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Donna Brazile says I should go to hell — here’s what I say

by Brent Budowsky, opinion contributor - 11/07/17 10:40 AM ET

Recently Donna Brazile, with the height of arrogance, said to George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week” that the multitude of Democrats who vehemently object to her widely criticized book, of whom I am one, should “go to hell.”

Rather than responding that Brazile should go to hell, which does have its temptations, I have a better idea. Brazile should donate every penny she makes from this book to Democrats running in 2018 to help the party regain control of the House and Senate in the midterm elections.

Let’s begin with the most ludicrous assertion in the Brazile book: that she hatched a secret plan to take the nomination away from Hillary Clinton and give it to former Vice President Joe Biden, and impose on Biden her chosen running mate, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.). If Brazile had succeeded in her self-described plot to steal the Democratic nomination from Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, and give it to her preferred candidates for president and vice president, Biden and Booker, she would have perpetrated one the worst fiascos in American political history.

{mosads}The pitchforks that would have surrounded Brazile, had she executed her plan, would have been angrily waved by supporters of Clinton, and of Sanders and of virtually all Democrats. It is incredible that Brazile’s contempt for Democrats who are appalled by her plans and assertions is so great that she says that they — we — should go to hell.

Former DNC chair @donnabrazile: For those who are telling me to shut up, I tell them “go to hell. I’m going to tell my story.” pic.twitter.com/ppS5allr0O

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) November 5, 2017

Who would have applauded the Brazile plan? All of those seeking to spread fake news and outright lies about Hillary Clinton’s health. President Trump would have exploited it, as he has exploited the Brazile book that described her bizarre scheming. Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, whose mission was to attack and smear Clinton and to attack and discredit American democracy, would almost certainly have launched a billion bots to promote the Brazile plan.

Brazile misrepresents the impact of the deal with the Clinton campaign that she describes. It was clearly understood that any of the money supplied by the Clinton campaign to the Democratic National Committee would be used for the general election, not to “rig” the primaries.

Did the DNC under previous chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz favor Clinton over Sanders? Yes it did, most importantly in the scheduling of debates between the two. I and others long ago criticized this. However, the Brazile book dramatically overstates the importance and impact of the deal and leaves the false impression that the nomination itself was “rigged.”

The DNC was then, and remains now, too feeble and incompetent to rig anything. All of the machinations of the DNC added together had virtually no impact on the selection of the nominee for president.

If one wants to look for rigging the nominating process, one should look at the role of superdelegates, who could overturn the will of Democrats who voted in primaries and attended caucuses. The Democratic Party should end any voting role of superdelegates in choosing the party’s nominee for president.

There is now a hugely important race for governor of Virginia, between Democrat Ralph Northam and Republican Ed Gillespie. It is imperative that every progressive and moderate voter in Virginia come out to vote for Northam, a good man and solid Democrat, against Gillespie, a Washington establishment insider who has suddenly began campaigning like a Virginia Donald Trump, raising racially divisive issues.

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I do have concerns about the cautious style of the Northam campaign, but every liberal, moderate and Democrat in the state who is concerned about the future of Virginia should turn out to vote for Northam.

It would be an outrage and shame if any voter in Virginia were to become more cynical about politics because of the Brazile book and stay home on Election Day.

Donna Brazile owes Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and every Democrat an apology. She should donate every penny she makes from her ill-chosen words in this poorly timed book to electing Democrats running for the House and Senate in 2018.

Brent Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas) and former Rep. Bill Alexander (D-Ark.), who was chief deputy majority whip of the U.S. House of Representatives. He holds an LLM in international financial law from the London School of Economics.