Wikileaks Proves Primary Was Rigged: DNC Undermined Democracy

[EasyAce]

By Michael Sainato
http://observer.com/2016/07/wikileaks-proves-primary-was-rigged-dnc-undermined-democracy/

On July 25, the Democratic National Convention will begin in Philadelphia, Pa. To commemorate [sic] the event
and its embrace of corrupt politician Hillary Clinton as the Democratic nominee, Wikileaks is releasing thousands of DNC/
Clinton emails.

In its recent leak of 20,000 DNC emails from January 2015 to May 2016, DNC staff discuss how to deal with Bernie
Sanders’ popularity as a challenge to Clinton’s candidacy. Instead of treating Sanders as a viable candidate for the
Democratic ticket, the DNC worked against him and his campaign to ensure Clinton received the nomination.

One email from DNC Deputy Communications Director Eric Walker to several DNC staffers cites two news articles
showing Sanders leading in Rhode Island and the limited number of polling locations in the state: “If she outperforms
this polling, the Bernie camp will go nuts and allege misconduct. They’ll probably complain regardless, actually.”

Instead of treating Sanders with impartiality, the DNC exhibits resentful disdain toward him and the thousands of
disenfranchised voters he could have brought into the party.

“Wondering if there’s a good Bernie narrative for a story, which is that Bernie never ever had his act together, that
his campaign was a mess,” wrote DNC Deputy Communications Director Mark Paustenbach to DNC Communications
Director Luis Miranda, in response to backlash over DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz shutting off the Sanders
campaign’s access to voter database files.

Another chain reveals MSNBC’s Chuck Todd and DNC staff members discussing how to discredit MSNBC’s Mika
Brzezinski’s call for Wasserman Schultz to resign.

Most of the emails released come from seven prominent DNC staff members: senior adviser Andrew Wright, national
finance director Jordon Kaplan, finance chief of staff Scott Comer, Northern California finance director Robert Stowe,
finance director of data and strategic initiatives Daniel Parrish, finance director Allen Zachary and Miranda.

The release provides further evidence the DNC broke its own charter violations by favoring Clinton as the Democratic
presidential nominee, long before any votes were cast.

Over the past several weeks, Guccifer 2.0 released several internal memos showing DNC staff strategizing to make
Clinton the presidential nominee—as early as March 2015. In June 2016, Florida-based law firm, Beck & Lee, filed a
class action lawsuit against Wasserman Schultz and the DNC based on the revelations from these leaked files.

Other emails show DNC staff in damage control over allegations from the Sanders campaign, when a report—corroborated
by a Politico—revealed the DNC’s joint fundraising committee with the Clinton campaign was laundering money to the
Clinton campaign instead of fundraising for down-ticket Democrats. Regardless of the fundraising tactics, because both
major campaigns didn’t agree to use the joint fundraising committee super-PAC with the DNC, the DNC should have
recused itself from participating with just the Clinton campaign.

The Wikileaks and Guccifer 2.0 leaks are the perfect end to a Democratic primary that undermined democracy at every
possible opportunity while maintaining plausible deniability.

The party’s rules, including the use of super delegates—who disproportionately endorsed Clinton before the primaries began—
are intended to provide the Democratic Party leverage over the election process. Throughout the primaries, decisions were
made by DNC officials to help Clinton build and maintain a lead over Sanders.

More votes were cast for Clinton, but they were cast at the behest of a Democratic Party that downplayed her shortfalls to
the extent that Sanders not only had to run against Clinton but also against the entire Democratic Establishment. Heading
into the Democratic National Convention, voters are beginning to understand that their voices are of little concern to the
leadership.

And so it goes that boys will be boys, girls will be girls . . . and Democrats will be Democrats.

[HAPPY2BME]

Wikileaks hits DNC ahead of convention, competes with Kaine VP nomination

 The release of more than 20,000 pages of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee competed on Saturday with the big reveal of Virginia Senator Tim Kaine as the running mate of presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton.

On Friday, Wikileaks dropped a bombshell cache of DNC emails. Several weeks ago, Russian hackers were reported to have breached the DNC's servers, but on Saturday Wikileaks refused to disclose where it had obtained the trove of data.

Among other things, the documents purport to show the party apparatus favoring Clinton's campaign over the insurgency of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. On a number of occasions, high level DNC officials liaised with counterparts on Clinton's team to discuss ways to push back against stories that painted the Clinton campaign in a negative light.

One pointedly worded missive dismissed Sanders' campaign as "a mess" adding that his campaign apparatus "never had their act together."

The news took center stage on social media, threatening to upend the Democrats' messaging and steal attention from a chaotic and divided Republican National Convention, which wrapped up on Thursday night. The email exchanges may reopen the wounds of a bitter Democratic primary season, just as the party kicks off its own national conference designed to highlight a unified, energized party.

 The DNC did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment, but Sanders' campaign manager Jeff Weaver told ABC News in an interview that "someone in the DNC needs to be held at least as accountable as the Trump campaign," for a controversy involving Melania Trump's speech earlier this week, Weaver said.

Indeed, only half a day after Clinton announced Kaine as her vice presidential pick, news of the DNC leak was one of the top trending item on Twitter Saturday, despite the document dump fanning new allegations of bias.

Opportunistically, GOP nominee Donald Trump leaped into the fray to blast Democrats for their perceived treatment of Sanders, calling it "really vicious."

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/23/wikileaks-hits-dnc-ahead-of-convention-competes-with-kaine-vp-nomination.html