You see folks, it's always about the money.
This was all spelled out in Crashing The Gate; Netroots, Grassroots And The Rise Of People Powered Politics, a chewy little book penned by The Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas and MyDD founder Jerome Armstrong. They set out to discover why Democrats keep losing elections. What they found were consultants, pollsters and pundits that were all chummy with the DC heads of the Democratic party resulting in placing themselves as a conduit between local candidates and large donors controlled by the DC power structure. As a result, the money came with a team of folks to tell the local candidates how to spend the money, usually on them.
The loyalty of these consultants lay with their paymasters and the continuation of the gravy train, not the winning of campaigns. They would urge candidates to not take strong positions, in fear of being labelled "extremists." It makes it sorta tough to get excited about a candidate who is excited about nothing. When the candidate lost, the consultants would go back to DC and wait for the next poor ideological sap they could shape into their mold.
To be fair, these pundits don't like us bloggers either. From DownWithTyranny:
The thing all these successful candidates share in common is backing by the same dirty-necked bloggers and netroots activists that pundits have been calling the political kiss of death.
(emphasis added) I wonder whose death it is they're talking about?
Of course, their were many other reasons Dems would lose, but this is main one.
Now, back to Dean, Rahm and James.
In an article in the New York Times, Ad Nag says this:
Mr. Emanuel warred with Mr. Dean over his refusal to provide as much money as Mr. Emanuel said he needed.
He said Wednesday that a favored candidate, Tammy Duckworth, the severely injured Iraq war veteran running for an open Republican seat in Illinois, had lost because the Republicans had spent $1 million on negative advertisements against her in the final weekend and that he did not have the money to respond.
Now Tammy Duckworth served our country in Iraq, and left both of her legs over there. She was also for a stay-the-course policy in Iraq, and Rahm continually counseled his picks to not talk about the war. See what I'm sayin'? Rahm broke the rules by getting involved in the primary to support Duckworth, winning the primary by like 200 votes or something. Overall, Rahm spent $3 million dollars to lose this race.
And now they're whining that Dean didn't give them a couple million more to waste.
I get emails from the DNC, the DCCC, and the DSCC (Chuck Schumers committee) all asking for contributions as do legions of other people as well. Those who donated to Dean could have chosen to donate to Rahm so he could flush it down the shitter of yesterday. If Dean would have given donations that he received to enrich the beltway consultant class of running milquetoast campaigns, the system would be difficult to repair.
Dean is trying to build a national party. For too long, the Dems in control have focused on the coasts and Chicago. Those days are in the past, and those of us in the netroots are determined to throw this country on our shoulders and drag it forward.
As far as the rajin Cajin is concerned, I find it interesting that, being close to Hillary and all, he is outraged at the influence Dean holds at the local and state level. These are the people who will nominate the Democratic candidate for President. Sorta makes you wonder, huh.
3 comments:
you call it "growing pains" and I call it incompetence and bumbling.
Pelosi sticks neck out for Murtha and dems chop it off.
Dems call for Dean to resign, Dean says no.
Rangel calls for military draft and house leader says "not on agenda".
Dems still have no plan for Iraq, terrorism or how they are going to spin the upcoming tax increase to look like it's not a tax increase.
Yeah, it sounds like it's going swell for ya'.
I can't hardly read what you wrote, red, tears are in my eyes about how batshit stupid the Republicans are starting off.
A minority whip, who likes to whip minorities, Trent Lott.
And over at the house, the deep thinkers decided to keep John "Tobacco Checks" Boehner on as their fearless leader!
Bench gettin a little thin? Gotta put up these tired old retreads?
I sorta liked this bit from CBS News Dick Meyers:
The men who ran the Republican Party in the House of Representatives for the past 12 years were a group of weirdos. Together, they comprised one of the oddest legislative power cliques in our history.
[...]
The iconic figures of this era were Newt Gingrich, Richard Armey and Tom Delay. They were zealous advocates of free markets, low taxes and the pursuit of wealth; they were hawks and often bellicose; they were brutal critics of big government.
Yet none of these guys had success in capitalism. None made any real money before coming to Congress. None of them spent a day in uniform. And they all spent the bulk of their adult careers getting paychecks from the big government they claimed to despise. Two resigned in disgrace.
Having these guys in charge of a radical conservative agenda was like, well, putting Mark Foley in charge of the Missing and Exploited Children Caucus. Indeed, Foley was elected in the Class of '94 and is not an inappropriate symbol of their regime.
More than the others, Newton Leroy Gingrich lived out a very special hypocrisy. In addition to the above biographical dissonance, Gingrich was one of the most sharp-tongued, articulate and persuasive attack dogs in modern politics. His favorite target was the supposed immorality and corruption of the Democratic Party. With soaring rhetoric, he condemned his opponents as anti-American and dangerous to our country's family values — "grotesque" was a favorite word.
Yet this was a man who was divorced twice — the first time when his wife was hospitalized for cancer treatment, the second time after an affair was revealed.
Gingrich made his bones in the party by relentlessly attacking Democratic corruption, yet he was hounded from office because of a series of serious ethics questions. He posed as a reformer of the House, yet championed a series of deforms that made the legislative process more closed, more conducive to hiding special interest favors and less a forum for genuine debate.
And he did it all with epic sanctimony.
[...]
What's next for the House is of course uncertain, but an undistinguished chapter has come to a close. Good riddance.
Dang. That's more powerful than garlic soup.
Keep throwing them spitballs from the back of the bus, there red. It's okay though, cause we are taking you to school.
Mwahaha
nice try oil, but it is John Kerry and the Dems with the "spitwads" at least according to long-time Democrat Zel Miller.
lol
Your newly elected Democrat party is already in shambles, infighting and appointing corrupt impeached judges as committee chairman.
In two years even YOU will be ready to "vote for change".
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