They'd rather have a crazy Republican than even try to elect a progressive
by digby
Chris Hayes relates a funny anecdote at the beginning of this clip from today's Up with Chris Hayes about a kooky GOP congressional candidate whose own brother says he's crazy and will end up in jail:
Here's the sad part. Chris says this loon is likely to win. And that's probably true. But that's not because he doesn't have a good Democratic opponent. He has an excellent one: Blue America endorsee Dr Sayed Taj. Unfortunately, the Democratic Party couldn't be bothered to step in and help him:
Political analysts describe the Indian-American Canton Township board member as lacking the charisma and experience needed to sway Republicans.
That's a euphemism for "progressive" in those circles.
And the "analysis" itself is suspect. As Howie points out:
MI-11 is a district Obama won handily in 2008 (54-45%) and whose incumbent, Thaddeus McCotter was recently caught committing election fraud and was forced to resign to stay out of prison. The psychotic teabagger who was challenging him in the primary, reindeer rancher Kerry Bentivolio, is now favored to win because Israel decided to starve the Democrat, Dr. Syed Taj, of funds. Even under the new boundaries, originally drawn by the GOP-dominated Michigan legislature to shore up McCotter, the district still leans blue and Obama would have beaten McCain 50-48%. This is a winnable district...
Instead Israel is chasing a host of hopeless Blue Dogs in districts that have no interest in electing Democrats. And most of his candidates-- even if elected, would be nearly as dependable to vote against progressive legislation as the Republicans they're running against. Steve Israel-- Nancy Pelosi's worst mistake ever.