I sincerely don't get it.

[cali]

I don't get why President Obama appointed Debbie Wasserman-Schultz as chair of the DNC when as chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s Red-to-Blue program in 2008, she refused to support the democrats running against three far right House republicans, in her own bleeping state. Do you have any idea how bad her close friend Ileana Ross-Lehtinin is? The Diaz-Balart brothers are no better. Payday Debbie's lame defense was that endorsing the democratic opponents to these right wingers would be stabbing members of her own delegation in the back. It's made that much worse by the fact that she was, at the time, in charge of helping dems get elected to the House.

I guess i can understand Hillary's support of DWS. She was co-chair of Hillary's 2008 campaign- though she did end up secretly slinking over to the Obama camp while Hillary was still running.

I don't get why any liberal would support her. She takes big bucks from payday lenders and has worked assiduously to protect them from regulation on both the state and federal level, including fighting against Obama's proposal for tighter regulation. She has supported imprisoning medical marijuana users. She gets big bucks from industry traditionally opposed to legalizing medical marijuana.

Someone here suggested that support for DWS is because Sanders supporters bash her. That's a lousy reason to support her. Someone else told me that despite these facts about her, they supported her because Obama endorsed her and that that is reason enough.

DWS has been incompetent as DNC chair. She pushes policy that harms vulnerable populations. Her position, for example, on criminal justice is awful. She's used her position as DNC chair to inappropriately solicit funds for her own PAC and attempted repeatedly to get the DNC to pay for her clothes.

No liberal, no one concerned about corruption, should support her reelection.


https://newrepublic.com/article/121141/debbie-wasserman-schultz-liability-democratic-party

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/01/19/dnc-chair-debbie-wasserman-schultzs-list-of-enemies-just-keeps-growing/
https://newrepublic.com/article/121141/debbie-wasserman-schultz-liability-democratic-party

http://theslot.jezebel.com/debbie-wasserman-schultzs-opinions-about-weed-are-baffl-1751420822
http://www.democraticunderground.com/12512017218http://rewire.news/article/2016/01/07/

http://rewire.news/article/2016/01/07/debbie-wasserman-schultz-blames-voters-failures-democratic-party/
http://www.salon.com/2016/03/29/debbie_wasserman_schultz_is_loathed_by_democrats_yet_just_got_a_head_scratching_endorsement_by_obama_here_are_some_guesses_why/
http://washingtonnote.com/venting_about_d/

[cali]

3. Corrupt? Obviously. A liar? Certainly. Incompetent? You betcha.

Those are the things I want to call her and do call her.

[bvar22]

61. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is not "incompetent".

If she were, she would have been replaced long ago.
She Failed Upward from Chair of the Red to Blue program to Chair of the DNC
because the people who call those shots (The Democratic Party Power Brokers) LIKE and APPROVE of the job she is doing.

Whatever that "job" is, is up to you to decide, but that job does not benefit the Working Class, The Middle Class, The Poor or The Democratic Party as we once knew it.
Clearly, she makes some powerful people very, very happy.

"I want to thank Debbie Wasserman-Schultz for being an outstanding chair of our party. (Applause.) She is a great partner."--President Obama

[theaocp]

5. Corrupt?

Useless? Counterproductive? Those are the words I would use.

Don't be coy about calling Cali misogynistic, please. Obliged.

[cali]

10. Thanks. I don't mind that nasty charge, but I find it telling that the poster

ignored the facts in the op.

[QC]

49. Hey, you don't make it to 9 hides

by being calm, reasonable, civil, and all that.

[Warren Stupidity]

8. right, because one cannot criticize female politicians.

Apparently they are a protected class.

[Bluenorthwest]

18. I'd like to step up to call her Pay Day Debbie.

Her support of predatory lenders is despicable.

[cali]

23. That's my fave.

[John Poet]

22. A "Fucking TRAITOR" ?!

You're welcome.

[SusanCalvin]

2. Very, very good question. nt

[arcane1]

4. It comes as no surprise that the first reply is completely devoid of content.

Truth hurts.

[2banon]

6. I didn't get it either, until I read somewhere here this morning, That DWS was planning

for a rejection by Obama back in 2013 (if memory serves) . gearing up full bore scorched earth against Obama's anticipated rejection with charges of misogyny and anti-semitism.

THAT explains EVERYTHING, imo.

I don't know if I read that in the Common Dreams piece I just posted earlier or if it was in another article. I'll check and post that link here if it helps.

[Warren Stupidity]

7. Our party leadership blindly supported anti-choice Democrats for years.

We also just couldn't get around to telling Lieberman to fuck off until he finally quit on his own. The same people who are demanding that Sanders be shunned will staunchly support Wasserman-Schultz no matter how corrupt a corporate knob she is. If you step back the reasons are obvious. Our party has a right-left fracture. Our right-wing friends are allergic to being labelled "right" so they try to claim "liberal" or "moderate" or even "progressive" as their own, but they are center-right neoliberal third-way new dlc democrats.

[Agony]

17. "center-right neoliberal third-way new dlc democrats" that can't be said too loud or too often.

sadly

[Broward]

32. Great post. They are trying to redefine terms.

They are right-wingers and should be labeled as such.

[snowy owl]

48. & Obama's support of blue dog Lincoln over a liberal Bill Halter in Arkansas 2010

She voted for CAFTA and Newt's contract . . . clear history of republican votes. Halter well liked but may not have survived either.

[Scuba]

9. I agree with everything you wrote except that "DWS has been incompetent as DNC chair."

Seems her goal has been to undermine Democrats at every turn, and she's done that really well.

[JI7]

11. ask the people in her district

[cali]

12. That will happen in August. I don't, however, overestimate the collective wisdom

of the voting public.

[JI7]

13. that might be true when it comes to someone who comes off well

And is a good candidate regardless of position on issues.

But dws doesn't seem to have any of that going for her.

Do i think her district agrees with her stand on issues and/or she does things for her district like bring funds for things .

[Bluenorthwest]

15. Those people did not make her Chair of the DNC.

nt

[JI7]

16. it helps thst she is an elected official and her position on issues

Are more important when it comes to bring congressperson since they actually vote on issues .

[Bluenorthwest]

20. She's one of 435 members of the House of Representatives. Winning a place in that House

does not cause one to become the Chair of their Party. Her positions on many issues are terrible. Here in Oregon she could never get elected as a Democrat.

[JI7]

33. i didn't say it caused it. i said it helps

And she was elected in that Florida district

[stillwaiting]

14. Reactionaries, authoritarians, and conservatives support DWS.

Am I missing any other groups?

[Quixote1818]

19. Outside of DU there are a lot of Hillary supporters who don't like her. I have talked to them. nt

[Algernon Moncrieff]

26. I'm a Hillary supporter on DU nd I'm not wild about her as DNC chair

She used to be my Rep once upon a time. She was fine in that capacity.

I didn't necessarily see eye to eye with Howard Dean on every issue, but he was a helluva DNC chair. The same can't be said for Kaine, DWS, or McCauliffe.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

21. Obama did try to get rid of her

[Vattel]

38. Really? What did he do?

[Buns_of_Fire]

24. I've begun to think that she was part of a grand deal in 2008.

Hillary endorses Obama (or at least calls off the PUMAs) in exchange for being named to a prominent position (to keep her name in the public eye) -- AND the endorsement of DWS (one of her True Believers) as new chair of the DNC (to help grease the wheels for 2016).

Just hardball politics at the Grand Master level.

[Dont call me Shirley]

28. Yup!

[Karma13612]

54. +10 Check & mate. Eom

[Algernon Moncrieff]

25. DWS was my rep for a short time before I left Florida

She won Robert Wexler's old seat. The district (like all districts in SoFla) is a complete gerrymander.

I'm not a big fan of DWS as DNC chair either, and you and I are on opposite sides of the Hillary/Bernie issue. That said, the Ros-Lehtinin/Diaz -Balart dig is misguided. Disagree with their politics all you want, they are wildly popular in South Florida and nothing will change that.

Ros-Lehtinin is the first Cuban- American congresswoman. She sorta holds the seat that once belonged to Claude Pepper. She's married to a Democrat who is also a US Attorney. I'd point out that she was the first Republican in the House to support same sex marriage.

The Diaz-Balart brothers are local boys that done good. Jose was a local news broadcaster in Miami and I believe is now with NBC/Univision. Mario & Lincoln went on to Congress. I may disagree with their policy positions, but like many South Floridians, admire their family's story, and their seeming avoidance of the corruption that is endemic in Miami-Dade politics. Also, both are/were (Lincoln is out of elected politics right now) considered moderate by Republican standards. Bottom line - DWS would have little upside and lots of downside supporting opponents to those seats. To think otherwise is to have a naïve understanding of South Florida politics.

[cali]

29. Local boys of privilege.

I knew Rafael Diaz-Balart when I was a teen. Met him on a prep school trip to the south of Spain.

There is no excuse for someone in charge of electing more dems to the house, refusing to endorse dems in races against republicans.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

31. Disagree

Perception counts for a lot in politics. You may see them as "local boys of privilege", but most in South Florida do not -- especially the Cuban-American community, which represents a lot of votes.

[jeff47]

39. And that required a de-facto endorsement of Republicans because........? (nt)

[Algernon Moncrieff]

42. 1) They are highly popular

2) No one is likely to provide serious opposition
3) Cuban-Americans are part of the DWS voting base.

[jeff47]

46. So, DWS decided her own seat was more important than her DCCC job. (nt)

[Algernon Moncrieff]

47. Jeff, I think she made that decision long before she was chair

IIRC, she was my rep back in '06 when Dean was still chair. I think Wexler resigned to run for Governor.

[cali]

40. They absolutely were. Rafael was no scholarship kid.

He went to an expensive prep school in CT.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

44. I'm simply saying that's not how they're perceived.

Unlike, for example, the Fanjuls

[Dont call me Shirley]

27. Debbie has been an awesome RNC Chair!

[cali]

30. Sarcasm, I assume.

[Dont call me Shirley]

34. "RNC"

[cali]

41. Oops. Lol.

[grasswire]

35. you answered the question yourself, likely.

I believe it was part of the deal HRC made with BHO in 2008. Hillary needed her in that position.

There can be no other reason why he appointed DWS and kept her on after her miserable performance.

[Ferd Berfel]

36. I've suspected that DWS as DNC Chair was one of the concessions Obama was forced

to make along with Clinton as SoS

DWS has supported Republican over Dems. Now THAT's neo-Dem 'leadership'

[grasswire]

37. Ross Lehtinen is a Bush FIXER.

She and her husband are totally corrupt. And FIXERS for the Bush family.

[Vote2016]

43. Worst. Party. Chair. In. The. History. Of. Parties. Or. The. History. Of. Chairs.

[Ichingcarpenter]

45. I thought his pick Tim Kaine was a forshadowing of bad news to come

He was the absolute worst choice who lost us the 2010 election . I use to watch him on morning joke and he was a horrible spokesperson for the party obviously put there for a reason or favor ......... He could have been Obama's VP........ yikes

But it got worse.

[eridani]

50. I don't get why someone who bscks FL Republicans is allowed to chair the Democratic Party n/t

[DonCoquixote]

51. even if one were being Machiavellian and ruthless

The fact is a lot of elections were lost by DWS, including the 2008 one. Why would you hire the person that managed to drive your campaign into the ditch last time, as well as losing senators and governors in the process?

[Recursion]

52. Did anybody else want the job?

Serious question. Being DNC chair under a Democratic President is thankless, and I'm curious who had shown any sign of being willing to do it?

[merrily]

53. Possibly DWS was part of the deal that Obama and Hillary cut at the end of the 2008 primary.

[Warren DeMontague]

55. DWS allied herself w/Sheldon Adelson to make sure medical marijuana users in FL would go to prison

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/on-medical-marijuana-debbie-wasserman-schultz-sounds-like-a-republican-6544176

[auntpurl]

56. As a Hillary supporter, I'm not married to her or anything

I think O'Malley might do a good job in the role.

[cali]

57. She is flat out corrupt.

[Fast Walker 52]

58. because Obama is not a liberal, he just acts like one at times

but mostly he's a corporate Dem like Hillary and DWS

[MaeScott]

59. Lousy Chair...that PayDayDebbie. We lost so many seats I think it was by design.

[Blue_Tires]

60. Given that she's already on her way out, it's moot

[cali]

62. That she's corrupt is moot?

[Blue_Tires]

66. Regardless...

The DNC most likely won't be making a change until November, so we're stuck with her...

After the election, go crazy -- Throw her in jail, feed her to wild dogs, have her drawn and quartered, I don't give a shit...

[obamanut2012]

63. Hillary supporter, not a huge fan of DWS

I don't like her Payday lending stuff.

Her district does, however, like her, and the guy running against her isn't qualified imo, and we don't need anymore noob, unqualified FL Reps in Congress. Run someone good against her, and let her district decide.

She isn't a great DNC head, but she isn't guilty of the ridiculous accusations against her.

However, the vitroil and gendered slurs thrown at her for months have made me.... not side with her exactly, but defend her. The over-the-top dislike and hate is ridiculous.

[ancianita]

64. Yeah, that's a total crock. Every DU'er to a person was and still IS against DWS. But any

flip-floppers for her now are just using her as Hill's proxy.

[randome]

65. Because you don't understand something, you immediately leap to the conclusion that she's corrupt?

Whatever else DWS is, she's no Joe Lieberman. If she supported Republicans in those cited cases, might it be because the Democrats didn't have viable alternatives? Could it be because those Republicans were moderates and it made sense to bridge the divide between them?

I don't have to have some close-knit relationship with her to know that politics can be a very complicated and messy business. And before I jumped to any conclusion, I'd start off with the baseline assumption that there may have been a reason for her feints and dodges on local politics.
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