Let's begin with the basics.
The Democratic Machine is anti-worker, pro-Neoliberal, pro-corporate control and, as a result, is thoroughly corrupt. It's not even a debate. Party leaders regularly lie about policy, consistently cheat their working-class base and shamelessly promote the crooks in their ranks: Insider Nancy Pelosi, Wall Street Chuck Schumer, Slick Willy, the Drone Assassin, Hillary the Hawk and, now, Butcher Biden, to name a few.
Who can forget the Machine "rigging the primaries" against Bernie Sanders in 2016? Or forcing a progressive candidate to drop out in 2018, even though the progressive was favored by a majority of voters in his Colorado district. Or earlier this year throwing its support behind an anti-union woman-hater from Texas who's running against another true progressive. There are more examples but you get the picture.
This happens, to paraphrase America's favorite war criminal, because the "issues are too important to allow the American people to decide". Or, in this case, the voters of California.
Which brings us to Adam Schiff and his race for the US Senate.
No matter what happens in the March primary, whether Katie Porter or Barbara Lee or hapless stooge, Steve Garvey, comes in second, whether progressive voters turn out en masse, whether Genocide Joe pulls out of Gaza or whether the clock turns backwards and the sun crashes into the Pacific ocean, Congressman Schiff will be the next Senator from the great state of California. The Machine has already decided.
It's not hard to understand why. He's one of them.
Like the Machine, Congressman Schiff is a dedicated enemy of progressives. "Schiff's record on foreign policy, civil liberties, human rights and other key issues," according to International Affairs scholar Stephen Zunes, "has often put him more in line with Republicans than with liberal Democrats."
Like the Machine, Congressman Schiff is an enthusiastic supporter of eternal war, particularly illegal wars fought in foreign countries - Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Ukraine and now Gaza. Congressman Schiff supports these illegal wars not because he thinks they will make the US or the world safer. They've done the opposite, and he knows it. The reason the Congressman supports the violent expansion of the US Empire is because he's paid lots of money by defense contractors and weapons manufacturers, including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Orbital ATK, Harris Corporation and Raytheon. Patriotism comes at a price.
Like the Machine, Congressman Schiff is fond of lying to the public about policy. He pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq, for example, even though he'd been briefed by the CIA that Iraq did not have any WMDs, and in spite of the fact that a majority of the voters in his district were solidly against the war. Call me churlish, but the war Schiff promoted killed half a million civilians and leveled an entire country: war crime after war crime after war crime, including dropping cluster munitions on populated areas and "renditioning" innocent people. Remember Abu Ghraib?
How can the man show his face, let alone run for public office? The Machine.
Like the Machine, Congressman Schiff is a rabid supporter of Israeli genocide. [Schiff is fond of saying Israel has a "right to defend itself". According to the UN, Amnesty International and the International Court of Justice, Israel is by definition an "occupying power" and therefore cannot claim self-defense when it is slaughtering the people it already has complete power over.]
Like the Machine, Congressman Schiff was deeply involved in the illegal coup to subvert the 2016 presidential election, lying again and again about Russia-gate. He was Chair of the House Intelligence Committee when he told the American people there was "evidence" of Russia's involvement in the 2016 Presidential election: there was none. He called it a "Russian Influence Operation": it did not exist. Subsequent investigations revealed that Russia-gate was actually a covert operation carried out by Democratic elites. When Republicans took control of the House in 2023, they immediately removed Congressman Schiff from the Intelligence Committee due to his repeatedly "lying to the American public".
Like the Machine, when confronted with his Russia-gate falsehoods, Congressman Schiff doubles-down and lies some more.
For those keeping score, Congressman Schiff's participation in a covert operation to subvert a democratically-elected administration is somewhere in the neighborhood of Treason, with a capital "T". If you're wondering why Congressman Schiff has not been disqualified from running for public office, a la Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, ask the Machine. The day Congressman Schiff was censored by the House, every member of the Democratic caucus gave him a standing ovation.
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