And seriously, jasonr, are you saying we can do nothing about foreign governments influencing our elections, and we should just give up? Let anyone sow discord and disinformation from fraudulent accounts without restraint or resistance? Just pretend it really doesn't matter, even though Russia is paying premium salaries to these guys to influence our elections? Rely on the belief that Russian intelligence is silly and ineffective?
Or have Republicans simply ceded the responsibility of protecting our national institutions to the Democrats?
Let's break this down:
are you saying we can do nothing about foreign governments influencing our elections
I am saying that thus far, you have proposed nothing as far as actually preventing this sort of thing happening in the future. Others have suggested that the "cure" in this case would be vastly worse than the disease, which I agree with. But if that's wrong, then put up or shut up - what kind of "sanctions" do you actually propose that would
effectively prevent this behaviour in the future? No more vagueries about investigations and sanctions. How do you actually STOP this from happening again? Please be specific.
and we should just give up?
If nothing effective can be done without going down the China path (and even that strikes me as being unlikely to significantly alter the situation - any real digital solution would require North Korea level intervention) then yes, we should "give up" trying to stop what cannot be stopped.
Let anyone sow discord and disinformation from fraudulent accounts without restraint or resistance?
Acknowledge the fact that foreigners, both state and non state actors, can and will seek to influence things to their benefit and that you cannot prevent this from happening. Maybe Facebook can crack down on fake news, or colluding politicians can be prosecuted, but actually stop this? Again, through what means? If someone wants to troll Facebook and newspaper forums with pro Kremlin propaganda, you're going to do what, execute them for treason? Good luck with that bucko.
Just pretend it really doesn't matter, even though Russia is paying premium salaries to these guys to influence our elections? Rely on the belief that Russian intelligence is silly and ineffective?
I don't really know how to respond to this, because as of right now, there isn't even any evidence that this "attack" actually changed the outcome of the election. Nor is it evident to me that such manipulation will ever significantly move the needle. I know the DNC is desperate to believe that it did, for reasons that should be obvious - it makes them look so much less incompetent to believe that dastardly Russian propagandists sabotaged Clinton's campaign than to believe that she just suck as a candidate and ran a *censored* campaign.
You seem to be of the view that the fact of them spending the money is proof a priori that such propaganda "works", that the mere fact of diverting resources to something is proof that this something is powerful and effective. One thing is certain, I don't for a second believe that the Russians expected Donald Trump to win, unless they were smarter than every pollster in America. I think they were just as shocked at the outcome as the rest of the world.
If Russia's plan all along was to hand the white house to Donald Trump, they are either geniuses or they were very lucky idiots.
Personally, I don't for a second believe that this was their plan. I think their plan was to undermine Clinton, who they assumed was going to win, and to undermine the integrity and the public's faith in the electoral system - which you and and the DNC have been happily helping them accomplish since the day after the election.
Actually, this has to be the ultimate home run scenario for Russia. Not only did Clinton miraculously lose (mostly due to her own incompetence I'll add) but now the DNC is helping subvert the electoral process just like they hoped to do. Why pay Facebook trolls to do it when the DNC is willing to do it for free?