Saturday, September 08, 2012

An Addendum To My 2012 U.S. House Voting Guide

I have to admit that I was feeling a bit pleased with myself for this recent post in response to the 31 (at a minimum) votes to repeal the Affordable Care Law, in which, in response, I highlighted 31 U.S. House Republicans (and two Democrats) who I thought were most at fault for this utter waste of time and taxpayer money. And putting all the posts together, while a time-consuming and sometimes exhausting exercise, was something that I thought was beneficial.

However, it recently occurred to me that that’s not really going to do much in pursuit of what I believe is a bigger goal, and that is to return the U.S. House to the Democrats (or short of that, to cut into the Republican majority…besides, is Hal Rogers actually going to lose?).

So I did a bit of looking around and came up with this list of races in which control of the House could be decided, and I did the same thing I did with the 31, only with a bigger and broader group. I tried to put the Republican candidates in what I believed was an appropriate light on one hand, while including web site or other contact information for their Democratic challengers on the other.

Now I can imagine the response of “there you go again, Doomsy, trying to smear Republicans any way possible.” Well, it may shock you to know that I included complimentary information on three of them; Robert Dold for standing up for Planned Parenthood, Scott Tipton for standing up for wind power, and Richard Hanna for standing up to the Teahadists. But don’t worry – there’s plenty of other stuff to use against the rest of the list (including Hanna and Tipton, though I must say that Tipton’s challenger Sal Pace doesn’t exactly “light it up” in his interview with Ed Schultz…it should also be noted that I really couldn’t find anything on David Rosa in Texas or David Hernandez in California – I’ll admit that this list may be a bit inexact). Also, it’s likely that there are races on this list where the Repug incumbent is actually better qualified that the Democratic challenger.

The issue that matters, though, is control of the House, and if sending some less deserving Dems to Washington helps return us to the majority, so be it, as a certain Speaker said in another context (besides, who’s to say that some of these folks won’t grow into the job, in the name of the “greater good”?).

So, with that somewhat windy pretext out of the way, here is my list of the DCCC-targeted Repug U.S. House candidates and their challengers (Note: Some Republicans are challengers also in races where an incumbent isn't running or redistricting has taken place):

District Repug Incumbent Dem Challenger
AR-01 Rick Crawford Scott Ellington
AZ-01 Paul Gosar Ann Kirkpatrick
AZ-09 Vernon Parker Krysten Sinema
CA-02 Wally Herger Jared Huffman
CA-07 Dan Lungren Ami Bera
CA-10 Jeff Denham Jose Hernandez
CA-29 *David Hernandez Tony Cardenas
CA-36 Mattie Fein Raul Ruiz
CA-41 John Tavaglione Mark Takano
CA-47 Gary DeLong Alan Lowenthal
CA-51 Michael Crimmins Juan Vargas
CA-52 Brian Bilbray Scott Peters
CO-03 Scott Tipton (and here) Sal Pace
CO-06 Mike Coffman Joe Miklosi
CT-05 Andrew Roraback Elizabeth Esty
FL-02 Steve Southerland Al Lawson
FL-09 Todd Long Alan Grayson
FL-10 Daniel Webster Val Demings
FL-13 Bill Young Jessica Ehrlich
FL-16 Vern Buchanan Keith Fitzgerald
FL-22 Adam Hasner Lois Frankel
FL-26 David Rivera Joe Garcia
IL-08 Joe Walsh Tammy Duckworth
IL-10 Robert Dold Brad Schneider
IL-11 Judy Biggert Bill Foster
IL-12 Jason Plummer Bill Enyart
IL-13 Rodney Davis David Gill
IL-17 Bobby Schilling Cheri Bustos
IN-02 Jackie Walorski Brendan Mullen
IN-08 Larry Buchson David Crooks
MD-06 Roscoe Bartlett (and here) John Delaney
MI-01 Dan Benishek Gary McDowell
MI-03 Justin Amash Steve Pestka
MI-05 Jim Slezak Dan Kildee
MI-11 Kerry Bentivolio Syed Taj
MN-02 John Kline Mike Obermueller
MN-08 Chip Cravaack Rick Nolan
MO-04 Vicky Hartzler Teresa Hensley
MT-AL Steve Daines Kim Gillan
NC-11 Mark Meadows Hayden Rogers
ND-AL Kevin Cramer Pam Gulleson
NH-01 Frank Guinta (and here) Carol Shea-Porter
NH-02 Charlie Bass Annie Kuster
NJ-03 Jon Runyan Shelley Adler
NJ-07 Leonard Lance Upendra Chivukula
NM-01 Janice Arnold-Jones Michelle Lujan Grisham
NV-01 Chris Edwards Dina Titus
NV-03 Joe Heck John Oceguera
NV-04 Danny Tarkanian Steven Horsford
NY-08 Allan Bellone Hakeem Jeffries
NY-11 Michael Grimm Mark Murphy
NY-18 Nan Hayworth Sean Patrick Maloney
NY-19 Chris Gibson Julian Schreibman
NY-22 Richard Hanna (and here) Dan Lamb
NY-23 Tom Reed Nate Shinagawa
NY-24 Ann Marie Buerkle Dan Maffei
OH-03 Chris Long Joyce Beatty
OH-06 Bill Johnson Charlie Wilson
OH-07 Bob Gibbs Joyce Healy-Abrams
OH-10 Mike Turner Sharen Neuhardt
OK-02 Markwayne Mullin Rob Wallace
PA-07 Patrick Meehan (and here) George Badey
PA-17 Laureen Cummings Matt Cartwright
PA-18 Tim Murphy Larry Maggi
TN-04 Scott Desjarlais Eric Stewart
TX-14 Randy Weber Nick Lampson
TX-20 David Rosa Joaquin Castro
TX-23 Francisco Canseco Pete Gallego
VA-02 Scott Rigell Paul Hirschbiel
VA-05 Robert Hurt John Douglass
WA-01 John Koster Suzan DelBene
WA-10 Richard Muri Denny Heck
WI-02 Chad Lee Mark Pocan
WI-06 Tom Petri Joe Kallas
WI-07 Sean Duffy (and here) Pat Kreitlow
WI-08 Reid Ribble Jamie Wall

* - No party preference

Update 9/19/12: God, is Todd Long a mess (here)...though the Hopefully Next Congresssman With Guts may have gone a bit too far, as noted here.

Update 9/25/12: And Mike Grimm definitely earns a Dishonorable Mention for this, especially the part about Gabby Giffords.

Update 10/10/12: Some "do as I say, not as I do" stuff from Scott DesJarlais here...

Friday, September 07, 2012

Friday Stuff

Today, we fight the corrupting influence of ALEC, the Koch Brothers, Sheldon Adelson, and on and on, but in an earlier day, the primo right-wing sugar daddy was this guy, and the Repugs (and probably some Dems too) paid homage to him…not saying this as a tribute to Moon by any means, but just acknowledging the history…



…and remember when the Repugs used to be the “daddy party” according to our corporate media? Funny, but I’m not hearing that any more (Rachel Maddow should get an Emmy, a Cable Ace award or something for the last minute and a half in particular)…

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy


…and this actually isn’t a bad report on the American Jobs Act until the “White Ho” starts editorializing at about 1:42; as noted here, the report is a year old…just like the American Jobs Act is a year old, while “Man Tan” Boehner and Eric Cantor continue to sit on it and let it gather dust…I’ll remember that the next time I hear wingnut caterwauling about how one of their pet causes or personages “deserves an up-and-down vote”…



…oh, and speaking of jobs, Mikey The Beloved’s PR factory allowed him more room to peddle his garbage here (“the threat of high taxes creates uncertainty for job creators, along with the Supreme Court’s ruling on ‘Obamacare’ that creates a burden for middle-class families, blah blah blah”…we’ve heard it from you a hundred times before, Mikey – it was bullshit then, and it’s bullshit now – try sucking on this...and to help Kathy Boockvar, click here)…

…and that’s probably an appropriate transition to this tune – RIP Joe South.

Thursday, September 06, 2012

Thursday Stuff

“The Choice,” indeed…



…and I suppose it’s time to put up a video from this decade for a change, so here it is.

Wednesday, September 05, 2012

Wednesday Stuff

Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews (who has been kicking butt lately, for anyone who’s noticed) bring us a depressing, but important, history lesson concerning the awful 112th Congress (and something neither mentioned, which is just as bad, are the stalled judicial appointments)...

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy


...and I don’t know how many other people besides me are going to say it today, so please allow me – happy birthday to Al Stewart.

Tuesday, September 04, 2012

Tuesday Stuff

Gee, I wonder what position Willard Mitt (Etch-A-Sketch, Weather Vane) Romney was taking here (great stuff, included in a film tribute to Ted Kennedy at the convention tonight)...



...and I heard be “proved it all night,” as the song goes, again in these parts (here...this is loud!).

Monday, September 03, 2012

Monday Stuff

Looks like that sleazy weasel Eric Cantor needs to pay a trip to the Karl Rove-Frank Luntz GOP Messaging Factory (‘humuna humuna humuna” – and speaking of Virginia’s congressional mistake, I give you this)...

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy


...and here’s another tune for the holiday (sorry, no video).

Sunday, September 02, 2012

Sunday Stuff

As we know, Willard Mitt Romney promises nothing except “the ownership society” on steroids (here).



However, I want to digress for a minute and focus on That Upstanding “Catholic” man Paul Ryan for a second.

This, to me, was a hell of a catch by Paul Slansky at HuffPo; did you know that rape is a “method of conception” according to Mr.-Puppy-Dog-Eyes-With-The-Shiv-In-His-Pocket?

And, by the way, that supposedly is "an improvement over what we have now" according to Ryan? WHAAAA????!!!

Actually, the exact quote when asked by the brainless corporate media stenographer about rape and conception (and DEAR GOD, CAN THE REPUGS PLEASE JUST ALL SHUT UP ABOUT THIS??!!) is “the method of conception doesn’t change the definition of life” (witness the vile, right-wing conservative framing in response to a question about a horrific attack of sexual violence, as if the woman is nothing more than a vessel to incubate the embryo until it forms as a fetus and the woman conceives).

I believe no other conservative politician since The Sainted Ronnie R has managed to make a career out of making the most despicable misstatements of fact and/or opinion besides Ryan. The faux earnestness of his expression while he utters this contemptible garbage is a nauseating travesty unto itself…

Update 9/4/12: And speaking of Romney/Ryan, insert your own caption for this one, comrades!

Update 9/5/12: That "fine, Christian man" strikes again (here).

…and changing topics, I guess this is appropriate for the holiday (Prog Rock lives! I just wish that damn screen would stop flipping! And yes, I also thought of Spinal Tap as listened to this.)