The ConservaDems - Mark Begich Joins Evan Bayh's New Anti-Obama Bloc

--- by Howie Klein

If you've been over to Blue America lately, you may have noticed we've taken down a name. Many of us had a suspicion it was just a matter of time before our borderlinest endorsee from last year, Mark Begich, would, sooner or later, come screaming out of the closet as a full-blown... well, not sure exactly what. He's not interested in being a progressive, as we figured out as the Alaska senate campaign wore on and departing staffers warned us that he wasn't what he portrayed himself as. Then after the election... a so-so voting record. Oh well, we thought, at least he's not as bad as Landrieu, Nelson and Bayh.

Today Bayh announced that Begich is as bad as himself.

Many allies had asked me why we weren't endorsing and raising money for Jeanne Shaheen last year. I wanted her to beat Sununu, of course, but I never add anyone to the Blue America list unless I want to write a check personally. And she just smelled like a Blue Dog or DLC character to me. That was borne out yesterday as she joined Bayh's Bloc of right-leaning conservative Democrats who seem eager to hold up President Obama's agenda, even if it means bolstering the heinous Senate Republicans.

Bayh's bloc's agenda is to eviscerate Obama's agenda in order to prevent healthcare reform and climate change policies. The Democrats willing to admit to being part of this new anti-Obama bloc are all the usual suspects, the conservatives with shit voting records who seem always eager to show the folks back home how much they detest working families and how dependable they are when it comes to denying the aspirations of ordinary Americans (listed in order of how frequently they vote with the GOP on contentious matters-- from bad to worse: Jeanne Shaheen (NH), Mark Warner (VA), Michael Bennet (CO), Kay Hagan (NC), Bill Nelson (FL), Herb Kohl (WI), Mark Begich (AK), Mark Udall (CO), Evan Bayh (IN), Claire McCaskill (MO), Tom Carper (DE), Blanche Lincoln (AR), Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Mary Landrieu (LA), and, worst of the worst, Ben Nelson (NE).

Bayh went on Joe Scarborough's right-wing morning show to blare his intentions of screwing up the Democratic Party and the country and admitted that "3 or 4" other Democrats are in "a witness protection program" (i.e.- too cowardly to admit what they are).

Sources tell us that the others are Mark Pryor (AR), Max Baucus (MT) and Jim Webb (VA). I sure hope John Tester isn't a fourth.

Oh, well, we now have a new question for Senate candidates asking for Blue America assistance: "are there any circumstances that you would join with the reactionary, anti-family conservatives that Evan Bayh has formed to fight change?" If the answer is "yes" or "maybe" you can be sure they won't be on our endorsed list of candidates. Meanwhile Campaign for America's Future has launched the "Dog The (Blue) Dogs" campaign, urging Americans to call Blue Dog congresspeople and demand they support President Obama's budget. Bob Borosage explained what they're trying to accomplish yesterday at HuffPo.

And Rachel Maddow explained the ugly phenom on her show last night:


If you don't like the idea of conservatives hijacking everything we accomplished last year-- and watering down everything Obama is striving to accomplish, and doing it all at the behest of their campaign donors Big Oil, Big Pharma, insurance companies, agribusiness, global corporations, Wall Street, please consider donating to a proven fighting progressive running a grassroots campaign for the Senate seat in Florida, Dan Gelber. The conservatives can always count on Big Business. Progressives like Dan count on us.

The finance/insurance/real estate sector, responsible for the devastation of the economy is especially close to Bayh and many of the members of his bloc.

These industries have donated more legalized bribes to members of Congress than any other sector-- $2.2 billion since 1990. and while most of the money has gone to actual Republicans (55%), take a look how some of the very worst Democrats have raked in the tainted money in return for voting against their constituents' interests (the 10 worst listed in order from corrupt to even more corrupt):

Jeanne Shaheen ($997,310)
Mark Udall ($1,669,706)
Blanche Lincoln ($1,671,292)
Tom Carper ($2,160,628)
Mary Landieu ($2,399,134)
Mark Warner ($2,431,066)
Ben Nelson ($2,667,406)
Bill Nelson ($3,056,968)
Evan Bayh ($3,987,896)
Joe Lieberman ($9,981,924

image of rabid blue dog - Adam Fox at Down With Tyranny