DNC reshuffle has some worrying about a 'purge'

[DonViejo]

By David Weigel and Ed O'Keefe October 19 at 7:10 PM

LAS VEGAS — The Democratic National Committee kicked off its annual meeting with a now-familiar drama — a public spat between the party’s leadership and its frustrated left-wing activists.

The latest argument began after DNC Chairman Tom Perez nominated a new slate of members for little-known but influential party committees. That slate, slightly younger and more diverse than the last one, did not include some of the highest-profile supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders’s 2016 presidential bid and Rep. Keith Ellison’s failed bid to run the DNC, which had been backed by Sanders (I-Vt.).

“It’s a lot of really good people who deserved better,” said James Zogby, a longtime DNC member who is being replaced on the executive committee. “I’d say they’re making way for new blood, but it’s not that at all. We were Keith Ellison supporters. The optics of it are bad.”

Ellison (D-Minn.), who was made deputy chair of the party after his defeat, was among the new nominees to replace Zogby, and through a spokesman he noted that he’d given Perez a list of contenders for the jobs. One of the highest-profile Democrats removed from the new list was Barbra Casbar Siperstein, the first transgender member of the DNC. The new list — which, according to DNC spokesman Michael Tyler, was based on recommendations from state parties — included a different transgender member, Marisa Richmond.

Nonetheless, a meeting that Democrats hoped would close the door on the bitter 2016 primary produced yet another activists-vs.-establishment fight. What was reported as a “shake-up” by NBC News became, in Vanity Fair, “DNC chair purges dissenters.” At Splinter, it became “The DNC Cuts High-Profile Trans, POC Members From Party’s Left Wing in the Name of ‘Diversity.’”

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/10/19/dnc-reshuffle-has-some-worrying-about-a-purge/?undefined=&utm_term=.1dfd96588c7c&wpisrc=nl_politics&wpmm=1

[Blue_Tires]

1. It's funny because the prominent Berniestans on twitter

have been talking about nothing but purging out the "Establishment" Dems and Blue Dogs like Pelosi and Feinstein for months (But don't ask them about their efforts to unseat purple district republicans because they'll act like you lost your goddamed mind)... For all their bullshit 'unity' rhetoric, they sure as shit haven't learned how to play well with others, have they? Over a year later, it's still their way or the highway and nobody has clued them in to the fact that there's only ONE FUCKING WAY and that road is still being constructed. Over a year later they're still attacking Black Twitter and Obama with impunity and then have the nerve to wonder why black folks aren't leaping at the chance to kiss the ass of their glorious 'revolution'... Over a year later with no significant gains or leverage they're still discussing a total party takeover the way the French discussed storming the Bastille... Over a year later their "I hate every Dem who doesn't have Bernie's blessing!/I hate Trump!" ratio of tweets is still hovering around a 90%/10% split... Right now I'm this close to telling the whole lot to fuck off and form their own party so they can at least officially stop pretending to be Dems...

Sorry if I'm stepping on toes, but I'm calling it exactly like I fucking see it... And once again I'll say for the record that Bernie Sanders could make a lot of this go away by joining the party, telling his biggest influencers on social media to fall in line, and having those people rein in the most vocal nutbars who don't fall in line... But who cares -- I only pointed out every major strategic mistake that the Sanders campaign was making in real time, but what the hell do I know??

Oh and by the way, Zogby isn't exactly an impartial party in this, and there are probably some honestly legit reasons why he isn't going...

EDIT: For the record, I *DID* vote for Sanders in the VA primary, so think twice before trying to start shit....

[MrsCoffee]

3. Excellent post.

[Me.]

5. Wow

[MrsCoffee]

2. The same thing might have been said if Ellison won and was making the nominations.

This isn’t the first time that a losing candidate got bitter about not getting to call all the shots and make the decisions. So of course it’s a purge.

Even though it’s no such thing.

This is the same divisive bullshit that’s been going on for three years now. And that divisiveness and the constant bashing apparently have consequences.

Go figure.

[LexVegas]

4. ...