Party strategist James Carville, still enraged by Vice President Kamala Harris' and Democrats' crushing defeat on Election Day, wants to know how the Harris campaign and major super PACs spent more than $2 billion. I'm thinking.
On last week's Politics War Room podcast, Carville called for an audit of not only his campaign, but also the Future Forward super PAC. Another target is the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
The remarks came shortly after Carville slammed the party for losing male votes with its outlandish woke message and obsession with identity politics.
Lies about polls. $1.5 billion spent in 15 weeks
Mr. Carville's request for an audit was another embarrassing blow to Ms. Harris, whose campaign staff lied to Democratic Party officials about an internal election investigation. Campaign officials had told Democrats and donors that Harris had a good chance of winning the election, but internal polling showed otherwise.
“We were told clearly that she had a chance of winning, (but) it wasn't even a chance,” said Lindy Lee, a member of the Democratic National Committee's finance committee. “I was also told that Penn State was in good shape and that we could win 3-4 in battleground states.”
Mr. Lee complained that the lie would have a negative impact on the party's fundraising efforts.
On top of that, the campaign spent $100 million a week for 15 weeks, reaching a whopping $1.5 billion. The huge spending also included payments to Harris supporters in far-left media in exchange for favorable interviews. Oprah Winfrey's production company received $2.5 million in exchange for a nationally televised town hall. As The New American reported today, Al Sharpton's National Action Network received $500,000 for a tongue-lashing interview on far-left MSNBC.
“Advertising was the biggest expense during the race,” the New York Times reported.
According to financial records from July 21 to October 16, the Harris campaign spent $494 million on media production and purchases, including both television and digital ads. The total amount raised through the election is said to be close to $600 million. …
Advertising was only one part of the campaign, and there was apparently enough cash to spend on everything. Records show $2.5 million was directed to three digital agencies that work with online influencers. The campaign spent about $900,000 to place ads on the exterior of the Sphere venue in Las Vegas during the final week of the race, two people said. Drone shows were held in the sky before a debate in Philadelphia in September and at a Pittsburgh Steelers game in October.
Lee told NewsNation that he is currently $20 million in debt due to imprudent campaign spending. “Infighting and financial turmoil within the party leadership led to some staff leaving the party entirely,” she said.
Similarly, the party leadership is in “total disarray” and nearly all party leaders “will be gone,” Lee said.
Damage “almost incalculable”
No wonder Carville wants a calculation that takes green eyes into account.
Carville, already enraged by his party's radical message with slogans such as “defund the police,” told leftist Al Hunt in the Political War Room that “the Resistance will have a hard time raising money. These fundraisers will be burned.”
In fact, they are more than “burnt”. He continued:
They're in really bad shape right now. And the damage the 2024 campaign has done, the damage this decade has done to the Democratic brand, is almost immeasurable, almost immeasurable.
But the campaign is not the only cause of the party's devastating defeat, which will be under the watchful eye of the bookkeeper.
“We are going to audit Future Forward,” continued the super PAC’s Carville.
We're going to audit the DNC and let people know.
But I'll tell you without full transparency. This campaign we're thinking of raised $1.5 billion, okay? We know that the last Future Forward we saw was $900 million, so we can assume it was up to $1 billion before the election. That's a whopping $2.5 billion.
Do you know where that money went? Does anyone know where that money went? So there are a few places you can start looking. …
I promise you this much. The amount of money and number of lobbyists involved in this campaign is staggering.
Another warning from Carville
But Carville is just furious about more than the ill-gotten money. It did not cause “the damage that the last decade has done to the Democratic Party brand.”
Rather, it was the party's obsession with woke ideology. He said the party sacrificed the vote of young people, especially blacks and Hispanics.
“My suspicion is that there are too many preachy women controlling the party,” he told the Times' Maureen Dowd in March.
“Don't drink beer. Don't watch soccer. Don't eat hamburgers. This is not good for you.” The message is too feminine. …
If you listen to the voices of Democratic Party elites — NPR (National Public Radio) is my go-to place — the whole story is about how women, and women of color, are handling this election. It's about deciding. I say this. “Well, 48 percent of the people who vote are men. May I ask for your consideration?”
Carville warned in April that black and Hispanic men were “leaving[the party]in droves.”
After President-elect Donald Trump harshly criticized Harris, Carville lashed out at Dowd, saying, “You'll never be able to wash away the stench[of Way-ism].”
Mr. Carville, a former ringleader of the Clinton Mafia, has long warned that the party's radical message is alienating voters.
H/T: The Hill
