At a recent meeting the SDEC wrote off almost all the candidates running in Texas, calling this a "rebuilding year" (again).
What exactly are they rebuilding?
AG Candidate David Van Os has a few choice words for them on the flip. I have a few more questions myself.
A word in your ear, Texas Democratic Party
First, from David Van Os, posted over via email.
I have a response to these ivory-tower elitist lawyers and their over-priced consultants: lead, follow, or get out of the way. Their attitude reflects exactly the kind of Beltway-oriented losers’ thinking that has betrayed over and over again the millions of people who look up to the Democratic Party to stand and fight for them.I am a Democrat because I believe in the magnificent historical legacy and value system of my party as the Party of the People in American life. I am immensely proud to be a Democrat. But I am not proud of these ivory-tower elitists and their continual selling out of the heritage of my party.
The people of Texas are under attack today from a reign of greed, corruption, and arrogance at the hands of the corporate monopoly robber barons and the crooked politicians who are their water boys. The rich lawyers and ivory tower consultants who are telling Democrats not to try to carry Texas this year are giving the robber barons and their incumbent Republican stooges exactly what they want. In effect, those lawyers and their consultants are doing nothing less than protecting the silk-stocking Republican social clique that runs Texas government today as if it were a private club.
I am proud of and believe in the great heritage of the party of Jefferson, Jackson, Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy and Johnson, the people’s party. I am and shall always remain proud of the Texas Democratic heritage of the likes of Jim Hogg, Sam Rayburn, Jim Allred, Lyndon Johnson and Ralph Yarborough. I am proud to be a Democratic nominee this year with real fighters of heart and conviction like Chris Bell, Barbara Radnofsky, Maria Louisa Alvarado, Fred Head, VaLinda Hathcox, Hank Gilbert, Dale Henry, Judge Bill Moody, and J.R. Molina. But to the fancy-pants wimps and mice that are afraid to stand and fight the robber barons on behalf of the people, get you GONE!
Go find yourselves some little hideaways and snivel away in fear and defeatism on your own time. Go lounge away your time in your lifelong cocktail hours with the smug and haughty journalists who think it’s a big joke that millions of Texans are struggling every day to figure out how to make their paychecks or Social Security checks or farm income stretch to cover $3-a-gallon gasoline, exorbitant prescription drugs, skyrocketing utility bills, outrageous insurance premiums, and all the other attack weapons of the corporate monopoly robber barons.
And as for my wife Rachel, my dedicated volunteers and supporters, and myself, we are fighting to win the race for Attorney General and we intend to win it. Millions of our fellow Texans are counting on us to make a difference for them. No wimpy consultant or ivory tower lawyer is going to block us or slow us down. I'm a native-born and lifelong Texan and I love the rugged history of my state. Travis didn't surrender at the Alamo and Houston didn't let the odds deter him at San Jacinto. Those heroes and their compatriots set the tone for the Texas I love. These consultants and lawyers have spent too much time in the Washington Beltway. They need to get outof the way so we TEXAS Democrats can fight like Texans know how to do.
Now, it's my turn.
Two things happen every time we have a discussion about this years nominees and what shamefully little help they are getting from the TDP.
First, we get poormouthed. "There's not enough money." Okay. I don't expect rainshowers of money.
How about not pissing on the duly primaried Democratic nominees? That doesn't seem too much to ask.
While I'm asking, here's a few more questions:
- Do you all ever look up to see what's happening outside of Texas? Seriously. I'm not just talking about the generic ballots that usually overstate Democratic strength anyway, nor Bush and Cheney's dismal national favorables which will always be higher here in Texas. What I'm talking about is what's happening in Idaho, and eastern Washington, and Wyoming, (which loves the Bushies almost as much as Texas does) and Montana, and Colorado.
- Those aren't statewide races, you say? Well, Wyoming and Montana are, but Texas is the EXCEPTION you see. Texans are nothing like Ohioans, or Virginians. Did I mention Montanans?
- What century do you think you're in? Because in between the geeking out over the latest "cutting edge" database software, and the reluctance to engage with Republicans in every contest, I'm getting a powerful 90's vibe. And that decade went so well for Democrats in Texas. We lost the all the statewides, control of the legislature, and laid the groundwork for unleashing the Bush Crime Family on an unsuspecting nation that just wanted to sit down and have a beer with a good ol' boy. Good times.
- If now is not the year, when will it be time to fight instead of re-rebuilding? The Republicans are wounded by a profligate, post-frat boy President, a cringing Congress, and a state Legislature that has been so obvious in its partisan machinations the next RPT convention might well be held in the Capitol Building. That doesn't mean they're standing still while TDP keeps its eye on that distant demographic rainbow with its pot of electoral gold. They're talking to those same demographics, frequently and with great emphasis on how little Democrats have actually accomplished for them lately. Let's face it, a decade in which the signature Texas Democratic accomplishment was flight to Oklahoma to defeat a quorum will not on its face impress anyone who's looking for a champion. And that's what Texans are looking for. Someone to be their champion-not to fight their fights for them, but to fight along side them. We've got a tailor made vehicle for that in the TTC, and you are squandering it.
- Finally, who is it you're fighting for? There have been some complaints about candidates deciding to run without kissing the appropriate rings with sufficient enthusiasm, and the inexperience at the basics of campaigning like fundraising. That's a fair criticism, but the fact is TDP is supposed to recruit candidates for races. Where were the experienced, savvy campaigners clamoring for the chance to be the TDP anointed standard bearer in 2006? crickets Yes, that's what I thought. So,races that wouldn't have been contested at all if they waited for TDP to get off the dime have candidates who look an awful lot like the everyday working Texans they're asking to represent. They and their families have stepped up in response to Howard Dean's 50-State Strategy, put themselves on the line in what they in many cases know is an uphill and possibly hopeless cause. But they do it anyway. And for this, they earn the privilege of being pissed upon by great height from insiders and would-be kingmakers who dismiss them as inconsequential because they can't win.(Hey, Tony Sanchez, Kirk Watson, John Sharp and Ron Kirk didn't win either. Remember the Dream Team?) Here's the thing, when you do that, you undermine the Democratic brand even more than hobbyist Gene Kelly. Everybody knows he's a joke. TDP is supposed to be for real, and if it can't get behind its candidates, why should voters? Don't think it hasn't occurred to me that might be the point-skipping over a year in which the unanointed might rise on the national Democratic tide just enough to get in, and be harder to deal with as a result. I hope it's just my suspicious cynical nature that makes me consider that possibility.
Infrastructure is important, and planning for the future is critical. That takes money, yes. Even more it takes people. You cannot win without them, no matter how much money you throw up to build a nice shiny infrastructure. So, be good to the people who are doing the scut work of democracy. After all, many hands make light work.
Now, a few answers of my own
The second inevitable response is a metaphorical flinging of the hands to the heavens. "What do you people want TDP to do?"
Okay, I'll tell you.
- Before you can win you have to fight. I don't just want TDP to pick a fight. I want them to pick 10. Preferably ones with statewide resonance and for Heaven’s sake fight the opposition, not your duly nominated candidates! I want people hanging the TTC on every incumbent's neck until they develop a permanent stoop. I want the Bell Campaign to pick a fight with Kinky the Clown as well as Bouffant Rick. I want them to be willing to be a bit mean about it and stomp on Grandma’s neck while they’re at it. I want Democrats to stand for accountable government and mean it with very specific examples. I want every corporate hog suckling at the public teat from social services to prisons, every robber baron who has made a buck out of poisoning our air and water, outsourcing good Texas jobs, and compromising port and border security to wish they had never gone to business school. I want those who mortgage our children’s future, compromise their education, and leave them without the basics of health care to be called out for the greedy guttersnipes they are. I want Democrats to stand for something and fight like it meant something to us. And stop acting like we're afraid to take a hit for what we believe in.
- Diversify. One of the most intriguing things about Van Os Whistle Stop tour is the reminder of the reach of the small town press.A statewide candidate stopping in to talk to folks is a big event. and even when they're conservative editorially, they're not entrenched corporate media. Meaning they're more likely to report the news than just spin it. So why not consider media buys in some of those papers to build the Democratic brand? Maybe you all already do this, and I just don't know because I don't live in one of said small towns. If so, my apologies. If not, carve out some money to build up the rural counties by at least letting people know Democrats are there-and pay special attention to the local slates in those ads as well.
- Stop acting like being a Democrat in Texas is political poison.
- Fight Republicans. No one knows you're in opposition if you don't fight.
- Fight Indies who are actually Republicans. (See above.)
- Fight hard.
- Fight mean.
- Just fucking FIGHT!
Hopefully this clears up any misunderstandings as to what we want.