Knock Knock. Who's There? Fickle Democrats

Fickle Democrats who?

Fickle Democrats who sometimes forget what they stand for, when it's convenient for them to do so. And no, this has nothing to do with Joe Biden or Kamala Harris, I'm talking about the race for Congressional seats.

It's hard to be in the majority in the House when your newest, youngest, most progressive members don't appear to appreciate the benefits of being the majority, and are hell-bent on pushing their agenda, which as we know was NOT the winning agenda in the party's presidential primary. But that's not stopping them, it sure isn't.

And, after the success of AOC and Ayanna Presley and Rashida Tlaib and others, there are now all sorts of young whippersnappers who are primarying the old-timers among the Ds, and are trying to knock them off one by one, and they don't seem to care how that might impact the House majority, or the ability to get the majority in the Senate, or to win the White House, all of which are hugely consequential for anything progressive getting accomplished in the next two to four years.

Yeah, it's hard to be a Dem alright; between the different wings of the party, each impatient with the other, and the purity tests, it's not an easy needle to thread. There's a race in the 1st District for Massachusetts that has caught some attention, from a whole host of perspectives, that illustrates this pretty well, I think.

• The seat is currently held by Rep. Richard Neal, who's chair of the House Ways and Means Committee. Neal has the endorsement of the big national unions, some state unions, the late Rep. John Lewis, the Human Rights Campaign, and more. 
• He's been in office since the year his challenger, Holyoke Mayor Alex B. Morse, was born. (Not that there's anything wrong with being in office for 31 years...ahem). Morse is backed by progressive Dems and progressive organizations, including Move On and Our Revolution, which is the Sanders movement, among others.
• In addition to being the mayor, Morse also served as a guest lecturer at UMass-Amherst.

Outside groups have been involved in this campaign, (no surprise there - we're bombarded with them here in my neck of the woods every election), including American Working Families, which has thrown its support behind Neal. The group ran an ad which attacked Morse's record as Holyoke's mayor, said he was being bankrolled by outside groups (that always makes me chuckle, when the accusation comes from an outside group), and "hit him over 'sexual relationships with college students,'" closing the ad with an onerous voice-over saying

Alex Morse. Terrible judgement and a terrible record. 

After the ad appeared, American Working Families issued an apology and asked that the ad not be aired again, stating that it never intended the ad to see the light of day, that it was "accidentally sent to stations instead of a corrected version," and that they regretted the error. I'm not sure what was in the corrected version, but I can guess. Meanwhile, it was aired, it was seen, and it probably hasn't been forgotten.

Here's the thing, though, about the ad: Morse "ultimately acknowledged having had consensual relationships with some students" and at least for a short period of time, considered ending his race. But, there's a twist:

...the allegations against Morse were muddled after The Intercept published messages from some of the students who had made the accusations in which they discussed potential ways to hurt Morse's primary campaign. One student described himself as a "Neal stan" and expressed a desire to get an internship with the Congressman.

The whole thing is ugly, full of intrigue and party politics, and alleged anti-gay harassment, and yes, some of the students who made the accusations had their personal information shared on Twitter, so they'd feel the pain they deserved for their actions. All-in-all, a classic David and Goliath battle, played out on Twitter and elsewhere.

Now, those purity tests I mentioned, that the Dems are famous for? Among them are the ones about all victims of sexual abuse or harassment are to be believed, and that any hint of sexual transgression is enough to get you booted, right?

And let's not forget the longstanding concept that a person cannot have a consensual sexual relationship with someone who has power over them, whether it's a director and an actress, a supervisor and an employee, a police officer and people he's arrested, or a famous comedian making shadow hands over - not actually touching -  a sleeping woman's breasts. That 'imbalance of power' standard exists in the criminal justice system, in pretty much every HR manual, in most company policies, and in the Democratic Party rules.

Most people - even progressives, I'd guess - certainly wouldn't think that a 30-something female college professor who had consensual relations with her male students would be House of Representatives material, would they? Or that a 30-something male college professor who had consensual relations with his female students would be?

Did I mention that Morse is gay? And does that, or should that, give him a pass on the professor/student relationships? He knows his behavior was wrong; he admitted it was, and he apologized, using the classic "if I made anyone uncomfortable" language we've grown accustomed to hearing.

Now, maybe Morse was set up by bad actors trying to encourage a relationship, but he admitted having them, which puts the ball back in his court.

And now, we'll see which fickle Dem purity test matters: the one that says that sexual indiscretions are bad, the one that says progressives are good, or the one that says depending on who you are, an apology is fine and we'll welcome you with open arms.

The primary is today.  FYI, another one to watch? 39-year old  Congressman Joe Kennedy III is challenging 74-year old Ed Markey for Senate. AOC is supporting Markey....