Ted Lieu

Robert Michel (R-IL) was in Congress for 38 years, starting when I was a pre-teen. And he was After serving as Minority Whip for half a dozen years, he became Minority Leader in 1981 and was finally ousted in 1995, completely changing the fortunes of the utterly pathetic House Republicans.

Yesterday, Greg Sargent started the news cycle rolling at the Washington Post with a simple question: Will Donald Trump really go through with all of it?.

"Trump, who lost the popular vote, has now sent the message it is open season for massive corporations to seek specialized tax breaks from the incoming Administration. This is crony capitalism at its worst. Trump is not only failing to drain the swamp, he is fertilizing the swamp."-Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA)

Now that the TPP is dead-- at least for now-- and won't be coming up in the lame duck, the Republicans were looking for a way to thank their K Street buddies for all the cash they poured into the elections. In fact, they also wanted to help the prescription drug corporations for the same reason. So... instead of a TPP in the lame duck, we get Fred Upton's 21st Century Cures bill again.

A few years ago Blue America's list of endorsed candidates had the biggest success rate of any PAC recruiting and endorsing candidates. We beat NARAL, the Sierra Club, the Human Rights Campaign and the League of Conservation Voters that year-- not to mention the NRA and Club for Growth. I laughed when I read the stats. Blue America isn't about picking candidates who will make the PAC look good.

Chuck Schumer and Jon Tester have recruited some really dreadful hacks to run for the Senate this cycle. In fact, their interference could cost the Democrats dearly. They worked to sabotage solid candidates like Alan Grayson (FL), Joe Sestak and John Fetterman (PA), Rob Hogg (IA) and PG Sittenfeld (OH) so they could please Wall Street with bankster-friendly candidates Patrick Murphy, Katie McGinty, Patty Judge and Ted Strickland.

Justin and Ted-- good bipartisanshipIn DC, there's good bipartisan and there's bad bipartisan. Bad bipartisan, which is far, far more prevalent, usually revolves around corruption like, for example, when Wall Street whores from both sides of the aisle-- lets' say Republican Sean Duffy (WI) and New Dem Patrick Murphy (FL)-- get together to try to hobble the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

In 2012, Asian-Americans were huge Obama supporters. In the end the very diverse group only gave 31% of it's vote to Romney. It didn't matter in states like California, New York, Illinois and Texas, with their massive Asian-American population. California, New York, and Illinois were going big for Obama anyway and Texas was in the pocket for Romney no matter how many Laotians and Vietnamese voted for Obama.

How to guarantee that Florida millennials sit out the electionSwing state Florida looms large for both campaigns. Hillary is partially hampered by a moribund state Democratic Party that has been whittled down to a Debbie Wasserman Schultz incumbent protection racket. It barely functions in statewide races at all.

By now, everyone knows the story of former Miss Universe Alicia Machado-- first explained at this blog in last June-- but the way Trump treated her was not unique to his attitude-- and actions-- towards women he did business with.