1115.org

One of Bob Novak’s specialties is finding (or inventing) Democrats eager to criticize their own party, its leaders and their decisions. Throughout the 2004 election cycle, Novak produced a steady flow of revelations that by pure coincidence (!) had the effect of knocking down whoever happened to be the frontrunner at the time. Never one to let an election get in the way of a little internecine warfare, Novak has turned his focus to the race for Democratic National Committee chairman. Last week he focused on wealthy donors who threatened to stop funding the DNC:

A prominent financier who has been a stalwart of Democratic fund-raising the past half-century told me last week his patience has been exhausted. He has remained a loyal Democrat while lamenting his party’s periodic lurches to the left, but says he will neither contribute nor solicit a dime for the party if Howard Dean is chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

Other donors are quoted (anonymously of course) discussing their displeasure with Dean, and Novak throws in poll results and primary losses as supporting evidence in a column that reads like an Republican press release.

But money isn’t the only issue on the minds of Novak’s quasi-authentic Democratic sources:

Democrats, who now acknowledge the inevitability of Howard Dean’s election as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, are concerned about the massive negative research about him stockpiled by President Bush’s political operatives.

 The Dean file was compiled by Bush’s re-election campaign when it appeared that the former Vermont governor was going to be nominated for president. It is a carefully researched compendium of Dean’s often bizarre utterances.

 Well-placed Republicans do not deny the file exists but point out they kept quiet about often unsavory business dealings of Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic chairman the last four years.

Never let it be said that Robert Novak didn’t do everything he could to spare Democrats from having Howard Dean as party chair. He gets and “A” for effort but an “F” for execution.

The DNC has benefitted from wealthy donors, but Dean’s small donor strategy broke records during the 2004 primaries and revolutionized campaign finance, which is a major reason that he will be chosen chair this week. One $100,000 donation can be replaced by a thousand $100 donations with little more than an email signed by Dean. In addition, $100 donations don’t come with the strings attached that large donations carry, allowing Dean and the party more latitude in how they use the funds.

Democrats can be legitimately concerned about losing some large donations, but the idea that Dean should be denied the party chairmanship because there is an opposition research file on him is laughable. There are opposition research files on every politician, it’s part of the game. Dean screamed, we get it. He said capturing Saddam made us no safer, that will come back to haunt him. Republicans didn’t use the file on McAuliffe because it would have been pointless just as it would be to use it against Dean. The public doesn’t vote for party chairmen, and party chairmen don’t set policy. Another reason that party chairmen are targeted is the business from which most of them come. McAuliffe and the two most recent RNC chairmen Ed Gillespie   and Haley Barbour were all lobbyists who served clients with dubious ethics. Current RNC chair Ken Mehlman refuses to deny that he is gay, an attribute that doesn’t deter him from doing his job, but wouldn’t play too well with most Republicans. The end result is a policy of “people living in glass houses don’t throw stones.”

Novak has been in Washington for approximately 87 years, and knows the rules of the game. He and other Republicans are worried that the DNC might soon start employing modern tactics like the ones used during Dean’s improbable primary campaign.

The Republicans are lucky to have Novak on the payroll, but he’s not fooling anyone on this one. For this and so many other reason, Robert Novak: Shut the Fuck Up!