dailykos.com (Kaili Joy Gray) O2B Orange to Blue OrangetoBlue Recommended Republicans SpeakerPelosiProject ToddAkin War on Women WarOnWomen _1141584 Mon, 08 Oct 2012 15:02:56 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/6/1141117/-Hell-to-Pay-Big-Bird-edition <div class="dkimg-c"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/7693/large/479926_4705300838462_749066791_n.jpeg?1349392042" alt="Angry muppets." /></span></div> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/helltopay?refcode=10_06_blog"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1652/small/HellToPay.png?1342813040" alt="Hell to Pay bug" /></a></span></div> You know by now about Mitt Romney's plan to save a teeny-intsy-weenie part of the budget, one one-hundredth of one percent, by firing Big Bird. Because deficit. And tax cuts for rich people. And his love for firing people. Birds. Whatever. <p>Did you know, though, that his tax plan would also mean <a href="http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20121005/FREE/121009956">charitable deductions</a> would largely disappear for middle class people? So no federal money, and no benefit for donors giving to PBS. He really hates that Big Bird.</p> <p>But did you further know that pretty much every sitting Republican member of Congress has voted <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/260381-house-moved-to-defund-cpb-in-july-ahead-of-romneys-big-bird-comment">repeatedly</a> to <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/260381-house-moved-to-defund-cpb-in-july-ahead-of-romneys-big-bird-comment">defund</a> public broadcasting?</p> <p>That's why our whole slate of House candidates is included in <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/helltopay?refcode=10_06_blog">Hell to Pay</a> this week. Because they voted against Big Bird. Against Cookie Monster and Elmo and Snuffleupagus.</p> <p>Asked for comment, some of our &nbsp;<a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/helltopay?refcode=10_06_blog">Hell to Pay</a> candidates responded.</p> <p><b>Carol Shea Porter's (NH-01)</b> campaign wants you to know where her opponent's priorities lie, and it ain't with the children:<br /></p> <blockquote>Why are Congressman Frank Guinta and Mitt Romney taking aim at Big Bird? Why did Congressman Guinta vote to end funding for something that teaches our little ones and helps families? Congressman Guinta said that one of his highest priorities was to defund the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. &nbsp;In Congress, he has voted to do just that. <p>Naomi Andrews, Campaign Manager for Carol Shea-Porter, released the following statement. &nbsp;"Congressman Guinta needs to say no to Big Oil subsidies and yes to Big Bird and the Corporation For Public Broadcasting."</p> </blockquote> Some of our other candidates wrote to let us know who they'd miss most from Sesame Street, and why: <p><b>Kathy Boockvar (PA-08):</b><br /></p> <blockquote>"I'll have to go with Oscar the Grouch before my morning coffee, and Grover afterwards, after he comes to peace with his inner monster."</blockquote> <b>Lois Frankel (FL-22):</b><br /> <blockquote>"I know that Mitt Romney and his campaign co-chair— my opponent—want to tell Big Bird, Bert, Elmo and &nbsp;the rest of the gang on Sesame Street to hit the road. &nbsp;Elmo has always been my favorite and I would hate to see him unemployed because of Mitt Romney. All of us could learn a lot from Elmo's positive attitude and optimistic outlook. The 'Elmo quality' is something more people in Washington need to emulate and it's amazing that the Republican's are trying to throw it out into the cold."</blockquote> <b>Betty Sutton (OH-16):</b><br /> <blockquote>Elmo's character is about inclusiveness—about teaching all children that love is important- loving your neighbor—your friend. &nbsp;It's also about learning—from colors to safety—to bedtime routines and how to buy things in a store. He is a character that helps children learn about the world in a way I think we all strive to be—more accepting, more tolerant, more kind, and above all, more loving of the people around us.</blockquote> <b>Pat Kreitlow (WI-07):</b><br /> <blockquote>"The Count—Because Bill Clinton proved we need math skills beyond grade school, and especially in Congress. Also, there's an acCOUNTability joke somewhere in there, but I won't do that to you Joan."</blockquote> <b>Annie Kuster (NH-01):</b> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/helltopay?refcode=10_06_blog"><img align="right" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/i.actblue.com/page/helltopay/thermometer/dark-short.png" alt="Goal Thermometer" /></a></p> <blockquote>Favorite character: The Count <p>Why: If House Republicans had the Count's accounting skills, perhaps they'd have done a better job reducing the deficit.</p> </blockquote> You can sure tell these folks aren't Republicans! <p>Let's see how far we can go to strike a blow for Elmo and Oscar and the Count. And especially Bert and Ernie (you know know how much Republicans hate Bert and Ernie).</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/helltopay?refcode=10_06_blog">Give $1 to each of our House candidates in Hell to Pay.</a></p> <p><span class="update"><a name="20121006160254" href="/story/2012/10/06/1141117/-Hell-to-Pay-Big-Bird-edition#20121006160254"><b>4:02 PM PT</b></a>:</span> And another addition, from <b>Dr. Ami Bera (CA-07):</b><br /></p> <blockquote>I like Elmo because he was my daughter's favorite character when she was little. He embodies the enthusiasm and optimism all children need in their lives.</blockquote> Awwww. What a great dad.<br /> <p><span class="update"><a name="20121006162019" href="/story/2012/10/06/1141117/-Hell-to-Pay-Big-Bird-edition#20121006162019"><b>4:20 PM PT</b></a>:</span> Do you remember this? The first time Count von Count appeared on Sesame Street, in 1972.<br /></p> <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/u7hTkzEwFZ0" frameborder="0" defang_allowfullscreen=""></iframe><br /> Who else is in for the Count?<br /> <p><span class="update"><a name="20121006163453" href="/story/2012/10/06/1141117/-Hell-to-Pay-Big-Bird-edition#20121006163453"><b> 4:34 PM PT</b></a>:</span> Our <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/comments/1140822/47811163#c35">very own grover</a> likes this one best.<br /> <iframe width="500" height="281" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/zkd5dJIVjgM" frameborder="0" defang_allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p><span class="update"><a name="20121006163851" href="/story/2012/10/06/1141117/-Hell-to-Pay-Big-Bird-edition#20121006163851"><b> 4:38 PM PT</b></a>:</span> What is wrong with Republicans? PPP <a href="http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2012/10/obama-lead-down-to-2-in-wisconsin.html">just polled</a> Big Bird in Wisconsin.<br /></p> <blockquote>We also asked about Big Bird himself and while he's a popular figure overall with a 51/11 favorability rating even his reviews have become somewhat partisan with Democrats (58/11) rating him a lot higher than Republicans (37/12).</blockquote> <p><span class="update"><a name="20121006164136" href="/story/2012/10/06/1141117/-Hell-to-Pay-Big-Bird-edition#20121006164136"><b> 4:41 PM PT</b></a>:</span> C'mon folks! Let's make that thermometer move for the Muppets!</p> <p><span class="update"><a name="20121006165846" href="/story/2012/10/06/1141117/-Hell-to-Pay-Big-Bird-edition#20121006165846"><b> 4:58 PM PT</b></a>:</span> Let's see if we can hit 75 donations in the next half hour. Let's go!</p> rss@dailykos.com (Joan McCarter) 2012 Big Bird BigBird Hell to Pay HelltoPay Mitt Romney MittRomney O2B PBS SesameStreet SpeakerPelosiProject _1141117 Sat, 06 Oct 2012 23:00:04 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/5/1140822/-Hell-to-Pay-Big-Bird-edition <div class="dkimg-c"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/7693/large/479926_4705300838462_749066791_n.jpeg?1349392042" alt="Angry muppets." /></span></div> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/helltopay?refcode=10_05_blog"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1652/small/HellToPay.png?1342813040" alt="Hell to Pay bug" /></a></span></div> Now Mitt Romney has done it. He's <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/04/mitt-romney-big-bird_n_1940400.html?ref=topbar">pissed off eight-year-old</a> Alabama resident Cecelia Crawford.<br /> <blockquote>On Thursday morning, she was still angry, so she wrote Romney a letter, sent along to The Huffington Post by her mother. Crawford wrote that she is a fan of "Sesame Street" and that it was her "favorite show on earth" when she was younger. <p>"When I grow up I'm going to get married and I want my kids to watch it so do not cut it off," Crawford wrote. "You find something else to cut off!"</p> </blockquote> I can think of a few things that could be cut off, but how about we start with the Republican House of Representatives that has <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/260381-house-moved-to-defund-cpb-in-july-ahead-of-romneys-big-bird-comment">voted repeatedly</a> to <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/260381-house-moved-to-defund-cpb-in-july-ahead-of-romneys-big-bird-comment">defund public broadcasting</a>. <p>They say <a href="http://www.minnpost.com/dc-dispatches/2011/03/house-votes-defund-npr-minnesota-delegation-splits-along-party-lines">things like this</a>, from Rep. Chip Cravaack:<br /></p> <blockquote>"It is small, but the small ones add up. A bunch of drops in the bucket fill the pail," said Chip Cravaack of cutting NPR's federal dollars out of the entire budget. "We can't keep on funding programs that are on [our children's] dime, we have to stop. We have to look for savings anywhere we can."</blockquote> Nice one there, Chip. Say it's all for the children as you're slashing Sesame Street. They'll sure thank you for that, you heartless bastard. You and every single other Republican our Orange to Blue House candidates are taking on. <p>That's why every single one of our House candidates is going to benefit from this week's <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/helltopay?refcode=10_05_blog">Hell to Pay</a>, because every single one of those Republicans, along with Mitt Romney, wants to deprive America's children of genius like this.<br /></p> <div class="dkimg-c"><iframe width="550" height="309" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KxardpBReQc" frameborder="0" defang_allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div> <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/helltopay?refcode=10_05_blog"><img align="right" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/i.actblue.com/page/helltopay/thermometer/dark-short.png" alt="Goal Thermometer" /></a><br /> How are children going to learn to count and to learn early appreciate the genius of Elvis Costello without Sesame Street? And they have the gall to say they're cutting Sesame Street for the children. <p>For all the children, and for the child you once were, and for <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/25/jerry-nelson-dead-sesame-street-count-dies-78_n_1829942.html">Count von Count</a>, and especially for <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrZyMptC2eQ">Jim Henson</a> (trigger alert, this one will leave you crying), let's make them pay.</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/helltopay?refcode=10_05_blog">Please give $1 to each of our House candidates in Hell to Pay.</a></p> <p><span class="update"><a name="20121005160938" href="/story/2012/10/05/1140822/-Hell-to-Pay-Big-Bird-edition#20121005160938"><b> 4:09 PM PT</b></a>:</span> We're gonna be back at this tomorrow night, 7:00 PM, ET. So come prepared with your favorite Sesame Street clip.</p> <p><span class="update"><a name="20121005161859" href="/story/2012/10/05/1140822/-Hell-to-Pay-Big-Bird-edition#20121005161859"><b> 4:18 PM PT</b></a>:</span> OMG. How could anyone resist this?<br /> <iframe width="550" height="413" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/okKKIsKc3EM" frameborder="0" defang_allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> <p>Via <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/05/1140795/-video-Kids-Plead-to-save-BIG-BIRD">JasonSpurlock</a>.</p> <p><span class="update"><a name="20121005162652" href="/story/2012/10/05/1140822/-Hell-to-Pay-Big-Bird-edition#20121005162652"><b> 4:26 PM PT</b></a>:</span> Couldn't say it any better. "Boo is for Romney."<br /> <iframe width="550" height="309" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HObTfCVnL3M" frameborder="0" defang_allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p> rss@dailykos.com (Joan McCarter) 2012 Big Bird BigBird Hell to Pay HelltoPay Mitt Romney MittRomney O2B SesameStreet SpeakerPelosiProject _1140822 Fri, 05 Oct 2012 23:00:05 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/3/1139208/-Republican-brand-tanking-with-electorate <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1653/small/PelosiProject.png?1342813041" alt="Speaker Pelosi project bug" /></span></div> One month before the election, the Republican brand has sustained a severe hit, according to the new <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/10/lackluster-popularity-dogs-the-political-parties/">ABC News/<em>Washington Post</em> polls</a>. Voters aren't thrilled with the Democratic Party, but compared to the GOP, well:<br /> <div class="dkimg-c"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/7584/large/abc_wapo_popularity.png?1349276081" alt="Favorability chart for political parties" /></span></div> The favorability ratings for both the GOP and the tea party are totally underwater, with just 39 percent approving of the GOP and 32 percent liking the tea party. Among self-identified party members, Democrats have a five-point edge over Republicans in favorability, 89 percent of Democrats are positive, versus 84 percent of Republicans. And here's where it gets interesting.<br /> <blockquote>The difference is that 32 percent of Americans in this survey identify themselves as Democrats, vs. 25 percent as Republicans, levels that have held essentially steady the past three years. That’s down for the GOP, which achieved parity with the Democrats in 2003 but has lost ground since. (Independents now predominate, accounting for 39 percent in this survey.) <p>Intensity of sentiment is another challenge for the Republican Party: Substantially more Americans see it “strongly” negatively than strongly positively, 33 percent vs. 18 percent, while the Democratic Party breaks even (28 percent on both sides).<br /> On the other hand, because fewer Democrats are registered to vote, the Democratic Party slips among registered voters to 48-46 percent, favorable-unfavorable, essentially an even split. The GOP, though, remains underwater among registered voters, 42-53 percent.</p> </blockquote> <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=10_03_blog"><img align="right" src="http://i.actblue.com/page/speakerpelosi/thermometer/dark.png" alt="Goal Thermometer" /></a>Governing does matter, something Republicans have seemed to have forgotten. Endless obstruction, mindless devotion to Grover Norquist, disdain for huge swaths of the population, and litmus tests that create presidential candidates like Mitt Romney have turned out to be major turn-offs for American voters. Go figure. <p>So while the GOP is underwater, let's throw them an anvil. Let's get the House back.</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=10_03_blog">Please give $1 to each of the House candidates in our Speaker Pelosi Project.</a><br /></p> rss@dailykos.com (Joan McCarter) O2B Orange to Blue OrangetoBlue Polling Republicans SpeakerPelosiProject _1139208 Wed, 03 Oct 2012 14:58:35 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/2/1138953/-U-S-lags-on-sick-leave-and-pregnancy-protections-but-the-fight-is-on-to-change-that <div class="dkimg-c"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/3282/large/paid_sick_leave_world_map.jpg?1344625586" alt="map showing which countries have paid sick leave; U.S. is one of very few that does not" /></span></div> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><br /> <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=10_02_leaveblog"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1653/small/PelosiProject.png?1342813041" alt="Speaker Pelosi project bug" /></a></span></div> Listing the rights and protections that are common around the world but that American workers don't have is downright depressing. One of the big areas? The ability to <i>not</i> work when you need time off: paid sick leave, parental leave, family leave, and more. Since women take on disproportionate amounts of care work, these are all things that hit women harder than men, creating one more obstacle for women to climb over in building and keeping careers. These issues take a back seat for too many Democratic politicians; Republicans, meanwhile, outright oppose anything that gives workers control over when they work. But women are <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/02/paid-sick-leave_n_1933379.html?utm_hp_ref=tw">pushing to get paid leave on the agenda</a>:<br /> <blockquote>Only one in five low-wage workers have paid sick leave, and 48 percent of all full-time workers in the private sector have no access to paid medical or family leave. Dozens of women at a women's health town hall at the White House in June expressed the dire need for a federally funded paid maternity leave program. And while President Barack Obama did include a $50 million State Paid Leave Fundin his 2011 budget, the issue of paid time off has largely been ignored by candidates in the current campaign season. <p>Jessica Smith, a 26-year-old graduate student of social work at the University of Denver, has circulated a petition asking moderator Jim Lehrer to question Obama and GOP nominee Mitt Romney about paid sick days and family leave insurance policies at the first presidential debate on Wednesday.</p> </blockquote> Since parental leave is so hard to come by, discrimination during pregnancy is another issue women have to worry about. The <a href="http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/13903/a_bill_to_make_employers_less_mean_to_pregnant_women/">Pregnant Workers Fairness Act</a>:<br /> <blockquote>builds on existing anti-discrimination laws by extending specific protections to pregnant employees. The legislation directs employers to “make reasonable accommodations" for an employee or job applicant's &nbsp;limitations stemming from "pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions,” unless this would pose “undue hardship” on the business. In addition, as the New York Times' Motherlode explains, the law would bar employers from "using a worker’s pregnancy to deny her opportunities on the job [or] force her to take an accommodation that she does not want or need.” The bill also directs the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to set regulations for implementing these laws, including “a list of exemplary reasonable accommodations."</blockquote> <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=10_02_leaveblog"><img align="right" src="http://i.actblue.com/page/speakerpelosi/thermometer/dark.png" alt="Goal Thermometer" /></a><br /> The bill was introduced by <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/08/1089814/-House-Democrats-introduce-Pregnant-Workers-Fairness-Act?detail=hide">House Democrats</a> in May and by Senate Democrats in September and it stands zero chance of passage as long as Republicans control the House and filibuster everything in the Senate. <p>We're talking about basic rights, here. Staying home when you or a member of your family is sick and still being able to pay the bills. Not losing your job because you're pregnant. Things workers around the world can count on that American workers can only dream about. And it's a dream, not a reality, because Republicans (and, unfortunately, some Democrats, like New York City council Speaker <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/18/1111389/-Sick-leave-for-more-than-1-65-million-New-Yorkers-being-blocked-by-council-Speaker-Christine-Quinn?detail=hide">Christine Quinn</a>) are standing in the way.</p> <p>The only chance we have at things like paid sick leave is electing Democrats, and then beating the hell out of the Democrats, like Quinn, who still stand in the way. So just as it took years of organizing and multiple tries to pass the Family and Medical Leave Act, that's what we have to be ready for here. But the only way to even take the first step of getting the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (a very limited bill just prohibiting discrimination, for crying out loud) to a vote in the House is to get the gavel back in the hands of Speaker Pelosi. We're fighting here to even get the main event.</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=10_02_leaveblog">Please give $3 to each of the candidates on our Speaker Pelosi Project list</a> so we can get in the fight to outlaw discrimination against pregnant workers and get paid sick leave for all of us.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Laura Clawson) familyleave O2B Orange to Blue OrangetoBlue PaidSickLeave parentalleave PregnantWorkersFairnessAct SpeakerPelosiProject _1138953 Tue, 02 Oct 2012 22:02:55 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/2/1138863/-SPP-UtS-and-the-campaign-email-deluge <p>I love the Speaker Pelosi Project and Upgrade the Senate. &nbsp;They were my vehicle this cycle for contributing to Congressional candidates. &nbsp;They're important not just to get money to good candidates but also to increase the leverage of sites like Daily Kos. &nbsp;And, I trust the vetting here and was happy just to split my donations.</p> <p>Then, as the Sept. 30 reporting deadline approached, I became aware of the cost. &nbsp;My real email was crowded out by multiple fundraising solicitations daily from 20-odd candidates.</p> <p>I checked with ActBlue, and it turns out they share your email with the candidates you donate to. &nbsp;You can't opt out (and can't not give ActBlue your email). &nbsp;They don't seem to be interested in changing this. &nbsp;Their response is below the squiggle.</p> <p>I don't think it's reasonable that it's up to me "to be in touch with these folks and let them know that you would prefer to be removed from their lists" -- especially when I'm donating to a slate organized by a third party, which means there's a ton of "these folks" -- when as far as I can tell ActBlue could just provide an opt-out.</p> <p>My request: If you've had a similar problem with campaign email deluges, after contributing to SPP/UtS or some other slate, and would like an opt-out -- or at least an explanation why there isn't one -- please <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contact">contact ActBlue</a> and let them know you'd like to be able to opt out and keep your email private. &nbsp;</p> <p>Better yet, maybe one of the powers that be here, if any reads this, could put a little pressure on. &nbsp;I expect that'd be all it takes.</p> <p>Or, please tell me what I'm missing.<br /></p> rss@dailykos.com (itswhatson) campaignemail SpeakerPelosiProject UpgradetheSenate _1138863 Tue, 02 Oct 2012 17:19:33 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/9/24/1135946/-Congress-most-inept-crook-tries-to-hide-evidence-with-Wite-Out <div class="dkimg-c"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/4074/large/Screen_Shot_2012-08-22_at_12.48.32_PM.png?1345664928" alt="Rep. David Rivera (R-FL)" /></span> <div class="dkimg-cap">Rep. David Rivera (R-Crookistan)</div> </div> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><br /> <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=09_24_blog"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1653/small/PelosiProject.png?1342813041" alt="Speaker Pelosi project bug" /></a></span></div> As you might now, Rep. David Rivera decided that he didn't have enough FBI agents on his tracks, and decided to add to his pile of wrong-doings by illegally trying to influence the Democratic primary in FL-26. You see, one of those candidates was O2B endorsee Joe Garcia who gave him a serious run in the 2010 wave year. With a more Democratic district and better political climate, Garcia was a serious threat to his seat. <p>So he took a bunch of envelopes, stuffed tens of thousands of dollars into them, and paid for campaign services for a fake Democratic primary candidate. You can't do that! Now his efforts to cover up his crime have been <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/23/1123398/-David-Rivera-most-incompetent-political-criminal-ever">hilariously inept</a>, while his partner-in-crime has <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/11/1130386/-David-Rivera-criminal-associate-flees-authorities">fled the authorities</a> and remains in hiding.</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=09_24_blog"><img align="right" src="http://i.actblue.com/page/speakerpelosi/thermometer/dark.png" alt="Goal Thermometer" /></a>But no matter how inept you think Rivera is, the reality is he's <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/09/21/v-fullstory/3014731/fbi-checks-envelopes-used-in-probe.html">much, much worse</a>.<br /></p> <blockquote>Also in the hands of FBI agents: at least six invoices initially made out to the attention of David Rivera — all marked paid “cash” — to cover the mailings for Democratic primary challenger Justin Lamar Sternad, a suspected Rivera straw-man candidate. <strong>The congressman demanded that his name be removed from the invoices with Wite-Out</strong>, documents and interviews show.</blockquote> Well that'll cover his tracks just fine! Just like the time when he planted evidence ... <i>in plain sight on TV</i>.<br /> <blockquote>Rivera strenuously denied the allegation Wednesday night in a televised interview on America TeVé's (Ch. 41) A Mano Limpia, insisting that he has no connection to the [fake Democrat Justin Lamar] Sternad campaign, claiming Borrero lied and that the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald produced "nonsense and slander" in league with Garcia's campaign [...] <p>Rivera — who denies ever knowing Sternad — also produced a copy of a new campaign report for Sternad that purported to show, for the first time, that the Democrat's campaign had paid Rapid Mail.</p> <p>Rivera didn't explain how he got the report, and Federal Elections Commission officials told the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald on Wednesday that the document had not been received yet by the FEC.</p> </blockquote> Shit, did Rivera flunk Criminality 101? Sheesh. You plant the evidence <em>where investigators will find it</em>, you don't hand it over yourself! And if you need to hide your involvement in funding the criminal scheme, ask for a <i>new invoice</i>! Believe it or not, Wite-Out isn't a fool-proof way to cover your tracks. <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=09_24_blog">Donate $3 to Joe Garcia and the rest of the great Democrats</a> on our list so that Nancy Pelosi can get her gavel back. Seriously, the House is within reach. <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=09_24_blog">Help out now</a>!</p> rss@dailykos.com (kos) 2012 2012ElectionDiaryRescue DavidRivera FL-26 Florida House JoeGarcia Orange to Blue OrangetoBlue Recommended SpeakerPelosiProject _1135946 Mon, 24 Sep 2012 21:07:16 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/2/1134953/-Assuming-David-Rivera-is-toast-Bush-Jr-eyes-what-will-be-Joe-Garcia-s-seat <div class="dkimg-c"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/7530/large/joe-garcia-and-bob-graham-013.jpeg?1349199191" alt="Joe Garcia and former Florida Sen. Bob Graham talk to media at fundraiser. " /></span> <div class="dkimg-cap">Joe Garcia with former Florida Sen. Bob Graham.</div> </div> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><br /> <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=10_02_blog"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1653/small/PelosiProject.png?1342813041" alt="Speaker Pelosi project bug" /></a></span></div> The election isn't over, but Republicans assume it is in Florida's 26th congressional district, where the <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/24/1135946/-Congress-most-inept-crook-tries-to-hide-evidence-with-Wite-Out">dumbest criminal in Congress</a>, Rep. David Rivera, is clearly on his way out.<br /> <blockquote>Bracing for embattled U.S. Rep. David Rivera to be indicted or lose his election, Republicans have started lining up potential successors to regain the seat in 2014 if the congressman’s Democrat opponent defeats him in November. <p>The pressure has been building for about a month, but it boiled over last week after a series of stories by The Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald documented that a candidate suspected of illegal campaign activities linked to Rivera has turned on the congressman.</p> </blockquote> <div class="dkimg-r"><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/dailykosforjoegarcia?refcode=thermometer"><img src="http://i.actblue.com/page/dailykosforjoegarcia/thermometer/dark.png" alt="Goal Thermometer" /></a></div> And who leads the pack of 2014 hopefuls? <p>Jeb Bush, Jr.</p> <p>We're going to be playing in this district for some time, it seems.</p> <p>Meanwhile, David Rivera is still a moron.<br /></p> <blockquote>“No federal agency has said or confirmed that I am under federal investigation,” Rivera told America Noticias. <p>Rivera also accused Garcia of being under investigation, although he cited no federal agencies, and federal sources told The Herald it isn’t true.</p> </blockquote> The reality is that in addition to <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/09/25/3021207/rivera-ran-secret-campaign-sternad.html">the investigation</a> of his bumbling efforts to meddle in the Democratic primary, there is yet <i>another</i> <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/07/21/v-fullstory/2324906/feds-investigate-rep-rivera-on.html">federal investigation</a> into his matters:<br /> <blockquote>Federal investigators have opened a second criminal probe of U.S. Rep. David Rivera, examining undisclosed payments from a Miami gambling enterprise to a company tied to the Republican congressman, The Miami Herald has learned.</blockquote> <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/dailykosforjoegarcia?refcode=10_02_blog">Let's help Joe Garcia close out this race</a>, and do so strongly enough that it gives Jeb Bush, Jr. second thoughts about playing for the seat in 2014. Let's do our part to <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/dailykosforjoegarcia?refcode=10_02_blog">end the Bush political dynasty</a>. rss@dailykos.com (kos) 2012 DavidRivera FL-26 Florida House JebBushJr JoeGarcia O2B Orange to Blue OrangetoBlue SpeakerPelosiProject _1134953 Tue, 02 Oct 2012 17:36:32 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/9/21/1134925/-Sam-Wang-Republicans-at-risk-of-losing-US-House-of-Representatives <p>Take a gander at <a href="http://election.princeton.edu/2012/09/20/house-outlook-for-2013-take-2/">this</a> :<br /></p> <blockquote>Although it has yet to be appreciated by pundits, this could well translate to a November loss of the House of Representatives by Republicans. Based on the generic Congressional ballot, the probability of a Democratic takeover is 74% with a median 16-seat majority.</blockquote> :-) :-) <p>I want Nancy Pelosi back in the Speaker's chair with the Gavel !</p> rss@dailykos.com (Vote4Obamain2012) ballottest Democratic Party DemocraticParty Elections JohnBoehner Nancy Pelosi NancyPelosi Princeton ProfessorSamWang Republican Party RepublicanParty SamWang SpeakerPelosiProject US House of Representatives _1134925 Fri, 21 Sep 2012 19:30:53 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/9/18/1133453/-New-Daily-Kos-endorsements-in-the-battle-to-regain-the-House <div class="dkimg-c"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1657/large/RTXW8MD.jpg?1342817810" alt="Outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hands the speaker's gavel to incoming House Speaker John Boehner after Boehner was elected Speaker on the opening day of the 112th United States Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, January 5, 2011. Republicans are t" /></span> <div class="dkimg-cap">It really belongs in her hands.</div> </div> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><br /> <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=09_18_blog"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1653/small/PelosiProject.png?1342813041" alt="Speaker Pelosi project bug" /></a></span></div> Nancy Pelosi's road back to the speaker's chair goes through 25 congressional districts. The House has 435 members, and right now Republicans hold 242 seats and the Democrats have 193, with the magic number for a majority being 215. Daily Kos has endorsed 15 House candidates who we want to constitute the majority of those 25 new seats, because getting our people, all of whom vow to never join the Blue Dogs and to support the most critical progressive goals, means not just a Democratic majority, but a better House. <p>We add two more to that list today. I'll echo <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/11/1130428/-New-Daily-Kos-endorsements-in-the-battle-for-the-House">what Markos said</a> when introducing the last group brought on board: With 17 House candidates and seven Senate candidates, it's a <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/orangetoblue2012?refcode=09_18_blog">big list</a>. Adopt the candidates who speak to you, those races you think are most compelling. Maybe it's your district or state. Maybe the Republican opponent is incredibly odious. Contribute if you can, volunteer if you can, and help us get the gavel back to Speaker Pelosi.</p> <p>Here are two more seats that will help accomplish that goal. It's now not all offense on Orange to Blue, we have to play some defense, too, to keep the good people we've got. So in addition to a challenger who's also a former congressman, today's endorsements include a newly redistricted Democratic incumbent.<br /></p> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/6390/small/bettysutton.png?1347993527" alt="Betty Sutton head shot" /></span></div> <b>Betty Sutton</b> OH-16<br /> <a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=1HrjXH8z1XjBuSDwFVc0h-4Ndf7UBW62jvBlJlK7m36v1kCvHBwV5o0U_3vQf">O2B Questionnaire</a><br /> <a href="http://www.bettysuttonforcongress.com/">BettySuttonforCongress.com</a> <p>Ohio Republicans thought they were playing a fast one by redistricting three-term Rep. Betty Sutton from OH-13, Sherrod Brown's former seat, into a Republican leaning OH-16. That pits her against another incumbent, tea party freshman Rep. Jim Renacci, who also just happens to be a millionaire. Check out this <a href="http://www.wksu.org/news/story/33096">contrast in their bios</a>.<br /></p> <blockquote>Sutton comes from a quintessential Democratic mold. Raised in the backdrop of working class suburban Akron, she is the daughter of a union boilermaker and a library clerk. She worked her way through public university and law school, and has been a practicing labor attorney. Her allegiance lies squarely with wage earners over what she tags as special interests and millionaires—as she told a group of police and firefighters in August. <p>“Right now in Washington we have a controlling force that doesn’t fight for you the way you deserve,”says Sutton.”We have a Congress that would rather take the resources you need to buy new equipment and training, and sometimes save your jobs, and give to that multimillionaire or CEO, to that person that won’t play by the rules."</p> </blockquote> Renacci, by contrast, owns a chain of nursing homes, In addition, as well as "auto dealerships, sports teams and other businesses. He’s a millionaire many times over—the 11th richest person in Congress—and his pro-business, anti-regulation stance is reflected in his top campaign donor list of PACs and corporations." <p>There hasn't been any publicly released polling on the race in a little over a month, but <a href="http://www.ohiodailyblog.com/content/poll-shows-betty-sutton-competitive-jim-renacci">internal polling</a> showed her with a slight lead, as did polls done by outside groups for her. Here's what <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/05/1116291/-Why-internal-polls-can-tell-us-more-than-we-think-about-the-2012-elections?showAll=yes">our own Steve Singiser</a> had to say about this one: "Meanwhile, the GOP has offered not a single counterpunch. Again, barring some kind of absurdly clever political jiujitsu, the only rational explanation for the silence on their end is because their numbers mirror those of Sutton's advocates, or they are worse than those of Sutton's advocates."</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=09_18_blog">Here's a chance</a> not just to keep a good Democrat in the House, but to knock off a GOP incumbent. Which wouldn't be a bad thing at all.<br /></p> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/6391/small/Nolan_image1_0.jpg?1347993537" alt="Rick Nolan headshot" /></span></div> <b>Rick Nolan</b> MN-08<br /> <a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=17LbaTFgYWdWiMDI57iyofEjOkgNDReBiAY2jGIPO-ZgbNn3UQzpwNTGO9lMq">O2B Questionnaire<br /></a><a href="http://nolanforcongress.org/">NolanforCongress.org</a> <p>Former Rep. Rick Nolan represented MN-08 from 1975 to 1981, when he decided to leave Congress. He re-entered politics to take on the <a href="http://www.takedowncravaack.com/">predictably odious</a> freshman Republican, Chip Cravaack. Hypocrite? <a href="http://militaryadvantage.military.com/2011/05/veterans-court-funds-axed-by-house/">Check.</a> He voted for Paul Ryan's budget, including slashing veterans' benefits, benefits he himself has received. War on Women? <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20033452-503544.html">Check</a>. He voted to defund Planned Parenthood. Actually double-check. He also <a href="http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/polinaut/archive/2012/02/cravaack_calls.shtml">called</a> the Obama administration's new birth control rule "an act of federal aggression." Medicare? Of course, <a href="http://housedocs.house.gov/energycommerce/medicare_2011/MN8.Cravaack.pdf">he voted</a> with almost every other Republican to end it.</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=09_18_blog"><img align="right" src="http://i.actblue.com/page/speakerpelosi/thermometer/dark.png" alt="Goal Thermometer" /></a><br /> This is a <a href="http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2012/08/democratic-poll-3.php">very competitive seat</a> for Democrats. The last polling, at the end of August, had Nolan with a slim lead, 47-44. Democratic Rep. Jim Oberstar held the seat for 36 years before the teabagger onslaught ousted him with Cravaack in 2010. And President Obama carried the district with 53 percent in 2008. Which is undoubtedly why the National Republican Congressional Committee is <a href="http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_21552013/minnesotas-cravaack-nolan-are-targets-new-ads-by">spending more than $200,000</a> in ads a week against Nolan.</p> <p>These two seats are as <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=09_18_blog">critical as the other 15</a> we've got on our list. All of them would help win the House back for Democrats, and all of them would make the progressive wing of the caucus stronger.</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=09_18_blog">Please donate $3 to these candidates.</a></p> rss@dailykos.com (Joan McCarter) 2012 2012ElectionDiaryRescue BettySutton House MN-08 O2B OH-16 RickNolan SpeakerPelosiProject _1133453 Tue, 18 Sep 2012 21:00:05 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/9/13/1131368/-John-Boehner-chooses-politics-over-governing-won-t-take-up-farm-nbsp-bill <div class="dkimg-c"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/2431/large/boehner_reuters_larrydowning.jpeg?1343767046" alt="John Boehner" /></span> <div class="dkimg-cap">Worst. Speaker. Ever.</div> </div> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=09_13_blog"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1653/small/PelosiProject.png?1342813041" alt="Speaker Pelosi project bug" /></a></span></div> For the first time in modern history, Congress is going to fail to produce a farm bill. This in one of the worst farmland drought years in recent memory. The drought has resulted in more than <a href="http://www.farmland.org/news/pressreleases/2012/Drought-Makes-Farm-Bill-Passage-Critical.asp">1,800 counties in 38 states</a> being declared natural disaster areas, and every sector of agriculture has been affected. And House Republicans <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/13/us/congressional-deal-on-a-farm-bill-appears-unlikely.html?_r=2&amp;ref=us&amp;pagewanted=print">refuse to act</a>.<br /> <blockquote>WASHINGTON — Congressional agreement on a stalled farm bill seemed increasingly out of reach on Wednesday, as a few hundred farmers gathered near the Capitol to press for its passage. They were greeted by an unusually bipartisan group of lawmakers pushing for action in the House, where Republican leaders have declined to pursue legislation. [...] <p>Senator Jerry Moran, Republican of Kansas [...] spoke, chiding members of his own party in the House for refusing to bring their own committee’s farm bill to the floor. “Don’t sit on the sidelines waiting for something to happen,” he said. [...]</p> <p>Should the current law expire at the end of the month, direct payments to farmers would still continue at $5 billion a year, and the food stamp program would continue through other spending bills. But nearly 40 other programs would not be financed after the 2012 fiscal year.</p> </blockquote> The Senate passed a five-year farm bill earlier this summer and has been waiting for the House to act. The House Agriculture Committee passed its own version of the bill, but Speaker John Boehner has refused to take up either bill for purely political reasons. He'd have to pass the Senate's version of the bill with Democrats, and he doesn't want to give them that opportunity. The House version doesn't contain enough cuts for most of the House freshman, though it decimates the food stamp program, and it couldn't garner enough Democratic votes to pass. So, because he doesn't want his members to have to take a difficult vote, he refuses to do anything at all. <p>Worst Congress and worst Speaker of the House. Ever.</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=09_13_blog">Please help get the speaker's gavel back in Nancy Pelosi's hand, and give our House candidates $3 on ActBlue.</a></p> rss@dailykos.com (Joan McCarter) Drought Farm Bill FarmBill JohnBoehner Nancy Pelosi NancyPelosi O2B SpeakerPelosiProject _1131368 Thu, 13 Sep 2012 16:52:14 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/9/12/1130524/-FL-22-Thank-you-Daily-Kos <p>I’d like to thank the Daily Kos community for your endorsement. Campaigns must communicate with voters through email, TV, mail and person-to-person contact. Your financial support in this district will be crucial to our victory. Only with your help can our positive progressive message beat all the outside money flowing into our opponent’s campaign.</p> <p><strong>Now, let’s talk about what this election is about.</strong><br /></p> rss@dailykos.com (lois frankel) 2012ElectionDiaryRescue AdamHasner fl 22 FL-22 LoisFrankel RyanPlan SpeakerPelosiProject _1130524 Wed, 12 Sep 2012 17:10:04 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/9/11/1130428/-New-Daily-Kos-endorsements-in-the-battle-for-the-House <div class="dkimg-c"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1657/large/RTXW8MD.jpg?1342817810" alt="Outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hands the speaker's gavel to incoming House Speaker John Boehner after Boehner was elected Speaker on the opening day of the 112th United States Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, January 5, 2011. Republicans are t" /></span> <div class="dkimg-cap">Time to get it back.</div> </div> <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=09_10_O2B_mass_endorsement"></a> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1653/small/PelosiProject.png?1342813041" alt="Speaker Pelosi project bug" /></span></div> There are 435 seats in the House, so 218 are needed for the majority. Currently, Republicans hold 242 seats, Democrats 193, which means that Democrats need 25 seats to give Nancy Pelosi her gavel back and give President Barack Obama a functional Congress. <p>Daily Kos has now endorsed 15 candidates that won't just get us closer to those 25 seats, but will also significantly upgrade the quality of the Democratic caucus. There are no Blue Dogs in this bunch, just honest-to-goodness solid progressives.</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=09_11_mass_endorsement"><img align="right" src="http://i.actblue.com/page/speakerpelosi/thermometer/dark.png" alt="Goal Thermometer" /></a>I'll introduce the seven latest additions below. We'd love <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=09_10_O2B_mass_endorsement">if you could help all of them</a>, but as the list gets bigger, that becomes more difficult. So adopt the candidates you like best—you may be attracted to some because of geography, or because of diversity, or because of issues they focus on, or because they personally inspire you, or because you really, really, really hate their Republican opponent. The "why" is irrelevant, just please help someone out, give what you can, volunteer if you live in their districts or nearby, and do your part because reelecting Obama will only go so far in helping move our nation forward.</p> <p>Given the number of seats we need to pick up, <em>the path to a Speaker Nancy Pelosi runs through each and every one of these districts</em>. There can be no complacency here. So without further ado, here are the new additions to our Orange to Blue Speaker Pelosi Project list. A link to the answers to our candidate questionnaire is included next to their name.<br /></p> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/5923/small/Mark-Takano.png?1347392172" alt="Mark Takano head shot, thumbnail" /></span></div> <b>Mark Takano</b>, CA-41<br /> <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1HqEdby2gJtuie0UxmPyNpqTJ5wAwgAJgP0YPKZSKZLg">O2B Questionnaire</a><br /> <a href="http://www.marktakano.com/">MarkTakano.com</a> <p>A frequent attendee at Netroots Nation conferences, Takano is a high school teacher in this Southern California district. Had this district existed in 2008, it would've delivered 59 percent of its vote to Obama, Gov. Jerry Brown won it 52-40 in 2010, while Sen. Barbara Boxer won it 49-42. However, it features a predominantly Latino, low-turnout voter pool in addition to a high-turnout Republican base in Riverside. While it should be an easy pickup on paper, few Democrats are declaring victory given the district demographics.<br /></p> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/5911/small/Alan-Lowenthal.jpeg?1347388442" alt="Alan Lowenthal head shot, thumbnail" /></span></div> <b>Alan Lowenthal</b>, CA-47<br /> <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1AFRH2ZkrkV6DoUULs4d8pPt3a1aW-76xb00J7UpTFxg">O2B Questionnaire</a><br /> <a href="http://www.alanlowenthal.com/">AlanLowenthal.com</a> <p>Running in another rejiggered SoCal district, Lowenthal is a state senator and retired college professor from Cal State-Long Beach. Obama carried this district 58-39, Brown carried it 50-42, and Boxer carried it 50-42 in 2010. The National Republican Congressional Committee is gung-ho on their candidate in the district, Gary DeLong and are heavily invested. Recent polling is all over the place—a Lowenthall internal has him up 20, while a DeLong internal has him trailing by just three. Another poll by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee had their guy up 11. This seat leans D, but it ain't over yet.<br /></p> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/5915/small/Kathy-Boockvar.png?1347390764" alt="Kathy Boockvar head shot, thumbnail" /></span></div> <b>Kathy Boockvar</b>, PA-08<br /> <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=188tZwJHpaz67vUsU5zHk9KSUW1sT-6FbtMSCk7I3mHY">O2B Questionnaire</a><br /> <a href="http://www.boockvar.com/">Boockvar.com</a> <p>This district in suburban Philadelphia is the kind of district Democrats must win across the board to win back the House. Obama won it 53-46 in 2008, yet it is currently held by incumbent freshman Republican Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, who was part of the GOP's 2010 wave. Republican line drawers didn't do much to shore up his district, guaranteeing him a rough reelection campaign. However, incumbency has its advantages, and Boockvar has a tough challenge ahead.</p> <p>Still, this is our best pickup opportunity in Pennsylvania, and the Democrats scored with a strong candidate. And with Republicans cutting bait in the Keystone State, there will be little up-ballot support for the incumbent.<br /></p> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/5913/small/DavidGill.png?1347389674" alt="David Gill headshot" /></span></div> <b>David Gill</b>, IL-13<br /> <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1zEvj--Vf6yeefUfPxBFKeM1PFKkAe4Y82twJzPb08Pw">O2B Questionnaire</a><br /> <a href="http://www.gill2012.org/">Gill2012.org</a> <p>An unabashed progressive, Gill is running in this reconfigured &nbsp;Springfield-Champaign-area district which went 55-44 Obama in 2008. However, factor in Obama's home-field boost, and this is a bit more evenly matched than might appear at first blush.</p> <p>Originally, the Republicans were running incumbent Rep. Tim Johnson, but he surprisingly quit mid-race, giving Democrats a boost in the now open-seat district. Their new candidate, Rodney Davis, is an aide to wingnut Rep. John Shimkus, setting up a great solid-left versus solid-right battle. Indeed, it's Gill's politics that turns election prognosticators off, claiming he's too liberal for the district. We can prove the doubters wrong by giving Gil a big boost.<br /></p> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/5925/small/Lois-Frankel.jpg?1347394158" alt="Lois Frankel head shot, thumbnail" /></span></div> <b>Lois Frankel</b>, FL-22<br /> <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1Z09WMto8nFiA9o1nceQeWi1jw9BTny8XSU1XDj0ljco">O2B Questionnaire</a><br /> <a href="http://www.loisfrankelforcongress.com/">LoisFrankelForCongress.com</a> <p>This new Boca Raton and West Palm Beach-area district leans Democratic, with Obama scoring a 57-43 percent victory in 2008. Frankel served as West Palm Beach mayor and is a former minority leader of the Florida House, so she's got political chops. Bill Clinton is fundraising for her tomorrow, so she's getting the big guns out on her behalf. Republicans have put up a former state rep who has had luck getting elected in difficult turf, so he's no slouch.</p> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/5914/small/JimGraves.jpeg?1347389867" alt="Headshot of Jim Graves, thumbnail" /></span></div> <b>Jim Graves</b>, MN-06<br /> <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1RAXDvO1WWqyhuq90MBub2MLLNMtjyC2Jh9L0-szqZdc">O2B Questionnaire</a><br /> <a href="http://jimgraves.com/">JimGraves.com</a> <p>Graves is running against Rep. Michele Bachmann, which should tell us that, 1) hell yeah, let's go for it!, but 2) uh, isn't that district solidly red? Well, it's pretty red, the most Republican in Minnesota. And it was slightly shored up during redistricting. So why should we get excited about this race?</p> <p>Minnesota Democrats (DFLers, to be exact) are hyping <a href="http://www.startribune.com/politics/statelocal/169266176.html?refer=y">internal polling</a> by respected pollster Greenberg Quinlan Rosner showing a tight race—with Bachmann leading by a narrow 48-46 margin, down from 48-43 in June. Bachmann's camp has dismissed the results but refused to counter with their own polling, usually a sign that they're not liking their own numbers.</p> <p>This isn't a district Republicans should need to play defense in, but apparently Bachmann's latest rantings against Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin's supposed ties to the Muslim Bortherhood are taking their toll.<br /></p> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/5921/small/Pat-Kreitlow.png?1347391454" alt="Pat Kreitlow head shot, thumbnail" /></span></div> <b>Pat Kreitlow</b>, WI-07<br /> <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1leglMg7Sh96X6_kXgQgrgiMY375D9URzJD_oJjYS2Oc">O2B Questionnaire</a><br /> <a href="http://kreitlowforcongress.com/">KreitlowForCongress.com</a> <p>Like Boockvar's district above, this one is held by a 2010-wave Republican, the idiot reality TV "star" Sean Duffy. And like the seat above, these are the low-hanging-fruit districts Democrats need to win control of Congress. And while Duffy got a three-point redistricting boost, the district was still won by Obama 53-45 in 2008.</p> <p>Duffy is the guy who told a town-hall audience that he "struggles" to survive making $174,000 a year—a startling admission that will likely be featured in endless ads. For his part, Kreitlow was a former news anchor for WEAU-TV in Eau Claire, though most of that media market is outside this district. And he has a great <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HERj0rzOBFA">sense of humor</a>.</p> <p>These excellent candidates join Ami Bera (CA-07), Joe Garcia (FL-26), Jim Graves (MN-06), Jose Hernandez (CA-10), Ann McLane Kuster (NH-02), Patrick Murphy (FL-18), Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01) and Manan Trivedi (PA-06) on our endorsement list. Each one of these great progressive candidates can win, and <em>must</em> win in order to take control of the House away from the creepy weepy orange thing.</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=09_10_O2B_mass_endorsement">Give $3 to these candidates</a>, and let's make sure we fight tooth and nail to give Obama a Congress that isn't hell-bent on destroying him.</p> <p>This isn't the last batch of endorsements. We're going to keep expanding the playing field so that we can get to that magical 25. But it's up to you to make sure we can have the right kind of impact in the battle for the House. <span class="update"><a name="20120911141213" href="/story/2012/09/11/1130428/-New-Daily-Kos-endorsements-in-the-battle-for-the-House#20120911141213"><b>2:12 PM PT</b></a>:</span></p> <div style="margin:4px auto 4px auto; width:400px; font-size:12px;background-color: #eeeeee; border: 1px solid #999999;padding:5px;"><a href="https://twitter.com/#!/LoisFrankel/status/245625291668598784"><img src="http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/2302253200/jbjfe9jyms5zzdmepg1d_normal.jpeg" style="float:left;padding:0px;margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px; width:48px; height:48px;" /></a>Thanks for the endorsement @dailykos! I promise to be a proud progressive voice in DC. @markos thanks again! #FL22 <a href="http://t.co/LREwID8y">http://t.co/...</a><br /> <br /> <span style="color:#555555;font-style:italic;">— <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/LoisFrankel/status/245625291668598784">@LoisFrankel</a> via web</span> <div style="clear:both;"></div> </div> rss@dailykos.com (kos) 2012 2012ElectionDiaryRescue AlanLowenthal CA-41 CA-47 DavidGill Elections FL-22 House IL-13 JimGraves KathyBoockvar LoisFrankel MarkTakano MN-06 O2B PA-08 PatKreitlow SpeakerPelosiProject WI-07 _1130428 Tue, 11 Sep 2012 20:30:05 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/9/11/1130386/-David-Rivera-criminal-associate-flees-authorities <div class="dkimg-c"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/4074/large/Screen_Shot_2012-08-22_at_12.48.32_PM.png?1345664928" alt="Rep. David Rivera (R-FL)" /></span> <div class="dkimg-cap">Rep. David Rivera (R-Crook)</div> </div> In case you are just tuning in, South Florida GOPer Rep. David Rivera is under <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/23/1123398/-David-Rivera-most-incompetent-political-criminal-ever">criminal investigation</a> for massive electoral shenanigans. The quick backstory: <p>Rivera fears 2010 nemesis Joe Garcia, so when the Democrat entered his party's primary, the incumbent decided to try and knock him off. But unlike Missouri, where Sen. Claire McCaskill helped Todd Akin win his primary the legal way—by running ads boosting Akin, Rivera took a more, er, <i>creative</i> approach.</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/dailykosforjoegarcia?refcode=09_11_blog"><img src="http://i.actblue.com/page/dailykosforjoegarcia/thermometer/dark.png" align="right" alt="Goal Thermometer" /></a>He recruited a hotel worker to run in the Democratic primary, hoping to syphon away enough African American voters (where Garcia runs strong) to let a weaker Democrat win in the three-way race. To pay for this fake campaign, Rivera stuffed envelopes with up to $43,000 in cash. That's obviously a big no-no in the world of campaign finance law.</p> <p>Confronted with this wrongdoing, Rivera has resorted to outright hilarity:<br /></p> <blockquote>Rivera — who denies ever knowing Sternad — also produced a copy of a new campaign report for Sternad that purported to show, for the first time, that the Democrat's campaign had paid Rapid Mail. <p>Rivera didn't explain how he got the report, and Federal Elections Commission officials told the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald on Wednesday that the document had not been received yet by the FEC.</p> </blockquote> He doesn't even know how to properly plant fake evidence! Sigh. Sternad later tried to amend campaign finance reports to claim that he had loaned his campaign $64,000 for his race. He makes $30,000 per year at his job.<br /> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/5897/small/anapol.jpg?1347378612" alt="" /></span> <div class="dkimg-cap">Ana Alliegro</div> </div> <br /> Late last week, the case took a turn for the <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/09/07/v-fullstory/2989814/key-witness-fails-to-appear-in.html">even more bizarre</a>. Rivera associate and self-styled (on Twitter) "<a href="https://twitter.com/ANASOLALLIEGRO">Conservative bad girl</a>" Ana Alliegro ran Sternad's "campaign," so the FBI wanted to talk to her.<br /> <blockquote>A key witness in a federal investigation involving U.S. Rep. David Rivera failed to show up for an interview with prosecutors and the FBI one day after agents raided her Miami apartment and removed her computer, cellphone and other items.</blockquote> Yup, Rivera's "bad girl" consultant friend is on the lam! <p>The walls are closing in on the corrupt congressman. He was able to work South Florida's corrupt criminal-justice system last year to weasel out of one criminal indictment, but he's now got at least two federal grand juries investigating him. Republicans can't replace him on the ballot, and the polling is <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/31/1126051/-Joe-Garcia-takes-big-lead-against-criminal-congressman">looking fantastic</a>.</p> <p>The road to Speaker Pelosi runs through this district. <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/dailykosforjoegarcia?refcode=09_11_blog">Chip in $3</a> to help make it happen.</p> rss@dailykos.com (kos) 2012 2012ElectionDiaryRescue DavidRivera Elections FL-26 Florida House JoeGarcia O2B Orange to Blue OrangetoBlue Recommended SpeakerPelosiProject _1130386 Tue, 11 Sep 2012 15:53:06 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/9/5/1127734/-Pelosi-on-retaking-the-House-We-feel-pretty-good-about-it <div class="dkimg-c"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1657/large/RTXW8MD.jpg?1342817810" alt="Outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hands the speaker's gavel to incoming House Speaker John Boehner after Boehner was elected Speaker on the opening day of the 112th United States Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, January 5, 2011. Republicans are t" /></span> <div class="dkimg-cap">She's going to get it back.</div> </div> On Monday, Nancy Pelosi sat down with a group of new media reporters for a wide-ranging discussion, including <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/04/1127607/-Pelosi-Our-country-is-better-off-than-where-we-were-four-years-ago">how the nation is better off</a> than it was four years ago, and the <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/04/1127707/-Pelosi-on-Romney-Ryan-lies-You-have-to-give-them-credit-for-being-brazen">truth-challenged Romney/Ryan campaign</a>. All that makes her optimistic about the Democrats' prospects for taking back the House.<br /> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><br /> <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=09_05_blog"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1653/small/PelosiProject.png?1342813041" alt="Speaker Pelosi project bug" /></a></span></div> <blockquote>[W]e have outraised, out-redistricted, out-recruited the Republicans. I take a little more credit than I should for the recruitment because many of these people self-recruited. They just saw what was happening to our country and said, "I'm not going to let this happen. And I want to be part of the solution." [...] <p>Some of the places where the polls are looking so good for us are not even on our original map of priorities, so Steve Israel is saying, "I can't even believe some of the polls that we're getting from places that are not even our priority races." And that bodes very well for our priority races. So we think we can get into the 30s. I want 35. I'm willing to say we'll win 35 to net more than 25. But we feel very good.</p> <p>Now, having said that, they're all close. They're close. These races are close. In one poll that just came out—the Democracy Corps poll—had in the 27 marginal Republican district—in 27 of the difficult Republican districts, difficult for the Republicans—in 27 of those races, by name, the Democrat was around 6 points ahead of the Republicans. That's 27. [...] Twenty-seven. Six points ahead. So we see the makings of it.</p> </blockquote> Listen to the whole discussion on how Pelosi plans to get the House back. <div class="dkimg-c"><iframe width="50%" height="120" scrolling="no" defang_frameborder="no" src="http://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F58710134&amp;auto_play=false&amp;show_artwork=false&amp;color=ff7700"></iframe></div> <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=09_05_blog"><img align="right" src="http://i.actblue.com/page/speakerpelosi/thermometer/dark.png" alt="Goal Thermometer" /></a><br /> Nancy Pelosi can envision the speaker's gavel back in her hands, and she sees the specific path for getting there, as you can see in the extended transcript that's below the fold. That's through taking back at 27 seats in districts held by Republicans, but where President Obama won in 2008. Then there are the pick-ups in seats where the unvetted freshman Republicans are "ethically challenged." It's picking up seats in the big states: California, New York, Illinois and Texas. And it's working hard in all the other states to back the strong candidates in states across the map. <p>That's what we want to do with the <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=09_05_blog">Speaker Pelosi Project</a>: find the progressive candidates in the winnable districts that will help Pelosi win her gavel back, and make the House be a functioning body of government again. And make John Boehner cry.</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=09_05_blog">Help prove Nancy Pelosi right in her optimism. Please give $3 to each of our House candidates on the Speaker Pelosi Project page.</a></p> <p><em>(Continue reading below the fold.)</em></p> rss@dailykos.com (Joan McCarter) 2012 Nancy Pelosi NancyPelosi O2B Orange to Blue OrangetoBlue SpeakerPelosiProject _1127734 Wed, 05 Sep 2012 22:30:04 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/8/31/1126051/-Joe-Garcia-takes-big-lead-against-criminal-congressman <div class="dkimg-c"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/4630/large/Garcia_Obama.jpeg?1346371800" alt="Joe Garcia poses with Barack Obama." /></span> <div class="dkimg-cap">Joe Garcia. The one on the right.</div> </div> <p><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/104454165/FL-26-Benenson-for-Joe-Garcia-Aug-2012">Beneson Strategy Group</a> for Joe Garcia (D). 8/20-22. Registered voters. No trend lines.</p> <div class="indent"><b>David Rivera</b> (R) 40<br /> <b>Joe Garcia</b> (D) 49</div> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/dailykosforjoegarcia?refcode=08_31_blog"><img src="http://i.actblue.com/page/dailykosforjoegarcia/thermometer/dark.png" align="right" alt="Goal Thermometer" /></a>What's amazing about this poll is that the numbers suggest that voters aren't aware of Rep. David Rivera's <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/23/1123398/-David-Rivera-most-incompetent-political-criminal-ever">incompetently criminal behavior</a>. Garcia's numbers track Pres. Barack Obama's 50-40, and a generic ballot generated a 45-37 advantage for the Democratic candidate.</p> <p>The caution: Obama and John McCain split this district 50-50 in 2008, so the sample might be optimistic. But worst-case scenario, it's a tied game. And that's before the DCCC and Garcia campaign start blasting the airwaves with news about Rivera's ethics.</p> <p>We won't bump the Orange One without winning this district, <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/dailykosforjoegarcia?refcode=08_31_blog">so give $3</a> to get us one seat closer to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and one good Democrat closer to a real progressive majority.</p> rss@dailykos.com (kos) 2012 DavidRivera Elections FL-26 Florida House JoeGarcia O2B Orange to Blue OrangetoBlue SpeakerPelosiProject _1126051 Fri, 31 Aug 2012 18:35:03 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/8/23/1123398/-David-Rivera-most-incompetent-political-criminal-ever <div class="dkimg-c"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/4141/large/dreamstime_s_10903952.jpg?1345745965" alt="Hands forking over $100 bills." /></span> <div class="dkimg-cap">Campaign finance, David Rivera-style.</div> </div> Rep. David Rivera, down in southern Florida, has <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/22/1123034/-David-Rivera-breaks-law-again-trying-to-pick-Dem-primary-winner">great lawyers</a>. No one can deny that. So perhaps he should work with them to improve his law-breaking skills. <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/dailykosforjoegarcia?refcode=08_23_blog"><img src="http://i.actblue.com/page/dailykosforjoegarcia/thermometer/dark.png" align="right" alt="Goal Thermometer" /></a>The quick backstory: Rivera is worried about his Democratic opponent Joe Garcia, so he gets a fake Democrat to run in the primary and pays for mailers with cash-stuffed envelopes. The mailers go to black neighborhoods in an attempt to syphon Garcia's strong African American support. If enough such voters vote for the fake guy, then a weaker Democrat wins the primary. It's kind of what happened in the Missouri Senate race, minus the "following the law" part.</p> <p>It didn't work, and now Rivera is trying to convince people that he had nothing to do with the thing he had everything to do with. He's being, uh, <a href="http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/national/fbi-dade-target-campaign-tied-to-rivera/1247290">less than persuassive</a>.<br /></p> <blockquote>Rivera strenuously denied the allegation Wednesday night in a televised interview on America TeVé's (Ch. 41) A Mano Limpia, insisting that he has no connection to the Sternad campaign, claiming Borrero lied and that the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald produced "nonsense and slander" in league with Garcia's campaign. <p>"I'm going to move forward, focused on my work," Rivera said.</p> <p><strong>Rivera — who denies ever knowing Sternad — also produced a copy of a new campaign report for Sternad</strong> that purported to show, for the first time, that the Democrat's campaign had paid Rapid Mail.</p> </blockquote> Dude, you're supposed to <i>plant</i> the fake evidence where investigators can find it, not hand the forgeries over yourself! Shit, don't they teach you this stuff in criminal school? Now you have to explain this:<br /> <blockquote>Rivera didn't explain how he got the report, and Federal Elections Commission officials told the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald on Wednesday that the document had not been received yet by the FEC.</blockquote> You see? <em>Plant the evidence</em> next time! Sheesh. <p>Miami-Dade police is investigating, but given how the entire South Florida criminal justice system conspired to let Rivera off the hook last year, don't expect much from that corrupt crowd. On the other hand, the FBI is on the case, and that spells serious trouble for Rivera. (Not to mention, they're already investigating him on a separate matter, so three investigations in two years.)</p> <p>Rivera decided to do his impression of the world's worst criminal because he feared Joe Garcia more than he feared possible jail time. Let's help validate those fears: <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/dailykosforjoegarcia?refcode=08_23_blog">donate $3 to Joe Garcia right now</a>!</p> <p>Oh, and Rivera? If you want to play comic book villain, start wearing a monocle. Might as well complete the look.</p> <p><span class="update"><a name="20120823114819" href="/story/2012/08/23/1123398/-David-Rivera-most-incompetent-political-criminal-ever#20120823114819"><b>11:48 AM PT</b></a>:</span> We got to wondering when the deadline was for Rivera to get off the ballot, assuming things are going to get a lot worse for him and Republicans are going to want a not-crook on the ballot.</p> <p>David Nir looked it up. Once primary results are certified, candidates can't get off the ballot. That happened ... this morning. The GOP will go into the election with the candidate they have, not the non-criminal they'll wish they had when this is all said and done.</p> rss@dailykos.com (kos) 2012 DavidRivera Elections FL-26 Florida House JoeGarcia O2B Orange to Blue OrangetoBlue SpeakerPelosiProject _1123398 Thu, 23 Aug 2012 18:25:53 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/8/22/1123034/-David-Rivera-breaks-law-again-trying-to-pick-Dem-primary-winner <div class="dkimg-c"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/4074/large/Screen_Shot_2012-08-22_at_12.48.32_PM.png?1345664928" alt="Rep. David Rivera (R-FL)" /></span> <div class="dkimg-cap">Rep. David Rivera (R-Crookistan) probably talking to his criminal defense lawyer. Again.</div> </div> It seems that corrupt GOP Rep. David Rivera's many interactions with the FBI haven't scared him away from <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/21/2962351/campaign-vendors-say-republican.html">ignoring the law</a> in pursuit of personal gain. <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/dailykosforjoegarcia?refcode=08_22_blog"><img src="http://i.actblue.com/page/dailykosforjoegarcia/thermometer/dark.png" align="right" alt="Goal Thermometer" /></a></p> <blockquote>Fueled with $43,000 in secret money, Republican Rep. David Rivera helped run a shadow campaign that might have broken federal laws in last week’s Democratic primary against his political nemesis Joe Garcia, according to campaign sources and finance records. <p>As part of the effort, a political unknown named Justin Lamar Sternad campaigned against Garcia by running a sophisticated mail campaign that Rivera helped orchestrate and fund, campaign vendors said.</p> <p>Among the revelations: The mailers were often paid in envelopes stuffed with crisp hundred-dollar bills.</p> </blockquote> In case you had any doubts—yes, that's illegal. <p>There's still a great deal of <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/07/15/2894708/state-cops-prosecutors-were-ready.html">uncertainty</a> about the reasons that Rivera avoided arrest last year from rampant and overt corruption, though the FBI reportedly opened up a <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/07/21/v-fullstory/2324906/feds-investigate-rep-rivera-on.html">second investigation</a> into his activities. But clearly, his ability to evade prosecution thus far has only emboldened him.</p> <p>Sternad's mailers targeted African American voters, a clear effort at eroding Joe Garcia's strong support among that community. The hope clearly was to siphon Garcia voters away so that a weaker Democrat prevailed in the primary.</p> <p>That Rivera's effort failed should prove the least of his worries, now that his illegal involvement has been exposed.</p> <p>Meanwhile, the path to Speaker Nancy Pelosi runs through this district. Rivera is so spooked by Garcia that he blatantly ignored the law to try and knock him out in the primary. You can return the favor, legally, by <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/dailykosforjoegarcia?refcode=08_22_blog">donating $3 to Garcia</a>.</p> rss@dailykos.com (kos) 2012 DavidRivera Elections FL-26 Florida House JoeGarcia O2B Orange to Blue OrangetoBlue SpeakerPelosiProject _1123034 Wed, 22 Aug 2012 19:56:27 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/8/16/1120968/-Who-are-the-28-million-people-who-d-get-a-raise-if-the-minimum-wage-went-up-to-9-80 <div class="dkimg-c"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/2431/large/boehner_reuters_larrydowning.jpeg?1343767046" alt="John Boehner" /></span> <div class="dkimg-cap">This guy is not going to hold a vote on raising the minimum wage.</div> </div> About 28 million people will see their pay go up whenever Congress gets around to raising the minimum wage to $9.80. (Which is to say, not a minute before Democrats retake Congress.) <a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/ib341-raising-federal-minimum-wage/">But who are those people?</a> According to the Economic Policy Institute's Doug Hall and David Cooper: <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=08_16_minwageblog"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1653/small/PelosiProject.png?1342813041" alt="Speaker Pelosi project bug" /></a></span></div> <blockquote> <ul> <li>Women would be disproportionately affected, comprising nearly 55 percent of those who would benefit.</li> <li>Nearly 88 percent of workers who would benefit are at least 20 years old.</li> <li>Although workers of all races and ethnicities would benefit from the increase, non-Hispanic white workers comprise the largest share (about 56 percent) of those who would be affected.</li> <li>About 42 percent of affected workers have at least some college education.</li> <li>Around 54 percent of affected workers work full time, over 70 percent are in families with incomes of less than $60,000, more than a quarter are parents, and over a third are married.</li> <li>The average affected worker earns about half of his or her family’s total income.</li> </ul> </blockquote> <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=08_16_minwageblog"><img align="right" src="http://i.actblue.com/page/speakerpelosi/thermometer/dark.png" alt="Goal Thermometer" /></a><br /> A far cry from the pimpled teenagers working part-time to buy designer jeans and movie tickets that Republicans conjure up every time they're asked about raising the minimum wage. <p>There are a lot of reasons to want Nancy Pelosi to be Speaker Pelosi again, but this kind of basic, bread-and-butter issue has to be high on the list. Having a full-time job should put you above the poverty level, but unless you are supporting only yourself, the minimum wage does not do that. And Speaker Pelosi is the only way to change this situation, since despite the <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/10/1082206/-Raising-the-minimum-wage-The-right-thing-to-do-and-a-winning-issue-too?detail=hide">widespread popularity</a> and economic benefit of increasing the minimum wage, Republican politicians range from just not giving a damn about the livelihood of millions of working poor people to being actively hostile to the idea of making work pay enough to live on. Many Republican politicians don't even know what the current minimum wage <i>is</i>—but they know they don't want to raise it.</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=08_16_minwageblog">Please, give $3 to make Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House in 2013.</a></p> rss@dailykos.com (Laura Clawson) MinimumWage Nancy Pelosi NancyPelosi O2B Orange to Blue OrangetoBlue SpeakerPelosiProject _1120968 Thu, 16 Aug 2012 21:20:10 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/8/14/1120162/-We-re-winning-in-New-Hampshire-poll-shows-leads-for-Shea-Porter-and-Kuster <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/2501/small/Kuster_from_Facebook.jpg?1343841023" alt="Ann McLane Kuster" /></span> <div class="dkimg-cap">Ann McLane Kuster</div> </div> New Hampshire's two House seats are a crucial part of the road back to Speaker Pelosi—and a new poll from Public Policy Polling and Democracy for America shows Democrats leading. In other words: we're winning. We're winning in the first district, where former Rep. Carol Shea-Porter is leading Republican Rep. Frank Guinta by four points, and we're winning in the second district, where Annie Kuster is also leading Republican Rep. Charlie Bass by four points. And the same poll finds President Obama leading Mitt Romney by six points. <p><a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/102865920/NH-01-NH-02-PPP-for-DFA-Aug-2012">Public Policy Polling for Democracy for America</a>. 8/7-8. Likely voters. MoE ±3.6% for NH-01 and ±3.4 for NH-02. (<a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/17/1092498/-Democrats-positioned-to-take-back-both-New-Hampshire-House-seats-in-PPP-poll?detail=hide">5/10-13</a> in parentheses, using New Hampshire voters)</p> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=08_14_blog"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1653/small/PelosiProject.png?1342813041" alt="Speaker Pelosi project bug" /></a></span></div> <blockquote><b>Carol Shea-Porter (D)</b> 48 (47)<br /> <b>Frank Guinta (R-Inc)</b> 44 (43)</blockquote> <blockquote><b>Annie Kuster</b> 47 (42)<br /> <b>Charlie Bass (R-Inc)</b> 43 (42)</blockquote> <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=08_14_blog"><img align="right" src="http://i.actblue.com/page/speakerpelosi/thermometer/dark.png" alt="Goal Thermometer" /></a><br /> Even with PPP's move to likely voters, Shea-Porter's lead is unchanged from May, while Kuster has moved from a tie into the lead. Both Guinta and Bass are five points underwater on their favorables, Guinta coming in at 38/43 and Bass at 39/44. <p>A four-point lead doesn't mean game over, of course, especially in the post-Citizens United era. Shea-Porter and Kuster can both expect to be targeted by Republican outside money groups like Crossroads GPS or Americans for Prosperity, especially because these seats, which Democrats won in 2006 and Republicans regained in 2010, are such an important part of gaining or losing control of the House. That's one more reason why Kuster and Shea-Porter need us to have their backs. And if we're not only going to put the speaker's gavel back in Nancy Pelosi's hand but pass good legislation, we need strong progressives like them.</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=08_14_blog">Please, give $3 to send Annie Kuster and Carol Shea-Porter to Congress.</a></p> rss@dailykos.com (Laura Clawson) AnnMcLaneKuster CarolShea-Porter CharlieBass FrankGuinta House New Hampshire NewHampshire NH-01 NH-02 O2B Orange to Blue OrangetoBlue SpeakerPelosiProject _1120162 Tue, 14 Aug 2012 21:31:43 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/8/13/1119800/-Boehner-thinks-President-Obama-is-in-charge-of-the-weather <div class="dkimg-c"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/2431/large/boehner_reuters_larrydowning.jpeg?1343767046" alt="John Boehner" /></span> <div class="dkimg-cap">Another "oops" from the orange one.</div> </div> House Speaker John Boehner might be spending a little too much time drowning his sorrows over the utter dysfunction he'll have to face again when August recess is over. Earlier today, President Obama <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/13/1119738/-Obama-slams-Ryan-over-farm-bill-fiasco-do-nothing-Congress">took aim</a> at Paul Ryan and his House leadership team for failing to pass a farm bill to help farmers and ranchers in this record heat and drought.<br /> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=08_13_blog"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1653/small/PelosiProject.png?1342813041" alt="Speaker Pelosi project bug" /></a></span></div> <p>Get this. Boehner responded to Obama's criticism by saying the drought is all Obama's fault. <a href="http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/boehners-office-says-president-avoiding-personal-responsibility-for?ref=fpb">Really</a>.</p> <br /> <blockquote>On its website and in an email Monday, House Speaker John Boehner’s office said <b>President Obama needs to take personal responsibility for the drought</b> ravaging the Midwest. <p><b>Obama, “continues to blame anyone and everyone for the drought but himself,”</b> reads a release from Boehner’s office <a href="http://www.speaker.gov/general/why-doesn-t-president-obama-urge-senate-dems-pass-urgently-needed-drought-relief">posted online</a> and distributed to reporters Monday. The quote was attributed to Boehner himself in a Financial Times <a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/8a460a14-e557-11e1-8ac0-00144feab49a.html#axzz23STcFodf">story</a>.</p> </blockquote> <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=08_13_blog"><img align="right" src="http://i.actblue.com/page/speakerpelosi/thermometer/dark.png" alt="Goal Thermometer" /></a><br /> Now, Republicans might actually believe that <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/07/rick-perrys-call-to-prayer">God makes it rain</a>. But Obama being personally responsible for the drought? That's a new one. <p>Actually, it ended up sounding so crazy that the <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/08/boehner_drough_blame_obama.php?ref=fpblg">statement has been edited</a> to exclude all mention of Obama's amazing powers over the weather. Instead, it <a href="http://www.speaker.gov/general/why-doesn-t-president-obama-urge-senate-dems-pass-urgently-needed-drought-relief">blames</a> him for "failing to respond to the drought but himself." And now some poor schlub staffer is now taking Boehner's scotch and soda away from him.</p> <p>This is why we need grown ups in charge. This is why we need to put the gavel back in Nancy Pelosi's hands.</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=08_13_blog">Please give $1 to all the House candidates on our ActBlue page.</a></p> rss@dailykos.com (Joan McCarter) Drought Farm Bill FarmBill JohnBoehner O2B Orange to Blue OrangetoBlue SpeakerPelosiProject _1119800 Mon, 13 Aug 2012 22:05:58 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/8/7/1117587/-Nancy-Pelosi-labels-budget-cutting-Republicans-the-E-Coli-Club <center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/WX_Ep63bq8g" frameborder="0" defang_allowfullscreen=""></iframe></center> <p>At a campaign <a href="http://thehill.com/video/house/242389-pelosi-calls-republicans-the-e-coli-club">event</a> Monday for primary candidate Lois Frankel in a Florida contest for a seat Democrats consider essential for regaining their House of Representatives majority, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi dubbed Republicans the "E. Coli Club" for the party's willingness to cut programs protecting Americans' health and safety.</p> <p>Pelosi was on hand in Palm Beach County at the Veranda Club to <a href="http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/pelosi-targets-gop-medicare-plan-at-frankel-event-/nQCJr/">tell</a> an audience of about 100 that Frankel would be a fighter for Social Security and Medicare, programs the Republican leadership seeks to weaken or dismantle. But she really hit the mark looking more broadly at GOP budget whacks, even interjecting a Southernism with a sharp edge—"bless their hearts":</p> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=08_3_blogbug"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1653/small/PelosiProject.png?1342813041" alt="Speaker Pelosi project bug" /></a></span></div> <blockquote>“I say to [Republicans], do you have children that breathe air? Do you have grandchildren that drink water?,” Pelosi asked. “I’m a mom and I have five kids ... as a mom I was vigilant about food safety, right moms? If you could depend on the government for one thing it was that you had to be able to trust the water that our kids drank and the food that they ate. But this is the E. coli club. They do not want to spend money to do that.” [...] <p>“Bless their hearts, it’s the philosophy Republicans in Congress have,” Pelosi added. “And bless their hearts, they act upon their beliefs. It’s an ideology. We shouldn’t have a government role. So reduce the police, the firemen, the teachers, reduce their role and give tax cuts to the high end. That will stimulate the economy and everything will be good.”</p> </blockquote> Sadly, Pelosi's E. coli remark isn't hyperbole. <p>There was a time just a bit over a century ago when many Republicans, including President Teddy Roosevelt, took a different view of things. During that 20-year-long era, progressive legislation was passed to break up corporate trusts, extend rights to workers and do things that today we take for granted, like inspecting food. The dominance of corporate money both in economics and politics, the attacks on workers' rights and cutbacks even in what is spent on making sure our food is safe illustrates just how retrograde the Republicans have been.</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=08_07_blog"><img align="right" src="http://i.actblue.com/page/speakerpelosi/thermometer/dark.png" alt="Goal Thermometer" /></a>Not only are they bucking for membership in the E. Coli Club, they aren't even being economically efficient about it, something they like to give themselves high marks for. They seek, for instance, to ax $700 million out of the Food and Drug Administration's budget to implement the Food Safety Modernization Act. That legislation, in the spirit of the progressive legislation of 100 years ago, is designed to reduce the numbers of foodborne illnesses in the United States. Currently, those illnesses <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703314504576060371996426618.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_5">kill 3,000</a> Americans annually and force the hospitalization of 128,000. Cost: an estimated <a href="http://www.pewhealth.org/projects/produce-safety-project-85899367238">$152 billion</a>. Even if people's health and lives don't matter to them, you would think Republicans would care about the money.</p> <p>•••</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=08_07_blog">We need a speaker of the House who understands this and a Congress that works. Please contribute $1 to each of these nine candidates to help make it happen.</a></p> rss@dailykos.com (Meteor Blades) Nancy Pelosi NancyPelosi SpeakerPelosiProject _1117587 Tue, 07 Aug 2012 16:03:14 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/8/2/1116086/-Boehner-House-GOP-has-made-a-real-difference-in-creating-nbsp-jobs <div class="dkimg-c"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/2428/large/boehnersobbing_550w.jpeg?1343763893" alt="Collage of pictures of John Boehner crying." /></span> <div class="dkimg-cap">Let's make Boehner cry in November.</div> </div> Um, <a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-congress/2012/08/boehner-feeling-better-about-keeping-house-130905.html">what</a>?<br /> <blockquote>The odds of Republicans keeping the House are getting even better, Speaker John Boehner told reporters Thursday. [...] <p>“Our members have made a real difference in changing the direction of the country in creating jobs and fixing our economy,” Boehner said.</p> </blockquote> Republicans are creating jobs and fixing our economy? When did that happen? Just last week, Boehner was trying to <a href="http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/07/boehner-hits-obama-on-sluggish-gdp-growth-130291.html">beat up on President Obama</a> for the continued sluggish economy. <p>About the only thing Boehner and his merry band of nihilists in the House have succeeded in doing in the last two years has been taking hostages and forcing <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/02/1116033/-Boehner-Debt-deal-I-didn-t-have-anything-to-do-with-any-debt-nbsp-deal">deals</a> that they're desperately now trying to disavow. That and making very, very clear that while air and water pollution shouldn't be regulated, anything to do with lady parts must be.</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=08_2_boehnerodds">Give the gavel back to Pelosi. Send $1 to all of the Orange to Blue House candidates on ActBlue.</a></p> rss@dailykos.com (Joan McCarter) 2012 Economy House Jobs JohnBoehner SpeakerPelosiProject _1116086 Thu, 02 Aug 2012 17:36:37 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/8/2/1116043/-Pelosi-succinctly-sums-up-GOP-tax-plan-to-screw-middle-class <p>House Republicans are bringing their "tax reform" plan (<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2012/0802/House-to-vote-on-GOP-plan-to-simplify-US-tax-code-minus-the-details">minus any actual details</a>) to the floor today.</p> <p>Nancy Pelosi has all the details necessary:</p> <div style="margin:4px auto 4px auto; width:400px; font-size:12px;background-color: #eeeeee; border: 1px solid #999999;padding:5px;"><a href="https://twitter.com/#!/dcbigjohn/status/231045116205355008"><img src="http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/2382262234/bad-brains-roir_normal.jpg" style="float:left;padding:0px;margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px; width:48px; height:48px;" /></a>Pelosi on GOP tax plan "I don't know what's trickling down but it hasn't been pleasant"<br /> <span style="color:#555555;font-style:italic;">— <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/dcbigjohn/status/231045116205355008">@dcbigjohn</a> via <a href="http://www.tweetdeck.com" rel="nofollow">TweetDeck</a></span> <div style="clear:both;"></div> </div> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=08_2_tax">Give the gavel back to Pelosi. Send $1 to all of the Orange to Blue House candidates on ActBlue.</a></p> rss@dailykos.com (Joan McCarter) Nancy Pelosi NancyPelosi Republicans SpeakerPelosiProject Taxes TaxReform _1116043 Thu, 02 Aug 2012 15:33:04 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/8/2/1116033/-Boehner-Debt-deal-I-didn-t-have-anything-to-do-with-any-debt-nbsp-deal <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/207/small/boehner_yurigripas_reuters.jpg?1340634600" alt="John Boehner" /></span> <div class="dkimg-cap">Boehner: "Who? Me?"</div> </div> Here we go <a href="http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=7466C4E0-49A1-488F-AA6B-2C4C67DD0D98">again</a>.<br /> <blockquote>As they pack their bags for a five-week summer recess, members of Congress who supported the 2011 debt limit law in droves are trying to wipe their hands clean of its worst parts, blaming anyone they can for the painful automatic cuts poised to take effect in the new year. <p>House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are accusing one another of proposing the cuts while Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is pointing the finger at President Barack Obama for being absent during the debt debate.</p> </blockquote> Let's rewind to <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-18563_162-20086598.html">August 1, 2011</a>.<br /> <blockquote>Boehner: [...] When you look at this final agreement that we came to with the White House, <b>I got 98 percent of what I wanted.</b> I'm pretty happy.</blockquote> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=08_2_BCA"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1653/small/PelosiProject.png?1342813041" alt="Speaker Pelosi project bug" /></a></span></div> <br /> There's one person who is ultimately responsible for this debacle, and it's John Boehner. Boehner couldn't control his insane caucus and keep them from taking the nation's economy hostage with their refusal—their unprecedented refusal—to raise the debt ceiling. It's Boehner's fault that he has let Grover Norquist be the real leader of the Republican caucus. It's ultimately Boehner's fault, though he had a lot of assistance from McConnell, that Congress has ceased to be a functioning governing body. <p>Boehner got 98 percent of what he wanted. He can pretend all he wants that he wasn't in the room when the decisions were made, but then there's reality—and his own words on video—to prove otherwise.</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=08_2_BCA">Get Boehner out of the speaker's chair. Please give $1 to all of the Orange to Blue House candidates on ActBlue, and get the gavel back to Nancy Pelosi.</a></p> rss@dailykos.com (Joan McCarter) BudgetControlAct Debt Ceiling DebtCeiling JohnBoehner Sequester SpeakerPelosiProject _1116033 Thu, 02 Aug 2012 15:14:03 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/8/1/1115801/-It-s-official-House-Republicans-just-voted-to-block-your-tax-cut-to-protect-the-rich <div class="dkimg-c"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/303/large/housegopleadership.jpeg?1340982232" alt="Speaker John Boehner, Rep. Paul Ryan, Rep. Jeb Hensarling, Rep. Eric Cantor and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)" /></span> <div class="dkimg-cap">Why do they hate American taxpayers?</div> </div> Yep, they did it. The House Republicans just voted to raise taxes on the middle class of America so they can give tax cuts to the rich. <p>By a vote of 170-257, Republicans rejected the Democrats' plan to extend tax cuts to the middle class because, of course, the Democrats' bill didn't also extend tax cuts to the top two percent on their income above $250,000.</p> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=08_1_blogtaxvote"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1653/small/PelosiProject.png?1342813041" alt="Speaker Pelosi project bug" /></a></span></div> <p>Then, in a vote of 256-171, they voted on the Republicans' bill, H.R. 8, which they actually have the gall to call the "Job Protection and Recession Prevention Act of 2012." That one extends tax cuts to the rich on all of their income, because the current low tax rates for the wealthiest Americans has done so much to protect jobs and prevent recessions. They're kind of slow learners. How slow? They wasted time on this bill, knowing it will die in the Senate.</p> <p>Another futile, insulting, useless, political bill in which they're working against the <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/01/1115698/-Tax-cuts-on-the-House-floor-today">public will</a>. Enough of this. Let's take the House back, and put Nancy Pelosi back in the speaker's chair.</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=08_1_blogtaxvote">Please chip $1 to all of the Orange to Blue House candidates on ActBlue.</a></p> <p><span class="update"><a name="20120801154614" href="/story/2012/08/01/1115801/-It-s-official-House-Republicans-just-voted-to-block-your-tax-cut-to-protect-the-rich#20120801154614"><b> 3:46 PM PT</b></a>:</span> The roll call vote for the Democratic amendment is <a href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2012/roll543.xml">here</a>. The vote for the Republican bill is <a href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2012/roll545.xml">here</a>.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Joan McCarter) Bush Tax Cuts BushTaxCuts House JohnBoehner middleclasstaxcuts Republicans SpeakerPelosiProject _1115801 Wed, 01 Aug 2012 22:22:29 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/8/1/1115699/-Annie-Kuster-gets-Social-Security-and-Medicare-advocate-endorsement <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/2501/small/Kuster_from_Facebook.jpg?1343841023" alt="Ann McLane Kuster" /></span></div> Annie Kuster was <a href="http://nhlabornews.com/2012/07/kuster-endorsed-by-national-committee-to-preserve-social-security-and-medicare/">endorsed</a> by the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare on Tuesday, the day after she made a point of <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/30/1115010/-Marking-a-milestone?detail=hide">celebrating</a> the 47th anniversary of Medicare. Kuster's strong support for Social Security and Medicare are in stark contrast to her opponent, Rep. Charlie Bass, the Republican incumbent in New Hampshire's second district. <p>Bass is a longtime supporter of George W. Bush-style Social Security privatization, and he voted to <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/03/29/1078938/-House-Republicans-vote-to-end-Medicare-as-we-know-it-nbsp-again?detail=hide">end Medicare as we know it</a> through Rep. Paul Ryan's budget plan. In fact, he voted for the <a href="http://swampland.time.com/2011/04/21/charlie-bass-and-the-struggle-to-sell-paul-ryans-path-in-a-swing-district/">2011 version</a> of the Ryan budget, too. His vote for the extremist Ryan budget is about as clear as it gets: Charlie Bass would <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/03/30/1079234/-How-the-Republican-budget-would-hurt-seniors?detail=hide">turn Medicare into a voucher program</a>, with individual seniors seeing the worth of their benefits decline over time.</p> <p>On Social Security, Bass has a <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/08/15/237010/-Yearning-for-the-Destruction-of-Social-Security-NH-02?detail=hide">long record</a> of statements and votes aimed at weakening Social Security by moving funds into private accounts that would put people's retirements at the mercy of Wall Street. No less a <a href="http://www.politifact.com/new-hampshire/statements/2012/jun/29/ann-mclane-kuster/ann-kuster-distorts-bass-record-social-security/">right-wing mouthpiece</a> than Politifact acknowledges Bass's record in this regard, though, being Politifact, its conclusion is that you can't say Bass supports privatization because the Bush plan Bass signed on to only proposed privatizing part of Social Security, not all of it.</p> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=08_01_blogNH02_bug"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1653/small/PelosiProject.png?1342813041" alt="Speaker Pelosi project bug" /></a></span></div> That's the <i>defense</i> of Charlie Bass's position on Social Security: "He only wants to privatize some of it." <p>Voters in NH-02 have a clear choice: end Medicare as we know it and risk Social Security money on the stock market, with Charlie Bass, or defend and strengthen those programs and the security of our seniors with Annie Kuster.</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/dailykosforkuster?refcode=08_01_blog">Please give $3 to help Annie Kuster get to Congress, so she can fight to protect Medicare and Social Security.</a></p> rss@dailykos.com (Laura Clawson) AnnMcLaneKuster CharlieBass House Medicare New Hampshire NewHampshire NH-02 Orange to Blue OrangetoBlue Social Security SocialSecurity SpeakerPelosiProject _1115699 Wed, 01 Aug 2012 17:34:22 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/7/31/1115459/-Boehner-Budget-deal-What-budget-deal-It-wasn-t-our-idea <div class="dkimg-c"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/2431/large/boehner_reuters_larrydowning.jpeg?1343767046" alt="John Boehner" /></span> <div class="dkimg-cap">House Speaker John Boehner</div> </div> "Reality" and "truth" are just such fluid concepts for Republicans. Get a load of <a href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/07/republicans-want-off-the-hook-for-voting-for-defense-sequester.php?ref=fpa">this</a> from House Speaker John Boehner, one year after he negotiated with the Senate and the White House to create the Budget Control Act and created the "sequester," the automatic budget cuts that are scheduled to kick in at the end of the year.<br /> <blockquote>“It was the president who came up with the sequester because he didn’t want the debt limit to get in the way of his campaign,” said House Speaker John Boehner at his weekly press availability last week. “Now these cuts are looming and he’s nowhere to be found.”<br /> In a private meeting with his conference, Boehner <a href="http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2012/07/24/boehner-pins-blame-obama-defense-cuts">said</a> the sequester exists, “for one reason: because the President of the United States didn’t want to deal with the debt limit again before the presidential election. Because the president didn’t want to be inconvenienced, he came up with the sequester.”</blockquote> You remember how it worked, right? Boehner, under pressure from his insane clown posse caucus, threatened not to allow an increase in the nation's debt ceiling unless there were matching cuts to every new dollar of borrowing authority. So he forced a deal on the White House and Senate by threatening to let the United States go into default. The deal was they all agreed to $1 trillion in cuts over the next 10 years, and the Super Committee was created to come up with $1.5 trillion in additional deficit reduction. If the committee failed, then the automatic cuts kicked in. This was what all the negotiators, Boehner included, agreed to and majorities in both chambers of Congress passed. <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><br /> <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=07_31_blog_BCA"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1653/small/PelosiProject.png?1342813041" alt="Speaker Pelosi project bug" /></a></span></div> <p>But there's way more. Remember what Boehner <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/08/01/eveningnews/main20086598.shtml">said about the deal</a> then? To refresh your memory: "When you look at this final agreement that we came to with the white House, <b>I got 98 percent of what I wanted.</b> I'm pretty happy."</p> <p>Included in that 98 percent of what he wanted are the very defense cuts that he and every other Republican, most of whom voted for the BCA, are now disavowing. It's not particularly convenient for Boehner to acknowledge the truth of this, but he owns the Budget Control Act, even more than President Obama, because it was his unprecedented and dangerous hostage-taking that caused it.</p> <p>Enough of Boehner's hostage-taking, his brinksmanship, and his revisionism. Let's get Nancy Pelosi back in the speaker's chair.</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=07_31_blog_BCA">Please chip $1 to all of the Orange to Blue House candidates on ActBlue.</a></p> rss@dailykos.com (Joan McCarter) Barack Obama BarackObama BudgetControlAct Debt Ceiling DebtCeiling JohnBoehner Sequester SpeakerPelosiProject _1115459 Tue, 31 Jul 2012 20:39:49 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/7/30/1115143/-Republicans-shake-collective-fist-at-sky-cursing-reality-for-interfering-with-politics <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1961/small/dreamstime_xs_10076921.jpg?1343166983" alt="Ear of drought-stricken corn in field" /></span></div> The House Republicans want to spend their last week before the long recess doing their usual shit: <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/30/1115110/-Do-nothing-jobs-jobs-jobs-Republicans-still-banning-stuff-that-doesn-t-exist?detail=hide">banning imaginary abortion practices</a>; more abortion with the H.R. 3803, the "District of Columbia Pain–Capable Unborn Child Protection Act"; dishing out tax cuts to millionaires and billionaires; working on a tax reform bill that will also dish out massive cuts to millionaires and billionaires; and not doing anything whatsoever about jobs and the economy. But then <a href="http://www.rollcall.com/issues/58_13/Drought-Throws-Off-GOP-Focus-on-Tax-Cuts-216529-1.html">pesky things like the worst drought in decades</a> get in the way.<br /> <blockquote>[T]ry as it might to control the message, Congress cannot control the weather. A record drought is ensuring that despite its best efforts, Congress will have to do some actual bipartisan, bicameral legislating before it breaks for the August recess. [...] <p>House leaders grappled with the way forward: Either pass a yearlong extension of the 2008 farm bill with disaster aid attached or pass a stand-alone disaster relief bill. Either route is troublesome politically.</p> <p>And either way, what was once a week meant to highlight the House GOP’s united stand to extend the entirety of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts will now become a quarrel over how to extend—and how to pay for—disaster aid. Rather than heading harmoniously into the August recess, the vote to dole out tens of millions of dollars in disaster aid is problematic for the GOP and highlights its divisions.</p> </blockquote> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=07_30_blog2"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1653/small/PelosiProject.png?1342813041" alt="Speaker Pelosi project bug" /></a></span></div> <p>Darn it. It totally sucks when doing the job you were elected to do gets in the way of meaningless, futile, obstructive politicking. It's even worse when that critical issue you're supposed to be dealing with highlights the fact that the majority of your caucus only cares about meaningless, futile, obstructive politicking.</p> <p>Remember when natural disasters were emergencies and didn't have to be paid for? No one ever talked about <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/09/12/1016164/-Cantor-insists-on-cuts-to-first-responders-to-offset-disaster-aid">cutting funding for first responders</a> in order to pay for disaster relief before this crew took over. Tax cuts, on the other hand? Nope. They <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/01/1087859/-House-Republicans-Bush-tax-cuts-still-don-t-have-to-be-paid-for">never have to be paid for</a>. Saving the nation's food growers? Eh. Food shortages will be good for the riff-raff, anyway.</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=07_30_blog2">Let's restore sanity to the House. Please give $1 to each of the progressive Democrats on the Speaker Pelosi Project page on Act Blue.</a></p> rss@dailykos.com (Joan McCarter) Drought Farm Bill FarmBill House Recommended Republicans SpeakerPelosiProject _1115143 Mon, 30 Jul 2012 21:05:09 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/7/27/1114221/-Democrats-introduce-bill-to-raise-minimum-wage-to-9-80 <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/2168/small/minimum_wage_word_cloud.jpg?1343403854" alt="Word cloud with minimum wage the most prominent words." /></span></div> More than 100 House Democrats <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/240715-dozens-of-house-dems-propose-boosting-minimum-wage-to-980-an-hour">introduced a bill</a> Thursday to raise the minimum wage. Rep. George Miller's proposed legislation would raise the minimum wage to $9.80 over three years, 85 cents per year, then link it to inflation, so that raising it wouldn't have to be a giant political fight every few years. <a href="http://democrats.edworkforce.house.gov/press-release/more-100-house-democrats-introduce-bill-increase-minimum-wage">Tipped workers</a>, who haven't seen their $2.13 minimum wage increased since 1991, would get 85 cent raises until the tipped minimum was 70 percent of the full minimum wage.<br /> <blockquote>"Anyone who works hard and plays by the rules should not live in poverty. Yet 47 million Americans now qualify as the working poor. Raising the minimum wage helps families make ends meet," Miller said in a statement accompanying the bill.</blockquote> If you work at the current minimum wage for 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, with no time off at all, the $15,080 you earn puts you $50 below the poverty threshold for a family of two. That—and the fact that many minimum wage employers keep workers at part-time levels—is why so many working people are forced to rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid and other aid programs. It shouldn't be controversial to say that if you work, you shouldn't be poor. But to today's Republican Party, that counts as a radical statement.<br /> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1653/small/PelosiProject.png?1342813041" alt="Speaker Pelosi project bug" /></span></div> <p>Raising the minimum wage won't even come up for a vote in Speaker John Boehner's House. We need a Democratic majority and Speaker Pelosi for that, just as we did in 2006 when Republicans had been blocking minimum wage increases for years. If ever you're tempted to think there's not enough difference between Democrats and Republicans to bother voting, remember that Democrats are the ones trying to give <a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/raise-minimum-wage/">28 million workers</a> a raise in a way that will <a href="http://www.raisetheminimumwage.com/pages/stimulus">stimulate the economy</a>.</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=07_23_minwage">Please give $3 to help get the speaker's gavel back in Nancy Pelosi's hand so minimum wage workers will have a chance at a raise.</a></p> rss@dailykos.com (Laura Clawson) GeorgeMiller House MinimumWage Orange to Blue OrangetoBlue Recommended SpeakerPelosiProject _1114221 Fri, 27 Jul 2012 16:30:06 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/7/25/1113560/-Majority-of-House-GOP-caucus-wants-to-shut-government-down-over-Obamacare <div class="dkimg-c"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/2026/large/boehnerreidcrying_jonathanernst_reuters.jpeg?1343236510" alt="U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) (2nd L) stifles a sob as he awards astronaut Neil Armstrong (L) with the Congressional Gold Medal at the U.S. Capitol in Washington November 16, 2011. Also pictured is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) (2nd R) and astronaut John Glenn (R)." /></span> <div class="dkimg-cap">John Boehner has good reason to cry, and Harry Reid to smile.</div> </div> Yes, you read that headline right. Thirty-three futile repeal votes and $50 million (and counting) <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/12/1109072/-The-Obamacare-repeal-money-pit-50-million-and-counting">down the drain</a>, and House Republicans are so obsessed with the Affordable Care Act that they're <a href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/07/letter-127-republicans-obamacare-shutdown-john-boehner.php">clamoring to their leadership</a> to shut the government down in October over funding the law.<br /> <blockquote>In a letter (PDF) dated July 18, some 127 House GOP lawmakers urged Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) not to permit “any legislation” to come to the floor that includes Affordable Care Act implementation funds. The implied message: shut down the government unless Democrats agree to defund President Obama’s signature law. <p>“Since much of the implementation of ObamaCare is a function of the discretionary appropriations process, and since most of the citizens we represent believe that ObamaCare should never go into effect, <u>we urge you not to bring to the House floor in the 112th Congress any legislation that provides or allows funds to implement ObamaCare</u> through the Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Health and Human Services, or any other federal entity,” the 127 lawmakers wrote (emphasis in original).</p> </blockquote> <p>So far Boehner seems to not be taking the bait. He's got an uneasy truce right now with the Senate, a basic agreement to just fund the government through continuing resolutions, and says "our goal would be to make sure the government is funded and any political talk of a government shutdown is put to rest.”</p> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1653/small/PelosiProject.png?1342813041" alt="Speaker Pelosi project bug" /></span></div> Too bad for him that the majority of his extreme, insane Republican caucus wants exactly the opposite. Which could mean Boehner has to go to Democrats in order to pass a continuing resolution over the express objections of the majority of his caucus. Which further means Boehner's speakership is in grave danger. If he bucks his majority and passes a continuing resolution that funds the ACA with Democrats, he could make his caucus so pissed off they could dethrone him as leader. If he goes along with their shutdown and makes the Republican House even more unpopular (if that's possible), he faces losing the gavel because Republicans will lose the House. <p>Worst. Congress. Ever. Led by the Worst. Speaker. Ever. Let's make Boehner's predicament even more uncomfortable.</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=07_25_ACAshutdown">Let's help Democrats take back the House and get that gavel back to Nancy Pelosi. Chip in $3 or whatever you can to elect House Democrats</a>.</p> rss@dailykos.com (Joan McCarter) Affordable Care Act AffordableCareAct Government Shutdown GovernmentShutdown JohnBoehner Recommended SpeakerPelosiProject _1113560 Wed, 25 Jul 2012 17:20:15 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/7/24/1113343/-Republican-whip-Yep-still-no-plan-to-deal-with-the-farm-bill <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1961/small/dreamstime_xs_10076921.jpg?1343166983" alt="Ear of drought-stricken corn in field" /></span></div> On Monday, Politico had a <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0712/78832.html">pretty brutal story</a> about how House Republican leadership was purposefully delaying work on the farm bill—despite the agricultural crisis befalling the nation with two-thirds of the country in drought—because it was interfering with political messaging leading up to the election. <p>Apparently, that story created some more bad press and maybe some bad feeling among Republican farm-state members, because leadership sent out the number three House GOP lawmaker, whip Kevin McCarthy, to <a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-congress/2012/07/mccarthy-still-no-plan-to-move-farm-bill-129831.html">try to do some damage control</a>. Bottom line, though, they still don't have real plans to bring up the bill any time soon.<br /></p> <blockquote>A top House Republican said there is still no plan to bring up a bipartisan farm bill, but conceded the chamber might have to pass legislation to help farmers affected by a crippling drought. [...] <p>"It's our intention to get it done," McCarthy told reporters in his Capitol office, noting that Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is opposed to the bill. "So we have to make sure we have the votes, just like [the] transportation bill didn't get done the day it came out of committee either. We have to educate the members and you have to be able to present it. It's our intention to get the farm bill done."</p> </blockquote> Quite the sense of urgency there, huh? Note that Whip McCarthy says nothing about actually whipping votes for the bill. So for the <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/23/1112850/-Speaker-Pelosi-Project-John-Boehner-fiddles-while-farm-states-burn">first time in modern history</a>, Congress is essentially blocking a farm bill solely because the politics of it are too complicated for the speaker to deal with. <p>Worst. Congress. Ever.</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=07_23_farmbill">Put the speaker's gavel back in Nancy Pelosi's hand.</a><br /></p> rss@dailykos.com (Joan McCarter) Farm Bill FarmBill JohnBoehner KevinMcCarthy SpeakerPelosiProject _1113343 Tue, 24 Jul 2012 21:58:35 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/7/24/1113235/-Three-years-at-7-25-is-too-long-It-s-past-time-for-a-minimum-wage-increase <div class="dkimg-c"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1926/large/minimum_wage_stagnates_prices_rise.jpg?1343150405" alt="Bar graph showing price increases in college tuition, milk, gas, and fuel oil since the last time the minimum wage rose." /></span> <div class="dkimg-cap">(<a href="http://www.raisetheminimumwage.com/pages/prices-rise-minimum-wage-stagnates">Raise the Minimum Wage</a>)</div> </div> The last time the minimum wage went up was July 24, 2009. That's three years. During that time, the <a href="http://www.raisetheminimumwage.com/pages/prices-rise-minimum-wage-stagnates">price of milk</a> has increased more than 10 percent, public university tuition and fees have increased more than 15 percent, the price of gas has gone up by nearly 50 percent and the price of fuel oil by more than 50 percent. <p>The federal minimum wage is currently $7.25 an hour, making for a full-time annual income of $15,080; if the minimum wage had kept up with inflation since 1968, it would now be <a href="http://www.raisetheminimumwage.com/facts/entry/amount-with-inflation/">$10.55 an hour</a>, for an annual income of $21,944. Workers in <a href="http://www.raisetheminimumwage.com/facts/">19 states</a> benefit from higher state minimum wages, with 10 states increasing the minimum wage along with inflation. <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/10/1082206/-Raising-the-minimum-wage-The-right-thing-to-do-and-a-winning-issue-too?detail=hide">Many polls</a> find that raising the minimum wage is widely popular, and economists say that doing so would give <a href="http://www.epi.org/publication/raise-minimum-wage/">28 million workers</a> a raise, not just those making $7.25 an hour but millions earning slightly more whose pay would be increased as companies adjusted their pay scales.</p> <p><a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/06/11/1099085/-Democrats-debate-how-much-and-how-fast-to-raise-minimum-wage-Republicans-just-want-it-to-stay-low?detail=hide">Congressional Democrats</a> have proposals to raise the minimum wage, but Republicans, of course, won't hear of it. As individuals, their answers to questions on the subject range from <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/03/16/1075063/-Missouri-Republican-Senate-candidates-don-t-know-what-the-minimum-wage-is-but-wouldn-t-raise-it?detail=hide">befuddled</a> to <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/05/1106491/-Florida-Republican-s-response-to-minimum-wage-question-Get-a-job?detail=hide">hostile</a>, but national Republicans are no more willing to pass an increase than the <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/25/1094732/-New-York-minimum-wage-increase-being-blocked-by-Republicans-would-give-880-000-workers-a-raise?detail=hide">New York</a> Republicans who (with an assist from Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo) blocked such a bill in the state.</p> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1653/small/PelosiProject.png?1342813041" alt="Speaker Pelosi project bug" /></span></div> When Democrats retook Congress in 2006, raising the minimum wage was one of their very first priorities, bringing it to the level it's stuck at today. If Republicans keep Congress, the minimum wage stays stuck—which means its value is eroding every year. <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=07_23_minwage">Please give $3 to help get the speaker's gavel back in Nancy Pelosi's hand so minimum wage workers will have a chance at a raise.</a></p> rss@dailykos.com (Laura Clawson) MinimumWage Orange to Blue OrangetoBlue SpeakerPelosiProject _1113235 Tue, 24 Jul 2012 18:05:37 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/7/23/1112850/-Speaker-Pelosi-Project-John-Boehner-fiddles-while-farm-states-burn <div style="margin:4px auto 4px auto; width:400px; font-size:12px;background-color: #eeeeee; border: 1px solid #999999;padding:5px;"><a href="https://twitter.com/#!/fshakir/status/227404529900064768"><img src="http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/58845381/thumb-pic-1142_normal.jpg" style="float:left;padding:0px;margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px; width:48px; height:48px;" /></a>The House GOP's busy schedule today: 10 naming bills (6 post offices, 3 courthouses, one wildlife center).<br /> <span style="color:#555555;font-style:italic;">— <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/fshakir/status/227404529900064768">@fshakir</a> via <a href="http://www.tweetdeck.com" rel="nofollow">TweetDeck</a></span> <div style="clear:both;"></div> </div> Meanwhile, there's a drought covering <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48258716/ns/technology_and_science-science/#.UA10yzFSQQE">more than two-thirds</a> of the lower 48 states, and farmers across the country have lost this year's crops. Here's what <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0712/78832.html">Republican Speaker John Boehner is doing</a>:<br /> <blockquote>In the midst of a severe drought, the <b>House Republican leaders are proposing to walk away from farm states and decades of precedent by not calling up the new five-year plan before the current law expires Sept. 30.</b> [...] <p>Never before in modern times has a farm bill reported from the House Agriculture Committee been so blocked. POLITICO looked back at 50 years of farm bills and found nothing like this. There have been long debates, often torturous negotiations with the Senate and a famous meltdown in 1995 when the House Agriculture Committee couldn’t produce a bill. But no House farm bill, once out of committee, has been kept off the floor while its deadline passes.</p> </blockquote> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=07_23_blog_bug"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1653/small/PelosiProject.png?1342813041" alt="Speaker Pelosi project bug" /></a></span></div> It's not just dysfunction this time around. It's on purpose. It's out-and-out sabotage. Boeher doesn't want to "disrupt [...] political messaging" and bring the bill to the floor before the November election. He also doesn't want to have the fight within his caucus that's inevitable, with the nihilists demanding even deeper cuts than the Agriculture Committee approved and <a href="http://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana/farmers-press-congress-for-disaster-help-for-drought-losses/article_7ff67ee4-7f2f-5bdb-959f-fddc962b5f17.html">farm-state representatives</a> begging for more help for farmers.<br /> <blockquote>Given Democratic concerns over the depth of the food stamp cuts already made, Boehner says there are not 218 votes for passage. Rather than wrestle with this problem, it’s easier to run out the clock with symbolic anti-red tape, anti-tax votes on which the GOP is more united.</blockquote> Just when you think the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/07/13/13-reasons-why-this-is-the-worst-congress-ever/">worst Congress ever</a> couldn't be worse, there you go. <p>There's an answer. The <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/22/1112147/-Nag-alert-Fundraising-season-is-upon-us">Speaker Pelosi Project</a> is it. We have to get the House back to have a Congress, a government, that functions at all. <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=07_23_blog">We do that by taking back the House, one seat at a time</a>.</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=07_23_blog">Please chip in $3 or whatever you can to get the speaker's gavel back in Nancy Pelosi's hand.</a></p> rss@dailykos.com (Joan McCarter) Drought Farm Bill FarmBill JohnBoehner Nancy Pelosi NancyPelosi SpeakerPelosiProject _1112850 Mon, 23 Jul 2012 16:37:42 +0000 https://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/7/24/1110601/-Republican-debt-ceiling-fight-cost-taxpayers-at-least-1-3-billion <div class="dkimg-c"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1921/large/mcconnell_boehner_550.jpeg?1343147378" alt="Republican leaders Senator Mitch McConnell (R) and John Boehner speak after a bipartisan meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House in Washington June 10, 2010. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS)" /></span> <div class="dkimg-cap">Terrorists: Sen. Mitch McConnell and Speaker John Boehner. (Reuters)</div> </div> Hey, thanks Republicans! Your fight last year over raising the debt ceiling didn't just result in the first time in history <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/05/1003750/-S-P-downgrade-John-Boehner-got-98-of-what-he-wanted">the nation's credit rating was downgraded.</a> It didn't just <a href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/01/chart-how-the-debt-limit-fight-hurt-the-economy-delayed-recovery.php">hurt the economy</a> or <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/07/09/obamas-tough-choice-on-the-bush-tax-cuts/">disrupt the economic recovery</a>, halt job growth, and wreck consumer confidence. It also <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/2chambers/post/how-much-did-last-years-debt-fight-cost-taxpayers/2012/07/23/gJQAD5I94W_blog.html">cost taxpayers $1.3 billion</a> and counting, according to the Government Accountability Office.<br /> <blockquote>The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office said Monday that the $1.3 billion in costs came as the result of increased borrowing costs for the Treasury Department. The final cost is expected to climb higher as multi-year obligations and other outstanding costs are added later. <p>Why did it cost so much money? Because as lawmakers and President Obama fought over the details, the Treasury Department had to suspend investments in several funds for federal employees, postal workers and other reserves in order to pay the nation’s financial obligations, the GAO said. Treasury then had to spend more money and time after the fight to restore those funds.</p> </blockquote> <div class="dkimg-r"><span class="image_container"><img src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/1653/small/PelosiProject.png?1342813041" alt="Speaker Pelosi project bug" /></span></div> What's worse is that they're promising to do it again. House Speaker John Boehner, just a few months ago, said that the <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/15/1091893/-John-Boehner-Bring-on-the-next-debt-ceiling-hostage-crisis">next debt ceiling</a> hike provides another opportunity, is an "action-forcing event" for more hostage-taking. He's aided and abetted by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/08/03/1002778/-Mitch-McConnell-takes-a-permanent-hostage-the-debt-ceiling">promises</a> more, too. He calls it a "hostage that's worth ransoming," and promised that "never again" will the debt ceiling be raised "without having to engage in the kind of debate we’ve just come through." As long as McConnell has a Republican House to work with, he can make good on that promise. <p>Remember the supposed reason Republicans started this whole fight? The deficit. Saving money for taxpayers. Right. America can't continue to afford this Republican Congress. We need to take it back.</p> <p><a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/speakerpelosi?refcode=07_23_blog">Please chip in $3 or whatever you can to get the speaker's gavel back in Nancy Pelosi's hand.</a><br /></p> rss@dailykos.com (Joan McCarter) 2012 Debt Ceiling DebtCeiling JohnBoehner MitchMcConnell O2B SpeakerPelosiProject _1110601 Tue, 24 Jul 2012 16:32:13 +0000