The media and the political world has made it clear that they are shocked - shocked! - that such despicable measures were taken to assure that there was not a fair race, but that it was rigged in favor of their candidate, the now presumptive Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton.
It was even revealed that in some states, particularly in Bible belt states, there would be an attack on Bernie Sanders for his presumed atheism, despite the fact that he himself denies being an atheist, and that he is, in fact, Jewish. Given the outrage of many Democrats at the notion put forth by Donald Trump of discriminating against potential immigrants based on their religion (specifically, if they are of the Muslim faith or not), this serves as a glaring double standard practiced by these Democrats, who proudly proclaimed to be members of the party for the people.
For now, the only public figure named in this scandal is Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, and many other establishment Democrats are acting appalled that she has been found guilty and discredited in such a public manner, particularly on the eve of the Democratic National Convention. In a pre-convention breakfast before delegates from Florida, her home state, Wasserman-Schultz was booed off the stage. She tried to make light of it, tried to go on with her speech, tried to express her condolences for yet another mass shooting at another Florida nightclub, but the boos just kept coming, mostly by disgruntled supporters of Bernie Sanders, who felt that their candidate was cheated.
Which, of course, he was.
In the end, Wasserman-Schultz thanked President Obama for her time chairing the Democratic Party and, before the crowd, defended herself by insinuating that Hillary Clinton had asked for her help, and she had given it. And she reminded the crowd that, according to her, the big goal remains the same: getting Hillary Rodham Clinton elected to the White House.
Of course, this came in the aftermath of her announcement that she would be stepping down from her position as Chair of the Democratic Party following this convention.
But, not to worry! She's already landed another job offer, and by none other than Hillary Clinton herself!
That's right! Instead of acknowledging that this was a real problem within the Democratic party and taking this seriously, Hillary went the other way with this thing, by naming Wasserman-Schultz as her new honorary chair of the campaign. Truth be told, it's hard to tell if this is Hillary being completely oblivious to what this signifies (I'm a little skeptical that she is merely oblivious to the message this will , or if she really just believes that she is that high and mighty, that she can get away with anything and everything that she wants.
Think about it: Wasserman-Schultz resigned because it was proven (not merely insinuated anymore) that the Democratic establishment (headed by Wasserman-Schultz) conspired against Bernie Sanders, while claiming to remain neutral and on the sidelines. That is wrong, and it goes against the democratic traditions that the United States was founded upon. As a result, Wasserman-Schultz was vilified by many, and held largely responsible. She might not be the only big name to fall on the sword, but she is surely the first for a reason.
And yet, there's Hillary, sweeping her up and bringing her in. Basically saying to the world that this woman, who basically cheated and used her influence and resources in a powerful position to make sure that Bernie Sanders would never be president (and she is quotes as saying as much), was okay. Yes, she had to resign because of wrong doing. But she had delivered a victory to Hillary, and so she was going to get the gold standard treatment.
In the meantime, of course, Hillary claims not to have known anything about these emails. Yet another story involving Hillary and emails and bad news, and more denials on Hillary's part. Still more issues with trust, and more questions regarding her decision making. This, on the heels of a pretty damning poll that came out on Monday, revealing that a whopping 68% of Americans do not trust Hillary Clinton. That is one issue in which Donald Trump, of all people, comes out on top of Hillary. Yes, Trump has been revealed to have lied quite a bit during this campaign, and there is no secret of this. He's shady, and nobody even seems to deny it. Yet, a clear majority of Americans still find him more trustworthy than Hillary Clinton!
Again, though, there are the mainstream Democrats, making sure to tell us not to worry! Everything is okay! Despite the speeches that sounded hate-filled coming from the Republican National Convention last week in Cleveland, Trump's poll numbers have bounced up, while Hillary's went down, and this latest scandal involving the Democrats intervening with the race for the nomination, everything is just peachy! Why, there's Sarah Silverman, telling those reluctant Bernie Sanders supporters that they are being ridiculous, even as the outrage over finding confirmation over the DNC's active role in undermining the Sanders campaign was revealed.
Until the Democrats fully acknowledge that what happened was wrong and completely unacceptable, this is not going to go away. I mean, the Democrats of all people should be outraged over this. After all, they were crying foul and questioning the legitimacy of George W. Bush's rise to the White House after he stole the election in 2000. Back then, many establishment Democrats felt that they had been cheated, and that the democratic process itself had been perverted to prevent them from obtaining their true power. Now, they are guilty of the exact same thing.
Yet, many Democrats just want Sanders and his supporters to keep their mouths shut about it.
Funny, isn't it?
Mainstream Democrats after the allegations of cheating in the general election of 2000: "We won this election, so why isn't our man in the White House! This is a subversion of the democratic process! We demand a recount!"
Mainstream Democrats after the allegations of cheating in the primary elections of 2016: "Okay, it wasn't entirely fair. But you know what, Sanders supporters, get over it already! Besides, do you want Donald Trump in the White House? Because if you continue to criticize and hurt us, that's what you'll get!
Surely, that approach will help people to trust Hillary Clinton more, right? What could possibly go wrong?
And all of this while Donald Trump has, for the first time, taken the lead over Hillary Clinton. And this might not just be the typical post-convention bounce, either. Nate Silver, the man behind the reputed fivethirtyeight website that has a strong record of predicting elections accurately, has suggested that this shift might not be temporary, but that Trump really has some serious advantages working for him in the crucial swing states.
I certainly do not want to see a Trump presidency. However, I am tired of being told that we all need to suck it up and vote for the lesser of two evils once again in the upcoming election. Every election is like that, and this one is particularly absurd in just how poor each of the two major party options are. Frankly, Hillary Clinton just does not seem worth voting for. She makes a habit of lying, manipulating, and in my opinion, she has not made a strong case for why she deserves to be president, other than being passionate about obtaining the White House.
Frankly, despite Hillary's denials of knowledge of the emails, it is hard to believe her. She has lied plenty of times in the past, and the Democrats themselves continually denied actively working against Sanders, until they were caught red-handed this past weekend. The whole thing reeks of dirty, underhanded tricks. In fact, Hillary's entire campaign reeks of it, in general.
So, I'm still a skeptic. She lies, she takes money from the big banks and corporations, which means she will likely do their bidding. She will surely pass TPP, and she will pay lip service to environmental concerns, while undermining the cause. She is a Clinton, after all. We may even see another war under her tenure. And this latest move to add Wasserman-Schultz to her campaign just makes me fed up with her apparent inability to extend any sort of olive branch to supporters of Sanders, such as myself.
So, what's to get excited about?
Chaotic Start to DNC, As Wasserman-Shultz Resigns in Disgrace, Only to be Elevated by Clinton to Key Campaign RoleAt first Sanders is vindicated by e-mail hack, and DNC apology; but Hillary turns the tables. by Steven Rosenfeld / AlterNet July 24, 2016:
BREAKING: Democratic Party Releases This OFFICIAL Apology To Bernie Sanders (LETTER) by Sampson - July, 2016:
Hillary Clinton faces mass dissent over 'dirty tricks' on Bernie Sanders by Nick Allen, 25 JULY 2016:
Hillary Clinton has a major honesty problem, and comments like this one aren’t helping By Aaron Blake July 25, 2016:
FiveThirtyEight: Trump Currently Projected to Win Election by Jack Heretik, July 25, 2016:
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