I can't not say this; nor can Rick Weiland
by Gaius Publius
I can't not say this, because it's news and it pertains.
Earlier this month I wrote about how, while progressives are constantly hectored (blackmailed) by Democratic leaders to never let Democrats lose a house of Congress — those same "Democratic" leaders had themselves surrendered the House and are a skosh away from surrendering the Senate ... because they won't back strong progressive candidates, preferring corp-sponsored losers who play ball with their own big-money friends instead.
In other words, corporate-supported Democratic leaders are already Tea Partying progressives. How about them apples?
And now comes Rick Weiland, Democratic and progressive candidate for the U.S. Senate in the battleground state of South Dakota, to say the same thing.
Shorter Rick Weiland:
"Would you believe? I'm being 'Tea Partied' by non-progressive Senate Democratic leaders. They're tanking my candidacy in favor of a right-leaning 'independent' who happens to be Harry Reid's friend."
Can I say his assertions are true? No. Can I say he says they are? Absolutely — it's news and it pertains. Read the story and decide for yourself; from the Argus Leader:
Weiland accuses own party of sabotaging his campaign
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Rick Weiland accused his own political party of trying to undermine his campaign in a striking news conference Monday.
Weiland said the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee's ads attacking Republican incumbent Mike Rounds have backfired and hurt him.
"You put negative on a candidate and you put your disclosure at the bottom that says 'Paid for by the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee,' the Democratic candidate's going to get blamed for that," Weiland said.
But Weiland went a step further and said this wasn't just an inadvertent side effect of the negative ads. He said it was deliberate — an attempt to sabotage him and boost independent Larry Pressler.
"My national party — that I'm a member of — (was) trying to drive votes to Larry Pressler and trying to drive up my negatives," Weiland said.
A spokesman for the DSCC declined to comment on Weiland's charges. ...
And the mitigation:
National political analyst Larry Sabato was skeptical of Weiland's claims.
"Unless (Weiland) has evidence he didn't present, it's quite a stretch, if not a wild charge," said Sabato, president of the University of Virginia's Center For Politics.
While it's true that the DSCC "would welcome a victory by either
Pressler or Weiland," Sabato said, "I don't think that was the DSCC's
intention to have the ads backfire on (Weiland)."
Even though Pressler previously served in the Senate and reportedly has a personal relationship with Sen. Reid (see same article), my suspicion is that Sabato is right — given the chance that Weiland could win, Reid et al had to make a show of caring; the rest may have been a "happy" accident. Still, it's been clear for some time, by his previous and total lack of support, that Harry Reid would not welcome Weiland into the Senate.
Still, as of the latest polling, Pressler's numbers are now falling, and Rounds, the Republican, is the beneficiary. If Reid loses the Senate, will his non-support of Weiland, when it could have counted, be held against him in the mainstream press? Will they even notice that Reid likely tanked himself? I'll go with No on that one.
But this isn't over. You can help Rick Weiland by donating here. And if you're a South Dakota resident, by all means volunteer. After all, Auburn doesn't beat Alabama by crying in their helmets in the fourth quarter. They play to the whistle.
Howie Klein has more (scroll down to the UPDATE). Quoting Weiland (my emphasis):
"For every one of the 18 months since I became a candidate for the United States Senate, and the 6 months since I was formally selected to be the candidate of the party you are supposed to represent, I have been asking you for positive assistance with my campaign. Instead of that assistance you have said I am not your choice, tried to dry up my funds by saying I cannot win, refused to have your DSCC even endorse me, and now you have come into my state with ugly, negative attacks against Mike Rounds, ads that you and every knowledgeable political strategist in America knows hurt me and help Larry Pressler, the longtime Republican who has apparently won your support for his so called independent campaign by whispering that if elected he might vote to help you [Harry Reid] keep your job as Majority Leader.
"Based on this record of non-support for me, and of actions which assist one of my opponents, I am today formally requesting that you either begin airing positive advertising about my fight against big money, and for the ordinary citizens who our party is supposed to be pledged to support, or else you get out of our state. I do not want phony help that actually helps Larry Pressler by attacking Mike Rounds over what appears to everyone to be my name because it says paid for by the national political party of which I am a member."
"I am also today requesting that the South Dakota Democratic Party join me in repudiating these tactics and requesting that you and the National Democratic Party assist all South Dakota Democrats in our fight for a higher minimum wage, protection and expansion of Medicare and Social Security, equal rights for all citizens, and in helping us to help like-minded voters get to the polls on November 4."
People like Reid say the Senate is so important. Then they do stuff like this. What to believe, their admonitions to progressives, or their unnoticed actions?
GP
.