The Election Was Not Hacked

 

Between jeremiads decrying “fake news,” the mainstream media has created and advanced the biggest fake news story of 2016: That the presidential election was hacked.

  • “Obama Strikes Back at Russia for Election Hacking” New York Times
  • “Obama administration unveils retribution for Russia over election hacking allegations” CNBC
  • “U.S. Slaps Sanctions On Russia For Election Hacking, Expels 35 Diplomats” CBS
  • “Obama sanctions Russian officials over election hacking” USA Today
  • “U.S. Sanctions Russia Over Election Hacking; Russia Threatens to Retaliate” Wall Street Journal

Despite the histrionic claims of the press, the election was not hacked. The Democratic National Committee’s lousy IT security allowed someone to access their emails which were then leaked. Clinton’s campaign manager John Podesta fell for an age-old phishing scam that was as believable as getting millions of dollars from a Nigerian prince. Using the spotty media understanding of cybersecurity, they can claim that the DNC and Hillary’s campaign were “hacked,” but the election decisively was not. And the press knows it.

In order to “hack” an election, a nefarious group would have to infiltrate the voting systems of 50 states, plus DC and territories. All of these systems are unique, with completely different architecture, ballot formats, tabulation processes, etc., etc. This did not happen. In fact, some hackers tried breaking into a few different states’ systems weeks before the election, were quickly identified, and prevented from doing so. Likewise, someone attempted to gain illegal access to the Republican National Committee, but since they had a competent IT staff, this too was thwarted.

But even without delving into the technical details, it’s obvious that the election wasn’t hacked. If, say, Russia wanted to elect Trump, they would have given him the popular vote victory along with his electoral victory. They also wouldn’t have left him to squeak out meager wins across the upper midwest and rust belt.

The media is intentionally lying to the public because they want a better excuse for Election Day than the reality. They would rather focus on hacking, the popular vote, FBI Director James Comey, or the minuscule alt-right, instead of accepting that American voters slightly preferred Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton, at least in the states where it counted. People wanted change over the ineptness, cronyism, and stagnation of the Obama era. They didn’t trust the utterly untrustable Clinton and liked her even less.

The harsh reality is this: Hillary Clinton is the worst presidential nominee in American history. And if the media is actually concerned about fake news, they will drop the election hacking lie and just admit that their candidate was a disaster.

Published in Politics
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  1. billy Inactive
    billy
    @billy

    Jon Gabriel, Ed.:

    The harsh reality is this: Hillary Clinton is the worst presidential nominee in American history. And if the media is actually concerned about fake news, they will drop the election hacking lie and just admit that their candidate was a disaster.

    BookmarkPublished in 2016

    Umm,,,Dukakis?

    • #1
  2. Heather Champion Member
    Heather Champion
    @HeatherChampion

    @exjon “The media is intentionally lying to the public because they want a better excuse for Election Day than the reality.”

    Reality bites for the dems.

    • #2
  3. I Walton Member
    I Walton
    @IWalton

    billy:

    Jon Gabriel, Ed.:

    The harsh reality is this: Hillary Clinton is the worst presidential nominee in American history. And if the media is actually concerned about fake news, they will drop the election hacking lie and just admit that their candidate was a disaster.

    BookmarkPublished in 2016

    Umm,,,Dukakis?

    View comment in context.

    Much worse than Dukakis,  the Democrat party then was composed mostly of normal acculturated Americans so it took a special kind of candidate to lose.

    • #3
  4. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    I never thought the Russians had anything to do with tampering our election.  Besides, they would do so to get Hillary elected, not Trump.  Clinton was already bought and paid for (Russian uranium deal).  Who knows how much blackmail material they got from her illegal server if they did hack that?

    • #4
  5. Yeah...ok. Inactive
    Yeah...ok.
    @Yeahok

    Is the evidence against the Russians, I have not seen any details, more obvious than the evidence against the DNC for hacking the primaries?

    Wouldn’t that make the DNC one of those home grown terror groups? Clinging to their polls and journalists…

    • #5
  6. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    Agreed. The DNC/Clinton campaign was hacked, not the election. Big difference. The media continues to damage its credibility.

    • #6
  7. Locke On Member
    Locke On
    @LockeOn

    We owe the Russians (or whoever it really was) a debt for showing us that what we suspected all along was true:  The DNC rigged the Democratic primary for Clinton, and the MSM coordinate their activities with the Democrat party.  The latter is why they are trying so hard to distract us.

    • #7
  8. Chris Campion Coolidge
    Chris Campion
    @ChrisCampion

    I was watching the NBC news the other night over Christmas break at Mom’s.  Well, OK, she was watching it – loudly.  Anyway, they were covering Kerry, and the settlements, and they kept calling the settlements in the West Bank “illegal”.

    I told Mom NBC just lied to her, on national news.  She asked why, and I told her the short 1967 war history, and if those territories are illegal, then so is Puerto Rico.  I then told her about the Gaza Strip, and once that was given back, as predicted, rocket attacks ramped up and continue to this day.  But it’s not in the news.  If they give back the West Bank, they will rocket Jerusalem and Tel Aviv – like it was rocketing Washington, DC.

    Once I put it in that short perspective, she said “Oh”, and continued to consume NBC news.

    I state all this to reiterate Jon’s premise – that if the MSM pounds the narrative hard, it becomes the truth.  Do it long enough, and it becomes “history”.

     

    • #8
  9. Instugator Thatcher
    Instugator
    @Instugator

    Jon Gabriel, Ed.: And if the media is actually concerned about fake news, they will drop the election hacking lie and just admit that their candidate was a disaster.

    They can’t, without admitting two things. First, that she was THEIR candidate and second, that their preferred narrative was succeptible to the truth.

    Actually, the preferred narrative was counter-hacked.

     

    • #9
  10. erazoner Coolidge
    erazoner
    @erazoner

    The Trump White House should deny the perpetrators of fake news access to the West Wing briefing room until they get their act together.

    • #10
  11. Larry3435 Inactive
    Larry3435
    @Larry3435

    Wait a minute…  You mean that e-mail wasn’t from a Nigerian Prince???  Well, instead of $10,000 I guess I’ll just send back a link to Ricochet and a recommendation that he try the 30 days free membership.

    But, it’s all okay.  Obama has imposed sanctions.  He declared Putin to be on the wrong side of history!  Oh, the humanity.

    • #11
  12. Scott Wilmot Member
    Scott Wilmot
    @ScottWilmot

    Chris Campion: I state all this to reiterate Jon’s premise – that if the MSM pounds the narrative hard, it becomes the truth. Do it long enough, and it becomes “history”.

    View comment in context.

    Agree 100%.

    And when they don’t pound the narrative, we forget the actual hacking history.

    Jon Gabriel, Ed.:The media is intentionally lying to the public because they want a better excuse for Election Day than the reality. They would rather focus on hacking, the popular vote, FBI Director James Comey, or the minuscule alt-right, instead of accepting that American voters slightly preferred Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton, at least in the states where it counted. People wanted change over the ineptness, cronyism, and stagnation of the Obama era. They didn’t trust the utterly untrustable Clinton and liked her even less.

    The harsh reality is this: Hillary Clinton is the worst presidential nominee in American history. And if the media is actually concerned about fake news, they will drop the election hacking lie and just admit that their candidate was a disaster.

    Well said. But they will never admit that Hillary was a disaster – although Obama is pushing the limit with his claim that he would have beaten Trump. But as Corombos and Geraghty said the other day on the Three Martini Lunch, Obama is the worst politician of the decade – he has weakened the Democrat party as no other has.

    • #12
  13. WI Con Member
    WI Con
    @WICon

    This is where every GOP legislator, every GOP Spokesman, every Conservative Commentator/Pundit inquire of the “journalist/reporter” exactly which machines, which states, which precincts were ‘hacked’. Did these ‘hacks’ occur before/after deployment? Which US agency made that determination and under what  legal authority (FBI?, FEC?, CIA? DOJ?). When? Describe the software alterations that were made and how the vote totals were affected?

    We keep hearing about ’17 agencies agree’ – which ones? Were there 17 separate investigations and findings – all with the same conclusion? No dissenting conclusions? Where are these findings?  Who have they gone to? Who signed off on them? Which DNC email  revelations did the analysts find fabricated/counterfeit?  Which revelations did they find most damaging? Can they assign numeric disapproval points/votes for Trump to these, say compare them to the Access Hollywood Tapes that NBC had for ten years – what did these same 17 agencies find when they investigated?

    The more questions they are asked, the more answers they don’t have, the more corrupt and dishonest they will appear. Go on the attack. Stay on the attack. Rub their snouts in it, like a dog that took a dump on the living room floor.

    • #13
  14. Richard Hanchett Inactive
    Richard Hanchett
    @iDad

    Well done, Jon.

    • #14
  15. Theodoric of Freiberg Inactive
    Theodoric of Freiberg
    @TheodoricofFreiberg

    <sarcasm>I am shocked that our MSM would stoop to such a level.</sarcasm>

    • #15
  16. Peter Gøthgen Member
    Peter Gøthgen
    @PeterGothgen

    The only proper response to the airing of Democrats dirty laundry is to quote the Ghost of Christmas Past:

    “These are the shadows of things that were.  That they are what they are, do not blame me.”

    • #16
  17. profdlp Inactive
    profdlp
    @profdlp

    Larry3435: …Wait a minute… You mean that e-mail wasn’t from a Nigerian Prince??? Well, instead of $10,000 I guess I’ll just…

    View comment in context.

    You’re only getting ten grand?  When the deposit is made to my account I’m going to receive $27.2 MILLION.  Along with warmest kind regards and salutations with wishes for my health, of course.

    • #17
  18. Ontheleftcoast Inactive
    Ontheleftcoast
    @Ontheleftcoast
    • Horrible security problems in Bill’s first year (IIRC some key staffers couldn’t pass a background check and kept their jobs.)
    • The Clinton Foundation’s pay for play.
    • Hillary’s leaky server and lousy device security.
    • Her Inevitability’s loooong campaign.
    • The DNC’s lousy information security.

    I’d be surprised if the FSB and/or the GRU hadn’t been successful at human intelligence with the DNC and/or the Clinton campaign and transition team as well as phishing and electronic snooping of various kinds.


    Iowahawk does it again:

     

    Hmmm. “Crank up the Enola Gay” is Dan Jenkins’ 7th stage of drunkenness*. Pure coincidence, I’m sure. Though it would explain a lot.

    The Ten Stages of Drunkenness (from Baja Oklahoma)

    1. Witty & Charming
    2. Rich and Powerful
    3. Benevolent
    4. Clairvoyant
    5. [Expletive] Dinner
    6. Patriotic
    7. Crank up the Enola Gay
    8. Witty & Charming, Part II
    9. Invisible
    10. Bulletproof

     

    • #18
  19. Scott Wilmot Member
    Scott Wilmot
    @ScottWilmot

    Stilton Jarlsberg over at HopeNChange Cartoons has one of the best takes I’ve seen and read on this ridiculous hacking meme and Obama’s subsequent sanctions:

    Perhaps, before the big ball drops in Times Square on New Year’s Eve, he just wants everyone (especially Historians) to think that after 8 simpering years in office his own balls have finally dropped.

    Go to his site for the cartoon – it’s just as funny.

    • #19
  20. Front Seat Cat Member
    Front Seat Cat
    @FrontSeatCat

    Jon – I hope you will get on every network possible and shout this.  What is scary is the steps that O is taking in the final hour against Russia – if they are indeed necessary, ok.  But he’s stirring the pot, then running out of the kitchen.  Elections are done by voting machines – they weren’t hacked. If a few were tampered with by certain people, they were found and corrected. The Russians didn’t control our voting machines. Hacking happened on multiple levels over the last eight years by several countries – where was the effort to step up and stop it then? Much like our Middle East policy – paltry and half-as….ed.   Hillary and co. were partly to blame for loose handling of classified info.

    Again, we have O for 3 more weeks – a lot of damage can be stirred – Please continue to be a voice of reason since the MSM is still asleep.

    • #20
  21. Songwriter Inactive
    Songwriter
    @user_19450

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):
    Agreed. The DNC/Clinton campaign was hacked, not the election. Big difference. The media continues to damage its credibility.

    What credibility?

    • #21
  22. Ontheleftcoast Inactive
    Ontheleftcoast
    @Ontheleftcoast

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):
     

    Agreed. The DNC/Clinton campaign was hacked, not the election. Big difference.

    Not according to them or their bylined operatives. Hillary wasn’t supposed to lose. They wuz robbed.

    • #22
  23. Paul Erickson Inactive
    Paul Erickson
    @PaulErickson

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):
    Again, we have O for 3 more weeks – a lot of damage can be stirred

    Somebody – ANYBODY – please invite him to play a few rounds of golf?!?

    • #23
  24. Ontheleftcoast Inactive
    Ontheleftcoast
    @Ontheleftcoast

    Paul Erickson (View Comment):
    Somebody – ANYBODY – please invite him to play a few rounds of golf?!?

    It would have been much cheaper for the country to make sure he played at least a round a day for eight years.

    • #24
  25. Larry3435 Inactive
    Larry3435
    @Larry3435

    profdlp (View Comment):

    Larry3435: …Wait a minute… You mean that e-mail wasn’t from a Nigerian Prince??? Well, instead of $10,000 I guess I’ll just…

    View comment in context.

    You’re only getting ten grand? When the deposit is made to my account I’m going to receive $27.2 MILLION. Along with warmest kind regards and salutations with wishes for my health, of course.

    Yeah, but that only happens after I send them the ten grand.  Just like the government is going to solve all the country’s problems after I send them my taxes…

    • #25
  26. Mountie Coolidge
    Mountie
    @Mountie

    Jon Gabriel, EdThe harsh reality is this: Hillary Clinton is the worst presidential nominee in American history. And if the media is actually concerned about fake news, they will drop the election hacking lie and just admit that their candidate was a disaster.

    Quite true, she was a disaster in ’08 and a disaster in ’16. And yet she had a huge percentage of the electorate vote for her. Now that should keep you up at night.

    • #26
  27. Ontheleftcoast Inactive
    Ontheleftcoast
    @Ontheleftcoast

    Mountie (View Comment):
    And yet she had a huge percentage of the electorate vote for her.

    Not unconnected to the Democrat operatives with bylines who tried hard to elect her by promoting things like the “hacking lie.”

    • #27
  28. Ray Gunner Coolidge
    Ray Gunner
    @RayGunner

    Partisan Democrats screaming the “election was hacked” are actually making an admission-against-interest.  Follow me:

    Even if it is true that the Russians hacked into the DNC’s server, and;

    Even if it is true the Russians sent the hacked emails to Wikileaks, and;

    Even if it is true that the unflattering contents of those emails, as published by Wikileaks, swayed enough voters in key states to swing the election to Trump;

    Then this means the conduct of certain operatives of the DNC (conduct they do not dispute) was so patently poisonous, for so many voters, that the mere publication of the facts of their conduct–reflecting unethical, hypocritical tactics and practices– was enough to sink the candidacy of an otherwise unbeatable HRC.  Democrats are necessarily admitting that the conduct of these DNC operatives was so politically radioactive, its public disclosure (by hacking!) destroyed their otherwise inevitable candidate.

    So the takeaway for DNC leadership is that they now know that broad, public disclosure of the unvarnished truth about the tactics and practices of DNC operatives has the effect of destroying their presidential campaigns.  I guess this means the new DNC Chair will either vigorously clean house, or occasionally change passwords.

    • #28
  29. cdor Member
    cdor
    @cdor

    Excellent post, Jon. And right on the money. I scream every time I hear the “election was hacked” meme which is repeated ad nauseum on every news outlet…including Fox News. BTW, I have yet to see proof of any nation State involvement. Maybe they have it, but it sure hasn’t been released at this point. Considering Obama has already made moves to punish Russia (by spanking them, like a misbehaving child, on their tuchas) he may as well release his actual proof. The document that he did put out is vacuous.

    Added by edit:

    I must say, however, that picking the worst candidate the Democrats ever stood up is one very difficult chore. Dukakis, Kerry, Algore…phew, tough to choose.

    • #29
  30. Larry3435 Inactive
    Larry3435
    @Larry3435

    In addition to the big lie, “the election was hacked,” there is another big lie that I hear repeated on the news (even Fox) over and over:  “17 intelligence agencies agree” that the Russians were behind this.  Okay, first of all there are 16 agencies that report to the Director of National Intelligence.  It would be good to know who the “17th” agency might be.  Second, many of these agencies are military intelligence, including the intelligence agencies of the army, navy, air force, marines, and coast guard.  There is also an intelligence agency within the DEA, and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency which does aerial photography and mapping, among others.  Are we supposed to believe that each of these agencies was investigating the phishing of John Podesta’s e-mail password?  Are you kidding me?  Repeating a lie is one thing, but repeating a lie that is self-evidently ridiculous is damn near criminal.

    • #30
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