It's not funny any more........

FREDO, you're nothing to me now, you're not a brother, you're not a friend, I don't want to know you or what you do -- I don't want to see you at the hotels -- I don't want you near my house -- when you see our mother I want to know a day in advance, so I won't be there -- you understand.

- From The Godfather, Part II, 1975

Tonight, I did something I can't ever remember doing before. I left a SCDP Executive Committee meeting early, and I did so because I was afraid that I would throw a punch if I didn't leave.

You will notice that the link to the SCDP website is gone. It's not coming back, either.

I have been hearing that Republicans are going around saying that this is the year that the Democrats sweep everything. Right.

If Bill Giannini had walked into the clusterfuck that was tonight's meeting, he would have smiled, left quietly, and driven to Buster's to order plenty of champagne for the night of August 3, because NO ONE in that room could agree on ANYTHING, even on what they were disagreeing about.

Matt Kuhn, bless his heart, tried to keep control, but no one showed him ANY respect whatsoever. To my friend and brother Del Gill, if I had been the chair tonight, I would have had John Bratcher throw you out on your ass. AND I LIKE YOU!

If I were Desi Franklin and I had worked as hard as she and her committee did to make the judicial recommendations and seen them tossed aside like month-old kitty litter, I would tell the SCDP to do something anatomically impossible and resign from the whole ExecCom.

To the members of the ExecCom, you acted like spoiled children, like out-and-out damn fools, and you should be ashamed of yourselves. When we get our asses kicked on August 3, it's partly your fault. Only partly, because, let's face it, the SCDP has a bunch of underfunded, WEAK candidates who only campaign on one side of town because they live under the delusion that enough African-Americans will turn out so that they don't have to get white votes. And again, they will learn (maybe) at their own peril.

AC Wharton's going to win; hell, he could campaign in a tiara and ball gown every day from here on out and still get 70% of the vote.

The Cracker is DONE with the SCDP. I will support local candidates on a candidate by candidate basis, but I'm not spending one more cent until they can show me that they give a rat's ass about anything more than their own personal agendas.

Hell yes, I've been guilty of that, too, I remember 2000 and the judicial endorsements then, and I was just guilty and just as big an asshole as every one was tonight.

You know what, though, kiddies? I've gotten older, I've gotten smarter and I have survived 6 years of Emperor Bush and I realize the stakes are higher now, and they are a hell of lot more important than the petty warring that goes on at the SCDP. You're all fighting over CRUMBS instead of trying to work together to bake a better pie.

I hate to blow another illusion to bloody bits, there's another reason that we're going to be trounced on August 3: the 9th district Congressional race. If 28 years in local politics has taught me anything, it's that the African-American community rarely turns out that heavily in August, and it's especially so when they are not of one mind. They are very much divided about the candidates in this race, and so are more likely to stay home and wait to see who wins so they can get behind them in November.

(Note: this is one reason why it is INSANE that county races and judgeships have their general elections at the same time as state primaries, it KILLS party-building. That's a state law, so, legislators, get off your collective asses and FIX THIS.)

Back to the judicial recommendations for a moment. I thought the screening committee made good recommendations and had good balance racially (if you think that's not necessary, you're really kidding yourselves) but the ExecCom, led by my brother Mr. Gill and William Larsha (who I have always liked, but had serious troubles even eexplaining HIS OWN amendments!) was having NONE of it.

When the dust settled, Carlee McCullough had replaced Arnold Goldin (???), Lee Coffee (a Cracker endorsee) saw his recommendation changed to no endorsement (apparently because he was the Republican endorsee, and we'll get to THAT in a minute) and Mark Ward only kept his recommendation because Matt Kuhn was forced to break a tie vote.

My sources tell me that this all started, innocently enough, when Gale Jones Carson sent out on her list (of which I am a member) the list of Republican endorsees. This started a chain reaction that had people on the ExecCom insisting that if they had the GOP endorsement, they sure as hell weren't getting ours.

Gee, so what if maybe they were, well, QUALIFIED????? Jesus H. Christ on a pogo stick, what the hell were you people thinking???

Somewhere in his office, I suspect Matt Kuhn is counting down the days until August 10, when either he will refuse re-nomination as SCDP Chair in disgust or be outright beaten. Then, he can go back to his business and his family, where his talents will be appreciated and the SCDP can complete its descent into irrelevance.

I don't plan to be there to watch it, it's too damned painful.

No, I have no plans to become a Republican, why? Are the Rockefellers coming back from the dead?

I will support real Democrats, like Ned Lamont, Steve Cohen, Barack Obama, John Deberry, Carol Chumney, Mike Kernell, Steve Mulroy, Deidre Malone. I'll do it on an individual basis, where it makes more of a difference. I have no intention of throwing any more time or money down the SCDP rathole; they can fight over the corpse on their own time.