I just watched Taking the Hill, a phenomenal documentary about veterans running as Democrats this past cycle that just aired on the Discovery Times Channel.
The documentary was bittersweet. While it was deeply moving to see the passion that all of our heroic veteran Democrats exhibited in their campaigns, most of them suffered tragic defeats. The documentary profiled the campaigns of Patrick Murphy in PA, Rick Bolaños in Texas (running for the seat in Texas that we won tonight), Tammy Duckworth in Illinois, and Eric Massa in upstate New York. Sadly, only Murphy was victorious.
So why weren't our veterans as successful as I and many other had anticipated? I place all of the blame on a fundamentally flawed election process in which fundraising is the be all and the end all.
A lot of this may sound like a pretty big "well duh!" diary to a lot of Kossacks. But I bought the conventional wisdom following the election that Rahm Emanuel was the hero of election night, 2006.
This documentary, however, particularly the focus on Massa's campaign, portray a DCCC chair in Rahm Emanuel who not only did not know what he was doing, but was an arrogant and insulting prick to boot. I always knew Rahm had the reputation of being an asshole. But I always viewed him as a compotent asshole who could get the job done. How wrong I was.
Before the 06 campaign season really kicked into high gear, Rahm and the DC elite courted a candidate that could "self-finance" his own campaign. That candidate, however, according to a county chair in the documentary, was just a corporate whore who had a reputation for laying off workers and sending jobs overseas. Running a guy like this in a middle class district like Massa's would have been a disaster. (Anyone know who this candidate is that Rahm and the DCCC wanted? I've looked but can't find it.
Of course, being able to self-finance your own campaign is never a bad thing. But when your ability to self-finance reflects a total contradiction of Democratic values, then the party should search like crazy for a better candidate. In the NY- 29, they had the perfect alternative in Eric Massa.
Rahm, however, was clearly not enthused about Eric's candidacy. Throughout the documentary, Eric bitterly complained about Rahm's frustration with the fact that Eric didn't fit his profile of the ideal candidate. What got to me, however, was how Rahm openly discounted Eric's military to his face. While driving to a campaign event, Eric reminisced on a situation where Rahm told him that (paraphrasing) "your military backround doesn't bring anything to the table." As Eric proceeded to explain Rahm's insulting words, he clearly was on the verge of tears.
For a freakin balerina (yes, yes, Rahm did ballet, go look it up) to have the gall to discount Eric's lifelong commitment to serving his country in uniform makes me sick to my stomach. Had Rahm just simply abandoned his disappointment with not getting his candidate of choice, Eric could have spent a lot more time fighting his opponent and not his own party.
The climax of Eric's frustration with Emmanuel, however, comes on election night when he and his wife are at home watching CNN. CNN's election night pundits (Carville, Begala, Bill Bennett) are discussing the number of veterans running for congress as Democrats. Paul Begala, who I like, started praising Rahm for "choosing" all these heroic veterans. That's right, Rahm "chose" Eric Massa and Patrick Murphy and Rick Bolanos to run. What an insult.Not only do Begala's words undermine the passion that drove veteran Democrats to run, it also advances a false image of a heroic strategist in Rahm Emanuel.
Finally, the returns come in on CNN and report a 51-49 Massa defeat. This was about as close as it gets. All we had to do was get another few thousand votes. With all the odds stacked up against him, Massa nearly did it on his own. He certainly didn't do it with much help from the DCCC and to think that he got so far on his own in a traditionally Republican district is remarkable.
Had Rahm consistently lent strong financial support to Eric Massa and other veterans, more than four of the orginal 64 Band of Brothers would have taken the hill. Thanks to Rahm, the upcoming congress will have the smallest percentage of veterans serving in the history of America.
Like I said, I was always a fan of Rahm's leadership in the DCCC. But after seeing this raw examination of how his leadership impacted the Massa campaign, I don't want to hear anymore bullshit credit given to him for our victory in November.