The Ironic Cherry Reads... about the Nightmare at the DNC

Hacks:

The Inside Story of the Break-Ins

and Breakdowns that Put

Donald Trump in the White House

by Donna Brazile

I never trust the advance PR for a new political read.  Somebody takes a couple of fiery quotes and distorts the entire message of the book, invariably.  With the possible exception of Michael Wolff's Fire and Fury, which I have not yet read but imagine to be full of exactly the stuff the media ran away with.

So, despite never having been enamored with Donna Brazile, I picked up Hacks.  It is a solid reporting of the experience of running the Democratic National Committee during the Trump-created havoc of 2016.  She does begin by talking about the financial mess partially created by Obama and further entangled by Clinton's attempt to help (with benefits).  And she strains in trying to be fair in her narrative of Debbie Wasserman Schultz's chairing of the DNC.

She then goes on to talk about the young men who were running Hillary's campaign, and especially young guns like Robby Mook, who refused to work with Brazile to get funding for state campaigns.  My own knowledge of Mook was his heavy handed involvement in the Democratic primary for South Carolina's 5th Congressional District before the 2017 primary for the special election, so it was not hard to believe that he would consider his own opinion in higher regard than others with different views or greater experience.

With the financial mess and the appearance that Wasserman Schultz made decisions favoring Hillary over Bernie, and the ugly attacks that Trump made whenever he opened his mouth, the hacking of the DNC was the rot that Brazile had to fight throughout the remainder of the campaign.

The story of the Russian hacks and how she fought off the invasions is gripping.  She describes the innumerable and unimaginable ways the hacks affected the campaign:  the staff, the candidate, the American people.  Demoralizing and frightening, the hacks created a pervasive sense of fear in volunteers and paid staff; worse, Trump's verbal abuse opened the door to vicious attacks at home and in the office.  The murder of a young staffer in what appeared to be a botched robbery became fuel for the Fox News conspiracy machine.  This made it not just a tragedy but another outrage to endure during a nightmare campaign season.

Brazile provides a thorough accounting of the hacks as they were orchestrated throughout the campaign.  She notes that the email dumps were well-coordinated with Trump's invective, including his "Russia, if you're listening" remark.  Along with email hacks and strategic dumps, there was concern about wiretaps and bugs.  Threats by phone and online required increased security.

Brazile became the focus of hateful calls and threats after a questionable email purportedly from Brazile to the Hillary campaign was leaked.  The email provided a question that would be used at the upcoming town hall debate.  Brazile believes that the email was a fake, as she has no recollection of sending it and said she would never leak such information.  This faked email may have been cooked up after a false news story appeared accusing Brazile of giving Hillary questions before the first debate.  Though she searched each of her email accounts, Brazile never found the suspect email, but it profoundly affected her career; she was fired from CNN after a long career there as a political commentator.  She suffered enormously throughout the professional slander and following threats.

When I began the book, I thought that Donna Brazile's tendency to personalize the story of the DNC and the 2016 election would get in the way.  Rather, it was her emotional involvement throughout this excruciating and unprecedented assault that gives this narrative passion and meaning.  It was not the lies, the hacks, the bugs, the distortions that is the point:  it is the effect that these had on the lives of the people on the campaign.  And it is the effect that they had, in the end, on the voters.

Brazile's heartfelt message throughout is that we must stop this assault.  Our democracy cannot survive if we do not work together to prevent this from happening again.  She had no help from the RNC in attempting to stand up to the Russians, or to communicate that this was happening to the American people.  Today the republican Congress is doing all in their power to fight an investigation that seems to surely lead to Donald Trump and collusion with Russia to affect the outcome of the 2016 election.  Rather, today they continue to try to obfuscate and blame anyone who might uncover the truth.

With 2018 elections coming fast, we are made vulnerable, once again, by the failure of republican leaders to put country before themselves, and a president who has nothing to gain from an honest and thorough investigation.  If you want to gain an understanding of the intricate ways in which cyberwarfare can influence future elections, this is a good book to get you started.

I

Our Dysfunctional Family

A good friend and Democrat called me to account for myself yesterday.  She wanted to know, given the complaints I've made about the Democratic Party, why I didn't become more involved.  A fair question, but one that I have mulled over quite a bit, so I was happy to try to give her a good answer.

First of all, I am not a gregarious, or even terribly sociable, person.  I am content at home, working in the yard or curled up with a good book.  A few years ago, I began to attend Democratic functions.  In my fairly long life, I have done that from time to time, but never among such a group of committed, smart and strong women friends as I have here in Charleston.

For awhile it felt good.  I got to meet people that were running the Democratic Party, some candidates, and some who were in government.  But after a time, it became just something I had to do.  That's not on anybody but me.  It is who I am.

But I am also a retired psychologist and an avid reader.  I am committed to learning and observing, trying to make sense of the insanity that is politics, and writing to try to convey what I see in an effort to help turn the tide of corruption and deceit.  I stand somewhere between the typical voter and someone a bit more knowledgeable, so if I don't know that something is happening, chances are the typical voter doesn't know.  And as a life long Democrat, I would like to see a strong Party help us all move forward.

The "election" of Donald Trump was the last straw for women who have been used and abused by male politics.  From wages to reproductive rights to child health care, women have been the dog whistle of the right that nobody talks about.  And too often because of that, it is women that are thrown under the bus by Democrats.  There is no better proof of this than the fact that Bernie Sanders stumped for a candidate that, otherwise progressive, said he could not support a woman's right to an abortion.  Imagine a progressive supporting a candidate who admitted that he believed African-Americans should send their children to different schools, or that gay men and lesbians should not have the right to marry.

On January 20, the County Party held its organizational meeting.  You may recall that it was also the one-year anniversary of Trump's reign, and that on that Saturday a year ago, women marched in protest.  Maybe County Dems scheduled their meeting unaware of the conflict.  But wouldn't it have been something if they announced very publicly that they were changing the date so that we could all get to Brittlebank Park and support the women's movement?

It was the movement that began with the Women's March one year ago that has given voice to #MeToo.  I am neither surprised at those voices, nor am I surprised at the backlash.  The hashtag allowed women to speak up without fear of reprisal, but the next step is debate.  And the one after that is action -- consequences that protect the woman and send a message that a behavior is unacceptable.  Yes indeed, Roy Moore is a whole different can of worms (literally) than Al Franken, but our political stage acts out what is happening at fast food restaurants, high schools and homes throughout the country.  If the Congressional Ethics Committee really did its job, a hearing would have been the way to go, but for Franken to have gone through the charade and been given a slap on the wrist so that members of the Senate could continue to protect their own, it would have been wrong.

Women need to keep speaking up and speaking loudly, or this movement will never get past Hollywood and Washington, to the women without power who need it most.

There are an awful lot of more subtle ways that women are getting pushed aside, and if we are unwilling to look at our own state politics, we are not going to move forward.  Thanks to groups like Emerge America in South Carolina, women are being not just encouraged but assisted in their decision to run for office.  Women are leading, but if men ignore or minimize the candidates in South Carolina, our voters will select the man in the primary, and general election voters will choose "R."  That's on the state Democratic Party.  The one that, to my knowledge, has never been led by a woman.

Republicans know how to message their sick policies, and they know how to unite behind that message.  The other thing they really know how to do is choose their tokens.  Nikki Haley, both a minority and a woman, killed two birds with one stone.  She is smart and attractive, and knows how to toe the Party line, with style.  The republican party knew that putting up a woman would defuse criticism of sexism in the party, just as parading Tim Scott neutralizes accusations of racism and eases any feelings of guilt by white republican voters.

Lately, in fact just over a week ago, Nancy Mace won the race for state house representative for District 99 against Cindy Boatwright.  Nancy is Nikki in the making.  A woman who made a name for herself at the Citadel and has been polishing her conservative image ever since.  When she was unable to defeat Lindsey Graham as a challenge from the right, she settled for moving down to state politics.  Before she moves up again.  And the republican party is going to groom and support her any way they can, because she is going to do their bidding, happily, when she wins.

Could the State Democratic Party have done more (anything) to help Boatwright?  They think not.  And yet we Dems know we are on the right side of the issues.  And we know that far too many voters stay home, too many don't even know there is an election, and surely don't believe it matters.  Where there was a solid get-out-the-vote grassroots movement, here in Charleston, Boatwright won the votes.  Did the County Democratic Party help make the difference in Charleston?

Republicans don't back off when the evidence shows they can't win.  They double down.  And sometimes they win.  If they don't win, they make sure we all know it was some sort of victory anyway.

Brian Hicks wrote a brilliant and hysterical opinion piece yesterday about the republican race for governor here in South Carolina.  You may not be surprised to hear that the primary contestants promise to provide a clown show.  The issues for us should be clear, the republican positions ridiculous.  On the other hand, every-damn-one in South Carolina will know who they are.  As we should have learned from Donald Trump, the only bad publicity is no publicity.

For Democrats in South Carolina, unless the Party steps up with TV ads, billboards, and well publicized events, our candidates will be the best kept secret of 2018.  And that will be a shame.  Great candidates -- and we are fortunate to have lots of them this year -- still need help making headlines.  It would be a shame if, when states like Alabama are able to send a Democrat to the Senate, we are unable to change the color of our local, state and federal government.

We need leaders who are unafraid to shout out the issues and point out the hypocrisies of their republican opponents.  We need the ugly antics in the State House and in Congress made public, daily.  Fund raising emails might work better if they are linked to a candidate; otherwise we are going to donate directly -- if at all.  Issues and republican Newspeak need to be explained -- for example, republicans should not be allowed to do the damage to small businesses they get away with while claiming they are the party of small business.

Boeing and Mark Sanford understand that voters still watch TV.  Even as I fast-forward through commercials on the DVR'd local news I can't miss the polished anti-union or pro-candidate messaging from the right.  Debates -- primary and general -- get the name and the message out.  It was shameful that in 2014, PBS refused to air a debate between Brad Hutto and Lindsey Graham; the forum that was aired instead of a debate allowed Graham the upper hand and was so polite as to be ineffectual.  I truly hope that does not happen this year.  We need our party to push for debates anywhere and everywhere they can put our candidates' faces and ideas in front of the public.

Mark Sanford and Tim Scott know when to show up.  And how to get publicity.  And when to stay quiet.  And they have republican staff that knows how to get their names in headlines in the Post & Courier, and in the local Beaufort and Myrtle Beach newspapers.  They have buffed their down-home images so that every white haired lady except me and my friends believes there isn't a day that they don't do a good work for the people of South Carolina.

I may be wrong.  If candidates believe they are getting what they need from our Democratic Party, I would like to know.  I would also like to know what candidates believe the Party could do for them in 2018.  This, like #MeToo, is a talk we need to have.  Because, more than anything, dysfunctional families need to talk.   

Make a Difference on January 16!

Last year we marched.  This year we vote.

And we can start to turn the tide in our state legislature on Tuesday, January 16.  Cindy Boatwright is running for South Carolina House District 99.

District 99: From Hanahan and Goose Creek to Mount Pleasant

You can find out if you are in District 99, and where you should go to vote here.

This is a great opportunity to start to move our legislature, and our state, forward.  2018 is going to be a year that Democrats can go from almost winning to moving from red to blue.

And why is this important?

2020 will be the next census year.  Republicans knew in 2010 that control of state legislatures was critical to controlling Congress, because that is typically who determines district lines after the census.  By turning a few key races red, republicans were able to create district maps to favor their own party.  This is done by packing a few districts with Democrats, and spreading out republicans across more districts.

This is how my own District 1 became District 6, so that my vote would be cast for the overwhelmingly elected Jim Clyburn, and I would not be able to vote in a potentially more contested District 1 (against Mark Sanford).  Here is how the 2012 gerrymandering in South Carolina is explained by Daily Kos:

  

Interactive version • District summary stats

Current Map:

Drawn by: Republican governor and legislature
Intended to Favor: Republicans
Delegation: 1 Democrat, 6 Republicans
2012 Vote: Obama 44, Romney 55
Summary: Republicans effectively maximized their seats

Net Change: Democrats gain one seat

There is no need for the VRA 6th District to contain parts of both Charleston and Columbia, as this was solely done to pack Democrats. By dropping Columbia from the 6th, the metro area fits neatly into the 2nd District. It is possible to draw the 6th without any part of Charleston in it, but this causes the 7th District to become quite ugly. Furthermore, the 1st would still lean Republican even with all of Charleston.

The impact of this map is that the 6th remains strongly Democratic, while the party gains the 2nd District. Republican Rep. Joe Wilson had a relatively poor performance even in 2010 in his gerrymandered district after the incident where he shouted "You lie!" at the president during a speech before Congress. It is highly unlikely that Wilson would have been able to win a seat Obama carried by 3.2 percent. All five of the other seats would remain strongly Republican.

(from Daily Kos, June 17, 2015) 

But that is only one reason to get out and vote on Tuesday.  The other important reason is the candidate and where she stands on the issues.

Cindy Boatwright has specific plans to correct the problems in our state.  From fighting corruption in state government to taking on the opioid epidemic, from improving education to making our streets, homes and schools safe from gun violence, from protecting our environment while creating incentives for small businesses, Cindy knows what will work and what will improve our lives in South Carolina.

By comparison, Nancy Mace, who unsuccessfully primaried Lindsey Graham in 2014, actually ran against President Obama.  In other words, she is a right-wing republican who will say whatever it takes to win.  On actual issues, she really doesn't have any new ideas.  Scratch the surface of her concerns about issues from environment to education and you will find Donald Trump and the republican party:  deregulation and low taxes, while cutting protections for workers and safety nets for seniors and the poor.

While her statements on the issues remain vague, one thing is certain:  Nancy Mace will work hard to get ahead in the republican party.

If you are thinking about not going out to vote, let me assure you, your vote counts.  In Virginia, a house seat was lost by one vote, resulting in continued control of the House by republicans.

Let us not be shaking out heads and saying to one another on Wednesday, "So close...."

There will be lots of people who you know who have no idea there is an important election on Tuesday.  There will be others who don't know the candidates or the issues.  This is your chance to make a difference here in South Carolina, and in your community.  Spread the word, and get out and vote.

Vote

CINDY BOATWRIGHT

SC House District 99

Tuesday, January 16

Last Year We Marched.  This Year We Vote!

Bigger Than Yours

Yesterday and today the twitter world, as well as major media like The New York Times, is all abuzz with the words of a really stupid, sexually inadequate bully.  The fact that those words have the power of the presidency of the United States behind it is shameful.

Despite the media's vows after the 2016 election to be more responsible in their reporting, it is impossible to tune into any media outlet, social or otherwise, without be overwhelmed with the obsession with Donald Trump.  And it's not that they are uncovering anything new.  It is the same crap with different names, the same strutting with different symbols for the same miniscule body part.

Yesterday he was demanding an investigation of Huma Abedin.  He continues to insist on investigating James Comey and Hillary Clinton, just as shortly after being sworn in he insisted that Barack Obama be investigated for wiretapping White House phones.  These insane accusations are not just the rants of an insane world leader -- which they are.  They are also the kind of attacks a bully makes when he is most afraid of being caught.

Sadly, this bullshit has had the effect of capturing headlines and focusing editorials and panels on the absurd tweets and ruminations on what this all means.  We have spent hours going over whether Donald Trump has deep motives and intentions, whether there is something going on in the big head that houses that tiny reptilian brain other than diverting attention away from his own crimes and the fear of being caught.

Donald Trump did not start attacking innocent people with ridiculous accusations when he took that escalator on June 16, 2015.  He has spent his entire life deflecting questions about his own adequacy by attacking others, at times seemingly at random.  This year we have seen it in all its absurdity as he has flattered, then attacked allies like Michael Flynn and Jefferson Sessions, and attacked, then flattered opponents like Mitch McConnell and Mitt Romney.  People like James Comey and Robert Mueller have been in and out the swinging door of Donald Trump's good graces so many times they must have to check the headlines on a daily basis to see where they stand.

Anyone who has the power to come close to exposing him gets the full force of his abuse of presidential power, beginning with Sally Yates and currently with Robert Mueller.  He has used the legal system in this country to threaten lawsuits to keep at bay prosecution of his own illegal activity, from dirty business dealings to sexual harassment. 

I am feeling like I have already fed into his narcissism by going on about what we have been witnessing for far too long.  The fact is that people like Steve Bannon and Paul Ryan have been steering this presidency and the course of our country while we have been watching Trump have tantrums.  We have a judiciary that is being taken over by radical right-wing extremists.  We have environmental safeguards and worker rights being dismantled by deregulation.  And we have the rich getting richer on the backs of the rest of us, who were already struggling as health care and education deteriorated.

The man who is incapable of telling the truth has led us to a state of exhaustion.  The kind of exhaustion that leads us to want to escape or to attack.  Where the leader lies non-stop by indiscriminately calling others liars, we may wonder why we should be so concerned with facts.  In 2018, election season may see us attacking each other rather than those who are truly the enemies of our democracy.  Where emails and Facebook posts may come from white nationalists or Russian trolls, where republicans determined to push through their long dreamed of right wing agenda send sincerely deceptive messages, we may end up slugging each other and spreading misinformation.

My hope for 2018 is that those of us who hunger for a return to democratic government stay true to our values.  That we think before we tweet.  That we debate our opponents with passion, but also with facts and that we argue issues rather than fire off attacks on personality or innuendo.  That we don't hide behind safe positions that in the end will hurt the weaker among us.

Let us not pit those of us with democratic values one against the other with cruel and meaningless argument.  Let us support candidates who will fight for us all.  The fascism of the Trump administration has brought us together in ways we did not think possible a year ago.  We have seen it happen with elections in Alabama and Virginia.  If we can continue to fight together against greed and tyranny, we can win back our democracy.