Former Virginia Governor and Richmond Mayor Doug Wilder has once again attacked one of his fellow Virginia Democrats.

In an op-ed written for the online political website politico.com, Wilder was sharply critical of the job former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine is doing at the helm of the DNC. Wilder called for Kaine’s removal from the chairmanship, writing in part: “I am an admirer of Tim Kaine, whom I backed in his current position as one of my successors as Virginia governor and even recommended for the vice presidency. But a spate of recent losses in races that Democrats should have won underscores what has been obvious to me for a long time: The chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee is the wrong job for him.”

Wilder is at least in part wrong in his assertion. The Democratic losses in Massachusetts, Virginia, and New Jersey had little to do with Kaine’s leadership or the investment of the Democratic Party. In all three cases, the Democratic National Committee poured millions into the races (particularly the gubernatorial races in VA and NJ) and that was money raised under Kaine’s leadership. Kaine campaigned for Deeds and offered campaign advice to him that, according to published accounts, was discounted by the Deeds campaign.

The Democratic candidates in ALL three of those races lost because in all three cases they were the inferior candidates who ran inferior campaigns. The Republicans ran better races and that’s not Tim Kaine’s fault.

And, those three losing Democratic candidates were further hampered by what was happening in Washington, DC. Even mediocre Democrats were winning during the 2006 and 2008 campaigns because the environment favored the Democrats. That is no longer the case. In fact, you could argue that their losses can be laid at the feet of Congressional Democrats and the White House. The voters are fed up with the inaction and bickering in Washington and they showed their anger at the ballot box. That too is not Tim Kaine’s fault. He’s not setting the agenda on Capitol Hill. He’s not directly political strategy from the West Wing.

Further, the DNC isn’t about to drown in leaks from staffers and committee members complaining about Kaine’s leadership. Typically, when a party chair is doing poorly, everyone is happy to jump ship. We saw it with Jim Gilmore, the RNC chair in 2001, with Howard Dean early on during his chairmanship of the DNC, and we’re currently seeing it with Michael Steele’s leadership at the RNC. To date, Doug Wilder is the only high profile person to criticize Kaine’s leadership.

No, this is a further example of Doug Wilder’s propensity to dump on his fellow Virginia Democrats. He has a LONG history of doing this from former Senator Chuck Robb to former Governor and current Senator Mark Warner. He and Kaine have had a somewhat strained relationship. And Wilder helped sink the candidacy of Creigh Deeds last year.

Routinely, statewide Democratic candidates in Virginia are forced to publicly beg for his endorsement. He generally holds out his praise (however faint it is) for maximum drama, keeping the former governor’s name in the spotlight as long as possible. Robb, Warner, and Kaine eventually received that endorsement. Deeds did not.

And now Wilder is at it again, this time essentially pulling back an endorsement. Instead of standing by his fellow Virginian and Richmonder, Wilder was the first to pile on him. Instead of supporting a fellow former Virginia governor, Wilder was happy to throw him under the bus.

And why do this? Because Doug Wilder, now well into his 70’s and into his second retirement from politics, is yet again in the spotlight. His name is being bantered around in state and national political circles. He’s making headlines. It’s about Doug Wilder.

For nearly three decades Doug Wilder has been successful at asserting his influence, perhaps longer than any Democrat in Virginia history other than Harry Byrd. But, it’s generally as thorn in the side of his fellow party members. That leaves me wondering, when will the Democrats in Virginia decide enough is enough and be done with Doug Wilder? How many times does he have to burn them for Democrats to stop caring about what Doug Wilder says?