The party leaders will pick primary candidate. Audio, quote, Schumer

[madfloridian]

http://www.countthevote.org/personal/schumerquote.mp3

Not referring to Howard Dean, though I notice he went along with the Casey pick in PA. I am referring to the DSCC leadership. This is from a private fundraiser with Schumer, Reid, Pryor, and others

To me this statement indicates that the DSCC will pick the candidates in races where Republicans are vulnerable. They will not allow the primaries to be used to attack each other. Well, gee, doggies, guess that stopped after last year...you think?

I notice the quote does not have the mention of Harold Ford's race in it. It is hard to get the exact words, but Schumer mentions the "nice" woman running against Ford. He gives the impression it will be Ford. So heads up, TN folks, sounds like your choice has been made. I will try for a more exact context.

The Schumer (DSCC Chair) quote is:
"We are no longer letting Democrats get in a circle and shoot each other. We are going to intervene if any one Democrat attacks another. We are doing that in states where there are primaries. ......this always happens in the primaries, people throw up the cards and see where they land. No more. We're finding the best candidates in every one of the seats where republicans are vunerable. " (And something about Harold Ford which is hard to translate, but the meaning is pretty clear).

This is what happened in PA, and it will apparently continue to happen. Is this Howard Dean doing it? No, it is not. It is the entrenched group who did not want him to be chair, who do not want the progressive groups interfering in primaries.

I would say about half here at DU will say good for them. The rest of us will continue to work to support others, those this shows almost insurmountable odds against us. I will try to clarify the mention of Harold Ford, who was quoted on Imus in a detestable way.

To me this is like a red flag, saying the party will not change.

[iconoclastNYC]

1. To me it shows the party has changed.

If they are consistently picking DLC type people over true progressives then they will forment a split in the party.

[Boredtodeath]

2. What is Dean's response to this?

I am a big Howard Dean supporter, but I'm really interested in seeing his response to this BS.

[Freddie Stubbs]

26. Nothing so far...

...but I'm sure that he will have a strong response on this. ;)

[IrateCitizen]

3. Do you honestly expect a bourgeois party to change???

If you do, then you're barking up the wrong tree. The Democratic Party, on a national level at least, is interested in only one thing, and it ain't change. It's protecting the status quo.

Now, if all this rabble starts making things difficult, demanding change -- well the leadership will just put the kibosh on that right quick, and reassert the dictate that the job of the rabble is simply to keep quiet and pull that (D) lever, no matter who is on it.

[madfloridian]

4. The DSCC is not the majority, they just have all the money.

Actually there are far more of us than of them. I think they don't have the message yet.

[welshTerrier2]

7. will Dean be a real agent of change ??

my answer is: we'll see ...

Dean has historically shown his "personal independence" ... he has been willing to speak out and say whatever he wanted to say ...

does this "personal independence" translate into fighting for real reforms in the Party and standing up against its entrenched power ??

again, "we'll see" ...

i would like to believe in Dean as many of his loyal followers do ... but for me, the jury is still out ... being a fighter and a "let it all hang out" campaigner is not the same thing as fighting, as the Party Chair, against the dinosaurs of entrenched power ...

Dean speaks often about the "grassroots" ... but his programs have yet to cite the "sharing of power" with the grassroots as one of his objectives ... at least not to my knowledge ...

what is on the table here is a battle for shared power in the Democratic Party ... the ultimate goal should be unity but we deceive ourselves to believe that will happen without reforms ...

to those who say "give Dean more time", i say fine but time is growing very short ... it may be too soon to expect specific results from a process of reform, but it is not at all too soon for Dean to talk about the critical need to broaden the participation and influence of the grassroots ... his focus on fundraising from the grassroots is all well and good, but he has thus far fallen short of even defining the objectives of reform and the reason intra-party reforms are so badly needed ...

I supported Dean for DNC Chair because i believed, and still do, that he provided us with the best shot to truly democratize the Democratic Party ... i'm still hopeful but Dean needs to show us much, much more than he has so far ... the first step to implementing change has to be the definition of exactly what changes are being sought ...

[madfloridian]

10. You keep sounding like you think Dean can make the change.

Not even he thinks that. He has always said the change will come from the people.

We stand up and we holler back at Senator Schumer, and we say we are not going to put up with it anymore.

You keep referring to what can Dean do. You should be saying what can you do.

[welshTerrier2]

13. i'm glad you raised this point ...

i DO think Dean is an important, even a critical element, in the change process ...

that does NOT preclude the change that each of us must fight to bring about ...

your argument would be like saying an army doesn't need any generals because it's the soldiers who do the real fighting ... the reality is, that while the grassroots must be very actively engaged, the clout of the Chair, the leadership he can bring, the platform he commands for speaking out are all very critical ingredients ... this is NOT an "either-or" situation ...

as i said, it is critical for Dean to encapsulate the reforms many of us are seeking by speaking out on what the objectives should be and why these changes are needed ... his endorsement of Casey, the politics of the situation notwithstanding, sent exactly the wrong message about the openness of the process ... i hope that's not a sign of things to come ...

if Dean promotes a strong fundraising effort among the grassroots and then turns around to use some of those funds to help finance the Party's hand-picked candidate in PA, where is the process of reform and what is Dean's contribution to it ??

so, i agree with your statement that we each have to fight for change ... but i don't agree that Dean doesn't have a very active leadership role to play ...

[madfloridian]

15. As chair he must take all sides of an issue....so far.

Don't know what will come later. He can not just take the position we want him to take.

[welshTerrier2]

16. "all sides of an issue"

i only hope that "all sides of an issue" will not mean he will refuse to speak out against the elimination of primaries and the hand-picking of candidates in lieu of a fair and open primary process ..

[madfloridian]

17. Oh, come on. I think you know more about things than that.

I can see him going on TV or in print and telling the DSCC and DCCC leaders of the party they are wrong. Oh, yeh, I can see that. They did not want him to be chair in the first place, Harry Reid told him so.

First you need to have the people behind you, not as divided as we all are. We are all still playing out the primaries online, so we are not that organized behind anyone.

[welshTerrier2]

18. and so ???

you feel Dean can do nothing when the Party "fixes" the primaries and blocks the voices of Democrats from participating in the candidate selection process ?? you think he will essentially be forced to remain silent and go along ??

i would suggest doing so would certainly be one way of avoiding criticism from the Party establishment; i would hope the rest of us would not be quite so compliant about his acquiescence should that scenario occur ... let's hope it doesn't ...

[madfloridian]

19. I don't have a clue what you are saying.

I am very outspoken about what I think. Right now, there is not much to be done. Think. Who has the money? Where do you think the corporate money is going now? Some to the DNC, though obviously they are not happy with Dean...some of the big donor fundraisers quit.

Money is power. Takes time to build. Think.

You don't seem to get the point.

[welshTerrier2]

20. well, OK ...

i am in full agreement with the subject line of your last post ...

my point was that Dean must not remain silent when an issue like "hand-picked" candidates and elimination of primaries is raised ... he should speak out forcefully against this ... he should say that this would further disenfranchise the grassroots and is not in the Party's best interests ...

the DNC has not called for these things, yet ... Schumer did ... and Dean should label it a really bad idea ... we need to get on with the business of democratizing the Party ... remaining silent when some want "our" candidates to be selected for us by insider elites is just NOT OK ...

this has nothing to do with giving Dean more time ... if the issue is being raised by Schumer now, Dean should speak out against it now ... i understand that it will take time to purge the corporate elitists from the Party ... i'm not expecting Dean to work miracles overnight; i just think it's important for him to speak out on the issues i've raised ...

[Larkspur]

25. The DSCC is a separate unit from the DNC.

The DSCC is run by the Dem senators, not state Dem Party officials, and they have their own campaign war chests separate from the DNC's.

Basically, all Schumer can do is not send DSCC funds to Dem candidates they don't like. The DNC and Dean have no control over the DSCC.

In regards to Harold Ford, well, if his opponent is a good candidate, then progressive bloggers and activists should get behind her. They proved with the Hackett campaign that the Washington Beltway mob have no clue how to nurture potential good candidates. The progressive bloggers and activists do.

Dean is an agent for change, but you can't expect him to do all the work. He can only carry so much as DNC Chair. Open dissent with the DSCC and DCCC mob is more available to us than Dean.

Anyway, I read that Kos has a secret plan to destroy the DLC. Change usually starts from the Margins, not the center, of power and in the Dem Party's case, the margins or progressive blogs and activists, will be the origins of the Dem revolution. I wanted Dean as DNC chair to help that revolution along.

[Karmadillo]

12. The Dems expect much more from the rabble.

In addition to keeping quiet and pulling that (D) lever, they're supposed to contribute lots and lots of money over the internet. Without the rabble's money, the Democratic Party will not be able to continue to effectively play its role as the ineffective voice of change.

[Hidden Stillness]

5. "We Are Going to Intervene..."

Schumer: "letting Democrats get in a circle and shoot each other"--you mean, the DLC "circular firing squad"? God, I hate it when they all use the same jargon, rather than talking individually like real people. Makes me nervous, like the people from the real world are shut out again.

[WCGreen]

6. Traditionally, the DSCC is the political arm of the

party in Congress....

The Senate Leadership want's to get involved at the primary level....

They will probably endorse in the primary and support their candidate....

What's wrong with that.....

If you don't like the candidate they pick, support the one you want....

I am all in favor of the party leadersip entering the primary campaign....

After all, it is a free country....

Isn't it.....

[madfloridian]

8. Guess you did not hear Schumer's anger in the audio.

It was directed at folks who question their decision. His anger is toward people like Chuck Pennacchio who dare to go against a candidate they picked.

It happened in TX, it happened in PA, and they are trying to do it in a couple of other states already.

Schumer should not be stating that they are "finding the best candidates", and then pick the ones who are more like the Republicans than not.

The fact that he has the power to do that should scare us all.

[WCGreen]

11. But Schumer is a liberal...

Remember, it takes 15 to 30 million to run a Senate Campaign in a big state.....

But the Senate has a right to field a slate of candidates....

Remember, Newt did this to gain power for the GOP. He focused the party on candidates in the primary. Now they have a lock step control of the agenda....

Schumers approach definitely has it's pluses as well as its minuses....

We shall see now.....

[FreeStateDemocrat]

9. Two major democratic canidates in both gov and senate pri races in Md.

[madfloridian]

14. How Schumer and Rendell picked Casey....alarming to me as a woman.

This is a short excerpt from a diary at Kos right now. This is a transcription from more of the same event, and it tells a little more of their decision to pick Casey...and all that it implies about what they will do to win.

"Our number one target is Santorum, he should go back to Md. or where ever he lives. So I called up Governor Rendell and I asked him who is the best candidate to beat Santorum and Rendell said "There is only one candidate who can beat him and that is Bob Casey but he won't run and you won't want him too because he is pro-life, he is a deeply religious Catholic man. So I said "those days are over Ed, yes I am pro-choice, but we need the best candidate. We can't insist that every democrat check off 18 different issues before they get(perhaps he said "get to run") So we got Harry to persuade Casey to run and Casey is winning in the polls."

I think that speaks for itself.

[Boredtodeath]

21. Creating the next Zell Miller

'nuf said.

[madfloridian]

23. And now there can be no denial of who picked who.

I realize there are monetary limitations to running candidates, but these guys are saying they will jump in if someone attacks their chosen one.

For Schumer to so deliberately toss off the issue of choice is disturbing, and it tells me winning is everything...no matter what.

[shance]

29. Schumer is meddling with the Democratic process of a primary. It's wrong.

Is he a fortune teller on his off hours? How does he "know" who could win? I guess he could if he's intentionally blocking other candidates.

I have to ask who is Chuck Schumer to assume he can circumvent Pennsylvanians, not to mention Democracy by essentially saying Pennsylvanians are not capable of picking their own candidate?

If I was a Pennsylvanian, I would not be too pleased with such audacity.

Im sure Mr. Schumer would not feel so righteous if it was HIS candidacy that was being blocked by Senate leaders who thought he couldn't win and/or wanted to grant the position to someone else, who just 'happens' to be staunchly pro-life.

Schumer knows it's wrong, and yet he will try and make excuses until constituents and citizens oppose such meddling.

Apparently there are those in this party who are overindulging in their power and privilege as well.

Very disappointing to say the least.

[jburton]

22. Primaries have more than one candidate

Otherwise it is uncontested.

Rules for getting on the primary ballot differ from state to state. In most states if you get enough signatures you can get on the ballot. It's not the DSCC's decision to make, so I don't see what all the fuss is about.

As far as leaders getting behind an establishment candidate, this is nothing new. Generally if you have a record of winning office you get favored by the establishment.

[madfloridian]

24. That is an over-simplication of what is going on.

This is more than just getting behind a certain candidate:

SCHUMER: "We are no longer letting Democrats get in a circle and shoot each other. We are going to intervene if any one Democrat attacks another. We are doing that in states where there are primaries. ......this always happens in the primaries, people throw up the cards and see where they land. No more. We're finding the best candidates in every one of the seats where republicans are vunerable. "

All the circle shooting was fine last year, depending on who it was happening to. Take a look at the IL race for Hyde's seat. It is like vicious circle..Christine Cegelis did well against him before. BUT now the DCCC tells her she must raise enough money to suit them....or she won't get money from them. I know she will get DFA backing as she did before, probably more money this time....IF she can hang in there for now. Trouble is official help for 06 from DFA won't come until 06. And then there is Texas.

[jburton]

27. I guess it depends on how you interpret "intervene"

DCCC and DSCC have always had a high threshold for giving $$$ to a candidate. (Must be "viable", etc.) That is the longest-running criticism of it, which is why DFA is so important.

I just don't see DSCC of DCCC as any more of an influence than local city/county based groups, local politicos, or PACS.

I know they will stress their importance and supposed influence, but they are just one of hundreds of political "kingmakers" in the process.

[madfloridian]

28. Eventually they won't be that much of a force.

But right now they are. The fact that Schumer et al so easily accepted Casey's stances tell me a lot.

So for now, we have Democrats who will run anyone who can win, no matter what they stand for.

Maybe that is why we are so screwed right now as a country. We have not been acting like an opposition.