It’s the Blue Dog Democrat strategy to a T – and it’s enabled Melancon to rise to the top of the right wing Blue Dog Coalition in the House of Representatives. The Blue Dog Democrats are like Melancon – voting like Republicans in Congress, but registered as Democrats for electoral advantage. Melancon has become the co-chair of the Blue Dogs, leading the charge as the Blue Dogs rip apart progressive Democratic legislation.

Charles Melancon thinks that kind of political two-timing has earned him a promotion, so this year, Melancon is campaigning to become Louisiana’s newest United States Senator. The bumper sticker you see here speaks to Melancon’s bid, reading, Melancon is too much like a Republican to get this Democrat’s vote.

If you oppose the Patriot Act, don’t vote for Martha Coakley.

Bayh’s rather right wing attitude has led to some serious resentment among Indiana Democrats. That’s why many Democrats are withholding support for Bayh during his re-election campaign for 2010, and joining the insurgent campaign of Democratic challenger Tamyra d’Ippolito instead.

Where Senator Bayh works against progressive principles, d’Ippolito stands firm. On health care reform, issues of war and peace, the environment and the economy, d’Ippolito is unafraid to talk straight with Democratic voters, and represent their values. If you’re tired of seeing the Democratic Party sell you out over and over again, join the campaign of Tamyra d’Ippolito for US Senate, and show your support with this bumper sticker.

Well, the national emergency has come and gone, but the Patriot Act remains. It was renewed, in spite of previous promises, in 2005, and now, in 2009, it’s the Senate Democrats who are leading the charge to renew the Patriot Act. They’re trying to pass S. 1692, a bill to put off the sunset yet again.

Like the original Patriot Act, S. 1692 fails to protect Americans’ constitutional rights. Good senators like Russ Feingold and Dick Durbin supported an amendment that would have at least guaranteed that the Patriot Act’s worst powers would only be used in cases of suspected terrorism or foreign spying, but their amendment was dismissed. Worse yet, it was other Democrats who made up the deciding votes to kill the reform. The following Democrats voted no to reforming the Patriot Act:

Senator Patrick Leahy
Senator Dianne Feinstein
Senator Al Franken
Senator Charles Schumer
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse
Senator Amy Klobuchar
Senator Ted Kaufman
Herb Kohl

It’s time to talk back to these Democratic leaders. They were elected to take a stand against the abuses of the Bush era, not to extend them! This bumper sticker gives a direct message about what’s at stake: Patriots Against the Patriot Act

This video contains more explanation of the problems with the new Patriot Act extension:

No, we don’t, and Democrats in Congress are the reason we don’t. In the House of Representatives, the Blue Dog Democrats wrecked health care reform. In the Senate, five right wing Democrats joined the Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee today to vote against a public option in health care reform. These five Democratic turncoats were:

Max Baucus
Blanche Lincoln
Kent Conrad
Bill Nelson
Tom Carper

Progressive organizations agree – without a public option health care reform is rendered virtually meaningless. Now, these right wing Democratic senators have killed the public option. They’ve ripped the heart out of Barack Obama’s reform program.

So what are we going to do about it? Sit around and mope? No. We’re going to teach these anti-progressive Democrats a lesson about what happens when leaders break promises made to progressives. The progressives get organized, and they fight back.

In Arkansas, John Gray is leading the charge. He is challenging Blanche Lincoln from the left, asking why Lincoln is abandoning Democratic Party promises and voting like a Republican instead.

Today, Gray responded right away when he heard that Blanche Lincoln had voted against Barack Obama’s public option. Gray linked Lincoln’s anti-reform vote to the large campaign donations she receives from insurance companies and other commercial entities that make a profit from the broken status quo. “She has a rather large campaign chest, almost half of which is from the medical industries,” Gray said. “The fact that she is loyal to her sponsors is not at all surprising.”

Gray pledged to support single payer health care instead of the pro-industry sham promoted by Senator Lincoln. By eliminating the commercial inefficiencies created by insurance companies, the Gray Health Plan would enable savings that would pay for health care coverage for all Americans.

Universal health care coverage – remember that promise? John Gray has not forgotten. That’s a darned good reason to vote John Gray for Senate in 2010.

Ensign looks backwards with votes against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act protections for American workers against discrimination, measures to strengthen public lands, and in favor of prolonging the excruciating national shame of Guantanamo Bay. The people of Nevada are willing to move forward toward a more positive vision on issues like these, but Senator Ensign seems stuck in the past.

That’s why, in 2012, John Ensign must go. Nevada doesn’t need a Senator who still thinks according to the political ideas of the last century.

That’s My Congress maintains a progressive action index for the House of Representatives for all 435 members of the House of Representatives, judging members according to their action or inaction on a slate of 31 bills. The two least progressive members of the Massachusetts caucus in Congress are Richard Neal and Stephen Lynch, who have supported just 36% and 41% of the progressive slate of bills, respectively. If Richard Neal or Stephen Lynch end up in Senator Kennedy’s seat, they won’t be carrying on the Kennedy tradition.

On the other hand, the two most progressive members of the Massachusetts caucus in the 111th Congress have been Barney Frank, supporting 68% of the progressive slate, and James McGovern, supporting 77% of the progressive slate. Neither has a perfectly progressive record — but then again, neither did Ted Kennedy. If a Senate candidate comes from the House, either Rep. Frank or Rep. McGovern would be a reasonable choice.

As CEO of Hewlett-Packard, Carly Fiorina was a train wreck. She was run out of the company for gross mismanagement, and was found to have conducted illegal surveillance against her rivals on the corporate board.

In a move quite similar to the scandal of the AIG bonuses, Carly Fiorina took over 20 million dollars as a payment when she left HP, even though her work there had been marred with remarkable failures. At the same time as she took those millions of dollars, she fired thousands of workers.

Hewlett-Packard has never recovered from the damage done by Carly Fiorina. Why should California give Fiorina the chance to do the same damage to the USA?

Carly Fiorina is a corporate tool.

Tomorrow in Alabama, for example, there will be a primary election to determine the Democratic nominee for United States Senate to go head to head against Jeff Sessions, the incumbent Republican.

My bet is on Vivian Figures, the most experienced, most coherent of all the Democratic contenders.

Figures is for strong education for all children, for trade that keeps jobs in the USA, for a health care system that serves all Americans instead of just the insurance companies, for an end to the drain of American dollars into the Iraq War. Vivian Figures isn’t a partisan ideologue out to score points. Her ideas for America just make sense.

Find out more at Figures2008.com – the official Vivian Figures for Senate campaign web site.