Be skeptical of unverified and unverifiable sources. Sure the sources could be anonymous democrats; but they could also be Republican political operatives telling friendly journalists something that wouldn't be credible if it had their name on it.

They want to build a literal smoke-filled back room in which to cut deals?
Our era is beyond satire.

Wasn't there a book about this in the 1990's? Or maybe a Wired headline?

Because it's new and different and obsoletes a lot of your hard-earned knowledge of systemV init; as well as making it a level playing field for them young whippersnappers that didn't learn linux by installing it from floppies.