The Democrat Party meltdown continued apace, Sunday over President Biden's decision not to veto a congressional override of Washington D.C.'s soft-on-crime legislation if it reached his desk. This time by ABC contributor and former DNC chair Donna Brazile who scolded Biden to "not be engaged in D.C. affairs" during ABC's This Week's "Powerhouse Roundtable."
Brazile thought congress blocking the D.C. council's law to reduce penalties for murder, armed robbery, sexual assault, and other heinous crimes was a "huge mistake by the President." This took former Clinton bagman and current co-moderator of This Week, George Stephanopoulos off guard.
"Mistake?" Stephanopoulos asked. Brazile replied "absolutely." Brazile explained that "the D.C. code is old. It was written in 1901. there—in some areas, there are no penalties for sexual assault. There's only three months when you beat up a police officer."
This, of course, doesn't explain why D.C. should then be allowed to make the penalties for violent crimes even more lenient.
She then lashed out and tried to turn this around on Republicans for wanting to prevent our nation's capital from turning into an even more dangerous city: "while I understand that some Republicans want to show they're tough on crime by beating up on the District of Columbia, we deserve statehood."
Turning back to Biden, Brazile got nasty. "There's a reason why he didn't open his mouth and say something in that House caucus, and that is because my congresswoman, and yes she’s a little bit in her 80s too, she would have stood up and said, hell no," Brazile said referring to D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton.
Brazile ended by insisting that since "the mayor vetoed it," Biden should "let the mayor and the council work this out," and "the President should not be engaged in D.C. affairs."
The problem is that the Mayor and council couldn't "work this out," which is why Congress had to get involved. The mayor vetoed the dangerous bill and the council overrode the veto.
Brazile wasn't alone. Earlier in the program, New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman worried that Biden is "facing backlash from progressives in his own party" and seemed concerned that he's being "praised for immigration by Jim Jordan and on the D.C. matter by Tom Cotton, neither of whom are moderate Republicans. That’s not helpful to him."
What happened to the media narrative that Biden was a "moderate" and "bipartisan" President? You would think being praised by the other party would be welcomed.
Turns out this was just another leftist media lie.
This meltdown from Donna Brazile was made possible by Fisher Investments. Their information is linked.
To read the relevant transcript, click "expand":
ABC’s This Week
3/5/2023
9:39:45 a.m. EasternMAGGIE HABERMAN: He is facing backlash from progressives in his own party. And it is not just on messaging, it's on policy. It's on immigration policy. It's on this issue with the D.C. crime focus. He's being praised for immigration by Jim Jordan and on the D.C. matter by Tom Cotton, neither of whom are moderate Republicans. That’s not helpful to him.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: The D.C. crime bill came up this week, the President was pretty clear that he wasn’t gonna buck that legislation, that he’s more concerned about crime than D.C. Statehood.
MARIANNA SOTOMAYOR (WASHINGTON POST CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER): Yeah and to your point, about reading out of the same hymnal that is very hard, and that is a key example. I mean on Wednesday, again Biden tried to tell Democrats we can do this together only to go in the next day and tell senators, I'm actually gonna go and allow this vote to happen. I'm not going to veto it, and he did not say that to House Democrats. And that has caused a lot of anxiety, a lot of mistrust to the White House and Biden himself because at the time of that vote, he said, you know what? D.C. should be able to make their own decisions. I'm not getting involved in this only to go back, and now say you know, try to really counter those Republicans' attacks on Democrats being soft on crime.
[...]
9:42:29 p.m. Eastern
DONNA BRAZILE: I want to say something about home rule. Huge mistake, huge mistake by the President.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Mistake?
BRAZILE: Absolutely. Let me tell you why. I sat down because Chris Christie told me about this a couple of months ago. The D.C. code is old. It was written in 1901. there—in some areas, there are no penalties for sexual assault. There's only three months when you beat up a police officer.
So while I understand that some Republicans want to show they're tough on crime by beating up on the District of Columbia, we deserve statehood. We deserve to get it right, and this was a process that took 16 years. It was evaluated by a criminal justice expert. It was evaluated by the D.C. Council and the D.C. residents and all of a sudden, Marjorie
Taylor Greene and a few others have decided that this is the issue where they want to pick on the District of Columbia. There's a reason why he didn't open his mouth and say something in that House caucus, and that is because my congresswoman, and yes she’s a little bit in her 80s too, she would have stood up and said, hell no. This is about state rule. This is about the D.C. Council. The mayor vetoed it. Let the mayor and the council - work this out. The President should not be engaged in D.C. affairs.
