The Democratic Party Is Dead
November 23, 2017
For years, we have been hearing that the Republican Party was on the ropes: when Bill Clinton won in 1992 and 1996; when Barack Obama won in 2008 and 2012; when the tea party launched in 2009; when Texas Senator Ted Cruz and company shut down the federal government for a few days in 2013. (Remember when we were told that voters were going to “punish” Republicans in 2014? Yeah, that was right before they handed the GOP control of the House and Senate.) When Donald Trump roared into the primaries in 2015 and knocked out his more — shall we say — traditional GOP rivals one by one, and even (perhaps especially) since Donald Trump’s election, the media’s go-to narrative has been how the Republican Party is fragmented and crumbling.
Now we know that it’s the Democratic Party that’s rotting from within.
This isn’t about the staggering loss of seats in state governments. It’s about the sex scandals that have enveloped Hollywood — and now the media and Washington. What’s even more shocking than the reprehensible conduct itself is how intimately entwined these scandals are with the Democratic Party’s politics, its operatives and their tactics.
Let’s start with Harvey Weinstein. One of the biggest Hollywood fundraisers for Democrats, he has become the poster boy for the most egregious sexual harassment and assault. As journalist Ronan Farrow has exposed, Weinstein’s modus operandi included hiring high-powered attorneys like David Boies of Boies Schiller Flexner. Boies’ law firm paid Black Cube — an intelligence-gathering company Weinstein employed — to dig up dirt on and silence potential accusers. According to Ronan Farrow, K2 — another intelligence firm — was hired by Elkin Abramowitz, also one of Weinstein’s defense attorneys. K2’s job was to ensure that Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. — a Democrat — did not prosecute Weinstein after sexual assault charges were filed against him in New York. Vance was once employed by Abramowitz’ firm, and has since drawn criticism for taking campaign contributions from lawyers “having dealings with his office.”
Weinstein’s attorneys also had his victims sign iron-clad nondisclosure agreements that effectively covered up his behavior.
As I wrote last week, David Boies’ name appears with some frequency in these accounts. PBS and CBS host Charlie Rose was fired this past week after eight women came forward with sordid stories of sexual harassment and abuse of power. Lo and behold, who has turned up as one of Rose’s former attorneys? None other than David Boies.
New York Times reporter Glenn Thrush has also been suspended following accusations of sexual misconduct involving younger women at the Times and Politico. Remember Glenn Thrush? His was one of many emails released by Wikileaks that demonstrated how far in the tank the media was for 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Thrush sent a potentially negative story to Clinton campaign manager John Podesta for approval before publishing. Thrush’s email read, in part, “Because I have become a hack I will send u the whole section that pertains to u (sic). Please don’t share or tell anyone I did this.”
The Wikileaks email dump also exposed that Donna Brazile — at the time, a contributing political correspondent at CNN — was feeding debate questions to Clinton in advance of the event. Brazile lost her position at CNN, and has now written a best-seller, “Hacks,” in which she gives her take on why Clinton lost the election. Among her revelations: that the DNC was financially controlled and manipulated by the Clintons, to the political detriment of the other (and arguably more popular) Democratic candidate, Bernie Sanders.
Brazile stepped in as DNC chair after Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned in disgrace, only to be scooped by Clinton and named “honorary” campaign chair. Wasserman Schultz’s handsomely paid former IT staffer Imran Awan has since been indicted, and is suspected of selling sensitive data to Pakistanis and Russians.
Charles Manson’s recent death brought disturbing reminders that even the Democratic Party’s golden boy, Barack Obama, has unsavory alliances in his background. After the grisly murders of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and six others in July of 1969, Weather Underground founder Bernardine Dohrn said, “Offing those rich pigs with their own forks and knives, and then eating a meal in the same room. Far out! The Weathermen dig Charles Manson.”
Manson and his followers were murderous lunatics. Bernardine Dohrn (along with her husband Bill Ayers) was a communist revolutionary and domestic terrorist responsible for multiple bombings. Dohrn expressed admiration for the Manson murders. And Barack Obama launched his political career in her living room.
The Democratic Party — at least at the level of national leadership — is riddled through and through with questionable affiliations, political scandals, sexual deviants and interconnected teams of lawyers and paid spies protecting them.
It’s time for the Democrats to clean house.
New leadership needs to come from the grass roots — mayors, city council and school board members — fresh faces and people who step up from every walk of life to cleanse their party of the rot that has corrupted it for the past 40-plus years. No more Clintons, Podestas, Obamas, media shills, communist agitators or community organizers.
The Democratic Party is dead. Long live the Democratic Party.
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I don't want the Democratic Party to be dead. I just want both parties to move toward the center and rid themselves of the fringes on both sides.
Nice article. Par for the course these days on Newstalkers.
BTW- happy thanksgiving.
Happy Thanksgiving to you PJ as well. I never did play par golf, so I guess I was spending my time on the wrong activity.
You have to admit, during the last 8 years over one thousand Democrat political positions were lost to Republicans and with the advent of all these Liberals and Democratic politicians being exposed, it doesn't look good. I just think both parties need to move more to the center and rid themselves of their radical elements. With the media pushing the radicals every day as the way to go, it is hard to do that.
You know how I feel. I think it's time for the country to split. We've had a good run but it's over. The country is too divided. I'm okay with a split. It sounds like it would be a win/win.
I don't believe that is an option PJ. Something a person starts to believe when it is publicized every day by MSM is they think everyone is divided by some sort of line in the sand. Tell me, where is that line here?
Good morning Six. We don't have to look at a map and let it dictate where the line is drawn. We can certainly take into account where the majority of each party resides when deciding. Draw a line and all those who support or lean Republican can move to one side and all those who support or lean Democratic move to the other side. We can set up trade and other agreements between each other.
It would be a grand experiment to see which side flourished and which citizens were better educated, healthier, and happier.
Did you look at the map PJ? The country is red and it would be like separating the red from the water in kool aid. And some of the reddest parts are in the North. I hate cold weather and I'm certainly not going to move any of those six circles on the map.
Six - There is no way that many stupid people live in America. It CAN'T be that red. hahahahaha
Geesh - I'm going to have to become an ex-patriot it seems.
It would be a grand experiment to see which side flourished and which citizens were better educated, healthier, and happier.
I don’t think so. I think it would set a precedent for giving up and fracturing the country that wouldn’t stop with one event. Before you know it America will have turned into 500 countries, some with military power capable of overtaking others. It would be game over.
That map is an exercise in gerrymandering.
We have 1/4 of the country dictating our policy. How's that good?
It’s not. There’s no good answer, IMO. We need to start by reversing the dumbing down trend that got us where we are. When I watch the movie Idiocracy, it’s no longer funny. It’s our reality.
I'll have to watch it. hahahaha
I agree but how do we reverse it when educational funding is being slashed and some Universities are struggling with their reputations and the damage they've sustained from their very own students.
It's craziness and now we're dealing with an accused child molester being elected simply because he's the party of choice...... Our country is basically in a fight for morality and decency and it's losing.
Not an option PJ. We as a country have to take the good with the bad. I get the feeling there's a little Supremacy in that comment. Do you think you are better than others? That's alright if you do. Political Correctness doesn't allow such ideas to flourish though. We're suppose to be equal, aren't we? I certainly think I'm better than some others and PC hasn't stopped me from thinking that and if you hear of anyone who doesn't think that way, you are being lied to and there's nothing we can do about it either.
Don't you think you are better than the fellow who is robbing the convenience store, simple because he wants to, has no need other than he wants to take their money or won't get or keep an honest job? I certainly think I'm better than him and I think you are as well. You and I have follow the rules and the rules are to do what you can to provide for yourself and family without having to depend on anyone else unless you have to do so.
I know you are just fooling around about this.
It's true though. To consider them stupid people when in November 2016 only 30% of the people in this country thought we were heading in the right direction and during most of 2016 only the mid 20% thought we were heading in the right direction. Hillary thought we were heading in the right direction, so she was part of the group who wanted to continue down that road.
What? I have no idea what you are talking about......although my dad always said I was special. (smirk)
I wish I was fooling around about the country splitting up. I'm not. You have to admit if nothing else I've been consistent with this position. I try hard every day not to let the fact that so many of my country men and women actually think this man is qualified and has the moral compass and intelligence to lead this country. I'm sorry. I'm not trying to insult anyone. I'm just still in shock that our country has sunk so low.
It has nothing to do with gerrymandering. I thought you knew how the president is elected Hal. That map shows where the votes came from. Even though there are red and blue, those are where the votes came from and who they voted for. This was not a city council election.
That reminds me of the conversation I had this past week with a man who stocks the cooler and sweeps the floor in a community store. He asked me if I had any children and then I asked him if he had any children. He was happy to say he had 10 children by different mothers of course. He was proud to say he had produced 10 children, never been married and was a player in his younger days, as he called himself. I can tell you, if all 10 of his children voted, they voted for Hillary.
Without these kind of votes for the goodies and the dumbing down from the Democrats for their votes, the Democrats wouldn't have a chance in hell of ever winning another election. You see, the Democrats have the elites and the poor voting for them. The elites like to be considered above everyone else and pretend they are for everyone else and the poor blacks have not come to realize they are just being used by them yet, but they are coming round slowly and realizing the benefits of self reliance instead of government handouts. The poor have been poor and have continued to remain poor under Democrat policies for many decades.
No offense, but I don't think you grasped a single thing I said. And you are special and I don't mean that in a bad way.
AP analysis shows how gerrymandering benefited GOP in 2016
W-a-h-w-a-h.
gerrymandering--which BOTH parties do when they can.
If you don't like how the GOP drew districts, win some elections and change them.
S'plain it to me then. What am I missing?
We're talking about the Presidential election or at least I am and all the gerrymandering in the world didn't make any difference in the Presidential Election and your link is talking about the GOP, not the Presidential election, Hal.
And describing like the UK Telegraph does and you agree with as the facts is also disingenuous, and that is at best.
And although the vote total difference is stark as is illustrated, it doesn't matter.
VOTES ARE TOTALED BY LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT! and only legislative district.
Showing a map by counties isn't the most accurate model. And leave you open to both arguments.
Tally it up by district, and the vote totals more accurately follow the electoral college. and in actuality of you remove state mandated party loyalty from the totals, T-Rumps victory becomes even more stark. This would have the effect of shifting about 20% of Clinton's electors to the T-Rump side. (if they were totaled by district rather than state)
No T-Rump did not win in a landslide in the popular vote, he only had a plurality, but then so did Clinton. when shifting the districts to who they actually voted for and drawing the map that way, T-Rumps victory is solid. no where near as close as the democrats want to argue.
Not a landslide ala Reagan or Nixon, but a decidedly solid win.
And year, that makes most of the country red..... (even with the differences in number of voters in the districts, which is a constitutional issue btw.)
Welcome to your new country. I live in a red part of it.
We can visit each other at the wall or border fence. hahahahaha - just kidding X.
There are only 2 states where Gerrymandering could affect the outcome of their results and they only have a total of 9 electoral votes. Those states are Maine and Nebraska, where they have 2 state-winner electoral votes each and then the other votes are based on Congressional district winners. Maine was the ONLY state where the electoral votes from the 2016 election were split. Hillary won 3 of those electoral votes as she won 1 Congressional district and the state-wide popular vote. Trump won 1 Congressional district. EVERY OTHER state has it set up that whoever wins the entire state's popular vote gets ALL the Electoral Votes, based on the promises of the Electors selected by each state party. This means that whoever wins Pennsylvania, their party's Electors go to the Electoral College and supposedly vote for that candidate. The Electors have been known to renege on their promises and vote for someone else.
LMM, your article has nothing to do with the Presidential Election. Trump got more votes in the states that selected him than Hillary and Hillary got more votes than Trump in the states that selected her, plain and simple.
I understand when you make a whole county red when they didn't have the population there the county of the city with the highest population resided did can be misleading, but the plain simple facts remain the same, the states with more votes for the candidate elected the President of the United States. You can argue all you want, but the county where the cities with the largest population being the same land area as the counties with the smallest population only proves the importance of the Electoral College that the President is representing all of the states, not just the cities with the overwhelming population where it only takes three of these cities to contain more people than nearly 40 states contain in their entire state. The presidential election is a national election and the president is elected by the Electoral College representing each state.
Popular vote is mob rule. That's why we have jurors instead of letting the majority decide whether to hang the accused criminal.
No different than having one person to represent a number of people who have already cast their votes.
Nowhere Man, I'm afraid in the future the lack of understanding of the importance of the Electoral College may be the downfall of this country. It may not seem possible today, but you and I will be gone in the years to come and the younger generation has little understanding of its importance, it seems.
This post is a full-out insult on the senses. People's lives range across all conditions, states, and issues galore. This exploiting of an individual's situation in life to make a national statement about Democrats is indecent. Moreover, you all but stated the ethnicity of the man (with 10 babies and never married)! A black male minority is implied overall in your assessment of the mental incapacity of "poor blacks" to make political decisions for themselves. How outrageous.
How stereotypical of today's republican to think and to write such. The "po" black/negro: Damned by republicans when they do and when they don't!
How self-righteous to take a high position that what works for the republican collective is superior and sufficient for all of America! Republicans and conservatives hold themselves in too high regard. In the end, it will be the party's downfall.
Jefferson, what they are trying to say is a county that voted for Trump which only had a couple of thousand votes, yet it is totally red compared to another county that voted for Hillary with the same land mass which had 3 million people is blue and they aren't fair comparisons of the colors. I can understand what their point is and it really isn't fair to draw a map with two counties being the same size, but one has 100 times as many voters and the other, but both are the color of the candidate who won that county.
Shouldn't the little school 15 miles out in the country have the same privileges and rights that the school right in the middle of the biggest city in the state have?
Some of these people would be perfectly happy to have Popular Vote rule the country.
We could draw a line right down the center of this picture. LOL!!!
This image is sad beyond description.
On this you're right; but you are forgetting that the Democrats have shown themselves to forget this and have focused instead on the massively minority groups out there. They are pushing for illegal immigration by insisting that trying to secure the borders is a racist ideology; despite less than 10% of the population being illegal immigrants. They pushed for open bathrooms, despite less than 1% of the population identifying as being the incorrect gender. They keep pushing to "punish the rich" despite the top 1% of earners paying 50% of the income taxes collected while at the same time ignoring the wealthy whom have already made their money. You see why the author thinks the Democratic Party is dead, now?
I didn't say he was a poor black. He was black and he fathered 10 babies with different mothers which is something 10 of my friends did with their 10 wives, one baby per wife. It's not racist to tell the truth. You want to make him a poor black, not me. I want to make his children change this lifestyle of having babies, not marrying or paying any support for them and become a real father to his children and do something productive. He also said his brother retired from the Air Force after 23 years and had several degrees. And was working toward retirement with a company right now.
His choices in life were terrible and if you were subjected to the number of people just like him that I am you would have a better understanding of it than you do. Face it, Calbab, nothing against you, but when you run on offering candy for decades all you're going to get is fat people.
This man had the same opportunities his brother had and he's not stupid. In fact he's pretty smart and I really like him, but a government that promotes and provides this sort of support is not getting the kind of citizens that will propel this country in the future.
Don't take it personal Calbab. It's only a little humor, nothing more.
I'll have to do it at another time as I have some work I have to do. Sometimes I think this seat has a magnet in it and I must have one in my pants.
My extended family is neither poor nor elite. I guarantee you that they did not vote for the moron in the Oval Office. In fact, they would all be hard pressed to name an acquaintance who voted for the orange ogre. We all must be the biggest anomaly in your narrative.
Yes, but you did say you live in Maryland, didn't you?
My family all voted for Pres. Trump. But, not for the "Howdy Doody" impersonator who reigned in the Oval Office for eight years.
And you thought I was off topic.
It is not surprising that you and your Alabama relatives did not vote for the black candidate.
The black one?
Don't know how to break it to you, but most of my relatives don't live in AL. Let's see....CA, NV, TN.
Lol. You’re not helping your image.
The issues are such that our country has to come together, break down old unworkable traditions, customs, and upgrade our constitution to match the times we live in; we can not easily regress to an earlier state, when we all should know how many social ills and social dilemmas and problems our old nation just fought its way out of! In this sense, we have some people in leaderships on both sides holding untenable positions.
Trying to fasten the border on-top of people caught-up (due to birth and the constitution) in a "no-true" state status (without a country) is wrong -- make the bulk of these people citizens and at the same time tighten border security. Open bathrooms are not "open" literally. This is just a talking point and by the way talking points do not resolve anything. Talking points are problematic and lazy in themselves, because they give people like you and me an out to not get on with the discussion of how to fix people issues. Transsexuals are not helped by handing each one a talking point. Transsexuals are real people with status in the country, made in the image of God, and deserve a real solution like bathrooms everybody can use accordingly. Similar to how bathrooms are used in the home. If the solution is "universal" toilets, then get on with that!
It is appropriate to use different solutions for different times. . . .
Our national wealth initially was designed to be flowing. . . not to be displaced in institutional stockpiling by corporations (select stockholders) in order to control and/or manipulate the masses politically. Our wealthy citizens (the 1% should not be allowed to dam up this nation's wealth and keep it in vast storehouses. If the only way to get the 1% to distribute this nation's vast wealth back out into the populace is to legally take it, then so be it. Why should institutional theft be allowed? Consider that a great amount of wealth is aggregated by the men and women who use "systems" to pull money away from the public, into private and selfish services. The 1% percent should turn their talents and skills to true stewardship of wealth, to help build up the people who buy their goods and services and keep just what they can actually use for themselves (and their families).
Inherent poverty is fixed by raising wages for that segment of the population republicans can see are trapped in different and vicious cycles of poverty and alongside of fair treatment across the board. Then, 'po' whites and blacks after several generations can think about something more than be 'p,' and living hand-to-mouth! Good steward in government means seeking practical solutions to problems in our society. What it does not mean is a vain attempt at requiring all citizens of this country to take a one-size fit all worldview.
This man's brother is not the issue. What if his brother's choices in life led or may someday lead the brother to an early grave? We can't know if or when life can bite the brother hard. What if one of the ten children turns out to be majorly successful and lift the father out of abject poverty? There is no "greener grass" you can compare this man and his brother over until both are departed from this life and you compare both lives in retrospect. Resist the urge to do so here and now.
Case in point: Pat Tillman left the NFL and I presume a "better life" to go to war in Afghanistan in 2001 in order to fight for the American ideals of freedom, justice and democracy. A noble cause. Sadly, Mr. Tillman was probably killed by "friendly fire" from his own squad. Choices. That was not supposed to happen; lots of things in life are not supposed to happen, but do happen.
The government is fat and undisciplined not because of poor people. Poor people have limited power to affect holistic change of national systems, remember? Our government is inefficient because we have undisciplined and unstable leaders who are often indulgent, self-centered, power-hungry, covet fame, influence, and filthy lucre all from the extended hands of lobbyists. Men and women handsomely paid to pit selfish self-interests against good policy.
I am not taking it personal. Still, the image is not humorous: It's political posturing and its dangerous.
You must have me confused with someone else. I'm not sure I've ever told anyone they were off topic. By the way I was just kidding about Communist Maryland. Don't get too involved.
Isn't there a little Supremacist in that comment? I bet he would have voted for most any other black candidate, but you see we already knew too much of Obama's history and it didn't take us long to decide we didn't want to go down that road with him. Evidently not many others wanted to continue on that road since all of the people in this country polling said they didn't think it was the right road by only having mid 20 percentile of those polled for the most part of 2016 thought the country was heading in the right direction. You can't deny that.
You didn't have to go thrrough all that CAlbab, although it was well written. You could have accepted the fact his brother, who had the same opportunities, made much better decisions with his life. In fact everyone I know has the same opportunities either one of these men had. We don't have to worry about him getting killed a year after he joined the Marines or getting out 2 years late, like he did. He could have stayed in, switched to another branch of the military. He had the same opportunities I had, but he decided to be a player and father the different women he never married with 10 children for the rest of us to support at least until adulthood. There's nothing about people stuck in low paying jobs, if they are motivated to improve themselves they have at least as much opportunity as anyone else.
I know Asians who run convenience stores, live in the back and then introduce me to their daughter who just graduated from college studying to be a doctor, while they sell their customers wine, beer, blunts and cigarettes all day long. Some people start at the bottom and some others benefit because someone else started at the bottom some time in the past. In order to move up the food chain someone has to sacrifice a little for the future of their children and some people aren't willing to do that preventing a better future for their children from ever becoming a reality.
Oh, you're talking about the one who smiled in Israel's face while he stabbed them in the back, the one who, one his last day in office, tried to give the Palestinian terrorists millions of dollars even though the United Kingdom had already stopped there money from getting to them because they didn't want to support terrorism, that one.
"Speculate" a percentage of how many people you are referring to as being "takers" who give nothing back to the system, please. I want to compare your number to the whole. Moreover, I will remind you there are people making various millions off the money that flows out fingers of the poor and this is not allowed to flow back down through the system. Money DAMMED UP at the top!
You must know the system is rigged this way; the process is more or less being done out in the open.
I do not have to accept any such thing. Life is not fair in this sense and people are not born equal. Our government, and our business owners have enough power to raise the wage floor under those who "bottom-out" in life. Instead, conservatives defend, argue for, and act to keep an ideology that says owners get to pick winners and the rest of society must "catch as catch can." It is the duty of government, those who lead in the communities of the nation, to seek legal and social justice for all legal citizens -not just those citizens who hold to its worldview.
Tell that to North Carolina, or did you forget their law restricting the use of bathrooms having been struck down due to being "discriminatory"?
About the wealthy holding onto their wealth, I am a proponent of a 22% National Sales Tax on every single sale except relating to food and basic household goods and appliances. I believe that is the best way to allow wealth to be spread as you are taxing what people spend not on what they earn.
Simply means bathrooms all have enclosures for privacy. That's all. They are not technically open. As to sales taxes being raised uniformly across the nation - it should be looked at, I suppose. I have no idea if it could work, however. Tomwcraig, my larger point is people have to stopping barring other people from simple expression simply because of the status quo. (Be flexible to allow and behold new ideas and set of circumstances.)
Hi Sixpick! Nice "meeting" you. The statements above are outrageous. Search your own memories, any unsavory characters who have uttered "vicious" statements in or out of your presence? Did you run away yelling, "Unclean!" "Unclean!" for an indefinite period of time? Guilt by association, machiavellinism, and outright deceit make a poor argument. The author of this article is guilty of using loaded language. Rationally-speakng, you have eight years of Barack Obama's public life since his sparse meetings with Bill Ayers. Research those eight years from both sides. Then, give us an objective statement of your own that intellectually joins or separates your perspective from this author. Thank you.
Well there are major outlets who are trying to tie him to the right wing as they call it or Conservatives, when in reality he was an evil nut. The extreme Left liked him and I'm sure the extreme Right liked him, but you and I hated him for all he was whether we were considered Left or Right.
The biggest flaw for the Dems and the biggest gift to Republicans is the ever present liberal arrogance and hypocrisy.
Isn't there a little supremacist coming from them in that regard?
Just because they lost 1000 elected seats doesn't make the Dems dead.
Don't fall into thinking that way. That is what the Dems did, and they have paid dearly for it.
Always remember that there are plenty of people who agree with them. Be vigilant. Never be complacent.
I certainly understand where you are coming from in those statements, Texan.
The order of the day is to destroy them because they have proven they just can't be trusted. I really hope the sensible Democrats become aware of the people and actions that have been the root of their downfall and both parties can rid themselves of the radicals on both sides. I don't really care if they don't agree on everything. In fact I think we would really be in bad shape if they did, but pulling a little more to the center from both parties, ridding themselves of their extremes is the only way this country is going to survive in my humble opinion.
It's the obvious corruption, sexual misconduct, (not only by the politicians, but those that support them) the appeal has turned to disgust. Anybody with half a brain knows to avoid that kind of group.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying the GOP are saints, but we can't ignore the climate that the Dems have made for themselves and how it is now collapsing around them and their reactions to it.