Seems to me Rep. Artur Davis (D) just made himself a big contender for a primary in 2010. Davis, as you can see from this Birmingham News story, has decided to spend the last week of the 2008 campaign defending endangered GOP Rep. Mike Rogers and attacking Better Democrat Josh Segall (D) for Seagall's criticism of the Wall Street bailout bill:
Artur Davis critical of Josh Segall's anti-bailout campaign ad
WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Artur Davis admonished a fellow Alabama Democrat on Tuesday for running a campaign commercial that takes issue with the $700 billion economic rescue plan approved by Congress earlier this month.
Democrat Josh Segall of Montgomery, a candidate for Congress in east Alabama, started airing a television commercial districtwide Tuesday that called the bailout of the financial industry "Wall Street welfare." Segall is challenging U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Saks, who twice voted for the rescue plan.
"I think it should not be the subject of a political attack on Mike Rogers," Davis said. "I wish Josh was not running that ad that refers to the bailout."
Davis said he was defending Rogers' vote as well as his own.
"There is no question it was an unpopular vote, but sometimes members of Congress have to cast an unpopular vote," Davis said. "Mike cast the right vote. Six of us cast the right vote. I stand by that position."
Davis represents Birmingham, Alabama - not exactly a super-wealthy place. And yet he's publicly attacking a fellow Democrat for criticizing Congress's decision to send $700 billion to Wall Street bankers in New York - literally and figuratively far away from places like Birmingham. It's nauseating, though when you look at Artur Davis's campaign finance reports and realize what kind of a corporate lackey he is, it's not surprising.
Give money to Josh Segall right now through OpenLeft's Better Democrat page. Help Segall continue airing this ad so that he can win the seat over Davis's objections. I hope Segall can use Davis's disgusting behavior to juxtapose himself against the corrupt wing of the Democratic Party. That is, I hope in a tough district like the one he's running in, Seagall can use Davis's shenanigans to show how he's going to be a true independent populist progressive who doesn't kowtow to either party.
UPDATE:Commenter Adam B. floats one of the most inane, factually ungrounded conspiracy theories I've ever seen on this site: Namely, that Davis is doing this with the deliberate intent of helping Segall triangulate. If that were true, Davis wouldn't be calling Segall "the far left" as he did in the local newspaper:
"Most of the Democrats who voted against the bill were from the far left, were pretty hard core," Davis said in a telephone interview with The Star. "These were mostly ideologues. I'm not sure Josh wants to be that kind of Democrat in Alabama."
Being called "the far left" by a nearby Democratic congressman while running in a Republican-leaning district is no help...at all. I've heard of partisan blinders, and I've heard of Democratic activists who are willing to bend over backwards to see only good no matter what an elected Democrat does. But claiming Artur Davis is actively trying to help Segall by doing what he's doing is way beyond that - it's just straight up lying.
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