BFD: Painter would not say he is a Democrat. Ken, sweetheart, that is me for different reasons. I dislike wishy-washy corporatism of the kind Republicans traditionally embrace but which the Clintons and cohorts briefly exploited for their own past advantage. Republican lite; trying to suck up more to the big money sources than the Republicans do. I caucus DFL because it is the lesser evil of the two party stranglehold offerings; not because I am in any inner-party elite favoring an elite, but because the DFL lets me as a progressive independent show up and caucus, and also because the DFL,while imperfect, is far and away less anti-people than the Republicans.
But my status as a grumbling independent is far afield from Painter - I never used to work in the W presidential administration as Painter did for years - I WOULD NEVER HAVE DONE THAT, I HAVE PRINCIPLES AFTER ALL - but this Ken Martin stuff is precisely why I will not give money to any Dem PAC, Emily's List, ActBlue, or party organizations. I only cut checks, and for progressives, only: I pick individuals who I support, Ken Martin does not choose for me, although bless his picking whoever he favors since that's his right. But if Ken Martin's aim is to alienate progressives and independents and drive them away in droves from his party, he scored a perfect 10.
In my mind it is as if Martin were leveling the same criticism against Bernie - an independent running in a Dem primary who is hence failed at the start per the Martin litmus test.
Presumably Martin holds this non-inclusive outlook so we can be "Stronger Together." Doesn't that make perfect sense. That "together" thing must mean a different thing to Mertin than to me, since it appears to not mean "Big Tent" to Martin as much as it means "My Tent."
Ken Martin - Fix your party more in line with intelligent independents such as Bernie and me, and then you can criticize some. Until then, concentrate on your job; up ballot; down ballot; and quit being a focused Tina Smith cheerleader while cooking on a range of other burners makes more sense. Tina will pull her own weight.
If DFL primary voters choose Painter, an unlikelihood, than what, Ken Martin? You'd be in a big pickle of your own doing. "Not your choice" matters less than who on primary election day gets more votes.
But Christsakes, open the party to progress and needs of the young and poor, or step aside for one who will, please, Ken Martin. Circling the wagons your way and the DCCC way to shoot at the attacking progressive and disenfranchised young and poor apostates surely is dumb as dirt.
Two links relevant to the post; here and here. Agree or disagree with both or either.
FINALLY: That Ken Martin attitude is from one who organized and/or willingly participated in that phony donor thing where big donors wanting to avoid contribution limits spread big bucks in multiple states with the Dem locals having prefixed that local parties would keep a tiny fraction for local effort with the lion's share going national for Clinton instead of for progress.
Ken Martin sat in DFL leadership in our state, Minnesota, and could not have avoided being a willing part of the tawdry premature set-up.
Also, note that it was precisely such a "he won't say he is a Democrat" crap that Bernie had to shovel aside too.
Thanks, Ken. You were a Clinton superdelegate, weren't you Ken?
KEN - BERNIE WOULD HAVE WON HAD YOU INNER PARTY TYPES JUST KEPT THE BIG, FAT AND STUPID PREMATURE THUMB OFF THE SCALE.
SURE, PAINTER MAY WELL BE A STALKING HORSE, AND IT WAS OKAY TO SAY "WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING" AND TO ARGUE THAT WAY.
BUT TO HANG A CRITICISM ON A REFUSAL TO COMMIT TO A BLIND PARTY LOYALTY LITMUS TEST, KEN, PARTY LOYALTY NEEDS TO BE EARNED. IT IS NOT A PRECONDITION FOR GOING ONTO A MINNESOTA BALLOT. NOT YET . . .
_________________UPDATE__________________
Left.mn, this link, "Sitting around the campfire singing Kumbaya;" ending paragraph:
Just one final point on this: The current DFL chair has the job because the unendorsed Mark Dayton won the primary and the general election in 2010. He was Dayton’s pick for the job. That’s fine; I have no quarrel with it. But it is unseemly in the extreme for him to savage a candidate in the same process that got him the job.
Ken Martin is Dayton's hand-picked one. And Ken is adamant, "Dayton's hand-picked one [Tina Smith this instance] is good for the USA." Or taking it from the opposition viewpoint; Martin's big (stated) beef with Painter is not the position Painter takes, but that he runs on the DFL primary ballot, but refuses to call himself "a Democrat" and to kiss the party ring.
The secondary beef, the one troubling me, is anybody who served more than one day in the W administration is tainted, and the "John Anderson stalking horse experience" has me distrustful. Torture, Alito and Roberts, and then lo, a pure as driven snow agenda, but a Bushco insider, ... judgment by the company kept is often a good (if not best) judgment.
But Martin is showing his Third Way anti-Bernie bias, and it is offensive to an astounding degree to where Martin needs to be replaced with someone aware that the DFL is shrinking and old and needs a shot of something akin to listening to what people want and delivering it; and damn the elite establishment and their sellouts all over the landscape, incluing PolyMet appeasers.
Smith, likely to track Klobuchar, is unlikely to show much progressiveism. Alida and Mark are okay with that. Haim Saban can now cut all the checks he wants now that Ellison has been pushed aside at DNC by the troglodytes. Haim can contribute to Smith. I sure as hell will not. Let Alida finance it.
Tom Perez and Ken Martin - best and brightest? Isn't there better; brighter? More telling, aren't there DFL people wanting to make the party attractive and responsible to the young and the down-trodden in order to win elections? Or is the morass so cluttered with toxic entrenched beltway leech-like hangers-on as to be near to hopeless? Down in flames, but ensuring things get done their way is more important to them than the flames? Give us Ol' Davos Joe Biden in 2020; we may not like it; but so what? It's Joe's turn.