“Victory has a thousand fathers,” said President John F. Kennedy, “but defeat is an orphan.”
The wisdom of Kennedy’s quote is apparent in the past week’s infighting among national Democrats, during which nearly every prominent party figure has joined a circular firing squad around the proverbial orphanage.
Veteran party operative Donna Brazile released a new book entitled “Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-ins and Breakdowns That Put Donald Trump in the White House.” In a Politico Magazine excerpt from the book, Brazile claimed that the Democratic National Committee, which she chaired during the final six months of the 2016 election cycle, ignored the mandate to remain neutral and rigged the primary for Hillary Clinton over opponents Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley. Brazile’s argument rested upon a joint fundraising agreement that Clinton’s campaign and the DNC had signed which, in exchange for millions of dollars of fundraising assistance for the DNC, gave Clinton joint control “over the staffing, budget, expenditures, and general election-related communications, data, technology, analytics, and research.”
The agreement was valid for the period between September 1, 2015 and March 31, 2016, which occurred long before the general elections – indeed, before Clinton clinched the nomination and became the party nominee in July. It further stated that the DNC will provide the Clinton campaign “advance opportunity to review online or mass email communications that features a particular Democratic primary candidate.”
In a shocking revelation, Brazile said that following Clinton’s fainting episode, she actually considered using her position as DNC chair to convene the entire committee and attempt to oust the Clinton-Tim Kaine ticket in favor of an entirely different ticket, one comprising Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ). She derided the Clinton campaign as both lackluster and incompetent, attacked them for constraining her ability to effectively spend DNC resources, and openly pined for a candidate who could energize the masses – or even her own campaign staff, who Brazile portrays as sleepwalking through the general election.
Over 100 former Clinton campaign aides co-signed a letter in response to Brazile’s accusation. While they did not address Brazile’s specific charges about the DNC favoring Clinton during the primary, they did condemn her statement that, following Clinton’s fall fainting episode, she considered using her position as DNC chair to convene the full committee and replace the ordained Democratic ticket of Clinton-Kaine.
Brazile’s folly
Unfortunately for Brazile, there are a few reasons that her charges ring hollow. The first is that – as one senior Clinton staffer confided to The EYE – even though the joint fundraising agreement was technically in effect during the primary, the Clinton campaign rarely if ever used the clause allowing them to exercise influence over DNC staffing and strategy decisions because dealing with then-chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz was simply “too much trouble.”
The second reason to doubt Brazile’s allegations is that she was previously implicated in a mini-scandal when – while serving simultaneously as CNN contributor and DNC vice chair in spring of 2016 – she leaked a question from a CNN-sponsored debate to Hillary Clinton (but not to Bernie Sanders). The episode led to her resignation from CNN under an ethical cloud. And so the same woman who claimed to have sleuthed around upon becoming DNC chair and “uncovered” a rigged primary actually had a very embarrassing role in helping to rig it.
A third reason for skepticism regarding Brazile’s allegations of the Clinton campaign’s incompetence are her own serious tactical mistakes as DNC chair. As Politico reported earlier this year, Brazile feared that Clinton would lose the popular vote while winning the Electoral College, so she dumped millions of dollars into Chicago and New Orleans during the campaign’s final week to boost urban turnout. Needless to say, Illinois (which voted Democratic by double digits) and Louisiana (which voted Republican by double digits) were not going to tip the balance in the election. The money, of course, might have actually had an impact in closely contested, consequential states such as Wisconsin and Michigan.
Brandon bashing
A familiar local face turns up in Brazile’s questionable tell-all – Brandon Davis, a black labor and Democratic Party operative from St. Louis who worked on the Clinton campaign. As the Washington Post reported, “she describes him as a spy, saying he treated her like ‘a crazy, senile old auntie and couldn’t wait to tell all his friends the nutty things she said.’ In staff meetings, Brazile recalls, ‘Brandon often rolled his eyes as if I was the stupidest woman he’d ever had to endure on his climb to the top. He openly scoffed at me, snorting sometimes when I made an observation.’”
Davis declined the opportunity to comment.
The EYE has been thinking of Davis, lately, with the new progressive energy coming from a new generation of Democratic committeepeople in St. Louis. Before moving to Washington, D.C., Davis was plotting a progressive coup of the Missouri Democratic Party at the committeeperson level, planning to do statewide what is now being done in the city. Missouri Democratic Party Chair Stephen Webber should revisit the idea.
Bernie’s folly
Inevitably, after a year-plus of complaints about a “rigged” primary, the Sanders faction claimed vindication when the language of Clinton’s joint fundraising agreement emerged.
But the EYE has one simple question for all of the Bernie Bros out there: Why on earth would a candidate who seeks the Democratic Party nomination, while refusing to become a Democrat or encourage his followers to do so, ever expect perfectly equal treatment from that party’s insiders?
Thank you, President Trump
Will Rogers famously said, “I am not a member of any organized political party. I am a Democrat.” And this past week, as Democrats fought each other viciously while critical elections in Virginia and New Jersey loomed, his words certainly resonated.
Fortunately, President Trump’s historically dismal 37 percent approval rating a year after his election turned out to be more influential than Democrats’ internecine squabbling, as he dragged down Republican gubernatorial and legislative candidates in both states. Democratic gubernatorial candidates romped in both states – which was especially gratifying to progressives, since both Republican candidates had sought to juice conservative turnout by running race-baiting and xenophobic attack ads.
Virginia voters, as it turns out, seem more interested in preserving their health care coverage than their Confederate monuments, and New Jersey voters appear immune to anti-immigrant demagoguery even in the wake of a vicious terrorist attack across the Hudson in Manhattan. The EYE isn’t known for its optimism, but perhaps there is an incipient reawakening to the outrage of Trump’s presidency and the acquiescence of the GOP, and America has begun to turn the tide.
New Ward 2 alderwoman
Ward 2 elected its new alderwoman on Tuesday, November 7, with Lisa Middlebrook getting nearly half of the vote in a three-way race against Jasmine Turnage and Elston McCowan. The seat was vacated when Dionne Flowers was rewarded for her support of Mayor Lyda Krewson’s campaign by being appointed register. Middlebrook told St. Louis Public Radio her first priority is boosting police presence in the 2nd Ward, and then focusing on programs for the area’s youth – which seems, to the EYE, like exactly the wrong ordering of those two priorities. The earliest she can take her seat is November 17.
Stenger panders at Jamestown
Just in time for the 2018 election campaign season, North County residents get a played-out carrot dangled at them as St. Louis County announced it is moving forward toward re-development of Jamestown Mall. On October 24, St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger announced the St. Louis County Port Authority has contracts to purchase the final two parcels of Jamestown Mall and now has control of the entire mall site. Stenger said the County will host an open house in the next few weeks to share information with the public, discuss redevelopment and seek more public input. To find out more about Jamestown related activities, go to http://stlouisco.com/jamestown and sign up to get updates.
