The Netroots and Rep. Jerry McNerney: Friends No More?

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

To every season, turn, turn, turn. Not even two weeks have passed since CMR joined Calitics, the California Progress Report, and others in hosting a fundraiser for Doolittle challenger Charlie Brown and Pombo defeater Jerry McNerney. McNerney was a darling of the netroots during his primary challenge against "establishment" candidate Steve Filson and later during his successful bid to unseat the environment's least favorite Congressperson.

But today, the House rejected a bill that would have set a 9-month time table for withdraw from Iraq by a vote of 171-255. 59 Democrats helped kill the bill, including McNerney, and this has led to a bitter repudiation by some of his former loyalists.

"It seems pretty clear that many people in the netroots who worked hard for Jerry, donated time and time again are pretty upset with the new Representative today," said juls at Calitics (cross-posted at DailyKos). "Heck, even Ellen Tauscher found a way to vote to get us out of Iraq today."

And blogswarm at Calitics is outraged: "When you vote worse than Ellen Tauscher on the most important issue of the day, I really don't see how I can have respect for anything else you do."

(Note to reader: to the netroots, Ellen Tauscher is to Democratic Politics as Jefferson Starship is to Rock Music).

They've even formed a Facebook group: "Disappointed in Jerry McNerney," who's membership includes Matt Lockshin, one of the folks behind SayNotoPombo.