The problem with being a party activist is that sometimes you get stuck having to defend people, or situations, before you're in any kind of position to know whether you should.
Tonight, we saw:
Calls for resignation The loyalty's all very nice. And I hope to hell he's innocent; he's my senator, too. But - - at the same time, two powerfully-written editorials came out - Star-Ledger and APP - both calling for Menendez to resign. The Ledger calls him a "tarnished defendant," notes the legal fight could go on for years, and implores Menendez to "spare us the drama." APP's is rough stuff, telling Menendez he's "done," and "don't play the aggrieved public figure fighting for justice, and don't pretend that you have some overarching obligation to your supporters to stay on the job."
Ouch. But that's what voters who read newspapers are going to be absorbing with their coffee in the morning. And I would bet that those sentiments will have a great deal more to do with shaping how voters see all this than the all the energetic Democratic party attaboys.
Backlash risk This Democratic display carries a backlash risk - if it ends up that Menendez is found guilty, or has to resign. New Jersey Democrats, particularly those from North Jersey, are already perceived by many voters as corrupt. And only some of that due to Gov. Christie's political targeting as U.S. Attorney.
You've got to have sympathy for some of these folks who were so vocal tonight for Menendez. It comes with the territory. They have little choice. But Democrats, and the NJDSC itself, risk being seen as out of step with most New Jerseyans. Most people will either take a wait-and-see attitude, or outright want anybody staggering under that many federal corruption charges to step aside and let somebody govern who isn't also battling in court.
2015 races And with every Assembly seat up in November, and even the looming question of who's next for governor, this is not a good time for Democrats to be fundamentally out of step with NJ voters. Not on something as big as the leader of NJ's congressional delegation. And not on something as sensitive to weary Jersey voters as corruption.
Wild clapping & hooting Tonight, I watched Menendez' press conference. Have to say, it was a little weird. There was wild clapping, hooting and cheering at everything he said. And that's because crowded in with the reporters were Democratic loyalists, plus people billed as anti-FEMA activists. The anti-FEMA folks were apparently organized by Menendez staff to rally at the same hotel one hour before the Senator's statement, with flyers that promised "food will be served".
I'm sure it was good staff work to make all that happen. But frankly, it struck me as kind of Hudson County. All this loud, unquestioning devotion seems dissonant. And I hope as Assembly campaigns heat up, and posturing begins in earnest to replace Christie, that voters don't look at Democrats and remember a night they tripped over each other to support the powerful guy who ... just ... might ... be ...guilty.