CLINTON CAMPAIGN FRETTED FIREBRAND’S CRITIQUE OF HER “IMPERIAL IMAGE”
Former S.C. Democratic party chairman and veteran Palmetto political powerbroker Dick Harpootlian is featured in one of the Wikileaks emails that’s causing so many headaches for the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton.
In the June 2014 email chain, key members of Clinton’s team fret over comments made by Harpootlian to The Washington Post about the future Democratic nominee’s “imperial image.”
“I don’t know whether it’s just that she’s been ‘Madam Secretary’ for so long, but she’s generating an imperial image,” Harpootlian told the Post‘s Philip Rucker. “She’s been living 30, going on 40 years with somebody bringing your coffee to you every morning. Is it more ‘Downton Abbey’ than it is America?”
According to the leaked email, Harpootlian’s comments were forwarded to Clinton’s brain trust by Cheryl Mills.
“Harpootlian is going to be a huge pain all the way,” Clinton strategist Robby Mook responded in an email to former Barack Obama campaign manager David Plouffe. “David, maybe you know the secret code for him!”
“But when the time comes for giving political love, (Harpootlian) should be high on the list,” Mook added.
Plouffe’s response?
“He’s not controllable even when on your side,” he wrote. “But I would not ostracize him.”
Our guess is Harpootlian – who has cultivated precisely such an aura of unpredictability – is clearing some space on his wall to frame this particular email exchange.
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