Two years ago, when the Affordable Care Act was originally voted on by congress, my DINO of a congressman, Stephen Lynch, voted against it. At the time, as someone with a preexisting condition, I swore that I would never vote for this pathetic excuse for a democrat ever again. Since he has a republican challenger this year, advocating the same repugnant position on the ACA as my DINO congressman, should I go ahead with my protest against Stephen Lynch and blank my vote for congress or is that the same as voting ReThuglican? Since there is no discussion about the majority in the House shifting back to Democrat control, is it reasonable to blank my vote in protest for his reprehensible position from two years ago? Any thoughts would be appreciated.
A few weeks ago Boehner betrayed acknowledgement that the GOP may in fact lose the House. One vote does not a record make and I know Lynch is more conservative, but at least he will cast his first vote for Pelosi to be Speaker whereas his opponent will vote for Boehner.
Republicans have moved so very far to the right that a rather wide gulf separates their left wing from the Democrats’ right wing, i.e., conservative Democrats are just plain shockingly better than those Republicans accused of moderation.
Another consideration: eventually Democrats will be within reach of retaking the House. That’s going to to be harder if a Republican becomes entrenched.
Contact Lynch. See how much he wants it.
I’ve never been the biggest Lynch fan, but he did vote against the GOP efforts to repeal the PPACA, he’s been a solid vote on labor/economic issues, and lately he’s been advocating against Citizens United. Plus his opponents are G-d awful (I think Plaster Fun Time Joe is the worst of them).
Yes, it is your vote though, definitely call his office.
If Lynch risks not getting re-elected, progressives need to work to get him re-elected.
This is just like Senators Tester, Webb, Manchin, and Nelson. None of these guys have been very good. It is hard to “like” them. But they’re all quite a bit better than Senators Scott Brown, Susan Collins, or Olympia Snowe.
Rep. Lynch has also been a strong advocate for the USPS as well, in their attempt to remove the onerous requirements that were put upon them in a bill written by lobbyists for FedEx. Let’s show him that we have his back, and push him in a more progressive direction. It looks like he is already (or the GOP Keystone Congress is just that bad).
Considering how back and forth the power swings in Washington, I think there is really something to be said for having some influence in the Republican party, particularly in the Senate. It makes sense to have one Senator from each party, it gives us more voice. Lots of things like DADT and Dodd-Frank would not have been accomplished if we’d had Coakley, because a Senator is more than a vote R or a vote D, they are first of all Senators, who work with other Senators to unite and function as a single body, which means to meet with kings and queens and rank and file of both parties.
but when push comes to shove I prefer someone not in the Pro-Insanity Party. You know, the Party chock full of evolution and climate change deniers.
have too much faith in him, but at least he’s in favor of some expanded progressive planks on health care that haven’t been achieved yet, including a public option.
We all know the real reason why he was against the ACA (cough*Blunt-like-issues*cough*), but he used the public option as an excuse to explain why he voted against ACA in the first place, trying to cover his left flank.
He creamed his last primary opponent, who campaigned like the Dickens, so it probably worked… but we have him on record and being pro-public option is a record he still holds, so we can hold it to him if we secure majorities in Congress and win back the White House.
A simple bill that only adds a public option seems doable with majorities, especially as it’s likely ACA will become more popular now that it’s won at the Supreme Court and important aspects of it are set to kick in over the next 2 years.
You can add the fact that he’s in favor of repealing the anti-trust exemption that health care companies enjoy as another thing we could work with him on re: health care.
We’re kind of stuck with Lynch, but the good news about that is he’s definitely stuck with us – and he has become better over the years on a lot of important progressive issues because of that.
He knows he can’t piss off the left too much, so we can at least work with him. Moreover, working with him, pushing on him hard, is likely going to produce more results than taking your ball and going home.
That’s more than anyone can say with a GOP opponent, if such an opponent has any real chance to begin with.
The difference is, Lynch will vote for Pelosi (or whatever Dem) for speaker. His Republican opponent will vote for Boehner. That’s vote that REALLY counts.
If you don’t like Lynch, work for his opponent in the primary. But in the general election, prefer a DINO (as you see him) to a real Republican any day.
Why do we just assume Pelosi as Speaker, if we win back the House? *head shake*
Generally, the minority leader is seen as a shadow speaker by the minority party. If the party is successful in returning to majority status the minority leader fairly or not gets the bulk of the credit and is thus rewarded with the gavel.
I have several weeks to mull this over (and over (and over again.))