(cross-posted to dKos)

Esquire Magazine has recently come out with their list of 2006 endorsements. While there are some surprises and some disappointments, in some cases they find just the right words for what we are feeling. Such is the case in their endorsement of Jim Brandt for California’s 46th CD:

For kicking back and having a beer, going surfing, or maybe doing the swing shift for the Minutemen down on the border, Rohrabacher’s your man. Otherwise, we are sad to say the act has worn thin.
Esquire endorses: Brandt

You would think by now people have a good idea of who Rohrabacher is. But apparently that hasn’t sunk it, as evidenced by the number of candidates in the OC still proud to claim his endorsement. Rohrabacher has managed to successfully hide during this campaign season. Hopefully that’s all about to change.

On Monday, October 23, there will be two debates that give people a chance to see the difference between these candidates:

Cal State Long Beach at 2:30 PM
Golden West College, Huntington Beach at 7PM

CD-46 is in a state where the districts were intentionally gerrymandered to protect incumbents. And the costs for advertising in this media market are huge. So many people just aren’t getting enough info on who these candidates are, and why we’ve got a real alternative to Rohrabacher this year.

I’m going to attend the evening debate and will post a diary afterwards to help get that information out. Locals, what do you think – is anyone going to the earlier one? Perhaps we can team up on the debate coverage that’s likely to fly under the MSM radar.

Jim Brandt has a great story to tell to people who are willing to hear it. We have a choice in November: either more of the same support for disastrous policies, or someone who’ll put an end to this act that’s worn thin.

( – promoted by SFBrianCL)

(cross-posted at dKos)

Yes, that’s a real quote from Dana Rohrabacher (R, CA-46) that was cited in a news article of the past week.

Or if that story doesn’t grab you, try the one about the convicted financial officer who optioned a script from Rohrabacher. Or the one where he says his GOP colleagues aren’t moving fast enough to build a fence on the Mexican border.

I didn’t have to look hard for these stories. In fact, all of them came back easily on a Yahoo News search of ‘Dana Rohrabacher’. I’m sure many of you know this is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Rohabacher’s tenure in congress.

But what many of you probably aren’t aware of is who Rohrabacher’s challenger in the November election is. He’s Jim Brandt, a business owner and Vietnam veteran. I’m frankly surprised and frustrated that he’s not more visible to us. But I’d like to change that. Here are some key things you should know about Brandt:

We need strong National security that doesn’t betray our constitution. The U.S. must be defended against real threats, but no American is truly free while he or she is living under a perpetual shadow of quasi-official government suspicion.

We can protect the environment without being anti-business. In fact, California has countless opportunities to develop new technologies for energy independence.

Our future depends on fixing our educational system. California once led the way in education, and today it’s in dire straits.

Like that? We need to help him. I’m writing this diary today because a key opportunity is tomorrow, Sunday, September 24th at noon in El Dorado Park (Long Beach). The campaign is featuring a BBQ, where you can learn more about the candidate, his vision for California and the country, and how we can help him defeat Dana Rohrabacher.

A lot of us feel that 2 more years of Rohrabacher is a done deal – but that attitude isn’t going to win the House for us. This election is going to hinge on turnout, and we need to let the progressives and reasonable folks of California’s 46th know that there’s an alternative – and a real reason to get out to vote. The campaign can use help with phone banking, precinct walking and other GOTV efforts. Sign up for the Voter Outreach efforts – even if you’re outside the district. Get the word out to others – recommend this diary if you’d like. Not only do we need every one of the district’s 117,803 registered Democrats to show up and vote, we need to let our dissatisfied Republican and unaffiliated friends know there’s a reason for change.

I don’t work for the campaign. I’m just a resident of California’s 46th who wants to see some change. I know there are a lot of us out there, and together I hope we can make a difference.

( – promoted by SFBrianCL)

(cross-posted at The California Courage Campaign)

Military Families Speak Out’s Operation House Call came to California last week to pay a visit to Republican CA-46 Congressman Dana “Warbacker” Rohrabacher. The last thing they expected was to get into a shouting match with him, but that’s exactly what happened on Saturday outside his home in Huntington Beach.

First a little background.

MFSO, which describes itself as “an organization of people opposed to the war in Iraq who have relatives or loved ones in the military,” launched the summer-long action on June 22 to protest Congress’s June 15 vote to “stay the course” in Iraq. June 15th was also the day that saw the 2500th US soldier die in Iraq. Their goal? To demand that Congress “End the occupation, bring our troops home now and take care of them when they get here.”

More over the flip.

The D.C.-based protest ran through August 7, when Congress left on recess, and consisted of daily vigils, speaking events and a display of combat boots representing US soldiers slain since the “stay the course” vote.

On June 22, the display reflected 11 pairs of combat boots and shoes representing the deaths of 141 Iraqis. As of August 1st, the display has grown to include 78 pairs of combat boots and shoes representing the deaths of 1,594 Iraqi children, women and men.

But that was just phase one of the protest. When members of Congress dispersed to their respective districts in August, MFSO took Operation House Call on the road.

The second phase of Operation House Call follows members of Congress and Senators to their home states, as MFSO's 26 local chapters and over 3,000 military families prepare to meet their Senators and Members of Congress and demand an answer to the question: "Whose names are you willing to add to the growing list of casualties?"

Having gotten nowhere with Rohrabacher in Washington, MFSO decided to protest outside his home district office in hopes of getting a meeting. Pat Alviso, proud mother of a Marine and one of the leaders of the protest, told me that about 50 of them, including several with sons in Iraq, gathered outside Rohrabacher’s office to read the names, ages and hometowns of local soldiers (from Orange County and Long Beach) who’ve died in Iraq. As with the DC protest, they displayed combat boots representing the soldiers whose names they read off and as people passed by, the protesters would hand them daisies to place inside the boots as they sang Where Have All The Flowers Gone?

While there was some media present, the protest drew no reaction from the Congressman’s office, so they decided to head up to his office to make sure they knew they were there. A receptionist informed them that she had indeed been watching (“you’re doing a great job!” ) but that Rep. Rohrabacher was busy at speaking engagements. Where? “I can’t give out that information.” Will he meet with us? “I’m afraid he’s booked until he heads back to Washington on Tuesday.” The group then asked if someone would call them if he could spare just a half hour to meet. The clueless wonder proceeded to take the names and numbers of all of Rohrabacher’s constituents in the group and they left.

Having not heard from his office throughout the remainder of the week (shock!), Alviso and the rest of her MFSO crew, decided to gather at a park near Rohrabacher’s home and pay a more literal house call to the Congressman. Leaving a few folks behind to watch the boots, about 35 of them walked the block and a half to the Congressman’s home and gathered on the sidewalk outside it, some carrying signs saying “No More War For Oil!”

Rohrabacher’s front door and garage were open but no one answered when they knocked. At one point, they could see a shadow of someone they figured was Rohrabacher just inside the house. They decided to knock again but once again got no response. They retreated back to the park to get the combat boots and returned with reinforcements: a Tammy Faye Bakker look-alike and Monopoly’s money man there to hand the Congressman a gigantic replica of a blank check representing the blank check he’s given Bush for a war without end.

They knocked again, and again got no response so they left the check on his front porch, gathered just off his property, arranged the combat boots on the ground and began to chant

“Bring Them Home Now!”

“Bring Them Home Now!”

“Bring Them Home Now!”

It was at this point that Rohrabacher bolted out of his house…barefoot and started yelling at the protesters.

From The Orange County Register:

"You just woke my damn babies!" Rohrabacher said.

He and his wife, Rhonda, have 2-year-old triplets. Rohrabacher said he was on his back porch when he heard crying over a baby monitor.

"I am going to get all of you arrested if you don't leave right now."

"My son is in Iraq!" responded Tim Kahlor, 48, whose son is on his second tour of duty in Iraq until January 2007. "And he does not get much sleep!"

"Did he volunteer?" Rohrabacher yelled back.

Alviso told me that he yelled this at them several times, displaying not only great insensitivity but also a lack of imagination. “Is that all he has to say to us?”

Rohrabacher continued yelling.

"Wait a minute, man, you are standing on my property. You are violating my rights… And you are violating my family's rights!"

Pat Alviso, a teacher whose 30-year-old Marine son will deploy in Iraq for his second tour of duty next week, said the activists tried to visit the congressman in his office last Wednesday, but were told that his calendar was full.

"Did somebody call my office ahead of time?" Rohrabacher asked. "I met with people all last week, I talked to them about the war…. But unlike you, they were courteous, they were not arrogant."

So this is what they mean by compassionate conservatism. Alviso informed me that they left shortly after he’d retreated back toward his house threatening to call the cops. When they got back to the park, they were approached by a policeman who told them that as far as he was concerned, they had acted fully within the bounds of the law. “He must be a Democrat,” she laughed.

As for the protest, Alviso hopes that it makes Rohrabacher think twice next time there's a vote on the war. "He should remember what happened to Lieberman in Connecticut," she said.

The activists said they felt their 50-minute protest was a success.

"We came here out of desperation. Now, we hope, the congressman has something to take back with him to Washington," said Alviso, who organized the "house call" with her husband, Jeff Merrick, 59, an Air Force retiree who served in Vietnam…

"We are protesting because our sons in the military cannot. We are doing it for them."

It’s a nativists worst nightmare.  One temporary worker yields over thirty new citizens.  Most people would be appreciative of a Marine who is wounded for his new country wanting to become a citizen.  But not Rohrabacher:

In his recent address to the nation on immigration, President Bush highlighted the patriotism of Guadalupe Denogean, a Mexican-born man who joined the Marines more than a quarter-century ago and got his wish for U.S. citizenship in 2003 after being seriously wounded in Iraq.
***
But to the critics who say there already are too many immigrants here, the story of how the Denogean family settled in the United States is a different sort of parable — a cautionary tale about the true footprint of guest-worker programs billed as limited or temporary.

Three generations later, what began as one temporary guest worker slot for Denogean’s father has morphed into citizenship — by naturalization or birthright — for 32 immediate relatives and descendants.
***
“It’s not just the guest worker,” said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, one of the staunchest opponents of relaxing immigration policy. “Every person you permit in has brothers and sisters who are married to someone who has brothers and sisters who are married to someone. The figures are a bit mind-boggling if we don’t act responsibly now.”(SacBee 6/4/06)

I’m sorry, but I can’t find any other way to describe that sentiment but what is ultimately a form of racism: nativism.  What right does Dana Rohrabacher have to be here that exceeds Denogean’s right to be here? I assure you that Rohrabacher’s family were at one time immigrants.  Where would he have been had they been denied entry into the country? (Dear Reader: Insert obligatory nasty comment here.)  The only people who can legitimately use nativism are the Native Americans (proper noun).  Explain to me why the Rohrabacher family should be any more welcome in the United States than the Denogean family.  I looked it up on Ancestry.com, and it appears that there were no Rohrabachers in the United States until the 1870 Census.

We built a nation (after stealing land from the Native Americans) on bringing immigrants to our country.  Why is it up to our generation(s) to end that?  Immigrants should be accepted as a valuable asset, not a scourge to be snuffed out.  Our economy relies on infusions of labor to continue humming.  Frankly, if we did not have immigrants we would be a stagnant nation, with declining birth rates and a labor crunch (ie Japan).  So unless Rohrabacher wants to get serious and start deporting all but the REAL Native Americans, the GOP should consider its words for what they really are: racism.