The NYTimes has just sent out a push notification of a breaking story detailing how Hillary Clinton protected the job of a senior campaign aid, Burns Strider, over objections from her then-campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, who had recommended Strider’s dismissal over credible sexual harassment allegations.
The complaint against Mr. Strider was made by a 30-year-old woman who shared an office with him. She told a campaign official that Mr. Strider had rubbed her shoulders inappropriately, kissed her on the forehead and sent her a string of suggestive emails, including at least one during the night, according to three former campaign officials familiar with what took place.
Yikes.
Mrs. Clinton’s campaign manager at the time recommended that she fire the adviser, Burns Strider. But Mrs. Clinton did not. Instead, Mr. Strider was docked several weeks of pay and ordered to undergo counseling, and the young woman was moved to a new job.
The fun doesn’t stop there. In 2016, Clinton rehired this creep, this time to help run Correct the Record, one of HRC’s Super Pacs that, among other things, paid internet trolls to pose as legitimate HRC supporters on social media sites such as Reddit, Twitter, and, almost certainly, Daily Kos. Correct the Record was run by longtime DC smearmonger and close HRC confidante David Brock, who most famously coined the phrase “A little bit nutty and a little bit slutty” to describe Anita Hill back when he was working as a Republican operative and hadn’t, you know, found “religion” yet with the Clintons.
And that’s not all. Dissatisfied with simply getting away scot-free with damaging a young woman’s career trajectory and scarring her emotionally without significant consequences in 2008, and not content with simply collecting a fat paycheck for polluting the civic discourse of online communities such as this one (almost certainly) with paid shills posing as avid HRC supporters online in 2016, Strider systematically harassed another young female CTR staffer, yet again, this time getting fired. Finally.
Mr. Strider, who was Mrs. Clinton’s faith adviser, a co-founder of the American Values Network, and sent the candidate scripture readings every morning for months during the campaign, was hired five years later to lead an independent group that supported Mrs. Clinton’s 2016 candidacy, Correct the Record, which was created by a close Clinton ally, David Brock.
He was fired after several months for workplace issues, including allegations that he harassed a young female aide, according to three people close to Correct the Record’s management.
I guess HRC wasn’t actually #WithHer after all, huh. Kinda helps one see how the “lack of authenticity” issue manifested itself so pervasively as to result in her losing to the most unpopular President in modern history, since the modern approval tracking methods were in place.
Can I make a suggestion? How about if, and quite possibly when, Bernie runs again in 2020, we skip the purges. What if this had come out in April 2016? We would have been banned for talking about it. Also, how about we have less examples of “progressive” women, both here at Daily Kos and by figures in the MSM who are very popular here, cynically and disingenuously accusing Bernie of failing to respect women, which it is now clear is a completely trumped up charge, and ironically, one much more appropriately leveled at Hillary. Instead, let’s focus more on the issues that matter most to working families, like gaping inequality that was inestimably exacerbated by this recent tax caper, and needs rolling back. And including, yes, rooting out sexual harassment in the workplace, especially against minorities and poor women, and the lack of adequate legal recourse for people who are attacked sexually, without resorting to cynical, machiavellian smear campaigns that do nothing but a disservice to the victims of actual sexism, sexual harassment, and sexual violence. Like saying that Bernie doesn’t respect Jane Sanders. Is that too much to ask? I’m gonna assume it is, based on what I have seen over the past couple years here, but I’m always happy to be pleasantly surprised.