After all the attention Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard has gotten by criticizing the Obama administration for failing to recognize its enemy in the war on terror, maybe it’s not surprising that eyebrows are raised when she’s called upon to play the good Democrat, even if she is one of the vice-chairs of the party’s national committee.

When Gabbard and Virginia Sen. Mark Warner were tabbed as the headline act at a $250-per-ticket fundraiser in Florida on June 13, the online organization Sunshine State News criticized the state’s Democratic Party organization for bringing in “a pair of B-List speakers who have trouble packing a room in their own states.”

That’s a bit harsh — Gabbard remains popular in Hawaii and there haven’t been rampant reports of empty seats at her events here — but it also touches on the mixed feelings some progressive Dems have for one of their own who has been appearing frequently on Fox News of late. Gabbard, remember, is not only a foreign policy critic of the president, but she was late to the party in her support for gay rights.

Here’s how Nancy Smith of SSN put it in a headline that included the word “Republicrat”:

“I probably know more about Tulsi than most Florida Democrats do. That’s because I watch FOX News and Tulsi is on all the time. Listen to her sometime. You would swear this beautiful 33-year-old combat veteran, first American Samoan elected to Congress, is a Republican. She publicly criticizes the Obama administration for not talking about “radical Islam.” She defends “pro-life” and man-and-woman-only marriage conservatives — though she no longer holds their views. And, oops, right-winger Allen West is a big, big fan.”

U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.

Brian Tseng/Civil Beat