Thursday, August 18, 2016

Joaquin Castro Shills for a Sleaze

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

I have mentioned the Castro twins of Texas in this blog on several occasions.  Julian earned a name for himself as a highly effective mayor of San Antonio before moving to Washington, D.C. a couple of years ago where he now serves as Obama's Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.  Julian Castro was widely reported to have been on Hillary's shortlist for veep.   Joaquin Castro earned his political stripes serving in the Texas legislature and is now a member of Congress from the Lone Star State.

Both of these young men are highly respected members of the Democratic Party, and both seem destined to climb to greater political heights.  There was a hint in  Dailykos this morning that Joaquin might even be considering a run against Senator Ted Cruz in 2018.

Whatever Joaquin Castro chooses to do in the future will certainly ripple across the national political landscape, and I wish him well with those choices.  On one of his more recent choices, however, I do not wish him well.  Congressman Castro issued an email appeal for contributions yesterday that has left me - well - flabbergasted!  He is out begging for campaign donations for the re-election of Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the disgraced former leader of the Democratic National Committee and the best friend of loan sharks everywhere.

In his email, Congressman Castro describes Wasserman Schultz as "one of the fiercest and most outspoken progressive champions in Congress."  Joaquin, you need to take that load of fresh manure over to Lowe's so that they can bag it and sell it in their Lawn Care department.  Debbie Wasserman Schultz has run her campaign off of handouts from her buddies on Wall Street - and there's nothing "progressive" about that at all.

Wasserman Schultz represents Florida's 23rd congressional district, an area which gave Hillary over 70% of the vote in that state's presidential primary earlier this year.  Most polls indicate she will have a fairly easy time defeating her five opponents - the main one of whom is law professor Tim Canova, a true progressive.  Wasserman Schultz's expected victory over Canova is but another chronic symptom of the political leprosy that is eating away at democracy in America.  She is sailing into re-election on the winds of advantage generated by her former position within the DNC,  money from rich corporations - as well as from scumbags like the payday lending industry which she has so artfully tried to protect, and, most sadly of all, appeals from otherwise good people - like Joaquin Castro.

Yes, Debbie Wasserman Schultz probably will be re-elected, but it won't be with any dollars from me, and it won't be an affirmation of her "progressive" values.  Protecting loan sharks is not "progressive" in anyone's sense of the word.

Joaquin Castro is a fine man, but begging money for a political sleaze like Debbie Wasserman Schultz puts an ugly blemish on his reputation.  He should make amends with deliberate speed by publicly withdrawing the request for the donations and apologizing for trying to bamboozle the good people on his mailing list.  We expect better from him.

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