Genius DNC Staffer Who Suggested Painting Bernie Sanders As Atheist Can Go To Very Religious Hell

And you should resign, too

We weren't especially surprised -- disgusted, but not surprised -- by the Wikileaks email story showing the Democratic National Committee was actively trying to undermine Bernie Sanders's campaign -- it was kind of obvious to anyone who looked at the debate schedule, for one thing. But even Yr cynical ol' Wonkette was surprised by one especially bad idea that got floated: Hey, how about we try to hurt Bernie with Southern voters by hinting he's a dirty atheist? In a May 5 email with the subject line "No shit," DNC CFO Brad Marshall suggested it might really help give Hillary an advantage if Dems started having God fights just like Republicans:

It might may no difference, but for KY and WVA can we get someone to ask his belief. Does he believe in a God. He had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage. I think I read he is an atheist. This could make several points difference with my peeps. My Southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist.

As a follow-up sent a few minutes later, Marshall explained a little further, because apparently he thought he wasn't being quite clear enough:

It’s these [sic] Jesus thing.

A few hours later, a reply came from DNC chief executive officer Amy Dacey, who simply answered "AMEN." Jesus these people, as it were.

As Politico notes, not a little fussily,

The message does not mention Sanders by name, but he was the only Jewish candidate, and the email came shortly before the Kentucky and West Virginia Democratic primaries.

Well, yes. That would probably be the "he" they were talking about, all right, though he at first very laughably denied it. As far as we can tell, it never actually turned into a strategy, and the one time they talked about faithy stuff in the debates was back in March, before the Michigan primary. (Rebecca, your editrix, says she still thinks he should have answered that question about whether he believes in God with a pronounced, theatric shrug and the Jewiest possible "EH.") But the fact that the DNC was even kicking the idea around is awful -- we're supposed to be the party that doesn't pull that culture-war shit, said Dok, all disillusioned-like. Could we please leave the Victoria Jackson religious panic types in the other party, please?

Politico found an apology from Marshall on the Facebook:

I deeply regret that my insensitive, emotional emails would cause embarrassment to the DNC, the Chairwoman, and all of the staffers who worked hard to make the primary a fair and open process. The comments expressed do not reflect my beliefs nor do they reflect the beliefs of the DNC and its employees. I apologize to those I offended.

Yeah, that's not really good enough. They clearly reflected what Marshall thought would be a great idea for ratfucking Sanders with Southern Baptist "peeps" in May, and Marshall needs to follow Debbie Wasserman Schultz to the exit door, because this was crap. And as you all recall, Bernie won West Virginia bigly, and came ridiculously close in Kentucky. So apparently those voters weren't bothered by his being a Jewish, or even a godless heathen atheist, which is really nobody's business anyway, because we're Democrats and we don't pick our candidates on the basis of whether they have a special invisible buddy in the sky, thank you very goddamned much. No shit.

[ Politico / Hot Air ]