A Washington Post blog site joins the conga line of the busted.

The reporter for the Washington Post’s blog, The Plum Line, is described by the news outlet thusly:

“Greg Sargent writes The Plum Line blog, a reported opinion blog with a liberal slant – what you might call ‘opinionated reporting’ from the left. He joined the Post in early 2009, after stints at Talking Points Memo, New York Magazine and the New York Observer.”

Wikileaks revealed, within the 74 emails where Sargent’s name in mentioned in Democratic National Committee (DNC) emails, that the substance of Sargent’s “opinionated” columns comes not from his keen analysis of political events, nor is it rooted solely in his liberal, political philosophy.  Instead, his particular slant leans heavily on DNC input where support for the Clinton candidacy is, and has been from the start of this election cycle, firmly established.

In short, Sargent is a DNC-Clinton shill on the payroll of the Washington Post.

In addition to coordinating his blog columns with DNC communicators, Sargent is a conduit for DNC talking points that travel through him to rank-and-file Washington Post (WaPo) reporters.

As a conduit, Sargent is a cut-out that that provides compartmentalization of WaPo news sourcing.  That compartmentalization enables line-reporters to maintain credible denial if accused of directly colluding with the DNC and/or the Clinton campaign.  Even though they are two sides of the same coin.

Here’s the Playbill for identifying the DNC communication personnel behind the email addresses below:

• Luis Miranda (AKA: “MirandaL”), DNC National Communications Director;
• April Mellody, DNC Deputy CEO for Communications;
• Mark Paustenbach, DNC National Press Secretary & Deputy Communications Director.

What follows are Wikileaks hacked emails that add The Plum Line to the lengthening conga line of thoroughly compromised news outlets.  

We begin here with emails listed in date/time order:

From: Miranda, Luis

Sent: Friday, May 20, 2016 10:02 AM

To: April Mellody; Paustenbach, Mark

Subject: Getting on same page

 

April, we need the written out roll out plan, and we need to see if we can place a story FIRST rather than just dropping a press release to make sure the first story out of the gate is as helpful as possible. Even if it's for today. Please loop us both in. thanks.

….

 

From: Paustenbach, Mark

Sent: Friday, May 20, 2016 10:19 AM

To: Miranda, Luis; April Mellody

Subject: RE: Getting on same page

 

Luis and April, hope you’re both doing well.

 

I think the best reporter to give the news to ahead of time is Greg Sargent at the Washington Post. But, the specific reporter is not as important as getting it to an outlet before the news breaks so we can help control the narrative on the front end. Otherwise this may likely get spun in a not-so-helpful way. We should also get Rep. Cummings on the phone with that reporter. Thanks again, Mark

 

Mark Paustenbach

National Press Secretary & Deputy Communications Director

Democratic National Committee

W: 202.863.8148

paustenbachm@dnc.org@dnc.org>

So, Sargent is identified as the go-to-guy that enables the DNC to “help control the narrative on the front end.”  He delivers the mail for the Party.

In another email, one that plans the roll-out of a Press Release, Sargent is identified as the “Launch Story Reporter.”  He paddles out the first canoe.  

His special connection to the DNC enables him to request inside information, as indicated in this email.

From:Greg.Sargent@washpost.com

To: MirandaL@dnc.org

Date: 2016-05-06 09:04

Subject: Platform party rules

 

Hey Luis, good talking to you...I was wondering if you might send over those platform party rules we were discussing...still hoping to do that piece today...

Sargent reciprocates receiving by feeding the DNC information of interest from recent WaPo articles, just in case they don’t catch it.  

From:Greg.Sargent@washpost.com

To: MirandaL@dnc.org

Date: 2016-05-18 16:19

Subject: here are the Devine quotes

 

and check out what Merkley said:

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/05/18/will-bernie-sanders-burn-it-all-down/ [https://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_1484w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2016/05/17/National-Politics/Images/Election_Oregon_News_Guide-fc91a.jpg]https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/05/18/will-bernie-sanders-burn-it-all-down/

 

Will Bernie Sanders burn it all down? https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/05/18/will-bernie-sanders-burn-it-all-down/

www.washingtonpost.com

Top Sanders adviser Tad Devine offers some cryptic comments about what's next.

 

Occasionally Sargent appears to be a quasi-advisor for DNC strategy when he sees a gap in their performance.  (DWS is Debbie Wasserman-Schultz)

From: Sargent, Greg [mailto:Greg.Sargent@washpost.com]

Sent: Friday, May 13, 2016 10:37 AM

To: Miranda, Luis

Subject: question

 

hey man, it seems to me that DWS is still not addressing the heart of the Sanders campaign's grievance. Can we talk about that?

And, when an important “roll out” is pending, Sargent is considered for exclusivity by receiving “the first bite to get a good first story out there,” because he’ll likely “play ball.”  He’s first up at the plate.

From: Miranda, Luis

Sent: Friday, May 20, 2016 12:18 PM

To: April Mellody; Paustenbach, Mark

Subject: RE: Getting on same page

 

Hi April, how is it possible that we're supposedly rolling this out today but we've seen no draft release, no timeline, and it's already 12:17 on a Friday. Is this happening? If so, can we please consider giving Sargent the first bite to get a good first story out there?

 

Can I have him call you? We had been working him for weeks in general on writing up something positive, we think he'd play ball.

 

And when it involves the timing of a release of DNC information, The Plum Line is ready to “pull the trigger” in accordance with the DNC timetable.

In the two emails below, sent 14 minutes apart, he’s locked-n’-loaded. First,

From:Greg.Sargent@washpost.com

To: MirandaL@dnc.org

Date: 2016-05-20 09:18

Subject: Checking in on the timing

 

what's it look like for pulling the trigger?

 

any chance I can pop it this AM?

Then, 14 minutes later, this to the same reader:

From:Greg.Sargent@washpost.com

To: MirandaL@dnc.org

Date: 2016-05-20 09:32

Subject: The Post has moved the ball

 

can I go ahead and pull the trigger, now that the Post has a bit of detail out there?

 

Several of the emails above are dated on, or near, May 20, 2016.  Makes us wonder:

Is there any use of a literary plumb-line that may indicates the influence of DNC shilling in a Sargent’s column on, or near, that date?  

On May 20, 2016, The Plum Line posted a column entitled “Stop freaking out, Democrats. The party will unify. Probably.”  Here’s an excerpt:

“Meanwhile, if you listen closely, Clinton and her campaign are actually trying to signal to Democrats that they should dial down the hostilities with Sanders and his supporters, and are indicating that the Clinton camp, too, recognizes that it has a role to play in encouraging unity, which is important.  And as the Post reports, the Democratic National Committee is close to announcing a series of process concessions to Sanders for the convention.”

If Democrats want to “listen closely” so as to not be “freaking out,” they need only follow The Plum Line. 

There, they can always count on being fed news that comes straight from the Hillary campaign through the DNC – two sides of the same donkey.

And Bernie Sanders really thought he had a Vermont snowball’s chance to become the Dem’ nominee – as did those who gave $200,000,000 plus to Bernie’s campaign.