How The DSCC's "Great" Recruit, Joe Donnelly, Forced Dick Lugar Into Backing Away From His Support For The DREAM Act

Joe Donnelly: fat, sassy, dressed in red

The DSCC has been tweeting up a storm for the past few days about what a "great candidate" Joe Donnelly is and, bizarrely the keep juxtaposing it with tweets about the shame of former DREAM Act co-sponsor Dick Lugar (R-IN) backing out of his support for the bill, which was just reintroduced in both Houses of Congress, by Obama-shill Dick Durbin in the Senate and by Howard Berman (who represents a newly Hispanic-majority L.A. district) in the House. Last time the bill came up it passed narrowly in the Democratic-controlled House, 216-198, only 8 Republicans voting for it (all but 3 no longer serving) and 38 conservative Democrats crossing the aisle in the other direction to vote against it. One of the anti-DREAM team was, of course, DSCC "great candidate" Joe Donnelly. Hold in your mind for a moment that another was Donnelly's fellow Blue Dog, Jim Matheson.


In the Senate there were 55 votes, including Republicans Lugar and Orrin Hatch (UT), who has also just backed away from his previous support. It would have been enough to pass the bill but there were enough Republican racists willing to filibuster it to death to prevent a final vote from ever taking place.

I'll get back to Lugar and Donnelly and Matheson and Hatch in a moment. I just want to make sure everyone understands how un-partisan and non-controversial this bill actually is. All it does is provide a path to conditional legal residency for an undocumented immigrant child if he or she:

·         Was 15 years old or younger when brought into America

·         Has lived in the United States for at least five years before enactment of the law

·         Is of good moral character

·         Has earned a high school degree or a graduate equivalent diploma

Eligible people would have six years to earn lawful permanent resident status if they:

·         Successfully complete two years of higher education, or

·         Complete two years of military service and received an honorable discharge if he or she is discharged

Unless you're an actual Klan Member this shouldn't even be worth talking about, other than to say, "What took so long." But instead it's become a political hot potato for cynical politicians who use these kids to cater to their base. And it isn't just the Party of Bigotry, Hatred and Racism that's doing this. The Democrats know damn well this has no chance of passing now. They're simply trying to take a cheap shot and make a play for Latino voters. If they really cared would they be touting Donnelly (a rabid racist and opponent of DREAM) as a "great candidate?" Great at what? Moving from opposing this in the House to opposing it in the Senate? And same goes for Matheson. He hasn't declared yet, but he probably will very soon.

Yesterday a Village publication, American Prospect ignored the Donnelly/Matheson role in this and echoed the shaky DSCC talking points that Lugar changed his position because of teabagger primary opponents.

The actual reason Lugar is withdrawing support is that he's facing a primary challenger, but of course he can't simply say that. This sort of sour grapes argument doesn't make sense on its own moral terms-- even if you believe the president is acting inappropriately, that doesn't bear on whether or not the hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who didn't have a choice in coming here and are poised to go to college or join the military deserve a path to citizenship. The DREAM Act is another idea of Republican origin that has become toxic since Obama took office and expressed support for passing it.

I'm not saying the primary challenge isn't a part of this, but, let's be real... opposition to DREAM from racist Blue Dogs Donnelly and Matheson has helped to push two former supporters rightward-- two former supporters who, if they win their primaries, as is likely, will have to face general election opponents who the DSCC has recruited and is touting as "great" and who will accuse them of being soft on Mexican drug cartels moving into the neighborhood, for having supported DREAM.

Can The Democrats Find A Worse Candidate Than Joe Manchin Or Ben Nelson? Try Joe Donnelly

This year there have been a baker's dozen Democrats who have consistently voted with Boehner and Cantor on almost every big issue. Dan Boren is, by far, the worst-- with a ProgressivePunch score of 15.15, worse than 2 dozen Republicans. The next most reactionary Democrats, all Blue Dogs of course, are Mike Ross (AR), Jim Costa (CA), Jason Altmire (PA), Collin Peterson (MN), Henry Cuellar (TX), Jim Matheson (UT), John Barrow (GA), Ben Chandler (KY), Dennis Cardoza (CA), Tim Holden (PA), Mike McIntyre (NC) and Joe Donnelly (IN). When you take the district's partisan tilt into consideration, though, Donnelly, who represents a Democratic-leaning district (his constituents went for Obama over McCain 54-45%) drops to the very bottom of the pile. His -42.93 score trumps Boren's negative 40.89. So who has the Democratic Party decided to move up the Beltway political ladder? Yes, virulently anti-Choice, antigay, pro-corporate Joe Donnelly. A.P. reported yesterday that Donnelly will announce a run for Lugar's Senate seat today.

Two Democrats with firsthand knowledge of Donnelly's plans told The Associated Press that the congressman is entering the race because he believes that Lugar will lose a Republican primary offering him a path to the Senate. Lugar is facing a strong challenge from his right, State Treasurer Richard Mourdock.

The Democrats spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to pre-empt Monday's announcement.

By entering the race, Donnelly-- who also weighed a run for governor-- gives national Democrats a recruiting victory. No other Democrats have entered the race. Donnelly's supporters believe he can clear the Democratic primary field.

A recruiting victory? Don't Democrats ever learn? Because of conservative corporate shills like Donnelly, Democrats and left-leaning independents didn't bother turning out in the 2010 midterms. "There is no difference between the two parties" may not be true where you're from, but it is true in Donnelly's case. And if Lugar does win renomination, a case could be made that he would actually be a better choice than Donnelly!

Yesterday, coincidentally, I was trying to find the worst corporate shills in the Democratic House delegation. I decided to see how many who have voted against the DISCLOSE Act (H.R. 5175) had also voted for the Republican effort to end voluntary public funding for presidential elections (H.R 359). Only 4 Democrats had voted the corporate line on both, Donnelly being one. But it's hard to find any issue that distinguishes the two parties where Donnelly comes across unambiguously as a Democrat. Even if you forgive him for being fanatically anti-Choice (I don't)-- he is also fanatically anti-contraception, voting against Planned Parenthood all three times the GOP tried to kill it since 2007. And if you, for whatever reason, think marriage equality is too radical for Indiana, what about Don't Ask Don't Tell? A clear and overwhelming majority of Americans agreed with the Democrats-- and the Pentagon-- that that bigoted anti-gay rule was outdated and dysfunctional. But not Donnelly. He was one of only 26 Democrats who fellow Blue Dog Patrick Murphy couldn't persuade that it was time to give up on DADT. Even 5 Republicans voted to end the discredited policy. It passed 234-194 with Joe Donnelly once again on the wrong side of history. It's absolutely perverse for the DSCC to even consider recruiting a slouch like Donnelly who will do nothing but confuse voters about which party stands with working families and which party stands with Big Business. In fact just last week, the GOP brought up 3 bills rewarding Big Oil-- and Donnelly was one of the few Democrats to vote with the Republicans all three times. He was also one of the few Democrats who ran TV ads attacking Nancy Pelosi and Democratic energy and immigration policies in last year's midterms. If you think Ben Nelson and Joe Manchin and Blanche Lincoln are good Democrats, you'll love Joe Donnelly in the U.S. Senate as well.