Stop Pretending. Everyone Knew About Russia. The GOP Didn't Care - by Josh Marshall

[DonViejo]

By JOSH MARSHALL Published DECEMBER 16, 2016, 9:33 AM EDT

A few thoughts on the Russian hacking issue. Did Obama do enough?

There are two distinct questions. First, did President Obama do enough to punish Russia for its actions and, second, did President Obama do enough to alert the US public about what was happening? The two questions are related but distinct. I don't have a fully formulated opinion on the first question. But the second question bears some comparison to 'fake news', in this sense. The administration did a huge amount over the course of the fall to alert the public, alert the world was happening. They finally went so far as to issue a public consensus judgment of the entire US intelligence community about Russian tampering in the election.

This was loud. Everybody heard about it. It was widely reported. It certainly didn't get the same volume or intensity of attention as Hillary Clinton's emails. But the President can't control press coverage. The key issue was that political partisanship by and large kept Republicans from caring. The dynamics of the presidential contest were more important than foreign meddling or sabotage.

This may sound like a harsh judgment but it is demonstrably true. Not only did President-Elect Trump know about the charges. (Indeed, it is very likely his intelligence briefings included more detailed information than we in the public have even today.) He frequently discussed them and encouraged the tampering.

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http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/we-all-knew-this

[spanone]

1. yep.