To The Victors... And One Loser Thinks She Should Jump Ahead Too

House Dems court disaster with DWS

As we've been predicting, the House leadership has made Howdy Doody (R-FL) the scapegoat for their loss of a couple dozen more seats. A big supporter of the bailout-- and of Wall Street special interests in general-- Rep. Doody (aka Adam Putnam) was forced out of his leadership post yesterday, the first casualty in the Republican Civil War of 2008... and not likely to be the last.

Younger, more conservative lawmakers moved yesterday to assert their influence in the House Republican caucus as the GOP began the traditional period of soul-searching that follows a major electoral defeat. Conservatives also began jockeying to fill the post of Republican National Committee chairman early next year.

...The fate of the No. 2 Republican, Minority Whip Roy Blunt (Mo.), was uncertain [UPDATE: not anymore it isn't; he's out], and one of the younger party mavericks, Virginia's Eric Cantor, was poised to replace him amid widespread discontent among party rank-and-file with the Election Day performance.

Way on the other side of the state from Howdy Doody Florida, is the lair of the female version of Rahm Emanuel, Debbie Wasserman Schultz. She did the worst job imaginable of anyone running the red to blue program. In her mind-- and that of the Democratic caucus members she so famously bribes with money laundered from right wing Cuban groups and Big Sugar-- that entitles her to take over the DCCC from Chris Van Hollen, who is trying to muscle Caucus vice chair John Larson (D-CT) out of the way so he can take over Rahm Emanuel's job as Democratic Caucus chair when Emanuel gets kicked upstairs where Obama can keep an eye on him and keep him from undermining the new president's reforms. (I know I'm stretchin' it here, folks, but the honeymoon hasn't even started yet, let alone ended.)

For the record, the cycle ended with 63 candidates in the Red to Blue program, just a few of whom were the recipients of almost all the help and most of whom got... lip-service and bupkis. Of the 63, only 22 were elected (although grassroots-backed Darcy Burner (WA), Tom Perriello (VA) and Charlie Brown (CA) are in races where votes are still being tabulated-- as are Insider-backed Ethan Berkowitz (AK) and Frank Kratovil (MD).

The worst example of Wasserman-Schultz' leadership came at the beginning of the cycle when she petulantly declared, publicly, that the south Florida Democrats running in neighboring districts-- Joe Garcia, Annette Taddeo and Raul Martinez-- would get no help from her because she prefers the 3 right-wing Cuban-American thugs, Mario-Diaz-Balart, his criminal brother Lincoln (who fancies himself entitled to the presidency of a post-Castro Cuba), and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. Her announcement crippled all 3 candidacies and led to their eventual defeat. She was especially active in undermining Annette Taddeo, even after her arm was twisted to support Garcia and Martinez, each of whom wound up with a million and a half dollars in DCCC television buys while Taddeo was pointedly left off the ads.

Wasserman Schultz showed her true colors when she spat in the face-- figuratively-- of the grassroots Democrat running against... yep, Adam Putnam. She was insulting and rude to retired Naval officer Doug Tudor when he had the temerity to approach her for help, thinking for some reason that the DCCC is supposed to help Democratic candidates. No thanks to Wasserman Schultz, Tudor did far better against Putnam than any other Democrat ever.

Bruce Braley (D-IA), who worked tirelessly behind the scenes to elect all Democrats and who is viewed as a straight arrow with impeccable ethics, would be a far better choice than DWS, a self-aggrandizing show boat and someone determined to build her own personal power base.

Mario Diaz-Balart thanking Debbie Wasserman Schultz: