Drop Moran

If DFA is going to ever achieve its goals of promoting small-d democracy, it needs to be absolutely free of any taint. That means that candidates that Dean campaigns for also need to pass a rigorous standard, because any controversy will undermine not just DFA by association but will also apill over to other candidates like the Dean Dozens. The support of DFA on your resume needs to be a strong asset, not a talking point liability.

That's why Dean's campaigning activities for Jim Moran need to end. Dean will be a guest at a fund-raising breakfast for Moran on June 4th.

Why is Jim Moran a problem? Ben Domenech has a wealth of links - all stories from the Washington Post - about Moran's various foolish statements of persecution by Jews:

In comments likely to prolong controversy over Moran's views toward Israel and U.S. Jewish groups and constituents, the seven-term incumbent said the American Israel Public Action Committee (AIPAC) has begun organizing against him and will "direct a campaign against me and take over the campaign of a Democratic opponent," according to notes taken by a person in attendance and corroborated by three others.

AIPAC spokeswoman Rebecca Dinar called Moran's comments "ridiculous" and said the organization "had no idea" what the congressman was talking about. AIPAC, an influential and prominent Washington-based lobby, is not a political action committee, by law cannot raise money for candidates and by policy does not endorse candidates, Dinar said.

Look, if a conservative politician were to say that "the NAACP has begun organizing against me and will direct a campaign against me" they would be at equal risk of being called a racist as Moran is now being called an anti-semite. Moran did NOT say "The Jews are pulling the strings" (though I haven't dug far enough into Domenech's links yet...) but in terms of strategic campaigning, blaming any Jews for your campaign travails is pretty boneheaded. I'm not going to go as far as Domenech or Tacitus in self-righteous denunciation of Moran as a anti-semite, but I am going to recognize that he's damaged goods. There seems to be all sorts of zaniness of the unwanted kind following him around.

Moran is no Trent Lott, but for moral high ground against future Trent Lotts we need to absolutely unforgiving here on the non-GOP side of the fence. And speaking from a strictly strategic standpoint, there are plenty of good candidates that Dean can find time to support. Like it or not, Dean's public draw is inextricable with the DFA movement, so any choice he now makes will reflect on the organization as a whole. Even if he owes Jim Moran big time for something (and I personally doubt this), there's a larger goal of restoring our small-d democracy at stake. Moran is not worth it.