Protesters heckle, boo outgoing DNC chair
PHILADELPHIA— It keeps getting worse for Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
The outgoing chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, who announced her resignation Sunday amid the revelation of committee emails suggesting an institutional preference for Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders, showed up Monday morning to address a breakfast meeting of Florida delegates.
With her speaking slots and officiating duties all but scrapped during the convention, it was to be one of the embattled Florida congresswoman’s few public appearances. It was a disaster.
Protesters, wearing Sanders Tshirts and buttons, stood and held signs that read “E-MAILS” and “We Don’t Want Cheaters In Our Party Anyway” and “NO!” and “Division” and “Thanks for the ‘Help’ Debbie.” They booed, loudly, and screamed “fair elections” as Wasserman Schultz took the lectern and said: “It is so wonderful to be able to be here with my home state. All right everybody now, settle down. Everybody settle down, please.”
Her supporters tried to drown out the protesters by chanting “Debbie, Debbie, Debbie.” They couldn’t.
Wasserman Schultz sought to inject a more sombre note into the room by expressing condolences for the victims of a deadly shooting in Fort Myers, Fla., Sunday night. The Sanders supporters weren’t having it. She made the case for gun control. But it was hard to hear her.
She tried to make light of the protest by saying, “I can see there’s a little bit of interest in my being here, and I can appreciate that interest,” but the booing continued unabated.
It didn’t help when she said that the interest was a testament to Florida’s importance as a battleground state and “we’ll make sure that Hillary Clinton is elected president of the United States.”
Wasserman Schultz, once considered a potential leader in the party, had a pained look on her face. She concluded her remarks and was hurried out of the room in a huddle of staff members to boos, cries of “shame” and chants of “na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye.”