A letter to the DCCC and Nancy Pelosi
I just got a "unity survey" from the DCCC. They'd love contributions. Here's my response, just printed out, signed and about to be returned to them:
"19 September 2017
Representative Nancy Pelosi
DCCC
P.O. Box 96039
Washington, DC 20077-7243
Dear Ms. Pelosi:
I'm writing to you as a longtime constituent. I'm writing to you as a Democrat whose first presidential candidate, at age 18, was Shirley Chisholm.
I'm also writing in response to your "unity" survey, because I have something I want to say to you, and I am not the only one saying it.
If you look at political contributions to the DCCC appeals since you began sucking up to the Bernie Sanders contingent - they are not Democrats, and neither is he - you'll notice something that really should raise some red flags: your donations are down sharply.
A question for you. Has it honestly not occurred to you that the base of this party - people of colour, women, immigrants, GLBT - is sickened, dismayed, and/or outraged by the party's willingness to throw us under the bus to appease the likes of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren? If not, I suggest you let that occur to you, as of now.
Because, trust me, the Democratic Party base is disgusted. We have had enough. The fact that you have been deliberately obtuse, have deliberately used us as pawns, have deliberately discarded everything we do and have done for the Democratic Party because a man who labels civil rights, gay rights, and womens rights, as "identity politics", and says we don't matter as much as a handful of white Trump male voters in Iowa, has thrown vicious ignorant temper tantrums, one after another, is costing you. It's likely to cost the Democratic party a lot more.
Unity? Do we want to give you money to elect candidates like Heath Mello, or other anti-choice candidates? No.
Do we want to enrich the coffers of "Our Revolution", on whose behalf Sanders said that "Trump voters aren't racist, they aren't sexist, and they aren't deplorable"? No.
Do we want to allow this egocentric hijacker, who spent decades urinating on everything the party worked for because it didn't meet his fauxialist high standards, to take over our party and throw us under the wheels?
Come on. I've voted for you for years. You aren't that stupid.
Lose Bernie. It comes down to that. Right now, you have Tom Perez escorting Sanders all over this country in the name of "unity". It isn't unity, it's a book tour. You know, the kind Bernie's mouthpieces, the Young Turks and The Intercept, are screaming at Hillary Clinton about? Yes, one of those. This is a "celebration of a white male voting bloc" attempt, and the fact that you are DARING to ask the base for money to support it is horrifying and disillusioning.
Summation: the DCCC will not get a dime from me unless and until you show Sanders the door. If he and his handful of beer-swilling Rust Belt white voters are worth more to you than we are, why not ask them for donations? I certainly won't be giving you any.
You allowed Sanders to denigrate and insult the woman that we, THE BASE OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY, nominated and voted for. You've said nothing to shut him up. You've actually gone out of your way to placate him. Here's a heads up: he and his cohorts are not the people you should worry about placating.
Any money I donate will be directly to a candidate, and I will vet that through EMILYs List first. Right now, I am about done with my party. If the loyal base means less to you than Bernie Sanders and his shrill screechy Old White Man rage, ask Linda Sarsour or Susan Sarandon or Nomiki Konst or Michael Tracey for a donation. And you had best hope they open their wallets, because you won't be getting it from me.
Deborah Grabien"
(And yes, I said and meant Elizabeth Warren. She backed that "but their votes were because they were ECONOMICALLY ANXIOUS!" bullshit.)
"19 September 2017
Representative Nancy Pelosi
DCCC
P.O. Box 96039
Washington, DC 20077-7243
Dear Ms. Pelosi:
I'm writing to you as a longtime constituent. I'm writing to you as a Democrat whose first presidential candidate, at age 18, was Shirley Chisholm.
I'm also writing in response to your "unity" survey, because I have something I want to say to you, and I am not the only one saying it.
If you look at political contributions to the DCCC appeals since you began sucking up to the Bernie Sanders contingent - they are not Democrats, and neither is he - you'll notice something that really should raise some red flags: your donations are down sharply.
A question for you. Has it honestly not occurred to you that the base of this party - people of colour, women, immigrants, GLBT - is sickened, dismayed, and/or outraged by the party's willingness to throw us under the bus to appease the likes of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren? If not, I suggest you let that occur to you, as of now.
Because, trust me, the Democratic Party base is disgusted. We have had enough. The fact that you have been deliberately obtuse, have deliberately used us as pawns, have deliberately discarded everything we do and have done for the Democratic Party because a man who labels civil rights, gay rights, and womens rights, as "identity politics", and says we don't matter as much as a handful of white Trump male voters in Iowa, has thrown vicious ignorant temper tantrums, one after another, is costing you. It's likely to cost the Democratic party a lot more.
Unity? Do we want to give you money to elect candidates like Heath Mello, or other anti-choice candidates? No.
Do we want to enrich the coffers of "Our Revolution", on whose behalf Sanders said that "Trump voters aren't racist, they aren't sexist, and they aren't deplorable"? No.
Do we want to allow this egocentric hijacker, who spent decades urinating on everything the party worked for because it didn't meet his fauxialist high standards, to take over our party and throw us under the wheels?
Come on. I've voted for you for years. You aren't that stupid.
Lose Bernie. It comes down to that. Right now, you have Tom Perez escorting Sanders all over this country in the name of "unity". It isn't unity, it's a book tour. You know, the kind Bernie's mouthpieces, the Young Turks and The Intercept, are screaming at Hillary Clinton about? Yes, one of those. This is a "celebration of a white male voting bloc" attempt, and the fact that you are DARING to ask the base for money to support it is horrifying and disillusioning.
Summation: the DCCC will not get a dime from me unless and until you show Sanders the door. If he and his handful of beer-swilling Rust Belt white voters are worth more to you than we are, why not ask them for donations? I certainly won't be giving you any.
You allowed Sanders to denigrate and insult the woman that we, THE BASE OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY, nominated and voted for. You've said nothing to shut him up. You've actually gone out of your way to placate him. Here's a heads up: he and his cohorts are not the people you should worry about placating.
Any money I donate will be directly to a candidate, and I will vet that through EMILYs List first. Right now, I am about done with my party. If the loyal base means less to you than Bernie Sanders and his shrill screechy Old White Man rage, ask Linda Sarsour or Susan Sarandon or Nomiki Konst or Michael Tracey for a donation. And you had best hope they open their wallets, because you won't be getting it from me.
Deborah Grabien"
(And yes, I said and meant Elizabeth Warren. She backed that "but their votes were because they were ECONOMICALLY ANXIOUS!" bullshit.)