Ellen Tauscher: CA-10 and Rumblings On the Left

Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake has picked up on post from Lafayette's own Jeremy L. Wolff of Acalanes High School:

I am 18 years old and a senior at Acalanes High School. I am the Youth Outreach Coordinator of the Lamorinda Democratic Club, President and Founder of the Acalanes Democratic Club, member of East Bay for Democracy and East Bay Young Democrats, and during the next several months will be working to create a Contra Costa County Young Democrats. Despite all this involvement, I have only seen Tauscher speak once. Maybe this is because, as a Congresswoman, Tauscher's in DC all the time (which I doubt is the reason because I've heard Miller speak 3 or 4 times) but I suspect that it is more because she does not like dealing with local clubs knowing that she will be put under the spotlight and actually asked tough questions.

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One person asked why the Democrat's didn't have a set, united platform. Tauscher responded that they did. After multiple people further questioned about what the platform was and why we didn't know about it, Tauscher expressed her disappointment that we (remember, we're a smart district) hadn't done our research and that if we simply went to her website we'd find her policies. Now, of course this answered no questions because we wanted to know about a united Democratic platform not one Congresswoman's platform. Finally one person got to the point and asked the right question. He wanted a united Democratic platform that was simple and easy for Americans to understand, one similar to the Republican's Contract with America which helped them win in 1994. Tauscher paused a moment and then asked the man if he was a professional activist or politician. The man smiled, shook his head, and responded that he was a doctor. Tauscher promptly replied that she doesn't plan on performing surgery just because she saw it on TV.

As you might assume, the meeting ended shortly after that and Tauscher did not stick around to shake hands. After that meeting I swore I would never vote for Tauscher. It didn't matter that she had well thought out answers to the topics of Iraq, Iran, and Nuclear Bunker Busters or that her record on social issues is quite decent. I wasn't even taking into account her terribly pro-corporate stance on economics. I could not and still cannot vote for Tauscher because she does not believe that we the people should run our government. Her belief that government is for professional activists and politicians undermines all that netroots, grassroots, and the Democratic Party should stand for.

Seems that Ellen Tauscher is beginning to encounter some opposition. Also check out Daily Kos and Calitics. And here is Jeremy's original post. Way to go Jeremy!