GABBARD’S RUSSIAN COLLUSION
R. A. Schultz
The following article appeared in a recent issue of the Washington Examiner:
Hillary Clinton said that Rep. Tulsi Gabbard is being groomed by Moscow to run as a third-party spoiler candidate in 2020 to help President Trump win reelection.
The former secretary of state pushed the theory on Campaign HQ podcast hosted by David Plouffe, President Barack Obama’s campaign manager in 2008.
Plouffe and Clinton discussed hurdles the Democratic nominee would face and compared the 2020 race to Clinton’s loss to Trump in 2016. Plouffe asked Clinton about the part third-party candidates, such as Jill Stein of the Green Party, played in 2016, allowing Trump to secure key states.
"They are also going to do third party again," Clinton, 71, said. "I'm not making any predictions, but I think they’ve got their eye on somebody who is currently in the Democratic primary and are grooming her to be the third-party candidate," Clinton said, referring to Gabbard, without mentioning the Hawaii representative by name.
"She is a favorite of the Russians. They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far. That's assuming Jill Stein will give it up, which she might not because she is also a Russian asset.
"They know they can't win without a third-party candidate, and so I do not know who it's going to be, but I can guarantee you they will have a vigorous third-party challenge in the key states that they most need it."
Gabbard, 38, has represented Hawaii in the House of Representatives since 2013. A major in the Hawaii Army National Guard, she served in a field medical unit in Iraq from 2004 to 2005 and was deployed to Kuwait from 2008 to 2009. This summer, she spent two weeks in Indonesia on a military training exercise.
In Tuesday's Democratic debate, Gabbard accused the New York Times of calling her a "Russian asset."
The newspaper published an Oct. 12 news article about Gabbard stating, "She is injecting a bit of chaos into her own party’s primary race, threatening to boycott that debate to protest what she sees as a 'rigging' of the 2020 election. That’s left some Democrats wondering what, exactly, she is up to in the race, while others worry about supportive signs from online bot activity and the Russian news media."
Gabbard said on the debate stage, "The New York Times and CNN have also smeared veterans like myself for calling for an end to this regime change war [in Syria]. Just two days ago, the New York Times put out an article saying that I’m a Russian asset and an Assad apologist and all these different smears."
In 2016, Gabbard supported Bernie Sanders over Clinton. But she congratulated Clinton on becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, saying, "She becomes the first woman to lead a major political party into the general election. Say what you will about her, let's give credit where it due. This is one tough, smart woman. Most might wilt under the fire and criticism she's endured."
Gabbard faces a 2020 primary challenge for her House seat from Democratic state Sen. Kai Kahele.
MY TAKE: If we needed any more evidence of Hillary Clinton’s fragile mental state, she just furnished it. Now, Tulsi Gabbard, likely the sanest of the occupants of the clown car that is the vehicle of the Democratic National Committee to present their finest to the American People, has become bat-chit Hillary’s latest political rival to be accused of collusion with the Russians. This is, of course, a classic Alinsky tactic: Accuse your opponent of exactly what you have done! Poor Hillary can’t even come up with an original allegation, having to roll out the same phony allegations she used against Trump in 2016.
By the way, speaking of 2016, Hillary’s animosity toward Gabbard extends back to that very same year. You may recall that Gabbard had been the DNC vice chairman who realized that Hillary, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, and Donna Brazile were rigging the primary elections in favor of Hillary and against Bernie Sanders. Gabbard resigned her position and endorsed Sanders, ultimately forcing Wasserman-Schultz to resign and Brazile to seek the nearest underground cover.
Excuse me a moment. I have to check our popcorn stock.
