In what is tantamount to an endorsement, the DCCC has added LV Congressional candidate Bob Brooks to its "Red to Blue" program. Three other Democrats are running, but the DCCC and Josh Shapiro have spoken.
Brooks is one of the latest candidates to receive the official blessing of Beltway Dems and is portrayed as an Everyman instead of what he really is - the puppet of elitist power brokers in Harrisburg and D.C.
In California, one of the snubbed Congressional candidates, Randy Villegas, has remarked, "It is undemocratic to see DC elites putting their thumb on the scale in this race.”
It's more than a thumb. It's also money and organization.
Some House Democrats are unhappy, especially with the Brooks decision. ""I think the DCCC owes House Democrats an explanation, and I would not be surprised if a number of members decide to put their DCCC giving on hold," the anonymous lawmaker told Axios. "Some of these decisions ... are very perplexin
I believe the Working Families Party made that "thumb on the scale" analogy a bit more accurate. "[T]he Democratic establishment is again putting its thumb on the scale—not to support the stronger candidate, but the candidate who will bend to party leadership." said spokesman Ravi Mangla.
Lamont McClure, one of the snubees, had this remark for Axios. "When I am our nominee and [GOP Rep. Ryan Mackenzie] is toast, I think the DCCC and all its members will be really happy about that."
36 comments:
What's telling is Brooks’ refusal to meet with a reporter from Lehigh Valley Public Media.
As a former reporter, this makes me wonder: if you can’t handle a local reporter, how will you stand up when the party demands a vote against your constituents’’ interest?
Jeff Ward
Bethlehem
I see, once again that Lamont thinks way too much of himself.
It's funny to watch McClure's painfully slow ride into the political sunset. Your love affair with him, and his disgraceful performance during CoViD makes this especially delicious. 2020-2021 wasn't that long ago, despite your tireless efforts to put it in a memory hole. I registered Democrat (from Independent) just to vote against him. I'm aware of several families who lost loved ones at Gracedale have done the same. Good riddance to some of the worst rubbish in NorCo history.
Just shows the balls of Lamont who thinks he 's gonna win. Everyone knows that he is a loser after what he did to Northampton County and how he handled the Gracedale fiasco; that he should lose every Employee vote for one. In addition, everyone also knows anyone supported and pushed by Bernie is the kiss of death so i'll be surprised if he comes anywhere close to winning the nomination.
It’s disappointing that these are the best candidates we can come up with.
Unfortunately I think Brooks may be the best thing to happen to Makenzie.
It amazes me that Brooks who is as dumb as a doornail somehow became the darling of the democrats in this race. Clearly, they believe if he wins, they will be control every vote he makes which is unfortunately accurate. Fortunately, he shouldn't win in November if he wins the primary but stranger things have happened.
It amazes me when you look at the quality of most politicians in the Lehigh Valley. Most sane and reasonable people don't want the nonsense of a being a politician.
This would be funny if it wasn’t such a truly sad and frightening revelation of what the Democrat party has become. Bernie (not you) endorses Brooks as he does the guy in Maine with the Nazi tattoo running for Senate. Do you get it now, Bernie?
Brooks is a joke, Lamont destroyed the morale at NC, Croswell is a carpetbagger, so its slim pickings for us Dems.
This is perhaps the most comical post you have ever made.
First off, you are not really upset that "...DC elites are putting their thumb on the scale..." in favor of Brooks. You're upset that your guy, McClure, isn't getting the approval of those same "...elitist power brokers in Harrisburg and D.C." having their thumbs work in favor of HIM.
Even McClure isn't upset about it, as he's willing to make them all "really happy" should he win.
If even the candidate doesn't really care about it, there is no reason we should either.
Wow, shocker! Democrats fixing a primary election. Hate to break it to you, but it happens all the time.
In fact, for at least the last decade, they don’t even TRY to HIDE it anymore. They created “super-delegates” for the 2016 primary so their voters wouldn’t make the ‘mistake‘ of choosing Bernie Sanders over Hillary. The re-shuffled the order of the primaries to favor Biden in 2020. Heck, in 2024 they got rid of Joe after the voters had already made their choice, and didn’t even bother TRYING to get ANY further input from Democratic voters. Instead, they opted to just anoint Kamala as the new nominee.
Why do they keep doing it? Because their voters don’t hold them accountable. Those “elitist power brokers in Harrisburg and DC” have distracted their voters by whipping up the notion that Trump is a king (and we all hate kings until we fawn all over an actual king making a speech to Congress) or that Trump is a Nazi (and we all hate Nazis unless one is running as our senate candidate in Maine), or some other such drivel.
If you or any other democrat were TRULY upset about the elites putting their thumb on the scale of a primary election, you’d wouldn’t vote for ANY of the candidates coming out of the primary, to send those elites and power brokers a message and make them pay a price for trying to fix an election (again).
I don’t see that happening, so enjoy your fake election on May 19th. You’ve earned it!
10:11, Actually, the Democratic elites usually stay away in a contested party, at least officially. And actually, it is the Rs who usually get mixed up in contested primaries. The state GOP committee meets in Harrisburg and will make its picks, regardless of who is running. Dems ordinarily try to let the people decide
It's amazing to me that Brooks thinks that no one is noticing this.
Jeff Ward
Bethlehem
Bernie @10:18 am: Keep telling yourself that.
Besides, as usual you're asking the wrong question.
Instead of asking why the democrat elites and power brokers are choosing Brooks, you should be asking (and identifying) who those elites and power brokers are.
I gave you examples of how the democrats fixed the last three primary elections at the Presidential level (not the Congressional level which is easier and much less visible). You might be surprised to learn who your party actually answers to.
It all goes back to Citizens United and the wrongheaded decision to consider corporate funding of elections to be considered speech.
What i find ironic is that county employees including gracedale overwhelmingly voted mcclure in. Shows how much all of this doesn't matter as look what happened. As for backing of candidates this is common so why only attack Brooks? Seriosly democrats are floundering at all levels with few decent candidates and no reasonable platform
If the environment in November remains D+6, whomever wins this primary will easily beat RM. The candidate is irrelevant.
"At least officially" key point
This comment is false. I didn’t make it.
Jeff Ward
Bethlehem
Crooksy, uh, I mean Brooksy is a phoney and he knows it.
I've renewed following LVR for this election, and when the LWV Guide came out, I read through the Dem candidate responses, and took notes on and "graded" Brooks' and Crosswell's responses. I was open going into that exercise, but it definitely solidified who I plan to vote for. I read the others' responses, but believe that Obando-Derstine has no real chance, and having followed NorCo politics from a distance for years, McClure may say the right things at election time, but shall we say, is too much of a known quantity.... Interestingly, I have answered two "poll" solicitations, after googling to verify they were actual companies. Today's from Public Policy Polling was unbiased and legit. One I got from Qualtrics a few weeks ago started ok, but quickly stood out as a push poll, as the questions devolved into "loaded" and negative set-ups on questions about Brooks and Crosswell that betrayed the bias (hmm, who was whoever paid for this "poll" supporting?).
Brooks' Op-Ed in today's Mourning Caterwaul was the steamiest pile of manure this side of Dauphin County.
Vote Derstine
He likely thinks you're a hack. Many of us do. I suggest some self-awareness.
Yes and it is a gift because they don't want to win the seat here in the LV as is obvious by this clowns endorsements
Dems win this easily in November, go out and vote but VOTE NO TO MCCLURE!
This is a mess already in Lehigh and Northampton counties with mail in ballots. Wow! Such incompetence!
Hello Ovum! Good to hear from a sane, well-informed poster again. I believe we both are Crosswell supporters on this one. Brooks is untrustworthy and not qualified to hold office. Crosswell is a candidate with the gravitas and independence to hold this office. With any luck, we'll get others in the House and Senate to help bring a modicum of serious policy proposals. Of course, there is still the trainwreck sitting in the White House with veto power.
Brooks must be leading big time. O'Hare would not be spending so much time attacking him for McClure was not losing. Brooks probably supported McClure until he saw his real record. Gracedale is imploding, McClure even took money out of employee pockets by taking the defined bonus money. He balanced his budgets by not filling positions that were left unfilled. The country is in serious financial concerns. There is a lot more that you can't hide by not drinking and losing weight. People who have learned of the real record are upset. Not raising taxes for eight years amidst rising costs and inflation is a slight of hand that will bite Zirisnki in the azz. He is not able to work with others unless he is the boss and not a freshman congressman. He couldn't even work with his party's county council.
It’s interesting to see the Lehigh Valley for All really seems to have stepped in it, with their endorsement of Brooks. Kathy Harrington’s shoveling some really steamy stuff to justify it on LV4A FB page.
I for one will be happy when this Primary Election is over, no matter who wins. Then, and only then, can everybody whose fee fees got rubbed the wrong way in this non-event get back to just bitching about every candidate running in the LV. All the self-styled "experts" can revert to making equally expert predictions about the winners and losers in November. There are SOOO many "smart" people in the LV political commentariat, who know actually NOTHING about how ANY of this works, that it blows my mind.
Ah Bernie, ask Debbie Wasserman Schultz about fixing primaries. The Dem machine tells the lemmings who to vote for. They wanted Hillary and burned Bernie Sanders. For you to say the national party stays out of contested primaries is laughable.
It’s true. It cost Wasserman Schultz her job. People have short memories.
Am I working class? Please define.
Today (Fri May 8) I got a large flier in the mail that portrays both Bob Brooks and Ryan Crosswell negatively, imploring us to "LOOK CLOSER." On the other side is all positive for McClure, "A real Democrat who stands up for us." Typical stuff, but I always like to look up who pays for these things, and this one was "paid for by Lead Left PAC. Not authorized by any candidate or committee." What comes up on a Google search was "Lead Left PAC is a mysterious, newly registered (April 2024) political action committee, as of May 2026. It is actively running ads in competitive Democratic primaries..., prompting speculation of Republican 'meddling' or intervention in Democratic races to potentially influence candidate choice...... Analysts suspect the PAC may be part of an effort by opponents to elevate a potentially weaker candidate in the general election." IF this is true, then McClure may be perceived as the preferred candidate of the GOP.
McClure is so full of himself. The only toast will be himself. Tho if he does slink in office he’ll have a new set of people to boss around, misuse and blame for his mistakes.
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