2005

John Sullivan’s Web Site

ArchPundit October 25, 2005 2 Comments

I’ll permalink it with some others soon, but given there was a request

http://www.sullivanforillinois.com/

Start the betting pool, will the underbelly of the 3rd find another John Sullivan to file?

And you can donate to him here along with some of the other Illinois Congressional Candidates and David Loebsack.

Fundamentally Clueless Policy Wonk

ArchPundit October 24, 2005 6 Comments

David Sirota imagines himself the next great strategist of the Democratic Party and he points to his work for Montana Governor Brian Schwietzer as his masterpiece while attacking Rahm Emanual for not having clear positions on issues

Out here in Red America, we live in a place seemingly unknown to people like this in Washington: it’s called reality. And we have a name for talk like that: it’s called B.S. Because here’s what Emanuel never seems to answer: how is someone “tough” if they are so wimpy as to refuse to push their party to take clear contrasting positions on the most important issues facing America? What “ideas” that matter is Emanuel proposing? What position on key issues shows Democrats really represent serious “change” from Republicans? And are Democrats like Emanuel so arrogant/elitist to think that the American public doesn’t inherently understand that all this rhetoric hides the fact that the party still is afraid of its own shadow?

As I have written before, Democrats right now have no official position on Iraq, energy, bankruptcy, protecting citizens’ legal rights, trade, repealing Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, the Supreme Court…and the list goes on.

Because you know what really gets lots of votes–long policy papers. Yep, kills the other guy every fucking time. And, there’s no one like Sirota to be talking about Red America because, you know, he’s lived there for so long….

Before Sirota’s book project, Sirota was a fellow at the Center for American Progress. Before that, he was the chief spokesman for Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee, and before that, the spokesman for Congressman Bernie Sanders, the House’s longest-serving independent. In 2000 and 2004, Sirota did press work for Brian Schweitzer, now the governor of Montana. Sirota lives in Helena, Montana with his wife. For more info on how to reach him, see his website at

In fact, that’s why Brian Schweitzer won isn’t it?

Actually, no. Schweitzger won exactly because he didn’t bother with long policy papers–he talked about values and put his arguments in terms of values. He didn’t attack the natural gas industry with a policy broadside, Schweitzer attacked the industry as being a threat to Montana values.

In These Times and the Nation are great opinion journals, but they aren’t going to win anyone the majority.

Rahm gets the Rolling Stone Treatment

ArchPundit October 24, 2005 No Comments

Rahm’s profile covers the DCCC’s resurgence and the growing of a backbone by the Party.

The key to the article is right here:

This year, Emanuel’s fund-raising for congressional candidates has been no less impressive. Through September, the DCCC had raised a record-breaking $32 million, much of it slated to support the most vulnerable Democrats — those elected in Republican-leaning districts or looking to challenge Republican incumbents. Unlike past DCCC chairmen, who simply dispersed money without demanding anything in return, Emanuel approaches the job with the sensibility of a Mob bookie. He forces candidates in the most competitive races who receive money to sign what he calls a “Memo of Understanding,” delineating exactly how many fund-raising phone calls and appearances they will make in exchange for the committee’s support. To seal the pact, Emanuel then signs the memo himself. “I want to make sure everybody is doing everything they’re supposed to be doing,” he says.

IOW, when you are sick of calling for dollars, you haven’t even really started.

There’s a second part that made me laugh and realize something else

When I mention that he sounds like Gingrich in ’94, however, Emanuel glowers. He doesn’t grab the steak knife sitting next to him, but he looks like he wants to. “I admire Gingrich’s energy, his ideas,” he allows. “When you’re in the opposition, your ability to shape and define is very limited. You have to take advantage of your opponent’s mistakes. He got lucky — we made our mistakes in the Clinton White House, and he was there to take advantage of it. That’s exactly what we’re trying to do in 2006.”

He’s taking this as a chance to redeem the Clinton White House for losing the House in 1994. It never hit me before, but it sticks out like a sore thumb, but it’s there. And that’s a good thing. He’s personally invested in not just doing well, but in getting redemption.

And as a teaser:

Yet Emanuel has received generally positive reviews from the increasingly noisy — and powerful — grass roots of the Democratic Party. As leader of the DCCC, he has struck a fragile truce with the heavily liberal blogosphere and organizations such as MoveOn.org. Emanuel has hosted four “blog calls” with the pre-eminent liberal bloggers, going over congressional races and sharing DCCC strategy in an effort to bring the activist community into the fold.

Another one is due soon, I’ll of course update any info. I’ve said before I thought the DCCC web team last cycle got the problem with the Party abdicating setting the debate, this year, the DCCC as a whole is doing a good job of setting the agenda–and, you know, those pesky indictments.