I am calling Congressman Kissell's office tomorrow and telling him that if he does not vote to support Health Care reform, my vote in the Primary is going to his opponent Nancy Shakir. These are my reasons why. First if health care reform fails, the Republicans will take over both the House and Senate after this year's election because the Democratic base will be thoroughly demoralized and will not turn-out. Kissell will be a second term back-bencher with no influence if he wins and if the Republican candidate wins he will just be another rabid radical conservative among many. If the Democrats hold the house and Kissell wins great. Iff he does not, well the Republican winner will be a first term Congressman from the minority party, capable of embarrassing us, but not much else.
The bottom line is, the only chance we have of holding onto the House is to pass health care reform. Call your Democratic Congressman and tell them to vote for the Senate bill
Politico reports Heath Shuler and the rest of the Blue Dogs are ready to kill the jobs bill because it requires a waver of the pay-go rules and would slightly increase the deficit. I guess Heath thinks that a decade of double digit unemployment is better than growing the deficit. He must have flunked Macro Econ in college. The Blue Dogs and the rest of the neo-Hooverites are determined to replay the Great Depression.
P.S. There are plenty of economist who are saying that a short term increase of the deficit by a jobs bill will actually decrease the deficit in the long run, by putting people back to work and returning tax revenues back to normal. Don't forget that 1/3 to 1/2 of the existing deficit is from decreased tax revenues caused by the economy cratering.
I started my own little boycott, by not donating to any Federal State or local Democratic candidates or organization like the DCCC until we get health care reform passed. I have been telling that to any group that calls and have called the DNC and NCDP and told them my reasons why.
Many of us worked our tails off in 2008 to elect a Democrat to the White House and a Democrat majority to the Congress. If these guys can't deliver on our key issue why are we supporting them? We did our part, now it is time for them to do theirs.
Is Republican Tim D’Annunzio, who is running for the Republican Congressional primary in NC-8, advocating a armed insurrection if Democrats maintain control of the White House and Congress in 2012? Check out this quote in the Stanly News and Press from a meeting Tim had with local Republicans in Stanly County.
When questioned by a member of the audience as to whether he was merely testing the waters or was ready for war with the current administration, D’Annunzio assured everyone of his commitment.
“I’m not tip-toeing. This is a profound time, the most important time since 1776 and the last time we have a chance to so peacefully,” he said. “In 2010, the best we can hope for is to stop the socialist move, then in 2012, we win back the presidency and ’repeal’ becomes the word of the day.”
From the humiliation of loosing Ted Kennedy's seat, to the absence of leadership from President and to the spectacle of the Democrats in Congress running around like chickens with their heads cut off, in this past week I have never been so embarrassed to be a Democrat in my life.
In today's (Dec 6) Stanly News and Press I read with disgust Larry Kissell latest betrayal of the progressive Democrats who worked hard to get him elected. Seems that Larry is disappointed that Congress didn't repeal the Estate Tax. Estate Tax? I just can't figure out why Kissell is supporting the repeal of the Estate Tax. Healthcare and TARP funds are a high profile issues, so I can understand his attempts to appease conservatives by voting against these issues. But outside of politically active conservatives and progressives and the very few people who the tax would impact, no voter in District 8 really cares about the estate tax. Nobody is going into the polls next election thinking, "Gee Congressman Kissell worked hard t o repeal the estate tax, I think I am going to vote for him". If Larry thinks that he is going to get the vote of the anti-tax conservative, he is fooling himself because they will never vote for a Democrat.
As Progressives we have to arm ourselves with the facts about the economy and what is the best course of action to reduce the effects of our current crisis. The wing nuts are in full cry, blaming the meltdown on Freddy Mac and Fannie Mae and the Democrats. One of the best articles on how Freddy and Fannie were not the cause of this mess is Private sector loans, not Fannie or Freddie, triggered crisis by Goldstein and Hall published by McClatchy Newspapers.
My blogging on using CiviCRM relationship management software is on hold till after the election. Most of my spare time is going to canvassing for Larry Kissell and Obama. I should pick it up again in January. Anyone interested in making this a collaborative effort, please feel free to email me.
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