December 18, 2025
"Ken Martin, the chairman of the D.N.C., said on Thursday that he had decided not to publish a report that he ordered months ago into what went wrong for the Democratic Party last year...."
"Mr. Martin will instead keep the findings under seal. He believes that looking back so publicly and painfully at the past would prove counterproductive for the party as it tries next year to take back power in Congress.... 'Here’s our North Star: Does this help us win?' Mr. Martin said in a statement. 'If the answer is no, it’s a distraction from the core mission.'... Some Democratic donors have demanded a more thorough accounting of how exactly the party and Ms. Harris spent $1.5 billion in 15 weeks en route to losing every battleground state in 2024...."
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101 comments:
We don't want to remind anyone of how freaking bad we are at stuff.
Democrats don’t do self-reflection very well.
Seems very likely to leak, spreading out the results.
Spreading $1.5 Billion around can't be all bad. Who got paid?
They may have lost the election, but a lot of people got consolation prizes. What a country.
Here’s our North Star: Does this help us win?
That may be the most honest thing ever said by a Democrat. Ever.
"The unbiased paragons of integrity and credibility that we are have conducted a thorough audit of ourselves and are proud to say that our investigation has revealed nothing irregular."
Very nice. So, can we count on the Times to get a copy of the leaked report and publish it? Or is "investigative reporting" just a sham?
If we spend time learning from our mistakes, we wouldn't be able to repeat them.
Isn’t scraping the report in line with what lost them everything?
The answer to what lost them everything is to keep doing the same thing.
Hey doc, why does it hurt when I do this?
Doc says, whatever you do, don’t stop doing it.
Hey! You could start with real, contested primaries.
I suspect they will find they did nothing wrong. It's the voters that went wrong.
Monotonic. Hopelessly changing.
No queens... super delegates.
Democrazis die in darkness.
I do remember when the press kept asking W if he would have done anything differently in the GWOT. He wisely never answered, because "BUSH: NOPE, NO MISTAKES" is a better headline than "BUSH ADMITS SCREWING THE POOCH ON WAR."
Similar logic may be at work here. Also, the value of lessons-learnt documents depends on having an audience that wants to learn the lessons. There probably isn't much of one. CC, JSM
"What Went Wrong"?
You mean- aside from declining to allow their voters a voice in selecting candidates, appointing an airhead to run in the last presidential election and advocating for policies 80% of the population hates?
You are encouraged to vote for us, but you don't need to know who we really are.
The Democrats North Star was lost due to a nonexistent shady vendor with a Minnesota PO Box.
We heard about this from NYT only because someone believed it was productive…
"We apologize for any fault we may have had in the
party's losses last year and have conducted an investigation, but those responsible will not be sacked. We wish to apologize for putting this report together which may highlight these faults. Those responsible who should have been sacked for doing so, but were not sacked, will not be sacked. The report highlighting these faults that should not exist will therefore not be released. We profusely apologize for ever mentioning this report that should not exist, and wish it to be known that everyone who had any hand in this will not be sacked. The party will now continue having made no changes in the exact same style at great expense."
Burying the bad news. Send Kamala and Tim to Siberia for next 12 months.
If the Republicans did a similar report, the media (NYT) would be leaking all sorts of crap from "anonymous sources", books would be written, and jungles of narratives grown from tiny seeds.
How does one audit a coronation? I'm sure an auto-pen is involved.
They think things are looking good for them in the midterms. They may be right. Reminding people of what they did wrong would only hurt them.
It all started when they dumped the 14th best President in history for a brown woman. It was a no-brainer.
Ken Martin is the guy who had a civil war with David Hogg, his #2 man. Hogg wanted to primary multiple Democrats. Not surprisingly, a lot of Democrats did not want the DNC funding their primary opponents.
Politico ran a story where somebody (a Hogg ally or Hogg himself) secretly taped Martin in a private meeting. I'm confident Martin did not tape himself, because he's about to cry in the meeting.
A few days after the Politico story came out, Hogg was out as vice-chair.
The other astounding thing I noticed is how little money the DNC has. In April they only had $17.9 million.
Maybe the Democrats are counting on Trump to help them win again!?
Trump fatigue.
And the phrase "destined to repeat it" pops into everyone's head.
It wasn't primaries that terrified them, it was David's dainty little fist.
Dims dismiss deep dung doo doo report. No need to turn that stuff over and expose it to the public.
I’ll handle this for that mincing Martin in four words:
“We done fucked up”.
Name one good democrat policy.
as Blutowski, might say 'you ( ) you trusted us,
Allegedly best of intentions… perennially disastrous results.
This will force Democrats to depend on Soros and fraud for campaign money. US billionaires don’t set money on fire.
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." -- George Santayana
The only thing that would help Democrats win would be dissembling about their policies, because as soon as they become known, they are as popular as syphilis.
See no evil, hear no evil, is a wicked solution. The Democrats need to transition, baby.
Does this help us win?
Maybe the question to ask is, 'Does us winning help?'
The report probably said something like "Democrat policies and programs and ideas are completely unpopular and no one wants what we are selling!"
How can the DNC release a report like that?
Josephbleau said...
“US billionaires don’t set money on fire.“
True, but they don’t like betting on a losing horse either.
Dems just took another special election state senate seat in KY in the most blowout fashion.
2026 just keeps getting uglier for the red team. As for not wanting to to go public with the report, why would they want to tip their hand?
The Democrats are forever trying to keep Americans from knowing things.
Report: Democratic dictations are not a viable choice. Our empathetic entreaty is to abort, sequester, NOW... uh, now.
Mistakes were made and things happened.
Bob Boyd said...
“The Democrats are forever trying to keep Americans from knowing things.“
That’s exceptionally rich considering that at almost at the exact same time we have;
“The biggest question that Republicans need to answer is: If you wanted to talk to Smith, how come you didn’t do it publicly? How come you had to have it behind closed doors?” the former attorney general Erik Holder said. “Because you knew that everything that he did was right, was consistent with the law [and] was sanctioned by the courts.”
"What difference does it make at this point?"
"Does this help us win?" is the endless mantra of the McKinsey Striver Goblin. T.S. Eliot said it best that, “Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm; but the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.”
I'm dubious "they don't mean to do harm" though.
Focus groups they ran for the report probably told them that a plurality of Americans associate their party with their bitchy nagging ex-wife and lisping gay sex-offenders, but the report undoubtedly used much more tact.
"I'm dubious "they don't mean to do harm" though."
Ask Donald Trump.
I suspect the report said the Democrat lost tons of votes, especially with white men, because of various Liberal/left policies. And since the Democrats have zero intention of changing of those policies, it would be "counter-productive" to publish it.
OTOH, the report could have said that the D's didn't cheat as well as they did in 2020. The recomendation was to cheat harder in 2028. Again, "counterproductive" to publish.
Unlike the R's, the D's actually stand for something and want to implement it. They also think long term. They're willing to lose today, to get a bigger win tommorrow. Unlike the R's - who cant think past their nose.
I usually come here to read the comments and I'm glad I did so on this post. Some of the best and wittiest bon mots I have encountered in quite a while, surpassing even the typical collection to which I have become accustomed. Well, except for Ronald J. Ward, or whoever has chosen that nom de plume. He or she is kind of a turd in an otherwise pristine punchbowl.
Today, Johnson and Thune said they were closing down Congress for the holidays and a trip to the wailing wall. So they don't confirm trump's appointees or pass any desired legislation. Desired by their voters that is.
Look for the R leadership to accomplish their objective in 2026 of sabatoging Trump and losing the D's in 2026.
The DNC doesn't want to admit that they are still pushing the same failed policies. Hoping they can get lucky if they keep pushing the Epstein photos.
RCOCEAN II said...
OTOH, the report could have said that the D's didn't cheat as well as they did in 2020. The recomendation was to cheat harder in 2028. Again, "counterproductive" to publish.
Fulton County just admitted they illegally counted 315,000 votes and they have no records of those ballots ever existing in 2020.
As more democrat voters get deported the gap just gets wider.
The only hope Democrats have is for Trump to keep sending money to Israel and Ukraine and for him to keep doing nothing about housing prices.
Eventually people ask how 159 million votes could be cast in 2020 when there were 133 million registered voters.
Eventually their report just says we need didn't get enough "turnout."
bagoh20 said...
We don't want to remind anyone of how freaking bad we are at stuff.
bagoh's Iron Law: If they could learn lessons they wouldn't be on the Left.
Jin got ahead of it in the gendercare elimination post. Naturally, dems will dump gender care because they really don't care. Just pretending in order to maintain corner the mentally ill votes.
"jim said...
"This is actually good news for the Democrats! A large majority of the populace does not support this care for minors, and it is a major losing issue if Democrats remain staunch supporters. Hopefully hospitals will end the practice, and Democratic leadership will see that the public furor over it is limited to a very small but vocal minority and realize it's time to move on. It's time to tackle "winnable" policy issues!"
Oh, they will spin it. But cannot deny, Biden got Dollar store to back and a quarter, and eggs to $8.00 a dozen. Dems get control, gonna be $2.00 and $10.00
Fox says:
"Harvard economist says Trump inflation report leaves ‘no other way to spin it’ but good news
November inflation falls under 3%, beating economist expectations"
Postmortem reports are worthless. Remember 2012 when the Republican Party concluded it would never win another election unless it adopted open-border immigration policies?
Here's hoping they don't learn a damn thing.
The Republicans produced such a thing after losing in 2012, and it recommended moderating in tone and moving toward the center. Then Trump came along.
But they did nothing wrong at all. It was just a problem with their messaging. A slew of podcasts financed by Soros will fix that.
Vance said...
.."The report probably said something like "Democrat policies and programs and ideas are completely unpopular and no one wants what we are selling!"
my guess is the report was Much Shorter:
"The Dogs Don't Like the Dogfood"
and the solution is (was (and will be)): get new dogs
"Ronald J. Ward, or whoever has chosen that nom de plume"
I don't wot his name, either; I haven't any idea what it is. Jukes, would be my guess from the look in his eyes. How do you do, Mr. Jukes? And how is that dear little brother of yours, with the two heads? - Dorothy Parker
"how little money the DNC has. In April they only had $17.9 million. "
Just very large money washing operation, millions come, millions go but no one will say where it all goes. Rhode Island real estate in one good guess.
Tom T. said...
The Republicans produced such a thing after losing in 2012, and it recommended moderating in tone and moving toward the center. Then Trump came along.
Romney republicans produced that report. They tried to run Jeb in 2016 and Desantis in 2024.
It also misidentified the "center."
Can't have a report on how the President who was selected by the DNC picked a VP who had garnered precisely zero primary votes, who then was forced out by the DNC but screwed them by designating the VP as his successor so they didn't have any actual primary or selection process involving voters.
It might make the DNC look bad.
Most transparent party ever!
"Mason G said... What Went Wrong
... appointing an airhead to run in the last presidential election and advocating for policies 80% of the population hates?"
Generally, I'm opposed to assisting the Dems toward self-understanding and better policies. But as I read Mason G's list, I realized that we could tell them to their faces and they wouldn't change. The Commies and the dinosaurs died because they didn't change and now there's a third extinction event going on - the Dems. They think, at the moment, that the turmoil caused by needed reforms instituted by Trump will give them the next election. But, by the next election, the effects of reform will be what's felt. Miami v. Somalia-by-the-Hudson.
Coming from Minnesota, Ken Martin is used to winning because the local media paper over all the sins of the DFL (what Minnesota calls Democrats). He couldn't explain losing because he never loses and he never has to explain his failures because by definition he farted pure silk. His only other conclusion - do it the Minnesota way and fraud up a storm!
With the Democrats, the future is certain, it is only the past that is unpredictable.
And Trump has decided NOT to release the report and video of the killing of survivors of the alleged drug boat attack. Whenever a politician, right or left, refuses to release a report or video, you know they have something to hide.
I don’t care if it’s publicly released, as long as it’s internally used.
As usual I am much more interested in the comments of the Times readership than in the article. The readers are unanimous in their disgust towards the party.
Kakistocracy said...
I don’t care if it’s publicly released, as long as it’s internally used.
Democrat voters don't care what their leaders think.
They just obey because they are stupid sheep.
"Democrat voters don't care what their leaders think."
Well... Democrat leaders don't care what their voters think either, so it's all good.
I'd like to know why Hakeem Jeffries begged Jeffrey Epstein for money. I'd like to know why the hack D Media are not interested in the democrat female from the Virgin Islands was texting Jeffrey Epstein during a hearing with one of Trump's old attorneys? and Epstein was telling her what to say.
but this:
"Democrats are sinking like a stone, and the new Quinnipiac poll makes it official: their congressional approval rating has hit a historic low of just 18%, with a brutal 73% disapproving."
Shorter KAK. I remain loyal to the corrupt Democreeps!
More from the Quinnipiac poll:
"The real kicker? Democrats are turning on their own party. Only 42% of Democratic voters approve of how their representatives in Congress are performing, while 48% disapprove. Back in October, the numbers were 58% approval and 36% disapproval among Democrats. That's a 28-point nosedive in just two months.
This is not a universal anti-Congress sentiment either. An impressive 77% of Republican voters approve of their party's performance. The enthusiasm gap couldn't be clearer."
oh. my.
The Dems get most of their money from illegal over-seas communist dictators - like China - and the Soros family.
Peachy said...
More from the Quinnipiac poll:
"The real kicker? Democrats are turning on their own party. “
I think we have a BINGO.
“Democrat voters don't care what their leaders think.
They just obey because they are stupid sheep.”
That is extremely unfair to sheep.
bagoh's Iron Law. I like it. Thanks, North
rehajm’s Iron law- turn the fucking iron off when you’re done with it so when we drive half an hour to the movies and rehajm relaxes in his seat ready to watch a movie you don’t have to turn to rehajm and say oh, I may have left the iron on…
Democrats see Trump still in office and are demanding someone ‘do something’. How could he still be in office? they cry. I mean it’s almost been a whole fucking year…
“Does this help us win?”
Is our Democrats learning?
"Is our Democrats learning?"
Based on the news coming out of Minnesota, they seem to have gotten awfully good at dipping into taxpayer pockets for their own enrichment.
Learned behavior or innate?
"Some Democratic donors have demanded a more thorough accounting of how exactly the party and Ms. Harris spent $1.5 billion in 15 weeks en route to losing every battleground state in 2024...."
LOL, good luck with that, suckers!
If donors are having to ask where the money went a year later ... and that's being now hidden from them because the DNC doesn't feel like that would be productive to release a report about ... then that's really all the donors need to know.
They should never donate ever again. They got robbed.
They just need to improve their messaging.
Kak/Richsockpuppet/paidActbluetroll said...
"I don’t care if it’s publicly released..."
Whateve happened to "let the chips fall where they may," hypocrite?
I bet it was the racist heterosexist patriarchal nazis.
Wince: "Is our Democrats learning?"
That reminds me: I have always thought that W was a victim of (maliciously) poor transcription. Watch the tape: he actually says "Rarely is the question asked: are..is...are children learning?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ej7ZEnjSeA
In other words, as many of us do, he tries to correct his grammar mid-sentence, twice, because we don't think in perfect grammar. His final answer is actually grammatical: "are children learning?"
If I had more time, I would research how he usually pronounces "our:" as "arrr," or as "ow-ur." The latter would tend to show he was really saying "are." But even "arrr" would just show he says "our" and "are" the same.
Of course the Trump solution is better: "screw you if you don't like how I talk. Covfefe!" CC, JSM
I am ecstatic that the DNC has decided to shit on their donors and fail to do the due diligence necessary after blowing through their money with horrible results. We all saw how stupidly Harris spent and we have all read about the cash on hand problem the DNC has. This is a delightful public repudiation of their own promises and slap in the face to the DNC members who “investigated” and assembled their “autopsy.”
The best outcome democrats can hope for is some kind of mass amnesia, which (luckily for them) is a common occurrence for D voters. But there is the niggling little problem of how to finance the 2026 media blitz against Orange Hitler with fewer donors. They already borrowed millions last month just to cover expenses for the 3 off-year races in blue states.
May they continue to spin and toil and achieve nothing.
Thank you to those who quoted Kak yakking about “hope they use it internally” because I skip its posts and woulda missed that gem. You, see our low functioning leftist poop flinger is revealing how little he comprehends. Martin said “ will not publish” meaning he and whoever assembled the report are the only ones who can read it. It will not be internally distributed because that is publishing, it would be leaked and he fears that more than he fears telling donors no.
The rest of us know that electronic sharing of documents is publishing. It no longer means offset printing and mailing copies.
Thanks for the laughs. Great way to start my day.
👆 Perhaps it was scrapped because the reasons were obvious. Running an octogenarian incumbent who was clearly in decline followed by a VP that was uninspiring and unable to coherently separate herself from an unpopular President and chart a new path.
Reasons for scrappage:
(1) The avoidance of saying "president Biden" is second only to their psychotic avoidance of saying "president Trump."
(2) Any discussion of Harris is any context is bad news for democrats, so avoiding that whole campaign thing is the better route.
(3) Any accounting, as Fani Willis is also learning this week, would reveal widespread fraud, waste, and generally idiotic
cash-burning that would further alienate the few rich lefties who aren't tech widows/ex-wives severely hampering fundraising at a time when the DNC is borrowing to make monthly payroll.
(4) Texas. If you haven't heard Martin's harebrained scheme to burn through even more donor cash next Fall I recommend looking it up. Folly like that might scare donors away completely when the Senate field is tilted so much in the GOP's favor next year and there's a house to try and win.
The autopsy probably wouldn't have been especially useful. After Romney lost in 2012, the Republicans produced a lengthy autopsy of all the reasons why, and then in 2016 Trump won every single swing state by doing what I understand was basically the opposite of everything the autopsy recommended. Democrats in 2024 didn't lose because of tactics or even policy, I think -- they had 4 years of bad policy bearing bad fruit, and a terrible candidate, and the result was a decisive loss. Repudiating the Biden administration and offering voters a different message, different messaging, and different policy proposals probably wouldn't have changed much unless it had started back in 2022.
Judging from our usual suspects I can tell you exactly where you went wrong. You appeal to cretins.
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