The other day I did a little interview and they asked me who my favorite politician was. I tend not to think of politicians in those terms generally, but this one wasn't tough: Alan Grayson. Obviously, I'm not alone. He's a great favorite among many of us in the netroots because he's smart, savvy and not afraid to be controversial. And he knows how to give a floor speech and question a witness, skills you would think would be required (and common, since so many politicians are lawyers) but clearly aren't.
Grayson is trying to create a new paradigm for Democratic politicians: someone who is funded by the grassroots and netroots rather than the big money lobbyists. If it works, others will see that it's possible and follow suit. More decent people will likely decide to run for office if they can do it without having to prostitute themselves for wealthy interests. It might just change the composition of the congress over time to provide a counterbalance to the current big money domination of the system which I think we can all agree is the most fundamental problem we face.
So far, the Republicans can't find anyone to run aginst Grayson. But the teabaggers have:
Less than a week after Sarah Palin directed her zombie army to “take out” Congressman Alan Grayson, one of her undead minions has risen to the challenge. Peg Dunmire has filed to run as the Florida Tea Party’s candidate against Grayson in November. Dunmire evidently is the first person to qualify as an official Tea Party candidate in any House race in the country.
“I read Dunmire’s announcement,” said Grayson. “I then forwarded it to the Guinness Book of World Records, for consideration under the category ‘Most Consecutive Cliches.’ This kind of right-wing drivel gave America $4-a-gallon gas and two endless wars, and drove us all to the brink of national bankruptcy. Was she living in a cave for eight years?”
He went on to point out that he doesn't actually blame Dunmire for going tea party since the Florida Republican party is so corrupt that she had to know tht themoney she rqised would go into the pockets of the local bosses.
As you probably know, Grayson has a money bomb set to go off tomorrow. Today he is going to chat with Blue America over at Crooks and Liars at 11 am PST, which is guaranteed to be a fun and interesting conversation as always. Please join us.
Blue America ran successful fundraising campaign for Grayson a few month back, when he was being vilified for correctly pointing out that the GOPs health care plan was "Don't get sick". And he was our first endorsee for Blue America '10. We hope you'll throw a few dollars his way this week-end as well.
This is an interesting and bold experiment. Grayson is on the top of the GOP's hit list and they will do everything they can to destroy him even if they have to secretly back that tea party candidate.
Join us at C&L, and donate here. Grayson is a great friend to the Blue America community and the netroots at large and deserves our continued support.
Update: Many apologies. I was mistaken about the time. Check back a C&L later this afternoon. Oy ...