Clinton Staffers Strike Back: Say Brazile “Bought Into Russian Propaganda”

As it turns out, Donna Brazile’s accusations about the Clinton campaign – contained in several excerpts from her upcoming book that somehow found their way into the hands of reporters at Politico and the Washington Post – are also Vladimir Putin’s fault.

In a letter signed by more than 100 Clinton campaign staffers that was published late Saturday, two days after Brazile exposed in her first bombshell how the Clinton campaign tilted the Democratic primary in its candidate’s favor by essentially seizing control of the Democratic Party purse, and using her influence to set strategy and spending priorities that favored the Clinton campaign over Hillary’s insurgent (and far more popular) rival, Bernie Sanders.

Then, in a summary of some of the book’s most incendiary claims, the Washington Post revealed that, in the wake of Wikileaks’ dump of emails stolen from DNC servers – emails that exposed, among other things, that Brazile herself had shared town hall topics and debate questions with the Clinton campaign – Brazile feared for her life after DNC staffer Seth Rich was murdered in what the police described as a robbery, but many have suspect could’ve been a plot to punish Rich for leaking the DNC emails to Wikileaks. Brazile also revealed that she considered using emergency powers to replace Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine with Joe Biden and Corey Booker, after Clinton’s bout with pneumonia gave Brazile serious reservations about the candidate’s health.

She also described how her condescending and demeaning treatment at the hands of several senior Clinton campaign staffers made her feel like “Patsey the slave” from the movie “12 Years A Slave.”

But in the opening paragraph of their letter rebutting Brazile’s portrayal of the campaign, the group of former staffers – which includes Campaign Chairman John Podesta, Campaign Manager Robby Mook and Clinton aide Huma Abedin – claim they were “surprised” by Brazile’s accusations, and accused her of succumbing to Russian propaganda.

We were shocked to learn the news that Donna Brazile actively considered overturning the will of the Democratic voters by attempting to replace Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine as the Democratic Presidential and Vice Presidential nominees.

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.

Of course, in the true Washington spirit of telling people to ‘fuck off’ as pleasantly as possible, the group points out that Brazile is a “longtime friend and colleague” but still, they “do not recognize the campaign she portrays in the book.”

“Donna came in to take over the DNC at a very difficult time. We were grateful to her for doing so. She is a longtime friend and colleague of many of us and has been an important leader in our party. But we do not recognize the campaign she portrays in the book,” the letter reads.

The Clinton team members go on to discuss how Clinton herself, “more than any of us, persevered through an incredibly difficult campaign and her commitment and stamina inspired us every day. We are very proud of the effort she and the campaign made in both the primary and the general election.” They also take a jab at President Trump, mentioning how Clinton won the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes.

And in a telling sign that many of them have not learned anything from their shocking defeat at the hands of President Trump, they noted that the 2016 race was “unlike any in history” and that they “did the best they could.”

The 2016 presidential campaign was unlike any in our history. It was very difficult for our candidates and our staff. We are very proud that throughout the campaign and the aftermath the staff stuck together, worked as a team, and did the best we could for both Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine. We did this for the simple reason that we thought Hillary Clinton would make the best President for the country we all love. We have now, as we did throughout the campaign, enormous love and pride for our candidate, Hillary Clinton. She, more than any of us, persevered through an incredibly difficult campaign and her commitment and stamina inspired us every day. We are very proud of the effort she and the campaign made in both the primary and the general election.

The general election loss was devastating for us all and something we live with every day. And while frustrating that the general election vote total did not change the outcome of the election, we remain proud that Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine received nearly 3 million more votes in the general election than their opponents.

The letter closes with a desperate plea for the world to stop re-litigating the 2016 elections and instead focus the gubernatorial races in 36 states and three territories being held Tuesday, Nov. 6.

“[W]e are pretty tired of people who were not part of our campaign telling the world what it was like to be on the inside of our campaign and how we felt about it. We loved our candidate and each other and it remains our honor to have been part of the effort to make Hillary Clinton the 45th President of the United States,” they write. “All Democrats should be doing everything they can?—?canvassing, phone banking, etc.?—?to help our candidates for Governor of Virginia and New Jersey and the other races around the country next Tuesday.”

Just the fact that they had to affirm in a letter that they “loved” their candidate, and one another, makes it seem like the opposite: The Clinton campaign was, by all outsider accounts, the “antiseptic” walled-off operation run by data wonks who missed the forest for the trees in an extremely memorable and hideously embarrassing way.

The notion that people should stop re-litigating the 2016 election is nonsense. If anything, it should become a case study that every political science major in the country is forced to analyze and assess. Many mistakes were clearly made – and what are mistakes if not opportunities to learn?