DEM BLUNDER – It's a given that the modern Democratic Party is a house of hypocrisy – members of the elite slumming among the common folk, whose pain they pretend to feel.  But there's no point in a party advertising its phoniness.  Even Democratic operatives are up in arms about this one.  From the Washington Examiner: 

Senior political officials on Wednesday are scheduled to host a mega-donor with plans of making a nine-figure investment in the 2014 midterm elections.

No, Washington Republicans aren't meeting with Charles and David Koch, the deep-pocketed energy titans -- and public enemy No. 1, according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and many Democrats.

Instead, the White House, which has repeatedly bemoaned the influence of big money in politics, will open its doors to Tom Steyer, the environmental activist who has pledged to spend up to $100 million on November's elections to promote his climate-change agenda. Steyer is also a high-profile opponent of the Keystone XL pipeline, a project the Obama administration is still reviewing.

Although progressives were unwillingly to publicly condemn the White House for the Steyer gathering, multiple Democratic sources on Capitol Hill privately said that President Obama looked like he was playing the same political game he so actively criticized.

"If a Republican president did the same thing with the Koch brothers, we would skewer them," a House Democratic lawmaker told the Washington Examiner. "If you're going to talk the talk, you have to walk the walk."

"That's probably the last person I'd like White House officials to meet with," added a senior aide for a centrist Senate Democrat in a tough re-election fight.

COMMENT:  Next they'll be running a benefit so Hillary can pay for her health insurance.  Lots of tone deafness in this White House.  Tom Steyer is a loose cannon, which can easily be pointed right at Democrats.  If I were a Dem operative, I'd keep a discreet distance.  Apparently, no one down there is taking my advice.

June 25, 2014