How Far Will Wisconsin Fascists Go To Win Next Tuesday?

They haven't been held accountable in the past... so why not try it again?

For many of Wisconsin's most vulnerable people, those thrown out of work by the failure of economic bets by Masters of the Universe they had nothing to do with, yesterday's biggest news was another attack on their ability to survive by Scott Walker and his zombie legislature. A week from today, thousands of voters in Wisconsin can go to the polls and turn their state back from Walker's overtly fascist path. That's next Tuesday-- and it's still not too late to lend a hand to progressives like Sandy Pasch running neck and neck with right-wing extremists like Alberta Darling. Yesterday Wisconsin Democratic Party chairman Mike Tate issued this statement:

"The six Republican recall senators need a heart and a lesson. That's because a week is a long time to wait for people who need to pay bills, who are suffering in Scott Walker's unemployment economy, who are up against the wreckage caused by Republican policies of reckless greed. Today, in one of the most heartless acts to have taken place in a season of heartless acts, Scott Walker's lapdogs in the Senate voted to make our state's job seekers wait a week until they are able to receive vital benefits to allow them to feed their families and clothe their children. What these six Republicans did is the ultimate act of kicking the unemployed while they're down."

Hard to imagine the Republicans could simultaneously be doing something even worse... but they are. (And I'm not even talking about burning down activists' headquarters in La Crosse to help the floundering Kapanke campaign.) Last week we mentioned that Scott Walker was on the fontlines-- leading the charge in fact-- in the ALEC plot against democracy itself. This week, his forces were on the rampage. The Koch Brothers' proto-fascist front group, the misnamed Americans For Prosperity, is sending out absentee ballots to Democrats with instructions to return them on August 11-- two days late. Here's what they've been sending to Wisconsin homes with registered Democrats, in order to undermine the campaigns of Shelly Moore and Nancy Nusbaum:


Democratic chairman Mike Tate, again:

"Scott Walker has sought the help of the corporate front group "Americans For Prosperity," and here they come with dirty tricks clearly meant to meddle in our elections and suppress votes against the Koch Brothers' agenda. Wisconsin's election authorities must stop the black hand of the corporate special interests and their front groups who are trying to strangle democracy in our state and support the six Republican senators now facing recall.

These six Republicans must immediately denounce the AFP scheme or it will signal to the public that they endorse the suppression of Wisconsin votes."

They filed a complaint with Wisconsin Government Accountability Board but what about the Justice Department? Does subverting democracy not rise to a serious enough offense for them? Many people think it is:

Americans for Prosperity is funded by David and Charles Koch, who funneled millions of dollars to Scott Walker and his radical allies. Walker’s allies have raised the specter of voter irregularity to further their agenda.

Make no mistake: This is voter suppression-- pure and simple. Americans for Prosperity must be taken to task for this disgusting, immoral, and anti-democratic behavior.

The battle against Big Business dominance is being fought on many fronts, even in Wisconsin. Yesterday, in explaining why he couldn't support Obama's anti-family deal with the GOP, Russ Feingold said "The debt ceiling deal should remove any doubt of the power corporate interests have over our government. That deal, hammered out by the president and Republican Congressional leaders, places the burden of reducing our long-term budget problems on average Americans, while the wealthiest individuals and corporations are given a free pass. Americans are willing to bear their share of the burden of addressing our nation’s long-term budget problems, but those sacrifices should be shared by all." Another front in the class war conservatives are waging against ordinary American families.

TPM speculates this morning that their may be catastrophic unintended consequences for Wisconsin from the abject surrender to the fascists by Obama and the Democrats yesterday.

[T]he perceived progressive failure in DC over the debt ceiling deal could snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the wild and crazy Wisconsin recalls, leading to the kind of political domino effect left-leaning critics of the debt deal fear most.

Here's how the scenario works: as they're still licking their wounds from a national fight that in the eyes of many Democrats went the Tea Party's way, progressives in Wisconsin will be trying to pull out their voters for a round of recalls on August 9. That electorate could be underwhelmed now, folks familiar with the recalls say. And that could be the difference between flipping the Wisconsin state Senate away from Governor Scott Walker (R) and keeping it in Republican hands.

"There may be some who are sad to the point that they'll stay home," Charles Chamberlain, political director for Democracy for America, told TPM. DFA has spent well over a million dollars on the recall races, and expects to spend a lot more as the get-out-the-vote work begins in earnest.

The trouble is, Chamberlain said, the deal cut by President Obama and the Republicans to raise the debt ceiling has many of the same aspects as union-busting budget Walker passed through the Wisconsin legislature, firing up what has become one of the most active progressive battlefields in years.

"No real protections on entitlements. Dramatic cuts out of education. No shared sacrifice," Chamberlain rattled off. "That's exactly what happened in Wisconsin."

DFA's research has shown voters in the recalls motivated by cuts to programs like Medicare in Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-WI) House budget (which has been the subject of more than one ad the group has run in contest). Behind that, they're moved by the potential for cuts in education programs as well as policies that adversely affect the middle class workers like librarians and teachers.

Progressive critics have said the deal to raise the debt ceiling could have many of the same effects. And the fact that voters just watched Obama get behind the deal could have a chilling effect on turnout.

Or will Obama's Satan Sandwich have just the opposite effect? Or no effect at all. 7 days. Last minute help is welcome.

Raúl Grijalva Disputes Washington's Anti-Family Conservative Consensus

I knew Raúl would come out fast against the Conservative Consensus meme that was all over Talking Heads TV yesterday and has been all over the Twitter Machine since rumors started breaking last night. He came out fast and unambiguous:

“This deal trades peoples’ livelihoods for the votes of a few unappeasable right-wing radicals, and I will not support it. Progressives have been organizing for months to oppose any scheme that cuts Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security, and it now seems clear that even these bedrock pillars of the American success story are on the chopping block. Even if this deal were not as bad as it is, this would be enough for me to fight against its passage.

This deal does not even attempt to strike a balance between more cuts for the working people of America and a fairer contribution from millionaires and corporations. The very wealthy will continue to receive taxpayer handouts, and corporations will keep their expensive federal giveaways. Meanwhile, millions of families unfairly lose more in this deal than they have already lost. I will not be a part of it.

Republicans have succeeded in imposing their vision of a country without real economic hope. Their message has no public appeal, and Democrats have had every opportunity to stand firm in the face of their irrational demands. Progressives have been rallying support for the successful government programs that have meant health and economic security to generations of our people. Today we, and everyone we have worked to speak for and fight for, were thrown under the bus. We have made our bottom line clear for months: a final deal must strike a balance between cuts and revenue, and must not put all the burden on the working people of this country. This deal fails those tests and many more.

The Democratic Party, no less than the Republican Party, is at a very serious crossroads at this moment. For decades Democrats have stood for a capable, meaningful government-- a government that works for the people, not just the powerful, and that represents everyone fairly and equally. This deal weakens the Democratic Party as badly as it weakens the country. We have given much and received nothing in return. The lesson today is that Republicans can hold their breath long enough to get what they want. While I believe the country will not reward them for this in the long run, the damage has already been done.

A clean debt ceiling vote was the obvious way out of this, and many House Democrats have been saying so. Had that vote failed, the president should have exercised his Fourteenth Amendment responsibilities and ended this manufactured crisis.

This deal is a cure as bad as the disease. I reject it, and the American people reject it. The only thing left to do now is repair the damage as soon as possible.”

Is it any wonder working families in southern Arizona cherish this guy? It's also no wonder that the far right has targeted him for defeat next year-- the same way the targeted Grayson last year. Let's help him make sure he can defend himself from the attacks that are coming. He has his own Blue America Act Blue page.

While he was in Congress, Alan Grayson worked closely with Raúl on the Congressional Progressive Caucus. A few minutes after Raúl's statement yesterday, Alan told me he agrees with most of it. "He’s right, except when he says that the deal is “a cure as bad as the disease.” This “deal” cures no disease. In fact, it exacerbates and accelerates the disease. That disease is the collapse of opportunity and job security for the middle class in America. Teddy Roosevelt gave us the Square Deal. FDR gave us the New Deal. Truman gave us the Fair Deal. This is the Raw Deal."

Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus had as strong an aversion to the "compromise" as did Grijalva and Grayson. He recognized it immediately as a shady bill and appropriately enough termed it "a sugar-coated Satan sandwich.” By the end of the day Bernie Sanders explained why he would be voting NO:

"The Republicans have been absolutely determined to make certain that the rich and large corporations not contribute one penny for deficit reduction, and that all of the sacrifice comes from the middle class and working families in terms of cuts in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, LIHEAP, community health centers, education, Head Start, nutrition, MILC, affordable housing and many other vitally important programs.

"I cannot support legislation like the Reid proposal which balances the budget on the backs of struggling Americans while not requiring one penny of sacrifice from the wealthiest people in our country. That is not only grotesquely immoral, it is bad economic policy."

All the Democratic candidates I've spoken to are against the deal, even after Obama's pathetic TV speech last night. Alan Grayson's neighbor in central Florida, Nick Ruiz, came right to the point: "I couldn't agree with Rep. Grijalva more-- the contrast between what BHO and the party brass are pitching in this debt fiasco-- and that which people like myself, or Raul Grijalva would do is epic. We need to elect more progressive Democrats to Congress; it is the only way to undo their destructive policy. The American people must understand that nothing is more important for 2012."

New Mexico state Senator Eric Griego said pretty much what everyone else is telling me: "I stand with Democrats and ordinary Americans nationwide in expressing disappointment with the emerging deal to raise the national debt ceiling, which could allow Republicans to weaken Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to continue to pay for tax cuts for millionaires, Big Oil and other corporate special interests. That is why on Friday I called on the President to invoke the 14th Amendment to use executive order in raising the national debt ceiling immediately. Our priority should be to create jobs and reduce unemployment because people are hurting and they want to work."

Boehner, on the other hand, was celebrating the right-wing victory with his caucus. "Nothing in this framework violates our principles. We got 98 percent of what we aked for... Listen, this isn’t the greatest deal in the world. But it shows how much we’ve changed the terms of the debate in this town... It’s all spending cuts." And from New York Times economics writer Catherine Rampell, an epitaph for Barack Obama's political career:




UPDATE: RUSS FEINGOLD WEIGHS IN... ON THE SIDE OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

Feingold, an intrepid defender of the Constitution when he was in the Senate, was always a bit of a "moderate" on economic issues, sort of like Obama. But they sure have parted ways on the Satan Sandwich. Feingold's statement is just devastating to Obama's pathetic defense of his connivance with the far right against the American people:

"The debt ceiling deal should remove any doubt of the power corporate interests have over our government. That deal, hammered out by the president and Republican Congressional leaders, places the burden of reducing our long-term budget problems on average Americans, while the wealthiest individuals and corporations are given a free pass. Americans are willing to bear their share of the burden of addressing our nation’s long-term budget problems, but those sacrifices should be
shared by all."

UPDATE: WHO VOTED FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TONIGHT?

The sugar-coated Satan Sandwich passed 269-161, the Democrats split 95-95. 174 Republicans voted for it and 66 voted against it. These are the 95 Democrats who voted against it:

Gary Ackerman (D-NY)
Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)
Xaviera Becerra (D-CA)
Earl Blumenauer (D-OR)
Leonard Boswell (Blue Dog-IA)
Bruce Braley (D-IA)
Corrine Brown (D-FL)
G.K. Butterfield (D-NC)
Mike Capuano (D-MA)
Dennis Cardoza (Blue Dog-CA)
Andre Carson (D-IN)
Judy Chu (D-CA)
Hansen Clarke (D-MI)
Yvette Clarke (D-NY)
Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO)
Steve Cohen (D-TN)
John Conyers (D-MI)
Joseph Crowley (D-NY)
Elijah Cummings (D-MD)
Peter DeFazio (D-OR)
Diana DeGette (D-CO)
Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)
Mike Doyle (D-PA)
Donna Edwards (D-MD)
Keith Ellison (D-MN)
Eliot Engel (D-NY)
Sam Farr (D-CA)
Bob Filner (D-CA)
Barney Frank (D-MA)
Marcia Fudge (D-OH)
Charlie Gonzalez (D-TX)
Al Green (D-TX)
Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)
Janice Hahn (D-CA)
Alcee Hastings (D-FL)
Rush Holt (D-NJ)
Mike Honda (D-CA)
Jesse Jackson (D-IL)
Marcy Kaptur (D-OH)
Larry Kissell (D-NC)
Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)
John Larson (D-CT)
Barbara Lee (D-CA)
John Lewis (D-GA)
Dave Loebsack (D-IA)
Zoe Lofgren (D-CA)
Ben Ray Luján (D-NM)
Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)
Ed Markey (D-MA)
Doris Matsui (D-CA)
Betty McCollum (D-MN)
Jim McDermott (D-WA)
Jim McGovern (D-MA)
Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog-NC)
Jerry McNerney (D-CA)
Brad Miller (D-NC)
George Miller (D-CA)
Jim Moran (D-VA)
Chris Murphy (D-CT)
Jerry Nadler (D-NY)
Grace Napolitano (D-CA)
Richard Neal (D-MA)
John Olver (D-MA)
Frank Pallone (D-NJ)
Ed Pastor (D-AZ)
Don Payne (D-NJ)
Gary Peters (D-MI)
Chellie Pingree (D-ME)
David Price (D-NC)
Charlie Rangel (D-NY)
Silvestre Reyes (D-TX)
Laura Richardson (D-CA)
Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA)
Tim Ryan (D-OH)
Linda Sánchez (D-CA)
John Sarbanes (D-MD)
Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)
Bobby Scott (D-VA)
José Serrano (D-NY)
Louise Slaughter (D-NY)
Adam Smith (D-WA)
Pete Stark (D-CA)
Betty Sutton (D-OH)
Bennie Thompson (D-MS)
John Tierney (D-MA)
Paul Tonko (D-NY)
Edolphus Towns (D-NY)
Nydia Velázquez (D-NY)
Pete Visclosky (D-IN)
Maxine Waters (D-CA)
Mel Watt (D-NC)
Henry Waxman (D-CA)
Peter Welch (D-VT)
Lynn Woolsey (D-CA)
John Yarmuth (D-KY)

Jerry Nadler expressed what most of them alos believed:

“Defaulting on our debts is not an option.  hat’s why I voted for a clean debt ceiling increase, free from the unnecessary clutter of budgetary or other non-related matters. And that’s why I voted for Senator Reid’s plan this past Saturday, though parts of that plan were excessive and imbalanced. I am also the lead sponsor of a resolution to support the president’s use of Article 2, Section 3 of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution to raise the debt ceiling-- solely as a last resort. But this so-called compromise-- “the Budget Control Act”-- is just the latest blackmail request from extortionist Republicans. 
 
“This legislation lays out an unbalanced, callous plan that will strangle the middle class and working poor, to say nothing of the elderly and kids. These blackmailers are telling the American people, ‘either you will accept deep cuts to vital programs that support seniors, students, children, women, and the poor, or we will force this nation to default on its debts’-- an unprecedented and reckless move that would lead to skyrocketing interest rates on mortgages, credit cards, student loans, and the like. So, either we stifle our economy and stymie job growth, or we kill the middle class and stymie job growth. 
 
“Shockingly, while Republicans are holding us all hostage, telling us our country is broke and we have to cut programs that are lifelines to millions of Americans, they are letting the wealthiest among us-- the corporations, millionaires, billionaires, and oil companies-- off scot-free, without doing their fair share.   
 
“This proposal is exactly the wrong thing at exactly the wrong time. With our economy still struggling and gasping for air, with more and more Americans looking for jobs, we should be promoting job growth and those federal and state programs that put people to work. But, instead of doing the things Americans do best - that is, building things and creating opportunity-- Tea Partiers want to send this country over the cliff. We must say NO.”

Russ Feingold Explains The Biggest Threat To America At Netroots Nation

Several years ago I had lunch with then-Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) to try to talk him into running for president. As you can see from the photo above, I even wore a Wisconsin-looking shirt with a collar. It didn't work, and several years later, last year, Wisconsin voters, pissed off at Obama's failure to live up to expectations, stayed away from the polls in massive numbers and allowed for a fascist-oriented sweep in their state, a sweep that led to Governor Scott Walker, to a Republican-dominated state legislature, to the loss of two Democratic-held congressional seats and, tragically, to a 52-47% defeat for one of America's most admired and principled political leaders, Russ Feingold.

I'm in Nepal now, but I was able to watch his keynote speech at Netroots Nation online Thursday evening. Predictably, he spoke about the single most important issue facing America, the existential threat to democracy by fascism. And he wasn't just railing against how Republicans have completely sold out to corporate bribes. As he pointed out, the Democrats are nearly as bad. Feingold wants to see Obama, who's probably taken more Wall Street money than anyone who's ever run for president, make a priority of overturning the right-wing Supreme Court decision to further open up the opportunities for corporations to buy up the government and further make government serve the interests of corporations instead of the original idea of having corporations serve the interests of society.

"I fear that the Democratic Party is in danger of losing its identity," Feingold said. "Creating those kinds of Super PACs is wrong. People will see us as weak. People will see us as Corporate Lite. It's not just wrong. It's a dumb strategy."

...In reference to the 2010 Supreme Court ruling on campaign finance, which reflected the view that campaign cash restrictions infringe on free speech, he said: "Speech doesn't corrupt. Money corrupts, and money isn't speech."

He touted the law he passed in 2002 with John McCain to curb soft money and expressed hope that an Obama second term could put another justice on the court to tip the 5 to 4 balance on campaign finance law.

He called on Congress to pass a bill that requires more disclosure, and he praised the president in advance for making a "gutsy move" with an expected executive order that will require companies with government contracts to disclose their campaign spending.

In response to the influx of corporate money into the campaign process, Feingold said he's trying to buy more products from progressive corporations. "I want to buy Democratic toothpaste. I want to buy progressive toothpaste," he said. "Same thing with detergent."

He also said that General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt is "not the right guy" to be leading the president's jobs council.

Looking one part activist, senator, and law-school lecturer, Feingold devoted a significant chunk of his speech to an extended history lesson on how campaign finance laws evolved since the end of the Gilded Age and the dawn of the Progressive Era. The country will return to a second Gilded Age if progressives don't work aggressively to "put the genie back in the bottle," Feingold said. "Except it will be the Gilded Age on steroids."

And that Gilded Age ascension of corporatism led directly to a dangerous rise of fascism, not just in Europe but, as we've been discussing for the past few weeks, in America as well. Allow me to quote from Glen Yeadon's book, The Nazi Hydra in America.

Up until recently the media has led the American people to believe that only a handful of American corporations ever invested in Germany or dealt directly with the Nazis. But a recent [Newsweek] article puts the number of American corporations involved with supplying the Nazis at more than 300. However, even this article while particularly damaging for Chase Bank as well as to Ford and General Motors, is shamefully apologetic to corporate America and plainly inaccurate on other accounts. It shamefully tries to exonerate one of the most notorious fascists in America during the war, the du Ponts by suggesting they did not invest in Nazi Germany after the 1930s. The reality is that the du Ponts had several cartel agreements with the Nazis and were openly pro-fascist supporters in this country.

Another recent article coming from German investigators states that 26 of the top 100 firms in the U.S were guilty of serious war crimes. One report is particularly damaging for Ford and General Motors indicating that US lawyers now have direct evidence of the companies both knowingly using slave labor and having closely collaborated with the Nazis.

...Standard Oil was shipping oil from Aruba in the Dutch West Indies to the Canary Islands.

"Standard...is diverting about 20 percent of the fuel oil to the present German Government. About six ships operating on this route are reputed to be manned mainly by Nazi officers. Seamen have reported to the informant that they have seen submarines in the immediate vicinity of the Canary Islands and have learned that the submarines are refueling there. The Informant also stated that Standard Oil Company has not lost any ships to date by torpedoing as have other American companies whose ships operate to other ports."

By 1944, America was seriously short on oil. The upcoming D-Day invasion would require an even greater amount and a stable supply. Lack of oil would cancel the planned invasion or imperil the troops ashore if it was not forthcoming. At the time, it cost ten cents a barrel to bring the oil up and another fifteen cents for royalties to the Sheikh of Bahrain or 20 cents for drilling in Arabia and another twenty-one cents for the royalties to Ibn Saud. However, prior to the invasion, W.S.S. Rodgers of Texas Company and Henry Collier of Standard Oil of California informed Ickes that the price for the government would be $1.05 a barrel. This was almost double the current price. The offer was take it or leave it. Ickes was forced to accept. The threat of an interruption of supply if the U.S. government should intervene was explicit. Even more grievous was the fact that Rodgers and Collier paid no income tax on their ill-gotten profits because they had registered their company in the Bahamas. Their profit of $120 million dollars was made on a $1 million dollar investment.

Such behavior is not only criminal; it is treasonous. Standard put its own self-interest ahead of the country’s interest. It willingly to put the lives of GIs in danger and even ran the risk of a defeat in Europe. In effect, Standard Oil blackmailed FDR's administration for private gains. No charges of war profiteering were ever filed. Like Seldes said, the big boys are immune from prosecution.

These treasonous families and corporations from just a few decades ago were the real winners of World War II, despite throwing in their lot with the fascists they admired and supported. Today they control the Republican Party entirely and are on the verge of taking over the Democratic Party as well. Obama is nearly as much a puppet of these interests as Romney. Feingold: