Attacking the Belly of the Beast?

Late last night (though most people would call 8:30 early) my phone vibrated and I got an emailed response to yesterday's posting "Not the Time For Kumbaya" (you can read it at the bottom). 

Not only am I more than gracious for the time the responder, Rich Cutrona, took to read the post, and the well thought out, articulate point of view he chose to take, I'm equally grateful for the light-bulb that he seemed to turn on in my head, and hopefully yours. Rich concludes with the following: 

However, because we live in America, I still have the ability to make a choice. I choose to fight with and for those who would fight for me. I choose ethics, social justice, and environmental responsibility. I will do everything within my power to aid in the creation of a left of center, progressive political party free from the shackles of corporate plutocracy. I will choose and vote Green. Never again will I sit back and be complicit in the lethal status quo…………………………. never again.

I'm not going to rehash the eternal battle that takes place between my heart (Green) and my head (Democrat). I registered as a Democrat on November 4, 2004 - the day after George W Bush beat John Kerry - who basically wrote the antithesis of another Democratic Massachusetts Senator and Presidential Candidate and called it "Profiles in Cowardice". My line of thinking was if I'm going to vote for this party, I'm going to have a say in this party. 

I'd be extremely generous if I were to say the results were mixed at best.

Moving away from that debate though, what Rich said struck a nerve. Sure, most of us on the political left would love a thoughtful, respectful, intelligent, diverse and socially conscious answer to the Tea Party: a united national network and a platform to air our grievances as one voice. Many of us thought we had that in 2008 but those we empowered squandered their political capitol faster than a gutter drunk at a blackjack table.

Too fast too soon? Maybe. A true Green Grassroots effort has always seemed like it's been percolating near the surface of the political establishment but utterly incapable of breaking through into the mainstream. I'm starting to think that the ultimate failures are a result of misplaced ambition. Simply put: We're a bunch of Junior Varsity Quarterbacks attempting to make the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Be it Ned Lamont defeating - then losing to - Joe Lieberman in Connecticut, or the near upset of Blanche Lincoln in a useless attempt to retain the Arkansas Senate seat in a toxic environment (or even Ralph Nader's eternal quest for 3% of the presidential vote), we're bypassing the foundation: The House of Representatives.

Using the Tea Party as a top-of-the-head example: they carried the GOPricks to an overwhelming House Majority, yet in turn, thanks to batshit crazy lunatics like Christine O'Donnell and Sharon Angle, cost the Republicans what should have been a Senate Majority. (To say nothing of the scorn and unreliability they now face with Lisa Murkowski in Alaska).

I don't have the numbers in front of me, but a substantial number of Senators got their start in the House of Representatives. By design, a House seat is extremely easier to pick off from an incumbent than a Senate seat. The past few electoral cycles alone have seen double digit swings in seats for both parties. It's much more volatile.

Furthermore - and this is where Rich's words truly resonated - where better to launch the offensive than in conservative districts of blue states? I'll point directly to my home district: New Jersey's 5th. Represented by the uber right wing warrior Scott Garrett, who never misses the opportunity to provide verbal and financial fellatio to the banks, gun nuts, pro-lifers and the rest of the Republican establishment.  

Granted, the NJ-5 is tailor made for Republican control. The extreme wealth of Upper Bergen County meets the Hunters Guild and Bitter White Man brigade of Sussex County and throw in all of the Rapture-anticipating Warren County and it's pretty safe to say Barry Goldwater's urn could take this Seat with 60% of the vote. 

Except it can't. In his first four elections, Garrett teetered between 55% - 59% of the vote. Impressive indeed. He hit 65% of the vote in this past election, the overwhelming Republican wave. But look a little deeper. In midterm years, he recorded 118,881 (2002), 112,11242 (2006), and 119,478 this year, 2010. All while running against completely unqualified, rather conservative and absolutely unfunded Democratic competition. I voted against Garrett in the three elections that I lived in the district and still had to look up the names of the people I voted for.

Yet this collection of misfits and losers managed to crack 40% in all but 2002. It's a seat that the GOP takes for granted and with good reason: the Democrats have completely abandoned it. Would this not be the place to start? Would a seemingly comfortable congressman like Garrett be much more inclined to be caught off guard than a Republican in a 50/50 district that forces both he or she and the Democratic candidate to run to the middle to the point of being indistinguishable?  

It's extremely Pollyanna to believe somebody like Bernie Sanders could win in NJ's 5th. Until you compare the demographics of Vermont to those of Northwest NJ. 

I do NOT believe that this is a question of "How?" 

It's a matter of "Who?"

Decision 2010: The Running Diary of a Liberal with the Flu

I love Election Night. Some more than others. This year, I've been home all day - possibly with the flu - dozing in and out of cable news coverage. With a stomach full of chicken soup (for the Democrats, who didn't have the testicular fortitude to run on their own accomplishments) and a head full of mucus (for the Republicans, cause, well, fuck them), I'm hopped up and ready to go. Let the games begin....

6:20 - This tweet from @HotlineJosh: Exit polls show Rubio +21 in #FLSEN pretty much sums up what type of night it's going to be. I know Rubio's going to take this down, the lovely Tea Party anti-immigrant Cuban that he is, but +21 is a bad, bad sign. 

6:22 - Memo to Lester Holt: Lisa Loeb would like her glasses back

6:40 - Chris Von Hollen (D-Ma) with his best "Baghdad Bob" impersonation by basically saying the pundits are wrong and there is no GOP Wave. Meanwhile, Mike Pence (R-IN), who's race has already been called is claiming that the people will be rewarded for their vote by having their favorite corporations and billionaires have their taxes cut. Maybe it will help the Texas Rangers keep Cliff Lee?  

6:48 - I'm very disappointed. I spent 5 minutes looking for FOX News on my television, and when I finally find it, it's a clip of Obama speaking with a massive "UNIVISION" logo emphasizing that this President speaks to Latinos. I was seriously expecting to see Britt Hume doing lines off of Ann Coulter's ass and Sean Hannity pouring champagne over a Ronald Reagan Collector's Plate. For what it's worth: Nobody on their "B" team expects Obama to be be as graceful and dignified as Bush was in 2006.  

6:54 - YES! The Bush Memoir leaks have begun!!!!! This suddenly brought me joy: "President George W. Bush considered dumping Vice President Dick Cheney from his 2004 reelection ticket to dispel the myths about Mr. Cheney’s power in the White House and “demonstrate that I was in charge,” the former president says in a new memoir." Now that's the petulant, spoiled little bitch I remember!

7:00 - OUR FIRST RESULTS. Rand Paul in Kentucky. Important to know this seat is not switching parties. Well, unless you wanna claim it's the crusty old angry party of Jim Bunning to the young, enthusiastic, stupid and racist party of Rand Paul. I'm actually looking forward to his career. Dan Coats in Indiana, that's technically a switch with Evan Bayh (D) retiring. Well, it's a switch if you ever really believed Bayh when he said he was a Democrat. Jim DeMint in South Carolina, easily reelected. His growing more entertainingly dangerous by the hour. Patrick Leahy in Vermont, old reliable. Even if he looks like a shady secret society master of the universe. Georgia, between Incumbent Republican Johnny Isakson and a black guy even I've never heard of is "too early to call". 
The Republicans, who need to pick up 10 seats, have picked up 1. 

7:08 Rachel Maddow just threw Evan Bayh under the bus. Love it. "The Democrats will miss Evan Bayh's senate seat. They won't miss Evan Bayh". Meanwhile, Howard Fineman's basically reporting Rand Paul spent lots of time in Mitch McConnell's bicycle shop.  

7:13 Seeing all these fancy high-tech polling/counting graphics and gimmicks makes me long for Tim Russert and his erasable white board. Then again, everything makes me miss Tim Russert.  

7:19 45% of Indiana voters support the Tea Party. I move that if any state breaks 50% on that issue, they have to secede. In other news, WHDH is reporting that Barney Frank's camp is "worried". That'd be a major score for the GOP along with MSNBC, cause you know that 11PM timeslot is being held for "Let's Be Frank". 

7:44 Rob Portman, former Bush budget guy wins Ohio's Senate seat. Bush's budget guy. Kinda like being Ghandi's chef, no?  

7:50 Comment of the evening courtesty of Paul Begala: We have a black president. May now get an "Orange Speaker."

7:55 MSNBC, you do yourself no favors by continuing to air those 9/11 Truther commercials for Building 7. Even if I agree.  

8:03 POLL CLOSINGS. Ding Dong the Witch is Dead. Christine O'Donnell, you can go away now. Or, make a reality show about Alaska. It's up to you. Joe Biden's seat is safe. West Virginia is "Too Early To Call" with Joe Manchin in the lead. Pennsylvania is too close to call. And in other news, while recapping my day, my wife informed me that I've taken an unhealthy amount of Mucinex today. And Rachel Maddow is still railing against Evan Bayh. I'm beginning to think there's something more to this. If Rachel wasn't out of the closet and Bayh wasn't an android, I'd assume there was a tryst at one point in their lives that didn't end well.  

8:10 O'Donnell strikes again. Democrats took the lone Delaware House Seat. Incumbent Mike Castle left to run for senate, Sarah and her minions blessed the witch, the rest of the state told her to get the F out, and Castle's seat rode the mini wave. Lovely. Sarah Palin cost the GOP Delaware's Senate and House seat. Keep that in mind.  

8:22 More exit poll data. In 1994 and 2010, 56% of people thought the government was doing too much. In 2008, 52% didn't. OK, all you assholes in that 4%: WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT FROM YOUR FUCKING GOVERNMENT? Please stop hijacking our electorate and giving life to people like Sharon Angle and Rand Paul.  

8:25 First African-American Republican elected to next Congress -- AP calls #SC01 for Tim Scott (R).  So, um, does Tim have any nieces or nephews?

8:28 Linda McMahon's down for the count. It's refreshing that in this climate, and with the Democrats running a useless, sneaky, fourth rate candidate in Dick Blumenthal, the voters still can't bring themselves to vote for the woman who may or may not be responsible for the death of Ravishing Rick Rude.  

8:35 West Virginia goes to Manchin. By may calculations, the GOP's got to win basically everything else to take the Senate. In sadder news though, Alan Grayson's going home. That dude told it like it was. Could have used more of him.  

8:50 You know who's useless? Michael Steele.  

8:54 Chris Matthews is schooling Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) on what exactly these phantom spending cuts will be. Per this twit: Not social security, not defense, not medicare, not medicaid, extend the Bush tax cuts. I'm actually getting pretty excited about this pending Republican House. My prediction: No Cuts, Lots of Gay Bashing.  

9:00 And we have an Orange Speaker. Another First.