I know this will sound hard to believe, but the folks I know who work at the NRCC are a lot nicer and more professional and more helpful than most of the slugs I've known at the DCCC (since 2006). The NRCC folks take their jobs seriously and do them right. The DCCC people are a joke and seeing them in action helps you understand why Democrats can never win elections, just be lucky enough to watch Republicans lose them (because of the crazy candidates and anti-family policy agenda).
Anyway, a comms official at the NRCC asked me to write something about how fucked up the DCCC strategy of labelling all Republicans as QAnon members is-- as though everyone in the House Republican congressional conference were as crazy and out of touch with reality as Marjorie Taylor Greene (Q-GA), Lauren Boebert (Q-CO), Mad Cawthorn (Nazi-NC), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Gym Jordan (R-OH), Davin Nunes (R-CA), Russ Fulcher (R-ID), Mo Brooks (R-AL), Paul Gosar (R-AZ)... and a few dozen others.
He recommended I read a piece from Wednesday by Olivia Beavers at Politico, Democrats defend some GOP members against Q label. Beavers wrote that the DCCC "plan to label the GOP as the GQP-- the party of QAnon-- is getting some pushback. Not all Democrats agree with this broad attack." She reported that "multiple Democrats" told her that "a few Republicans are being unfairly targeted."
"Multiple Democrats!" Mary, Mother of God... I wonder how many makes a multitude-- and who. True, though these multiple Democrats "say most House Republicans absolutely deserve to be hammered with this message come 2022. But some GOP members stood up against the dangerous conspiracy theories from the start and are still being targeted by the DCCC. One of the multitude stepped forward, wealthy Minnesota New Dem Dean Phillips: "I want to see the Democrats and DCCC hold ourselves to a higher standard relative to truth, relative to fact and relative to principle. And should we forget the consequences of misinformation, then we become culpable." Phillips-- and presumably the rest of the multitude-- are defending one of just 5 or 6 actual mainstream conservatives: Brian Fitzpatrick, from the Philly suburbs, "who co-sponsored a bill last year that put the House-- including his own GOP colleagues-- on record condemning QAnon. 'Brian is a friend of mine,' added Phillips. 'He's a man of principle, a man of decency and the furthest from QAnon supporter.'" Well, there you go. There exists a Republican who isn't batshitcrazy.
And don't just take Phillips' word for it. Another New Dem from the area, Tom Malinowski (NJ) also stepped forth from the multitude to agree that Fitzpatrick doesn't deserve this kind of treatment. Malinowski: "It's totally fair to say House Republicans stood with QAnon after the majority of them voted with a QAnon-inspired mob against certifying the election. I have zero sympathy for groups like NRCC complaining about this ad, given how they've used the actual QAnon messaging in their own ads. But Congressman Fitzpatrick was one of just three Republicans who stuck his neck out to sponsor my resolution condemning QAnon last year." Another Democrat defended Don Bacon of Omaha, who is being attacked in the ads but who isn't part of QAnon. He-- and Young Kim (R-CA)-- voted along with Fitzpatrick against QAnon and got targeted by DCCC ads anyway.
Beavers reports that "members have raised the matter with Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, the DCCC Chair, but he wouldn’t commit to changing their approach. 'It really made me uncomfortable when I saw that ad,' another Democratic member told me. 'This idea that we can we should just contribute to an atmosphere where facts are just not even relevant-- I don't want to be the party that does that.' The DCCC declined to comment."
To some, pulling the QAnon attack ads on Fitzpatrick and others creates an asymmetrical dynamic. They feel the NRCC was indiscriminate in its attacks against Democrats for embracing 'socialism' even if they were centrist. So if Republicans won’t play by these same standards, it has some Democrats thinking all is fair in politics and war. But others worry failing to step in could mean the moderates will disappear, leaving just the Trump-wing
That is so funny... It's exactly what I asked my friendly NRCC contact. Here's the e-mail I sent him: "OK, I want to write about how it's wrong to label all Republicans as Q-Anon backers. But let me ask you-- on the record-- how this is different from the NRCC labeling all Democrats as Socialists, even conservative Democrats (who are sometimes called Socialist-enablers)? Does that mean Fitzpatrick is a Q-Anon-enabler?"
And you know what? He never did get back to me on that-- which is doubly funny since he noted in his e-mail that "The DCCC refused to comment on that as well, but at this point, it’s clear: House Dems are in disarray." Does that mean the House Republicans are in disarray. I wish I could sit down with Kevin McCarthy and Jaime Herrera Beutler in the same room and ask them about that.