How The DCCC Has Ruined-- And Continues To Ruin-- The Democratic Party

Yesterday I got a letter from a DWT reader asking me if I had ever "summarized the typical interaction between the DCCC and Democratic congressional candidates? I know," he wrote, "you have written about these interactions often. I think it would be helpful for candidates to have a realistic view of the DCCC and what they should expect over the course of their candidacy." That's a good idea. And he already had more than a passing acquaintance himself with what the DCCC is up to.

He has been working to persuade progressives who back Medicare-For-All to run for Congress. Remember, 116 Democrats in the House have signed on as co-sponsors to John Conyers' Medicare-For-All bill. Conspic-uously absent are the DCCC decision makers-- Nancy Pelosi (CA), Steny Hoyer (MD), Ben Ray Luján (NM), Recruitment chair Denny Heck (New Dem-WA), Heartland Engagement Chair Cheri Bustos (Blue Dog-IL), Partners and Allies Council Co-chair Jim Himes (New Dem-CT), Partners and Allies Council Co-chair Terri Sewell (New Dem-AL), Partners and Allies Council Co-chair Joaquin Castro (New Dem-TX), Frontline chair Ann Kuster (New Dem-NH), Finance Co-chair Suzan DelBene (New Dem-WA), Finance Co-chair Don Beyer (New Dem-VA), Women Lead co-chair Val Demings (New Dem-FL), Women Lead co-chair Lois Frankel (FL). As you see, the majority are New Dems (the Republican wing of the Democratic Party.

He wrote that the DCCC dangles financial support over the heads of candidates to maintain control over them. "The DCCC," he wrote, "has told them that, if they raise X amount from their own sources, then the DCCC will consider giving them money." Normally the DCCC sets arbitrary, cookie-cutter quarterly financial goals for candidates and if the candidates manage to reach it, the DCCC sets higher goals for the next quarter but rarely helps in any substantive way. Instead they try to force expensive, well-connected and incompetent consultants and staffers into the campaigns, more often than not enough to demoralize and then derail any values and policy-oriented candidate.

"The DCCC never does come up with the money," he continued. "But, I think that some candidates still conform their platforms so as not to be off-putting to the DCCC and their chance for the big money. It’s a cheap trick by the DCCC that keeps progressive issues from being raised by candidates. These candidates would be better off promoting progressive issues (such as, Medicare-for-All) and giving people a reason to come out to vote. The sooner they smell the coffee and forget about the DCCC, the better."

One example of this bad influence the DCCC exerts over candidates is to discourage them from putting up a policy or issues page or-- if the candidate insists-- to persuade them to keep the page bland and anti-inspiring. DCCC-backed candidates aren't the ones who are pushing for Medicare-For-All or a $15 living wage or free college education. The DCCC frets that they can't ever help their lousy candidates create personal brands. It isn't difficult to figure out why. DCCC candidates are recruited to be the very opposite of Randy Bryce and if they show any tendencies towards authenticity or passion, it's the job of Rahm Emanuel enforcer, Cheri Bustos-- a giant, from East Moline, Illinois-- to beat those tendencies right out of them.

The DCCC recruits "ex"-Republicans, multimillionaire self-funders, Blue Dogs, New Dems... all the garbage that has laid the Democratic Party low in the last decade. And they're doing it again this cycle, confident they can sneak their atrocious candidates into office as part of an anti-Trump tsunami. The chances are very slim that anyone recruited by or even backed by the DCCC is worth supporting in any way other than-- at best-- the lesser of two evils in the general election. You want good candidates who were not DCCC spit out from Cheri Bustos' and Denny Heck's assembly line for the Republican wing of the Democratic Party? Click the Blue America thermometer on the right.



And tonight's bonus Putin-Gate song...