DCCC Accepts Recusals from Meek & Wasserman Schultz

The good news: Top Dem brass sent letters of support to our three South Florida candidates - Annette Taddeo, Joe Garcia & Raul Martinez - who are each offering stiff challenges to incumbent Republicans.

The bad news: The DCCC seems to think that this is an adequate response to our complaints and those of local Democrats. Here's why we still have a host of problems:

1. The DCCC has not in any visible way reprimanded Reps. Kendrick Meek and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who previously said they would not assist our three candidates. This amounts to a tacit acceptance of an unacceptable practice - ie, allowing incumbent Democrats to recuse themselves from helping challengers and expanding our majority. There are no recusals in politics.

2. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is still a co-chair of the Red to Blue program. This initiative is specifically tasked with increasing the ranks of Democrats in the House. Anyone running this program simply cannot refuse to support particular Democrats. We need someone in charge who will unhesitatingly embrace every worthy challenger. Besides, how can Wasserman Schultz objectively evaluate potential Red to Blue participants if she's already pre-disposed against certain campaigns? She's had a week to change her tune; the fact that she hasn't yet is a strong sign that she is the wrong person for this job.

3. Wasserman Schultz didn't just recuse herself from her responsibilities - she also "cracked out of turn" and lavished praise on one of the Republicans in question, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. Why on earth would a supposedly good Democrat sabotage our party's chances by giving a recidivist Republican such a perfect, ready-for-TV soundbite? As many commenters have pointed out, no Republican would heap such compliments on one of us - and if they did, they'd have no problem stabbing us the very next day. Another sign that she is the wrong person for this job.

I don't think it's too much to ask that the chair of the Red to Blue program be a partisan bulldog at all times. That's what the job calls for. If Debbie Wasserman Schultz can't or doesn't want to perform these sorts of duties, then she needs to be relieved of her position.

But on a broader level, the DCCC cannot accept these sort of faint-hearted recusals by anyone. It's not enough to say "Well, if X won't help out, we'll send Y instead." This is a team, and every member of the caucus has to play. Rahm Emanuel fought bitterly against the "but I don't wanna" crowd, and with good reason. Toleration of this special pleading is one reason we spent twelve years in the wilderness; Rahm's battle against it is a reason we finally took back the majority last election.

Don't get me wrong: I'm glad that Pelosi, Rahm and Van Hollen have all affirmed their support for our South Florida trio. But I expect more from the DCCC and our caucus.