Today, Democratic Courage,
the political action committee I run, is releasing our first television
advertisement. Now is the moment of truth. We need progressives to come
through and give us the resources to get this message out to the maximum
number of Iowan voters. If you can "https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/entity/18467">contribute $25,
$50, $100 or more right now, we'll be able to do it.
At its core, the ad goes after Clinton's biggest weakness: although she
often comes around to supporting good policies like a (sort-of) withdrawal
from Iraq, universal health care, and an aggressive energy plan, her record
shows that she lacks the backbone to fight for those priorities.
Her baby bond capitulation is the perfect example. Hillary has crafted her
political image around be
ing a champion for children. And I totally believe that she genuinely
cares about children. But she won't fight for children when she perceives
that it could expose her to Republican attacks.
When Rudy Giuliani "http://www.joinrudy2008.com/article/pr/853">red-baited and
immigrant-bashed her (calling her proposal "socialist" and blasting it
because "children of illegal immigrants will have to get this bond"),
Hillary didn't condemn this gutter politics and stand on principle for
children. Instead, she capitulated completely. Now Republicans know that all
they have to do to get Hillary to cave is to call something socialist or
connect it to illegal immigrants. Given that that's basically the entire
Republican general election strategy in a nutshell, that doesn't make me
optimistic about Democratic chances if Hillary is the nominee.
These capitulations are a pattern. After saying she favored a diplomatic
solution to tension with Iran, she gave into Bush administration pressure to
vote for a resolution that could have paved the way for war in Iran. She
said she favored reviewing Nafta-style trade agreements, then days later she
backed one of President Bush's top priorities - expanding Nafta
to Peru (rewarding Bush and the Republicans even as they "http://www.huffingtonpost.com/glenn-hurowitz/are-progressives-getting-_b_49
059.html">obstruct the entire Democratic agenda).
Even when she does come up with good proposals, like her health care and
energy plans, she does it after every other major candidate has already
released their plans. If America is going to achieve the transformative
change we need, we need a leader who will fight to change the terms of
debate, not just let everyone else define those terms.
If you agree that America needs a progressive, courageous and winning
Democratic presidential candidate, we need your help. Contribute now to
get this ad in front of as many Iowans as possible.