Chuck Schumer, DSCC, & Joe Lieberman

This is the topic of the day around the blogosphere:

DSCC Would Support Indy Bid by Lieberman

According to Hotline On Call, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee "fully supports" Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) in his primary bid against Ned Lamont (D), "and he refused to rule out continuing that support if Lieberman were to run as an independent."

What is the reaction? Kos headlines, "CT-Sen: Schumer and the DSCC apparently want war"

The DSCC's mission is to support Democrats in elections.

Our mission is to elect more Democrats to the United States Senate. We are the largest organization committed to electing a Democratic Senate in the country. From grass-roots organizing to candidate recruitment to providing campaign funds for tight races, the DSCC is working hard all year, every year to increase the number of Democratic Senators.

Supporting Lieberman over Lamont would be a violation of this mission.

Schumer is a Democrat. He runs the DSCC. He needs to respect the will of the Democratic voters in Connecticut.

Atrios:

Trust Me Chuck

I know Chuck Schumer isn't likely to take advice from little old me, but if he decides to support the increasingly-likely independent run from Joe Lieberman he's really going to regret it.

He'll regret it doubly when Joe bolts the party AND loses.

Ian Welsh at BOP News:

Let me give fair warning - if Schumer does this, I suspect the DSCC, Schumer himself, and anyone they support, can kiss goodbye the vast majority of any netroots support. And Schumer may want to start preparing for the nasty primary challenge that I can assure him will come if his way if anyone even remotely credible steps up to the plate. Disloyalty is the cardinal political sin, and Schumer is only two steps away from commiting treason.

Thirdparty at the unoffical Lamont Blog:

Schumer To CT Dems: "DROP DEAD"
Giving a big middle finger to Connecticut Democrats, Chuck Schumer said today that the DSCC would not necessarily support the Democratic candidate for Senate in November.

The DSCC is now officially just an incumbent protection racket. It has nothing to do with any party.

I don't think Chuck really understands what he would be getting himself and the party into if he were to follow through with this.

Thirdparty in the comments at Daily Kos:

I don't think Schumer
understands the unbelievable magnitude of shit that will be headed his way if the DSCC supports Lieberman (I).

Dale Carrico:

No ifs ands or buts about it, supporting Lieberman over a victorious Lamont would constitute an unambiguous violation of the DSCC's mission. There is little doubt that such contortions reflect the panic of a coddled ineffectual Old Guard content with their petty privileges and comfortable pieties confronted out of the blue with a new generation of reformers and true progressives with the imagination, intelligence, and energy to save the world and no patience in the least for a permanently marginalized opposition party going through the motions while a corrupt bloodthirsty Empire crumbles around their feet.

Schumer has fucked up big time. Ned Lamont has said he will support the winner of the primary, why can't the HEAD OF THE DSCC do the same? Because he stands with Lieberman and Lieberman won't support Lamont if he wins the primary:

This morning on WSTC/WNLK here in Connecticut, Lieberman campaign manager Sean Smith made it official. He said this to news reporter Erik Campano,

Are we going to support Ned Lamont? Ah, no! (laughs)...

Listen to the audio clip (MP3 , 42kb, 10sec)

Could this have anything to do with the latest poll results?

Rasmussen. 6/12. MoE 7(!) (4/27 results)

Lieberman 46 (51)
Lamont 40 (31)

Note the huge margin of error, so some caution is in order. But the movement is real.

Lieberman must choose between a tough and potentially losing primary battle or a better shot of winning -- going indy -- and seeing his so-called "integrity" go out the door since he promised Reid and Schumer that he wouldn't leave the party.

And if we can't trust Lieberman's word, then what can we trust?

If Liberman has as much integrity as he claims he does, he has to stay in the Democratic primary.

On this note, sign the petition.

Then call Chuck Schumer whatever words you think are most appropriate, but call:

DSCC:

info@dscc.org
Phone (202) 224-2447

Schumer's office:

(202) 224-6542
(212) 486-4430

Chuck Schumer is a complete fucking fool.

And realize that if you contribute to the DSCC, there is a good chance your contribution will be used against the Democratic Party nominee.

UPDATE: Down with Tyranny

But one thing Schumer has not been is a good head of the DSCC.

Oh yes, he knows how to raise money. That's what he's always been best at. It just sticks to his palms. If you wind up at a party with him, empty your pockets before you leave your home and leave your credit card there too. But a good DSCC head? He has saddled us with an anti-choice social conservative who gratuitously endorsed Sam Alito's nomination for the Supreme Court to run as "our" candidate in Pennsylvania against Santorum. He manipulated the Ohio primary in so disgraceful and underhanded a way as to drive out one of the two excellent candidates, Paul Hackett, and demoralize thousands of Ohio Democrats who would gladly have supported either victor in the primary but will now sit the race out, possibly throwing it to the corrupt Republican scumbag Mike DeWine. He attempted to do the same thing in the Tester-Morrison primary, had his ass handed to him by independent-minded Montana Democrats, and now tries to tale credit for Tester's overwhelming victory over the DLC/Shumer hack! But, my friends, there's worse yet to come... much worse. [...]

Now today the sleazy walking turd from Brooklyn said claimed he had neither sought nor received assurances from Lieberman that an independent bid would not ensue if Ned Lamont tightened the
noose." But when my bud Pach interviewed Schumer for firedoglake this is the question he (presciently) posed to the lowlife NY Senator:

"I hate to harp on this, but this is something that is big in the blogosphere. If the race does tighten, and Ned Lamont does make it a race, how committed is the DSCC to committing resources to Senator Lieberman since Senator Lieberman hasn't committed to running as a Democrat?"

And what did slimy Schumer say to Pach? "I think Senator Lieberman has committed to running as a
Democrat to us. That's me, and he has to Senator Reid." Schumer's a liar. No one should ever believe a word that comes out of his mouth.

Jane Hamsher:

Now we'll skip over the irony of Chuck Schumer boasting about the Tester win. (I myself am rather happy that the Mavericks are doing well against the Heat , but I'm also aware that I had about as much to do with that as Schumer had to do with Tester's victory.) No, we'll go straight to the main course -- this is all about incumbency protection. The preservation of entrenched power and maintaining the status quo. The big, fat bird that most Democrats flipped the netroots during the Alito confirmation? Multiply it times ten, they're flipping it to every registered Democrat in the nation now. It's All About Them.

If you find this to be Not Okay, you can do several things:

• Go to Ned Lamont's site and sign a petition to call for Joe to commit to support the Democratic candidate in November. Nobody else is obviously going to do it.
• Call your Democratic Senator and tell them that as a Democratic constituent you expect them to support the, you know, Democrat. (It may seem a bit remedial but many seem to be having trouble grasping this.)
• Go to the DSCC ISCC blog (called, ironically "From the Roots" -- oh lordy) and let them know how you feel (short, painless registration process is worth the trouble)
• Volunteer to phone bank for Ned Lamont if you live in Connecticut by contacting one of the district offices. As Colin McEnroe noted this morning, this could be make-or-break for the campaign as we get down to the wire.

If you do stop by the DSCC and send Chuck some love, you might want to point him to the DSCC mission statement from their own web site, which says:

The sole mission of the DSCC is to elect more Democrats to the Senate.

This is on their -- wait for it -- fundraising page (see screen cap above). Don't they think it's a wee bit dishonest to tell people they are raising money expressly for this purpose, and then use it to DEFEAT a Democrat? I think they've got some truth in advertising issues here, myself.

In addition to Schumer being a bonehead of a DSCC leader and harmful to the Democratic Party, has he also been lying to potential donors? Complete fucking fool.

UPDATE II: Digby...

You don't get to leave the party to avoid losing in a Democratic primary and then expect Democratic party financial support to run against the Democratic candidate. That's just nuts. And it's so disrespectful to the Democratic voters of Connecticut I can't honestly believe he has thought this through.

If they do this, it will cause a full on backlash against the Democratic Party by the rank and file and the party elders like Shumer have no one to blame but themselves. Frankly, this arrogant dictatorial attitude would be a little bit easier to take if the party hadn't given away the fucking store for the last quarter century and gotten exactly nothing in return. The last time I checked these people haven't won anything in a long, long time. Why we are supposed to keep putting our faith in their greater capacity to win is beyond me. Certainly, the unmitigated gall of these goddamned losers lording over the voters like this is going to kill this party. A little humility is called for here.

Call your senators' offices.
Sign this petition for Ned Lamont.

This is a full blog swarm.