Jim Costa

California is a blue state but the Republican wing of the Democratic Party is very strong in the state. There are 46 California Democrats serving in the House. Believe me, they're not all like Barbara Lee, Ted Lieu, Ro Khanna or Judy Chu.

It's crucially important to get to know who a candidate is in order to be able to predict what kind of a member of Congress they are likely to be-- not just how they will vote-- but also how they will lead, how competent and effective they will be, etc. Recently, we asked incisive author, labor activist, author and former congressional candidate Jonathan Tasini to spend some time with Central Valley progressive Kim Williams. The resulting interview on the Working Life Podcast (above) offers one of the best opportunities to get to know Williams.

Whenever there's any kind of legislation put forward to help working families, you can always count on two things-- Republicans will vote NO and a certain number of reactionaries from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party will join them. In the forefront of that group of reactionaries is always Central Valley Blue Dog Jim Costa.

Sometimes people ask me who the single worst Democrat in Congress is. Until very recently, I had never even thought it was Pelosi. Last session it was unquestionably Kyrsten Sinema, the genuinely mentally unbalanced Blue Dog from Arizona, who is currently the single worst Democrat in the Senate.

Right now, Blue America has a mobile billboard riding up and down the highways of two adjacent California congressional districts, CA-22 and CA-16, both centered in the Fresno area. Those are Devin Nunes' and Jim Costa's districts, the first a corrupt reactionary Republican and the second a corrupt reactionary Blue Dog Democrat.

Thursday, most Senate Republican took a stand against the dangerous psychotic in the Oval Office, joining all but a handful of the most progressive Democrats to rebuke his foreign policy framework. Ted Cruz (R-TX), John Kennedy (R-LA), and Mike Lee (R-UT) were the only Republicans who stuck with Trump.The specific measure declared that the Islamic State and al-Qaeda remain serious threats in Syria and Afghanistan, contradicting Trump's self-serving and entirely delusional statements and his justification for withdrawing troops from both countries.

That tweet up top with a picture of the truck was sent by Rory Appleton, a political reporter for the Fresno Bee, the most read newspaper in both Nunes' and Costa's districts, respectively CA-22 and CA-16. Both members are extremely conservative, though Nunes is a Republican and Costa is a Blue Dog Democrat.

I don't have the kind of sweeping knowledge of the presidency Señor Trumpanzee pretends to have. But I can state that there has never been a president in my lifetime as profane and in the gutter as the intellectually lazy slug currently occupying the White House. Trump was a grotesque pig long before the Kremlin rallied easily-manipulatable fans of The Apprentice to elect him to office. Imagine a carefully curated compilation of, say, The Best of Trump With Howard Stern.

Sit in at his office didn't prevent Costa from voting with the GOP for TPPI'm not being coy-- you know me better than that-- and I wish I could remember her name, but I can't even remember for sure if I heard her on the radio while I was driving or on TV in the next room while I was working. She truly exemplifies everything wrong with unlicensed political punditry.

Jim Costa (Blue Dog-CA), Henry Cuellar (Blue Dog-TX) and Dan Lipinski (Blue Dog-IL) are three of the most right-wing Democrats in Congress. They are the co-chairs of the 18-member Blue Dog Coalition the House and each has a lifetime "F" rating from Progressive Punch.