Bustos Is Lucky She's Competing With Tom Emmer-- And Emmer Is Lucky His Competition Is Cheri Bustos

Emmer and Bustos-- 2 clueless DC losers attached at the hip

You may have noticed that around DWT, Cheri Bustos and the DCCC aren’t exactly our favorites. In fact, I fear that the opportunity Democrats have to pick up another 50 seats is going to be blown because Bustos is the most ideologically-oriented DCCC chair in history, worse even than Rahm Emanuel, her mentor, and Steve Israel. Bustos, an Illinois Blue Dog, is a rabidly anti-progressive Democrat who— like many right-of-center women— stumbled into the Democratic Party solely because of women’s issues. On non-women’s issues Bustos is basically a conservative and a Republican and the real problem is that she is seeking to replicate herself through DCCC recruitment and support strategies. However, even Bustos and the DCCC have a saving grace, namely Tom Emmer and the NRCC. Yep, the Republicans actually managed to find someone even lamer and apparently less competent than Cheri Bustos… and that is really saying something!

Late last week, Scott Wong reported for The Hill that House Republicans are waking up to what a loser they have running the NRCC. Emmer, who replaced Michele Bachmann when she was forced to retire in 2014. Emmer represents largely white suburbs and exurbs north and west of Minneapolis—from Lino Lakes, Blaine, East Bethel, Otsego and St. Michael’s all the way out past St. Cloud. Emmer made a living as a registered lobbyist and when he ran, unsuccessfully, for governor, Target and Best Buy contributed a total of a quarter million dollars, a blatant bribe. Just to give you an idea about how extreme Emmer is, he introduced legislation to abolish the minimum wage and supported a constitutional amendment in Minnesota to prohibit marriage equality for members of the LGBTQ community. His hateful bigoted proposals were rejected by Minnesota voters. And then the House Republicans decided to elevate him to the position of chairman of the NRCC.

A member of the House Financial Services Committee, Emmer has been aggressive in seeking out bribes from the banks and investment firms the committee oversees. Last cycle, his biggest contributions came from insurance, Wall Street, commercial banks, etc. He took $656,979 in bribes from that sector during the last cycle. That’s largely why the GOP thought he was a good bet for the NRCC job.

Wong explained the intense buyers’ remorse Members are feeling now. “In recent weeks,” he wrote, “a number of top Republicans have aired grievances with the House GOP campaign arm’s approach, with some going as far as questioning if Emmer and his operation are in over their heads.” Emmer's drooling attack dog, Chris Pack, is reported to have told people to ignore the whining since it's all coming from "a bunch of New Yorkers."

“His team is inept. They have no idea what they’re doing, and their strategy is not putting Republicans in a good position to take back the House,” one disgruntled GOP lawmaker told The Hill.

Members have become more vocal in their complaints after a recent squabble between Emmer and GOP Conference Chairwoman Liz Cheney, with the Wyoming Republican telling him that Republicans raised questions about the NRCC’s strategy during a closed-door meeting last week.

Critics also pointed to an NRCC press release, which was later rescinded, that attacked Democrats for pushing lawmaker pay raises. It came at a time when GOP leaders were privately negotiating with Democratic leadership on a deal to boost congressional salaries.

The NRCC also hit Democrats for allowing lobbyists to attend their chiefs of staff retreat, even though Republicans have done the same thing in previous years.

The group’s aggressive messaging tactics— with the NRCC having taken on President Trump’s style of attacking political opponents by using nicknames like Little Max Rose and Fake Nurse Lauren Underwood— has certain factions of the party expressing a sense of unease with the new approach. Some fear it could hinder them from taking back the 20 seats they need to win back control of the House in 2020.

“I think in the larger conversation, what I see is, is just a lack of strategy, and just a series of trolling,” a former Republican National Committee official said. “And that can be fun to do, but not as fun as winning House races.”

Despite the criticism, the NRCC is standing by its strategy, arguing a bold approach is needed if they want to win. The group also said it has support from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).

“Leader McCarthy has given us a mandate to be very aggressive this cycle with our approach, so that’s what we’re doing. While it may make some people uncomfortable, we’re not going to win back the majority in just two years by talking about puppy dogs and ice cream,” said NRCC spokesman Chris Pack.

Pack is more the guilty party for the radical approach and many members have been calling on him to be fired. One member told me, on condition of anonymity, that Pack is an embarrassment to the party who “thinks he’s Josef Goebbels” and is going to be responsible for the loss of Republican opportunities in mainstream districts. “This guy should go work for Freedom Works or one of those other radical outfits based in Alexandria... or Arlington. He doesn't seem to know what ‘positive’ means… If he thinks he’s going to win over new voters by screaming ’socialism’ and ‘anti-Semitism’ at Democrats, he never studied political science or American history.” Pack told Wong that the NRCC is having “great success shining a spotlight on the dangerous socialist policies Democrats are proposing, their appetite for anti-Semitism, and enthusiastic support for late-term abortions. Our fundraising is exceeding expectations, we have had recruitment meetings with 178 women, 100 veterans and 83 minorities, and we will continue to put the work in to ensure our candidates are in a position to win.” He said the NRCC is setting the narratives for the 2020 cycle.

Concerns over the optics of NRCC Recruitment Chairwoman Susan Brooks (R-IN) announcing her retirement last week has been the latest in a string of complaints, with some questioning Emmer’s judgment in requesting she take on the role amid rumors she wouldn’t seek another term in the House.

“When Emmer asked Brooks if she would take charge of recruiting new candidates for the House, she told him that she hadn’t decided if she was going to run for reelection herself in 2020, yet she was still named recruitment chair,” one senior Republican said.

“Now she’s officially not seeking reelection, and so it makes this whole recruitment thing a bit awkward. I just think this little anecdote reveals the dysfunction within the NRCC right now. She should have never been named recruitment chair,” the lawmaker added.

Pack said the NRCC is confident Brooks’s decision won’t have a negative impact on recruitment efforts.

“She is staying on in her role as recruitment chair. If anything, it will intensify her recruitment efforts,” Pack said.

With the influx of criticisms, some members said they feel it was a misstep for McCarthy to have pushed for Emmer to take on the role.

“He’s well liked in the conference, but the general feeling is he’s not getting the job done,” one lawmaker said, referring to Emmer. “That is also affecting attitudes toward Kevin, as Tom was his hand-picked guy.”

McCarthy has defended the NRCC’s performance.

“Tom and his team are doing what it takes to win. They’re on offense and not letting Democrats get away with promising their voters action but coming to Washington and conforming to the new Democrat Socialist agenda.” he said in a statement.

Other lawmakers have argued it’s too soon in the cycle for members to cast judgment, noting former chairmen have faced criticism in the past and gone on to win or hold the majority.

“Well, you’ve got to have a philosophy of: Are you going to go on offense or are you going to be on defense? You know, there’s been a change. And the one thing I’ve found no matter what you do as NRCC chair, in the offices, somebody’s not going to be happy,” one member said.

“And what Emmer knows is he’s going to be judged on results— results will matter. He believes this is the right path and he is either going to either sink or swim based on it.”

Republicans, my source told me after reading this story in The Hill told me that many of his colleagues don’t care if Emmer sinks or not, just that “he and his team are taking the party down with them.”