Dem Infighting Erupts On Eve Of First Presidential Debate

[Purveyor]

Source: The Hill

October 13, 2015, 03:24 pm
By Jesse Byrnes

Democrats are battling one another off stage ahead of the party’s first debate, with a prominent lawmaker engaged in a fierce war of words with the party chairman.

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), a vice chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), is all but calling DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz a liar as the two publicly battle over whether Gabbard was disinvited from Tuesday night’s debate.

Gabbard stood by her claims in a string of interviews Monday night and Tuesday, arguing she was being punished for vocally criticizing her party for only holding six debates.

“It's not surprising to me that she is saying things that aren't true,” she said of her House colleague Wasserman Schultz during an appearance Tuesday on MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports."

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/256776-dem-infighting-erupts-on-eve-of-debate

[Geronimoe]

1. Wasserman has to go

She is boring and a control freak.

[FlatBaroque]

8. and those are some of her better qualities nt

[shenmue]

14. Stay classy

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

15. Do "we" as democrats have any say at all?

[davidpdx]

28. No, because we should sit down and shut up

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

30. And you didn't enev need the sarcasm thingy!

[Fred Sanders]

18. Members of the Democratic Party get to decide their leaders, don't they?

The Chairwoman has done a fine job, but that she is not agreeing with more debates is irrelevant as she is not the Queen with absolute power, as far as I am aware of Democratic Party rules for election and membership.

There is a reason it is called a "political party"....it has rules those not in political parties may not fully understand, or at all.

[thesquanderer]

20. Actually, re: debates, apparently she IS the queen with absolute power

from http://www.salon.com/2015/10/12/the_dnc_screwed_hillary_now_get_ready_for_a_bernie_sanders_earthquake/

The phrase ‘Democratic National Committee’ is imprecise. When DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced the schedule last August she didn’t say who made the decision or how. Nor did anyone ask. It seems like an awfully closed system for an outfit with the word ‘democratic’ right there in its name. I wondered how the party picked it. Did its national committee hold a meeting? If so, was it public? Was there a notice, agenda, or minutes? Was there even a vote?

On Thursday I spoke to the DNC communications director, a nice man named Luis Miranda. After a few minutes of polite evasions I had my answers: no, no, no, no, no and no. From what I could glean, staff made recommendations to Schultz and she then made the call all on her own. It isn’t clear that party rules authorize her to do so. What is clear is that they shouldn’t. Miranda told me the party consults with all the candidates. I don’t doubt him, but the consultations don’t appear to mean much, in that four of the five candidates wanted more debates.

[Fred Sanders]

21. Apparently, and fortunately, rumors and speculation are still not facts.

[thesquanderer]

22. Well there's also this...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017300459

Her own vice chair is basically saying it was up to DWS. DWS did not suggest otherwise.

[Fred Sanders]

23. I repeat my first comment. And if this is "infighting" what is the mess going on in the enemy camp?

Much ado about nothing in the Democratic Party camp.....a tussle over internal party rules is just a family dispute.....as political families sometimes have and outsiders do not understand.

[thesquanderer]

32. More detail here

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-10-16/insurrection-erupts-at-the-democratic-national-committee

According to several people with front-row seats for the hatching of the plan, the chairwoman made her decision unilaterally, without consulting or even telling the rest of the committee’s high command, including her vice chairs, in advance.

More detail in the article.

[99th_Monkey]

2. K&R - It's a fight that needs to happen. DWS should not be able to hobble the Dem's visibility

with just a handful of debates, while GOP enjoys more visibility with more debates,
debates that are scheduled to maximize viewers, not minimize them.

It's an injustice to the party, and to all voters, yet she has steadfastly refused to
listen to the Democratic base, so screw her.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

16. The DNC chair shouldn't have "absolute power".

[davidpdx]

29. I'm waiting for the standard argument that it will hurt Hillary Clinton's chance of winning the

General Election.

[99th_Monkey]

2. dupe

[99th_Monkey]

2. Dupe

[99th_Monkey]

2. Dupe

[99th_Monkey]

2. Dupe

[peacebird]

12. Three dupe posts?

[99th_Monkey]

13. Yah, it was weird. I pushed "Post My Reply" several times

because my router (with Comcast, of course) kept stalling and not completely loading the post.

Then when the post finally did go through. it was there like 6 times in a row. I was horrified (mildly)
as that has never happened to me before, generally DU catches it and only posts once.

[Elmer S. E. Dump]

17. Unfortunately, I hear ya, bro.

[hopemountain]

9. yes, the dnc's toxic

manipulations erupting with all of the pressure before the debate. that's how toxins erupt - under pressure.

[MisterP]

10. I read that as "inbreeding" (though I guess we can go with "party inbreeding means infighting")

[retrowire]

11. Professionalism.

I'm not seein' it.

[silvershadow]

19. DWS must go. nt

[sabrina 1]

25. Why has it take so long? She is tearing this Party apart, losing elections, lost the House and

Senate???

WHO is she working for? And where is the rest of the Party Leadership??

[ejbr]

24. Dem infighting erupted

on DU a while ago. Still love my Hillary supporters though.

[Kablooie]

26. Oh dear. Are the Democrats going to show how immature they can be as well?

[mhatrw]

27. Debbie Weasleword-Shit nt

[wordpix]

31. sounds like a R making a tempest in a teapot to "equalize" D internal strife = Repuke split

no way, we are not completely divided into separate camps. Big deal if we have minor issues