Tag: Delegates

Not Ready to Vote for Clinton

Remember when at the convention Bernie came out and gave his support to Clinton and he asked for unity…..recall that?

Some of us said….Dream On!  And Bite Me!

As Sanders campaigns for her, diehards are not moved.

Hillary Clinton has a Bernie Sanders problem—and it’s not about the former presidential candidate, who is now giving swing-state speeches telling people to vote for her. The problem is a sizable slice of his most ardent supporters don’t want to.

A new survey of 461 Sanders delegates who attended the Democratic National Convention found that less than one-fifth said they now planned to personally vote for Clinton, whether they lived in a swing state (19 percent) or a safe state (18 percent). One-sixth (17 percent) said that they were undecided.

Source: Most Sanders Democratic Convention Delegates Are Not Ready to Vote for Clinton, New Poll Finds | Alternet

There is lots of whining by Clinton supporters that a vote for an alternative would be handing Trump the election……and vice versa…..that is pure bullshit.

I have always voted for principles and I shall continue to do so until death…..

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All Dressed Up And No One To Speak

I have been watching the news about the GOP convention that is coming up……first the Never Trump people have hired staff and looks like they intend on being some sort of spoiler during the event…..

Next….if you ever watched a convention then you are aware that they have endless supply of boring tools speak….some even try to set the stage for their next election bid…..but this year there seems to be a slight hole in the amount of speakers willing to show up……or should that be….throw up?

Almost as bad as a party no one RSVPs to: a national political convention where you’re the presumed nominee and people are either reluctantly attending, turning down high-profile speaking opportunities, or not coming at all. That’s what Politico reveals after a somewhat cringe-inducing inquiry into who’s interested in speaking at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland next month, noting that after placing calls to more than 50 big-name senators, governors, and House reps, the usually coveted speaking roles aren’t garnering much interest in “the year of Trump.” “Only a few said they were open to it—and everyone else said they either weren’t planning on it, didn’t want to, weren’t going to Cleveland at all, or simply didn’t respond,” the site notes. It documents a list of “terse to abrupt” reactions from pols, with some noting they’d declined long ago; others giving noncommittal answers like “I haven’t thought about it”; and still others citing previous engagements, like Rep. Trey Gowdy, who will be going to the beach instead.

Even Trump’s former rivals are hedging on an RNC speaking gig, usually seen as a “precious commodity,” per Politico: Marco Rubio doesn’t think he’ll even be asked (and he says he won’t Trump-stump if he is), while a John Kasich rep gave a “no comment.” All of that falls under “passive GOP” news: Per a Sunday conference call, a more active group—what Politico deems “anti-Trump forces”—is dispatching an “advance team” to Cleveland this week to try to keep Trump from nabbing the nomination. It will try to “unbind” delegates so they’re free to “vote their conscience,” resulting in seeming confusion among delegates on exactly how to do that, as well as pushback from pro-Trump delegates, including one who calls attempts to derail Trump a “desperate, selfish attempt at self-promotion by a very tiny minority of the national Republican delegates.”

The GOP is hemorrhaging members worse then a gun shot to the femoral artery…..are we witnessing something historic….or is it just something pathetic?

Democrats At Odds With Themselves

I have written about the media debacle of the Nevada delegates meeting…..the media took a lie and ran with it…the DNC is pulling out all stops to try and neutralize Sanders and his supporters.  Even to the point of putting a majority on the fringe because they do not support the “chosen one”,  Clinton…….

This whole process that the DNC has set up will not make their candidate more attractive…..demonizing a candidate is not the way to unity.

But what can I say…..I expected nothing less from the corrupt system that we have……it is no longer what is best for the country…..rather what is best for the wealthy few….even when it comes to the party of the people….the Democrats.

There is a lot more going on here than people upset with not winning more delegates. The Democratic Party establishment, especially the party leadership at state levels, has witnessed supporters pass motions in an effort to end superdelegates, which have gone against the will of the people in multiple states where Sanders won landslide victories. They do not want Sanders delegates to organize effectively and wield the process to advance their agenda. So, leaders, who back Clinton, have decided to engage in manipulation and obstruction at conventions to diminish the influence of Sanders supporters.

Source: How Democrats Manipulated Nevada State Party Convention Then Blamed Sanders For Chaos | Common… – Linkis.com

This is a good piece…but it left out the lies spread by “reliable” journalists on what actually happened at this meeting……

On to Philadelphia…..oughta be a good convention……

Screen grab off of Twitter……

With Superdelegates, Who Needs Voters?

If you partake in the American political system by voting for your favorite candidate then you should be commended…..but if you look beyond the thrill of participation then you will see that the voter is not really needed at all.

About now some will think that I have flipped my ever-loving mind, right?

If you are a Dem voter then there are delegates called the “superdelegates” these are people that are pledged to one candidate or another….the problem is this election most of these pledged themselves to Clinton before she had any opposition and they are staying there….

The number is large enough that voters are not needed after a certain point in the primaries….but check out what I am going on about……

Every election cycle, family members call to ask how they should vote on propositions and for which candidates. Our readers frequently ask the LA Progressive to prepare a “progressive slate.” They know we work hard to stay on top of issues while also keeping tabs on the positions candidates have taken. That requires a lot of effort but staying informed is essential for democracy to work. Thomas Jefferson said, “An educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people.”

We agree. We like freedom. So using our energy to educate ourselves and others seemed like a worthwhile expenditure of time and money.

Well, turns out, that expended energy may have all been for naught. In other words, keeping tabs on the goings on in the political sphere could have been a big waste of time, especially in light of the transcripts uncovered by Branko Marcetic, an investigative journalist from In These Times. Marcetic has uncovered documents that reveal the true reason that the Democratic Party instituted the superdelegate system. It appears that the intention, all along, was to take power away from “the people” and put it into the hands of a concentrated few.

Source: With Superdelegates, Who Needs Voters? – LA Progressive

This is NOT a democratic way to pick a nominee……it is what is always being done…..the system is gamed in favor of a certain candidate……

Time for this stupid practice to end….let the voter decide who the nominee should be….PERIOD!

“Unrealistic” Candidates and the Prophetic Tradition

I have to be honest….I am enjoying the theatrics in this election on both sides…..it is better than watching a hockey game with all the body blows.

I am fascinated by the media’s fixation on the Dem side and the super-delegates….a worthless bit of reporting….but that is what I have come to expect from the MSM.

My favorite one was recently when MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, a reporter with a significant amount of experience asked a Sanders supporter…..”Your candidate has accused Cliton of selling her soul to Wall Street…..do you believe she actually has sold her soul?”

Sorry that alone illustrates the total lack of accurate reporting that is occurring in the media.

Meanwhile back to the super-delegate thing…….

I should say right away that this is no brief for the Sanders candidacy. I am sympathetic to both sides of the discussion. I myself am a realist. 

But I am also highly intrigued by the “unrealistic” meme in Democratic Party politics these days. Secretary Clinton has leaned heavily on this meme in response to her crushing defeat in Wisconsin. 

I am old enough to have been politically active when the Democrats put their superdelegate scheme into effect: the Hunt Commission’s report and all that. The year was 1984, and the new crop of convention superdelegates that year ensured that Jimmy Carter’s loyal VP, Walter Mondale, a loyal party regular, secured the party nomination and blocked Gary Hart’s insurgent campaign (which Hart himself, needless to say, had also helped to sabotage).

Source: “Unrealistic” Candidates and the Prophetic Tradition – LA Progressive

It is fun!  This circus is far from over and there is still plenty of time for antics and drama…..enough to keep us all amused until November when we will have voters withdrawal.

How Hillary Clinton Bought the Loyalty of 33 State Democratic Parties

The election of 2016 is a fascinating one….there are so many twists and turns that is is interesting and can demand a bit more attention than most elections.

I have gone on and on about the theater on the GOP side of this equation and I have written about some of the antics on the Dem side as well…..and I will do a little more now…..

The media has played up the number of delegates that the two Dem candidates have and they always include the “super-delegate” count….on this side the Clinton is far ahead…..but what are these “super-delegates” and how did Clinton win so many of them already ….even before the voting is finished?

looks like the DNC and Clinton campaign have had their fingers in the pie and their hands out for donors and if you donate well you to can become a super-delegate…..

If you are interested in learning how this whole ball of wax is working….then please read on……

Collusion between the Clinton Campaign and the DNC allowed Hillary Clinton to buy the loyalty of 33 state Democratic parties last summer. Montana was one of those states. It sold itself for 64,100 dollars.

The super-delegates now defying democracy with their insistent refusal to change their votes to Sanders in spite some overwhelming Clinton primary losses in their own states were arguably part of that deal.

Source: How Hillary Clinton Bought the Loyalty of 33 State Democratic Parties

A friend of mine keeps saying that the Clinton thing will be a coronation…..they she is all but president….no matter how the election turns out….she will be prez.

After reading this piece you can see why he would say that…..she is rigging the game….like what Clinton’s always do…..

On a side note……did you know the Clinton Foundation is a 501 institution?  That means it is a tax free group……all those millions, maybe billions, and not one cent of tax….not bad at all.

Why Are Bernie Supporters So Pissed?

Over last weekend Bernie squashed Clinton in a couple of races…..Washington, Alaska….of course that did little to help his delegate race with Hil….but at least the Big Mo is in his favor for the time being……

Bernie Sanders has won Saturday’s caucuses in Alaska, Washington state, and Hawaii as he fights to gain ground on Hillary Clinton, reports the AP. Washington was Saturday’s big prize with 101 delegates at stake, and Politico called a victory there “essential” to Sanders’ campaign hopes. The delegates will be awarded proportionately and Sanders was headed toward a lopsided win—good news for him given that he trailed Clinton by more than 300 pledged delegates heading into the day. It’s no surprise to see Sanders do well in Washington, notes Fox News. On Friday, he drew 10,000 to a rally in Seattle, one of the most liberal cities in the country. Seattle also leads the country in per-capita individual donations to Sanders—about $145 for every 100 people.

The story was largely the same in Alaska, where Sanders had a lead of nearly 60 points with more than a third of precincts reporting. Analysts say the overwhelming whiteness of Alaska, which has 16 delegates up for grabs, favored Sanders. The final 25 delegates of the day came from Hawaii’s caucuses. Throughout the campaign, Sanders has done better in caucuses than primaries. “The Deep South is a very conservative part of the country,” he tells the AP. “Now that we’re heading into a progressive part of the country, we expect to do much better. There is a path to victory.” That path, the AP notes, is steep: After the first two wins Saturday, Clinton’s delegate lead was 1,234 to 956 over Sanders, which widens considerably when superdelegates are included: 1,703 to 985.

This was good news for Bernie….but yet the media will not give him his props….they keep pushing, pushing Clinton and her “lead” as it were….these days the supporters, Berniacs are getting madder and madder…..is there a good reason for this anger?

Yet betcha…….

If you think that supporters of Bernie Sanders are first and foremost angry about matters of policy — for instance, the way our broken campaign finance laws, market regulations, and trade policies are destroying the hopes and ambitions of most of America — you’re absolutely right.

Source: A Dozen Reasons Bernie’s Supporters Are Justifiably Angry at the Media Right Now – LA Progressive

It is time for the media to give Bernie the respect he deserves.

Clinton Could Lose Support

Pointing the way to a peaceful end for the tumultuous presidential primary campaign, some key supporters of Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday that they accepted a new finish line in the race for delegates, a threshold Barack Obama could reach as soon as this week.

Obama aides said they expected him to surpass the 2,118 needed delegates after the final Democratic balloting finished Tuesday in South Dakota and Montana, and as more superdelegates backed the Illinois senator.

Moreover, a number of Clinton backers signaled Sunday that they were wary of the kind of protracted fight that some of her aides said they might wage in the coming months.

Some of Clinton’s closest advisors want the New York senator to challenge the party’s unusual decision Saturday to shift four of Clinton’s Michigan delegates to Obama in an attempt to reflect how voters might have cast ballots and to allocate Michigan’s uncommitted delegates to Obama, even though his name did not appear on the ballot in the state.

Even if Clinton won those delegates in a challenge, it would be unlikely to alter the outcome.
Such sentiments signaled that the Democratic Party might have vaulted a major hurdle in its quest to move beyond the competitive primary season and lay the groundwork for the fall campaign against presumptive Republican nominee John McCain. That achievement came Saturday when the party’s Rules and Bylaws Committee agreed to seat the disqualified Florida and Michigan delegations, but to halve their votes as punishment for holding their primaries early.

Clinton and her top aides conceded nothing Sunday, and even used their own mathematical formula to declare her the winner of the popular vote. But she may begin feeling intense pressure from within her camp to stand down, should Obama cross the delegate threshold for victory.

Will The Fight Continue?

Now that the Democrats have voted on seating the disputed delegations from Florida and Michigan (all the delegates get to come, but they only get half a vote each), some of Hillary Clinton‘s highest-profile supporters are divided over what should happen next.

You’ll recall that those two states broke party rules by moving their primaries ahead of the dates on the Democrats’ schedule. Primary voters in Michigan and Florida were told that their votes would not count, and Democratic candidates did not campaign in either state. In Michigan, Clinton’s was the only name on the ballot; the other choice was “uncommitted.”

Top adviser Harold Ickes, a member of the rules committee, appeared on CNN’s “Late Edition” Sunday and reiterated his threat to take the matter to the party’s credentials committee at the convention in August. He and other Clinton backers are upset that the committee allocated 69 of the Michigan votes to their candidate and 59 to Barack Obama, who was not on the ballot.

Another Clinton adviser, Mandy Grunwald, argued on CBS’ “Face the Nation” “that in the way delegates were apportioned by the rules committee yesterday, they broke their own rules. And that’s a terrible precedent. That’s a terrible precedent. That’s why our campaign has said we will consider taking this fight to the convention.”

“Just to explain — they took the votes, the delegates, and apportioned them the way they chose,” she said. “It had nothing to do with the way votes were made in Michigan. That is an arbitrary ruling that simply violates the rules of our party.”

But appearing on the same program, one of Clinton’s most prominent supporters seemed to back away from a battle.  Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell started his comments by noting, “I’m not inside the campaign mechanism, but I believe she’ll do the right thing for America.”

This should be the story of the week.  The last primaries of the season in Montana and South Dakota will give us an idea of the delegate breakdown.  Will the convention bring unity or dis-unity?  Will the party survive?

What Happened On The Way To The Nomination

WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY.

The committee voted to seat Florida’s and Michigan’s delegates, though both states will have only half-votes. The move brought Obama’s delegate total to 2,052 and Clinton’s to 1,877.5 and increased the number necessary for nomination to 2,118, according to The Associated Press.

WHAT’S AHEAD.

Appeals of the committee’s decision can be made to the party’s 186-member credentials committee, which is charged with deciding which delegates should be seated at the convention. Harold Ickes, a Clinton adviser, said yesterday that she will “reserve the right” to appeal the Michigan decision. But even the credentials committee decision could be challenged if 20 percent of its members were to file a minority report. The issue then would go before the full convention in August

Of course not everyone is happy—Clintonistas are bitching and threatening the convention and to vote for mcCain because they did not get their way.  And today is the Puerto Rican Primary and Clinton is suppose to win handily.  Then on to South Dakota and Montana.  We will see what we will see.