Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Chaotic Start to DNC, As Wasserman-Shultz Resigns in Disgrace, Only
to be Elevated by Clinton to Key Campaign Role
________________________________________
Chaotic Start to DNC, As Wasserman-Shultz Resigns in Disgrace, Only to be
Elevated by Clinton to Key Campaign Role
By Steven Rosenfeld [1] / AlterNet [2]
July 24, 2016
Bernie Sanders supporters rode a roller coaster Sunday, first feeling
exuberant that their longtime nemesis, Democratic National Committee Chair
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, was forced to resign after Wikileak unloaded [3]
thousands of e-mails including some that proved top DNC staff plotted to
sabotage Sanders' presidential hopes.
But then Hillary Clinton issued a statement extolling Wasserman Schultz's
tenure and announcing thst she would become honorary campaign chair of her
presidential campaign.
"There's simply no one better at taking the fight to the Republicans than
Debbie-which is why I am glad that she has agreed to serve as honorary chair
of my campaign's 50-state program to gain ground and elect Democrats in
every part of the country, and will continue to serve as a surrogate for my
campaign nationally, in Florida, and in other key states," Clinton said.
President Obama also issued a statement saying, "For the last eight years,
Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz has had my back. she will always be our
dear friend."
The rapid turnaround, first a humiliating resignation and then a lightning
rehabilitation, speaks volumes about rewarding loyalty at the top of
Democratic Party circles, where, Wasserman Schultz, a Florida congresswoman,
was exposed by WikiLeak's document dump for doing exactly what the Sanders
campaign alleged for months-deploying the party as a de facto arm of the
Clinton campaign when it publicly said it was neutral.
But there are even more intriguing, though distracting, developments in the
stunning spectacle of the chair of a national political party resigning on
the eve of its biggest quadrennial event. As the New York Times and others
reported [4] Sunday, the Clinton campaign was saying that it may not have
been Wikileaks that hacked the DNC's e-mail but instead were Russian agents
motivated by helping Donald Trump's campaign-especially after Trump has
praised Vladimir Putin's autocratic leadership style.
The Times reported, "Mrs. Clinton's campaign manager, Robby Mook, argued on
ABC's 'This Week' that the emails were leaked 'by the Russians for the
purpose of helping Donald Trump citing 'experts' but offering no other
evidence. Mr. Mook also suggested that the Russians might have good reason
to support Mr. Trump: The Republican nominee indicated in an interview with
The New York Times last week that he might not back NATO nations [5] if they
came under attack from Russia - unless he was first convinced that the
counties had made sufficient contributions to the Atlantic alliance."
Stepping back, the notion put forth by the Clinton campaign that Russia
somehow had a role in Friday's release of 20,000 e-mails where top DNC
officials were caught plotting against Sanders-such as the party spokesman
suggesting it might hurt him in southern states if his religious beliefs
were questioned-strains the imagination, even as computer experts say it is
possible. But is a gigantic bait and switch, nonetheless, diverting scrutiny
away from the DNC's biased behavior and her resurrection as Clinton's chair.
How this story continues to unfold in coming days is anybody's guess. When
it initially broke on Sunday afternoon, Wasserman Schultz said she would
step down after the 2016 Democratic Convention ends on Thursday. Donna
Brazile was appointed interim chair.
The resignation broke as thousands of delegates, including 1,900 who backed
Sanders, are converging on Philadelphia and on Saturday won concessions to
change the way delegates are awarded in future presidential campaigns. The
delegates were joined by large crowds of Sanders supporters that flocked to
the city Saturday for several protests, rallies and marches throughout the
city.
Sanders supporters seemed to be on a roll. While not pushing Clinton to
choose a kindred spirit as her vice presidential candidate and running mate,
they still seemed to be shaking up a party status quo. Wasserman Schultz's
resignation, the convention rules committee's pledge to substantially cut
back the number of super delegates-party leaders who can back any candidate,
and the same panel's commitment to revise the way state caucuses award
presidential delegates, were not insignificant.
Sanders had called [6] on Wasserman Schultz to resign following the latest
disclosures and praised her resignation on Sunday. But his complaints about
DNC go back to 2015 when the DNC shut down the campaign's access to the
party's voter file database, which it was using to raise millions of small
donations and contact supporters in 2016 primary and caucus states.
When campaign manager Jeff Weaver protested that Wasserman Schultz and other
DNC officials were "throwing shade" on their campaign, many in official
Washington accused the Sanders team of overreacting. However, Wikileaks
showed that the anti-Sanders bias was real and that Wasserman Schultz did
not intervene to correct her subordinates.
As a result, Wasserman Schultz had become a poster child for Democratic
Party insider bias. Progressives across the country were coalescing behind
her 2016 primary opponent, Tom Canova, who raised more than $1 million for
an upcoming August primary. In her announcement making Wasserman Schultz,
Clinton said that she'd campaign for her re-election in coming weeks.
"I look forward to campaigning with Debbie in Florida and helping her in her
re-election bid-because as President, I will need fighters like Debbie in
Congress," Clinton said.
As part of her resignation, Wasserman Schultz will also not be speaking from
the main podium in Philadelphia. However, her resignation and rapid
rehabilitation is likely to provoke Sanders delegates and supporters. When
Sanders takes the main stage on Monday night, he will make the case to elect
Clinton and defeat Trump.
One wonders how much the Wasserman Schultz eruption will dilute that
message.
Steven Rosenfeld covers national political issues for AlterNet, including
America's retirement crisis, democracy and voting rights, and campaigns and
elections. He is the author of "Count My Vote: A Citizen's Guide to Voting"
(AlterNet Books, 2008).
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Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/chaotic-start-dnc-wasserman-shultz-res
igns-disgrace-only-be-elevated-clinton-key
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/steven-rosenfeld
[2] http://alternet.org
[3]
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-07-23/leaked-dnc-emails-confirm-democrats
-rigged-primary-reveal-extensive-media-collusion
[4]
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/25/us/politics/donald-trump-russia-emails.htm
l?action=click&contentCollection=Politics&module=Trending&versio
n=Full&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article
[5] http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/21/us/politics/donald-trump-issues.html
[6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GZ29EHcgXg
[7] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Chaotic Start to DNC, As
Wasserman-Shultz Resigns in Disgrace, Only to be Elevated by Clinton to Key
Campaign Role
[8] http://www.alternet.org/
[9] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
Home > Chaotic Start to DNC, As Wasserman-Shultz Resigns in Disgrace, Only
to be Elevated by Clinton to Key Campaign Role
Chaotic Start to DNC, As Wasserman-Shultz Resigns in Disgrace, Only to be
Elevated by Clinton to Key Campaign Role
By Steven Rosenfeld [1] / AlterNet [2]
July 24, 2016
AddThis Sharing ButtonsShare to FacebookShare to TwitterShare to Google+More
AddThis Share optionsShare to Email
Bernie Sanders supporters rode a roller coaster Sunday, first feeling
exuberant that their longtime nemesis, Democratic National Committee Chair
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, was forced to resign after Wikileak unloaded [3]
thousands of e-mails including some that proved top DNC staff plotted to
sabotage Sanders' presidential hopes.
But then Hillary Clinton issued a statement extolling Wasserman Schultz's
tenure and announcing thst she would become honorary campaign chair of her
presidential campaign.
"There's simply no one better at taking the fight to the Republicans than
Debbie-which is why I am glad that she has agreed to serve as honorary chair
of my campaign's 50-state program to gain ground and elect Democrats in
every part of the country, and will continue to serve as a surrogate for my
campaign nationally, in Florida, and in other key states," Clinton said.
President Obama also issued a statement saying, "For the last eight years,
Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz has had my back. she will always be our
dear friend."
The rapid turnaround, first a humiliating resignation and then a lightning
rehabilitation, speaks volumes about rewarding loyalty at the top of
Democratic Party circles, where, Wasserman Schultz, a Florida congresswoman,
was exposed by WikiLeak's document dump for doing exactly what the Sanders
campaign alleged for months-deploying the party as a de facto arm of the
Clinton campaign when it publicly said it was neutral.
But there are even more intriguing, though distracting, developments in the
stunning spectacle of the chair of a national political party resigning on
the eve of its biggest quadrennial event. As the New York Times and others
reported [4] Sunday, the Clinton campaign was saying that it may not have
been Wikileaks that hacked the DNC's e-mail but instead were Russian agents
motivated by helping Donald Trump's campaign-especially after Trump has
praised Vladimir Putin's autocratic leadership style.
The Times reported, "Mrs. Clinton's campaign manager, Robby Mook, argued on
ABC's 'This Week' that the emails were leaked 'by the Russians for the
purpose of helping Donald Trump citing 'experts' but offering no other
evidence. Mr. Mook also suggested that the Russians might have good reason
to support Mr. Trump: The Republican nominee indicated in an interview with
The New York Times last week that he might not back NATO nations [5] if they
came under attack from Russia - unless he was first convinced that the
counties had made sufficient contributions to the Atlantic alliance."
Stepping back, the notion put forth by the Clinton campaign that Russia
somehow had a role in Friday's release of 20,000 e-mails where top DNC
officials were caught plotting against Sanders-such as the party spokesman
suggesting it might hurt him in southern states if his religious beliefs
were questioned-strains the imagination, even as computer experts say it is
possible. But is a gigantic bait and switch, nonetheless, diverting scrutiny
away from the DNC's biased behavior and her resurrection as Clinton's chair.
How this story continues to unfold in coming days is anybody's guess. When
it initially broke on Sunday afternoon, Wasserman Schultz said she would
step down after the 2016 Democratic Convention ends on Thursday. Donna
Brazile was appointed interim chair.
The resignation broke as thousands of delegates, including 1,900 who backed
Sanders, are converging on Philadelphia and on Saturday won concessions to
change the way delegates are awarded in future presidential campaigns. The
delegates were joined by large crowds of Sanders supporters that flocked to
the city Saturday for several protests, rallies and marches throughout the
city.
Sanders supporters seemed to be on a roll. While not pushing Clinton to
choose a kindred spirit as her vice presidential candidate and running mate,
they still seemed to be shaking up a party status quo. Wasserman Schultz's
resignation, the convention rules committee's pledge to substantially cut
back the number of super delegates-party leaders who can back any candidate,
and the same panel's commitment to revise the way state caucuses award
presidential delegates, were not insignificant.
Sanders had called [6] on Wasserman Schultz to resign following the latest
disclosures and praised her resignation on Sunday. But his complaints about
DNC go back to 2015 when the DNC shut down the campaign's access to the
party's voter file database, which it was using to raise millions of small
donations and contact supporters in 2016 primary and caucus states.
When campaign manager Jeff Weaver protested that Wasserman Schultz and other
DNC officials were "throwing shade" on their campaign, many in official
Washington accused the Sanders team of overreacting. However, Wikileaks
showed that the anti-Sanders bias was real and that Wasserman Schultz did
not intervene to correct her subordinates.
As a result, Wasserman Schultz had become a poster child for Democratic
Party insider bias. Progressives across the country were coalescing behind
her 2016 primary opponent, Tom Canova, who raised more than $1 million for
an upcoming August primary. In her announcement making Wasserman Schultz,
Clinton said that she'd campaign for her re-election in coming weeks.
"I look forward to campaigning with Debbie in Florida and helping her in her
re-election bid-because as President, I will need fighters like Debbie in
Congress," Clinton said.
As part of her resignation, Wasserman Schultz will also not be speaking from
the main podium in Philadelphia. However, her resignation and rapid
rehabilitation is likely to provoke Sanders delegates and supporters. When
Sanders takes the main stage on Monday night, he will make the case to elect
Clinton and defeat Trump.
One wonders how much the Wasserman Schultz eruption will dilute that
message.
Steven Rosenfeld covers national political issues for AlterNet, including
America's retirement crisis, democracy and voting rights, and campaigns and
elections. He is the author of "Count My Vote: A Citizen's Guide to Voting"
(AlterNet Books, 2008).
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx'. [7]
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.[8]
Source URL:
http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/chaotic-start-dnc-wasserman-shultz-res
igns-disgrace-only-be-elevated-clinton-key
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/steven-rosenfeld
[2] http://alternet.org
[3]
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-07-23/leaked-dnc-emails-confirm-democrats
-rigged-primary-reveal-extensive-media-collusion
[4]
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/25/us/politics/donald-trump-russia-emails.htm
l?action=click&contentCollection=Politics&module=Trending&versio
n=Full&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article
[5] http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/21/us/politics/donald-trump-issues.html
[6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GZ29EHcgXg
[7] mailto:corrections@xxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=Typo on Chaotic Start to DNC, As
Wasserman-Shultz Resigns in Disgrace, Only to be Elevated by Clinton to Key
Campaign Role
[8] http://www.alternet.org/
[9] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
