End the Capitulation Congress

by: Matt Stoller

Tue Nov 06, 2007 at 16:01

And while House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) have said they have no intention of bringing up Bush's almost $200 billion supplemental war funding proposal this year without a timeline for withdrawal, Democrats are quietly preparing to give the president enough spending flexibility to keep the war going anyway.

Pelosi could use the blogs to help control her caucus.  But she won't.  Here's what she did yesterday to me at a fancy NYC fundraiser, where miraculously you actually get face time with Democratic politicians.

I went up to Pelosi after her odd speech to ask her in person about her support for Al Wynn.  I said 'I helped organize a fundraiser for Donna Edwards', and I was about to talk about retroactive immunity and ask her to take this as a sign of frustration, as well as to tell her how proud she makes me as the first female Speaker of the House.  But the moment I mentioned Al Wynn, Pelosi's whole face abruptly changed, her smile melted away, and she got hostile and said in an icy voice 'I know about that.'  She then turned away to talk to someone else.

We're at 1,895 donors and $83,738 for Donna.  Why is this important?  Because Democrats in Congress won't getting the message any other way.  Even $5, $10, or $20 is incredibly meaningful. 

While we've had success in electing Democrats, and success in knocking off incumbents, we have not yet knocked off a Democratic incumbent with a progressive challenger.  When we do that, it will be immensely powerful, because we will have inserted into the incumbent club of Congress someone who beat their system.  We will show local officials all over the country that it's possible to run against the machine, and win.  And we will make it clear that progressives who govern will be rewarded, while Democrats who ignore the public will face costs.

Even $5, $10, or $20 is incredibly meaningful.  Let's get to $100K.

UPDATE: Scarabus asks the right question.  And I think the answer is 'more and better Democrats', more primaries, with a splash of public financing of elections thrown in.