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Time to get out the “Dems in disarray” headlines again, because if you believe some reports, national Democrats are all in a tizzy over a proposal by progressive activist David Hogg to primary “out-of-touch, ineffective House Democrats,” at least those who are in solidly blue districts that aren’t likely to give Republicans any chances to pick up any seats.
The alleged internecine fracas and affray arises from what many in the party leadership consider a conflict between Hogg’s call, as leader of the group “Leaders We Deserve,” for new, more progressivey blood in the party, and Hogg’s other role as vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, which is officially neutral when it comes to presidential primaries, and sorta tacitly neutral in primaries for congressional races, although that isn’t an official rule at the moment.
Hogg was only elected DNC vice chair three months ago, and the heartburn among some people going around in Democratic circles is likely to fuel a vote to change the bylaws to require DNC officers be neutral on all primaries. A final vote could come at a party meeting in August, which could be followed by an offer from the Hoggbothered that the young activist can’t refuse.
Thursday morning, new DNC chair Ken Martin rebuked Hogg during a media call, saying
“Let me be unequivocal: No DNC officer should ever attempt to influence the outcome of a primary election, whether on behalf of an incumbent or a challenger. […] Voters should decide who our primary nominees are, not DNC leadership. Our role is to serve as stewards of a fair, open and trusted process, not to tilt the scales.”
Well yes, this is still fallout from the intraparty fight over the nomination of Hillary Clinton in 2016, and good lord if you filthy fuckaducks relitigate THAT in the comments we’re gonna gonna have to turn the hose on yez.
Anyway, since we wasted precious minutes making new captions for this picture, here is a dramatic re-creation of the fight, with the party stalwarts as the pink dog in the frilly hat and David Hogg as the yellow dog wearing the derby:
The looming Hoggageddon has generated some very visceral anger, as indy nonprofit newsroom NOTUS reports. One anonymous “senior Democratic official” fumed,
“We’ve got a lot of fucking problems right now. […] And now an elected officer of the DNC is creating new ones. And at the end of the day, DNC leadership should be building trust, not threatening or eroding it.”
The official — who likened Hogg’s anti-incumbent campaign to a “middle finger” to everyone who helped rebuild trust in the DNC following the controversial 2016 Democratic presidential primary — said he expects party officials and DNC members eventually move to push Hogg out of his role as vice chair, though this person acknowledged they didn’t know of any concrete effort to do so.
“I don’t think he’s yet realized how few supporters he has and how painful it’s going to be for him,” the official added.
Hogg, for his part, contends that one of the big fucking problems the party faces right now (our phrase, not his!) stems from the perception that Democrats aren’t doing enough to fight back against Donald Trump’s spreading fascism. Hogg told the New York Times when Leaders We Deserve announced its $20 million effort,
“More than anything, it is: Do you want to roll over and die, or do you want to fight?” he said. “And too many people look at our party right now and feel like we want to roll over and die.”
He also emphasized to NOTUS that the candidates his group will challenge won’t simply be chosen because of their age, but on the basis of their willingness to take whatever legal and procedural steps are necessary to stop Trump and the Republican agenda. And again, they would have to be in seats that aren’t in danger of flipping, too, so talk of a Hoggpocalypse Now may be overblown.
“We’re not going to look at somebody and just be like, ‘Well, this person is above a certain age, they shouldn’t be there’ — that is not what we are doing,” Hogg said. “What we are doing is, is this person truly fighting, and if they’ve been there for decades, do they deserve to continue to be there?”
As for the challengers, they must be under 35 and have, as Hogg said, “the ferocity, the energy, passion and the grit” to push the party forward.
“The division in our party isn’t so much between the center and the left,” Hogg said. “It’s ‘do you you want to fight,’ or ‘do you want to roll over and die?’”
Wonkette agrees with that position whole the fuck heartedly. As illustrated thus and so:
Martin said Thursday that he’d talked to Hogg but hedged a little on whether their chat included an ultimatum to either pledge neutrality or resign his DNC position.
“I understand what he’s trying to do,” Martin said on the call. “As I’ve said to him: ‘If you want to challenge incumbents, you’re more than free to do that. But just not as an officer of the DNC, because our job is to be a neutral arbiter. We can’t be both the referee and also the player at the same time. You have to make a decision.’”
If, as seems likely, the party formally extends its official neutrality to include congressional races, it’s also likely Hogg will be told to get out of one job or another.
If you need another data point to consider, we’ll also note that Hogg has taken flak from grumpy TV strategist James Carville, who called Hogg a “contemptible little twerp” last week, then probably stole Hogg’s Frisbee and shook a finger at him. Asked about the insult, Hogg pointed out that the last winning campaign Carville managed took place before Hogg was born, and by gum we like the young fella’s moxie. We’ve cued up this Scripps interview to that moment, but the whole thing’s worth a watch.
The griping over Hogg’s plan isn’t at all universal, and some folks like Rep. Ro Khana say it’s very valuable. Khanna recently twote that he thinks Hogg is doing “incredible work.”
He is supporting every frontline Dem & dems for state rep while also giving new candidates a chance to run in safe seats where we need change. Dems should embrace a new generation of leadership & competition!
Well there goes Khanna talking sense after we’d written him off for his dumb support of Elon Musk back in December, before the carnage began. Good going on this much, Ro, now stay away from billionaires, damn it, they aren’t good for you. We might even let you out of the Rand Paul penalty box if you keep that up.
In conclusion, we think that Hogg is right to seek to shake up the party where it can be done without losing seats, and we hope that we can all remember that we face a common enemy. Can’t we all just get a lawn, and keep James Carville off it?
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