House Minority Leader John A. Boehner snarled at moderate Democrats Wednesday, but the real bite came from liberal groups frustrated by centrist opposition to Barack Obama’s budget priorities.
As Boehner accused Blue Dog Democrats of being “lap dogs” for Obama, MoveOn.org and Americans United for Change, the labor-backed organization that serves as the White House’s chief third-party operation, began airing ads Wednesday urging moderate Democrats in both the House and the Senate to get on board with the president’s budget.
Among the targets of Americans United for Change is Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), who declared the ads “not very helpful.”
“The liberal groups need to understand that we are not elected to represent the president,” Pryor said. “We’re elected to represent our states, and we are trying to reflect the attitudes and values of the people who sent us to Washington.”
Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) is also unhappy with the friendly fire. Bayh announced last week that a group of centrist Democrats had come together to negotiate as a bloc with the White House and party leaders on major legislation. He promptly found himself targeted by an ad accusing him of “standing in the way of President Obama’s reforms.”
"We literally have no agenda,” Bayh shot back. “How can they be threatened by a group that has taken no policy positions?”
But liberal groups that worked hard to elect Obama are unhappy with the prospect of having moderate Democrats like Pryor, Bayh and the Blue Dogs in the House trying to slow down his agenda.
“We are going to need almost every Democratic vote to pass the budget,” said MoveOn Executive Director Justin Ruben. “Our ads ensure the voices of our 5 million members and the millions of other Americans who support this budget can be heard over the army of lobbyists.”
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a registered independent who leans far left, complained that “so-called moderates have the threat of voting with the Republicans” while “those of us who believe in protecting the needs of middle-income working families don’t have that luxury.”
But the Democrats under attack in the new ads claim that they, too, are watching out for working-class families. “My concern is that we have this mountain of debt,” said Pennsylvania Rep. Jason Altmire - one of the targets of the MoveOn.org advertising campaign. “We have a short-term fiscal crisis that we need to dig ourselves out from. Is this the right time to put three massive initiatives in the budget?” - CBS News Story
It is a sad day in America when our own Government has blatantly come down to bullying for votes. I know that it happens, but now it is right out there in the open.
Even if it happened in the past does not make it right. Just as the one Rep said in the article, they are sent to represent us, not the President and Not the Party.
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