If you've spent any amount of time reading this blog, you know my feelings about Blanche Lincoln. In a Democratic Douche Caucus that contains Ben Nelson, Max Baucus and Evan Bayh, Blanche Lincoln may actually be the most loathsome character of them all.
It's not just that she's in the pocket of every industry that congress is attempting to regulate, she has taken an active role in killing almost any meaningful element of the Democratic platform. The Employee Free Choice Act, meaningful health care reform, climate change, on just about anything you can think of, Blanche Lincoln attempted to make it worse, or helped kill it altogether.
Any time you criticize someone like Lincoln, Ben Nelson, or Evan Bayh, you can practically script the excuses that their defenders trot out: "Arkansas isn't Washington DC", "She needs to vote her state" and so on and so on.
Here's the thing about those excuses: I happen to believe that being a corporate whore is about as popular in Arkansas as it is anywhere else in the United States. Find me the state where huge giveaways to the health insurance industry are popular, and I'll gladly help Blanche Lincoln become their next Senator.
Unfortunately, that mentality is usually successful in warding of better candidates because of the party's strategy of "keeping the seat" at the expense of employing truly terrible human beings.
Luckily, Arkansas has been kind enough to give us another choice in the form of Bill Halter. Like many others in the Netroots, I was first introduced to Halter when he supported free health care clinics in Arkansas while Lincoln was busy killing the public option. Then, as Lincoln continued to be a worthless Senator, she alienated enough of the traditional environmental, labor and women's groups in the state that it left the door wide open for a legitimate primary challenge with institutional backing. Her putrid poll numbers sealed the deal, and Bill Halter's candidacy was born.
I'll can't guarantee that he'll make us happy on every issue, but one thing is clear, he will be an immense improvement over the vile human being he is replacing.
Send a message to the Douche Caucus, support our first ever TRAIN ACTION candidate, Bill Halter!
Blanche Lincoln... dare we dream of a senate without her?
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of shitty dems took the wrong message from Lieberman surviving his seat challenge... instead of understanding that theres now a somewhat organized left that's going to systematically pursue them, they took it as carte BLANCHE (AHAHAHHAHAHA GET IT?!) to support terrible legislation with the assumption that they, too, would live on to shit up Washington another day.
JJ... So, other than hating his opponent, why do we LIKE Halter?
ReplyDeleteYou only actually give one reason in this post.
Here it is:
"I was first introduced to Halter when he supported free health care clinics in Arkansas..."
The rest is telling us what we already know: Blanche Lincoln sucks. Which tells me nothing about whether or not Halter sucks. How about mentioning why Halter doesn't suck (or is actually good for a change)?
@jaypop: Very Valid point:
ReplyDeleteFirst point: Bill Halter supports a public option, where as Blanche Lincoln worked to killed the public option. He also brought free health care clinics to AR when Blanche Lincoln was attempting to kill the PO, so he used his influence and exposure to shame her when it was st the crux of the debate. That wasn't a victory, she still opposed the public option, but I think it's significant that he was willing to fight on that issue.
While not endorsing the Employee Free Choice act, he has committed to labor law reform, something that Blanche Lincoln killed.
That's only two examples, but those are hugely important issues where having Bill Halter in the Senate could have meant the bills passed that Blanche Lincoln personally either weakened or killed.
We don't have too much of a record on halter because he was a Lt. Gov, But those two issues alone are a pretty big deal.
Also keep in mind that Lincoln isn't just any crappy democrat, by any sane standard she's on a very short list for crappiest democrat. even exchanging her for your standard crappy democrat would be a step up, although the health clinics and labor law are hopeful signs that halter could be.. an... OK democrat, or even, dare i say it... a good democrat.
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