# Donna Brazile Politico Article: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Secret Takeover of the DNC **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 2, 2017, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donna-brazile-politico-article-inside-hillary-clinton-s-secret-takeover-of-the-dnc/800489 "2017-11-02T13:35:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donna-brazile-politico-article-inside-hillary-clinton-s-secret-takeover-of-the-dnc/800489/241 "2017-11-07T20:59:34Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > …Ann Arbor will finally learn their lessons. No fair! This is more Berkeley than Ann Arbor. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donna-brazile-politico-article-inside-hillary-clinton-s-secret-takeover-of-the-dnc/800489/242 "2017-11-07T21:00:19Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > … The voters ended up with the most corrupt administration in American history and they’re tearing all of the other past accomplishments from past administrations to shreds as we speak. Worse, they’re loading the judiciary with right wing ideologues who could very well overrule progressive legislation not just years ahead, but decades into the future. How’s that idealism working out? You are kind to call it “idealism.” Grown-ups realize that a vote is ‘an action that has consequences’ rather than ‘an emblem of the very soul itself–an _award,_ proffered with pride to only the most shining golden Candidate, a _decent_ Candidate, a wise and wondrous Candidate, who will receive that proffered gift [the vote] with due gratitude to the voter, who will thereby be filled with the Glory of Righteousness.’ Responsible people inform themselves of the choices and choose the least-worst option. That’s a voter’s duty. There’s no Emblem of the Soul involved. Irresponsible people wax on about ‘forcing the party to offer a decent candidate’ who will be worthy of the great gift of their vote. To those spouting this narcissistic swill: grow up. And not incidentally, stop doing Vlad Putin’s work for him. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donna-brazile-politico-article-inside-hillary-clinton-s-secret-takeover-of-the-dnc/800489/243 "2017-11-07T22:12:46Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > 1. In this discussion, the determination that Clinton was the lesser of the two evils (and the choice of terminology) was **Pantastic** ’s. You seem to agree. > 2. Not voting for Candidate A is indeed the same as actually voting for Candidate B. Do the math. > 3. Ergo, not voting for the lesser evil is, in fact, voting for the greater one, with the ensuing consequences for us all. This isn’t hard. > > You can complain that the lesser evil is still evil, if you like, but that’s really just pouting. The time to convince people that another choice would have been better came during the primaries, and most voters remained unconvinced of that. Maybe you should focus on why so many millions of people so obstinately refused to join you in basking in the wonderfulness of Bernie, hmm? Or perhaps become just a little willing to consider why they did what they did, and that they just might have been right. Something to ponder. So what you’re saying is that voters really don’t have a choice. We should only vote for one of the two major parties whether we want the either of the candidates to win or not because to not do so is to ensure that the one you don’t want to win does. It’s no wonder the vast majority of people have decided that it’s pointless to vote when you put it that way. As for me, if the DNC wants my vote back, they’re going to have to put up a candidate that I can believe in which is not a centrist. I’m done following the party to the right. I did not leave the party, they left me. I’ll vote for progressive candidates down-ballot, but I have little to no faith in the progressive values of national candidates. I feel that at a certain level, they become beholden to Wall St and corporate interests. Hillary especially so. You can disagree if you like, but she didn’t do much to dissuade my perception. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donna-brazile-politico-article-inside-hillary-clinton-s-secret-takeover-of-the-dnc/800489/244 "2017-11-07T22:17:26Z")
BTW, you aren’t going to win me back by telling me I’m responsible for Trump winning. For one thing, it’s not true as I voted in Oregon. For another thing, insulting me isn’t a winning strategy. Somebody ought to have mentioned that to Hillary. ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donna-brazile-politico-article-inside-hillary-clinton-s-secret-takeover-of-the-dnc/800489/245 "2017-11-07T22:36:48Z")
> [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](#): > > BTW, you aren’t going to win me back by telling me I’m responsible for Trump winning. For one thing, it’s not true as I voted in Oregon. For another thing, insulting me isn’t a winning strategy. Somebody ought to have mentioned that to Hillary. But Democratic candidates and the Democratic party _aren’t_ insulting you. Some random dude on the internet is. Why should that make a difference in who you vote for in the future, i.e. winning you back? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donna-brazile-politico-article-inside-hillary-clinton-s-secret-takeover-of-the-dnc/800489/246 "2017-11-07T23:13:06Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > The proper democracy-respecting choice in the event of a Clinton incapacitation would have been Kaine, and would have had to be ratified by the DNC and not just her. So I’m not buying that. Just we we’re operating from cites, here’s [Politico’s take on it right when it was happening:](https://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/hillary-clinton-health-replace-contingency-228037) > [@](#): > > If Clinton could not physically continue her candidacy, she would have to voluntarily cede her nomination, creating a vacancy at the top of the national ticket. If she did, party procedures give the chair of the DNC authority to call a “special meeting” to vote on a replacement nominee. In this case, because chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned in July, her successor, Brazile, has that authority. Nobody really voted for Tim Kaine, so I don’t see what would be “undemocratic” about sidelining him if the party thought he couldn’t win. Isn’t winning important? And I explicitly said I didn’t think Brasile had the authority to do this on her own, so I guess we’re in agreement on that matter. > [@Elvis](#): > > By her own account, it was Clinton who did whatever cleaning up was done, not Brazile. So maybe she’s just jealous of someone who could do, and did, her job better than she did. Firstly, there were two issues I brought up, not just one, and the first one was how she was treated by the HRC campaign (see the first part in the quote, below) Secondly, I was referring to the account she gave on _This Week with GS_ in the second part of the quote, below. Hillary bailed out the DNC, financially, but she got rewarded pretty handsomely for doing so. At the time, of course, Brazile was not the DNC chair so saying Hillary did a better job than Brazile is pretty meaningless: > [@](#): > > STEPHANOPOULOS: From the sound of it, it sounds like you had a pretty dysfunctional relationship with the high command in Hillary’s campaign. You even talk about telling them at some point I’m not patsy the slave? > > BRAZILE: Oh, George, let me tell you something, I could not control the – the purse string of the Democratic Party. And I had to figure out what was going on within the party that the chair of the party – and remember, I wasn’t just the chair, I’m also a vice chair. I was an officer for eight years, eight years under President Obama. I knew what was going on within the party. > > I become chair and I’m trying to write a check for something. I raised the the money and they’re like, you have got to get signed off from Brooklyn. I said Brooklyn? This wasn’t a standard joint fundraising agreement. They had a memorandum of understanding. And I needed to break that, but in order to break it, I would cause a great commotion. > > So, yeah, I’m not patsy the slave because I got sick and tired of people telling me how to spend the money when all I was trying to do – I wasn’t getting a salary. I was basically volunteering my time. And what I was trying to do, George, was to increase the level of enthusiasm and passion for Hillary Clinton and the rest of the ticket all across the country. > > \ > > STEPHANOPOULOS: Passionate Democrats who say they feel betrayed by all this [the recent revelations]. Any regrets? > > BRAZILE: Do I regret taking on a job the second time in my life as chair of the party, cleaning up everyone’s mess, taking all of the incoming, being unable to spend funds that I raised? Do I regret being on the road 100 percent of the time, being hacked by the Russians, being – being harassed, getting death threats? Do I regret any of that? George, was worse than Hurricane Katrina in terms of the emotional toll. But do I regret stranding up for what is right, helping Hillary Clinton, helping the Democratic Party? Which account were you referring to? ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2017, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donna-brazile-politico-article-inside-hillary-clinton-s-secret-takeover-of-the-dnc/800489/247 "2017-11-08T00:00:25Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > But they weren’t reasonable 3rd party candidates in the race. Jill Stein is a fucking loon and a Russian stooge to boot. Gary Johnson is beyond incompetent . Writing in Harambe or Bernie or anyone is a pointless waste of time. Any vote that wasn’t for Hillary Clinton was a vote for Donald Trump. I hope all the purity ponies in Madison, State College, and Ann Arbor will finally learn their lessons. Every vote, even for losing or hopeless candidates, matters as a signal. There is nothing wrong with people voting for who they wish. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2017, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donna-brazile-politico-article-inside-hillary-clinton-s-secret-takeover-of-the-dnc/800489/248 "2017-11-08T00:42:10Z")
> [@ShadowFacts](#): > > But Democratic candidates and the Democratic party _aren’t_ insulting you. Some random dude on the internet is. Why should that make a difference in who you vote for in the future, i.e. winning you back? That’s partly true. I guess I don’t know what some random dude on the internet is trying to accomplish by it, but it’s not real effective for swaying my opinion. And it doesn’t make me feel guilty at all that Trump won. I voted my conscience and I feel fine with my vote. \*\*ElvisL1ves \*\*may not agree, but that’s just too damn bad. But it’s not just some random dude. It’s [Madeline Albright](http://time.com/4220323/madeleine-albright-place-in-hell-remark-apology/) and [Gloria Steinem](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/08/us/politics/gloria-steinem-madeleine-albright-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders.html) telling me I’m supposed to be voting for a woman because I’m a woman who owes my support to female candidates; it is Hillary Clinton blaming Jill Stein voters for her loss. Nope, it was her. I didn’t vote for her because I didn’t believe in her. She probably could have done more good as a senator. As for what difference it makes, it doesn’t really, but it’s huge turn-off. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2017, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donna-brazile-politico-article-inside-hillary-clinton-s-secret-takeover-of-the-dnc/800489/249 "2017-11-08T00:43:57Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > Every vote, even for losing or hopeless candidates, matters as a signal. There is nothing wrong with people voting for who they wish. Yes, this is it in a nutshell. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2017, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donna-brazile-politico-article-inside-hillary-clinton-s-secret-takeover-of-the-dnc/800489/250 "2017-11-08T00:49:47Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Shit, Amazon had a sale just last week for online sarcasm detectors, and I didn’t get one, and now this one is pining for the fjords. If you had stayed in a proper, God fearing state like Texas instead of migrating to Minnesota in order to cavort with those godless ScandiNodricans, you wouldn’t know a fjord from a firearm, and you’d be all the better for it! ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2017, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donna-brazile-politico-article-inside-hillary-clinton-s-secret-takeover-of-the-dnc/800489/251 "2017-11-08T02:54:33Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > The proper democracy-respecting choice in the event of a Clinton incapacitation would have been Kaine, and would have had to be ratified by the DNC and not just her. So I’m not buying that. Really? Who voted for Kaine? How would that be “democracy”? > [@](#): > > By her own account, it was Clinton who did whatever cleaning up was done, not Brazile. So maybe she’s just jealous of someone who could do, and did, her job better than she did. Which was more important, winning Congressional elections or paying back debt? ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2017, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donna-brazile-politico-article-inside-hillary-clinton-s-secret-takeover-of-the-dnc/800489/252 "2017-11-08T03:05:38Z")
Yet another Bernie-Clinton redux thread, and I guess I’m guilty of taking the bait on this one. FTR, I never have had a problem with Bernie Sanders the man, the senator, or even his presidential campaign. I didn’t think he was the best nominee for Dems but I’m over that. I have known of Bernie and listened to him on progressive radio and other outlets since at least 2009 and appreciate how he raises awareness to working class issues. I don’t even have a problem with the majority of voters. The only thing I reject is this notion that he was entitled to the Democratic nomination and that Hillary “rigged” the nominations process unfairly. HRC was not my ideal candidate (was more of a Obama-Biden guy) but felt she had the best chance between herself and Bernie’s insurgent campaign. But clearly, she wasn’t good enough and that’s no longer even debatable. I’d rather look forward at this point than look in the rear-view mirror. Clinton is done, and it’s probably for the best. Meanwhile Sanders seems to be injecting real energy into the party, and I can appreciate that. I personally don’t think that the fight for $15 is a winner, but on the other hand, I do think Medicare for all has the potential to get some real political traction and would like to see the Dems work with Bernie on this. I just hope that the Sanders contingent doesn’t try to impose its virtues on more centrist Democrats because while I would concede that the activist progressives have done well tonight (and even before now), the real test comes next year and coalitions are almost always more successful than ideologically pure factions. The Bernie wing of progressives and mainstream Dems need to put differences aside and work out the issues they’re going to push for first and then work out some of the more controversial or divisive items later. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2017, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donna-brazile-politico-article-inside-hillary-clinton-s-secret-takeover-of-the-dnc/800489/253 "2017-11-08T03:16:58Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > “If you don’t give me the democracy that I want, then I just won’t have any part of democracy then.” > > Now that’s an intelligent approach to writing a social contract. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: More like, “If you don’t let us have a democracy, and just pretend that your oligarchy is ‘democracy’ because it’s called ‘the Democratic Party,’ then we don’t have a democracy.” I am sick and tired of the Democratic Party pretending that “democracy” is “give Bubba and his pals what they want.” It seems like Clintonistas don’t even know what democracy is. They don’t look at the actual constituencies they need to win votes. They expect the ostensible Democratic base of voters to choose someone who hangs around the clubhouse over someone who has an agenda to serve the actual common man. That base is (wild-ass guess) something north of 98% voters who’ve never been at all active in internal party politics; why would they care? Clinton’s clubhouse Democrats attack a progressive as “not a real Democrat” because he was an independent; but they need independents to win. The \*progressive \*base, whom you presumably need to win, didn’t want Hillary. Hillary didn’t appeal across the aisle, except as a boogieman to smear the entire party with in direct mail. Even swing voters were skeptical of her. Hillary was chums with Dubya Bush, a Republican so notorious even conservative Republicans don’t want to claim him. She is chums with actual real-life supervillain Henry Kissinger; they spend Christmases together. She and Bubba were pretty friendly with Donald Trump not so long ago. We didn’t see in her anyone social-democratic; we saw a _nouveau-riche_ yuppie playing at aristocrat and disregarding the little people. How was that going to work? Better it would have been to run even a lifelong independent who at least talked like a progressive. Oh, wait, _that’s what we told you to do!_ ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2017, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donna-brazile-politico-article-inside-hillary-clinton-s-secret-takeover-of-the-dnc/800489/254 "2017-11-08T03:48:10Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > But they weren’t reasonable 3rd party candidates in the race. Jill Stein is a fucking loon and a Russian stooge to boot. Gary Johnson is beyond incompetent . Writing in Harambe or Bernie or anyone is a pointless waste of time. Any vote that wasn’t for Hillary Clinton was a vote for Donald Trump. I hope all the purity ponies in Madison, State College, and Ann Arbor will finally learn their lessons. Meh. I can play this game too. A vote for HRC in the primary, given her negative net approval rating, was practically a vote for DJT in the general. Did you vote for Hillary in the primary? Congratulations, you voted for the clown. But we’ve had these arguments before. The point of _this_ thread, it seems to me, is that HRC’s people decided that it was more important to pay back the party’s old debts than to fund Congressional races–a catastrophic error. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2017, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donna-brazile-politico-article-inside-hillary-clinton-s-secret-takeover-of-the-dnc/800489/255 "2017-11-08T03:59:55Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > FTR, I never have had a problem with Bernie Sanders the man, the senator, or even his presidential campaign. I didn’t think he was the best nominee for Dems but I’m over that. I have known of Bernie and listened to him on progressive radio and other outlets since at least 2009 and appreciate how he raises awareness to working class issues. I don’t even have a problem with the majority of voters. The only thing I reject is this notion that he was entitled to the Democratic nomination and that Hillary “rigged” the nominations process unfairly. HRC was not my ideal candidate (was more of a Obama-Biden guy) but felt she had the best chance between herself and Bernie’s insurgent campaign. But clearly, she wasn’t good enough and that’s no longer even debatable. > > I’d rather look forward at this point than look in the rear-view mirror. Clinton is done, and it’s probably for the best. Meanwhile Sanders seems to be injecting real energy into the party, and I can appreciate that. I personally don’t think that the fight for $15 is a winner, but on the other hand, I do think Medicare for all has the potential to get some real political traction and would like to see the Dems work with Bernie on this. I just hope that the Sanders contingent doesn’t try to impose its virtues on more centrist Democrats because while I would concede that the activist progressives have done well tonight (and even before now), the real test comes next year and coalitions are almost always more successful than ideologically pure factions. The Bernie wing of progressives and mainstream Dems need to put differences aside and work out the issues they’re going to push for first and then work out some of the more controversial or divisive items later. I see the policy a little differently than you do, but I am pretty close to agreement with most of this post. I do wish that the Clintons had figured something out years ago: Dubya getting in the White House didn’t make it easier for Hillary to run for President; it made it almost impossible. The populace don’t want to see two patrician families trading the Presidency. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2017, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donna-brazile-politico-article-inside-hillary-clinton-s-secret-takeover-of-the-dnc/800489/256 "2017-11-08T04:07:46Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > But we’ve had these arguments before. The point of _this_ thread, it seems to me, is that HRC’s people decided that it was more important to pay back the party’s old debts than to fund Congressional races–a catastrophic error. I don’t think that’s what Brazile is saying. She’s saying that the Hillary campaign thought it was more important to fund the Hillary campaign than to fund Congressional races. And Brazile was frustrated in having to fight them over that. Pls see the quotes from I posted in #246. It might be arguable whether she is right or not, but I don’t think anyone is complaining about paying off debts rather then funding Congressional races. Or did I miss that?? ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2017, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donna-brazile-politico-article-inside-hillary-clinton-s-secret-takeover-of-the-dnc/800489/257 "2017-11-08T04:22:43Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > I see the policy a little differently than you do, but I am pretty close to agreement with most of this post. > > I do wish that the Clintons had figured something out years ago: Dubya getting in the White House didn’t make it easier for Hillary to run for President; it made it almost impossible. The populace don’t want to see two patrician families trading the Presidency. You’re free to disagree but I think the deeper issue is that, beyond dynastic politics, people have soured on the neo-liberal political order, which is what the Clintons stood for. I still think she could have won the election with a little more massaged or nuanced messaging and had she not fallaciously assumed that the blue wall states were hers, but that’s all in the past. Voter frustration is what drove Jeb Bush and Clinton out of the picture. My only concern is, what now? I’m not objecting to a Bernie revolution outright, but as I’ve said before on other threads: revolutions have to have more than passion. If you’re going to have a revolution, you gotta make sure you can keep the lights on and keep the food stalls going. Otherwise it’s just a dressed up riot. Revolutions require people with ideas on how to govern and how to plan for reality once the takeover occurs. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2017, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donna-brazile-politico-article-inside-hillary-clinton-s-secret-takeover-of-the-dnc/800489/258 "2017-11-08T04:45:04Z")
I was…being charitable to claim that it was about paying off debts. That seemed to be Brazile’s claim, unless I misread. If it was primarily going to the Clinton campaign, then it’s even worse. A) A President without a Congress of the same party, in the present environment, is probably a joke, someone for the opposition to kick and spit at. B) Hillary’s negatives meant it would be better to advertise other Democrats to vote for, turning out voters for them, instead of constantly putting her front and center. The decisions Brazile says HRC’s team made were a perfect way to wreck the Democratic Party for this cycle if not for years to come. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2017, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donna-brazile-politico-article-inside-hillary-clinton-s-secret-takeover-of-the-dnc/800489/259 "2017-11-08T05:49:58Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > I was…being charitable to claim that it was about paying off debts. That seemed to be Brazile’s claim, unless I misread. If it was primarily going to the Clinton campaign, then it’s even worse. It’s a bit complicated, so after reading this, I wouldn’t say you’re completely wrong. Let me see if I can lay out the storyline. In the summer of 2015 (maybe going back further, I don’t know) the DNC was something like $15M in debt. Going by memory on the number, so I can’t swear by it, but it was chunk of change and the exact amount isn’t too important. Hillary, who has a talent for raising big bucks from deep pocketed donors offered to pay off the debt in exchange for certain “favors” concerning influence of the DNC. Now, it’s possible that she could have said “fuck the debt, let’s raise some money so we can get some cash out to the states”. I honestly don’t know. Sounds unlikely and unrealistic, but who knows? And once the joint fund raising venture began, very little of the money raised stayed with the states. It all flowed back the DNC where HRC’s people had a considerable say about how it would be spent. Brazile talks about a similar deal being offered to Bernie, but he wasn’t in the same league as HRC at the time in terms of donor connections. And it wasn’t clear what the original deal was that was thrown out there and how it compares to the final version they singed with HRC. I think it’s unlikely that there wasn’t a certain amount of negotiating about the details by the HRC camp that resulted in that final agreement. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2017, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donna-brazile-politico-article-inside-hillary-clinton-s-secret-takeover-of-the-dnc/800489/260 "2017-11-08T09:20:58Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > …Hillary, who has a talent for raising big bucks from deep pocketed donors offered to pay off the debt in exchange for certain “favors” concerning influence of the DNC… Not bad, but I rise to quibble. Would she need to be explicit? The money already talks, why interrupt it? Who could deny that she deserved a role in the leadership, if not necessarily the Leader? Making it explicit might lose more support than it gains, people get surly when they feel they’ve been pressured. Also, you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. 'Course, shit works best, but that strains the analogy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donna-brazile-politico-article-inside-hillary-clinton-s-secret-takeover-of-the-dnc/800489.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/donna-brazile-politico-article-inside-hillary-clinton-s-secret-takeover-of-the-dnc/800489.md?page=14)