It hasn't been a great run for the Democratic National Committee. When it was Debbie Wasserman Schultz calling the shots in 2016, the committee was caught trying to pave the way for Hillary Clinton to be its nominee, with little time for her formidable opponent Sen. Bernie Sanders. If you want to know more about just how bad the bias was during that primary, just ask former interim DNC Chair Donna Brazile. It caused a schism within the party, and Bernie's ardent supporters (of which there are many) haven't forgotten it.
DNC Chair Tom Perez doesn't exactly have a glowing record either. The party has struggled financially nearly since he took the leadership reins. And he's not one for accepting responsibility. The party has paced far behind the RNC, but when Perez was pressed about it, he blamed his predecessor.
But the money woes and the bias were nothing compared to the disaster in Iowa Monday night. Iowa Democrats made the ill-fated decision to rely on a mobile phone app for the results, and the only consistency was the inconsistencies. It's been two days and we still don't know the winner. The DNC insists it had told the Iowa Democratic Party not to introduce the new technology for this year's caucus, due to the high risks associated with it. The Iowa Democrats countered and said they never received any warning.
The DNC's message is "absolutely" a mess right now, said former Obama campaign manager Jim Messina on MSNBC on Wednesday.
"We spent two days talking about process and not talking about the economy and all the lies Donald Trump told last night," he said of Iowa.
Democrats in disarray: Jim Messina calls for new DNC Chairhttps://t.co/qhiS200jnr pic.twitter.com/i6Uhbme7VD
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 5, 2020
Messina predicted that when the Democrats finally get their 2020 nominee, he or she will show up at the DNC and say, "Thank you for your service, we have a new chairman."
"You have no choice here," he added. "You've got to take over the party."
The folks using the #TomPerezResign, including a few familiar names, heartily agree.
In a healthy democracy, Tom Perez would resign today. (As it is the results will probably never be fully determined, the DNC attitude will be “They’ll get over it,” and the entire incident will hang like a cloud of uncertainty over the entire campaign.)
— Marianne Williamson (@marwilliamson) February 4, 2020
CNN anchor Chris Cuomo also couldn't believe that Perez was MIA during the debacle.
CNN’s Chris Cuomo: “where’s Tom Perez? where’s the head of the DNC? Give us a call Tom”https://t.co/lAgOJEpnPV pic.twitter.com/PI08Jv9InK
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 4, 2020
"Tell us it's going to be okay," Cuomo begged Perez.
Well, now we know why he didn't call.