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Hacked emails overshadow Democratic National Convention

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Work continues inside the convention hall before the Democratic National Convention, Saturday, July 23, 2016, in Philadelphia.

WASHINGTON >> Hacked emails threatened to overshadow the Democratic Party’s upcoming celebration in Philadelphia as progressives expressed disappointment Sunday over the presidential nomination process and Bernie Sanders stepped up demands that the party’s chairwoman step down.

Bitterness and frustration among the more progressive wing came after some 19,000 emails were published on the website Wikileaks that suggested the Democratic National Committee played favorites during the primary, when Sanders fell short against Hillary Clinton.

In one leaked email, a DNC official wondered whether Sanders’ religious beliefs could be used against him, questioning whether the candidate may be an atheist.

In televised interviews Sunday, the Vermont senator said the emails proved what he knew was true: The DNC planned to support former Secretary of State Clinton from the start.

“I’m not shocked, but I’m disappointed” by the exchanges in the emails, Sanders told ABC’s “This Week.”

Sanders pressed for Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., to quit as chairwoman immediately. He also suggested that Clinton’s choice of running mate, Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, was a disappointment and that he would have preferred Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a favorite of liberals.

“His political views are not my political views. He is more conservative than I am. Would I have preferred to see somebody like an Elizabeth Warren selected by Secretary Clinton? Yes, I would have,” Sanders told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

The Clinton team worked to portray their party’s convention in a different light from the just concluded Republican gathering in Cleveland, where Donald Trump accepted the GOP nomination but party divisions flared when his chief rival, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, refused to endorse the billionaire businessman.

Trump cast himself as the law-and-order candidate in a nation suffering under crime and hobbled by immigration, as the GOP convention stuck to a gloom-and-doom theme. Democrats want to convey a message of optimism and improving the lives of all Americans.

But party disunity also seems to be a factor in Philadelphia, given Sanders’ demands for a new leader and general unhappiness among his many supporters about how the nomination process unfolded.

It was unclear whether Wasserman Schultz would have a speaking role at the convention.

Some party loyalists say the DNC can’t ignore the emails.

Dan O’Neal, 68, is a retired school teacher and delegate from Arizona, said Wasserman Schultz has to be censured.

“We knew they were stacking the deck against Bernie from the get-go, but this type of stuff coming out is outrageous,” he said. “It proves our point that they’ve tried to marginalize him and make it as difficult as possible.”

Trump’s campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, agreed, saying Sanders’ supporters “have a lot to complain about.”

“The emails have proven the system was rigged from the start,” Manafort told “Fox News Sunday.”

Clinton’s campaign manager, Robby Mook, tried to shift blame away from DNC officials to “Russian state actors” who, he said, may have hacked into DNC computers “for the purpose of helping Donald Trump,” the Republican presidential nominee.

How the emails were stolen hasn’t been confirmed.

“It was concerning last week that Donald Trump changed the Republican platform to become what some experts would regard as pro-Russian,” Mook said.

Clinton is within days of her long-held ambition to become the party’s official presidential nominee.

After the DNC released a slightly trimmed list of superdelegates — those are the party officials who can back any candidate — it now takes 2,382 delegates to formally clinch the nomination. Clinton has 2,814 when including superdelegates, according to an Associated Press count. Sanders has 1,893.

Sanders has endorsed Clinton, but his delegates are pushing for a state-by-state tally. The state-by-state roll call is scheduled for Tuesday.

Also Sunday, Kaine and his wife, Anne Holton, were back at their longtime church in Richmond, Virginia, a day after he made his campaign debut with Clinton.

Kaine, a former choir member at St. Elizabeth Catholic Church, sang a solo during Communion. His wife spoke briefly at the end of the service, telling parishioners how important they’ve been in their lives. She said “you have helped shape us” and that she and her husband “will really need your prayers.” And then, with the November election in mind, she said: “We will all have a big party at the other end, no matter what happens.”

75 responses to “Hacked emails overshadow Democratic National Convention”

  1. 808comp says:

    Would have like to see Elizabeth Warren too.

    • Boots says:

      I wouldn’t necessarily. She is needed in the senate. Also her replacement could be a republican.

      • lespark says:

        What’s wrong with that? This is a dark day for the Democrats. Erased emails, leaked emails. What next?

        • wiliki says:

          It’s not a great crime. Shultz was biased it now appears.

          But since Sanders needs hacked email to demonstrate that, it indicates that Shultz carried herself in behavior pretty well as an unbiased Party official.

          It appears her behavior was according to party rules. Shultz pretty much kept her own personal preferences to herself.

          Sanders needs to move on. The more important thing is to defeat Trump. His pettiness reflects badly on his judgment and temperament if he were to be president

        • sarge22 says:

          The dems fudged the primaries and now they have a real live Fudge to run the show. Who wudda thunk it?

        • Windward_Side says:

          lil’ wil’: “But since Sanders needs hacked email to demonstrate that…” What??? You mean it’s all good unless you get caught? smh

        • Ronin006 says:

          Wiliki, what Schultz did was a direct violation of DNC rules which state:
          “The Chairperson shall be responsible for ensuring that the national officers and staff of the Democratic National Committee maintain impartiality and even-handedness during the Democratic Party Presidential nominating process.”
          Do you still believe her behavior was according to party rules?

      • peanutgallery says:

        Yeah! The fake indian Pocahontas.

  2. EwaWarrior says:

    ABC – Anybody But Clinton!

  3. Boots says:

    Yes the deck was stacked in favor of Hillary. But everyone knew this. Debbie should be fired. But more than anything this just shows what security is all about. To keep the public in the dark. So what if Russia was behind this to help the Donald. Frankly that is not relevant. Stop being so Orwellian Hillary!

  4. livinginhawaii says:

    Bernie or Bust!

  5. Kuokoa says:

    Ha, ha, ha! Hilary getting some of what she deserves!

  6. Tita Girl says:

    Bernie The Bitter doesn’t know how to play the Dems game.

    • sarge22 says:

      The dems are eating their own. Sit back and enjoy the show. Hang in their Bernie. Bye bye Debbie Does Dallas. Tulsi riding high. I hear the Liberty Bell was moved out of Philadelphia during the Loser Convention.

  7. lespark says:

    Joel Benenson, Clinton Chief Strategist. What difference does it make. We will have a full investigation. The DNC stinks to high heaven. This is the legacy of Hillary Clinton.

  8. bumbai says:

    The problem with Hillary Clinton’s army of lying, crooked rats is that they aren’t very good rats…they get caught.

  9. wiliki says:

    Sanders still blames others for his defeat… Time to more on.

    Does he really want to defeat Trump?

    • sarge22 says:

      Bernie just wanted a level playing field. Hope the MSM let’s us view the Bernie protesters outside. Should be a good show. Lying crooked HiLIARy in big trouble.

      • wiliki says:

        He got more than a Level Playing Field. Clinton posted no negative ads against his candidacy.

        It takes a hack job on the Democratic computer to find out that some party officials had a preference for Clinton. But as far as party members know, the national chair did not show any preference in her own behavior towards Cinton.

        Even the Democratic Party chair in Hawaii is biased for Sanders. He was a Sanders campaign worker.

        Let’s not get hung up on Sander’s pettiness. He doesn’t deserve to be president if he keeps harping on firing the DNC chair.

        • sarge22 says:

          Emails, emails, emails. This story will never end. HiLIARy in big trouble. “Make America Great Again”

  10. nalogirl says:

    If the RNC had done this, it would have been front page news on SA. Amazing that people think it was okay to rig the system. People, wake up, this is what to expect if Hillary gets to the WH. Lies, corruption and the “fix “. Dose really want someone like this Ianthe WH. Clinton pleads ignorance, but obviously she knew about it. Let’s dig into her emails and see if she was in communication with the DNC.

  11. lespark says:

    Bernie Sanders should sue the DNC for 100 million and return the donations.

  12. Ronin006 says:

    The Democrat Convention has not yet started and the Democrats are already in disarray and in damage control mode. Schultz has been ousted from her role in the convention and Bernie Sanders supporters are on the war path seeking revenge for the DNC tilting the scale in favor of Hillary during the campaign. I believe the Wikileak revelations have made the split between the Clinton and Sanders supporters irrevocable and that few of the Sanders supporters will switch to Hillary as the DNC and Clinton campaigns were expecting following Sanders endorsement of Hillary. She cannot win without them.

  13. alohacharlie says:

    Bernie lost. He needs to head out to pasture. I keep hearing his supporters saying that they would never vote for Hillary so does that mean that they support Trump? A truly sad situation.

  14. Ronin006 says:

    Bingo, I win. I said in a post yesterday that the Clinton’s PR firm, aka Associated Press, would be following Kaine around like flies on dog poop and would report as news everything the Kaines do like the church they attend today and the like. There it is in the last two paragraphs of this story.

  15. lespark says:

    I have no respect for cheaters. Like Obama said in 08 She’ll say anything to win. Cheater Clinton.

  16. butinski says:

    Sit back and enjoy the show, folks. I predict there will be large anti-Hillary protests inside and outside the convention. Who would have thought the Dems would become so split at the last moment. The summer heat wave outside will help agitate the Bern supporters protesting. City of brotherly love? Hillary should be really worried if the Bern supporters don’t rally around her.

  17. maafifloos says:

    Shake-up makes Hawaii’s Tulsi look good. She smelled a rat a while ago & got out of there.

    • lespark says:

      Clinton dumped on her. Two faced hypocrite. The black and Latino sheep better watch out for the wolf in pant suits. She’ll kiss anyone’s behind for a vote.

  18. cojef says:

    One thing is certain, when the Republican Party had distaste for Trump they made him sign a pledge and reneged in the open. Democrats behind the scene sends emails to subvert Sanders all the while smiling as though there were no shill game being played against Sanders. Sanders was fool enough to endorse!

    • bsdetection says:

      I seem to remember Trump saying, “I say this to the RNC and I say it to the Republican Party: You’re going to have a big problem, folks. Because there are people that don’t like what is going on… We have a corrupt system. We’re supposed to be a democracy — we’re supposed to be you vote, the vote means something” and “You’re going to have a very, very angry and upset group of people at the convention, I hope it doesn’t involve violence, and I’m not suggesting that. I hope it doesn’t involve violence and I don’t think it will. But I will say this: it’s a rigged system, it’s a crooked system, it’s 100% crooked.”

  19. Kaimiloa says:

    Both parties are corrupt and anti-democratic. The real power brokers play the system like a marionette. People ignore half of the truth and repeat lies that reinforce their view. I see a lot of posters who I’m sure are intelligent people who lose their minds online.

  20. dkuranag says:

    Interesting that these emails were leaked right before the DNC. Looks like a divide and conquer attack against the Dems.

  21. bumbai says:

    Still no coverage of Wasserman-Schultz getting thrown under the Hillary bus???? The Democrat convention kicks off with a major corruption scandal!

  22. CEI says:

    Oh no, the wheels are starting to come off the progressive wagon. How can a party that boasts the smartest people in the room screw up so badly this close to the general election. From half-mast Barry to air conditioner Kerry to security leak Clinton to Bernie bashing Schulz, this sure is a gang that can’t shoot straight. Mr. Trump certainly has them off their game. They’re not used to republicans who fight back and don’t play their free speech stifling political correctness games. And now Hillary has committed the unpardonable sin of choosing a kinda-sorta pro-life running mate. I’m casting my ballot for Mr. Trump. What’s not to like? His wife is super-hot and so is his daughter, the same can’t be said for slippery Bill that’s for sure.

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