I love it when two rivers come together. And this a.m. my friends from the Wall Street Journal complied, with a story that ties in the CAFTA 15 and my post yesterday about the New Democratic Network’s Simon Rosenberg. Follow this lovely connection, my friends.

Greg Hitt reports a story entitled, “Trade Pact Votes
May Haunt Lawmakers:
Some Legislators in Both Parties
Are Vulnerable to Voter
Backlash Over Job Losses.” While Hurricane Katrina, gas prices and the Iraq war dominate today’s news, many lawmakers are finding that voters also are concerned about trade — in particular the Central American Free Trade Agreement that Congress passed over the summer in a cliffhanger vote.

Then, we get into a little detail: “In Illinois, a local labor federation withdrew a “Person of the Year” award that was to have been given to Rep. Melissa Bean, after the Democrat backed Cafta, as the pact is known. In Texas, labor activists are recruiting candidates to challenge Rep. Henry Cuellar, another Cafta supporter, in the Democratic primary.

Careful readers all know about the CAFTA 15 and people like Bean and Cuellar. The story quotes a labor official: “A message needs to be sent,” says Gary Hubbard, a spokesman for the United Steel Workers union, which has turned up pressure on Cafta supporters by picketing the district offices of Republican Reps. Randy Kuhl of New York and Melissa Hart of Pennsylvania, as well as those of Democratic Reps. John Tanner of Tennessee and of Norm Dicks of Washington state. “We’ve got to, politically, make a strong stand. The message is going to resonate for a long time,” Mr. Hubbard said.

Well, that’s all fine and good but picketing doesn’t cut it…these folks have to be taken out in primaries.

Then, comes the next connection. We get a nice quote from none other than Dave McCurdy, former member of Congress and former leader at the Democratic Leadership Council. “It’s the individuals who often make a nice image,” says Dave McCurdy, president of the Electronic Industries Alliance, a leading beneficiary and advocate of free-trade pacts.

“Earlier this month, Mr. McCurdy, along with John Engler, president of the National Association of Manufacturers, and John Castellani, president of the Business Roundtable, held a fund-raising reception in Washington for several of the 15 Democrats who crossed party lines to help pass Cafta. Had any of them voted no, the trade pact would have failed on a tie vote. Mr. McCurdy says it is important for businesses to respond to the “louder voices” on the other side of the free-trade debate. The former congressman says the reception is just “one of many steps” that will be taken to shore up free-trade supporters on the Hill. “I know how important it is … to be there not just before the vote, but 365 days a year,” he says.

Those “louder voices” are you and me and all union workers who think the so-called “free trade” deals are rotten for Americans and other workers around the country.

But, what is quite funny, ironic or tragic–take your pick–is that, as I pointed out yesterday, McCurdy is an advisor to the New Democratic Network (NDN) which calls itself “progressive” and whose leader, Simon Rosenberg, is lobbying on behalf of Comcast.

What is the meaning of “progressive” if an organization assumes that mantle while simaltaneously pimping for so-called “free trade” and Big Cable?