On 22 July 2016, Wikileaks released a cache of damaging e-mails belonging to the Democratic National Committee (commonly referred to in the online world as #DNCLeaks), including many communications involving now-former DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Advertisement
Democratic Party officials are negotiating to significantly downgrade the public role of party Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz at her own convention, according to a top Democratic Party source. He said Wasserman Schultz should have apologized and deserved to be booed, but he thinks the party still has plenty of time to come together.
Wasserman Schultz was also the target of intense criticism throughout the Democratic primary process over her decision to limit the number of debates and other steps that Sanders supporters felt conveyed outright support for Clinton.
DNC Chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz speaks during a campaign event for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton at the Florida State Fairgrounds Entertainment Hall, Friday, July 22, 2016, in Tampa, Fla.
Her exit, coming after Hillary Clinton accepts the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday night, still isn’t coming soon enough for some critics.
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.
In another May email, Wasserman Schultz called Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver a “damn liar” for statements he made criticizing the Nevada Democratic Party after protests by Sanders supporters of what they said was subversion of party rules by Clinton backers.
While Sanders had endorsed Clinton previously, his remarks Monday marked his most vigorous and detailed praise of her qualifications for the presidency.
Her opponent in Florida’s August 30 congressional primary is Tim Canova, a Nova Southeastern University law professor who tweeted Monday that “DWS must be defeated in this election and removed from Congress. It’s time to end her political career for good”. She is a awful candidate who already lost one race she was supposed to win easily.
She also took on those heckling her.
Florida has 29 Electoral College delegates, which President Barack Obama carried in 2008 and 2012.
The job of a national party chair – for the Democrats or Republicans – is demanding and unrelenting. Signs carried messages such as “Never Hillary” and even in one case “Just go to jail, Hillary”, an echo of the Republicans’ “Lock her up”. Sanders had called earlier Sunday for her departure. There was no smoking gun showing an actual attempt to sabotage Sanders, but there were proposals to do so – the most damaging by Brad Marshall, the campaign’s finance boss, who suggested depicting Sanders as an atheist alienated from his Jewish heritage. They also lamented the DNC’s backing of Clinton from the very beginning of the primary contests, nearly begging Wasserman Shultz to give them a fair chance.
I don’t know what Rob will do without Debbie Wasserman Schultz, one of his favorite foils. She also said she wanted to speak at the convention, despite the Clinton campaign seeming none too enthusiastic about the prospect, before opting to stay away from the stage just two hours before she was set to open the gathering.
That didn’t satisfy some Sanders supporters, who want her gone now.
Surrounded by police officers, reporters and the pulsating crowd, Wasserman Schultz plowed through, raising her voice behind the microphone to try to be heard over the din.
“We have four more days to bring unity to this party; this is the first day”, Beaton said.
Advertisement
And don’t count out the return of Wasserman Schultz to a leadership role, Klein said.
