Login Here
A group of 21 Blue Dogs are actively pushing for telecom immunity. They recently sent a letter to Nancy Pelosi telling her that they planned to join with Republicans to pass it, and encouraged her to put up the Senate version of the bill expressly for that purpose.
These are the same House members who do this again and again when it comes to any legislation that isn't horribly corporatist and regressive. They hold the Democratic party hostage, and can effectively passing legislation most any time they want to join with the Republicans to do so.
We effectively gave them a scare when we took out robocalls and a newspaper ad against five of the Democratic house members who refused to vote for the passage of SCHIP. Four of the five subsequently flipped their votes and in the end, only one Democrat -- Jim Marshall -- voted against it.
We want to do it again, but we want your help. As Glenn Greenwald says today, we've chosen six of the worst House members who have announced their intention to vote for retroactive immunity, and we want you to vote on which ones we should target with ads in their district.
The six are Leonard Boswell, Chris Carney, John Barrow, Zach Space, Brad Ellworth and Heath Shuler.
You can vote here. We want to know what you think -- who should set an example for this betrayal of the public trust?
Share This 
Spotlight
Support this site!
Keep up with news
Advertise on Firedoglake
Send us your tips
Make us your homepage
About Firedoglake
Advanced search
Hi Jane!
I’ve already been there and done that. I had the distinct pleasure of voting for my DINO critter John Barrow.
Carney, defintiely.
Senator Casey is anti-immunity. Congressman Fattah is anti-immunity.
Chris Carney lied to Blue America to get money and endorsements. FISA is the icing on the cake.
Target Carney: make an example out of him.
I don’t know enough about these guys to decide. On what they have done on other issues is important to know.
Hi Jane,
NYT is reporting that some dems are pulling together a new proposal that would let courts decide, but of course, this bluedog pack would oppose it. I go back to fish out the link from the last thread.
hard to pick just one…
I’m an Iowa boy, so I had to vote for our own home-grown asshole, Leonard Boswell.
Re-Post..Maybe all hope isn’t lost:
NYT
I wouldn’t go after any of em who are in a very red district- you’ll only get a gooper replacement. Pick the bluest districts
H/T Steve-AR
House Steers it own path on wiretaps.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03.....8xww9bI34g
(sorry my link button isn’t working)
Carney—no doubt in my mind. He’s a double crosser—wooed us then screwed us. Some of the others we didn’t expect much from when they ran. Carney, feh.
Oh! what you said! *g*
Ain’t he a stinkah? He’s garnering quite the reputation.
early prediction: this vote, on *this* site, is gonna make Carney an easy “winner”…
This may well be true, and would definitely be helped by neutralizing the Bush Dog contingent.
So vote away…
We need to use him as primo example of what happens to those who present as one person and then turn out to be someone else.
I agree with this. Let’s pick the district we can most likely win with a Blue America candidate.
Not gonna push a button tho’ I’d prefer shuler since he’s my critter but, when ya had a choice between helms and him, ya takes what ya gets. Insufficient data to make an informed decision among the others. Will defer to the collective wisdom of the Lake.
Jane, do you have a a Bush dog in the group above you dislike the most?
Carney WAS a Blue America candidate last cycle. That’s what’s so nauseating.
Barrow Barrow Barrow and Barrow
My vote notwithstanding, revenge on Carney is a tempting prospect. A dish best served cold….
Yes, but Howie’s got the antennas much more finely tuned now.
Of this list, who came to Blue America for support and pulled a doublecross? That is to separate them from the likes of Andreau who is a major outfront Bush Dog. At least I know where she stands.
Carney, with prejudice.
Carney.
Remember - not only did he do the woo and screw, but Blue American spent a lot of capital on him rather than the “just about any other Dem” who could have won against the prior occupant of that seat, a Rethuglican (Don Sherwood) who almost strangled his mistress and paid a settlement to her for it. Sherwood, it needs be remembered, almost lost his Republican primary to a schoolteacher who spent like about $500 on campaigning.
And, then, Carney also was the beneficiary of a sort-of promise from Murtha for a good seat (IIRC, on appropriations) if he’d bring in PA-10.
Finally, Carney seems more than a bit spooky, given his intel-type reserve duty at the Pentagon pre-election.
I could be persuaded to go for Shuler, though, because I always hated the bad way he played football.
absolutely. We need to use Carney as an example to the folks we do support of what happens should they even think of going blue dog.
Gotta run. See ya’ll later.
Oh, and I forgot one more thing about Carney - he was all pro-gay until he got elected, and then wouldn’t give them the time of day.
Just to repeat the name of individuals willing to sellout the people for telecoms.
Jane, why have you not focused on Geraldine Ferraro and her statements claiming that BO is “lucky” to be “black”. This is bad stuff from Gerry and the Clintons and it needs to be reviewed.
there are only so many scandals per minute and immunity is a big issue for this community.
I agree. I’m willing to bet he was always a Bushie but wasn’t vetted. If he’s a doublecrosser, he has no trouble lying.
are you asking the media to influence the vote. Shame on you, AZ Matt!!
:P
Carney was the one I voted for.
OT - today, in Indianapolis, is the special election for the replacement of the late Julia Carson. Her grandson Andre is the D candidate, and from what I’ve seen, he looks pretty good. He’s also done some very effective advertising - during the night of the March 4 primaries, he was all over MSNBC.
Don’t really know who the R candidate is - wasn’t paying attention to that when I voted.
I’ll try to update here as soon as I can this evening.
oy …look at all the ones in Tn….many panty sniffers in TN
Both of the AR-Dems are in un-opposed elections in ‘08..they have no excuse.
Jane -
Besides Carney, who did Blue America support who revealed their true selves ad Bush Dogs once elected? I’d like to focus on those who took the money and violated our trust.
I’m still not buying what’s his face from texas that keeps showing up here.
Chris Carney is by far the worst..he even fooled Howie (not easy to do) into supporting him. Of all of the Dems, he should be targeted for defeat. I would even consider sending money to his Thug opponent.
gah, i don’t want to know.
votes only plz
1,783 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…
Citizen Hardin Smith and the Firepup Freedom Fighters:
“…we want you to vote on which ones we should target with ads in their district.”
Hit em all!!! Coordinate with MoveOn and others…leverage the money and hit ‘em all!!!
KEEP THE FAITH AND PASS THE AMMUNITION…DON’T LET ANY A THE BASTARDS OFF THE HOOK!!
frustrating! why do they caucus against the party?
fuk’n pugs push their battles onto the dem party so it can sluged out there.
you’re on a roll today!
Pure political calculation here:
Iowa-small state.
Georgia-unlikely to do any better.
N. Carolina-Shuler unlikely to lose.
Indiana-insufficient data.
Either Space in Ohio, or Carney in PA…since Carney is a personal case, let’s deal with him first.
Boswell already has a primary challenger, Ed Fallon, so ads against Boswell would have the greatest impact, because he could be voted out very quickly with our help. So I voted for Boswell.
And I chipped in $100 bucks for the campaign.
((Shamed, he hangs his head… .))
its so amazing to me…the forrest through the trees gig
John Barrow has the 223 worst progressive voting record in the House, with a score of 67. Compared to the Thugs, however, he is a F***ing liberal. The “best” Thug has a score of 31 and most are in single digits.
Dems in right, right wing states, are voted in by right wing Dems. Personally, I never understood why they just didn’t go Republican. That is a serious mystery to me. Probably because they want to get elected so register as Democrat. Now you have a chance in a crowded field. Basically, these are close to being a one party state.
Here are states I just don’t trust: Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee. I’m sure you can add to this list and I’ll accept your prejudice.
Do any of them have primary challengers?
TENN…is the state FDR rescued with the TVA Ten Valley Auth…dumb asswipes would still be using Kerosene lights if dems didnt care
[Mod Note; nice way to take a swipe at an entire state’s population.]
1,783 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…
Citizen Hardin Smith:
Why can’t we put the pressure where it belongs, on Mrs. Pelosi…she’s the God damned Speaker of the House, she should be able to put some serious pain on those bastards… concentrate on public and constant pressure on Pelosi, she’s got all the weight necessary ta bring those fuckers into line if she really wanned to.
Jest askin’.
KEEP THE FAITH AND LET’S THROW THE WHOLE BUNCH OF ‘EM OUT WITH THE BATHWATER!!
Yea, and if he loses he’ll move back here and I’ll have to look at his sorry ass walking around in those stupid bicycle costumes they wear!
Amen to that! My sentiments exactly!
hahahahaha…U funny
zach space-ohio
his district is just north of me.
i don’t know how much good it would do to run an ad against him, his area leans republican, that’s why he keeps voting the way he does. but the farmers like him, in fact a lot of people like him. but i don’t know that telco immunity is something that is going to resonate with this crowd.
the time to do something would have been the primary.
the republican challenger for the general was on the radio here a few weeks ago, a lot of people phoned in after, that they liked the repub candidate. and zach.
so, i don’t know what kind of affect it would have here in order influence him.
and a lot of the area is kindof in no-man’s land when it comes to tv stations and large area radio……..so, don’t know how that would be done, either.
dunno
He is such a dork.
Hey Raven,
Missed your Havlicek remark below. I love(d) the Celtics! They so rocked. I have to admit though it was pretty sweet when Warriors beat em this season. Woohoo!
well, i voted for carney because of the weasel factor. and i also very much agree with rwcole about picking the place where it’s easiest to win.
Hondo! I love Russell.
FWIW, I think that Ellsworth, contemptible though he be, is a pretty accurate reflection of his constituency in the Indiana 8th. I rather suspect that the district will be hotly contested by the Republicans (who only really lost it because the former representative, John Hostettler, is batshit crazy), and I doubt that Ellsworth will feel a lot of pressure to tack left - that could only hurt him in his district.
I suspect that he’s not the highest value target in the current campaign.
Lots of tasty data in this openleft diary.
If you were to vote on the basis of who won their seat with the largest %, that would be Zach Space. Based on the partisan voter index (PVI) in this open left diary, that would be Leonard Boswell.
Candidate PVI 2006 win %
John Barrow R+ 2 50%
Leonard Boswell D +1.4 52%
Chris Carney R +8.0 53%
Brad Ellworth R +8.5 61%
Heath Shuler R +7.1 54%
Zach Space R +6.1 62%
Don’t give up on the House dems yet, the House will be revealing its new FISA proposal today, apparently and from reports, it may not actually be that bad. Not great but it will likely do the job of keeping this issue alive and it’s not a cave.
DKos post has more info.
which what’s his face is that?
You ever see the HBO special on the ABA?
Is the term “retroactive immunity” a legal term - or a Bush term that attempts to create reality with labels? Has it ever been used in law school or court to explain a legal action? I know it is used for tax legislation, for dating a tax rule. I’ve never heard of “retroactive” for criminal law or used especially to single out one group for special treatment. Couldn’t then the legislative branch view what’s going on in a court case and change the outcome with passage of a law? Say, your friend is in state court on an arson charge for his deserted 3-story office building. You go to your legislator and convince ($) him to propose a bill that offers immunity to all deserted 3-story office building owners who torch their building. Isn’t that a case of one branch of government messing with another?
Rick whatever, hispanic name, Army Major. Some folks here swoon over him buu I’m not goin for it.
I voted for Carney….payback’s a bitch. It’d be great to take on two blue dogs.
One for payback and one for show !!!
Thanks for doing this. It’s invigorating to vent constructively.
Noriega
raven–
lt. col. rick noriega…….27 years in the service, one year in afghanistan…..his campaign sends really sensationalistic, annoying emails out, panicky sounding………running against cornyn.
mod at 52—
i can think of a commenter in tenn that has been saying some pretty crappy racist, etc., things about ohio, REPEATEDLY, so, i didn’t mind that comment so much……in fact, i kinda liked it. *G*
hmm, i don’t recollect seeing such a what’s his face here. well, i trust you - doesn’t sound like i’m missing a whole lot.
Thanks, Tw3k. I was hoping for this list.
okay, you didn’t mean here at the lake, you meant here in Texas running against Cornyn, *blech*, for US Senate.
late to the thread… but i want to vote for pelosi, conyers and reyes - because they are hiding behind the blue dogs while pretending to fight for our rights.
yes, i know they aren’t on the list. but, imo, they should be.
I agree. It sounds like outrageously blatant bigotry to me. It’s every bit as bad as when Chris Matthews said that Hillary would not be where she is today if her husband hadn’t cheated on her, IMHO.
i don’t understand WHY the house dems are even proposing a new bill. does anyone know?
not sure I’m ready to ditch Conyers,
but begone Pelosi and Reyes, begone.
He’s had at least 2 live blogs here.
Could be because repubs were boycotting a conference committee, so this is a way of keeping the issue in their faces as well as a way of getting around a potentially bad conference committee compromise bill. They propose another bill that the repubs will be forced to vote against, or better yet, that the preznit will have to veto, and we can keep labeling them as obstructionist.
i just want the three of them on the list - so we have the option of voting for them.
i don’t think there was a conference committee.
are you referring to the un-official compromise meetings?
understood, selise, understood.
Right, yeah. The dem leaders tried to get a conference committee together, but the repubs were boycotting those attempts as well as those compromise meetings the dems were holding. That’s my understanding at least, i could be wrong. I called the House and Senate Judiciary committee staff and they were confused about what was going on at the time, too.
i’m pretty sure that wasn’t a conference committee - reid had proposed sending the senate bill to conference and mcconnell objected, iirc.
I’m in to support retribution. Somebody’s got to do something to these dogs.
Yup, that’s what i meant. sorry, i wasn’t very clear.
OK Jane. Form done, donation on the way. Not easy to pick they are all bloody awful.
Carney. No more of these assholes in blue states.
Ooh…
Chris Carney gets my vote. As a former Pennsylvanian, I’m just embarrassed for my home state, and home county.
Plus, it has the strategic benefit of bringing up the issue in a state that’s about to get a *lot* of airtime and analysis due to the primary on April 22.
AND, it will force the candidates to deal with that issue.
AND, Pennsylvanians hate, hate, hate, the Patriot Act. Especially in Carney’s district. You should hear my family when I go home for holidays.
The only problem is you’ll need a candidate to replace Carney. Most of the people in that section of PA lean conservative - except on labor issues, Social Security, pocketbook issues, etc., where they more centrist. The only reason they voted for Carney was because Sherwood got caught a) having a mistress, and b) choking her.
.
Hey y’all,
My Congressman, Lincoln Davis, is scheduled to appear at a local restaurant here next week. Last time he was swamped and I was running late, so I only had time to sit through his talk and not to meet him personally.
IF things go well this time, I hope to shake his hand, look him in the eye, and ask him (politely of course) WTF????
Okay, here’s the thing - three counties meeting here, I’ve probably got 30 seconds to make my point, if that - what exactly should I say to him that will get the point across (hint: I’m not exactly a diplomat when it comes to face to face meetings, I’m detrimentally blunt)
Suggestions for a one-two sentence comment? (He may already be familiar with my name, since he’s received a LOT of contact from me on this and other issues)
Please Target Leonard Boswell. He has a real grassroots progressive running against him in the Primary by the name of Ed Fallon. Ed could use some love from the progressives. He has an actblue page. Thanks.
Do we know if all these Blue Dogs voted for Emanuel and Hoyer to be House leaders?
Do we know which of these Blue Dogs has Progressive opposition in their primary?
Do we know which has the least money and might be hurt most by some Lefty opposition?
Barrow is not in my district, but maybe it will at least get read.
Dear Representative Barrow,
Today I gave money to a group who is collecting funds to publicly campaign against the 21 “Blue Dogs” who are pushing for retroactive telcom immunity in the current FISA bill debate. They also had a poll so that people donating could pick which of the worst six Dogs would be targeted with this campaign. I picked you.
Whether you end up the recipient of this probably unwanted publicity or not doesn’t matter. What matters is that the majority of American people do not want to give a free pass to corporations that break the law on the president’s say-so.
It is not “bi-partisan” to capitulate to Bush’s attempts to consolidate power around the executive. He is not above the law and neither are those corporations. If they did nothing wrong, they shouldn’t fear judicial review of their actions.
Your oath of office is to protect and defend the Constitution, which, by extension, protects us. Support the rule of law, your party and the American people by voting AGAINST immunity for the telcoms.
I voted for Boswell because right now he has a credible primary opponent.