Is Mark Penn Her Political Advisor?

Blanche Lincoln seems to be doing all she can to insure that she doesn't make it out of a Democratic Primary. You have to be some kinda clueless to pull a stunt so repulsive that a columnist not fond of your opponent not only defends him from your attack, but ALSO gets to calling you a Republican in the process.

The Biggest Loser

You know who the biggest loser is tonight?

Blanche Lincoln

Remember, she still has to decide whether to vote for or against the health care bill reconcilliation fix. And if her primary opponent, Bill Halter, has advisors worth a damn either decision will come back to haunt her either as a politically hungry flip flopper or a corporatist Democrat out of touch with her constituents.

Just sayin

My Bill Halter Messaging Manifesto

I left this comment over at The Plum Line explaining how Bill Halter can win the messaging war with Blanche Lincoln. There is no other Democrat I would love to see get kicked to the curb this cycle than Lincoln and I for one want to see her go down in glorious fashion.

Aye, Bill Halter or Bill Halter’s people. If you are reading this let me give you some free advice to beat Blanche Lincoln. I know you might ask why you should follow my advice, but hey I have been right about messaging if not policy most of the last year. So here’s what you do.

Use Republican tactics to paint Lincoln as a Republican.

You see she is basically overlooking the primary right now and already going for the center for the general election. That could and should be a fatal flaw for her but only if you exploit it. In her web ad Blanche Lincoln just, say it with me, “disparaged all the Democrats in Arkansas” and you should DEMAND an apology. Every time Blanche Lincoln says something bad about Democrats in Congress or President Lincoln, what YOU want to do is conflate that with every day hard working blue collar Democrats in Arkansas. And when I say every time, I mean every time. Hit her so many times with this that she ends up having to either stop bashing President Obama and his agenda OR declare her intentions to switch parties. In point of fact you should ask, over and over and over again, what makes her different from any Republican. Point to President Obama’s words at the Senate Democratic caucus a few weeks ago when he said voters are going to start asking why should they vote for a Democrat over a Republican if they vote exactly the same.

Stay on the offensive. Always always punch first. No matter what she says in public find a way to make it a bad thing. If she sides with Republicans point that out and say thats who she really is anyway. If she sides with Democrats say she is a flip flopper just running to the left to try to get the nomination only to have 6 more years of standing against her party. Get big bold signs printed up that have quotes of her bashing the Democratic Party and especially Democratic issues like health care reform and the clean air act. Remember hunters and fisherman don’t much like pollution in Arkansas.

Lastly turn the big tent around on Blanche Lincoln. In order to keep her from pigeon holing you has an ideologue which is what she is now going to try to do, paint HER as the ideologuy who only wants conservatives in the Democratic party. Say you will work with Democrats of all stripes but at the end of the day being a Democrat should come with some unity on big issues. Lincoln on the other hand throws tantrums when people disagree in her party and she has nothing but disdain for Democrats who aren’t conservative. Say that maybe somebody as rigid ideologically as her would fit in better with Republicans.

Again, link her to Republicans over and over again especially against big issues like Health Care.

Every shot she is going to try to take at you anticipate and turn it back on her. She will try to link you to outside interest groups. Instead of responding and defending yourself like you have in recent days, turn it around on her and say she is bought and paid for by special interests. Point out the small average size of your donations with out denoting where they are coming from and point out that your views on stuff like health care and the public option coincide with the people of Arkansas, while Blanche Lincoln takes special interest money and votes against the will of her constituents. So who should the people of Arkansas believe? A guy who gets small donations and runs on issues that enjoy an overwhelming majority of support, or a woman who gets big donations and finds every opportunity to bash the Democrats and vote against the will of the people of Arkansas?

Offense offense offense.

Oh and to keep from getting accused of being too rough with Lincoln because she’s a woman, and yes they are going to try to do that once you gain ground, don’t always attack her directly. Instead say something to the effect of “Its not so much Blanche Lincoln I have a problem with, but the special interests that continue to influence her votes.

ATTENTION do not in anyway say anything that could be construed as her taking money for favors or being a “whor*”

Welp that’s it. If you follow that plan you win going away and you still haven’t gone too far left for the general. Lincoln’s mistake is her hubris in thinking she won’t have to go left at all until its too late.

Thank me later

Righteous indignation should be the buzz word every day for the Halter campaign in my opinion. Turn Democratic voters off to Blanche Lincoln in such a way that they can't wait for election day to get her ass out of there. Drive voter turnout by saying that if Lincoln wins the primary its guaranteed a Republican will represent Arkansas whether she wins the general or not.

Halter The Populist

Oh yes Blanche Lincoln, he's coming for you!!!

Hope She's Said Her Goodbyes

Arkansas ConservaDem Blanche Lincoln just got herself a primary challenger and almost immediately lost the support of labor. Wonder if she will pull a hamstring trying to run to the left now.

In her case I don't think anyone can save her though. Not her big war chest nor the power of the President. Toast would have a better shot at reelection.

The Central Question, What Differentiates Democrats From Republicans

President Obama went to visit with Senate Democrats today in another #questiontime session. I know quite a few people are panning it because it wasn't quite the high drama of his trip to the GOP retreat last year, but I still think he put on another great performance. Several Corporatist Democrats got up and tried to grand stand, most notably Evan Bayh and Blanche Lincoln. I mean really they sounded more like Republicans than many Republicans at times. But President Obama in albeit a polite fashion, pushed back on their self defeating premises. Maybe the best quote of the day was when he was responding to Blanche Lincoln when she tried to label members of her own party as "extremists" and inferred that Democrats shouldn't do anything to upset Wall Street and the banksters.

Well, if the agenda -- if the price of certainty is essentially for us to adopt the exact same proposals that were in place for eight years leading up to the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression -- we don't tinker with health care, let the insurance companies do what they want, we don't put in place any insurance reforms, we don't mess with the banks, let them keep on doing what they're doing now because we don't want to stir up Wall Street -- the result is going to be the same.

I don't know why we would expect a different outcome pursuing the exact same policies that got us into this fix in the first place. Michael Bennet articulated it very well. Part of the reason people are feeling anxious right now, it's not just because of this current crisis -- they've been going through this for 10 years. They've been working and not seeing a raise. Their costs have been going up, their spouses going to the workforce -- they work as hard as they can. They're barely keeping their heads above water. They're trying to figure out how to retire. They're seeing more and more of their costs on health care dumped in their lap. College tuition skyrockets.

They are more and more vulnerable, and they have been for the last decade, treading water. And if our response ends up being, because we don't want to -- we don't want to stir things up here, we're just going to do the same thing that was being done before, then I don't know what differentiates us from the other guys. And I don't know why people would say, boy, we really want to make sure that those Democrats are in Washington fighting for us.

That ladies and gentlemen is what this really all boils down to. When you have Democrats who are trying to mimic Republicans like Lincoln and Bayh et al, all they are really doing is making it easier for voters to vote for ACTUAL Republicans. The truth is when it ocmes to the Democratic Platform its the ConservaDems like Lincoln who are the extremists, running far to the right of what most mainstream Democrats both in office and out, want for the country. It was a moment that those of us on the left who haven't lost our damn mind would be wise to continue to point out and promote. Especially as this year goes on and the ConservaDems continue to be a bigger obstacle for progress than the GOP

But Today I Am Still Just A Bill...

Funny but you won't hear the word filibuster anywhere in this clip...

Listen To Your Constituent Blanche Lincoln

I hope Blanche Lincoln has a second career lined up because if the public option doesn't make it in the final health care reform bill, her ass is TOAST!

A Lesson Not Learned

There was a remarkable political lesson last year that wasn't really learned because of subsequent events. However someone should point this lesson out to Harry Reid as we head into a cloture vote tonight just to start debate on health care reform, and then head into a final cloture vote later.

Last year with the financial markets on the edge of collapse the House held a vote for TARP. At the time the people of this country were made aware of how dire of a circumstance we were in and how easily we could have slipped into a depression. A couple of big name financial firms had already essential been vaporized and more were right over the horizon.

In the midst of this some of the Republicans in the House decided to vote against TARP. At the time I don't know if their leadership had miscounted or were stabbed in the back by some of their caucus but the result was the bill came up short of the votes needed to pass and chaos on the floor of the House ensued. What happened next was utterly predictable.

The markets fell sharply and GOP members of the House were raked over the coals for being insufficiently serious about the problem our nation was facing. In the end this episode probably as much as anything else helped to sweep Democrats into both halls of Congress in major majorities last year. When push came to shove it appeared to most anyone that these Republicans were more interested in playing politics than fixing a problem, and they paid for it.

Now the problem of course is that TARP has been such a PR disaster on a lot of fronts and Democrats have been so fucking inept at defending it even at all that nobody really wants to look back at the days that led up to its actual passage. If they did then they would remember that Republicans were so surprised but the country's reaction to their fuckery on the first vote that they panicked. All of a sudden McCain was suspending his campaign and on the second vote some off those Republicans who just couldn't find their way to voting for it the first time got on board to take the heat off. What that means is that when there is a crisis in this country and people play games like not voting to at least attempt to fix the problem, the American people are not going to be happy. The important thing is that in the end the fix actualy works and can be sold on an ongoing basis.

Which brings us to health care reform and a few corporatist Democratic Senators who are holding out for sweeteners.

Here is what Harry Reid should say to each and every one of them: "Fuck you, pay me!"

What I mean is he should literally tell them to step the fuck off and bring the bill up for a cloture vote tonight and dare them to vote against cloture. Dare them to put their careers in the Senate on the line by refusing to even allow the Senate to debate health care reform, a reform that an overwhelming majority of Americans agree we need even if they don't agree what it should entail. Dare the sorry muthafuckas to totally abandon the base of their party and join with the Republicans.

Matter of fact, double dare them.

See the thing of it is, this can be what they like to call these days a "teachable moment". There is no rule that says Harry Reid can't bring the bill back again in the next few days and put it up for debate again. Basically the bill has to truly be defeated for that to happen and he still has to the power to keep bringing it back. But what some of these assholes need to see is what will happen to their poll numbers if they should happen to vote against cloture.

I am thinking specifically of Blanche Lincoln who is fighting to get reelected next year, but her poll numbers would also be an example to her corporatist bretheren like Mary Landrieu and Ben Nelson. Its about time we stopped caving these assholes and instead putting their ass on the spot and making THEM cave. Fuck it, if they have the balls to say no when the bill is up for cloture then so be it, let them live with the consequences for a few days.

But my money is on them folding like a bad hand and from that point on they will be dealing fom a point of weakness.

If Harry Reid never stands up to them you can expect that every single item on the Democratic agenda will go through the same bunch of bullshit. And we already have seen what the result is when that happens, just take a look at the stimulus bill. Had we punched their asses in the throat earlier this year and rammed through a better bill then its highly likely that all the economic numbers, including unemployment, would look substantially better. Instead we gave them practically everything they wanted, fucked up the bill, and now the Democratic brand is damaged because of it.

So Harry Reid just go back and google the headlines after that House vote last year. The get on the floor tonight with confidence and put the bright lights on the ConservaDems and make them follow through on their hollow threats while the world is watching.

Trust me on this, they wont be able to take the heat.

Super Majority #FAIL

Jon Stewart says what needs to be said about how some of our weak kneed Democrats are acting in the Senate right now.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Democratic Super Majority
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Ron Paul Interview

Chuck Schumer Is Keeping Hope Alive

Senator Schumer went on The Rachel Maddow Show last night to push back on the idea that the public option is dead. He rightly points out that we actually picked up two votes on his amendment from Senators Nelson and Carper that no one thought we would get in committee. I am good with that and I am definitely still hopeful, but I am still pissed about asshole Senators Baucus, Conrad and Lincoln. Thankfully Rachel busted rhetorical caps in their asses prior to Schumer's appearance.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Imagine That

All of a sudden ConservaDem Senator Blanche Lincoln is coming around some on the public option in health care reform. Im sure those pesky attack ads put up by liberal and progressive bloggers didn't have anything to do with it....

BUHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA

Keep up the great work guys!

Targeting Blanche Lincoln

Blue America PAC is going after Blanche Lincoln for her resistance to a public option with healthcare reform. They have 3 different ads up on the Crooks and Liars youtube channel. You can watch the other two here and here. I am posting the one that I think is the best of the bunch.

They could probably take out a few lines of the dialogue but I think the "bailout" line is pitch perfect for Arkansas which is sure to be quite wingnutty.



More of his please!

When Even Wally World Isn't On Your Side....

I realize that Wal-Mart coming out for employer mandates in healthcare reform isn't the same as Wal-Mart coming out for say the public option. However their endorsement of mandates in healthcare reform has set off a storm with the people who they normally align themselves with.

From Steve Benen

WAL-MART THROWS A CURVEBALL.... Three powerful entities announced their support yesterday for including an employer mandate provision in health care reform, a major point of contention in the larger debate. The first two -- the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the Center for American Progress -- didn't come as much of a surprise. The third was Wal-Mart.

Yes, that Wal-Mart -- the commercial behemoth and the nation's largest private employer, with a reputation for being less than concerned about employee benefits.

The National Retail Federation, a staunch opponent of an employer mandate, was reportedly "flabbergasted" by the Wal-Mart announcement. Likewise, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was livid. The Hill noted, "The decision by Wal-Mart to break away from the Chamber and its ilk marks the first visible crack in the business coalition on healthcare reform."

Jonathan Cohn describes how this changes the landscape.

By endorsing the idea of a employer mandate, Wal-Mart has made the idea more difficult to demonize. It has also -- and I can't stress this enough -- given some political cover to members of Congress who might be sympathetic to the idea of employer mandate but hesitate to take a vote that might be perceived as anti-business.

Now of course what goes unsaid here also is that anything Wal-Mart comes out for its likely that our Democratic Senator from Arkansas Blanche Lincoln will come out for. So there are several reasons to take this as a good sign.

Democrats In Name Only

So the DINO's in the Senate, so jealous of their "Blue Dog" colleagues in the House, are forming a quote "loose coalition" of fiscal conservative Democrats in the Senate. This sound to me more like a Cover Your Ass relationship. Most of these people come from somewhat conservative states and so I guess they are afraid of electoral challenges from the right. But at the time in this country where the Democrats have finally regained power haven't these idiots recognized that the landscape has changed? They are an answer searching for a question at this point. Most of them aside from Ben Nelson who can kick rocks, come from states that President Obama won just last fall. But now they appear to want to look more like a Republican than a Democrat. I have to say that if these assholes get in the way of President Obama's agenda their biggest problem might not be a general election but a primary if liberals and progressives have anything to say about it. Yeah its a big tent party but if you want to be a Democrat that should actually MEAN something. If its just to cover your ass when big issues come up I would much rather have a smaller Democratic caucus than have a bigger one with unreliable people in it. This line from Politico rings very true.

“If the moderate Democrats in the Senate are willing to work with moderate Republicans…they will negate the White House’s ability to portray opposition…as partisan."

If these people can't see that they will be legitimizing bullshit Republican talking points then they are too stupid to be in the caucus anyway. I will reserve judgement for now until they actually do something. But after the hijacking of the stimulus bill I am definitely not encouraged.