Harmful to the people. The donors love it.

We won the House back because of of DCCC's work in competitive districts. Not because of Our Revolution, Justice Democrats and AOC's safe Blue seat.

The decision as to which ones need to be challenged should come from the locals in each of the districts in question, and not from someone from a safely blue district in New York. The fact that we flipped the House was due far more to the DCCC than to any of AOC's friends.

Even if incumbents are doing a good job, they are still vulnerable to primary challenges. Not all primary challenges are mounted for the purest of motives, alas, and not all are justified. In an ideal world, that would be true, but if there is an ideal world out there, we are far from it.

And I'm tired of her shit. And the Justice Democrats, Our Revolution, Young Turks, etc.

Boycott:
withdraw from commercial or social relations with (a country, organization, or person) as a punishment or protest.


Pause:
interrupt action or speech briefly.

... we're not stupid, ya know.

BlueWave Victory in the House without the DCCC.

They helped immensely to help Dems change red seats to BLUE All Over the Country.

She is exactly right.

Too many times I've watched the DCCC withhold any kind of help for good progessive candidates in favor of mediocre establishment-approved candidates who go on to lose.

when large primary fields threatened to produce R vs. R runoffs.

Country change red seats to BLUE.

We wouldn't have the Democratic Victory in the House with their immeasurable help.

Nor did Cuomo.

did help to make our Victory happen. So leaders like Adam Schiff can do what they do.

The secret to the blue wave that won the House for Democrats

I totally agree with her!

My decision was a result of a phone call soliciting me for funds. Fair. But when I said I couldn’t give, he pushed. When I then said if I gave them money I’d have to borrow it, he pushed harder.

I realize this may have just been one bad caller but you know what? It was no small thing to me to be so disrespected.

And then they went after progressive candidates, and I was done. Told them to take me off their list and never call me again.

I just give directly now.

I want a functioning fundraising arm for this party. This organization isn’t it.

Last edited Sun Mar 31, 2019, 04:23 AM - Edit history (1)

I have been a friend of Gabby Giffords for years, including before she was shot. When she and Mark founded Americans for Responsible Solutions, I became a solid yearly contributor. They don't tell their phone solicitors, however, who is a personal friend and who is not. Gabby and Mark know a LOT of people, after all.

These people just work off lists. More than once I have gotten calls while I am in the States (which is seldom!) from Gabby's organization. They are from people I don't know, and definitely from people who have no idea I know Gabby. Some of them are pushy and offensive, and I hate to say it, but if I had NOT known Gabby, I would have cut off my contributions then and there. I tell them I know Gabby personally and have already contributed a four figure sum to her organization that year. That statement doesn't even register with the offensive ones (there are also polite ones that say, "oh, I'm sorry, I had no idea, Thanks for your support." ) I have let Gabby know, but I got the distinct impression that some of these phone people actually do this professionally, and tailor their offensive pitch to whomever they are soliciting funds for. That impression got reinforced by the fact that the offensive ones were never the same person twice in a row.

I know that some of the offensive people working for Gabby's organization would horrify her if she knew. For that matter, I have let her know in the meantime, but I don't know how all that is done, and so don't know what their options are. I'm sure the DCCC has to weed out bad apples on a regular basis as well.

Having THAT as a personal experience, I'd give your experience another look in this light. Gabby is NOTHING like the pushy asshole ostensibly working for her, and I suspect that the offensive caller that called you on the DCCC's behalf falls into the same category.

Aloha.

It was pretty irritating

I am certainly no fan of his, but he has no more control over the nameless people who work his phone banks than Gabby Giffords does. People like Gabby and Sanders don't hire the phone bank people. They hire people who do the hiring. It doesn't matter if you are trying to rein in overly permissive gun laws or ranting about millionayahs and billionayahs, the people that actually make the calls will be a cross-section of the people out there in the population as a whole--the good, the bad and the ugly.

or something?

An incumbent Democrat in a swing or red district probably wouldn't have won without the DCCC's help. That is, after all, their primary goal, not protecting incumbents from their own voters (gimme a break).

My district in Texas just FINALLY kicked out an entrenched Republican and replaced him with a moderate Democrat. Any O.R. (or similar) primary challenger from the left would just be pushing our district back into Republican hands. In our case, fortunately, there doesn't seem to be one, and it would be a destructive, as well as a useless gesture. Is a diverse majority, choosing the Speaker and the committee chairmanships (Adam Schiff, for example) preferable to a uniform minority choosing nothing except who goes on CNN? Ask Nancy Pelosi. Ask the several dozen million people who just voted the current crop of Democrats back into the majority, not just the ones in NY-14.

help. There's a feeling of the emperor's New clothes about her, which we'll see how it works out in time.

Happen.. So leaders like Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi can do what they do for our Democracy.

The secret to the blue wave that won the House for Democrats

Tom Udall is retiring. He will be a big loss in House leadership. His district is safe blue, just hope his replacement is half as good.

like Ben Ray Lujan..

Here's to getting an excellence leader in the House the next time, too!

Mahalo, comradebillyboy!

I don't think she has any constituency in NM outside of Santa Fe celebrity circles. She's been aloof from political life in the state so far as I know.

Blindly supporting an incumbent doesn’t make sense to me.

Her primary opponents in 2020 will be at an even bigger disadvantage.

... trying to destroy the party and essential party orgs and workings. Yes, she does need to be reigned in.

So I support them.

We are far better off keeping a Dem elected in a red state who will vote with us part of the time than winding up with a progressive candidate who will lose to a Republican (because duh - it is a red state) who will never vote with us.

We need to be focused on the end result, not just the desired ideology.

Absolutely, positively, 100 percent correct!

Proudly and completely on this issue.

No elected politician should EVER feel 'safe', and DINOs should be primaried whenever and wherever possible.

I give to the candidates directly.

With very limited funds to donate, I have given directly to candidates. I've never donated to the DCCC.

… isn't it obvious? If you want Democrats to win nation-wide, donate to the DCCC... if you want a local challenger to win, donate to that individual. Seems normal, to me... I won't "pause," but I think AOC is correct.

that firm will be out of business by the next campaign season. The DCCC shouldn't have the power to put a consulting firm out of business for working with a primary challenger. That kind of threat would make it almost impossible for a primary challenger to mount a viable campaign no matter how much support or how well funded they are.

Unless you want all Democratic candidates to run without any primary challengers until they die or retire, this DCCC rule is undemocratic and should be opposed as powerfully as is legally possible.

Forgive me if I ignore her advice.

The irony she fails to see is that she supported several candidates who lost to DCCC supported candidates that now are her fellow congressmen and women.

Consultants shouldn't be afraid of losing their businesses because they work with a primary challenger.

The DCCC does do great work during the general election season but they need to step aside and let local primary voters determine their candidate without the DCCC's heavy thumb on the scale. And that has nothing to do with Justice Democrats.

Donating to the DCCC after primary season makes sense for people like me who object to this rule.