Tauscher Gets Tut-Tutted
While we're focused on the Mayoral race and the rest of the media is focused on the Presidential race (Lord, save us), the netroots are already focused on the next congressional race. In their cross-hairs? Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher (D-Walnut Creek). Her crime? Playing footsie with the President. Nobody wants to see that.
The trouble started for her a couple of weeks ago when the President tried doing some outreach to out-and-proud Democratic moderates and so invited a few over for tea. One of the Democrats who showed up was Tauscher.
Now Tauscher is in trouble with the netroots for showing up and not pulling a Jim Webb (Webb, by the way, rules) They're even throwing the "L" word to describe her, you know, Lieberman. The site Calitics has been all over her lately and even has a post from one of her constituents saying that she's really not that nice of a lady. And needless to say, the Kossacks are in full bile spewing mode. There's even talk of running someone against her in the next primary and when her campaign spokesman pooh-poohed the whole thing, the netroots brought the pain. Oh, it’s on.
The criticism is that she's basically undercutting the new Democratic majority before the Democratic majority can even begin (although that might already be happening). And then there's the making nice with somebody who has spent the past six years kicking the Democrats brains in. It doesn’t help that it’s well known that Tauscher and Pelosi don’t get along.
For Tauscher's part, well, she's basically saying she doesn't mean any harm and that she's as anti-Bush as the next guy or woman, but that if the President calls it behooves her to show up (now here’s a horror movie, called When the President Calls about some poor schlub who gets a phone call from the President and winds up in Iraq Talk about the horror).
BTW- that photo isn't from her meeting. It's from 2002 when she was about to agree with the Iraq War resolution. Expect that photo to be all over the political blogs like the Britney sans panties photos were on the gossip sites.