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CNN intelligence analyst Bob Baer appeared on air on Saturday to discuss a new Washington Post article that essentially claims the CIA believes Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump win. During this discussion, Baer made the rather surprising claim that in light of these reports, he believes the U.S. has to hold a new presidential election.
Here is the backstory that led up to Baer’s remarks:
“[T]he CIA has concluded in a secret assessment that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump win the presidency, rather than just to undermine confidence in the U.S. electoral system.”
The anonymous sourcing in the report led Glenn Greenwald to criticize the reporting as an example of “classic American journalism of the worst sort” because many of the “key claims are based exclusively on the unverified assertions of anonymous officials.” Greenwald continued, saying the anonymous sources “are disseminating their own claims about what the CIA purportedly believes, all based on evidence that remains completely secret.”
So, it was in that context that Baer appeared on CNN on Saturday where he made the shocking call for what is basically a do-over election.
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“Having worked in the CIA, if we had been caught interfering in European elections, or Asian elections or anywhere in the world, those countries would call for new elections, and any democracy would,” Baer said. And I do not see it any other way, the Electoral College, before the 19th, has got to know whether the Russians had . . . affected American opinion.”
The host jumped back in and asked Baer to clarify if he was actually calling for new elections.
Baer’s response sounded unequivocal.
“When a foreign country interferes in your election and the outcome is in doubt, and the legitimacy of the government [is in doubt] . . . If the evidence is there, I don’t see any other way than to vote again as an American citizen,” Baer said.
In a related topic, Wikileaks is very, very huffy that some cad in the Obama administration, quite possibly in the intelligence community itself, leaked a CIA report on Russian cyberattacks against U.S. institutions to NBC, and also leaked intercepts about Russian officials celebrating Donald Trump’s election to the Washington Post. Boy, oh, boy, was Wikileaks ever angry about those leaks!
I think the voters of America, like those of the U.K., would seriously like a do-over. But as John Oliver so pithily pointed out, "there are no f&%#n do-overs." There are to many complications with fixing our cock-up, and too many forces in play to allow that. It goes to show you need to pay attention the first time.
A well reasoned argument is like a diamond: impervious to corruption and crystal clear - and infinitely rarer.
Here, as elsewhere, people are outraged at what feels like a rigged game -- an economy that won't respond, a democracy that won't listen, and a financial sector that holds all the cards. - Robert Reich
I...But as John Oliver so pithily pointed out, "there are no f&%#n do-overs."...
That quote was made famous by Steve Schmidt in an interview with Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes.
Originally Posted by Steve Schmidt
You don`t get to go back in time, Anderson, and have do-overs in life. - 60 Minutes
I have never forgotten that quote. It has stuck with me all of this time.
Originally Posted by NW Ponderer
It goes to show you need to pay attention the first time.
The voters were paying attention - it was the DNC who was not. Had the DNC paid attention, they would have internalized, instead of dismissing, that voters had a very negative perception of Hillary Clinton and didn't 't want her. THAT is where the true issue lies.
Clearly voters, particularly ones in WI, MI, and PN, don't care about 'job experience' as evidenced by them voting for, and thus, electing a community organizer law professor, followed by a narcissistic lying businessman that has filed bankruptcy over four-times stiffing his investors and blue-collar workers who preformed work for him.
The soul-searching that is being done as a result of our loss, and America's loss, needs to be honest about WHY we lost.
Simple. When you add up everything, we lost because Republicans cheat. They just did it better this time.
They have had 30 years to practice making crap up about Hillary. Then Comey came along. The fake news stories. All the Russian agents posting on American websites. And on and on and on...
Simple. When you add up everything, we lost because Republicans cheat. They just did it better this time.
They have had 30 years to practice making crap up about Hillary. Then Comey came along. The fake news stories. All the Russian agents posting on American websites. And on and on and on...
Whatever helps you sleep.
"The liberals can understand everything but people who don't understand them." Lenny Bruce
"The cleverest of all, in my opinion, is the man who calls himself a fool at least once a month." Dostoevsky
Actually, I put a lot of blame on White women: I thought they had more self-respect than to vote for a serial molester but apparently I was wrong. A huge percentage of them prefer even the most despicable man over a woman. The numbers don't lie.
Still that could have been overcome if not for all the stuff I listed.
I still think the Democrats should run George Clooney next time. Everybody likes him, he's good looking, a celebrity, and a political neophyte. If people want to elect somebody for all the wrong reasons, at least let's give them a Democrat with all the qualities they are looking for.
Actually, I put a lot of blame on White women: I thought they had more self-respect than to vote for a serial molester but apparently I was wrong. A huge percentage of them prefer even the most despicable man over a woman. The numbers don't lie.
52%. A huge percentage? Dude. What part of sexism do you not understand (participate in). You hold white women responsible over white men,...63% who voted for him less responsible? Overall women did not vote for him
Originally Posted by pondering_it_all
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WHY we lost
Simple. When you add up everything, we lost because Republicans cheat. They just did it better this time.
They have had 30 years to practice making crap up about Hillary. Then Comey came along. The fake news stories. All the Russian agents posting on American websites. And on and on and on...
"Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass...it's about learning how to dance in the rain."
Maybe it was because this was an epic your for not voting.
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“Several million voters didn’t come out to vote,” Becker said. “Which is telling me that this idea of the Trump wave, a huge number of voters shifting over to Trump, is certainly not the story.” Nationally, the number of people who voted for Trump were only slightly ahead of those who supported the last Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, in 2012. But Becker said that while turnout in purple states like Florida and Pennsylvania had a slight uptick this year, at least 19 other states saw lower turnout rates compared with 2012, a scenario that is antithetical to presidential-year voting that tends to increase each cycle when an incumbent is not a part of the race. According to Becker, turnout rates dropped by 1.3 percent in Iowa, 3 percent in Wisconsin and nearly 4 percent in Ohio in 2016, a combination that became a death knell for Clinton’s presidential hopes in areas where Obama performed well during his two terms.
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