Yesterday the Maine Beacon reported that 8 Democrats-- 2 in the state Senate and 6 in the House-- signed on to Paul LePage's plan to roll back a just-passed minimum wage increase. And by "signed on," I mean co-sponsoring a bill that would target restaurant workers.
Wednesday House Republicans rolled back another Obama rule so that-- after Trump signs it-- when people file for unemployment compensation they will be able to be drug-tested. Looks like the GOP is eager to ramp up the War of Drugs again-- and fill those private prison jail cells for their campaign donors. Kevin Brady's blil passed 236-189.
A few weeks ago we pointed out that House Republicans repaid the NRA for al;l it;s support by getting rid of an extremely popular rule that sought to prevent the severely mentally ill from buying guns.
The DCCC recruited some real dogs for the 2016 cycle. Most lost and the few who won are now in Congress voting with Paul Ryan and Kevin McCarthy for the Republican agenda. That would be "ex"-Republicans Charlie Crist (FL) and Tom O'Halleran (AZ) and wretched Blue Dogs Josh Gottheimer (NJ), Stephanie Miller (FL), and Lou Correa (CA). House Democrats would be better off without them.
Will Tom Guild Be Our Revolution's First Big Red State Congressional Win?Good news and bad news to start the day. Let's get the bad news over with first. Congressional voting patterns are starting to indicate trends. When you examine the crucial vote scores for the 115th Congress so far, there aren't many surprises.
Justin Amash isn't hiding from his constituents and he's not hiding the media coverage of his raucous downhill meetings. He welcomes them and wants Michiganders to know about them. Amash's Grand Rapids-based seat is in a swing district (PVI is R+4); most of the voters coming from Kent (Grand Rapids) and Calhoun (Battle Creek) counties. Obama won it 50-49% in 2008, lost it 53-46% in 2012 and Hillary lost to Trump 51.6% to 42.2%.
The last time I drank a Coke (or Pepsi) I was barely 20; it was in 1970. There was no social media then (aside from postcards) and international telephone calls were way too expensive for someone like me. So, while I was making my way by land across the world I depended on letters from home for news.
Now that the roll call votes are coming fast and furious, the freshmen are beginning to sort themselves out. The new Republicans in Congress are pretty much all cut from the same clothe-- a hopeless mess, barely worth mentioning or thinking about. But what we're seeing on the Democratic side of the aisle is that some freshmen are embracing Democratic values and principles and others are more comfortable slipping into the Republican wing of the Democratic Party.
Long before her sudden transformation into a Berniecrat, Tulsi Gabbard called me to ask for a Blue America endorsement. She didn't really try to paint herself as a progressive and she came across as a garden variety careerist Democrat, not especially bad and not especially good. At the end of the interview, I asked her about the process by which she had come to change her position on LGBT equality.
