The first in a series, I plan to outline many avenues we can take part in to enact change in South Carolina as progressives. The first starts with health care.
Seeing that our U.S. senators and congressman are going to take a vacation, I suggest we remind them than doctor visits, medication refills, and hospital bills do not. This is not the time to break from work when others can't even find it.
These elected leaders have health insurance while millions and millions do not. Is it fair? No. Is it right? No. So, why do we allow it?
It's time to to do your part. The far right has control with their fear machine running 24/7 - the only place with permanent jobs. Jobs used to scare us into voting national social issues of local economy worries.
I urge all readers to escape the fear of being a progressive in this state. Don't hide your Democratic values or feelings anymore. The GOP has controlled this state long enough. It's time to end it.
And to do it we need effort, work and horsepower.
I ask you to hold house meet-ups in your neighborhoods. Discuss the health care issue that faces us. One by one, call your senators and representatives. Talk to the office personnel. Hang up, pass the phone and do it over. Make notes of your calls, then write letters to the newspapers during these weeks of vacation the elected leaders enjoy.
Hold forums and invite the senators, congressmen and local party officials to them. If they do not show, have a nametag in the spot and take a picture. Post it and share.
If they do attend, show support for health care insurance reform. Show them it affects us. Tell the stories, show the pain and make a difference.
Let's get up on this and not let off. The year 2010 is not far away. Getting experience now will benefit us later when we work to turn our state BLUE.
South Carolinians breathed a sigh of relief last night as not a single national network interviewed Jim Demint in the wake of President's address to Congress. In further good news for the Palmetto State, Lousiana Bobby Jindal - seemingly channelling Kenneth from "30 Rock" - at least temporarily dethroned Mark Sanford as the televised laughingstock of the Republican far right.
Also, Jim Clyburn just stood there and looked cool next to the president, Lindsey Graham was not seen fawning over John McCain and the little girl from Dillon provided Obama with his most memorable line in the speech.
All in all, a pretty good night for South Carolina, which is to say no one embarrassed us. No, our state-level pols did that earlier in the day with asinine legistlation that would require rape victims to reflect for 24 hours on whether or not to have an abortion.
Is your congressman a Bush lackey? Does he say he supports bi-partisan solutions while quietly backing most of his party’s agenda? Does he even show up to vote?
The pre-eminent authority on all things congressional, CQ Politics, has just created a cool new flash media program that allows you to track the party unity, presidential support, and voting participation statistics for each federal legislator.
So what says the CQ gizmo on our own esteemed S.C. delegation?
Biggest Bush fans: Reps. Gresham Barrett, Joe Wilson, and Bob Inglis love them some Dubya. The three men voted with the President 83%, 82%, and 79% of the time, respectively, during the last year. Ditto for Sen. Jim DeMint who was South Carolina's top Bush loyalist at 84%. Fellow Republican Rep. Henry Brown showed a bit more independence, only siding with 69% of Bush’s legislation in ’08.
Party Animals: All of our congress critters marched lock-step with their parties’ platforms this year. Democratic Reps. Jim Clyburn and John Spratt voted true Blue 99% and 98% of the time, respectively. Likewise, Reps. Wilson and Inglis sided with Team Red on 98% of all bills. But the big winner in this category is Sen. DeMint, who voted with the Grand Old Party a whopping 100% of the time.
Attendance Records: Our delegation may not be a bi-partisan bunch, but at least they show up to vote. Six of our S.C. congressional members voted on at least 97% of all legislation. The outlier: Sen. Lindsey Graham, who was off galavanting with pal John McCain most of the year. However, between campaign stops, Graham still managed to make 86% of this year's votes.
We've long recognized that Jim Demint is a blowhard, but now we have actual scientific proof! Thanks to Capitol Words, we can see that Demint is the wordiest member of South Carolina's congressional delegation.
Capitol Words is a project of the Sunlight Foundation. For every day Congress is in session, Capitol Words visualizes the most frequently used words in the Congressional Record, giving you an at-a-glance view of which issues lawmakers address on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis. Capitol Words lets you see what are the most popular words spoken by lawmakers on the House and Senate floor.
Over the previous 12 months, Junior Mint has 2885 words in the Congressional Record. Our most reticent member is Bob Inglis, clocking in at 474. The complete hot air rankings word totals and favorite words of South Carolina congress critters after the jump.
The last few days have been bliss. Long walks on the beach, sleeping 'til noon, and a self-imposed ban on all electronic correspondence was just what the doctor ordered following last week's conclusion to our marathon '08 campaign season. And while I figured I might miss one or two political scoops while I was away, I had no idea how interesting post-election week would be.
Later today, Sanford will join fellow GOP prez hopefuls Sarah Palin and Tim Pawlenty in sharing their vision for the future of the party when he addresses the Republican Governors Association in Miami.
Cabinet Making For the Dems, it's been all about building a strong Obama Cabinet to deliver us out of darkness over the next four years. Topping the list of potential Palmetto State Obama appointees are U.S. Rep. John Spratt (OMB), Inez Tenenbaum (ED), and U.S. Rep. James Clyburn (HUD). From what I'm hearing, Spratt is the most likely S.C. leader to be offered a cabinet position in the future Obama Administration, but whether or not he'd accept an appointment is still up in the air. As expected, the GOP is already circling the SC-05, waiting to pounce.
Iraq and Afghanistan War Veterans has released its scorecards for members of Congress to see who really supports our troops and who is, as my longtime friend and idol T. Baker says, just whistlin' Dixie out their a-holes.
The IAVA Action Fund is the foremost nonprofit, non-partisan advocate for our nation's returning warriors and their families. The 2008 Veteran Report Card, based on the key veterans' legislation that came to a vote during the 110th Congress, grades every Senator and Representative on their level of support for our troops.
A former Navy JAG lawyer, Graham swears that he opposes torture. But what can explain his amendment that purports to ban the practice--and then pointedly refuses to define it, while allowing evidence obtained by it into military courts? Graham once carried the moral position on this issue; his capitulation is deeply disappointing. But no one can dispute his intellectual heft or his hard work for his state.
Esquire endorses: Graham
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Congressional District 1
Henry Brown (R)
Linda Ketner (D)
Speaking of hypocrisy, Brown's never met a spending bill he liked--unless it benefited his district; in that case, let the money flow.
Esquire endorses: Ketner
District 2
Joe Wilson (R)
Rob Miller (D)
Ill-mannered, impolitic, immovable. If these traits were in the service of principle, Wilson would be worth the trouble. They're not. And he has spent the last six years justifying his support of the Iraq war on the basis that Congress has no business insisting on oversight. His opponent, an Iraq veteran, argues otherwise.
Esquire endorses: Miller
District 3
Gresham Barrett (R)
Jane Dyer (D)
The Barrett record: No to revitalizing crumbling public housing. Yes to sexual discrimination. No to grants to minority colleges. Yes to gutting endangered-species protection.
Esquire endorses: Dyer
District 4
Bob Inglis (R)
Paul Corden (D)
We named Inglis one of our Nine Pillars of Congress in 2006. We would again. His staunch antispending principles endure; his turn against the neocons on the war and his humble acknowledgment of his errors in denying global warming add reason and flexibility to his list of virtues.
Esquire endorses: Inglis
District 5
Albert Spencer (R)
John Spratt (D)
Well-respected all around, Spratt is one of the quiet masters of his craft--not politics per se, but what politicians do: spend tax dollars. His grasp of budgetary rules and patterns is second to none.
Esquire endorses: Spratt
District 6
Nancy Harrelson (R)
James Clyburn (D)
Long a central figure in South Carolina politics, Clyburn is now majority whip. He has excelled in his primary duty: to bring the diverse and easily divided Democratic body into alignment on major issues.
Esquire endorses: Clyburn
This morning at the grand opening of the statewide headquarters for the S.C. Campaign for Change, Congressman Jim Clyburn announced that more than 193,000 new voters have registered in South Carolina since January 1.
A more significant number, though, may be that 163,000 of those have registered since Barack Obama won the South Carolina primary in a landslide.
The last few days have been bliss. Long walks on the beach, sleeping 'til noon, and a self-imposed ban on all electronic correspondence was just what the doctor ordered following last week's conclusion to our marathon '08 campaign season. And while I figured I might miss one or two political scoops while I was away, I had no idea how interesting post-election week would be.
