US: Wasserman Schultz goes from favored to on the outs

[webfact]

Wasserman Schultz goes from favored to on the outs
By ANNE FLAHERTY

WASHINGTON (AP) — Five years ago, Debbie Wasserman Schultz was put in charge of the Democratic National Committee to usher in a new era for the party. Now, Wasserman Schultz is on her way out, after the publication of emails that suggest Democratic officials favored Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders during the nominating contests.

The scandal is rocking the party on the eve of their convention, and the fall is a stunning one for the tough-talking Florida representative who became the first woman elected to chair the DNC. Two other women have served in the role but were appointed.

On Sunday, Wasserman Schultz announced she would step down as DNC chairwoman at the end of the party's convention, after some of the 19,000 emails, presumably stolen from the DNC by hackers, were posted to the website Wikileaks.

To Sanders' supporters, the email scandal proved what they long suspected: The Democratic Party had become a clubby establishment that was resistant to change and reluctant to embrace a more progressive agenda.

For years though, it seemed, Wasserman Schultz was unstoppable.

At 26, she was the youngest woman elected to a seat in the Florida's House. Then came the Florida Senate, and in 2005, she was elected to the U.S. House to represent South Florida. It was there Wasserman Schultz earned her reputation as a workhorse and outspoken liberal willing to spar with Republicans on television.

By her mid-40s, Wasserman Schultz had survived breast cancer and was raising three kids — all the while serving in the House and raising millions for the Democratic Party.

By 2011, President Barack Obama recommended she take control of the DNC, even though she had backed Hillary Clinton in the 2008 primary. Perhaps part of the calculation was that Wasserman Schultz represented South Florida, a Democrat-rich area of a critical swing state in the upcoming election. As a Jew and strong advocate for Israel, she also provided a bulwark for Obama against Republican efforts at the time to paint him as anti-Israel.

Wasserman Schultz was born in 1966 on Long Island, New York. According to her online biography, she graduated from the University of Florida. She married Steve Schultz and resides with her family in Weston, a Fort Lauderdale suburb.

Worth noting is whom Wasserman Schultz replaced at the DNC five years ago: Tim Kaine, who is now Clinton's running mate.

"As Chairman Kaine departs, new leadership must come on," Vice President Joe Biden wrote in 2011 to DNC members.

Wasserman Schultz was also considered a close friend of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was critically wounded during a shooting rampage in Tucson. Wasserman Schultz was reportedly in Giffords' hospital room when she first woke up.


-- (c) Associated Press 2016-07-25

[ClutchClark]

Another one falls in disgrace.

[Alive]

And the Bernie haters were spouting so much hate at Bernie as the primaries went along. Some of them have been doing it here too. But the truth eventually reveals itself: The dirty rotten hippies and Bernie were right!

[Usernames]

Another one falls in disgrace.

Not quite. Hillary just hired DWS for her campaign, which, come to think of, she was already working for all these months anyway. Poor Sanders voters not only being cheated but having it rubbed in their faces. http://fortune.com/2016/07/24/wasserman-schultz-clinton-campaign/

[lannarebirth]

Another one falls in disgrace.

Are you kidding? These people don't know the meaning of disgrace. She was simultaneously fired and rehired as Hillary Clinton's Honorary Campaign Chairperson. It's all good.

[Ulysses G.]

She is a pathological liar. How did she last as long as she did?

[Chicog]

Again: Let's not forget the Sanders campaign stealing Clinton voter information.

All's fair in love and war.

But the curly haired woman said nothing that wasn't true.

Bernie was beaten fair and square any way you slice it.

[mopar71]

She is a pathological liar. How did she last as long as she did?

Wasserman give Hillary a run for her money in the lying-spinning category. I have never watched her interviewed on TV were I did not feel like throwing up. Even Hillary doesn't make me feel like that.

[MaxYakov]

Another one falls in disgrace.

I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop[kick] when Hillary's most damning server emails are leaked. They're waiting until she's officially nominated.

[mopar71]

Another one falls in disgrace.

Not quite. Hillary just hired DWS for her campaign, which, come to think of, she was already working for all these months anyway. Poor Sanders voters not only being cheated but having it rubbed in their faces. http://fortune.com/2016/07/24/wasserman-schultz-clinton-campaign/

Now it makes sense. I was wondering why a Democrat would resign from anything because of a scandal when they never have before.

[Ulic]

Be careful what you put down on paper/e-mail.

[Rancid]

Again: Let's not forget the Sanders campaign stealing Clinton voter information.

All's fair in love and war.

But the curly haired woman said nothing that wasn't true.

Bernie was beaten fair and square any way you slice it.

Guess reality is what newspaper you read. Bernie may well have been destined to lose, but Hillary's cronies ensured the dice were loaded, just to make sure. Perhaps might is right would be a more accurate excuse from her supporters.

[Baerboxer]

She is a pathological liar. How did she last as long as she did?

Seems she has all the right attributes for a high flying political career then!

[Thaidream]

None of this is surprising. The American political scene is one of the most corrupt in the World and offers its citizen no real hope for change. Bernie Sanders did represent a real change and they went after him to make sure the fix was certain.

This will be one of the most expensive elections ever held while the poor of America will continue their slide into hopelessness and the middle class close in on being the poor. We have a narcissistic meglomaniac against a cynical ultra feminist who believes men are the enemy. I just can't think of a worse choice. The sad thing is that Obama represented to the American people prior to his election a real choice for change. He never followed through with anything but a half baked Healthcare plan that is nowhere near the National health plans Europe has.

Is it no wonder that Americans feel helpless because they cannot break the yoke of the wealthy and big business which is destroying the America dream. However, time is running out. What is happening in America is not sustainable. There are too many Americans who even when working are not making a living wage. There are too many young Americans who end up with a College education but a bill to the Government that will take 20 years to repay and a job that does not pay enough to sustain a family and the current debt. The current tax code in America is 75,000 pages and growing and so complicated that a majority of people have to pay a tax prepared to satisfy the requirements because the tax code cannot be understood. The fix to much of this is not so very complicated that a group of 10 people that we know couldn't fix it. The problem is that Government is divided and bought by those 1% of the population that should be reformed but refuse to accept any responsibility or bend to the will of the other 99%. I am afraid the only real solution is another American Revolution that arises out of the dysfunction and gross unfairness that the 99% of the American population has to endure. I just hope it is peaceful.

[Jai Dee]

An off-topic post and a reply have been removed from this thread.

The subject under discussion is Wasserman Schultz, not Donald Trump.

[Chicog]

It seems her replacement has now caved too.

I'm guessing that they are canvassing for a replacement from the Amish community.

[up2u2]

Bought time she got the boot.

[Prbkk]

This is the woman who tried to get the DNC to pay for her clothes: twice she tried that scam. When Obama wanted to dump her she threatened to play the 'Jewish woman card' to make him look bad.

Good voting record though ( except she opposed legal medical marijuanas)

[Usernames]

It seems her replacement has now caved too.

I'm guessing that they are canvassing for a replacement from the Amish community.

Brazile has quit, too? The last I saw she was saying she would serve as the convention chair AND continue to be a CNN "analyst." Nothing like analyzing the meeting that you are conducting.

[geriatrickid]

Wasserman- Schultz was a decent person. She knew that Sanders was a dangerous manipulative man who's policies would cause serious damage to the Democrats. Many people on these threads have called Sanders a commie. He is not, but that's what a majority of US nationals believe. The longer he played with the party, the more damage he caused. Sanders wasn't even a Democrat. He used the party, so why would anyone expect the people who worked hard to maintain the party, to keep the party functioning when it faced defeat in congressional elections, to embrace Sanders with his finger waving?

It's very easy to stick the political knives into Wasserman Schultz, but she worked hard to advance and had to deal with petty bigots and women haters along the way. This thread illustrates that. The Sanders supporters are not the people who paid for the party infrastructure, the researchers, the advertising. They rode coat tails.

I find it incredible that Obama gets attacked for not going farther than he did, while others rip into the man for going to far. Instead of blaming people like Clinton or Wasserman Schultz, they should look in their mirrors and consider the greedy , selfish, miserable bullies staring back at them.

[Jingthing]

Yeah her stock is down. Too bad really as her policy positions are mostly quite good. Oh well. She's expendable.

[up2u2]

Yeah her stock is down. Too bad really as her policy positions are mostly quite good. Oh well. She's expendable.

There was one vote where she sided with Republicans and I remember thinking at the time she needs to be booted out of the Dem Party. Only recently just can't remember what it was.

[up2u2]

Found it. She voted with Republicans to protect predatory Pay Day Lenders and attacked Elizabeth Warren and joined with the GOP to de-fund the CFPB.

Why? because she was in part funded by predatory Pay Day Lenders.

Good riddance I say she can piss off.

[Jingthing]

Yes that position was awful but that is one issue.

[Johpa]

The Dems, if not the entire US political system, are self-destructing even faster than the Republicans. Ms. Debbie was always part of the Clinton machine and installed as DNC head to pave the way for Hillary. Now the Dem insiders always saw Sanders as an outsider to be resisted at every opportunity forgetting that his supporters were indeed true Democrats. They still continue to trash talk Sanders and his supporters who they now desperately need to win against Trump. So Ms. Debbie finally gets outed as having interfered with the democratic process and as having stacked the deck against Sanders and his supporters, again many of whom were mainstream Democrats, and they replace Debbie with another Clinton shill, Brazile, as interim DNC head and then Clinton hires the now disgraced Ms. Debbie. I thought that the Democratic Party had come to its senses when they took on Kaine as their VP choice, a moderate centrist without the Clinton baggage, but now I see that they will continue to self-destruct with their very flawed candidate and I am beginning to think that Trump will indeed come out victorious and the current US government will be at the end of its life cycle. As others have noted, whether the coming transition will be peaceful or violent is yet to be seen.

[tlesher]

There is nothing illegal or illicit here, just Democratic Party internal politics. The DNC can support anyone they want. If the rank-and-file doesn't like it, they can press for changes at the top, and that's what they got. Democracy in action.

[Jingthing]

There is nothing illegal or illicit here, just Democratic Party internal politics. The DNC can support anyone they want. If the rank-and-file doesn't like it, they can press for changes at the top, and that's what they got. Democracy in action.

It's more a matter of what the public demands. It is correct political parties are 100 percent free to pick their candidates anyway they choose. It does not need to be democratic. I can start a party tomorrow and say the cutest guy that applies is the nominee. Of course things have evolved in the major parties to be more democratic. It's a matter of degree.

I think many people conflate actual elections from the way political PARTIES choose candidates. There is no requirement to even hold party primary elections. For most of American history, that didn't exist. It's a choice. Of course, now that people expect a more democratic party selection system, of course any major party that hopes to remain viable needs to do that, but there is always the push back of not being forced to nominate a DESTRUCTIVE to the party and nation choice, even if selected democratically.

The problem always with Sanders was that he obviously wasn't going to win the general election.

Edited July 25, 2016 by Jingthing

[Freakin Musashi]

The Dems, if not the entire US political system, are self-destructing even faster than the Republicans. Ms. Debbie was always part of the Clinton machine and installed as DNC head to pave the way for Hillary. Now the Dem insiders always saw Sanders as an outsider to be resisted at every opportunity forgetting that his supporters were indeed true Democrats. They still continue to trash talk Sanders and his supporters who they now desperately need to win against Trump. So Ms. Debbie finally gets outed as having interfered with the democratic process and as having stacked the deck against Sanders and his supporters, again many of whom were mainstream Democrats, and they replace Debbie with another Clinton shill, Brazile, as interim DNC head and then Clinton hires the now disgraced Ms. Debbie. I thought that the Democratic Party had come to its senses when they took on Kaine as their VP choice, a moderate centrist without the Clinton baggage, but now I see that they will continue to self-destruct with their very flawed candidate and I am beginning to think that Trump will indeed come out victorious and the current US government will be at the end of its life cycle. As others have noted, whether the coming transition will be peaceful or violent is yet to be seen.

That's the plan.

[mopar71]

There is nothing illegal or illicit here, just Democratic Party internal politics. The DNC can support anyone they want. If the rank-and-file doesn't like it, they can press for changes at the top, and that's what they got. Democracy in action.

Do you really think she resigned for doing nothing wrong? The DNC is not supposed to favor one candidate over another. They did, DWS was all in and now she has moved openly over to the side she was covertly supporting...

[Johpa]

There is nothing illegal or illicit here, just Democratic Party internal politics. The DNC can support anyone they want. If the rank-and-file doesn't like it, they can press for changes at the top, and that's what they got. Democracy in action.

The DNC can support whomever they want, but they aren't suppose to rig the system to favor one candidate over another. Yes, they probably do what they can within some unwritten rules, this is politics, but this year they went well outside the normal bounds and the net effect is to turn off the very voters they need to win against Trump, thus displaying an appalling blindness to the reality that the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is what got Obama selected over Clinton in 2008, the wing of the party that they will need to defeat Trump in 2016, and the wing of the party that is now opting to either sit out the election or vote Green.

The problem always with Sanders was that he obviously wasn't going to win the general election.

That is not true. As meaningful, or meaningless as polls are months before the convention or the election, Sanders fared as well as Clinton in a matchup against Trump.

I thought that the Democratic Party had come to its senses when they took on Kaine as their VP choice, a moderate centrist without the Clinton baggage, but now I see that they will continue to self-destruct with their very flawed candidate and I am beginning to think that Trump will indeed come out victorious and the current US government will be at the end of its life cycle. As others have noted, whether the coming transition will be peaceful or violent is yet to be seen.

That's the plan.

And that is the scary unknown, whose plan? I fear it is the plan of the long term underground American political current of the American Fascist Party represented by the Skull and Bones Society, the pirates and parasites of our larger society. Edited July 25, 2016 by Johpa