It's not clear to me where you were trying to head with this.

Was your point that Fund was wrong about the particular Dem race he cited?

Was your point that he wasn't wrong about the particular Dem race he cited, but that both parties engage in the sort of behavior Fund describes?

Or something else?

C'mon, Kevin. I'm saying that if Fund wants to give condescending lectures to Democrats about purging dissidents, he ought to at least check to see if maybe the Republicans are doing it, too, and on a bigger and more organized scale, too. Of course, if he did, he wouldn't have had a point to make in his piece. That's my point.

My problem is not that he wrote about this race, or that he took a side. My problem is that he extrapolated a trend from this, and that he was too lazy to check and see if there was more too it than that. And I think that's pretty clear.

I think if you look at the large number of conservative Democrats in the State House (Ritter, McReynolds, Homer, Rose), you'll see no primary races against them. Why? Because there's a difference between being a conservative D that represents a Republican-leaning community and a Craddic/Bush D that just votes for the far-right.

Fund knows that -- I'd imagine he's not an idiot. He's just ignoring it. Kuff does a good job calling him on his BS.

An intolerance for dissent is not the exclusive domain of either party. A failure to recognize it in one's own (and a tendency to laugh at the mere suggestion) is what leads both parties into trouble.

Gene Green is a moderate. Chet Edwards is a moderate. Henry Cuellar is no moderate. Cuellar is an opportunist who helped DeLay and Craddick re-draw the congressional lines to keep Bonilla safe and to create a seat he could run in.

I also sense an increasing amount of intolerance from the Democratic party, especially in liberal strongholds like Austin. The CD28 race is a great example. Cuellar is a Democrat with a twenty year history of support for public education and health care, with a long record of achievments as Texas state rep. Because of a handful of votes in the last year, he has become a sellout and almost uniquely hated among Democrats. His opponent has all of a sudden become the Dems champion, despite an EXTREMELY marginal record in congress. Remember, Ciro lost to Henry in 2004 as an 8 year incumbent and while chair of the Mex Amer Congress Caucus!! And he is going to lose to Henry even worse in 2006...what does that say about Ciro?!? How he became the darling of the netroots is absolutely beyond me.

Henry got elected to a Republican controlled congress with a Republican president that he had close ties to. Henry is a good politician, and good politicians make deals and trade votes to get results for their constituents (especially in the House of Reps). While I part ways with him on some of his votes, he has been an effective congressman for CD28.

The Dems need to remember that usually people vote FOR someone, not against someone. Vilification of the other side can only get you so far. Sadly, the netroots are wasting more than $100,000 on a Dem v. Dem race when there are so many better places to spend the money. When the House of Reps goes Democratic, Henry will come back to the fold and all will be well. Like I said, he is a good politician.

In the unforunate circumstance that Cuellar does return to Congress for another term, it is my hopeful wish that someone he considers an ally will turn on him and take him out. Wouldn't that be incredible?

As far as the Marty Martinez race goes, from the American Prospect:

"In 2000, Rep. Hilda Solis (D-Calif.) successfully unseated nine-term incumbent Marty Martinez, who had supported the Clinton administration's bid for fast track in return for federal funding of a freeway extension in his heavily Latino district east of Los Angeles. (Remarkably, Martinez managed to estrange both labor and environmentalists in one and the same deal.) Solis' labor credentials were extraordinary (she had provided the seed money for the successful 1996 initiative campaign to raise California's minimum wage out of her own campaign war chest), and local unions enthusiastically supported her."

And from AlterNet:
"Perhaps the most dramatic example of organized labor's new political self-confidence occurred in 2000, when Contreras helped orchestrate the defeat of long-time incumbent Democratic Congressman Martin Martinez by Hilda Solis, a progressive Democratic state legislator who had made a name for herself as a vocal and effective feminist, environmental advocate and labor ally. Martinez, who represented a mostly Latino and Asian district in the working-class suburbs outside L.A., had angered union leaders and progressives when he offered to vote for the Clinton administration's fast-track trade-negotiating authority in return for White House support for a freeway extension in his district. He also alienated pro-choice voters by voting for a ban on late-term abortions. Solis won the support of EMILY's list and the Sierra Club but it was the all-out effort of the L.A. County Fed in the Democratic primary that had the biggest impact. Solis's 62-to-29 percent victory was one of a precious few instances in modern political history in which a progressive Democrat ousted a centrist incumbent."

But let's see if Cuellar pulls this when he loses. From the Greenpapers.com:

"Congressman Martinez was elected a Democrat. He switched his affiliation to the Republican Party on July 26, 2000."

Good points on henry accomphishments. chito, marie is a anti god hater laborer for the anti god blogs.May god have mercy on her soul for the lies told by her.

That's the funniest s*** anyone has ever said to me on a blog.

Juan Carlos said:
"marie is a anti god hater laborer for the anti god blogs"

WTF does this mean? C'mon, Juan Carlos, if you're going to do an ad hominem attack on someone, you ought to at least make it comprehensible! "Anti god hater laborer"??? Does that mean she labors against those who hate god??? Jeebus!