Yesterday, Kos had an interesting post explaining why some reasonably progressive politicians voted for the bankruptcy bill. It essentially boils down to the fact that many of them receive significant contributions from the credit card industry and are unlikely to face serious political consequences by voting for the bill.

I don’t take issue with Kos’ thesis, but for the sake of the progressive movement, we’ve got to find a way to overcome this dynamic.

The debate over bankruptcy reform was a significant opportunity to reach out to working-class Americans, particularly women. Forty percent of families filing for bankruptcy are in the second income quintile, which is above the poverty level but still struggling. Women with children are especially hard-hit by bankruptcy. More than one out of every six mothers will go bankrupt by the end of the decade, and families with children are about three times more likely to file for bankruptcy than households without children.

These Americans most affected by bankruptcy are the same Americans who have not been responding to the progressive economic message. As American Progress fellow Ruy Teixeira has shown, Bill Clinton tied Bob Dole for white working-class Americans in 1996. Al Gore lost these Americans by 17 points, and John Kerry lost them by 23 points. Almost all of the white working-class movement toward President Bush was among women, not men. President Bush won white working-class men by almost identical margins in the two elections (by 29 points in 2000 and by 30 points in 2004), but he widened his margin among women from 7 points in 2000 to 18 points in 2004. Even more striking, 55 percent of white working-class Americans trusted President Bush to handle the economy, while only 39 percent trusted Senator Kerry. In short, the progressive economic message has not resonated with working-class Americans, and with working-class women in particular.

Bankruptcy reform can speak to these Americans. Progressives can stand up for the burdened middle-class Americans who continue to feel squeezed by this economy, and expose the real agenda of conservatives who support this bill — to aid highly profitable credit card companies, not squeezed middle-class Americans.

President Bush is “in a buoyant mood, aides said, seeing the recent moves as vindicating his expansive vision [in the Middle East]. ‘He feels validation,’ said one aide.”

Hmm…

Palestinian Elections

TIME: In Washington, many think the growing democracy movement in the Middle East comes from President Bush’s pressure.

ABBAS: I don’t think that we made democracy because President Bush pushed us. We decided that we should have a democratic process, and we did it without any pressure.

Iraqi Elections

The White House “resisted the idea of holding elections [in January] and only succumbed under pressure from Iraq’s most powerful cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani.” Iraq expert Juan Cole charges, “It was Sistani who demanded one-person, one-vote elections. So to the extent it’s a victory, it’s a victory for Iraqis. The Americans were maneuvered into having to go along with it.”

Protests in Lebanon

In Lebanon, “opposition leaders say they have consciously imitated the popular uprising in Ukraine,” not Iraq.

Last October, the National Association of Evangelicals released a document entitled “For the Health of the Nation: An Evangelical Call to Civic Responsibility,” which set the stage for evangelicals to begin doing “broad-based advocacy for the environment.” One of the issues the group, which represents over 50 church denominations, has set its sights on is global warming, calling it “an urgent threat, a cause of poverty and a Christian issue because the Bible mandates stewardship of God’s creation.”

In light of this, it seems only fitting to do a (fictional) interview on the topic with the Reverend Jerry Falwell, one of the most visible evangelical leaders and a close friend of the conservatives.

Q: Reverend Falwell, what is your opinion on the issue of global warming?
A: “I drive a GMC Suburban. And I have since the early ’70s. My wife drives one… I believe that global warming is a myth. And so, therefore, I have no conscience problems at all and I’m going to buy a Suburban next time.” [CNN, 11/20/02]

Q: But if global warming is a myth, as you say, what is the reasoning behind scientific experts who have stated that this phenomenon is a fact?
A: “The whole thing is created to destroy America’s free enterprise system and our economic stability.” [CNN, 11/20/02]

Q: And you really believe that the polluting practices of humans are having no effect on Planet Earth?
A: “It is God’s planet…and he’s taking care of it. And I don’t believe that anything we do will raise or lower the temperature one point.” [MSNBC, 12/3/02]

Q: Well, I am sure you are aware that some of your fellow evangelicals have committed themselves to combating global warming. What do you have to say to them?
A: “[T]hese guys who call themselves evangelicals ought to be out evangelizing, rather than trying to cool the planet.” [MSNBC, 12/3/02]