The Dem organizers should have spent this week riding the wave of energy typical of a national convention, but now, their spin doctors are in red-alert damage control mode. And it was all self-inflicted.
Can you imagine the horror among the inner circle when they realized exactly what news was being released? The Anti-Democratic Party (as they OUGHT to be called, once the details become widely known) made the worst possible blunder considering the current mood of the electorate.
Bad enough that the Dems just squeaked through a very contentious nomination process; a process raising red flags even among Democrats. When even their beloved Huffpo publishes pieces claiming their Primary was Rigged in Hillary’s favor, you can’t just write it off as a Right Wing Conspiracy.
The problem was made worse by the establishment voting patterns of the not-actually-democratic Superdelegates. Does ANYONE still believe a “voice of the people” and not back-room deals ultimately determines the DNC outcome?.
Then there was a strong undercurrent of grassroots support for the out-of-nowhere candidate that took all the experts by surprise. He was the “anti-establishment” guy. His popular support was because he opposed deal-making between politicians and their backers. He slammed big money, big influence wheeler-dealers exchanging cash for political favors.
It was a bitter pill when Sanders supporters learned that he fell short of the votes to take the leadership. But they seemed ready to grudgingly accept it. But that was THEN…
That was BEFORE Wikileaks showed us the fix was in right from day 1.
Their beloved and “impartial” DNC was steering the results in Clinton’s favor from the very beginning. They hijacked for their own agendas the very process where their own people were supposed to “be heard” on the important question of which candidate should represent the (allegedly) DEMOCRATIC party.
Sanders correctly recognized and denounced Hillary’s insider dealings as shady. Now that those allegations have been independently verified by the Wikileaks scandal, what are his supporters to do now?
Let’s recap the some of the issues that came to light: (a partial list with links here)
- (now-disgraced) DNC Chair, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (DWS) was giving marching orders to NBC’s Chuck Todd.
- DNC ran bogus Craigslist ad for women working for Trump.
- DNC pressured NYT reporter concerning Joint Victory Fund story
- DNC approved of organizing supporters for anti-Trump rallies
- Politico reporter shows stories to HIllary before publishing
- DNC discussed bringing up Bernie’s race, religion to damage campaign
- Rhode Island: Pro-Clinton polling interference through Governor who’s “one of ours”
- “Not-cynical-or-racist-at-all” Democrats describing Hispanic Millennials as a market share to be captured, in language not unlike LBJ’s 200 years quote
The list goes on and on, getting more damning with the weight of each story.
With all of these problems revealed, on top of what the FBI director said about her false testimony, how the hell does Hillary still qualify for the nomination? (But obviously she will — especially since the Clinton reaction to DWS resigning in shame was to immediately hire her as honorary chair of her own campaign.)
What will that do to long-suffering Bernie supporters? Will they feel robbed by a demonstrably corrupt system? Will be enraged with the DNC? Are they ready to #BernItDown? Actually, since many Bernie supporters actually stood on principles, not power for power’s sake, they might revolt.
If this is the mistake that makes those astroturf mobs that heckled Trump turn on Hillary, the DNC will have nobody to blame but themselves.
Ladies and Gentlemen, get your popcorn ready, because we are in for a real circus.
