Leak divides Democrats

Thanks to WikiLeaks, which has released nearly 20,000 hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee upended the hoped-for display of unity at this week’s Democratic National Convention.

Now ousted DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz has been exposed as a liar for falsely claiming she was not working behind the scenes to defeat Sen. Bernie Sanders and secure the Democratic nomination for Hillary Clinton.

DNC chief financial officer Brad Marshall violated what is for Democrats a sacred doctrine of church-state separation when he wrote in an email to DNC CEO Amy Dacey about Sanders’ religious beliefs: “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.”

Dacey replied, “AMEN.”

Disclosure of this email particularly outraged the Center for Inquiry, a secular group, which issued a statement that reads in part: “We found it appalling that anyone within the Democratic National Committee would casually suggest attacking a candidate for their alleged atheism. Entertaining such a cynical and bigoted line of attack violates any number of basic American principles: It presumes a religious test for holding office, something expressly prohibited in the Constitution.”

Of further interest is evidence of collusion between the DNC and the media. Ken Vogel, a reporter for Politico, sent a copy of a story he wrote to the DNC’s deputy communications director before showing it to his editor. “Per agreement,” said the subject line. Should reporters be making agreements with a political party?

Expect the promised additional emails to add more to the public’s dislike of journalists.

Bernie Sanders has long complained that party officials had been anything but impartial through the primary process. And emails showing the DNC maneuvered to guarantee Hillary Clinton’s nomination prove his point. The system is rigged.

Democrat operatives are spinning webs of conspiracy theories, hoping to divert public attention and perception. Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, Robby Mook, is saying Russia hacked DNC emails to help Donald Trump win the election. Democrats are desperate to change the narrative from the contents of the emails to who hacked and released them.

As in so many other instances, the DNC emails make the Democrats and their numerous media allies look like cynical manipulators of public opinion. It is the modern equivalent of The Pentagon Papers, but unlike those documents, which helped topple a president, the major media can be relied on to do all they can to keep from reporting the most damaging of the emails or make excuses for those who sent them.

Perhaps “reporters” will even submit their stories in advance for approval by the DNC. As the leaked emails prove, it wouldn’t be the first time.

© 2016 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.