Thought for the Day

[fred41]

meh...I honestly don't think the DNC hack, and in so far what it might've (or not) accomplished, is really that big a deal. I'm sure we would've (and may even have tried) to do the same thing in Russian elections. But public opinion is a different animal in that country so something like that may not work anyway. I believe corporate, scientific and military info hacks are far more serious.
What info did the hacks expose that the average thinking person wouldn't already have assumed anyway?
The only voters that may have been affected, or at least used it as an excuse to not vote (or perhaps go with another party) would (maybe) be the Sanders voters. What could they have exposed that would kill a person's vote for Trump? - the man literally shared his thoughts out loud and even suggested he can say anything and still get elected by his followers...(not to mention the questionable last minute parade of women coming out of the woodwork to talk about inappropriate remarks or suggestions of 'touching'...only to disappear again after the election).

Just my opinion , as of this moment, on that particular hack only.

One can also argue that unfortunately the USA's foreign policy stances and decisions these last few years, have helped to put it in the position of very little worry for another country of any type of reprisal

[flabbybody]

saw John Podestra this morning discuss election outcome. Of course front and center in his remarks were FBI Comey letter and Russia hacking his personal emails. When the moderator mentioned Hillary's total lack of personal appearances in Wisconsin for the entire 2 month period leading up to Election Day, he sort of visibility gaged. He stumbled on to say running mate Tim Kaine was there frequenly.
It's so typical of the Clinton folks to blame everything for thir loss except the total dysfunction of the candidate and her staff in managing electoral college stragedy.
They got "Trumped" by amateurs and will forever be too arrogant and elitist to admit it.

[fred41]

saw John Podestra this morning discuss election outcome. Of course front and center in his remarks were FBI Comey letter and Russia hacking his personal emails. When the moderator mentioned Hillary's total lack of personal appearances in Wisconsin for the entire 2 month period leading up to Election Day, he sort of visibility gaged. He stumbled on to say running mate Tim Kaine was there frequenly.
It's so typical of the Clinton folks to blame everything for thir loss except the total dysfunction of the candidate and her staff in managing electoral college stragedy.
They got "Trumped" by amateurs and will forever be too arrogant and elitist to admit it.

I totally agree.

[broncofan]

People often don't make any assumptions about how things work behind the curtain. If you took someone behind the scenes of a late night talk show and showed them that some of the supposedly unscripted banter with the guests is choreographed some might express amazement; not because it contradicted their expectation but because they hadn't thought about it.

Likewise, people don't know what to expect from emails of situations they never contemplated and which they should not be privy to. But one thing they're not going to say is, "wow, these emails actually show a great citizen. No scandals. None of the corruption or backstabbing we expected to see." They could be looking at something completely benign or which is standard practice for political operatives and think it shows a character flaw..

It is an awful situation when a foreign adversary reveals all of the emails of one person hoping they will be damning because they think her opponent is a patsy. And that person responds with what can only be described as willful blindness to any attempt to ascertain what was done. The damage may have been negligible, but the fact that our election was manipulated externally is troubling.

[fred41]

and what to do about it? Trump may not care , but the present administration hasn't shown any other inclination through previous action, that they'd do anything other than empty
verbal threats.

[trish]

Retaliations invite escalation. The best thing to do find the holes and plug 'em up.

Whether the leaks influenced the election or not (I think they undeniably had influence - the real question is a quantitative one and difficult to answer), they do raise the question, "Why Trump?" How easy will it be for Putin to manipulate Trump and what does this mean for NATO, the Middle East and the U.S. economy?

[blackchubby38]

saw John Podestra this morning discuss election outcome. Of course front and center in his remarks were FBI Comey letter and Russia hacking his personal emails. When the moderator mentioned Hillary's total lack of personal appearances in Wisconsin for the entire 2 month period leading up to Election Day, he sort of visibility gaged. He stumbled on to say running mate Tim Kaine was there frequenly.
It's so typical of the Clinton folks to blame everything for thir loss except the total dysfunction of the candidate and her staff in managing electoral college stragedy.
They got "Trumped" by amateurs and will forever be too arrogant and elitist to admit it.

Total lack of personal appearances in either Wisconsin or Michigan leading up to the Election Day. However she did waste time campaigning in Arizona thinking that she was going to turn that state red.

But it was all Russia and Comey's fault that she lost.

[trish]

...But it was all Russia and Comey's fault that she lost.

No one I'm reading says "it was all..." The "all" is your own insertion. Truth for sarcasm: it's the new deal.

[broncofan]

As a quantitative question, we will never know what effect any individual thing had on electoral preferences. But if Hillary didn't campaign in a state she thought she would win but didn't that's at most negligence. Interfering with our election is far worse than that...and what happened is not the category of thing one expects to be trivial.

Think about it. What if I suggested that in every future election one candidate should have his/her previous six months of emails dumped publicly? Is that the type of element we want to deal with in our federal elections?

[blackchubby38]

No one I'm reading says "it was all..." The "all" is your own insertion. Truth for sarcasm: it's the new deal.

Yeah I was being sarcastic. Nothing wrong with finding a little humor in the situation this country finds itself in.

But if it helps, I have seen articles where the Clinton campaign has blamed President Obama and Huma Abedin for her losing.

Of course, you can also place blame on her for calling half of Trump's supporters "deplorable".