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In reply to the discussion: Bill Moyers: Democrats Can't Unite Until DWS Goes [View all]bvar22
(39,909 posts)143. It started in 2008.
Back then, DWS was the Chairperson for the DNC's Red to Blue program.
The purpose of this program headed by DWS was to convert Red States to Blues States,
but DWS REFUSED to endorse Democrats running for vulnerable Republican seats IN HER OWN STATE because that would upset her Republican friends!!!
In 2008 Debbie Wasserman Schultz refused to endorse these 3 Democrats
who had won their Primaries and had a chance to win Republican seats:
Miami-Dade Democratic Party Chair Joe Garcia
Former Hialeah Democratic Mayor Raul Martinez
Democratic businesswoman Annette Taddeo
All three had won their local Democratic Primaries, and were challenging Hard Core Republican incumbents with whom Wasserman-Schultz had become cozy.
Not only did the head of the DCCC Red to Blue Program REFUSE to endorse these Democratic challengers,
but she appeared in person at at least one (possibly more) Campaign/Fundraiser for their Republican opponents.
FL-18, FL-21, FL-25: Wasserman Schultz Wants Dem Challengers to Lose
by: James L.
Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 7:15 PM EDT
<snip>
Sensing a shift in the political climate of the traditionally solid-GOP turf of the Miami area, Democrats have lined up three strong challengers -- Miami-Dade Democratic Party chair Joe Garcia, former Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez, and businesswoman Annette Taddeo to take on Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, respectively.
While there is an enormous sense of excitement and optimism surrounding these candidacies, some Democratic lawmakers, including Florida Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Kendrick Meek, are all too eager to kneecap these Democratic challengers right out of the starting gate in the spirit of "comity" and "bipartisan cooperation" with their Republican colleagues:
But as three Miami Democrats look to unseat three of her South Florida Republican colleagues, Wasserman Schultz is staying on the sidelines. So is Rep. Kendrick Meek, a Miami Democrat and loyal ally to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
This time around, Wasserman Schultz and Meek say their relationships with the Republican incumbents, Reps. Lincoln Diaz-Balart and his brother Mario, and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, leave them little choice but to sit out the three races.
"At the end of the day, we need a member who isn't going to pull any punches, who isn't going to be hesitant," Wasserman Schultz said.
Now, you'd expect this kind of bullshit from a backbencher like Alcee Hastings, but you wouldn't expect this kind of behavior from the co-chair of the DCCC's Red to Blue program, which is the position that Wasserman Schultz currently holds. Apparently, Debbie did not get Rahm's memo about doing whatever it takes to win:
The national party, enthusiastic about the three Democratic challengers, has not yet selected Red to Blue participants. But Wasserman Schultz has already told the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee that if any of the three make the cut, another Democrat should be assigned to the race.
http://www.swingstateproject.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1537
The bloggers also are furious with Rep. Kendrick B. Meek (D-Fla.), who similarly refuses to endorse the Democratic challengers to the three Cuban American Republicans.
They are calling for Wasserman Schultz to step down from her leadership role at the DCCC. And they're not letting up, even after one Florida liberal blogger reported that the congresswoman seemed "frustrated" by the blogs and had asked to "please help get them off my back."
This prompted even harsher reaction from perhaps the most influential of the progressive political bloggers, Markos Moulitsas, a.k.a. Kos, founder of Daily Kos, who wrote on his blog Wednesday: "On so many fronts, the Republicans are standing in the way of progress, on Iraq, SCHIP, health care, fiscal responsibility, corruption, civil liberties, and so on. Those three south Florida Republicans are part of that problem. And she's (Wasserman-Schultz) going to be 'frustrated' that people demand she do her job?"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/19/AR2008031903410_3.html
Here are Kos comments on the Wasserman-Schultz betrayal of the Democratic Party:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/03/20/480511/-DCCC-Says-Uproar-Over-DWS-Recusal-Much-Ado-About-Nothing
A lot of time has passed since 2008, but I don't take these kinds of betrayals lightly. Now I find that DWS has been PROMOTED from Chair of the Red to Blue Program
to Chair of the DNC. She must be making the "Centrist" Democratic Leadership VERY HAPPY if they are rewarding THIS kind of Party Treason.
bvar22
Cursed with a memory
"I want to thank Debbie Wasserman-Schultz for being an outstanding chair of our party. (Applause.) She is a great partner."--President Obama
With "partners" like this, we don't need Republicans!
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This surely would go a long way , I would hope, in mending the fence.
Jackie Wilson Said
May 2016
#1
Politics as usual. Just as this election is with two big exceptions, Bernie and Drumpf
Jackie Wilson Said
May 2016
#32
Not true: DWS is not the cause of Sanders losses: Sanders people are bullies
lewebley3
May 2016
#139
I don't know a whole lot about DWS to know whether I "like" her or not
Proud Liberal Dem
May 2016
#166
Well I don't think she was ever a Democrat in spirit. Just someone who could do things and it did no
LiberalArkie
May 2016
#14
Your statistic is misleading. The average person gets more than 3 minutes of news.
Exilednight
May 2016
#64
Where have you been? The Party is split wide open. The Progressives are sick and tired
rhett o rick
May 2016
#67
Devouring our own asses? She allied herself with sheldon adelson to jail medical marijuana patients.
Warren DeMontague
May 2016
#94
Why Is DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz Co-Sponsoring a Bill to Help Predatory Payday Lenders?
AntiBank
May 2016
#116
she said it awhile ago following the early primaries when voters began asking
hopemountain
May 2016
#82
She'll go. Probably DWS will most likely be rewarded with a cabinet position by HRC.
EndElectoral
May 2016
#31
Secret kill list? Obama has a secret kill list? You look like an idiot. Why post stupid crap
bjobotts
May 2016
#47
If the real estate swindler is crowned king she may not have to go - may be irrelevant. n/t
jtuck004
May 2016
#37
IF she "brings down her gavel on progressive hopes of returning the party to its legacy
PatrickforO
May 2016
#41
The party is split between the neoliberal Third Ways and the New Dealers. I don't think
PatrickforO
May 2016
#43
Bill Moyers? been speaking truth for a long time .....and that irks some . Nothing new .
Person 2713
May 2016
#76
If debbie wasserman schultz is the party, that means the party supports predatory lending.
Warren DeMontague
May 2016
#95
Moyers got it right again. Hard for Hillaryites to throw him under the Wall Street bus.
imagine2015
May 2016
#58
and she was confident no one could get her out before her term was over -- 2017.
antigop
May 2016
#154
It would be a good start, but the Democratic Party has a long road back to being the party of labor
Not Sure
May 2016
#63
Anyone who thinks that will unite this party has no clue about what is going on.
Skwmom
May 2016
#65
11 Governors, 13 Senators, 69 Reps, 913 state seats: there's only one seat left for her to lose!
MisterP
May 2016
#71
How about descheduling marijuana entirely at the federal level, instead of a token change from I/II
Warren DeMontague
May 2016
#96
Looks like the DNC is now emulating James O'Keefe, releasing clips edited to make
djean111
May 2016
#111
Kicked, recommended and I'm sure that if Hillary does become President she will have a cushy job
Uncle Joe
May 2016
#117
DWS needs to go, but that won't make all the wrongs of the past four months right.
reformist2
May 2016
#148