Don't get me wrong, I "understand" the administration must have made a quid-pro-quo deal with Arlen Specter to support him when he switched parties. (But, as Nate Silver suggests, we probably have Sestak, not Obama, to thank for Specter's recent voting record.) But I still think the Democratic "National" Committee ought to stay out of the way, let us have our state primaries, and then help support the Democratic candidate. This part of "Obama's" email bugged me in particular:
But now, he needs your help. He's in a tight race for the Democratic nomination for Senate, and the primary is coming up soon on May 18th.Really, DNC? Could you be more passive-voice? "He's in a tight race...." Not even a mention of who the other candidate is, or any reasons why we wouldn't want him instead? I know it probably won't do any good, but I thought the DNC needed to hear that this kind of email from them really doesn't inspire me to donate to them or do anything they ask. Maybe if enough people do the same, they might think twice next time (or not). Here's what I sent them:
Vice President Biden and I need him in Washington, fighting alongside us....
Dear DNC,
I do not appreciate the DNC getting involved in our Pennsylvania primary in this way. I know Specter has supported the president's agenda. But some of that support was probably because he felt pressured by his primary challenger, Joe Sestak, to do so. Congressman Sestak has also supported the president's agenda and would make a fine senator.
When you send emails like this, you make people like myself LESS likely to support the DNC. You should be supporting all Democrats in elections against Republicans. I wish you would please stay out of our primary.
Sincerely,
J-
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2 comments:
Nice letter, Jove.
I'm really surprised by the strong gains Sestak has made. I was always leaning towards Sestak, but the more I thought about this race, the more convinced I am that he's the best choice. Specter will have simply no accountability if he's elected, and the one thing his whole career makes very clear is that he's very likely to take advantage of this in ways that progressives won't like.
I suppose many people are having the same thought process.
I think that was supposed to be I'm NOT really surprised . . . ? I kept expecting Sestak to gain on Specter, but never saw evidence of it in the polls until now. FiveThirtyEight.com (Nate Silver) shows Sestak overtaking Specter. Perhaps Specter can pull back some of that momentum, but I don't know how. Perhaps Eric Epstein was right back in December when he predicted that is would be Sestak vs. Toomey. We'll know soon enough.
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