Saturday, February 13, 2016

Quite amazing really.

Will Bernie complain?
Also accordingly, although Clinton has won only one of two primaries (Iowa, and even then by a razor thin margin), because she has these [superdelegate] commitments, she already has a commanding lead over Bernie Sanders in the delegate department. Sanders, who has won almost all of his delegates the traditional way, has 42 delegates so far. Clinton has a whopping 394.[1]
This is such a blatant screwing of Sanders and it looks to be how it's going to go through the entire primary process. Even now, has Mr. Sanders protested in any way? What would make a consummate "outsider" like Sanders remain mute? This wasn't known at the outset?

This is how Debbie Waspherman-Shoots explains to CNN's Jake Tapper why new voters shouldn't think that the process isn't rigged:

Let me just make sure I can clarify what was available during the primaries in Iowa and New Hampshire. The unpledged delegates are a separate category. The only thing available on the ballot in a primary and a caucus is the pledged delegates, those that are tied to the candidate that they are pledged to support and they receive a proportional number of delegates going into our convention.

Unpledged delegates exist, really, to make sure that party leaders and elected officials don’t have to be in a position where they are running against grassroots activists. We are, as a Democratic Party, really highlight and emphasize inclusiveness and diversity at our convention and we want to give every opportunity to grassroots activists and diverse committed Democrats to be able to participate, attend and be a delegate at the convention and so we separate out those unpledged delegates to make sure that there isn’t competition between them.[2]

Now that that's been cleared up, I wonder if perhaps it's time to put aside talk about American "exceptionalism" until this kind of a charade can be dealt with out in the open.

Commenter Dan on that Spectator article notes:

HAHAHA This is exactly how socialism works people! Take something away from someone who has worked hard for it and give it to someone that you feel needs it more. How hypocritical that Dems are now complaining about it. Isn't this what you want? Greedy ol' Mr. Sanders hoarding all the votes for himself. We need to redistribute them. Love it!![3]
That would be, in popular parlance, like nailing it, Dan. Income redistribution and vote redistribution. Bernie the Socialist must be ecstatic. A man of principle.

Notes
[1] "Bernie Sanders Wins New Hampshire, but Hillary Clinton Gets All the Delegates." By Emily Zanotti, The American Spectator, 2/10/16.
[2] "Jake Tapper’s interview with the DNC Chair on superdelegates and the train wreck that followed." By Jazz Shaw, Hot Air, 2/12/16.
[3] The American Spectator, supra.

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