ELECTION 2016

Top aides to Hillary Clinton believe the press and FBI Director James Comey contributed to her surprise election night loss, according to a Hill report out Thursday.

In a private conference call with supporters, Clinton campaign chair John Podesta, communications director Jennifer Palmieri and other senior staffers struggled to explain how their well-oiled campaign machine ultimately failed.

Voter suppression, Comey, media bothsiderism, and the media banging away at Clinton emails, (State Dept. and Wikileaks), and, in comparison, ignoring Trump's many scandals all played a part, but honest self-examination would indicate that the DNC is a troglodyte and needs an overhaul starting at the top.

When African-Americans in Louisiana, who turned out in lower numbers than previous elections, were asked why, their response was that neither Clinton nor Kaine were a presence in the state, so they felt the two didn't care about Louisiana.

Local Democrats worked hard and did their best, but they received scant support from national Democratic organizations such as the DNC, the DSC, and the DCCC.  Even if blacks had voted in higher numbers, Trump would probably have won the electoral votes in the state, but that does not negate the fact that Democrats, win or lose, need an ongoing 50-state strategy, starting now.  A political party that wants to be a national party does not have the liberty to write off even deeply red states. To build a national party, Democrats must have a presence in every state, as Howard Dean told us over and over and tried to do when he was head of the DNC.  Alas, he was thrown out for a scream.

Photo from Wikimedia Commons.

Correction: Howard Dean offered his resignation as Chairman of the DNC after Barack Obama was elected in 2008, because the president traditionally appoints the DNC chair, not because of the scream.  In 2004, Dean was a candidate for president.  The scream was an attempt to rally his supporters after his loss of the Iowa caucus that he had expected to win. Wide media coverage of the scream was followed by loss of support from party insiders, and John Kerry ultimately became the Democratic nominee.

SISTER ACT

And a fine act it was. Amongst the speeches last night was Sister Simone Campbell's gem in a class all its own.  Sister Simone, one of the "Nuns on the Bus", brought the crowd to their feet cheering and applauding time after time. She dared to mention the P-word and tell stories of the struggles of the people who live in poverty. The plight of the poor, which was not much mentioned in the course of the DNC, stands as a challenge to us all. The "We" in "We the people...." declare to each of us that not one of us stands alone, that I am my sister's keeper; I am my brother's keeper. As the Founding Father Ben Franklin said, "If we don't hang together, by Heavens we shall hang separately". The words were true then, and the words are true now.  Sister Simone served as the conscience of the convention.

I AM SO PROUD OF MY LEGISLATORS AND MY PRESIDENT (NOT!)

From TPM:

About that budget deal...

One of the hardest hit institutions is the Environmental Protection Agency, whose power Republicans have sought to curtail in recent years through a variety of legislative means. The agency will receive $1.6 billion less in funding than current levels, a 16 percent drop....
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In addition to programs protecting the environment, programs aimed at boosting energy efficiency for power plants and transportation also were major targets.
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Health care funding was a heavy target for the GOP, who secured just over $1 billion in cuts to programs preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS and other diseases, $600 million cuts to community health care centers, and $78 million to research on health care costs. Funding for health co-ops created under the Democrats' health care law was zeroed out.
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Nonetheless, spending on education and other social programs made up a large portion of cuts -- Labor, Health, Education and related agencies were slashed by $5.5 billion with 55 programs eliminated.
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Science research, which President Obama has touted as crucial to American competitiveness, was on the chopping block: National Science Foundation saw a $43 million cut in its research funding from its current levels but a major $444 million cut from the President's initial request.
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Defense was not cut from current levels, instead increasing by $5 billion. FEMA first responder funding was cut by $786 million. Contributions to the U.N. and international organizations were cut by $377 million.

Read the rest and weep. We see what their priorities are.

Just the other day I received in the mail requests for contributions from President Obama for the kick-off of his 2012 campaign for president and from the Democratic National Committee. Hey, guys, I don't think so.