**Written by Doug Powers
The Clinton campaign responding to claims in Donna Brazile’s book by saying she fell for the Russian intrusion and brainwashing effort has got to be a new record for begging the question. The more proof that arises showing Hillary was a bad and unscrupulous candidate will simply be, according to the Clinton faithful, additional “evidence” that the Russian propaganda effort was a success. If the spin below doesn’t work, next there will be Clinton staffers claiming Brazile showed up for work every day at the DNC wearing an “I-heart-Putin” babushka. Dasvidanya, Donna!
The open letter signed by more than 100 people involved in Clinton’s White House bid, including chairman John Podesta and vice chairwoman Huma Abedin, said the staffers “do not recognize the campaign” that Brazile “portrays in the book.”
They also say they are “shocked” that Brazile reportedly considered for a time pushing Vice President Joe Biden as the Democratic candidate amid her concerns about Clinton’s health after she fainted during a Sept. 11 memorial event.
“It is particularly troubling and puzzling that she would seemingly buy into false Russian-fueled propaganda, spread by both the Russians and our opponent, about our candidate’s health,” the letter said.
Gee, that’s some way to pay back the woman who tipped Hillary off to debate questions.
Bonus “pass the popcorn” moment:
After the Dem blowback over her book Brazile shifted into “full backpedal” mode. This morning, Brazile said she found no evidence that the Dem nomination process was rigged:
Former Democratic National Committee (DNC) interim chairwoman Donna Brazile said she found “no evidence” that the 2016 Democratic presidential primary process was fixed, taking issue with the use of the word “rigged” by others.
“I found no evidence, none, whatsoever,” Brazile told ABC’s “This Week.”
“The only thing I found, which I said, I found the cancer, but I’m not killing the patient, was this memorandum that prevented the DNC from running its own operation,” she said.
My follow-up question for Brazile (which of course would never come from longtime Dem operative and “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos), would have been “Did you not write your own book?”
I had promised Bernie when I took the helm of the Democratic National Committee after the convention that I would get to the bottom of whether Hillary Clinton’s team had rigged the nomination process, as a cache of emails stolen by Russian hackers and posted online had suggested. I’d had my suspicions from the moment I walked in the door of the DNC a month or so earlier, based on the leaked emails. But who knew if some of them might have been forged? I needed to have solid proof, and so did Bernie.
So I followed the money. My predecessor, Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, had not been the most active chair in fundraising at a time when President Barack Obama’s neglect had left the party in significant debt. As Hillary’s campaign gained momentum, she resolved the party’s debt and put it on a starvation diet. It had become dependent on her campaign for survival, for which she expected to wield control of its operations.
Debbie was not a good manager. She hadn’t been very interested in controlling the party—she let Clinton’s headquarters in Brooklyn do as it desired so she didn’t have to inform the party officers how bad the situation was. How much control Brooklyn had and for how long was still something I had been trying to uncover for the last few weeks.
By September 7, the day I called Bernie, I had found my proof and it broke my heart.
Ironically enough, Brazile’s now using the Clinton playbook and deploying the “it depends on what your definition of ‘rigged’ is” defense.
**Written by Doug Powers
Twitter @ThePowersThatBe
