The Fix Is In … Against Hillary Voters
Hi. I’m one of the voters who rigged the primary. When people like Donna Brazile and Elizabeth Warren (though they have walked it back) insinuate that the Democratic primary process was rigged, they think they are just insulting the prior leadership of the DNC and Hillary Clinton. But they are really attacking Hillary Clinton voters and calling us illegitimate. They are saying we were rigged. Meanwhile, the DNC doesn’t even control primaries to be able to rig them, as they are run by the states.
Why would Brazile and Warren level these accusations? Who do they think are the people canvassing for Democrats for say, the Virginia governor race? I guarantee you they aren’t Bernie or Busters. “Hey Democratic Party, what should we do?” “I know. Let’s call Hillary voters illegitimate, those very people actually showing up to phone bank for Democrats. And let’s do it in November right before an election, and when the fire is heating up around Trump and his associates. Now Trump is turning these allegations around and saying we should investigate the corrupt Democrats, not him. Who could have predicted that would happen, except everyone on earth?”
The DNC did favor Clinton. But Sanders was running against the establishment, against the Democratic Party. And he got a lot of mileage out of that. How can you run against the Party and simultaneously cry victim when the Party is understandably wary of you? You can’t have it both ways. In other words, the dislike between Sanders and the Democratic Party was not one-sided; it was mutual. And if the DNC did push Hillary, Russian propaganda boosted Sanders. So he had the much bigger advantage.
There are contradictions in Brazile’s claims. In her book, she asserts that the DNC should not have preference for any candidate. She also claims that she thought of pushing Clinton out as the nominee in favor of Joe Biden. So the DNC should not favor a nominee, but she thinks she as interim DNC Chair can personally select one? This makes no sense. Furthermore, she wanted to replace Hillary after she fainted during the campaign worried about her stamina. So she thought of filling her spot with a guy in his mid-70s. I can imagine that in her concern about Hillary’s strength, she looked to Bernie and Joe but both were taking their afternoon naps.
Further evidence that Donna Brazile is not coming from a place of clarity: She wanted to replace Clinton/Kaine with Biden/Booker? They couldn’t put Booker up as VP because they would have lost a Democratic Senate seat with Chris Christie appointing his replacement — and then they would risk that seat in a special election. With less than 50 seats, Dems could in no way afford to do that. I know this, and I wasn’t even interim DNC chair.
It seems like the Democratic Party leadership feels free to disrespect Hillary voters and the Democratic base because they know we will always be there. They can count on us too much, so what’s the harm in throwing us under the bus to appease Bernie supporters, who they can’t rely on? I wound up volunteering for the Virginia Governor’s race, even though at times I was thinking, why bother? Why should I show up when the Democratic leadership hates me? But I did so anyhow, because it’s all too important and way bigger than me.
Fortunately, the Democrats kicked butt in the latest elections, despite the sabotage by certain Democratic leaders. I was so excited about the gains made in the Virginia House of Delegates, even though I never gave the body a thought prior to a few days ago. I thought, “We may have flipped the Virginia House of Delegates. I have been waiting for this for 20 years, though I never knew it.” And what did we find out during the Virginia race during this new day for the Democrats? That the Democratic base is still minorities and college-educated white women. So nothing has really changed.
And we again saw that Democrats have real openings in suburban areas. No wonder Northam didn’t want Bernie Sanders to campaign with him, who didn’t endorse him anyhow. He would not have helped. Meanwhile, right after the election, Bernie Sanders went on CNN and said that people dislike the Democrats. It seemed like Democrats doing well made for the worst day of Sanders’ life. If he can’t crap on Democrats, he barely has any reason for being.
But thank goodness, Tuesday’s victories put wind in our sails. And the fact that such a diverse group of women were elected lifted us off the ground. And we got those victories despite the fact that some Democratic leaders really pissed us off just days before. And that’s saying a lot, as we were already pretty damn pissed off.
