Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz is not having a good convention. The Washington Examiner’s Phillip Klein busted her yesterday. Klein reported that DWS falsely claimed that Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren had told her that what Republicans were doing “was dangerous for Israel.” Oren flatly denied that he said it. DWS then went on Fox to claim that Klein was misquoting her and that she never quoted Oren in that manner. Of course she had and Klein had the audio to prove it.
That earned her a “pants on fire” truth rating from PoliticFact but unfortunately when she next appeared on national television she wasn’t asked about it. Yet CNN’s convention floor interview with DWS was not without some interest. Wasserman Schultz was asked about the embarrassing moment earlier that night when a majority of Democratic delegates seemed to vote no on changing their platform to include God and reaffirm support for Israel on Jerusalem. With a straight face Wasserman Schultz not only falsely claimed there had been a two-thirds majority for the change, she insisted that Jerusalem had actually never been taken out of the original draft! While politicians like DWS are used to lying with impunity and not being called on it, when CNN cut back to the commentators in the booth, her statements were met with incredulity and laughter.
Anderson Cooper quickly said she was clearly operating in “an alternate universe.” The rest of the crew laughed along and noted the brazen matter in which she misrepresented the issue and the truth.
As for her lie about Oren, Fox News, the network where she had falsely accused Phil Klein of distorting her words, did revisit the issue and played the audio of her quote in which she lied about the Israeli ambassador’s opinion of the GOP. They were not able to snag an interview with her but noted her spokesman was still trying to claim that she had been taken out of context even after the audiotape proved the contrary.
All of which leads us to ask what exactly are the Democrats to do about DWS? As the rumors out of Washington indicate, there’s little doubt President Obama’s inner circle is unhappy about her performance at the DNC. Some of their criticism of her whiny partisanship is unfair. As party chair, she’s supposed to be a whiny partisan. But getting caught in barefaced lies is something else.
We expect politicians to spin reality to conform to their political views. Indeed most of what we have heard from the two conventions is nothing but spin. It may be hard for Congress, the parties and the political system to sink any lower in the eyes of the public, but if it is at all possible, the spectacle of DWS lying to the cameras, and then being laughed at by a group of commentators on a network friendly to the Democrats, must do it.
Wasserman Shultz has a safe Democratic Congressional seat and is in no danger of losing it. But her record of public deceit is catching up with her. The day is coming when she will no longer be able to continue to traipse about the country pretending to represent her party and American Jews without being called out for these lies.
Such a simple and straightforward question. LOLOL!
This makes perfect sense for a President that "has Israel's back" as he stabs Israel in the back.
only an absolute idiot would vote for a democrat at any level. but that's just me being me.
If I were more cynical, I might wonder if Pres. Obama hadn't engineered this whole thing so that he could intervene so as to bolster his attempt to masquerade as Israel's friend. But for that to work, his intervention would have had to be more public. This new claim smacks of the same old BHO opportunism, not unlike taking credit that the sun came up this morning.
This is nothing short of bizarre. DWS is 100% accurate. Listen closely to the audio of DWS speaking to the Florida meeting and then read the following quotation from the Jerusalem Post interview with Ambassador Oren published on June 22, 2010. There is, to borrow a phrase, no daylight between her characterization of Ambassador Oren's interview comments and what he says in the interview. Please n.b. that DWS never said anything about "Republican policies", she was addressing the Rs growing willingness to make American support for Israel a partisan issue and to attack the President as anti-Israel, something Ambassador Oren directly warned against. As John Adams said, "Facts are stubborn things"! n n“Bi-partisan support for Israel is a national strategic interest for us, and I’m sometimes in the difficult position of having to tell some of Israel’s most outspoken supporters to be aware of this,” Oren said. I’m concerned about the drift toward partisanship, and while the American people remain overwhelmingly supportive of Israel, pro-Israel, when you break it down by party you get a more nuanced picture, and for me a more troubling picture,” he said. Oren advised Israel supporters against “ad hominem attacks on the president as if he is anti- Israel. Barack Obama is not anti-Israel, he has different policies than some of his predecessors, but he is not anti-Israel. You can debate the relative value of his policies toward us, but let’s not couch it in saying someone is pro-Israel or anti- Israel.”
Debbie needs to burnish her image for her job on MSNBC because I doubt even she could hold on to her own Congressional seat at this point unless she flat out buys it.
Alana Goodman posted a link to a Politico piece that essentially stated she intended to do this — that as DNC chair she had accumulated a large pot of money to spend on her re-election.
If she were a 19-year-old coed and not a 46-year-old Congressman, at this point even a civil libertarian like me would be making a mental health referral. Every bit of my student affairs training says that she is in the process of coming apart in a rather spectacular fashion. n nI'm talking as in joining Jessie Jackson Jr at the Mayo Clinic, which would not surprise me. n nAnd as to her "safe" Democratic district in South Florida — isn't it a substantially Jewish district as well? And at what point will American Jews, even if they have voted Democrat since Roosevelt in 1932, not vote for her? She has to have some idea of opinions in her district, what is her polling telling her? n n*IF* she was hearing that the Jews were going to vote Republican and for her opponent over issues relating to Israel — *if* she were hearing this, would it not explain her desperate stunt with Oren & Kline? If Israel is an issue, she doesn't have to appear Pro-Israel as much as make the other side look Anti-Israel which is *exactly* what the Oren misquote would do. n nI do, however, suspect that she will soon self-destruct in a rather spectacular fashion. DWS, Jessie Jackson Jr, Patches Kennedy — all Democrats I might add…
I hope she stays on. She has much to contribute to the (Republican) cause.
As a Jew I consider Debbie an embarrassment. But as a voter, I treat her as a female Joe Biden liable to say just about anything, no matter how vulgar, untrue, or just plain foolish.
Wow… I just wasted valuable time reading your blog about Tobin. n nI question your sanity. Your whole post was about the difference between >20% and </=20%. Does the line need to be drawn at all when talking about Iran's nuclear ambitions? n nCrap… I just wasted MORE time!!! FULL STOP