[Vision2020] Walt Minnick

[Kenneth Marcy]

On Wednesday 26 August 2009 21:27:54 Rosemary wrote:
> I attended the Walt Minnick question and answer thingy tonight at the 1912
> Building.  My remarks were prepared in advance and follow this paragraph.
> Although I did not call him a jackass (as he accused me of doing)

First, without some sort of mutation, the biological facts are that like 
breeds like within the diversity and varieties of a species. You said to the 
Congressman that he "as a Blue Dog Democrat, are the philosophical descendant 
of the jackasses who formed the ... " etc., etc., as below. If like breeds 
like, the descendant of a jackass is a jackass. Second, the Congressman did 
not accuse you of anything. What he asked you not to do was to not use 
pejorative language in a meeting the intention of which was to conduct civil 
discourse. Publicly calling him a jackass is pejorative, and he spoke truth 
to you.

> after hearing his rambling non-answers and half-assed explanations for an   
> hour, I probably should have.  At least Republicans are honest enough not  
> to pretend they are Democrats.

Idaho Republicans have the closed-door luxury of being such a politically 
homogeneous monoculture that they don't have to pretend anything, nor do they 
have to act in ways that many non-Idaho Republicans take for granted, like 
disclosing who are their campaign contributors.

> I can't say the same for Rep. Minnick.

Of course you can't say that Congressman Minnick is a Republican pretending to 
be a Democrat, because he is a Democrat. And what's more, he is an extremely 
practical Democrat in that he knows that his longer-term effectiveness as an 
Idaho Congressman depends on his ability to be re-elected. And based on his 
discussion this evening, he is extraordinarily aware that he was not speaking 
to a closed-door, Democrats-by-invitation-only, crowd inside the 1912 Center 
with no press present. He was quite aware that he was speaking to the entire 
Idaho Congressional District 1 voting populace.

> "Last night we lost a great Democrat.  Sen. Kennedy was a tireless advocate
> for the poor, civil rights, labor, and universal health care.  He
> personified the liberal, progressive wing of our party.  You, on the other
> hand, Congressman Minnick, as a Blue Dog Democrat, are the philosophical
> descendent of the jackasses who formed the Boll Weevils, and the Dixiecrats
> -  splinter groups that stood against all that Teddy Kennedy stood for.
> Please tell us, based on your voting record, including the fact that you
> have cast 60% of your congressional votes with the Republicans, and your
> attitude toward the public health care option, why you should expect
> liberal Democrats to support you in 2010."

Congressman Minnick explained that most of the Congressional votes in the 
tally you mentioned were earmark votes, against which he has pledged to vote 
as much as possible. He also mentioned that of Speaker Pelosi's list of 36 
most important votes, he supported 32 of the 36. That's 89 percent with the 
Democratic Speaker of the House, not 60 percent against the Democrats.

Choosing one's battles carefully is critical to conserving resources for the 
really important battles, and it appears that Congressman Minnick has learned 
this lesson quickly and well. Idaho Liberal Democrats would be well-advised 
likewise to learn this lesson, too, because in a state that, in normal years 
without an Obama national landslide, normally votes on an order of magnitude 
of 2 to 1 for Republicans over Democrats, Idaho First District Democrats of 
any kind, liberal, middle-of-the-road, or blue dog, are unlikely to have 
anywhere else to go in 2010 but to the first Democratic incumbent Congressman 
in their lifetimes. Those Democrats may be well-advised to be thankful that 
they have elected to office a Congressman practical enough to be bi-partisan 
enough to attract sufficient support that would otherwise vote Republican, to 
re-elect the incumbent.

Edward Moore Kennedy was an extraordinarily effective Senator in part because 
he learned how to form friendships, how to form working relationships, how to 
form bi-partisan coalitions across many kinds of lines within the US Senate. 
He spent the better part of half a century learning how to do that well. 
Idaho's First Congressional District has a Congressman who has learned that 
lesson with respect to his constituency in his first few months in office, 
and he'll need to use wisely that education to return to Congress in 2011. 
Those who recognize the benefits to Idaho and the nation of returning Walt 
Minnick for a second term would do well to recognize the nature of his 
constituency, and not complain that it is not as liberal as that of the late, 
great, US Senator from Massachusetts.


Ken