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Jennifer Palmieri (WaPo article) on what to do about Russian hacking and Russia-Trump ties
https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/03/24/the-clinton-campaign-warned-you-about-russia-but-nobody-listened-to-us/?After recounting the history of the Russian hacking, etc., and their attempts to raise this as an issue during the Clinton campaign, Palmieri ends with this:
All of us — the press, Congress, the public, the administration — are still guilty of the soft complicity of low expectations. As president, Trump does and says outrageous and false things every week, from ordering arbitrary travel bans to accusing President Obama of illegal wiretapping with no evidence. The Russia charges blend in, making it all too easy to treat them as just the latest thing the president has blustered his way through. I understand how difficult it is to put the threat in the right context. We trod lightly at times during the campaign because it sounded too fantastic to be credible, too complicated to absorb. In another era, Americans would have been able to count on both Democrats and Republicans in Congress to stand up to this kind of threat. A lot of Democrats like to play the “If we were Republicans” game. I usually hate it; I don’t want to behave like the Republicans do. But it’s useful here. If Clinton had won with the help of the Russians, the Republicans would have impeachment proceedings underway for treason. No doubt. Instead, dealing with Russia falls nearly solely on Democrats’ shoulders.
But Democrats can break out of the Catch-22 of the campaign: If we make plain that what Russia has done is nothing less than an attack on our republic, the public will be with us. And the more we talk about it, the more they’ll be with us. Polls show that voters are now concerned about the Russia story and overwhelmingly support an independent, bipartisan commission to take over this investigation. Members of Congress should use every procedural tool available to force votes on such a commission. Don’t let business continue on Capitol Hill without insisting at every opportunity that our nation should resolve the Russia matter. Filibustering Neil Gorsuch is a good start. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer is right that it would be “unseemly” to move forward with a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court by a president whose campaign is under an active FBI investigation.
Democrats should push for this relentlessly and above all else. They should talk about it in every interview. They should invoke the “big gray cloud ” that Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the House Intelligence Committee chairman, said hangs over the Trump administration — so often that anchors sigh and roll their eyes when they say it. They should call out the Republicans in Congress who seek to distract from the substance of the Russia investigation by arguing that leaks are the real problem. Democrats should be blunt: These apologists are complicit in helping Russia undermine our democracy. So far, the GOP has seen defending Trump as being in their political interests. But now we’re at a tipping point. If those Republicans feel enough heat for helping Vladimir Putin attack the United States to assist Trump, they will abandon the White House and support an independent commission.
The possibility of collusion between Trump’s allies and Russian intelligence is much more serious than Watergate. It is a constitutional crisis. It represents a violation of our republic’s most sacred trust. The worst part about our lackluster collective response to Russia’s interference is that it represents exactly what the Russians were hoping to produce: apathy. Their goal, in addition to installing a president sympathetic to their views, was to undermine Americans’ belief in our democracy. For Americans to think that none of this really matters, that it’s all a game. That’s how they truly erode U.S. moral authority and strength over the long term. It’s what they have sought to do to European adversaries for many years, and now they have brought this seed of destruction here.We all have a role to play in stopping it. Each of us should be judged by how we respond at this moment when the most fundamental precept of our democracy has been violated.
But Democrats can break out of the Catch-22 of the campaign: If we make plain that what Russia has done is nothing less than an attack on our republic, the public will be with us. And the more we talk about it, the more they’ll be with us. Polls show that voters are now concerned about the Russia story and overwhelmingly support an independent, bipartisan commission to take over this investigation. Members of Congress should use every procedural tool available to force votes on such a commission. Don’t let business continue on Capitol Hill without insisting at every opportunity that our nation should resolve the Russia matter. Filibustering Neil Gorsuch is a good start. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer is right that it would be “unseemly” to move forward with a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court by a president whose campaign is under an active FBI investigation.
Democrats should push for this relentlessly and above all else. They should talk about it in every interview. They should invoke the “big gray cloud ” that Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the House Intelligence Committee chairman, said hangs over the Trump administration — so often that anchors sigh and roll their eyes when they say it. They should call out the Republicans in Congress who seek to distract from the substance of the Russia investigation by arguing that leaks are the real problem. Democrats should be blunt: These apologists are complicit in helping Russia undermine our democracy. So far, the GOP has seen defending Trump as being in their political interests. But now we’re at a tipping point. If those Republicans feel enough heat for helping Vladimir Putin attack the United States to assist Trump, they will abandon the White House and support an independent commission.
The possibility of collusion between Trump’s allies and Russian intelligence is much more serious than Watergate. It is a constitutional crisis. It represents a violation of our republic’s most sacred trust. The worst part about our lackluster collective response to Russia’s interference is that it represents exactly what the Russians were hoping to produce: apathy. Their goal, in addition to installing a president sympathetic to their views, was to undermine Americans’ belief in our democracy. For Americans to think that none of this really matters, that it’s all a game. That’s how they truly erode U.S. moral authority and strength over the long term. It’s what they have sought to do to European adversaries for many years, and now they have brought this seed of destruction here.We all have a role to play in stopping it. Each of us should be judged by how we respond at this moment when the most fundamental precept of our democracy has been violated.
38 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
Repeating the same phrase ("death panel", "death tax", "job creator", "entitlement"
is a big part of the secret of GOP media effectiveness.
See Luntz on this:
https://thinkprogress.org/luntz-warns-gop-on-occupy-wall-street-dont-say-capitalism-because-americans-think-capitalism-is-f54637f09e33#.qtp2m3680
