As many of you know, I have lived in Arizona for the vast majority of my life. My family roots are embedded in the tierra with eight generations of blood, sweat and tears. My ancestors provided the grunt work for the roadways, the copper mines and the blacksmithing that kept tent cities alive in the 1800s when the rush West was consuming the United States.
Yet today, September 28, 2005, I have absolutely no voice in the United States Senate as a Democrat. Despite John McCain’s “maverick” status, I rarely agree with any of his votes. That’s why I am joining other progressive activists in this state to defeat arch-wingnut Jon Kyl and get Jim Pederson elected to give voice to my values–my Arizonan values, my American values.
A glimpse of hope and a shot of outrage below the fold…
This morning I received two emails that brought big smiles to my face. The first was from John Kerry, who still has my admiration despite his horrible candidacy last year:
As one of the leading Senate challengers in the country, Jim is running a strong campaign built around common sense solutions to immigration reform, increased national security, and greater access to quality education and health care. Your help now can give Jim’s campaign a boost at a critical moment in the campaign.
I thought to myself, “Alright! Some of the big-guns are helping out with Jim’s campaign!”
I got even happier when I checked my email later on today and saw this from Barack Obama, who garners a lot of my respect for his populist messaging:
The Arizona tradition is one of independence, of putting the well-being of people ahead of party, ahead of ideology, ahead of big campaign money, and Jim will make sure that he brings this tradition with him to Washington. As one of the leading Senate challengers in the country, Jim is running a strong campaign built around common sense solutions to immigration reform, increased national security, and greater access to quality education and health care.
It felt good to see two high-profile Democrats supporting Jim’s candidacy. It gave me a flicker of hope that perhaps we had a shot at deposing the scourge; until I read this:
On Sept. 14, Jamie Molera, former superintendent of public instruction and a consultant to the Kyl camp, released a list of nearly 50 elected Democrat officials, most of them from rural areas, who say they support Mr. Kyl in his bid for a third term.
[snip]
“It never mattered to me that I was a Democrat. Jon Kyl reached out to work with me,” Ms. Chase said. Mr. Pederson “has no experience and is out of the mainstream of Arizona. His support for Ted Kennedy, John Kerry and Howard Dean shows that he is part of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party.” (emphasis mine)
That final quote was from State Rep. Cheryl Chase, Az District 23. She is on a list of 50 Democrats who are trying to sabotage Jim Pederson’s Senate race. I know Ms. Chase’s area very well; she hails from a town that is 30 minutes away from the gravesite of my great, great, great, great grandmother. My family still lives nearby. How dare she undercut the hardworking, labor-supporting citizens in her area by spewing forth Republican talking-points?
I am disgusted with people in our party who insist on cutting the throat of those who are fighting for our values. Unless we make it clear to them that we are sick and tired of their attempts to dilute our message, we will forever be the party that stands for nothing.
“Big Tent” has many connotations. To this Democrat, it means that we will stand up for the equality of all Americans regardless of gender, race, sexuality, etc.; anything that diminishes a person’s right to a full life in this country should be fought against–hard and relentless. I believe Jim Pederson will carry on that fight.
Why people like Cheryl Chase can’t see the harm they are inflicting, I will never know…but I do know that she deserves a barrage of hate mail for her efforts.
Cheryl Chase (DINO-Az District 23)
Email: cchase@azleg.state.az.us
Phone Number: (602) 926-5030
Fax Number: (602) 417-3123
Address: 1700 W. Washington, Room 128, Phoenix, AZ 85007
Have at it, please, on behalf of my family and the rest of the progressive community in Arizona who are searching for a voice in our government. We’ve worked too hard to be silenced in the Senate for another six years.
My email:
Hope this helps:
Connecticut Man1! It’s time to put these turkeys on notice.
The Email addy returned my Email as undeliverable.
I did a search and came up with the same Email addy you posted, and sent again, and it failed again…
HMMM? Get the feeling it is no longer a serviceable address. Either that or her inbox is full? lol
I just checked my spam folder and saw that my message was bounced back too…let me do some sleuthing to see what I can come up with. Thanks for your support with this CM1
I am an independent… But I will not stand by and watch the Dems shift further into the right wingnut abyss that Dem Reps like that lead everyone into…
This just shows yet another side effect of the infamous “anything to get any Democrat in office” strategy proposed by idiots and blowhards across the blogosphere.
Using faux Democrats to discredit the real ones… is a lousy state-house seat worth it?
We need to bounce these idiots out in the primaries, at all costs. Seriously. Bush is gonna screw the nation regardless. What better time to purge our own house than when its out of power anyhow.
If we don’t, “winning” back the statehouses, or the congress, or the senate will only slow our slide into hell, it won’t do a thing to reverse it.
At this point, I’m willing to risk 2006 for a meaningful victory in 2008. We make our demands and prove our point in 2006. The Dems either get on board, or they’ll learn the hard way its we they better worry about pandering to, not those looking for a “second-choice” Republican candidate.
I don’t consider myself politically savvy, just someone who has a good dose of common sense. The people in that district are not wingers, yet the elected official that they put in office is spewing out the liberal strawman meme ala Zell Miller. It’s ridiculous and I’m all for challenging them with someone who will really represent them.
yeah, nothing like a little Joementum on the local level.
Joe set the bar pretty high. On the Kerry campaign trail, praising Bush’s leadership in Iraq and saying his guy might be okay too. And then there’s his Sunday profession, dutifully mouthing Karl Rove’s talking points, and the SOTU kissy face.
Imagine when the Repubs are on their backs between Iraq, Katrina, gas prices, corruption, that any Dem wants to come stand with them. How fucked up is that?
Why not just campaign actually saying there’s not a dime bit of difference and be done with it?
We need to bounce these idiots out in the primaries, at all costs.
I wish I could have that tattooed on the forehead of every liberal man, woman, and child in the country. The primaries are exactly where we need to be attacking the DINOs, quislings, and crypto-Republicans who have hijacked the party. The primaries are also where we, as individuals, can make the biggest difference, because there isn’t nearly as much money involved.
The “any Democrat is better than none” theory has never carried any water for me for the simple reason that moderate and conservative Democrats are not going to vote like liberal Democrats, and as a liberal, well, that’s what I’m interested in. I, too, am willing to take a chance on 2006 or even 2008 for real liberal victories down the road. The Party is ignoring us because they believe they can count on our votes no matter what. Until we demonstrate that that isn’t true, by staying home or defecting to third parties, they will continue to drift to the right.
We need to bounce these idiots out in the primaries, at all costs.
When faced with a State “machine” do you think (if they’re good enough) they have a shot at running outside the dem party?
Out of curiosity I took a look at the voter registration report (.pdf file) as of July 2005. Some stats:
These are the small (d) Dems that Kos wants the netrootz to support… because it is all about winning.
This Freudenthal guy is such an asshole and an idiot…Dean had a AAA rating from the NRA.
What is does say that Dean is having an impact and all of the “sleeper” Republicans are being awaken.
This story shocks me, even while I know it shouldn’t. 50 Democrats sabotage a Democrat and publically support a rightwing Republican???!!! Geez fucking louise! If there was ever a textbook example of why the Big Tent is full of sh*t, this is surely it. Too bad we can’t put it on protest signs and march up and down in front of certain so-called progressive blogs. In the inimitable words of Mr. T, I pity the fools. Or I would pity them if they weren’t busy undermining our lives, too.
shocking is that they are supporting Jon f*cking Kyl! The man is as wingnut as they come; it’s the only way he can emerge from McCain’s shadow every once in awhile. This is not some ‘moderate’ Republican (do those exist anymore?) It makes no sense and I will continue to register my disgust with these “Dems”. You are correct with the ‘undermining’ comment.
I just have to give that a big hearty amen, brutha from up here in Flagstaff.
I almost popped an artery when I read the Az Capitol Times article. Jim was the State Party Director until a few months ago for buddha’s sake! He isn’t some random Az Dem. [sigh]
A wave and a peace sign in your direction from Tucson!
And even if he were a random AZ Dem, that would be a major improvement over Kyl. Hell, even a random AZ diamondback would be a major improvement over Kyl.
with the wingnut faction of the GOP if I were a Dem official these days.
And this is why supporting DLC candidates is mind-bendingly stupid. They’ll backstab us at the first opportunity. We need to make it clear that progressive candidates will succeed, and DLC candidates will fail.