https://crooksandliars.com/cltv/2010/08/giffords-ad
Rep. Gabby Giffords is the perfect example of why Democrats in Congress should shun Blue Dogs.
Howie Klein explains:
Giffords is looking like the point of the Blue Dog spear being thrust into the House progressive infrastructure. As we pointed out over the weekend, despite Pelosi’s efforts to tamp it down, the Blue Dogs are going on the warpath against progressive Democrats, using Henry Waxman’s interview with The Hill as an excuse. One thing we can always be sure of inside the Democratic Caucus– well, two, actually: Blue Dogs will always put self-preservation above the party’s principles, and the DCCC will do whatever it can to help them get re-elected.
Giffords is emblematic of the tragic turn the House Democratic Party has taken. Over the weekend she launched a $350,000 ad buy in the Tucson media market that slams the principled stand Grijalva took against SB1070– throwing him directly under the bus in order to make herself look sufficiently xenophobic for the bloodthirsty Know Nothing mobs. As you can see in the ad, she makes a solemn vow to fight “these groups” who have protested this unjust law by boycotting the state. “These groups” include Latinos, liberals, and citizens across the country who know an injustice when they see one. She’s directly targeting Grijalva, Arizona’s most progressive leader and the Congressman who most consistently stands up for those who are hurt by the right wing’s agenda.
We hear that other campaigns, pollsters, donors and politicians joined Grijalva’s staff in futile attempts to show Giffords the obvious– Democrats using other Democrats as punching bags is bad news for everyone. And when DCCC leaders, such as Vice Chair Wasserman Schultz, were approached with the argument that Giffords should not run the ad for obvious reasons, the argument fell on deaf ears. (Instead, they’re rewarding her behavior with close to a million dollars in independent expenditures.) It’s bad enough when so-called Democrats habitually vote against our agenda to save their seats, often with DCCC prompting. Now they’re spending Democratic money to hurt real Democrats to save their seats.
Rep. Raul Grijalva is one of the true heroes in Arizona. He stood up against Arizona’s odious and racist SB 1070 law when it was passed when most politicians remained silent. Howie, Digby and myself are supporting Grijalva’s re-election bid because of his spine so we started an Act Blue page called: One America. We’ve raised over 4,000 dollars for him so far. Please pitch in if you can. The racism and xenophobia that we are witnessing is emblematic of the tried and true race-baiting tactics that the extreme right revels in and and it’s seeping in to Democratic campaigning now too. Unfortunately for this great nation, our history is littered with this intolerable technique at the expense of minorities that live here. It’s sad and embarrassing. The way to battle this kind of cancer is to point it out and expose it to the sunlight. Like all malignant ideas, bringing light to darkness always has a cleansing effect.
Howie talked to Grijalva before we started to run these stories and his latest quote nails the situation perfectly:
“I kind of feel like a character in the movie The Expendables,” he told me. “In an effort to maintain their presence in Congress, Blue Dogs are throwing progressives under the bus. I find it disheartening and, quite frankly, I am embarrassed as a Democrat. In their effort to be Republicans, Blue Dogs often paint progressives as expendable. They’re going to find out that we definitely are not.”
Were it not for progressives, this country may never have recovered after the Great Depression. The rewriting of history has been going on for decades since FDR died and with the economy in the tank, conservatives turn to these tactics over and over again. It’s too bad that the Blue Dogs have joined their out of tune chorus so remember: bring some disinfectant.
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