How many on the progressive wing of the Democratic party were duped by Putin?.

[Ken Burch]

29. Actually, it's more like..."Ok Putin was involved...but so what? What do we do with that?"

If Putin was involved, it serves no purpose to pretend that the fall campaign made no significant tactical or strategic mistakes, or to argue that we should just keep doing things the way they were doing in that campaign.

And insisting that nothing should be changed within the party is not a way to prevent Putin from interfering again.

I'd suggest we take a holistic approach on this:

1) Beef up our computer security at all levels within the party to make sure that hacking can't be replicated;
2) Fight hard to win the 2018 midterms at all levels so that there's some chance of boosting cyber security in vote-counting machinery and software in as many states as possible by 2020;
3) Take Democratic internal politics OUT of the Clinton/Sanders duality by recognizing that both of those factions and the ideas they center have a valid place within this party and that our goal should be unity through a common program that recognizes the need to stand passionately for ALL forms of justice, and to take into account historic and continuing oppression while doing so;
4) Finally have a respectful and OPEN discussion about what did and did not work in the fall 2016 campaign-not a refighting of the primaries, but an acknowledgment of what did and did not serve our actual nominee well on the tactical and strategic levels, a discussion focused on learning from that experience and improving our efforts in all areas over which we as a party do exercise control and agency;

(I would have mentioned the need to address voter suppression there, but wasn't sure whether or not that would fit within the scope of a discussion on Putin's role in 2016).