North Carolina Democrap Flips To The GOP-- Kiss Women's Choice In Another State Goodbye Now

This Is What You Get When You Support A GOP-Lite Democrat

Yesterday, Wisconsin votes, decisively, rejected the anti-democracy Trumpist and made sure their state is. more firmly on an anti-fascist course. It was a double digit win for Janet Protasiewicz and the state Supreme Court will be able to bring Wisconsin into a better political balance. Meanwhile, down the road in Chicago, Brandon Johnson, a progressive Democrat, beat a Republican masquerading as a Democrat, Paul Vallas. The margin was closer but Trump and the Republican billionaires were handed another unexpected defeat.

That acknowledged, gratefully, sometimes I feel like a broken record; other times I feel like Jeremiah just before the Nebuchadnezzar II destroyed Jerusalem and deported tens of thousands of Jews to Babylon. I haven’t been warning about idolatry, just unfaithfulness (although he was talking about being unfaithful to Yahweh not a political party) and injustice, especially concerning oppression of the poor and marginalized, dishonesty in business dealings and religious corruption— two of Jeremiah’s top subjects.

Let’s play a game. Look at these names of a baker’s dozen members of Congress. Think about them and then tell me what they all have in common:

• Tommy Robinson (AR)

• Ben Jones (GA)

• Nathan Deal (GA)

• Virgil Good (VA)

• Charlie Stenholm (TX)

• Ralph Hall (TX)

• Billy Tauzin (LA)

• Jimmy Hayes (LA)

• Mike Parker (MS)

• Rodney Alexander (LA)

• Gene Taylor (MS)

• Parker Griffith (AL)

• Artur Davis (AL)

True, they are all right-of-center politicians from former slave-holding states that seceded. But that isn’t what I was looking for. They were all Blue Dogs who jumped the fence and joined the GOP. And yet the DCCC is still out there recruiting them even today. It is so screwed up! They even torpedo progressives to get their unfaithful GOP-lite potential fence jumpers the party nominations!

So what set me off today? Tricia Cotham, a faithless Democrat who announced she’s quitting the Democratic Party and giving the GOP the supermajority in the House it needed to be ablate override Gov. Roy Cooper’s vetoes. In 2007 she was appointed to the legislature by North Carolina Governor Mike Easley (D) at the suggestion of Democratic Party leaders when scandal-plagued former House speaker James Black resigned. In 2016 Cotham ran for Congress and lost the primary to incumbent Alma Adams, coming in a distant third with just 21% of the vote. That’s what the Democratic Party (and EMILY’s List) gets by playing footsie with Republican-lite politicians who are envy willing to “compromise” on women’s Choice. Because of her, abortion will now be banned in North Carolina.

I asked HAL to write me a poem about this outrage. His programming stopped at September, 2021 so he claimed cluelessness. I gave him a history of the Blue Dogs and he thought it over and suggested several poets who he thought would be appropriate for a “voice” for this one. As usual, he suggested Allen Ginsberg, but when I rejected another “Howl” rip, he came up with Amiri Baraka, Maya Angelou, Adrienne Rich and Charles Bukowski. We decided on Bukowski

The False Prophets of the Blue Dog Rebellion

( In the styles of Charles Bukowski)

Blue Dogs they called themselves,

claimed to be Democrats,

but on the fence they always sat,

siding with the GOP,

voting against their own party.

A bunch of spineless traitors,

their loyalty up for sale,

when the wind changed direction,

they hopped on the other side of the fence.

Fence jumpers, they called themselves,

but what they really were,

were opportunistic scoundrels,

betraying their constituents,

to line their own pockets.

But the people won't forget,

the ones who played both sides,

they'll remember their names,

when they go to cast their votes.

So go ahead and jump the fence,

but remember this one thing,

the people always have the last say,

and you'll be judged by what you bring.

Have you ever read any of Richard Meltzer’s work? He’s an old friend who I met at Stony Brook when he was a senior and I was a freshman. He was the first person who turned me on to Bukowski. Years later he brought me to see Bukowski’s old house on DeLongre Avenue in L.A. from the days when Bukowski worked in the post office. So, how could I resist? I asked HAL do do another poem in Meltzer’s style. Here’s what he came up with:

The Betrayal of the Blue Dog Apostates

The dogs were blue, so they said

But it's not the blue of loyalty

They wagged their tails for Republican bread

And left the Dems in futility

No bark, no bite, no principles to show

They slunk around the Capitol halls

Ignoring the needs of the people below

And their duty to answer their calls

These dogs were not the faithful kind

But rather, turncoats without a creed

They left their party far behind

And followed the GOP lead

Their loyalty was just a mask

A ploy to win a Southern vote

But when push came to shove at last

They revealed their true and sorry mote

So let them run with their new pack

But remember what they left behind

The Blue Dogs were nothing but a hack

And history won't be kind.