Ted Lieu

On Wednesday Ro Khanna was one of the congressional progressives-- Ted Lieu was another-- happy to see Trump announce he was withdrawing American troops from Syria. Ted: "I strongly agree with the President’s decision to withdraw US troops from Syria. Congress never authorized the US to go to war in Syria.

Courtesy of Jim Costa (Blue Dog-CA)You know how important everyone agreed passage of the Farm Bill was for the lame duck, right? A must pass bi-partisan bill. The murderous GOP took advantage of that and slipped a little clause into the rule for the bill that denies a vote on the Yemen resolution.

The House Republicans have always hated the Violence Against Women Act-- first passed in 1994-- and yesterday Roll Call reported that they plan to use the cover of the lame duck session to let it lapse. "The law was set to expire Sept. 30, but it was extended through Dec. 7 under a stopgap spending bill that expires this week. Text of another short term spending deal was released Monday and does not include a VAWA extension, according to Republican aides in both the House and Senate."

Admirers of Ted Lieu keep asking why he doesn't run for Speaker-- or at least DCCC chair. That's easy, he has two young sons and he flies back to L.A. every weekend to play his role in their lives. That isn't something a Speaker or a DCCC chair could do.

No one except Trump's most ardent, die-hard fans ever believed U.S. troops on the southern border were anything more than a prop in Trump's shit show of a midterm campaign. Now he's running around-- with almost 40 less supporters in Congress-- clucking like a blind duck how his name wasn't on the ballot so that all those losses were anyone's fault but his own.

I am certain that Ted Lieu is not running for president because:

Voter Suppression, Nancy Ohanian's latest drawingEverybody's stoked for the results to start coming in Tuesday. But... one of the most valuable and loved members of our team did just win. It was just announced that one of the DWT and Blue America artists, Nancy Ohanian, is the recipient of the 2018 National Press Foundation’s Clifford K. and James T. Berryman Award for Editorial Cartooning.

For the first time ever, Trump is doing something as so-called "president" that hurts his own business. The Trump family makes huge profits by leasing expensive apartments to wealthy pregnant women from China, Russia and other former Soviet states so that their children are born in the U.S. and become automatic citizens.

It's kind of last minute to endorse a new candidate. But last week, Ted Lieu, the West Coast regional vice chair for the DCCC, told me about a candidate way up in the northeast wildness of California (CA-01) where the state meets Oregon and Nevada-- Audrey Denney. She's running against right-wing backbencher and Trump enabler Doug LaMalfa.

Wednesday night I went to a fundraiser Ted Lieu MC-ed for Randy Bryce and Ammar Campa-Najjar. Ted and both candidates made compelling cases for defeating the Republicans in a couple of weeks. And tens of thousands of dollars were raised for the Randy and Ammar Joint Victory Fund.