Tom Guild

OK, let's get back to where we left off at the 6AM post this morning-- the warning FDR gave us about GOP intentions. Except this time let's home in on healthcare. In fact let's home in on one very red state, Oklahoma and one congressional election in that state, the one that pits right wing extremist James Lankford against progressive Democrat Tom Guild in the Oklahoma City area. This is the most difficult race Blue America has taken on for the 2014 cycle.

I asked one of the sharpest minds I know on Capitol Hill if there's a single issue facing Congress right now-- just one-- that separates conservatives from progressives. He didn't miss a beat: the Social Security Enhancement and Protection Act and the Strengthening Social Security. Act. Yesterday we had a guest post from the progressive candidate for the Maine Senate seat, Shenna Bellows, on the topic.

Oklahoma state Rep. Doug Cox (R-OK) is the chairman of the Public Health and Social Services Committee. First elected in 2005, he's also a physician who graduated from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine in 1978. If you think every Republican in Oklahoma is as radical and extreme as GOP sociopath James Lankford, you haven't met Doug Cox yet. Last February, Rep. Cox-- who, unlike lunatic freak Dr.

And you thought all the turkeys were on the table!One turkey not on the table is James Lankford, a far right extremist representing a relatively mainstream Oklahoma City. We hope that next year Tom Guild will defeat his reelection efforts and replace him in Congress. Tom is eager to join the Congressional Progressive Caucus and his Thanksgiving message fit in pretty well with theirs, even if it was of a more personal nature.

Keith Ellison (D-MN) is widely viewed as an up-and-coming progressive leader able to articulate progressive ideas and values to ordinary voters. He may not be invited to many events sponsored by lobbyists on K Street or Wall Street, but Democrats all over the country have been inviting him to speak to local grassroots activists.

Becerra, Grayson, Ellison-- actual leaders, not money-grubbersI'm never really comfortable with a corrupt out-of-touch Beltway committee parachuting into an American congressional district and telling the Democrats there who their candidate for Congress should be. In the old days, even the worst DCCC chairmen-- think Rahm Emanuel-- used to tip-toe, at least publicy, around interfering in primaries.

Yesterday we looked at the lead-up to last night's historic Senate vote for ENDA. The anti-gay filibuster was shut down 61-30, every Democrat plus 7 Republicans voting for equality.

Fred Upton's Monkey CourtOn Wednesday, the House voted 292-122 to gut a significant portion of the Dodd-Frank Consumer Protection law. Irresponsible banksters addicted to risky gambling will once again be able to take those risks knowing that if they get into trouble, the taxpayers will be forced to pick up the tab.

Boehner and Cantor-- who allowed the GOP's racist wing shut down the government because of their pathological fury over an African-American in the White House-- have been whining that Obama wants to "kill the Republican Party." Unfortunately, he isn't… and even if he wanted to, suicide seems a far more likely cause of the once-credible party's demise.

Mica & Lankford: 2 ugly right-wing faces of GOP nihilism & cowardiceWhile unreconstructed Confederate nihilists like Louisiana's John Fleming were boasting this morning that they're ready to force another government shutdown in January and another default crisis in February, many Republicans from normal parts of America were breathing a sigh of relief