How Drastically The Republican Party Has Changed In Such A Short Time

Leonard Lance & Scott Walker, indistinguishable faces of Republican change

Yesterday's post about the far right voting record of Hawaii's former congressman Ed Case, brought to the fore a March 17, 2005 amendment by right-wing extremist Jeb Henslarling (R-TX) to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood, NPR and the National Endowment for the Arts. It was handily defeated 320-102 with only one Democrat, the aforementioned Case, plus the 101 most radical Republicans voting for it. Most Republicans, 122 of them-- led by Tom DeLay and Henry Hyde-- voted against it as much too radical. This year, virtually the entire Republican caucus voted for the exact same defunding measures-- dozens and dozens of them flipping away from protecting a woman's right to choice or the public's right to actual fair and balanced news coverage. Only 7 Republicans (Charlie Bass, Judy Biggert, Mary Bono Mack, Charlie Dent, Bob Dold, Rodney Frelinghuysen, and Richard Hanna), voted against Mike Pence's amendment to strip funding from Planned Parenthood. Ten Blue Dog types as bad as Case (your Heath Shulers, Lipinskis, Joe Donnellys, Mike Rosses... that ilk) crossed the aisle to vote with the Republicans.

But what I found most interesting were the ones who switched from supporting Planned Parenthood in 2005 to opposing it this year. Here in California the flip floppers included:

Ken Calvert (R)
David Dreier (R)
Elton Gallegly (R)
Darrell Issa (R)
Jerry Lewis (R)
Buck McKeon (R)
Devin Nunes (R)

Mary Bono voted against stripping funding in 2005 and again this year and far right extremists Wally Herger, Dan Lungren, Gary Miller, Dana Rohrabacher, and Ed Royce were also consistent-- against Planned Parenthood in 2005 and against it again in 2011.


The Republican Party has changed... drastically, and not just in terms of women's issues. They're no longer even a mainstream party, not even a mainstream conservative party. We saw that over the weekend at the Wisconsin Republican Party state convention, where the neo-fascist Walkerite faction so thoroughly controlled it that 3-term popular ex-Governor Tommy Thompson was violently kicked to the curb, his hopes for a Senate run dashed by the extremists.

His D.C. lobbyist cash paid for plenty of signs to limn the sparse crowds at the annual Wisconsin Republican convention here, but Tommy G. Thompson's run for the U.S. Senate was soundly rejected by his own party in humiliating fashion, with Thompson losing a straw poll to a nobody former state senator, with him dissed by extremist U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson.and with him under attack by Scott Walker's own political machine.

Thompson himself was a no-show at the debacle, but it's just as well that he hid.

He lost the WisPolitics.com poll to former state Sen. Ted Kanavas, a retread not well known outside of Waukesha County or his own family.

One of Scott Walker's top advisers, R.J. Johnson, led an all-out assault on a Thompson Senate candidacy.

And Tea Party extremist Ron Johnson gave a sideways but unequivocal rejection of Thompson, using euphemism to say that Thompson's previous support for President Obama's health care reforms for working families rendered Thompson anathema to the Wisconsin Republicans' ruling right wing.

In yesterday's Newark Star-Ledger Tom Moran explained the transformation of New Jersey Congressman Leonard Lance from a mainstream conservative "nerd" to a rubber stamp for the extremist wing of the neo-Confederate, neo-fascist GOP of today. Focusing on Lance, he actually explained the transformation of the entire Republican Party.

After serving 19 years in the state Legislature, Lance has moved steadily to the right since he started drinking the water in Washington after winning his seat in 2008. Now, even his admirers are wondering if he’s sold his soul for political advantage.

“Is he basically throwing his long-standing moderation over the side in hopes of being in the good graces and moving up in the party?” asks Ross Baker, a political scientist at Rutgers University. “I think it’s an interesting question, and one no one would have asked about Leonard Lance five years ago.”

Lance, 58, says he hasn’t changed a bit, but facts are hard things to ignore.

He once vehemently supported a cap-and-trade bill to fight climate change, and now he’s against it. He even voted to strip the Environmental Protection Agency of the power to regulate carbon emissions in more measured ways, giving aid and comfort to the troglodytes who see climate change as a hoax.

A pro-choice Republican going way back, he voted recently to cut off all funding for Planned Parenthood, even those clinics that provide health care with no abortion services.

A leading voice for bipartisan cooperation in Trenton, he has attached himself to Washington’s most uncompromising fire-breathers on the biggest fight of the day-- the budget.

The plan drafted by Republican leaders didn’t go far enough for Lance. He supported the tea party budget, which would savage programs such as food stamps and health care for the poor, eliminate funding for the arts and public broadcasting, and reduce taxes. And yes, those lower taxes would benefit mostly the rich.

This plan was too ferocious for every other Republican in the New Jersey delegation, with the exception of Rep. Scott Garrett, an anti-government ideologue who even opposed aid for Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina.

...This is not the Leonard Lance we knew in Trenton. The real question is, what inspired the change?

Here’s the crudest explanation: Lance was challenged by tea party candidates in the 2010 primary and won with only 56 percent of the vote, so he wants to protect his right flank. He represents the 7th District, which stretches across Central Jersey like a belt.

But with redistricting coming, he could be put in a new district with Garrett and have to compete for conservative votes.

Add to this the pressure from his own caucus in Washington to move right. Lance knows the history of moderate Jersey Republicans getting kneecapped by conservatives in Washington, and the mood today is even fiercer.

“Nobody wants to be the outlier in his own party,” Baker says. “The idea of being a member of the club is important.” ... Whatever the reason, the rightward shift is disheartening to those who have spent years in Lance’s cheering section.

“I’m concerned for the country when even someone like Leonard is voting against his own principles,” Tittel says. “There’s an old adage that says Congress has ruined many a good man. And I’m concerned that could happen to Leonard.”

Lance has a principled, capable progressive opponent this cycle, Ed Potosnak, who was endorsed by Blue America this week. Please consider contributing to his campaign to make Congress less extremist by one.

Blue America Welcomes Ed Potosnak

No signs of any rapture in New Jersey this morning yet. In fact at 11am (PT; 2pm in NJ) Ed Potosnak, Blue America-endorsed candidate for the Congressional seat currently being held by healthcare hypocrite Leonard Lance, will be reporting in live from north-central Jersey. Ed will be at Crooks and Liars to accept the Blue America 2012 endorsement, live blogging about his campaign and how New Jersey voters are reacting to the right-wing jihad against the middle class, seniors and the whole social compact. Meanwhile, contributions for Ed's campaign are gratefully being accepted at our Blue America page.

We endorsed Ed last September for the 2010 race against Lance primarily because of his emphasis on education policy and its role in innovation and moving the country forward. Ed himself is a chemistry teacher and small business owner and several years ago he was selected as an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow.

"In my first year as an Einstein Fellow I helped craft legislation to improve science and mathematics education. This bill was introduced by then-Senator Obama; it passed, and is being implemented. In the second year of my fellowship I worked on legislation to ensure every student has access to a high quality education, establishing a 9-11 like commission to address the urgent crisis in our schools. This also passed and the Equity Commission is currently underway... There is so much more to do and I am running for Congress to once again get the job done."

The incumbent he's running against is a garden variety career politician whose decades in office has been more about self-service than public service-- something you may have noticed if you were tuned into the fracas between Lance and Blue America over his healthcare hypocrisy which led to this ad:



Ed performed extremely well in a devastating year for Democrats. Not one Democratic challenger unseated a Republican incumbent but, with a feisty under-funded grassroots campaign, Ed managed to hold his own against the red tidal wave. This year looks far more promising nationally-- and in NJ's 7th, where Obama beat McCain 51-48% in 2008 and will probably do a lot better next year against Bachmann or Palin or Romney or Gingrich or Pawlenty or whichever sociopath they come up with on the right. "The issues we care about today are as important as they were this past November," he told us, "creating jobs, growing the economy, improving education, promoting innovation, and protecting the American dream... Things need to get done in Washington. The GOP has done nothing to address jobs and the economy... According to Congress' Joint Economic Committee if the Ryan plan to turn Medicare into an inadequate voucher program, for which Congressman Lance voted, were to be signed into law, seniors across America would face bleak economic prospects. But with the exception of Florida, there is no state more disastrously impacted than right here in New Jersey. Congressman Lance has seen these numbers and well knows that by 2022 out of pocket expenses for the typical 65-year old enrollee in New Jersey would jump from $6,832.43 to $13,892.47, the second biggest increase in America ($7,060.03). I'll fight against that ever being enacted every day I'm in office."

An openly gay candidate, Ed takes equality and social justice very seriously. "We need better representation in Washington to ensure that America's policies are fair and just for all. The future of America depends on the education we provide today and we need to act with urgency to improve our schools and foster innovation. We must ensure that every single child in America is prepared to help our nation overcome the challenges of the modern world, innovate, and lead the global economy."

If you'd like to help Ed's campaign, you can do so at the Blue America ActBlue page

It's Official: New Jersey Gets A Fighting Progressive Challenging Leonard Lance

Tuesday Ed Potosnak made it official-- he's running for the central New Jersey seat currently held by healthcare hypocrite Leonard Lance. Following his vote to repeal healthcare Lance mislead voters into believing he did not take government healthcare when in fact he is taking a totally free plan that costs New Jersey taxpayers $23,000, a year. Then he moved on to vote for Paul Ryan's bill to gut Medicare. So Blue America was delighted to see Ed Potosnak, who we endorsed last year, jump into the race earlier than most candidates around the country are willing to commit.

Ed's a newcomer to NJ’s political arena and he mounted a highly energetic, hard fought, issue-oriented grassroots campaign against the 20-year career politician last time around. Ed’s activist-driven campaign astonished political insiders when he earned the support of 71,902 voters, in a horrible year for Democrats. He received nearly the same percentage of the vote as the 2008 candidate who spent more than five times the money against Lance and was heavily backed by the DCCC. Ed pushed back against the Red Tide mightily to match the Democratic performance in 2008. Ed spent less than 10% of what Democrats dumped into the race during the last cycle with approximately the same results. What could his campaign have accomplished with 20% of '08? Simple: a victory. His campaign was a winning campaign-- well run, consistently on message, grassroots, and energized. As a candidate, Ed was articulate [take a look at the debate video above], knowledgeable, engaging, and hard working. Even more important for Blue America, he was on the right side of the issues that matter most: jobs and the economy, healthcare, education, financial reform, improving America's competitiveness, human rights.

“There are important things that need to be done in Washington and partisan politics are preventing progress. We need to work together to get the job done.

“As a small business owner, teacher and scientist, I have experienced firsthand the struggles New Jersey families are having in this economy-- high unemployment, anxiety over whether you will have a job tomorrow, how you will pay for healthcare for your family-- and concerns about our country’s struggles to compete in the global economy.

"Creating good jobs to secure America’s future, stimulating research and development, improving education so that future generations can innovate and lead, and protecting the American Dream are among my top priorities. Congressman Lance has changed since going to Washington, and his ever-changing policy positions are damaging America’s future.

“Congressman Lance is voting the party line and America’s middle class is paying the price. Mr. Lance wants to take away Medicare from our seniors struggling on fixed incomes and to expand off shore drilling to build more rigs off the east coast like the Deep Water Horizon rig that caused an environmental catastrophe. Since Republicans took control of the House all they have been doing is protecting Wall Street, big oil and big business rather than helping the middle class-- Mr. Lance is not representing our families and businesses.”

If you'd like to help elect Ed to Congress and help him replace Leonard Lance, you can do it here through ActBlue. Congress needs more dedicated school teachers and less dedicated corporate shills. Below is the radio ad Blue America ran in NJ-07 a couple months ago: