I'm reminded of "A Christmas Story" with regard to the recent election.

[MineralMan]

In that movie, a bunch of kids taunted and dared another student to stick his tongue on a frozen metal post. "STUCK!"

The fire department came and freed the boy, who returned to class, where the teacher spoke about the incident. Nobody would take credit for the practical joke, so the teacher said to the class, "They know their blame" with reference to the children who dared the other student to touch his tongue to the metal. And so they did. The incident happened, but nobody was willing to admit their part in it.

In the recent election, some folks encouraged other folks to withhold their vote from Hillary Clinton on November 8 for various reasons. We now know the results. Hillary Clinton did not get enough votes in enough states to win the Electoral College vote. Those who did so are not really talking about that at this point, but I'm sure "They know their blame..." all the same.

We'll all experience the results of this election. We'll all discover what it will mean for this country. The election is over. What happened happened.

More's the pity...

[bravenak]

1. They know their blame and it is their shame

Unfortunately they decided that their energy needed to be spent hating Hillary and spreading that hate around. Now we have the result of having a guy that hates us all in the whitehouse.

[MineralMan]

2. Well, if there is suffering as a result,

they'll also get to share in that. Some of them, anyhow. I suppose there are people for whom the suffering will not be major, but, not all will escape unscathed, I'm sure.

[bravenak]

6. I want to see how they react to the real shit trump will pull

I suspect they will forget their own responsibility for this disaster

[MineralMan]

8. By that time, they may not even remember.

I don't know. In 2020, we'll start the process over again. I hope we will have learned from 2016. That's the best I can hope for. I don't even know if I'll be here to observe that.

[bravenak]

10. I know that's right.

We might need to start fighting midterms immediately. I hope you'll be around for that.

[MineralMan]

11. I've been working on legislative elections

all my life. They're my primary focus. Long ago, I realized that I can only influence the ones in my state and district, though. Where I am, every single legislator is a progressive in my districts. I'll be working to keep it that way, I promise. I've never seen any influence outside of a district or state affect a mid-term election. It absolutely has to be done locally.

Even within my own state, my efforts in other districts have been fruitless. People elect their own legislators, it seems.

[bravenak]

12. Yep

And my district only ever has a dem running for state rep. I vote but there is really no contest and we have had the same us representative since before I was born, im 35. Our national dem bench is boring and non effective. I think my generation needs to step the hell up and run. Not me. Too much baggage, I'm bad. But there are people who can and should. I'd work for them

[MineralMan]

13. Our state legislatures are the training grounds of our Congress.

Our school boards, city councils and county governments are the sources of our state legislatures.

To create a progressive wave, it must begin at the lowest levels of government. Those lower levels feed the next levels with people who will be running in the future for higher office.

It's a continuum. We forget that sometimes. It's sad to see.

[think]

3. The DNC betrayed millions of Democratic voters by rigging the primary. The damage their actions

have done to the reputation and trust of the Democratic party may takes years to resolve as many of those millions have left and may never come back.

Commentary: DNC betrayed Bernie Sanders and the rest of America

By Dahleen Glanton - July 25 2016

Bernie Sanders' supporters have a right to be angry.

The leaked emails from the Democratic National Committee apparently confirmed what they have said all along — that the political system was rigged against their candidate in favor of Hillary Clinton.

Top Democrats essentially dismissed Sanders as a viable candidate during the primaries, attempted to undermine him with voters and even took steps to derail his campaign, according to hacked emails that were recently made public by WikiLeaks.

In doing so, Democrats tarnished the electoral process and alienated a large constituency of voters that they will need to help lift Clinton to victory in November.

In other words, the Democrats created a mess. And they are turning to Sanders — the very one they betrayed — to come in and clean it up....


Read more:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-dnc-sanders-glanton-talk-20160725-column.html

[MineralMan]

4. I see. Did you think I was talking about you?

I wasn't, you know. I didn't name anyone or any group. I simply stated some simple facts. Your story from July doesn't change what happened, oddly enough.

By the way, Bernie Sanders campaigned for Clinton as the election approached. He actively encouraged his followers to vote for her and support her candidacy. He acted for the good of all. Sadly, it was not enough encouragement for some.

[think]

5. I voted for Hillary and helped convince a few others to do the same here in Florida.

The DNC violated it's own rules and betrayed millions of Democrats by rigging the primary. The DNC has caused this damage. Not the Democratic voters who trusted their party to hold a fair and impartial primary. Maybe someday that will sink in...

[MineralMan]

7. You don't have to justify yourself.

It was just a simple story I told. The core truth in it was that not enough people in enough states voted for Clinton. I'm not asking anyone how they voted. I'm not calling anyone out. "They know their blame," if there is blame to be known.

Facts are facts. The election is now history. We're looking at that history in this forum on DU. What happened happened. Now, we will deal with the results. We cannot change history. We can only learn from it, if we have any wisdom at all.

[NCTraveler]

14. Sanders was knee deep in voter information theft.

Had the media treating him with kid gloves in order to generate a horse race.

Why such a one sided view of things? The DNC didn't cost him a single vote. Not one. Sanders and his supporters should take responsibility. Not try to shift blame by ignoring all information and focusing on one thing.

Again, the DNC didn't cost Sanders a single vote. They gave him a platform he never had his whole career as a politician.

[think]

15. The DNC & NGP VAN RECOMMENDED Josh Uretsky who was guy who screwed up.

“It’s not as if we conjured this guy Josh from thin air. This is an individual … who was recommended to us by the DNC and NGP VAN," the adviser told Yahoo News.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/sanders-adviser-dnc-josh-uretsky

Sanders fired that employee and there was never any intent to access the data for any nefarious purpose. This was a result of the SECOND firewall breach that was the error of the companies in charge of the data base. The first time it occurred the Sanders campaigned warned the company DNC that the firewall was down.

“Our campaign months ago alerted the DNC to the fact that campaign data was being made available to other campaigns. At that time our campaign did not run to the media, relying instead on assurances from the vendor," Sanders campaign spokesman Michael Briggs told ABC News.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/263730-report-sanders-campaign-told-dnc-of-data-issue-months-ago

Uretsky shouldn't have accessed the data and he screwed up but Bernie Sanders had NOTHING to do with that poor decision.

Remember this is an employee that the DNC AND the company that ran the data base recommended. This was not someone that was a long time supporter of Bernie.

The DNC was completely in the bag for Hillary and EVERYONE knows it. There is plenty of factual evidence it happened and Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned due to that unethical activity.

Harry Reid On Bernie And The DNC: ‘Everybody Knew That This Was Not A Fair Deal’

By Ryan Grim - 07/27/2016 05:52 pm ET


Debbie Wasserman Schultz should’ve stepped down sooner, Reid said.

~Snip~

“Debbie Wasserman Schultz, she’s always been good to me. I like her just fine,” Reid said. “I know she’s tried hard, but as some people probably know, I thought Bernie deserved somebody that was not critical to[ward] him. I knew ― everybody knew ― that this was not a fair deal. So I’m sorry she had to resign, but it was the right thing to do. She just should’ve done it sooner.”

As DNC chair, Wasserman Schultz had scheduled many of the primary debates on weekends, when viewership was likely to be lower. Without the opportunity to debate in front of large audiences, it’s difficult for an insurgent candidate to gain traction against an established rival.

“Bernie really had a movement out there, and it wasn’t right to treat him that way,” Reid said.

Read more:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/harry-reid-bernie-sanders-dnc_us_5799259fe4b02d5d5ed42db6

Howard Dean 'shocked and incredibly disappointed' over DNC emails

~Snip~
“I don't want to knock Debbie. I've always admired her as a human being, but this is not something the DNC ever should have done,” Dean said. “We had a really strict rule. We are so strict that I did not vote in the Vermont primary at all, because voting for somebody and keeping your mouth shut is not the same as being neutral.”

“So you’re shocked by some of these emails?” host Joe Scarborough offered.

“I am shocked and incredibly disappointed because I know some of the people involved. I just don't understand how that could happen. I really don't,” Dean replied.

Dean offered praise for Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), who resigned from her position within the DNC to endorse Sanders and campaign on his behalf as a surrogate. He said Gabbard’s decision to resign was “the right thing to do.”

Read more:
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/dnc-emails-howard-dean-226199

[NCTraveler]

16. Its the fault of the DNC!!!

There are no responsibilities that can't be shifted to the big scary people. I hear he was a carpenter.

The DNC set him up!!!

[think]

17. The facts speak for themselves. Cheers..

[lumberjack_jeff]

9. I think it's a metaphor for the election too.

The only thing Ralphie wanted for Christmas was the Red Ryder carbine action BB rifle with compass in the stock and the thing that tells time. His mom gave increasingly shrill warnings to Ralphie of the consequences of this poor choice "you'll shoot your eye out".

Ralphie got his wish - and promptly shot his eye out. The rationales and cover stories he offered after the fact as his injury was tended by mom were intended to prevent her from telling him the obvious; that she told him so.

[TwilightZone]

18. Plenty of blame to go around. However...

"progressives" openly bragging that they voted for Trump is pretty close to the top of my list.