So a lot of (mostly digital) Democratic campaign strategists/staff have posted their thoughts on the Intercept article re: Biden and Hawkfish. I'm going to do the same.

First off, read this thread by @shelbylcole, who put it better than I ever could: https://twitter.com/shelbylcole/status/1248710111436124160

If you still care what I have to say, read on from here.

The article says Bloomberg's firm Hawkfish (which ran his campaign) is in talks to run Biden's digital/data operation, and is trying to essentially takeover the entire party's digital apparatus. https://theintercept.com/2020/04/10/bloomberg-hawkfish-biden-campaign/

As digital strategists, a lot of us are used to shit like this. Every month or two, some Silicon Valley guys or corporate consultants will come along and claim they have the formula to solve political campaigns' digital strategy or something. And it's always bullshit.

Usually, I don't give *that much* of a shit. They claim they can reinvent the wheel (which doesn't need reinventing), they don't get many clients, they flame out, and another group comes along. Rinse and repeat. But this is different.

Hawkfish is promoting their services at a low cost because Mike Bloomberg can shoulder the loss. Hawkfish isn't trying to get clients and make money -- they're only after power. This is deeply disturbing.

It's not just the Biden campaign that Hawkfish is after, either. They're going after huge parts of the Democratic party infrastructure, like House Majority PAC, Senate Majoirty PAC, Voto Latino, the NDRC, When We All Vote, and on and on.

This is a group with really no experience running political digital operations besides Bloomberg's. A record of wasting millions upon millions of dollars for really no return. But that might not matter, because they're offering dirt cheap prices with Bloomberg's name attached.

Bloomberg failed to buy the Democratic presidential nomination. When he did so, he broke his promise to his employees and disbanded his supposed general election independent expenditure, leaving them unemployed. Now, he's trying to buy the entire party's digital infrastructure.

I can't even put into words how fucking terrifying this is. Bloomberg is using his obscene wealth to buy out the party and affiliated orgs and have the entire digital operation run by a bunch of idiots with no experience, who spent millions with nothing to show except bad memes

There's no need to bring in Silicon Valley "break the mold" idiots or corporate consultants. There's no need to "reinvent the wheel." Digital strategists know what they're doing and how to get this done. All we need to do is give them the fucking resources and power to do it!

Hire digital teams. Make your digital director a member of senior staff with a real say on the campaign's direction. Give them enough money to run an effective operation. It isn't complicated.

If the Biden team and all of the major Democratic orgs/PACs hire Bloomberg's Hawkfish group and gives them the power they want, we are so unbelievably fucking screwed. It's no joke. They will lose us this election and so much more.

But it's not just about winning. It's about our democracy. If all of the Dem party apparatus can be bought out by Mike Bloomberg slyly trying to avoid breaking campaign finance law with a bunch of corporate consultants, what kind of democracy do we even have?

I know this thread is a bit disjointed. I probably should've written it out before posting it. But I'm scared. I'm terrified. And I'm unbelievably fucking angry.

Fuck Mike Bloomberg. Fuck his consultants. And, truthfully, fuck anyone who hires this power-hungry, shit-for-brains group. I don't really care if saying it loses me some pals or some potential clients. This is disgusting.