I don't want to demonize Henry Waxman. As congressmen go, he's been a fairly decent one, for the most part, relatively progressive and-- except on issues relating to Israel and the Middle East-- pretty open-minded. The only time I remember really disagreeing with him, in fact, was when he backed Cheney's and Bush's horrific decision to attack Iraq without provocation.
Yesterday Reid Wilson made the point at the Washington Post that there appears to be a Republican wave building that could increase the GOP majority in the House and win them control of the Senate. Obama's popularity is sinking, the Obamacare website is making the entire healthcare reform agenda look like a mess, and the huge Democratic advantage in the generic congressional polling numbers of last month have turned into a bizarre preference for the GOP.
At this point, even the DCCC's clueless selection of Brooklyn City Councilman Domenic Recchia as their candidate against Staten Island mobster Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm may not be enough to save the seat for the GOP in 2014. It isn't about Grimm's crazily flip-flopping, schizophrenic record on issues, but about the corruption and ethics investigations that never go away.
No doubt, if you read DWT with any regularity, you've noticed that we keep an eye on the DCCC. We rarely have much to say about the NRCC, not because they're any better than the DCCC or less corrupt or incompetent, but,… who cares what they do? Unlike the DCCC, the worse the NRCC are, the better for normal Americans. Yesterday, though, they announced there 36 top districts for 2014 challengers, the "The On The Radar" list.
Although donors don't have any idea, it's widely known Inside-the-Beltway, that the party committees often make spending decisions based on shady practices that line the pockets of staffers rather than on accomplishing anything for the Democratic or Republican parties.
I bet Steve Israel wishes he had never recruited Jennifer Garrison, "the Sarah Palin of Ohio," to run for Congress as a Democrat in OH-06. Garrison is extremely conservative-- anti-Choice, anti-environment, virulently anti-gay, anti-worker, pro-NRA and pro-coal.
Monday morning, the Washington Post noted that the big money GOP Establishment groups, particularly the Chamber of Commerce and Rove's Crossroads have not opened the financial spigots for the Republican Party to the extent they have in the recent past, "spending dramatically less to help
The Republican Party, particularly the congressional wing, has one issue they're gearing up for the midterms: Obamacare. After doing everything in their power to sabotage it, from inception to roll out, the, Republicans want to focus all their attention on howling about what a failure it is. But are people buying their message?
Malcolm and JenniferMy grandfather was a Socialist. He told me to always be wary of anyone from the Democratic Party. Funny because Malcolm X and he had similar views of the Democrats back them. Mal: "We won't organize any black man to be a Democrat or a Republican because both of them have sold us out. Both of them have sold us out; both parties have sold us out.
Steve Israel works to elect conservatives to Congress; Garrison and AguilarSean Sullivan covers national politics for The Fix. Prior to joining the Washington Post in the summer of 2012, Sean was the editor of Hotline On Call, National Journal Hotline’s politics blog. He has also worked for NHK Japan Public Broadcasting and ABC News. Sean is a graduate of Hamilton College, where he received a degree in Philosophy. He lives in Washington, D.C.
