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Thursday, November 16, 2006

Here's what we can expect from Our Liberal Media for the next two years
Posted by Jill | 5:52 AM
The always-reliable Adam Nagourney:

Flush of Victory Past, Democrats Revert to Finger-Pointing

By ADAM NAGOURNEY
Published: November 16, 2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 — One would think that after their biggest electoral triumph in about a decade, Democrats would finally break their usual postelection syndrome — a November loss followed by recriminations, finger-pointing and infighting.

Well, think again.

The Democrats are celebrating their big victory of Nov. 7 with recriminations, finger-pointing and infighting, no matter that they won control of the Senate and the House for the first time since 1994.


Now, just so you know I can be fair and balanced, AdNags isn't just pulling this stuff out of his ass. The desperate display of vitriol coming out of the mouths of the Clintonista Hack Squad is pretty repulsive, and it's gotten louder and more shrill since Paul Lukasiak debunked Rahm Emanuel's claim that He and He Alone is responsible for the Democrats' wins last week. Why guys like Emanuel and Carville (and what the fuck is CARVILLE doing weighing in here anyway?) can't share credit with others is a mystery to me. It seems to me that there's plenty of credit to go around, and that if Rahm and Jimmy REALLY had the interests of the Democratic Party at heart, they would shut the fuck up and stop telling a good chunk of the party's foot soldiers to go away. Because if they don't cut it out, we just might do that. THEN we'll see how much sway they and their consultant buddies have.

More from Down With Tyranny (who is also new, and OVERDUE, to the blogroll):

Do you know what a whore is? I'll admit I've hired a few in my day. And one was James Carville. He was a keynote speaker at a convention my company put on-- and what a hack he was even then, way before he turned into the irrevelevent hack he is yoday. Jane and the fdl crew know what a whore is too and Jane's portrait of Carville is worth reading. And Chris Bowers eloquently blows the whistle on Carville's Consultant Con.

You see, Carville's got his bloomers all tied in a bunch over Howard Dean and the 50 state strategy because spending money on building up the Democratic Party means not spending money on Beltway gasbag consultants (whores) who get big bucks and get a cut on advertising and on whatever else they can commission.


And that, my friends, is why Rahm 'n' Jimmy are so upset: because guys like Bob Shrum, who's never met a campaign he can't lose, and who brought us President Kerry, don't get paid based on success; they get paid on how much they spend. Their spending doesn't have to be effective, they just have to spend money. Which I guess makes them just the kind of Democrats that conservatives have always accused them of being.

But I digress:

Since the triumph of Dean's 50 State Strategy, Carville has been bleating all over the media about... getting rid of Dean. No, he's not consciously working for the Republicans as far as I can tell. Although... he is married to one of Cheney's crew. Nah... he's consciously working for Rahm Emanuel, the ballet dancer turned would-be Tom DeLay of the Democrats.

Real live Democrats around the country-- the kind you'll never meet at an Inside-the-Beltway cocktail party-- are laughing are Carville. They know exactly what role Dean and the DNC played in this election-- and they know what role Emanuel and Carville played in nearly losing it for Democrats. (Remember, when the braindead talking head on TV tells you how great Emanuel is, Democrats did better in races that Emanuel didn't touch, from state legislative seats to congressional seats he ignored, than they did in the races he worked on.) Art Torres, who runs the biggest state Democratic Party in the country, California's, sent out a letter today. Here are some thoughts to think about in case you wind up seeing Emanuel or the sniveling Carville spewing their poison and venom on TV:

Governor Dean's "50 state strategy" played a significant role in our victory. In California, early organizing and coordination provided a strategic advantage over a highly financed Republican Party. We built a hard- charging "rapid response" communications team that pushed back every attack thrown at our down ticket constitutional candidates. We outperformed and out-hustled every single GOP operation on the ground. And we did it with less than a quarter of the $20 million spent by the Republicans on their field operation.

Now instead of moving forward to celebrate our victories and reward our organizers and volunteers, individuals in California - motivated by their own self interest - are maneuvering and re-positioning the results for their own self-interest.

Nationally, James Carville has anointed himself as the campaign manager of Harold Ford's DNC "takeover." Such divisive tactics distract us from working together to reconstruct our foreign and domestic policies which have been left in shambles by the moral and ethical hypocrisy of the outgoing Republican Congress.

Let me remind Mr. Carville that the DNC is a MEMBERSHIP organization. We vote for our leaders, not determine them in back rooms.

We came together to support Howard Dean for Chairman through open communications like countless listening tours and forums throughout the nation. In California, candidates came to our state capitol, presented ideas, and took questions from the hundreds of Democratic activists who participated in the democratic election process for DNC Chair.

As the Treasurer of the Association of State Democratic Chairs, I helped Howard Dean receive our endorsement prior to the election because I believed Howard would inject new energy, new enthusiasm, and bring new people to our Party. I believed that he would help state parties which had lingered too long without staff and help to organize their states. He did!

The "50 state strategy" began to emerge within our Association of State Chairs through the leadership of Howard Dean. He saw the importance of that strategy as did we. We were all proven correct when the election returns began coming in from states that had been ignored. These states helped create a Democratic Majority.

As a state and national party, we all have of lot more work to do. It is a team effort, and we should be united as we approach the 2008 election.


Art Torres is right. But "united" doesn't mean that we're going to sit by and watch this bunch of losers -- and yes, they are losers -- snatch defeat from the jaws of victory again. These guys are still taking credit for Bill Clinton's victory, as if Clinton weren't arguably the most charismatic person on the face of the earth not named "George Clooney." They still think that triangulation and kowtowing to the worst elements of the right win elections, which is how we end up with candidates like Paul Aronsohn in New Jersey-s Fifth District (and God help us, he's talking about running again in 2008), who's -- you guessed it -- a Clintonista.

Howard Dean is one tough little bastard, and he's not going to go away just because the Gasbags of the Beltway want him to. But I'll tell you this much: If sure-losers like Emanuel and Carville win this battle, and decide that the raison dêtre of the Democratic Party is to shovel cash into the pockets of their Beltway consultants, then as far as I'm concerned, let the whole fucking place fall to the Republicans and the Christofascist zombies. Let's see just how much they can win when progressives Just Say No.

Jane Hamsher and Chris Bowers have more to say on this.
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