Give Boehner A Tanning He Won’t Forget
by digby
Howie will host a Blue America chat at 1 PM (PDT) this afternoon over at C&L with our newest endorsement, an exciting candidate who’s taking on none other than John “ManTan” Boehner. Howie wrote:
To find a “better”– in every sense of the term– House Speaker than Nancy Pelosi, you either have to go back in history from way before my time or you have to take some mighty powerful psychedelics. The idea of replacing the most progressive Speaker in any of our lifetimes with one as reactionary– not to mention corrupt– as John Boehner is… well, just unthinkable. But when you look at the DCCC Front Line list of their most vulnerable incumbents… well, with a few exceptions– Alan Grayson (D-FL), Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH), Mary Jo Kilroy (D-OH), Dan Maffei (D-NY), Mark Schauer (D-MI), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Gary Peters (D-MI), Steve Kagen (D-WI), Jim Himes (D-CT)– who could even root for this motley crew of Blue Dogs and aisle-crossing cowards?
So… the best thing would be to play offense and help elect some progressives in open red seats, beat some Blue Dogs in primaries and then make sure they win in the general election in November, and, best of all, take on some Republicans and beat them outright. Blue America has been trying to help with all three tactics. Our main GOP incumbents so far have been Virginia Foxx (NC) and Ken Calvert (CA), where we have excellent progressive challengers in Billy Kennedy and Bill Hedrick. This week we added a third candidate, in the toughest race of all: Justin Coussoule, taking on the would-be Speaker, John Boehner, in western Ohio.
Justin will join us today (at 1pm, EST) at Crooks and Liars for a live session. You’ll find an exceptional young man, a West Point graduate and former Army officer, married for 10 years and the father of two young children. An attorney, he worked as a legislative assistant for outstanding progressive Rep. Maurice Hinchey, started and ran a small business and currently works for Procter & Gamble.
On Monday he did a guest post about John Boehner’s role in trying to make sure we can’t ever hold Wall Street accountable. Read it; it’ll give you some background about how he thinks and where he’s coming from.
And read the rest of Howie’s post to see just what a great candidate he is. As he points out, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that he could win. And God knows it’s worth having somebody challenge him and ask some of those touchy questions he doesn’t want asked. Keep in mind that in an anti-incumbent year very strange things can happen. It’s not like Boehner’s popular or anything:
Boehner received the lowest favorability rating (just 12%) of any elected official evaluated by respondents. Boehner’s favorable rating was lower than the President, Congress in general, the Democratic leadership, the Senate minority leader and even the IRS. And the poll was conducted by none other than Fox News. The poll results only confirm 8th District voters’ frustration with Boehner’s now legendary rants, emotional outbursts, degrading remarks and unprofessional conduct.
A reflection of that is that Boehner is facing two mainstream conservatives in a primary challenge and two teabaggers in the general, one a Libertarian and one the Constitutional Party nominee. The Tea Party itself is a big deal in western Ohio and the one thing they all remember about Boehner is that he voted for the bank bailout twice and twisted other Republicans’ arms to vote for it after it failed to pass the first time. Without Boehner, the bill would never have passed. Teabaggers– basically angry Republican activists– voting for the third-party candidates or staying away, or even voting for Justin, could help defeat Boehner.
Join us at 1PM at C&L and chat with Blue America candidate for congress Justin Coussoule.
Update: Alan grays sez:
Dear Ohio:
You have a choice.
You can elect a Congressman who spent five years as a West Point graduate in the service of our country, or you can elect a Congressman who spent eight weeks in the military and then quit.
You can elect a Congressman who will fight the lobbyists, or you can elect a Congressman who handed out tobacco lobby checks on the Floor of the House, when the House was voting on a tobacco bill.
You can elect a Congressman who will prevent bailouts, or you can elect a Congressman who bailed out of the stock market minutes after he attended an emergency meeting with the Treasury Secretary and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve.
You can elect a Congressman who will work hard to create jobs, or you can elect a Congressman who works hard on his tan.
You can elect a Congressman who will spend his time working hard to improve your lives, or you can elect a Congressman who will spend his time playing golf.
It’s your choice. I know whom I’d choose. And it ain’t the guy in the white shorts:
