A large liberal-activism group has started a petition calling on Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) to resign.
“As DNC chair, you have repeatedly failed to act in the best interests of progressives and the Democratic Party. You have lost the trust of grassroots progressives and Democrats. Please resign immediately,” states the CREDO Action petition.
Last month, National Nurses United — which has endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — protested outside Wasserman Schultz’s Florida office and called for her to step down as DNC chair for the “blatant effort by the Democratic National Committee to rig the primary process.”
Wasserman Schultz was campaign co-chair for Hillary Clinton’s campaign in 2008. The nurses’ union protested the limited number of DNC debates, pressure from the DNC for Democratic officials and superdelegates to endorse Clinton early, the suspension of Sanders’ campaign from a voter database, and the timing of DNC announcements of Clinton endorsements just after the Sanders camp announced its own.
The CREDO petition expresses anger with Wasserman Schultz over comments she recently made about abortion.
“Here’s what I see: a complacency among the generation of young women whose entire lives have been lived after Roe v. Wade was decided,” she told New York Times Magazine.
“Young women, especially low income women and women of color, have been bearing the brunt of the right-wing’s relentless assault on abortion rights and have been leading the charge to fight back. Wasserman Schultz’s comment shows how out of touch she is with the progressive core values of the Democratic activist base, and is just the latest in a string of unacceptable actions that makes it clear it is time for her to resign as chair of the DNC,” the CREDO petition states.
“Wasserman Schultz has used her platform for her personal political gain, sabotaged Democratic candidates, sided with warmongers, predatory lenders and anti-choice interests, attempted to tilt the playing field in the 2016 presidential nomination, and more.”
It stresses that liberals “need to show that she has lost the support of grassroots progressives, and needs to go.”
“Chair Wasserman Schultz has repeatedly pursued her own agenda at the expense of the progressive base and basic principles of fairness. That’s bad for progressive values and bad for the Democratic Party, and she must resign. Tell DNC Chair Wasserman Schultz: Resign immediately,” the petition continues.
“Wasserman Schultz’s latest jab at young women is a bridge too far. Especially since it was on her watch that Democrats suffered the brutal loss of the Senate in 2014 to anti-woman Republicans, leading to the weakest Democratic showing in Congress in modern American history.”
Wasserman Schultz was asked in the NYT interview if Dems should heat up their rhetoric like Donald Trump.
“No. I’m the chair of the DNC, and this role requires a lot of aggressive, focused, pointed debate. But I also have a responsibility to not take the rhetoric to the basement,” she replied.
Asked what would be the nastiest thing she could say to Trump and get away with, Wasserman Schultz responded, “I have no interest in answering that question. I’d be doing exactly what I just told you I shouldn’t do.”
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