> In a statement accompanying the botched release, Martin said it “does not meet my standards, and it won’t meet your standards” but was being published to restore trust in the party. He wrote he had withheld the report after last November’s Democratic victories in Virginia and New Jersey to avoid distraction but acknowledged the decision only created a larger one. “For that, I sincerely apologise,” he said.
> The explanation cut little ice with Democratic campaign groups amid broader concerns about Martin, who has struggled to keep up with his Republican counterpart as a party fundraiser.
> Norm Solomon, a co-founder of the online activist group RootsAction, said by phone on Friday: “It’s a shambles. Stunningly third rate. You wouldn’t even turn this in as an undergrad paper and expect to get a passing grade at a college with standards. Unfortunately, at every stage of the algorithm that unfolded, Martin took the wrong turn.”
> He added: “I don’t think this is hindsight. It’s common sense if you want a project to encompass the scope of the problem and suggest sufficient solutions you don’t give it to one guy who happens to be your friend and then let it sit when garbage is submitted. You deal with the fact that it needs a vast overhaul and you don’t accept the idea that the source material remains a mystery.”
OhioValleyCat on
Democrats need to find a master political strategist to run the Democratic Party. There’s too much material that Trump and Republicans are giving the Democrats from fancy ballrooms, the Tesla Chainsaw Massacre/DOGE, multiple felon conviction President, crony capitalism, elective wars, and other corruption. The 2026 elections shouldn’t even be close, if the Democrats were properly organized, energized, and savvy.
RecipeFunny2154 on
Personally, I am mostly just shocked that they don’t seem to have an official, well funded research arm that does this stuff by default. It seems like a retrospective is one of the better things they could be doing internally, yet they don’t. Reminds me of some jobs I’ve had where the issue is really just that they don’t even really want to know.
bensquirrel on
he didn’t release it. now he released it wrong. this whole issue seems like bullshit
kooldarkplace on
Dude is a dweeb. But I suppose that’s also why he got the job.
Ghosts_and_Empties on
We have all the smart people and this is what we get?
kafka_lite on
This whole thing seems like a made up controversy. Like it was somehow a tradition that every election the losing party releases a document shitting on itself.
1. Don’t have your candidate show up for a debate unable to talk.
Everything after that is kinda trivial.
mowotlarx on
David Hogg should be running the DNC. The same old establishment insider consultant circle isn’t working. Do anything else.
notassigned2023 on
I, for one, dislike the need for public flagellation, especially when there were at least a dozen reasons for this loss, not simply a big one or two. However, this guy needs to go.
KiKiKimbro on
The man is worthless. I’m sorry but he is. It’s quite literally SIX MONTHS from midterms and he’s led NOTHING to get them on track to do what we and our allies need them to do — which is to win both chambers. Why hasn’t he been fired. Ridiculous.
Sensitive-Flamingo84 on
He straight up lied throughout the Pod Save interview, so aside from his asshole behavior and ridiculous logic during the interview as well, OF COURSE he should be fired immediately.
ThurstonTheMagician on
I mean he got his buddy to do it “free” truly embarrassing
brokenmessiah on
TYT did a great dissection of it.
While I’m sure midterms will look good for Democrats, unless some MAJOR things are happening, I do not see these Democrats winning nevermind being competitive in 2028. If Republicans lose against these incompetent ass politicians, its 100% them just throwing the game entirely.
That paper truly made it seem as though they have no idea why they lost.
ProfessorPitiful350 on
Why did Kamala Harris lose? It’s sad that the DNC cant just keep it simple and honest. (I haven’t read, and won’t be reading, the report.)
Why Kamala Harris Lost the 2024 Presidential Election (and would she have ever won a primary? Answer: NO.)
1) She is a woman. (America will be the last OECD country to elect a woman.)
2) Kamala Harris is unlikeable. (Her own party shows little interest in her.)
3.) She’s also Black. (Given the first two, that doesnt help).
Simple. And Honest.
TheHomersapien on
Nah, let’s just leave all these losers in charge, let them make all of the same old decisions, and expect a different result in 2028.
Gamerxx13 on
he makes me so disappointed in the dnc. kept on saying we learned the lessons from the 2024 election but didn’t even have a correct report
Constant_Flamingo828 on
The most important point is that they did not want to do a real report. Because it would have proved everything the DNC does is wrong. They appease big donors. Let Israel walk all over them. Only care about fringe issues.
LiminyWrenn on
Good. If the DNC is ever going to get a shred of credibility back, it has to start with Ken Martin leaving in disgrace.
OppressedCow6148 on
I feel like this autopsy is useless at this point because the landscape of 2024 to 2026 is like living on a different planet. If the point of an autopsy is to guide the party on what the voter truly wants, then yes it should have be released in a timely manner. But since it wasn’t and one entire political party has now been co opted it just feels pointless. Say that Palestine was an issue, okay. Aren’t we so far past that? Because if in 2026 you don’t agree that Israel is a pariah country and what is happening in Palestine is a genocide and moral failing that we also have to take responsibility for, what are you even doing?
All of this to say, if we continue to look in our rear view mirror, we will always be playing defense. Anyone sane (not GOP) wants a reason why this madness has befallen us. There isn’t a black and white answer. You won’t find it in a report. It is many decades of degradation of our rights, not destroying the confederacy and advocating for civil rights. The answer doesn’t lie with Ken Martin or the DNC and neither does the solution. So I think we should just all roll up our sleeves and volunteer, phone bank, vote, donate, help in any way you can to right this ship. And don’t comment any doomerism or “we’re cooked”. I don’t believe that and don’t want to hear it.
octopusinwonderland on
All they care about is getting money from donors to keep their cushy jobs. The “we’re better than the other guy” gambit has worked for a long time to deliver votes and thus the political access their donors crave, but it’s hitting a wall and they’re got nothing else.
tuttlebuttle on
No one will ever trust this guy again. He’s not a good leader. He really should just quit.
CobraPony67 on
Seems like he is holding the position but not doing anything but phoning it in. When he was pushed to finish his homework, he failed miserably. Get him out of there and put someone that actually wants the job and is passionate about getting the Democrats united to take back the house, senate, and the White House.
Imyoteacher on
They are all in on the con. Don’t let the term Democrat fool you!
skil12001 on
I remember him on John Stewart’s weekly show and thinking…. This guy has to go
Cold_Specialist_3656 on
He sabotaged the autopsy because DNC leadership knew it would say things they wouldn’t like.
Pass it off to a crony. Don’t pay any money for it. Delay until it’s too late to be actionable then bury it.
It’s all very intentional. DNC leadership serves their corporate donors. They’ve been at this game for a long time.
Remember when Manchin was the scapegoat for “why we can’t have nice things”?. Then he got replaced by Sinema. Then Fetterman. Before that there was Lieberman.
Theres always just enough pesky holdouts to prevent the party from doing what their base wants. And it’s by design.
The only solution is to primary them all. Your vote in the primary is the only way to save the party from the corporate stooges that have been running it into the ground for 30 years.
Party leadership will perk up very quickly once they become afraid of losing their power and oligarch gravy train. Just a few shock losses of corporate blessed candidates is enough. Mamdani and Platner are already creating “concern” among the sold out geriatric wing.
Chambanasfinest on
“Martin assigned the latest report to Paul Rivera, a Democratic consultant and friend he has known more than 20 years, on a part-time and unpaid basis.”
Yeah this is pretty inexcusable. Especially when you look into Rivera’s background and see that he is a (to put it mildly) polarizing figure among the Dems. I hadn’t known he was hand-picked to write the report by Martin and given NO BUDGET. That’s profoundly more damning and totally unserious.
Even if the report had been well-prepared, Martin would still be in hot water because he’s really, really struggling to fundraise. The Ds have also taken on a lot of debt. Having a major leadership transition six months out from the midterms isn’t ideal by any means, but the status quo certainly isn’t working. Bring in Ben Wikler and right the ship.
DKDamian on
The democrats have had so long to get themselves in order and they really haven’t. Doesn’t bode well for their future.
NimusNix on
The lesson here – he was better off not releasing it.
Seriously, there is nothing to do to please these people. They are a cancer on the party and will lead to ruin because they sniff their own farts.
BabyYodaX on
That “autopsy” was a fucking disgrace. Do you want to learn what went wrong and avoid making the same mistakes again, or not?
He needs to go.
Terrapin621 on
I miss Jaime Harrison.
SilentRunning on
The ENTIRE Dem Leadership should resign.
BothCan8373 on
If i were him. I wouldnt show my face in public ever again. Of course I possess shame and its unclear whether he does or not. The level of incompetence and irresponsibly is staggering.
This is damning proof that the dnc leadership does not care about you or america all. We are facing authoritarian christofascist takeover and we get what looks like a 190 page freshman paper trying to hit a word count through chatgpt.
Not that I particularly think we should care about the donor class, but imagine you are a large corpo or wealthy individual, why the hell would you donate to this fucking mess? Of course you would donate to the republican party because even if it is evil, they have a goddamn plan.
As for the dnc chair himself, even if we give him the kindness which he doesnt deserve of having picked the wrong guy for the report… ok he should VERY OBVIOUSLY have gone to plan B of hiring a professional team instead of burying his head in the sand hoping it would go away.
32 Comments
Excerpt from the article
> In a statement accompanying the botched release, Martin said it “does not meet my standards, and it won’t meet your standards” but was being published to restore trust in the party. He wrote he had withheld the report after last November’s Democratic victories in Virginia and New Jersey to avoid distraction but acknowledged the decision only created a larger one. “For that, I sincerely apologise,” he said.
> The explanation cut little ice with Democratic campaign groups amid broader concerns about Martin, who has struggled to keep up with his Republican counterpart as a party fundraiser.
> Norm Solomon, a co-founder of the online activist group RootsAction, said by phone on Friday: “It’s a shambles. Stunningly third rate. You wouldn’t even turn this in as an undergrad paper and expect to get a passing grade at a college with standards. Unfortunately, at every stage of the algorithm that unfolded, Martin took the wrong turn.”
> He added: “I don’t think this is hindsight. It’s common sense if you want a project to encompass the scope of the problem and suggest sufficient solutions you don’t give it to one guy who happens to be your friend and then let it sit when garbage is submitted. You deal with the fact that it needs a vast overhaul and you don’t accept the idea that the source material remains a mystery.”
Democrats need to find a master political strategist to run the Democratic Party. There’s too much material that Trump and Republicans are giving the Democrats from fancy ballrooms, the Tesla Chainsaw Massacre/DOGE, multiple felon conviction President, crony capitalism, elective wars, and other corruption. The 2026 elections shouldn’t even be close, if the Democrats were properly organized, energized, and savvy.
Personally, I am mostly just shocked that they don’t seem to have an official, well funded research arm that does this stuff by default. It seems like a retrospective is one of the better things they could be doing internally, yet they don’t. Reminds me of some jobs I’ve had where the issue is really just that they don’t even really want to know.
he didn’t release it. now he released it wrong. this whole issue seems like bullshit
Dude is a dweeb. But I suppose that’s also why he got the job.
We have all the smart people and this is what we get?
This whole thing seems like a made up controversy. Like it was somehow a tradition that every election the losing party releases a document shitting on itself.
1. Don’t have your candidate show up for a debate unable to talk.
Everything after that is kinda trivial.
David Hogg should be running the DNC. The same old establishment insider consultant circle isn’t working. Do anything else.
I, for one, dislike the need for public flagellation, especially when there were at least a dozen reasons for this loss, not simply a big one or two. However, this guy needs to go.
The man is worthless. I’m sorry but he is. It’s quite literally SIX MONTHS from midterms and he’s led NOTHING to get them on track to do what we and our allies need them to do — which is to win both chambers. Why hasn’t he been fired. Ridiculous.
He straight up lied throughout the Pod Save interview, so aside from his asshole behavior and ridiculous logic during the interview as well, OF COURSE he should be fired immediately.
I mean he got his buddy to do it “free” truly embarrassing
TYT did a great dissection of it.
While I’m sure midterms will look good for Democrats, unless some MAJOR things are happening, I do not see these Democrats winning nevermind being competitive in 2028. If Republicans lose against these incompetent ass politicians, its 100% them just throwing the game entirely.
That paper truly made it seem as though they have no idea why they lost.
Why did Kamala Harris lose? It’s sad that the DNC cant just keep it simple and honest. (I haven’t read, and won’t be reading, the report.)
Why Kamala Harris Lost the 2024 Presidential Election (and would she have ever won a primary? Answer: NO.)
1) She is a woman. (America will be the last OECD country to elect a woman.)
2) Kamala Harris is unlikeable. (Her own party shows little interest in her.)
3.) She’s also Black. (Given the first two, that doesnt help).
Simple. And Honest.
Nah, let’s just leave all these losers in charge, let them make all of the same old decisions, and expect a different result in 2028.
he makes me so disappointed in the dnc. kept on saying we learned the lessons from the 2024 election but didn’t even have a correct report
The most important point is that they did not want to do a real report. Because it would have proved everything the DNC does is wrong. They appease big donors. Let Israel walk all over them. Only care about fringe issues.
Good. If the DNC is ever going to get a shred of credibility back, it has to start with Ken Martin leaving in disgrace.
I feel like this autopsy is useless at this point because the landscape of 2024 to 2026 is like living on a different planet. If the point of an autopsy is to guide the party on what the voter truly wants, then yes it should have be released in a timely manner. But since it wasn’t and one entire political party has now been co opted it just feels pointless. Say that Palestine was an issue, okay. Aren’t we so far past that? Because if in 2026 you don’t agree that Israel is a pariah country and what is happening in Palestine is a genocide and moral failing that we also have to take responsibility for, what are you even doing?
All of this to say, if we continue to look in our rear view mirror, we will always be playing defense. Anyone sane (not GOP) wants a reason why this madness has befallen us. There isn’t a black and white answer. You won’t find it in a report. It is many decades of degradation of our rights, not destroying the confederacy and advocating for civil rights. The answer doesn’t lie with Ken Martin or the DNC and neither does the solution. So I think we should just all roll up our sleeves and volunteer, phone bank, vote, donate, help in any way you can to right this ship. And don’t comment any doomerism or “we’re cooked”. I don’t believe that and don’t want to hear it.
All they care about is getting money from donors to keep their cushy jobs. The “we’re better than the other guy” gambit has worked for a long time to deliver votes and thus the political access their donors crave, but it’s hitting a wall and they’re got nothing else.
No one will ever trust this guy again. He’s not a good leader. He really should just quit.
Seems like he is holding the position but not doing anything but phoning it in. When he was pushed to finish his homework, he failed miserably. Get him out of there and put someone that actually wants the job and is passionate about getting the Democrats united to take back the house, senate, and the White House.
They are all in on the con. Don’t let the term Democrat fool you!
I remember him on John Stewart’s weekly show and thinking…. This guy has to go
He sabotaged the autopsy because DNC leadership knew it would say things they wouldn’t like.
Pass it off to a crony. Don’t pay any money for it. Delay until it’s too late to be actionable then bury it.
It’s all very intentional. DNC leadership serves their corporate donors. They’ve been at this game for a long time.
Remember when Manchin was the scapegoat for “why we can’t have nice things”?. Then he got replaced by Sinema. Then Fetterman. Before that there was Lieberman.
Theres always just enough pesky holdouts to prevent the party from doing what their base wants. And it’s by design.
The only solution is to primary them all. Your vote in the primary is the only way to save the party from the corporate stooges that have been running it into the ground for 30 years.
Party leadership will perk up very quickly once they become afraid of losing their power and oligarch gravy train. Just a few shock losses of corporate blessed candidates is enough. Mamdani and Platner are already creating “concern” among the sold out geriatric wing.
“Martin assigned the latest report to Paul Rivera, a Democratic consultant and friend he has known more than 20 years, on a part-time and unpaid basis.”
Yeah this is pretty inexcusable. Especially when you look into Rivera’s background and see that he is a (to put it mildly) polarizing figure among the Dems. I hadn’t known he was hand-picked to write the report by Martin and given NO BUDGET. That’s profoundly more damning and totally unserious.
Even if the report had been well-prepared, Martin would still be in hot water because he’s really, really struggling to fundraise. The Ds have also taken on a lot of debt. Having a major leadership transition six months out from the midterms isn’t ideal by any means, but the status quo certainly isn’t working. Bring in Ben Wikler and right the ship.
The democrats have had so long to get themselves in order and they really haven’t. Doesn’t bode well for their future.
The lesson here – he was better off not releasing it.
Seriously, there is nothing to do to please these people. They are a cancer on the party and will lead to ruin because they sniff their own farts.
That “autopsy” was a fucking disgrace. Do you want to learn what went wrong and avoid making the same mistakes again, or not?
He needs to go.
I miss Jaime Harrison.
The ENTIRE Dem Leadership should resign.
If i were him. I wouldnt show my face in public ever again. Of course I possess shame and its unclear whether he does or not. The level of incompetence and irresponsibly is staggering.
This is damning proof that the dnc leadership does not care about you or america all. We are facing authoritarian christofascist takeover and we get what looks like a 190 page freshman paper trying to hit a word count through chatgpt.
Not that I particularly think we should care about the donor class, but imagine you are a large corpo or wealthy individual, why the hell would you donate to this fucking mess? Of course you would donate to the republican party because even if it is evil, they have a goddamn plan.
As for the dnc chair himself, even if we give him the kindness which he doesnt deserve of having picked the wrong guy for the report… ok he should VERY OBVIOUSLY have gone to plan B of hiring a professional team instead of burying his head in the sand hoping it would go away.
Unbelievable embarrassment from this stooge.