The political left isn’t content to secretly smelt statues of Robert E. Lee or remove a plaque honoring the Confederate general’s horse, Traveller. Apparently, the Democratic Party’s own history is too problematic to bear.
Over the years, the Democratic Party’s official website has undergone some curious changes. The Spectator previously reported on the Democrat logo changing from sky blue to royal blue after President Joe Biden took office. It seems the “Our History” page is also getting whitewashed.
Since 2019, the history page has neglected to mention anything about the Democratic Party prior to the 1920s. In 2008, the Democrats proudly lifted up the “war hero” Andrew Jackson and the anti-elitist Thomas Jefferson as founding fathers of their party, noting that Jefferson served “two distinguished terms” as president. However, by 2012, the Democrats had scrubbed their history of page of any mention of those two men or, really, any of their history prior to the twentieth century. Now, the Democratic Party apparently got its legitimate start in 1920 with the women’s suffrage movement. Put that in your public school textbook!
On our radar
RFK MOMENTUM A Quinnipiac University poll released this week showed that in a hypothetical election, Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would get the support of 22 percent of registered voters.
‘NOT SAFE’ The Food and Drug Administration is considering banning the nationwide use of brominated vegetable oil. Orange Fanta, Mountain Dew and other citrusy products contain the potentially harmful additive.
SAM BANKMAN-FRAUD A Manhattan jury found Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, guilty of all charges related to defrauding customers of his now-bankrupt crypto exchange. He faces up to 110 years in prison.
Kentucky governor race in a dead heat
A new Emerson College poll shows Republican attorney general Daniel Cameron tied with Kentucky governor Andy Beshear in the state’s gubernatorial matchup. This is Emerson’s last poll ahead of the Tuesday election and is a massive swing from last month, when Beshear led by double digits. In Wednesday’s edition of the DC Diary, GOP consultants told Amber Duke that they were optimistic about the race, and for good reason: 4 percent of voters are still undecided (bad news for the incumbent!), and Trump and his allies are wading deeper into the race.
Beshear has had his share of troubles in the week prior to Election Day. He has been roundly criticized for failing to condemn a racially divisive ad calling Cameron, the first black candidate for governor in Kentucky, an Uncle Tom. The advertisement, from the Soros-funded Black Voters Matter PAC, compared Cameron to the self-hating slave character played by Samuel L. Jackson in Django Unchained. Meanwhile, a recent campaign rally at the University of Kentucky where Beshear urged students to vote early devolved into a chaotic, pro-Palestinian protest. Chants calling for a “Free Palestine” drowned out Beshear on campus.
–Cockburn
Mace’s morals
Representative Nancy Mace’s penchant for using official resources to promote her fundraising activity doesn’t seem to be going away.
The practice, which is expressly prohibited by House ethics rules, is one the congresswoman is certainly familiar with. Last month, she illegally fundraised in the House of Representatives, before reporting herself to the Ethics Committee — which hasn’t announced any movement on the case yet. This time, her infraction isn’t as significant, but it suggests she may not have learned her lesson.
On Monday, the South Carolina congresswoman appeared on the left-wing Daily Show, which she promoted on her official, taxpayer-funded Twitter account. The problem? During her appearance, she directly solicited donations.
“Folks can go to NancyMace.org and support me, because they are coming after me,” Mace said on the show. “I got one of the insiders, one of the establishment insiders, booted out of the speaker’s office, and got someone who’s not bought and paid for by Washington, I voted with the people on that.”
A Republican political operative who’s seasoned in using these sorts of policies (normally against Democrats) said Mace is in the wrong.
“You can’t mix campaign and official activities, period. It turned into a campaign activity when she turned the interview into a platform to solicit campaign contributions,” he said. “She then promoted the interview both before and after — after being the worst because she already knew she solicited campaign contributions. House Ethics had a general prohibition against using official resources for campaign purposes.”
The irony here is that Mace has an incredibly detailed handbook, reported earlier this week by the Daily Beast, about how she is a “thought leader,” how much she should be booked on TV, how many press releases her staff need to send out and more — but apparently not anything about social media guidelines when it comes to promoting interviews where she’s fundraising.
“It is clear to her constituents that she has little interest in legislating and would rather spend her time on TV, building up her personal brand,” one Republican lamented to me.
-Matthew Foldi
From the site
Ben Domenech: Who is Mike Johnson, the new House speaker?
Andrew Tettenborn: Inside the EU’s confused response to Israel and Gaza
Sign up to get the DC Diary in your inbox on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.