As former President Jimmy Carter told Thom Hartmann Tuesday, the United States is now an "oligarchy" in which "unlimited political bribery" has created "a complete subversion of our political system as a payoff to major contributors." Both Democrats and Republicans, Carter said, "look upon this unlimited money as a great benefit to themselves." Carter, who will be 90 in October, knows. He's not still in the business; Grayson is. And he's roiling the political waters by speaking out... and speaking out... and speaking out. The oligarchs and plutocrats do not like it-- nor do their handmaidens in the politics business, creeps like Chuck Schumer, the senator who has taken more in (legalistic) bribes from Wall Street, $21,052,681 at last count, than any other non-presidential candidate in history.
And sold-out politicians like Schumer cast their nets-- their power networks-- widely. Schumer has pledged to his Wall Street financiers that he will keep more progressives out of the Senate; no more Democrats whom the oligarchs and plutocrats fear as "the Elizabeth Warren wing" of the party. They demand-- and Schumer has pledged to deliver-- fake Democrats and corporate shills like "ex"-Republican Patrick Murphy.
This week Kyle Munzenrider, writing for Miami's New Times, tried explaining how this works inside the utterly failed Florida Democratic Party establishment, one of the worst and least successful state parties in the country.
Some of Rep. Alan Grayson's more colorful comments may get him labeled a "crazy liberal," but what's that old cliché about the true definition of insanity? The one Bill Clinton, of all people, repeated several times during his 1992 campaign? Oh, right. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.Want to help Grayson get into the Senate-- a rebuke to the bosses, a rebuke to Wall Street, a rebuke to the worst political forces not overtly part of the GOP? You can do it here. I hope you will.
But that's exactly what Florida's Democratic establishment is doing by backing Rep. Patrick Murphy in the Democratic Senate primary for Marco Rubio's to-be-vacated seat while trying to run Grayson out of the race.
Of course, the Democratic party hasn't tried to run Murphy over and over again, it's just that the young representative (and former registered Republican until 2011) from Palm Beach County is the latest in a long line of moderate, boring candidates Dems have run for state-wide races. With the exception of the untouchable Sen. Bill Nelson, almost all of those candidates end up losing. Fittingly, Murphy has the endorsement of past Democratic losers Charlie Crist and Alex Sink. Murphy also snagged the endorsement of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee before anyone else got in the race.
Today, Daily Beast columnist Eleanor Clift asks the question, "Can Florida Dems squash Alan Grayson?" [And by "Florida Dems," the Clift relic doesn't mean actual Florida Democratic voters, who love Grayson, but her version, the hacks and mini-Schumers who make up the state's contemptible Establishment, which has always feared and loathed Grayson.]
The answer seems to be that they're trying their best.
Granted, the fight has already proved something of an idealogical war within the party, but most brass are too smart to enflame it even more by talking publicly. Clift however does get mega-attorney and mega-donor John Morgan on the phone to share his take. Morgan, of course, is best known from being a major bankroller of recent electoral failures like 2014's effort to legalize medical marijuana and Charlie Crist's post-Republican political career. (He's also literally Crist's boss. The former Gov works at his law firm).
“Alan is a friend of mine, he’s a client of mine, and I tried mightily to dissuade him from walking away from a national platform that most congressmen and women do not have,” says Morgan. “He’s like Barney Frank-- he was a congressman from Massachusetts and he was America’s congressman, progressive America’s congressman. I told him, I hate to see a smart guy like you walk away from the Congress because I don’t see a path forward for you in Florida.”
Morgan clearly thinks Grayson has no shot of winning the state.
“It’s a tightrope with no room for error, it’s threading a needle with a fine piece of thread,” says Morgan. “You have to be able to do well in the Panhandle. I’m a fan of Alan’s politics but he has a lot of minuses."
Granted, Barack Obama won Florida twice and did absolutely horribly in the Panhandle both times, and even though this Senate election will take place in an presidential election year, that's apparently of little import to Morgan.
Never mind that recent polls show Grayson beating Republican contenders by a healthy margin (to be fair Murphy beats them by a healthier margin).
Never mind that Republicans continue to dominate state-wide races by not running insurgent candidates like Rubio and Rick Scott from their primaries.
Never mind that Florida appears in recent years to be as much as a "Get your base out to vote" swing state as it is an "appeal to the middle" swing state.
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