J. Clifford and I have been asking of claims regarding new “progressive” Senate candidate Bill Halter: hey, where’s the beef? While we’re being asked to give a million dollars to boost this candidate, where’s the demonstration in his record of a progressive bent? Since the Democrats broke their 3,561st promise to liberals, we’ve been a little leery of puffed up claims from the Donkeys, so you’ll have to forgive us for not jumping right in as told.
Apparently, we’re not the only ones to be asking this question, because a new MoveOn.org message from David Wayne McAvoy about new Arkansas Senate candidate Bill Halter has been released by e-mail and on the web. There’s a fair amount of silly filler in McAvoy’s letter, like this:
Let me tell you something else that’s great about Bill. In 2008, when President Obama was nominated as the Democratic candidate, the party establishment ran away from him as far and fast as they could. Not Bill. He campaigned vigorously for Obama, firing up crowds of Democrats all around the state even as the Obama campaign decided not to compete here.
Oh, puhleeze. Does McAvoy think we’re all that dim? When Barack Obama was nominated as the Democratic candidate in Denver, Arkansas Democrats clapped and cheered along with everybody else. Add in an odd claim that running a gambling operation preying on the poor is “progressive”, and I’m not so inclined to take McAvoy’s word on how “progressive” Bill Halter is. But wait! There’s also something new for us to chew on. McAvoy writes:
What’s more, in 2008 (the same year Bill’s lottery scholarships faced voters at the ballot) anti-gay hate groups managed to get a bigoted initiated act on the ballot, Initiated Act One, which banned any “unmarried, cohabitating couples” from adopting or being foster parents. Not only did this act discriminate against LGBT Arkansans, it endangered countless families, potentially denying even grandparents the right to adopt their grandchildren and leaving countless kids trapped in child services without homes or hope.
No Arkansas Democrat would campaign against it, except Bill. I remember him on the stump, saying, “I’ve got a proposal on the ballot but I’m not even gonna mention it… Work hard! Go out there and tell your friends and neighbors why they need to vote no on Act One! We need to protect our kids!”
Is this claim true? Let’s check. Arkansas Families First, which opposed Initiated Act One, doesn’t mention Bill Halter’s on its website preserved from the 2008 campaign. But Bill Halter is mentioned as an opponent of Initiated Act One by the Family Council, an anti-gay group that supported Act One. The Arkansas Times also names Bill Halter as a member of the Host Committee for an anti-Act-One fundraiser.
Unfortunately for the children who haven’t been able to get adopted in Arkansas thanks to anti-gay bigotry, Initiated Act One passed. But yes, David Wayne McAvoy is correct to declare that Bill Halter resisted the anti-gay tide of 2008 and affirmatively opposed Initiated Act One.
At a secondary level, however, David Wayne McAvoy’s claim that “No Arkansas Democrat would campaign against it, except Bill” is complete rubbish. The Family Council and Arkansas Times websites list other Democratic Party leaders in the state of Arkansas who did campaign against Initiated Act One, Congressman Vic Snyder, Governor Mike Beebe, State Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, and State Speaker of the House Robbie Wills being the most prominent among them. The exclusivity claim McAvoy tries to wrap around Bill Halter is baloney.
Despite McAvoy’s hyperbole, what matters for the Democratic Party Senate primary race is that Bill Halter opposed the anti-gay Act One. Blanche Lincoln refused to take that stand. On this count, Bill Halter is not just more progressive than Blanche Lincoln. That standard’s easy: a block of cinderblock would be more progressive than Blanche Lincoln. No, we can say more: on this count, Bill Halter made a progressive and politically courageous stand.
Good on you, Bill Halter. Now tell us more about where you want to take the country and less about how much you love your wife and think your kids are beautiful.
Yeah, well ol’ Blanche ain’t doin’ such a hot job either . . .
Blanche Lincoln is a terrible senator. However, that doesn’t mean that her opponent is necessarily progressive. We’ve been fed so much garbage by the Democrats, claiming that it’s a lovely progressive dish, that we’re not about to accept any candidate as genuinely progressive without evidence.