We hear a lot about how the system is rigged against Sanders and in favor of Clinton. Such yammering is normal for a political campaign, but if you believe it, I’d love to sell you a nice bridge down near New York City.
There are two things you need to know.
First, the Sanders campaign, according to senior Sanders campaign advisor Ted Devine, does not regard the system as rigged against them. Here’s what he said (see below for full video):
I don’t think there is. Unlike the Republicans Trump in particular, we are not going around saying everything is rigged. The rules are as the are. We may not like the rules … but we’ve agreed to play by them.
The second thing you need to know is that the Sanders campaign is in fact using the rules as they are to try to manipulate the system to get more delegates and ultimately win. This includes using Super Delegates to vote against the voters in their states, though Devine claims this is not really what they are doing. But, he also notes that they’ve already done it in two states, and that if they are really close and technically Clinton has more delegates, then Super Delegates should switch from Clinton to Sanders. More specifically, he states that counting the popular vote number, is not fair.
I quickly add that is is very hard to get a coherent strategy from this discussion.
By the way, I personally think Sanders should “go through to the end” as Devine says. And, I see nothing wrong with manipulating the system that exists. What I object to is the yammering from various quarters about how one side is manipulating and the other side not, implying that doing the same thing on one side is unethical, but not when done by the other side. That is just not rational.
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” What I object to is the yammering from various quarters about how one side is manipulating and the other side not, implying that doing the same thing on one side is unethical, but not when done by the other side. That is just not rational.”
From the standpoint of winning at all costs it may be rational, but it certainly isn’t honest and ethical. And it further negates the notion that the race is between purity and impurity.
Not rigged, but definitely set up to ensure the status quo remains in place. This is the very reason there are super delegates. Too bad in this election, as the differences between Clinton and Sanders on climate change are very significant. And we don’t have time to keep waiting for action on that topic.
Super delegates do not exist to ensure the status quo. Maintaining the status quo is not the original reason they were set up, there was an entirely different reason. Since the were set up in the Democratic Party there has not been a single time the voted against the popular vote. So, sorry, but that is just wrogn.
I agree we don’t have time to wait in acting on climate change, but actually, their positions are not all that different. Remember, Sanders was the Congressmember and Senator from Vermont, where the only interests he had to protect were Big Ice Cream, Big Syrup, and Gun Ownership, and he protected all three very well. Clinton, on the other hand, was Obama’s SOS, and the SOS does not actually get to make policies, and the main Sanders-Clinton differences on climate policy trace back to that.
“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 grass-roots activists.”
Debbie Wasserman Schultz
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/02/12/we-need-more-questions-like-this-one-from-jake-tapper-to-debbie-wasserman-schultz-video/
Since Gore v Bush, Democrats have been trying to stop the various ways voters are being shut out, chiefly in low income and Afr. American urban areas and university districts. (Purging of voter rolls, limiting number of voting machines, machine ‘errors’, voter ID laws, etc.) It’s clear that this is a Republican strategy, some have even admitted it. So Bernie emerges from Vermont, gets out on the hustings, and discovers this. His followers, mostly new to politics, see it as something being done to stop Bernie, somehow orchestrated by the evil DNC. (If the DNC was only so effective we’d have a better win/loss record.) But those of us who have been committed Dems for the long haul have been fighting hard to defeat these Republican-crafted laws and the goons who implement them. (Secretaries of State, governors and legislators, eg.) This should be a unifying cause for the Bernie revolutionaries, not something to divide us further. And btw, no revolution has even been won when the revolutionaries retreat after one defeat. I hope that Hillary is our next president, but I also hope that the Millennials and other Bernie supporters will keep on pushing for the important changes in government that Bernie has admirably brought to the fore. That is also something that should unite us.
NOT
Not sure I understand how “manipulating the system” is different from “working within the system as it was designed to be used”.
Back when I was a callow youth, I decided one day to beat the speed cameras by going into what I called “stealth mode” – just drifting along at 5k below the limit. It soon occurred to men that I was not “beating the system” at all – I was simply avoiding speeding tickets by obeying the law.
Good to hear Bernie’s campaign manager rejecting the conspiracy theories and other nonsense.
Yes Bernie should stay in the race and on the ballot. If it appears that Hillary has the delegates to win the nomination, then Bernie should campaign for unity and strength, and encourage everyone to do the hard work of getting out the vote in the general election.
I’ll be voting for him in California, because I believe that the Bernie vote sends the message to the Democratic party that it needs to embrace more of the progressive values that Bernie has been advocating. And I’ll be voting for Hillary in the general (assuming she gets the nomination, which is a very safe assumption) because she’s smart, sane, caring, and competent, and because whichever Republican we’re facing in November will be none of the above and a catastrophe seeking to happen.
Re. Paul @ 7: Another good cure for speeding is to plug in a ScanGauge in your car (costs about $200), which will show you instant and cumulative mileage per gallon. With that feedback, one learns to drive in a manner that substantially increases fuel efficiency, something we all need to do. And one of the things that goes along with that is driving just a bit below the speed limit where it’s safe to do so. QED no more speeding, no more tickets, and fuel efficiency that’s 10 – 15% or more above the vehicle’s official ratings.