I think Tom Lantos has been a problematic force, especially given his commitee chairmanship, on foreign policy issues these past few years, but at first glance a primary challenge doesn't seem particularly promising to me since, as Kos and Stoller note he's very liberal on domestic issues so there's not a ton of vulnerabilities there ... it's a hawkish attitude toward the broader Middle East and apparently complaints about inattention to the district and not much else.
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Challenging Lantos
20 Nov 2007 01:02 pm
Comments (30)
I don't always agree with Tom Lantos, but he's a pretty amazing guy with an incredible life story and decades of sterling service to his credit. Fugeddabouddit.
I don't always agree with Tom Lantos, but he's a pretty amazing guy with an incredible life story and decades of sterling service to his credit.
Which still doesn't offset his support for the Iraq war. Every legislator who supported it needs to be held to account, regardless of their life story or sterling-silver tea service.
Lantos is actually significantly more liberal than Lieberman.
Ignoring things like "I have no idea who could possibly challenge him and he's very popular," is this stronger or weaker than the claim that Schumer should be opposed in a primary because of Muskasey, carried-interest, and fashion copyrights?
See, as a goofball, I think primary challenges should be the default. Especially in districts where one party has a definite advantage, this is often the only way voters (remember them?) have any say in the process. Yes, the incumbent usually has a big enough warchest to crush any interloper who dares to presume that a congressional seat is not an automatic lifetime fiefdom. I have a problem with money deciding who wins, too.
But seriously, if we aren't supposed to primary someone in a safe district who supports stupid and vicious foreign policy ideas, because hey, except for bloodthirsty warmongering around the globe, he's very enlightened, who are we supposed to primary? Oh, wait, he's been outspoken on genocide, too (for obvious reasons), except when it's being inflicted on the Islamist filth. Hooray for liberalism. Everyone can go home, now.
What mds said.
Also, I think there may be value in setting up a group that is the Club for Growth on the Iraq War, i.e., to repeatedly primary challenge every single member of Congress who voted for the thing. That will put the fear of God into them the next time a dumb war proposal comes down the pike.
Lantos is my Congressman. If he is challenged the talk is the person will be Jackie Spier a former State Senator who will have plenty of financial backing. She was defeated in a recent run for a state office. An article that just ran in the SF Chronicle indicated she would defeat Lantos in a primary. She is as liberal as Lantos and made a name for herself in Sacramento backing measures for more information to consumers. I believe she got her start as an assistant to Congressman Leo Ryan who was killed by Jim Jones's henchmen when he visited Jonestown to investigate what was going on there. I believe she accompanied him and survived. While I admire Cong. Lantos, he turns 80 or is 80 and he says he will not step down. Perhaps he will agree to run one more time and then voluntarily step down in exchange for no primary challege, but who knows if he will keep his word.
Yeah! Let's become the mirror face of the enemy! Let's be like Club for Growth and make up an Absolutism to plow across reality! Let's make fun of holocaust survivors to feel good about ourselves! Let's completely dismiss everything Tom Lantos ever did! We want blood!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the popularity of the War in Lantos's district rank somewhere between the Bubonic Plague and child abuse?
No matter how liberal he is on domestic issues or how long he has been around, he's still a Gitmocrat in the Bay Area. That is not a vulerability to be underestimated.
Good lord, he's 80 years old. He needs to let go. Spier would be a good congressperson, as would Leland Yee, another interested potential candidate.
Let's make fun of holocaust survivors to feel good about ourselves!
Most amusing. The question becomes are we not aloud to make fun of holocaust survivors, period, or, are we not allowed to make fun of holocaust survivors with their holocaust survival as the main thrust of the joke?
Who made fun of holocaust survivors anyway? That's right, no one.
I am also in Lantos' district and would like to see the guy get primaried. I am not particularly optimistic about the chances of defeating Lantos, even if the challenger is someone like Spier. But given the makeup of the district, the primary is really the only opportunity to hold him accountable.
No Rambuncle, nothing is sacred. Even Holocaust jokes can be funny. There's just a level of movement zeal and doctrinaire rancor and callous Crips/Bloods logic in this thread that one has to draw a line at somewhere.
I live in Lantos' district as well and have met both he and Speier numerous times, especially while in high school.
I like Lantos a lot. He's a good guy, courageous, honest, and a reliable liberal on nearly everything, except he did vote for the Iraq war which caused a lot of consternation in this liberal district.
So, that said, in terms of popularity, in San Mateo County, Jackie Speier is probably by far the most well liked pol around here. She has a compelling personal story, being wounded in Jonestown while staffing for our former congressman, Leo Ryan. Later her husband was killed in an auto accident leaving her a widow and mother of young children.
Add to that her politics are an excellent fit, she is a big proponent and author of privacy laws and consumer protections in California.
She is the one person who could beat Lantos in this district. I should mention that her endorsement at the 11th hour has swung local elections time and time again.
In fact, in 1994, both Democrats and Republicans nominated her for the legislative seat she held and she won with 93% of the vote --and she is well known as a liberal Democrat.
So there you go. The local angle. Jackie Speier is really something. It would be great to see her on the national scene. I think Lantos is a good guy, but maybe not as good right now.
I think my district has an embarassment of riches actually.
Ecce homo:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Lantos
What Elle Loco said.
I disagree with Tom Lantos on Iraq, but if there is no room for him in the Democratic Caucus, there is no room for me in the Democratic Party.
Seems to me the issue here is that while Lantos is pretty liberal (domestically) by national standards, he's a lot more conservative (on foreign policy) than his district. Which strikes me as a pretty good case for Speier.
Jim is right: Jackie Speier was wounded (five bullets) at Jonestown, which may not be widely known nationally but is a pretty big deal here in the Bay Area. Not sure her story compares with Lantos' (if there's even any point in comparing), but she does have a pretty amazing story.
And not only did Lantos support the Iraq war, he is also a proud Zionist Joooooo. No self-respecting progressive could ever tolerate such an ideological deviant.
Ideological deviants! Now that's who I'm with down in the bunker.
Seriously, Lantos' snarky Wiki entry actually makes pretty clear that he oughta retire, for his own sake. There's nothing in there, either about his fab, unforgettable roles in sundry hearings during Iran-Contra, gays in the military, and whatnot.
I guess people must be starting to hire flacks to police their Wiki entries. Tom could use one.
Why should Tom Lantos, why should anyone, be immune from a primary challenge? I really find the overreaction on this thread to be amazing. A congressional seat isn't something that you acquire a right to by long possession. If Democrats in Lantos's district disagree with his opinions on foreign policy, there's nothing wrong with them having someone to vote for.
What kind of suicidal fool would run against a vampire?
Yeah! Let's become the mirror face of the enemy! Let's be like Club for Growth and make up an Absolutism to plow across reality! Let's make fun of holocaust survivors to feel good about ourselves! Let's completely dismiss everything Tom Lantos ever did! We want blood!
Um, just because Lantos is a Holocaust survivor doesn't entitle him to a seat in Congress. I am sure the 3,800 families whose relatives will not be home for dinner this or any future thanksgiving will console themselves by saying that one of the guys who voted to murder them survived the Holocaust.
I disagree with Tom Lantos on Iraq, but if there is no room for him in the Democratic Caucus, there is no room for me in the Democratic Party.
Well, if you're not part of the solution, what are you part of?
I live in Lantos' district as well. I would not mind a primary challenge at all, but I think our political energy might be spent better elsewhere, like supporting Kucinich to a level where the MSM at least acknowledges his existence.
I am literally in the northwest corner of the 12th district and would back a Leland Yee challenge. It amazes me that there are no Asians elected to statewide or national office from San Francisco.
Favorite Yee quote: "I'm going to give you one comment. Willie Brown is a major ass."
Speier was term-limited out of a CA assembly seat and a CA Senate seat. She is staking her claim to this seat, and with no intermediate step on her political career ladder, why wouldn't she? Even if she loses next year she builds a base on which to win outright in the future and gives her a leg up on Leland Yee. If Lantos holds on next year, the writing will be on the wall, but the hawkishness is a major liability for him _right now_.
I teach AP Gov in this district and have met several very politically active families... Lantos is a local deity who commands deep respect but maybe his time has come. Speier is also well-liked and has tested the waters around the community in the past 2 months. Just being against the war from the get go wouldn't be enough to run on against Lantos if she wasn't already very popular in general.
Dilan Esper, you're a punk. In the words of a great colleague, regarding George Bush, "Don't be an ideologue! Don't be an ideologue! Don't be an ideologue!"
...what are you part of?
I'm a registered Democrat and voted for the only self-identified socialist (i.e. Bernie Sanders) in Congress, but I'll be damned if I join your Club for Growth.
I disagree with Tom Lantos on Iraq, but if there is no room for him in the Democratic Caucus, there is no room for me in the Democratic Party.
That's not the question. The question is whether his positions, in the opinion of the Democrats in his district, best represent them.
While chairmanship of the House ForRel Committee isn't exactly huge on the international stage, it makes him one of the few congresscritters that actually has international name recognition among political wonks. He's used that, of late, to say some really dumb things that don't put the Democrats in a great light. Seniority has its problems.
Let's do it, and get the blogosphere involved!
Since "Nedrenaline" was such a resounding success anyways, I don't see why not?
Snark aside, I lived in his district and visited his office in D.C. to complain back a few years ago. It was wasted time.
Comments closed December 04, 2007.
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Heads in the Sand
Liberal on domestic issues and neocon on foreign policy... that sounds a lot like a certain Senator from Connecticut who lost in the Democratic primary in his state. Maybe lightning could strike twice?
Posted by Ron | November 20, 2007 1:08 PM