Are there any high profile progressives (4.00 / 1)

who might be willing to hold a similar fundraiser (or send a similar letter) for Winograd, and try to draw this distinction more clearly?

I would imagine that taking these actions to support a primary challenge would be more likely from people outside of Congress (or people on their way out of Congress.)  Then again, maybe I am wrong.  Are there people in Congress that understand that the Blue Dogs are only out for themselves, and that primary challenges from the right can garner establishment support?  

Politics is the art of the possible, but that means you have to think about changing what is possible, not that you have to accept it in perpetuity.

---

by: David Kaib @ Sat Jan 09, 2010 at 19:42:03 PM UTC

High profile progressives willing to (0.00 / 0)

defy AIPAC?

The only one who comes to mind is Pete Stark, who a few years ago was one of only eight people in Congress who voted against a House bill upholding Israel's "right to self-defense" (Israel's right to do whatever the fucks it wants."

He's also called moderate Dems "brain dead."

---

by: david mizner @ Sat Jan 09, 2010 at 19:55:16 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

As I said, I think the most fruitful place to look (0.00 / 0)

for such people would be outside of Congress. Or perhaps I should have said outside of government.

Politics is the art of the possible, but that means you have to think about changing what is possible, not that you have to accept it in perpetuity.

---

by: David Kaib @ Sat Jan 09, 2010 at 20:10:17 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Grayson? (0.00 / 0)

http://www.funnyordie.com/jame...

---

by: mildewmaximilian @ Sun Jan 10, 2010 at 01:05:58 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Great work on this, Chris (4.00 / 3)

It's an outrage, but I wish bloggers like you and D-Day would be stronger in defense of Marcy's position on the I-P conflict, which is bold and progressive. You write:

Waxman apparently doesn't like Winograd because of her views on Israel and Palestine.  That is really lame.  In the House, power is rarely wielded by individual members, and instead comes in networks.  Even if Winograd were in Congress, she wouldn't be able to change American I/P policy one iota.

Well, yes, but it's lame also because Winograd is right and Waxman (a leader of the PEOI (progressive except on Israel) caucus is wrong.

D Day meanwhile wants us to "forget for a second the very knotty nature of Israel/Palestine policy." Why would we want to forget it? Why duck this issue, especially when it's entirely possible that the support of progressive congresspeople for Harman isn't merely them protecting their own but an AIPAC-directed effort to keep Winograd out of Congress.  

---

by: david mizner @ Sat Jan 09, 2010 at 19:47:36 PM UTC

And don't forget ... (4.00 / 1)

the repulsive language Waxman uses in the letter .. basically calling her a self-hater .. since Winograd is herself Jewish

---

by: Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle @ Sat Jan 09, 2010 at 19:50:51 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Winograd's Response (4.00 / 6)

Over at DKos, TomP has a recommended diary, "Marcy Winograd Nails Henry Waxman and Jane Harman", containing Winograd's response.  Here's part of it:

Dear Congressman Waxman:

I write this as an open letter in response to a letter you sent contributors, urging them to join you in financing Jane Harman's re-election to Congress. More importantly, I write this as an open letter because I believe the establishment of world peace merits an international conversation.

Both of us recognize the importance of strengthening our country's role as a global partner in world affairs.

Hence, it is with great disappointment that I received your letter urging readers to support my opponent Jane Harman, a woman recently under an FBI investigation for allegedly conspiring with members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee to use her influence in Congress to subvert due process.

On the domestic front, you have advocated for the protection of constitutional rights. It is therefore disconcerting to learn that you would lend your name and financial support to a woman who lobbied the New York Times to suppress reports of the Bush administration's crimes involving illegal wiretapping and who ultimately became the chief Democratic Party defender of those unconstitutional methods.

This is not the definition of a patriot.

Like you, I am intimately aware of our Jewish history. On my mother's side, my great-grandparents escaped the Russian Pogroms to make a better life for themselves in Europe. On my father's side, my great-grandparents were killed in the Jewish Holocaust of Nazi Germany. Because of our collective experience with persecution, it behooves us to stand in opposition to persecution anywhere and everywhere, rather than sanctify reductionist state policies that cast all Jews as victims who can only thrive in a segregated society. Furthermore, we must stand in explicit opposition to the Israeli persecution of the Palestinians; the brutal blockade of Gaza, an act of war by international standards, denying children clean water, food, and medicine.

We are better than that.

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

---

by: Paul Rosenberg @ Sat Jan 09, 2010 at 19:57:04 PM UTC

I love this reply (4.00 / 2)

I'm pretty jaded these days about "progressive" rhetoric, as it comes off hollow after this last year. But reading this made my day, such as it is.

Perhaps Marcy is due for a money bomb a la Grayson?

I'll cough up $50 tomorrow, just for this response. She has guts and (insert deity of your choice) knows we need more like her.

"More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly." -Woody Allen, My Speech to the Graduates

---

by: Emocrat @ Sat Jan 09, 2010 at 21:17:06 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

funny you should mention Grayson (0.00 / 0)

as valuable as his attempts to shed light on Wall Street have been, he is a downright hawk on Israel.

It's a symptom of how successfully discussion of the American-Israeli "special relationship" has been suppressed, that such things are hardly mentioned.

---

by: limpidglass @ Sat Jan 09, 2010 at 21:23:32 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Also, that people tend to care more about our economy and health care than about Israel. (0.00 / 0)

---

by: liberalmaverick @ Sun Jan 10, 2010 at 02:54:45 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Gobs of liberal/progressive money for Marcy Winograd is in order (0.00 / 0)

We have to win this one.

---

by: liberalmaverick @ Sun Jan 10, 2010 at 02:55:33 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

David Dayton needs to follow up (0.00 / 0)

Who asked him to co-chair? Woolsey's people? Harman's?

Why do they think he might be open to such an idea? If Woolsey made the ask it really says a lot about her cluelessness.

What is Woolsey's position on the push-back about this event here, at FDL, Kos, etc? As Co-chair of the Progressive Caucus she should be aware of and responsive to these constituencies.

What is Woolsey's position on the Waxman letter?

Harman should be forced to respond: Does she think her opponent, Winograd, wants Israel to "cease to exist?" Harman may stonewall any follow-up from progressives. That is her right.

As a high officer of the Progressive Caucus, Woolsey has no such right to ignore follow-up questions on these issues. As a matter of our (the progressive communities) institutional integrity and power, she must be forced to respond to these questions.

Self-refuting Christine O'Donnell is proof monkeys are still evolving into humans

---

by: Steve in Sacto @ Sat Jan 09, 2010 at 20:21:34 PM UTC

Network disruption. (4.00 / 3)

Let me know if I'm out of line here, but it seems perfectly reasonable to me that anyone who attends this fundraiser should suffer some damage to their reputations. That's just a starting point.

Is FDL/OL going to crank up the action email list on this? Just for starters, perhaps demand that Woolsey resign her leadership position with the caucus. She's clearly too compromised now to effectively lead progressives to the cafeteria, much less on major political questions. We could also threaten to boycott her fundraising this election cycle. Money bomb for Marcy on the day of the fundraiser?

I'm just fishing here.... but the more I think about this, the more important it seems in the broader scheme of things.

Are there any genuinely committed progressives in DC? That's what I keep coming back to, whether that's rational or not--and I seriously hope it's as irrational as all get-out. But how many others are thinking similar things? That's what bothers me the most right now. This kind of thing can demotivate a lot of people.

"More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly." -Woody Allen, My Speech to the Graduates

---

by: Emocrat @ Sat Jan 09, 2010 at 21:27:05 PM UTC

Indeed, do we even matter to them? (4.00 / 3)

...the more I think about this, the more important it seems in the broader scheme of things.

How this plays out is a reflection on us (the progressive communities). If Woolsey is not forced to respond directly to the push-back here and elsewhere, then effectively we don't matter to the leadership of the Progressive Caucus. That seems profoundly important.

Self-refuting Christine O'Donnell is proof monkeys are still evolving into humans

---

by: Steve in Sacto @ Sat Jan 09, 2010 at 22:24:29 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Agree completely, which explains the pit in my stomach. (0.00 / 0)

I don't think we matter to the elites, even elite progressives. Either that, or they just don't understand the gravity of our collective situation. If Lynne Woolsey is willing to sell out the CPC, which she allegedly leads, just to make points with AIPAC... and if no one howls bloody murder over this... then we get what we deserve and I think we deserve better.

I almost wish D-Day had taken the chair on this fundraiser and gotten the list... so we could go to town on that fucking list and threaten boycotts against everyone on that list.

Perhaps there's a conscientious person on Woolsey's staff that might care to leak it? Perhaps there are other ways of disrupting the event in a civilized manner?

What I can for sure now is that I'm now willing to volunteer a few weekends up in Venice for the primary for canvassing or whatever. Come to think of it, one could pick a lot worse places to spend a few weekends... Hopefully some others will be similarly inclined.

Marcy now has a great recruiting tool at her disposal. Let's hope she uses it with gusto.

"More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly." -Woody Allen, My Speech to the Graduates

---

by: Emocrat @ Sat Jan 09, 2010 at 23:16:44 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Not anyone (4.00 / 1)

By which I mean, pick 1-2 people who attend the fundraiser, round up the lynch mob, and take them down hard.  Delve into their personal lives, publicize all the skeletons in their closet.  Make an example out of them and threaten to do it to anyone else that is out of line.

Or, I suppose, you could just get a list of donors and post their home addresses and phone numbers on the web and see what happens.

Things You Don't Talk About in Polite Company: Religion, Politics, the Occasional Intersection of Both

---

by: Anthony de Jesus @ Sat Jan 09, 2010 at 23:39:08 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

This strikes me as a pretty petty approach (0.00 / 0)

This is the kind of thing righties do, because it's easy and especially nasty.

I don't see how this gets us anything beyond karmic demerits and the mediots will have a field day with such numbskull nastiness. Not that they care when righties do it!

So, no, the thing to do is a solid broadside and create a wave of populist resistance to those who claim to be "progressives" whilst kow-towing to right-wing extremists. Further, use this as a recruitment tool for Winograd. Raise money on it. Use this against them. For all it's worth. Milk it!

Hypocrisy is the soup du jour every day on the neo-liberal menu, but it's not on the progressive menu any day. There's a reason for it. I don't know any leftists that don't despise hypocrisy.  Fucking use it!

Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

"More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly." -Woody Allen, My Speech to the Graduates

---

by: Emocrat @ Sun Jan 10, 2010 at 01:54:19 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I admit it (0.00 / 0)

I believe in being petty and nasty on occasion.

Things You Don't Talk About in Polite Company: Religion, Politics, the Occasional Intersection of Both

---

by: Anthony de Jesus @ Sun Jan 10, 2010 at 07:17:32 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Why is anybody surprised? Now do something about it! (0.00 / 0)

Why would anybody be surprised?  Is incumbents protecting other incumbents in the Dem Party surprising?  Remember how Dem Senators helped Joe Lieberman before and after he lost to Lamont in the Primary?

There is a better way to deal with this - Vote for Winograd in the primary and if Harman beats he don't vote for Harman in the General.  Don't just not vote - let the Dems know that you won't vote for Harman or any other blue dog in the General.  Maybe the Repub will beat Harman well then you have 2 years to find a better Dem to run to replace the Republican.  We have got to stop voting for folks because they have a D after their name.

---

by: mwfolsom @ Sun Jan 10, 2010 at 03:15:38 AM UTC