John Hinderaker of the Power Line blog takes American intelligence agencies to task.

While failing utterly to provide evidence (let alone persuasive evidence) that Russia intruded into the DNC’s email system, [Friday’s] intelligence report is not without interest. The most notable sections of the report are those that tie Russia’s government to a series of left-wing propaganda campaigns in the U.S. No member of the Occupy movement, for instance, can read the report without squirming. If true, it vindicates what we conservatives have been saying for decades, going back to the unilateral disarmament and nuclear freeze movements of the 1950s through 1980s.

For example:

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union used intelligence officers, influence agents, forgeries, and press placements to disparage candidates perceived as hostile to the Kremlin, according to a former KGB archivist.

Like Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. It would have been useful to have the information supporting this conclusion several decades ago, when Democrats ridiculed suggestions that the Kremlin was behind various left-wing movements in the Free World. It would be interesting to see what our intelligence agencies know about Soviet efforts to influence the elections of 1968, 1980 and 1984.

The Russians haven’t stopped trying since the presumed end of the Cold War:

Russia, like its Soviet predecessor, has a history of conducting covert influence campaigns focused on US presidential elections that have used intelligence officers and agents and press placements to disparage candidates perceived as hostile to the Kremlin.

Like, how about 2012, when Mitt Romney said that Russia was our number one geopolitical rival, and Barack Obama responded that the 1980s want their foreign policy back? Undoubtedly the Russians wanted Obama to win in 2012, as in 2008 (when they publicly celebrated his victory on the ground that as president, he would not pursue American interests). Did they “meddle” in the 2012 election on Obama’s behalf?