A Rolling Stone postmortem on the Democrat fiasco in Iowa
When historians pore over the Great Iowa Catastrophe of 2020, much of the blame will be focused on Acronym and Shadow, the two firms associated with the balky app that was supposed to count caucus results. For the conspiratorial-minded, the various political connections will be key: Acronym co-founder Tara McGowan is married to Buttigieg strategist Michael Halle, while former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe sits on Acronym’s board. Shadow had also been a client of both the Buttigieg and Biden campaigns in 2019.
But garden variety disorganization and stupidity were the major story lines underneath the terrible optics. From the first moment the caucus proceedings were delayed Monday night due to what the Iowa Democratic Party called “inconsistencies in the reporting,” Sanders supporters in particular felt they were in déjà vu territory. Orlando native Patty Duffy, an out-of-stater who captained for Sanders in the small town of Milo, had flashbacks to the run-up to the Hillary-Bernie convention.
“It was like we were back in 2016,” Duffy said. “Except this was worse.”
I have no idea what really happened in Iowa, but I have no problem believing there were shenanigans to deny Sanders a victory. I also have no problem believing that whoever ends up being nominated, most Democrats and all Independent NeverTrumpers and ex-GOP NeverTrumpers will vote for him or her.
It is indeed interesting to see how relatively united the Republican Party is behind Trump, and how much disarray there is among Democrats at the moment. That chaos is both a cause and a result of their flailing around for the last three years with only two messages to deliver: Trump is evil, and I have good intentions.
I have a different take on this. I think it is the result of casual corruption that is deeply embedded into the culture of the DNC.
In Venezuela they have a term for this. Its called a “guiso” (stew). The public treasury is a trough that everyone in power or close to power feeds from. That is the natural result of highly centralized and unchecked power.
I am seeing signs of this same type of official corruption in the Democrats. Joe Biden and his son Hunter are emblematic and high profile examples, but it is the thousands of less high-profile cases that do the most damage.
How did this company, Acronym get such a contract? Their expertise? Obviously not… They had political connections and leveraged them. No real qualifications needed. These practices produce shoddy results and over-pricing.
So, for me, I am seeing a DNC that looks and sounds like a third-world banana republic. I think that the real source of their hatred of Donald Trump is that he is cutting off their access to the trough.
Incompetence is easy but there was a low turnout, too. The Republicans seemed to have no trouble and my impression is that they held a similar caucus event.
“I think that the real source of their hatred of Donald Trump is that he is cutting off their access to the trough.” – Roy
Bingo.
Count the Never Trumpers in that group as well.
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/the-morning-briefing-lets-stop-calling-them-never-trump-republicans/
Roy Nathanson:
You’ve got it right there: the Democrats have become big league corruptocrats. Chicago has been showing the way for many years; the rest of the party is running to catch up. Look at Catherine Pugh, the former mayor of Baltimore, who sold a book she wrote (allegedly — that’s up for question too) to the Baltimore school system and allegedly pocketed $800,000 from the scam. Then she avoided paying federal tax on the ill-got gains by just not reporting it. That’s some pretty big-league scamming there.
AesopFan,
Absolutely correct! The NeverTrumpers are mainly swamp denizens. They are as upset as the Democrats about the interruption to the status quo.