For years, we have been hearing that the Republican Party was on the ropes: when Bill Clinton won in 1992 and 1996; when Barack Obama won in 2008 and 2012; when the tea party launched in 2009; when Texas Senator Ted Cruz and company shut down the federal government for a few days in 2013. (Remember when we were told that voters were going to "punish" Republicans in 2014? Yeah, that was right before they handed the GOP control of the House and Senate.) When Donald Trump roared into the primaries in 2015 and knocked out his more -- shall we say -- traditional GOP rivals one by one, and even (perhaps especially) since Donald Trump's election, the media's go-to narrative has been how the Republican Party is fragmented and crumbling.
Now we know that it's the Democratic Party that's rotting from within.
This isn't about the staggering loss of seats in state governments. It's about the sex scandals that have enveloped Hollywood -- and now the media and Washington. What's even more shocking than the reprehensible conduct itself is how intimately entwined these scandals are with the Democratic Party's politics, its operatives and their tactics.
Let's start with Harvey Weinstein. One of the biggest Hollywood fundraisers for Democrats, he has become the poster boy for the most egregious sexual harassment and assault. As journalist Ronan Farrow has exposed, Weinstein's modus operandi included hiring high-powered attorneys like David Boies of Boies Schiller Flexner. Boies' law firm paid Black Cube -- an intelligence-gathering company Weinstein employed -- to dig up dirt on and silence potential accusers. According to Ronan Farrow, K2 -- another intelligence firm -- was hired by Elkin Abramowitz, also one of Weinstein's defense attorneys. K2's job was to ensure that Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. -- a Democrat -- did not prosecute Weinstein after sexual assault charges were filed against him in New York. Vance was once employed by Abramowitz' firm, and has since drawn criticism for taking campaign contributions from lawyers "having dealings with his office."
Weinstein's attorneys also had his victims sign iron-clad nondisclosure agreements that effectively covered up his behavior.
As I wrote last week, David Boies' name appears with some frequency in these accounts. PBS and CBS host Charlie Rose was fired this past week after eight women came forward with sordid stories of sexual harassment and abuse of power. Lo and behold, who has turned up as one of Rose's former attorneys? None other than David Boies.
New York Times reporter Glenn Thrush has also been suspended following accusations of sexual misconduct involving younger women at the Times and Politico. Remember Glenn Thrush? His was one of many emails released by Wikileaks that demonstrated how far in the tank the media was for 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Thrush sent a potentially negative story to Clinton campaign manager John Podesta for approval before publishing. Thrush's email read, in part, "Because I have become a hack I will send u the whole section that pertains to u (sic). Please don't share or tell anyone I did this."
The Wikileaks email dump also exposed that Donna Brazile -- at the time, a contributing political correspondent at CNN -- was feeding debate questions to Clinton in advance of the event. Brazile lost her position at CNN, and has now written a best-seller, "Hacks," in which she gives her take on why Clinton lost the election. Among her revelations: that the DNC was financially controlled and manipulated by the Clintons, to the political detriment of the other (and arguably more popular) Democratic candidate, Bernie Sanders.
Brazile stepped in as DNC chair after Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned in disgrace, only to be scooped by Clinton and named "honorary" campaign chair. Wasserman Schultz's handsomely paid former IT staffer Imran Awan has since been indicted, and is suspected of selling sensitive data to Pakistanis and Russians.
Charles Manson's recent death brought disturbing reminders that even the Democratic Party's golden boy, Barack Obama, has unsavory alliances in his background. After the grisly murders of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and six others in July of 1969, Weather Underground founder Bernardine Dohrn said, "Offing those rich pigs with their own forks and knives, and then eating a meal in the same room. Far out! The Weathermen dig Charles Manson."
Manson and his followers were murderous lunatics. Bernardine Dohrn (along with her husband Bill Ayers) was a communist revolutionary and domestic terrorist responsible for multiple bombings. Dohrn expressed admiration for the Manson murders. And Barack Obama launched his political career in her living room.
The Democratic Party -- at least at the level of national leadership -- is riddled through and through with questionable affiliations, political scandals, sexual deviants and interconnected teams of lawyers and paid spies protecting them.
It's time for the Democrats to clean house.
New leadership needs to come from the grass roots -- mayors, city council and school board members -- fresh faces and people who step up from every walk of life to cleanse their party of the rot that has corrupted it for the past 40-plus years. No more Clintons, Podestas, Obamas, media shills, communist agitators or community organizers.
The Democratic Party is dead. Long live the Democratic Party.