Hillary Clinton suggests Russians are grooming a Democrat for 2020 Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton says the Russians are currently .grooming. a Democrat running in the presidential primary to run as a ...
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Debate ensued after Hillary Clinton attacked Tulsi Gabbard. Like the most pernicious rumors of disloyalty leveled against politicians in American history, she made the question of whether Gabbard was really a Russian asset a part of widespread conversation.
She forced Gabbard to respond by going on one of the few television shows with millions of nightly viewers that would grant her a platform to speak without bullying her into toeing a party line: "The Tucker Carlson Show."
Gabbard's appearance was treated as further proof she was likely an asset because Carlson has used his show to promote white supremacist views before and so, to Democrats, here was the red-brown alliance in action.
But Gabbard also responded directly to Clinton on Twitter and put the focus on her support for war.
That led Zac Petkanas, who was the rapid response director for the Clinton campaign, to quip, "The reason it took Tulsi Gabbard so long to respond is that she had to run it by Putin first. Honestly, it probably sounded better in the original Russian."
Phillippe Reines, a former Clinton spokesperson, could not pass up an opportunity to give his two cents. "The Tulsi kerfuffle will be short-lived. Which means I need to hurry before it ends! In three tweets, she called Hillary worse than she has ever called Assad or Putin. If Russian-compromised Trump and third-party menace Jill Stein had a child, it would be Tulsi Gabbard."
Adam Parkhomenko, founder of the Ready For Hillary super PAC, reacted, "Tulsi Gabbard (R-Moscow) is back on the clock," and, "Tulski Gabbard is wide awake at almost midnight local time in Moscow. For those that want to support the American running against her and lift up our efforts to elect him, let's add another 250 contributions to his campaign now."
Zerlina Maxwell, a former Clinton campaign official and director of SiriusXM's progressive programming, said she"didn't go far enough, and we have to decide whether or not we'll listen to Hillary Clinton." She added, "In 2016, anchors literally laughed at Hillary Clinton when she said it was Russia" targeting her campaign.
On CNN, former Virginia Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe expressed the view that, perhaps, Clinton is not sharing all she knows. "This is something that she's been reading a lot about. I don't know whether Tulsi Gabbard is connected with the Russians. But the Russian state media has been very favorable toward her. She won't come out and really go after Assad, who is a genocidal dictator."
Naveed Jamali, an MSNBC contributor and asset who helped the FBI arrest a member of Russian intelligence, declared, "Tulsi Gabbard may not be breaking the law, but as somebody who knows Russia recruitment and targeting tactics cold, she is absolutely being used as a Russian unwitting asset. She's Russia's 2016 do-over." Former Clinton aide Neera Tanden agreed with Jamali and indicated she shared "Hillary's concerns."
Soon, not denying the allegation became evidence against Gabbard. Kimberly Atkins, a senior news correspondent for WBUR, appeared on MSNBC on October 19 and said Gabbard "never denied being a Russian asset." She could barely complete her point without laughing and soon media colleagues on "Up with David Gura" were crowing along with her.
"Why does Tulsi Gabbard refuse to disavow help from Putin's government?" tweeted Renato Mariotti, a legal correspondent for POLITICO who has made regular appearances on MSNBC.
Former FBI special agent Asha Rangappa, another CNN analyst, insisted it did not matter whether Gabbard has a formal relationship with the Russian government or not. "If you are parroting Russian talking points and furthering their interests, you're a source who is too dumb to know you're being played to ask for money."
Commentators on the left are quick to dredge up past comments that were anti-gay or anti-Muslim in order to marginalize her as some kind of progressive champion. They also frequently doubt whether she is truly anti-war, despite her consistency on "regime change" wars. There was little incentive for progressives to come to Gabbard's defense.
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