Plan B Forum

Leaked Emails Suggest DNC Was Conspiring Against Bernie Sanders

A new leak of internal emails from the Democratic National Committee appears to support the long-held suspicions of some Bernie Sanders supporters that the DNC was working against him.

WikiLeaks released the 19,252 emails Friday that came from “seven key figures” in the DNC, including communications director Luis Miranda and national finance director Jordon Kaplan.

One email from May shows chief financial officer Brad Marshall suggesting that they use religion against a certain possible atheist with a Jewish heritage:

From:MARSHALL@dnc.org To: MirandaL@dnc.org, PaustenbachM@dnc.org, DaceyA@dnc.org Date: 2016-05-05 03:31 Subject: No shit

It might may no difference, but for KY and WVA can we get someone to ask his belief. Does he believe in a God. He had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage. I think I read he is an atheist. This could make several points difference with my peeps. My Southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist.

Another email shows national press secretary Mark Paustenpach suggesting an anti-Bernie “narrative” for a story.

“Wondering if there’s a good Bernie narrative for a story, which is that Bernie never ever had his act together, that his campaign was a mess,” Paustenpach wrote in a May email to Luis Miranda. He lists several examples of such “messiness” and concludes by saying, “It’s not a DNC conspiracy, it’s because they never had their act together.”[so he was attempting to conspire to discredit the idea of a conspiracy]

Hillary Clinton’s campaign issued a statement Saturday evening downplaying the concerns the emails raise and shifting blame to the Russian government.



[Oh brother... the fact that apparently these Wikileakers were Russian hackers, and the connections between Manafort and Putin, and the likelihood that Putin would want Trump to win is an interesting and valid topic to discuss, BUT, the hackers didn't manufacture these emails...]

While the WikiLeaks database is searchable, Heavy.com has compiled a comprehensive list of some other intriguing emails about the DNC’s treatment of Sanders, including committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz writing that it’s “silly” to speculate about Sanders ever being president and Kaplan referring to him as obnoxious.

In an ironic twist, one leaked email reveals deputy communications director Eric Walker mocking BuzzFeed for writing that the DNC had bad cybersecurity.

DNC chair won't speak at Dem convention following Wikileaks fallout

(CNN)The head of the Democratic National Committee will not speak at the party's convention next week, a decision reached by party officials Saturday after emails surfaced that raised questions about the committee's impartiality during the Democratic primary.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz, whose stewardship of the DNC has been under fire through most of the presidential primary process, will not have a major speaking role in an effort "to keep the peace" in the party, a Democrat familiar with the decision said. The revelation comes following the release of nearly 20,000 emails

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/22/politics/ ... ks-emails/

Sue U wrote:I don't see the DNC's internal maneuvering with respect to Sanders as significantly different than the RNC's attempts to stop Trump. I guess the lesson is we expect better of the Democrats?

And as you well know, I am a Bernie supporter, but in November I will vote as hard as I can for Hillary -- as will every other Bernie-bot I know.

I guess the lesson is we expect better of the Democrats?

Pressure mounts on Wasserman Schultz to resign

(CNN)Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz faced intense pressure Sunday to resign her post and was meeting with party honchos about her future, several Democratic leaders told CNN, urging her to quell a growing controversy threatening to disrupt Hillary Clinton's nominating convention.

A Hillary Clinton source expects Wasserman Schultz to be gone by the end of the day, while another Democratic source said President Barack Obama or a proxy for him may need to get involved and call Wasserman Schultz because her posture is that she was appointed by the president.

Wasserman Schultz is holding on, believing "she can weather this," a source told CNN

Short of her resigning, both critics and supporters within the DNC are demanding she issue a statement to deal with the many issues raised by the release of a trove of DNC emails by Wikileaks that appeared to show the party favoring Clinton over Bernie Sanders during the primary process.

In a meeting Sunday that was described as at times contentious, Wasserman Schultz said she wanted the statement issued in the name of Amy Dacey, the DNC's CEO.

"We said no," said a veteran party activist involved in the discussions. "She needs to own this."
Separately, a Democratic operative said Hispanic leaders close to Clinton and her high command were discussing Housing Secretary Julian Castro as a possible successor to Wasserman Schultz at the DNC helm.

Party officials decided Saturday that Wasserman Schultz will not have a major speaking role or preside over daily convention proceedings this week.

The DNC Rules Committee has named Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, as permanent chair of the convention, according to a DNC source. She will gavel each session to order and will gavel each session closed.

"She's been quarantined," another top Democrat said of Wasserman Schultz, following a meeting Saturday night.
David Axelrod, a former top adviser to Obama's presidential campaigns and a CNN senior political commentator, said Wasserman Schultz should resign.

"I would ask her to step aside. I would ask her to step aside because she's a distraction in a week that is Hillary Clinton's week," Axelrod told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union."

One close Clinton ally said the hope is that Wasserman Schultz would get the message and leave her position before the convention kicks off Monday. "But she is stubborn," the Clinton ally said.

Wasserman Schultz reluctantly agreed to relinquish her speaking role at the convention here, a sign of her politically fragile standing. But party leaders are now urging the Florida congresswoman to vacate her position as head of the party entirely in the wake of leaked emails suggesting the DNC favored Clinton during the primary and tried to take down Sanders by questioning his religion.

Democratic leaders are scrambling to keep the party united, but two officials familiar with the discussions said Wasserman Schultz was digging in and not eager to vacate her post until after the November elections.

"She seems oblivious to the volcano that will erupt if she walked into that [convention] hall," said a veteran Democratic operative, who added that as of Sunday morning, Wasserman Schultz believed the uproar would pass. "Forty percent of the people in that hall didn't like her to begin with. She was going to get booed before all this."

While Wasserman Shultz may be in danger of losing her job soon, she originally had no plans to seek re-election to her post as party leader when her term ends in January 2017.

Did it occur to anyone that Sanders and Jeff Weaver waged war on the DNC, the party of convenience for Sander's run, from day one? Although the debate schedule was already set, long before he was a contender, and the delegate system had been in place for decades, they acted as if and communicated publicly that it was a rigged system directed at them. They publicly denigrated the individual state parties that required people to change their registration to Dem to vote Dem.because it was "too hard" on Independents. The fact is, the Democratic Party was created for Democrats and that just annoyed the hell out of the Sanders campaign. Wasserman's was right, they DIDN'T know or respect the rules. I personally think the DNC was pretty restrained in their response to the many attacks they endured from the Sanders team and supporters. Either the Sanders people were willfully ignorant when they claimed that voting irregularities were orchestrated by the DNC in Maricopa County, AZ, or they were cynically playing to the lack of knowledge of their base, many of whom were young and had never voted or followed politics enough to know the truth. If Bernie is not satisfied now, with the many platform concessions he has received, too bad. He.played dirty too and all the whining and outrage is just more theatre for a group that. like Trump, seems to want drama, power and attention more than meaningful solutions for real people's problems.

Guinevere wrote:Debbie is on her way out.

It's no excuse, but as I've said before, Bernie *isn't* a Democrat and simply used the party to advance his own interests and agenda. He has also demonstrated that he didn't really want to play by the rules. So, why isn't what is good for the gander good for the goose? And what did he expect, really?

ETA:If one wants to change the rules, do it after the election, not mid-campaign when one discovers they are not to their liking.