We should perhaps begin with the fascinating question of why Donna Brazile is still paid by anyone to be an an on-air political commentator and alleged “expert.” She was fired by CNN for leaking debate questions in advance to Hillary Clinton in 2016, but now that I think about it: cheating to beat Donald Trump, or Republican candidates generally, is considered a sign of character by the news networks—Donna was just a bit over-enthusiastic that time, and besides, she got caught.
Donna bounced back, of course: now she’s a regular on ABC’s Sunday Morning “Powerhouse Roundtable.” What credentials Donna has! She’s managed or been a major player in the Presidential campaigns of Walter Mondale, Al Gore, Jesse Jackson and Dick Gephard, losers all. But the fact that she unerringly picks candidates who shouldn’t be President hasn’t marred her reputation as an “expert”; it rests on the same foundation as Karine Jean-Pierre’s reputation as a great White House Press Secretary despite being, you know, completely incompetent. Donna’s historic. Brazile was the first African American woman to direct a major presidential campaign when she helped Al Gore lose in 2000.
And she was in top form yesterday. Asked by George Stephanopolis if Historic VP Kamala Harris would automatically be the Democrats’ nominee if the party decided that it probably wasn’t a good idea to try to elect a demented President, Brazile enlightened everyone thusly,
“It would be very difficult to replace somebody who’s been vetted, who knows the job and has done a tremendous — I think she’s done a tremendous job and to ask the delegates elected to the convention, who are Biden-Harris supporters, to bypass Kamala Harris because some Republicans and a few others may not like her, it would be political malpractice. As I tell everyone, Kamala Harris has earned the right to be considered if — I mean, we got a lot of “what if” scenarios. But- she’s strong. She’s down in Louisiana… she had a rally last night with 60,000 people. I’ve heard from so many folks including my family- they say she’s fired up and ready to go. And they’re not going to replace her.”
Wow! Harris had a rally that 60,000 people attended! Heck, even Biden and Trump can’t attract that many supporters. And all those polls say she’s not popular: clearly, Biden was spot-on that the polls being completely wrong about everything unless they show support for Democratic policies and politicians.
Good ol’ Donna. There was no Kamala Harris “rally” in Louisiana. The 30th Essence Festival of Culture in New Orleans held a concert in the Caesar’s Superdome, and Harris appeared briefly on stage. Calling this a Harris rally is spectacular misrepresentation. I once was a speaker at an Amway meeting at the Atlanta Omni, with 10,000 greedy wackos in the audience. I guess I should put on my CV that 10,000 people came to hear Jack Marshall speak. (And they liked me! They really liked me!)
Naturally, neither George nor any other “powerhouse” at the table pointed out for their audience’s benefit that Donna had just spewed pure hooey into the air, not even counting her ridiculous assessment that Harris has been a “tremendous” Veep.
It would be nice if someone had this whopper ready to mention the next time Brazile says that Donald Trump lies all the time, but you know that won’t happen.
Yeah, I woke up cranky this morning. Sorry. I just need a cup of coffee…
Ethics Alarms 
If Donna Brazille lies about stuff that doesn’t matter, it’s simply impossible to trust her with anything of informational value.
Yes, this was the conclusion I reached regarding both of the Clintons, and yes, it’s also true of Donald Trump.
The dems are nothing if not unwavering in their loyal to mediocrity, poor character, and questionable integrity. The operative prerequisite (to cash a dirty paycheck) is a willingness to sell one’s soul mostly by repeatedly lying in public, preferably when the cameras are rolling. This shameless neo-fascist party appears to be working from the Joseph Goebbel’s playbook of propaganda, because it works. Seems unethical to me.
Have a nice day…🤠
A theory: Now that Hunter’s running things in the Biden White House, the Biden family is running its last shakedown. It’s going to take millions of dollars to get the Biden family to go away. And ironclad immunity deals. With Joe in assisted living rather than some gracious retirement on Martha’s Vineyard sitting next to a telephone, there will be nothing left for the Bidens to sell. They need a major nest egg for the entire extended family. Once they have a big chunk of dough and assurances of no further prosecution, they’ll go away, but not until then.
I realized this morning why I’ve been so shocked by people saying Biden’s debate or interview or “rally” appearances “aren’t so bad.” I’ve concluded these observers need to append “for a guy who has Alzheimer’s” to their comments. Joe’s in horrible shape. He appears to be suffering from both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. For his sake, I hope he’s had all sorts of neurological tests and is receiving whatever cutting edge therapy there is on offer. And anyone who doesn’t think Joe’s in terrible shape “for a normal adult” is lying like a rug. Or like Donna Brazile. When did brazen lying become part of being a political consultant or a politician? Bill Clinton and James Carville and Al Gore? Just not sure. But it’s a marked and relatively recent development.
OB,
I personally know that my “it wasn’t THAT bad” response to Biden’s debate performance had the silently appended “for how I thought he was going to be” or “for a dementia-addled man,” and thought that the silent addendum was understood, even though it was muted out of politeness.
I honestly thought he’d be incomprehensible, but as a mother of young children who routinely call things what they aren’t, miss whole syllables or words, and mean the opposite of what they say because their vocabularies haven’t developed adequately yet, I thought he was pretty clear for most of the debate. I followed almost all of his statements, even if I disagreed with them and thought the claims were lies or crazy talk, but within the realm of normal politician crazy talk. There were no “dog-faced pony soldier” comments, or “Trumpanalaiirz”. He had one response that was truly incomprehensible. (Yes, that is a major issue in a Presidential debate.)
I also expected him to be far more aggressive, like dementia patients can be and we have seen him be. I thought he’d go far further off topic than he did. I thought his blank outs would have been worse. I thought he would wander away from the podium, confused. Instead, he mainly stayed where he was supposed to, kept within a certain (albeit wide) margin of the topic and only needed reminding once, and kept himself acting like a man who is in the earlier stages of dementia when I thought he’d be acting as a man in far later stages.
I know that some people had higher bars than I did, and perhaps mine was way too low, but having seen how he acted in 2020 and some short clips since, I believed that he would be further along the track that some of my older relatives have displayed, so I gave him bonus points to get to “not that bad (for a dementia patient).”
At no point was my, “it was bad but not THAT bad” ever meant to say that I approved of the situation, just that my bar was hit. I never meant that he’d be an ok President, just that he didn’t need to be forcibly placed somewhere with mittens and a wheelchair. I’m trying to convince myself that those on the other side of the aisle mean the same as I when they say it, but I’m having a hard time being so optimistic. I am trying to be polite towards our current President, but I have no intention of wanting him to stay in that position past Jan 2025. It seems they want to keep him there.
Sarah B.,
I wonder if your bar would not have been met if Tapper hadn’t saved our beloved Prez midway through his first/worst detour into dementia speak.
What Tapper did was no different than refs overlooking a blatant foul during a crucial play which calls into question the outcome of the entire game.
Have a nice day…🤠
“It would be very difficult to replace somebody who’s been vetted, who knows the job and has done a tremendous — I think she’s done a tremendous job”
What are the requirements of the VP?
One, don’t die.
Two, be around if the President dies.
Three, go to state funerals.
Fourth, hit donors up for campaign contributions.
What has Harris done that a candidate can be proud of?
All I hear is crickets.
It does look like Donald Trump actually does draw over 60,000 people. In May 2024, his rally attendance was estimated between 80,000 and 100,000 people (the city’s estimate). Trump says 100,000+, Fox News says 30,000.
Now, I am suspicious of Trump rally attendence numbers. I always multiply Trump numbers by 0.5-0.7 to mitigate the ‘New Yorker’ effect. However, I also remember what happened when we had a local Trump rally and lots of people were disappointed. The local media told people not to travel to it because there were no more tickets. Apparently, anti-Trump people went to get tickets to keep people attending. Only 6,000 people attended at a venue for 19,000 people, but there were crowds outside denied entry because of the lack of tickets. My wife was mad because she wanted to go, but didn’t because she was told that she couldn’t get in (due to lack of tickets).
Bidenfreude – the only reasonable response to the ongoing Democrat post-Debate clown show.