So I was talking with an esteemed linguistics scholar at Berkeley (I'll leave that up to your imagination as to who it is) the other day about Tauscher. I mentioned the couple of interviews with the media and some of the basis for a primary challenge. I discussed all the areas that really angered us. You know, the "left cliff",the"kabuki dance",and my personal worst Tauscherism ever...THE BANKRUPTCY BILL. But we talked about what Tauscher was really doing, and after a little while a few words kept coming up
Tauscher fails to protect Americans from Corporations. Or, put another way, Tauscher protects Corporations OVER Americans. She doesn't fight for the people, rather she fights for DC's lobbyists. And don't take this as some left-wing screed against all business, or all trade or whatever nonsense. I'm most certainly not against all business. After all, I like my tech toys, how do I get those without business...or without trade? No, this is about fair, reasoned trade, not just jumping at every possible deal to allow American companies to exploit foreign labor pools. I was quoted, well actually paraphrased, in the CoCo Times saying that I believed in ideology over viability. I assure you this is not what was said, but another part of the remark was accurate: Once voters hear Tauscher's record, they won't like it or her, he said.
Yup, I said that. It's true too. She has a record that sets her up perfectly for a challenge, not from the left per-se, but from populism. She is actively supporting corporations over people. A populist primary challenge would hammer her on the fact that she hasn't stood up against corporatism like her neighbors in CA-11 and CA-07 have. That's really what's underlying everything with her: she's anti-populist. She is of the money,or as David Sirota put it, she is a "leader of the Money party":
Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA): Tauscher has been one of the most aggressive spokespeople for the Money Party, using her position to undercut major Democratic efforts to address core economic issues from a middle-class perspective. As an example, it was Tauscher who ran to newspapers desperately trying to let K Street know that she would be working to undermine Democrats' efforts to reform our trade policy. More recently, she told the New York Times that Democrats would be engaging in a"kabuki dance" with their own base voters - implying that there would be moves for show, but that pay-to-play business as usual in Washington will continue in the new Congress.
In other words, she fights in favor of the moneyed interests over the interests of the people. Let's move over the flip...
On the eighth of March, 2005 the Bankruptcy Bill was still in the Senate. But the New Democrat Coalition wanted to get out in front of the issue and expedite the legislation in the House. So they wrote a stern letter to then Speaker Dennis Hastert and put together a press release to declare their, "intention to work across the aisle to pass bankruptcy reform into law." The entire press release and letter (with NDC Chair Ellen Tauscher in the Hancock position), were posted online by The New Republic under the headline For Shame. TNR's web response stated in part:
This magazine and multiple other opinion outlets on the center-left have written at length about how the bill in question is a truly contemptible piece of legislation. Worse, there is no plausible political rationale for supporting it other than to appease credit card companies.
Appease the credit card companies they did. The NDC move helped pass the bill, which made MNBA such a valuable commodity that it was bought up by Bank of America. Surprising nobody, least of all NDC members, BOA earnings are up an astonishing 47%
(Another excellent take on Tauscher - promoted by juls)
Last year, after most of the members of Ellen Tauscher's New Democrat Coalition made a rare break with their globalist dogma to vote against CAFTA, NDC leaders scurried to assure K Street lobbyists that the Coalition was still on board to promote future free trade agreements. At the time Roll Call (subscription only) carried this story:
[T]he centrist House New Democrat Coalition is reasserting itself with the business community and sending the message that it has not abandoned its support for opening up global markets.
The first sign of the 43-member coalition's efforts came late last week when the New Democrat leadership met privately with high-profile business lobbyists to negotiate the terms of an upcoming free trade agreement with Thailand.
That session, the New Democrats say, was the first of many meetings with K Street to help troubleshoot trade deals that are set to come before Congress.
"We want to be sure the business community knows that we are at the ready to work with them, and we are interested in working with them," said Rep. Ellen Tauscher (Calif.), chairwoman of the New Democrats. […]
Now, the New Democrats are looking to help fine-tune future agreements, including those involving Thailand, the Andean nations, Panama and others. Tauscher said her group is "engaged" and "in the game" when it comes to helping put together upcoming trade policies.
Rep. Artur Davis (Ala.), a New Democrat co-chairman, said the group has a long history of supporting small-scale trade agreements, including those with Chile and Singapore, as well as major deals, such as fast-track trade negotiating authority for the president and Permanent Normal Trade Relations status for China.
