A spokesman for Republican Senator John Cornyn has declared that Neera Tanden’s nomination for head of the Office of Management and Budget is dead on arrival.
This is a good thing, even if the reason, “She says mean things about Republicans on Twitter,” is stupid beyond belief, because she yet another case of a member of the Democratic Party establishment (There is no Democratic Party establishment) failing upwards while wasting millions dollars of donors.
The bill of particulars against Tanden is extensive:
- Covered up sexual harassment by senior CAP staff, and retaliated against those who reported it (Including outing one anonymous whistle blower).
- Has called for cuts to Social Security.
- Opposes single payer, while claming that it might be possible when the time is right (maybe in the year 2525).
- Argued for stealing Libya’s oil to pay for our costs for bombing them. (And creating a civil war, and creating slave markets, and creating a refugee crisis)
- Opposed the $15/hour minimum wage, and then lied about it.
- Assaulted an employee for questioning Hillary Clinton’s support of the Iraq war.
- Her ringing endorsement by William Kristol, the Neocon Moron (that rhymes) nepotism hire who has never been right about anything substantive in his entire life.
- She was worked closely with Bruce Reed on Bill Clinton’s truly horrible welfare “reform”.
- She shut down Think Progress after it unionized.
- Her former staff leaks negative items to the press like a sieve, so her ability to assemble and maintain a good staff is suspect.
The bigger case against her nomination is that it is CLEARLY motivated, at least in part, as another indignity directed towards Bernie Sanders that the Democratic Party establishment (There is no Democratic Party establishment).
Neera Tanden has been the most vociferous critic of Bernie Sanders online, accusing him of being racist, sexist, a Russian agent, and everything short of the Lindbergh baby kidnapping.
As OMB chair, her nomination would be managed the ranking member (or chairman if the sky falls in Georgia) of the Senate Budget Committee, one Bernard Sanders of Vermont.
It’s clearly an attempt to, “Try to publicly humiliate,” Sanders.
To quote someone not named Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, “It is worse than a crime, it was a mistake.”
Spending political capital on “Hippie Punching” because it gives the Democratic Party establishment (There is no Democratic Party establishment) a stiffie is stupid and wasteful.
There is a midterm election in 2 years, and neither Nancy Pelosi nor Chuck Schumer are going to bring out the base.