California Progressive Caucus Slams Lynn Woolsey Support For Blue Dog Jane Harman
Did Marcy Winograd make that sign? Jane Harman sure didn't
A few days ago we mentioned that Lynn Woolsey, the co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, had decided to do a fundraiser for Blue Dog Jane Harman. Harman, the wealthiest Democrat in the House, has supported Woolsey in the past and perhaps Woolsey felt that that overshadowed Harman's consistent support for the Bush agenda, especially all things related to war, but also including Bush's domestic priorities, like the bankruptcy bill that makes life almost unbearable for so many victims of medical and health insurance catastrophes. That doesn't make her a bad person; but it does make her a bad co-chair for the Progressive Caucus. She should resign from that.
Woolsey is also on the board of PDA and yesterday they publicly excoriated her for backing Harman. They pointed out that she was "conferring on the Harman campaign is something far more valuable than an appeal for financial donations (which, given her vast personal wealth, are hardly needed). Your title of Progressive Caucus Co-Chair will be useful to the Harman campaign as it labors to give Democratic primary voters the false impression that she can be called 'progressive' in any meaningful sense of the word."
Along those same lines, yesterday the California Progressive Caucus sent all their members the following letter:
Dear Progressive Caucus Members,
Last week, we received the unfortunate news that a stalwart ally of progressive Democrats everywhere has come out to give her support to one of the worst Blue Dogs in the House. Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-Chair Lynn Woolsey has decided to appear at a fundraiser for war hawk Jane Harman (CA 36) this Saturday, in a part of the district that last time turned out strongly for Marcy Winograd, a much loved and respected member of our own Progressive Caucus. Marcy is challenging Jane again and this time, the ‘powers that be’ have wasted no time in implementing a plan which includes character assassination on the one hand to whip up a McCarthy-like hysteria among a targeted demographic in the district, and a cynical divide and conquer strategy on the other, in an attempt to cut into the base of support that is apparent for Marcy. While we understand the politics of well, politics, what caught all of us off guard was the matter of degree to which the situation has so far transpired and most disappointingly, the way ‘one of our own’ obliged the Harman campaign without considering the consequences of her actions.
We have received quite a few emails asking us to respond as officers of the Caucus. We thank everyone for contacting us. This is indeed an important development that warrants a serious and thoughtful response. On behalf of the CDP’s Progressive Caucus Executive Board, the following letter has been sent to Congresswoman Woolsey. We hope you agree that it reflects the collective view of our Caucus membership.
Faithfully yours,
Karen Bernal
Chair, Progressive Caucus, CDP
In a few hours Blue America will officially endorse Marcy Winograd for the congressional seat representing CA-36 and she will join us a CrooksAndLiars.com at 10AM (PT)> I hope you can come too. Meanwhile, please consider donating to Marcy's campaign.
Marcy has been slandered by Harman supporters who like to whisper about some anti-Israel plot. Listen to Marcy in her own words about the Middle East:
http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/