Ellen Tauscher lost an election tonight. Whether it was the 2006 elecitons for Democrats, or the 2008 Democratic primary California's 10th congressional district. It could end up being both. I sincerely hope it was her own, and two years from now.
Stabbed in the back, indeed. Rant in the extended entry.
For the past several years, the progressive movement had, supposedly, risen to power and influence in the Democratic ecosystem by fervently playing by the rules.
- We didn't support third parties against Democrats we didn't like. We kept it in the party, and used the primary system the party had in place.
- We didn't sit on our hands when the candidate we backed in primaries lost. We always supported the winner just as fervently as we supported our candidate.
- We found thousands of new activists to serve as precinct captains at a time when the party infrastructure was dying.
- We channeled hundreds of millions of dollars into Democratic campaigns, significantly closing the fundraising gap with Republicans.
- We opposed Republicans at every turn, fought them tooth and nail on every issue, even when some sections of the Democratic Party did not want to fight. We were more partisan than most Democrats.
- We built huge media operations on a shoestring budget, without any official support whatsoever.
We played by the rules. We followed their rules more than Democrats in Congress followed them.
And now, here is our payment:
Representative Ellen O. Tauscher of California, a co-chairwoman of the 47-member New Democrat Coalition, said that 27 of the top 40 contested House seats were being pursued by Democrats who have pledged to become members of the group, which says its chief issues are national security and fiscal responsibility.
"I think there's tremendous agreement and awareness that getting the majority and running over the left cliff is what our Republican opponents would dearly love," Ms. Tauscher said, adding that this was something "we've got to fight."
We are not wanted by large sections of the Democratic leadership. There are many out there who want our money, but they don't want us. There are many out there who want our precinct-by-precinct activism to help GOTV, but they don't want us. There are many out there who want us to fire up the base, but they don't want us. There are many out there who want to use our media to help spread their message, but they don't want us. There are many out there who want us to support primary winners, but they don't want to do the same. There are many out there who want us to fight Republicans, while they say they want to work with both sides. There are many out there who wanted us to play by Democratic Party rules, but they they have no intention of playing by those rules themselves. To them, we are akin to going over the cliff.
They languished in the minority for a decade, and when the chance to take power finally came back--a chance that we gave them--There are many out there who decided they didn't need us anymore. We are why they have never been closer to Republicans in fundraising. We are why the base is fired up. We are why they finally decided to run on Iraq. We are why they have so many more volunteers than they have ever had before. We are why there are more Democrats running for more seats than at any time in the past. We are why there is progressive media now. We are why countless Republican scandals have had a shelf life of more than two days in the established media. Every major improvement in Democratic infrastructure that took place over the past two years found its birth, incubation, and primary means of support in the netroots.
What position would Democrats be in right now if our campaigns were $300,000,000 in debt and couldn't run a single ad the rest of the election? That's where they would be without our money. Where would they be if suddenly 75% of their volunteers disappeared, and most GOTV operations were utterly devoid of warm bodies? That's where they would be without us. Where would they be if 10,000 precinct captains disappeared a week before the election? That's where they would be without the silent revolution. Where would they be if the base wasn't fired up and ready to vote? That's where they would be without progressive media. Where would they be if they weren't running on Iraq, finally? They certainly wouldn't be this far ahead in the polls, and they wouldn't have done it without pressure from the base. Where would they be without a means to distribute their message directly to millions of progressives every day on every issue? That's where they would be without the progressive blogosphere. Where would they be if they didn't have more Democrats running for office this year than in any election in decades? That's where they would be without the fifty state strategy. We re-introduced all of these things to the Democratic Party in the last four years, and basically all we asked in return was for them to play by their own rules and be partisan on behalf of the entire party for a change. They couldn't even do that.
And I can't emphasize this enough--we did it all by playing by the rules. I know this, because I was there every step of the way. When Howard Dean lost, I worked even harder for John Kerry. Like everyone else in this movement, I ran for party office rather than just complaining on the sidelines. I consistently highlighted second and third tier races. I spent months pushing for as many candidates to run as possible, highlighting where we had caniddates, and wehre we needed more. I helped encourage millions of dollars in small donor donations, all to Democratic candidates. I have hit the streets and knocked on doors for well over a dozen Democratic candidates in the last two years. I helped build a website with tens of thousands of readers a day on absolutely no budget, no official support, and I did this sometimes when I couldn't even pay my rent. When I didn't like Democrats, I ran primary challenges against them, but I always,
always supported whoever won. And hundreds of thousands of people just like me did the same thing. Last week alone we did everything we could to channel voters to negative info on Republican candidates, and send millions of dollars to competitive House campaigns. And, in return, we get a Democratic establishment that refuses to play by its own rules, and considers what we believe in akin to going off a cliff.
I am so unbelievably angry right now, and it takes a lot for me to fly off the handle like this. If we lose this election, it will be the fault of the Ellen Taushcers of the Democratic Party. Why should people keep giving, keep volunteering, keep infusing the party with new blood, keep building new media, keep supporting primary winners they don't like, if we are told point blank that we are not wanted? A lot of people will draw just that conclusion form what she said, and it will damage all of our other efforts. Thus, we will be that much closer to the nightmere scenario I laid out above.
Here is why I will continue to fgiht: because as long as Ellen Tauscher and her ilk are running the Democratic Party, the conservative movement will continue to rise. Ellen Tauscher can't beat the conservative movement. She and her friends showed us this time and time again from 1978-2004 just how utterly ineffective they are at doing anything except ushering in a new era of Republican dominance. As long as they are in leadership positions of the Democratic Party, the only avenue available to stop the conservative movement on the electoral front, this country that I love so dearly will continue on a long, downward spiral. Both defeating Republicans and wiping their Democratic enablers out of power is the only way to save my country.
Ellen Tauscher, just so you know, when you have a surprisingly strong and well funded primary challenger with tons of volunteers and lots of support in the progressive media come out of seemingly nowhere in 2008, just look over the cliff to see where that challenger is coming from. At the bottom, you will see me standing there, with hundreds and thousand of my friends and colleagues. We will be in the process of forming a human ladder for your challenger to use to climb up the cliff. When s/he reaches the top, don't be surprised if more than a few of us come along, and suddenly you find yourself outnumbered, even as you stand next to your twenty-seven new friends. And then we will see who gets run over the cliff next.
If the person thrown off the cliff ends up being you, Ellen Tauscher, believe me when I say once again that it will be done according to the rules. Stabbed in the back, indeed. For some Democrats, it is more like they want to stab us in the face, at high noon in the town square. For many, our biggest crime was joining their cause and following ttheir rules. See that you keep committing that crime. If nothing else, it certainly seems to piss them off. I like that part about it.
You lost at least one election tonight, Ellen Tauscher. I sure as hell hope that election wasn't in 2006.
