Ordinarily, I have the same degree of interest in Democrat Party election processes as I do in, say, fungal growth [there are some similarities]. But if I read this right, it seems that the “candidates” can go to all the trouble and expense of running campaigns in the primaries, arrive at the convention center with all the state delegates they’ve acquired through their wins at the polls… and then get told to fuck off because the Democrats have something called “super delegates” who are not elected, but who appear to function as some kind of overriding process so that if the Democrat voters elect a fucking nutcase (like, say, Bernie Commie Bastard Sanders), these super-delegates can just put their collective thumb on the scales and elect someone else.
Did I get this right?
Wow… small wonder, then, that Hillary Bitch Clinton (who benefited from just this process in 2016) has essentially told Breadline Bernie that he is never going to get the nomination, despite the number of electoral delegates he might bring to the convention (again).
And this is the same party who wants to impose this bullshit on national elections.
All I can hope is that the Socialist convention in Milwaukee ends up as a furious melee between the Bernie fanatics and the “regular” [snort] delegates. Fistfights, tear gas, cops wading in with nightsticks — Chicago 1968 all over again — which might actually make me watch the thing.
My only problem is that I tend to clean my guns while I watch Democrats on TV, and gun oil doesn’t taste good with popcorn.
Yup, Super-Delegates were put into place by the Evil Party when Obama came out of nowhere and beat the chosen candidate (Hillary) in 2008, so when Sanders did the same in 2016 they could anoint Her Foulness instead.
I’m frankly surprised the Stupid Party didn’t do the same after Trump won the Primaries in 2016, maybe they’re rightly concerned because R voters are better armed, can heat up tar and can tie knots.
“Super-Delegates were put into place by the Evil Party when Obama came out of nowhere and beat the chosen candidate (Hillary) in 2008, so when Sanders did the same in 2016 they could anoint Her Foulness instead.”
That’s not true.
Superdelegates have been in place since 1984, when they were enacted in response to the Hunt Commission. The Hunt Commission was created to address the fact that, despite increased voter participation in the Democratic nomination process, Democratic candidates were still seeing limited success in the general presidential election. The idea was that by reweighting the process to party elders — ie those more likely to have a finger on the pulse of the type of voter likely to vote in a general rather than a primary — that more electable candidates would be selected for the general, strengthening the party as a whole. The irony, of course, being that this shift to superdelegates was only necessary, itself, because of the overweighting of primary results that happened because of the McGovern–Fraser Commission, about 10 years before the Hunt Commission.
But historical fact aside, the more important point on superdelegates is that they make it more likely that Biden will be selected as the Democratic candidate over Sanders. It’s almost unquestionable that Biden is a stronger candidate than Sanders in the general. And that’s exactly why they exist: to limit the influence of more dedicated and/or extreme left Democratic voters (those in the primaries) over more casual and/or centrist Democratic voters and independents, who all must be successfully courted by Democrats if they are going to win the general.
So, really, if you want Trump to win, the superdelegate system shouldn’t be criticized because it’s anti-democratic within a given party of which one isn’t a member, it should be criticized because it increases the likelihood that more electable Democrat candidates will be selected. I mean, just look at McGovern in ’72. Utter disaster for Democratic party, and selected prior to the superdelegate system precisely because only extreme left wing Democrats participated in the primary process that year.
There was a rule change in 2018, superdelegates sit out the first ballot. They’re not in play if a majority of delegates select a candidate on the first ballot.
Yes, that was part of the compromise between Sanders and Her Foulness. It eliminates the possibility of a plurality candidate getting the nomination, but in a field with more than 2 candidates it virtually guarantees that superdelegates will come into play. Smart, if you want a few wise elders making the ultimate call — all you have to do is make sure not every candidate drops out, guarantee a plurality, and then pick your annointed one.
Thanks for the correction.
I think the problem (for the Evil party) comes when the superdelegates choose someone who didn’t win in the primaries, so the people who would’ve voted for the primary winner stay home on Election Day. Bernie-supporters are already threatening violence should Bernie not get the nomination, especially after he got screwed in 2016.
Bingo! And regardless of whether I like their politics, it’s hard to blame them. If I’d seen my guy lose the nomination twice because of backroom nonsense between the party leaders, I’d probably be disgusted enough to just say screw it, I’m going to the range instead of voting. I’m not a member of either party, but in 2016 I’d have considered voting for a D who wasn’t Her Foulness, but when I watched what Wasserman-Schultz and her crew pulled to make sure she got the nod, I noped out of the room.
In general, the Democrats have been jiggering with their nomination process since the mess in 1968. They did something high-handed about delegates in 1972 (the details escape me at the moment), thereby handing Tricky Dick one of the biggest victories in living memory. Since then they have, as I understand it, moved several times to increase the power of the Party Insiders at the expense of the rank and file…which is, after all, perfectly consistent with their general arrogance and stupidity.
Maybe I’m over-sanguine,. but I don’t see ANY of the Democrat ballot-mice as electable under current conditions. The Party Platform seems to boil down to “You stupid peasants! How DARE you vote other than as we told you! Correct yourselves!”
And that’s gone SO WELL in Britain.
I may watch too, but I won’t be cleanin’, I’ll be dry firin’.
Pop corn? No.
Small glasses with 2 oz capacity? Yes.
By the time the bottle’s empty I may need a new TV.
Biden won’t last too long as the Dem nominee. He’ll eventually go crazy/get diagnosed with senility/dementia and guess who is waiting in the wings to take over at a brokered convention? Michelle Obama.
Only if Granny Maojackets von Pantsuit Clinton doesn’t stuff her head down in a trash can.
Felonia von Pantsuit’s gonna have a tough time doing that to Moochelle with her own flabby arms.
What I want to know is who will be responsible for the mess made by the BernieBros when Bernie doesn’t get the nomination. Milwaukee is going to be destroyed. They should already be calling out the National Guard for security.
+ 1 on 1968 all over again.
Part of me cant wait when the dewy faced, oh-so-wokely-earnest Bernie supporters watch their guy get into the ring, only to see him get hit over the head with a steel chair, while the referee is “distracted”. Dem machine politics is indistinguishable from Pro-Wrestling, except the costumes are different.
One can only pray this will end in internecine violence and mayhem.
Super delegates, multiple convention ballots, endorsements by other “candidates,” it all means nothing to the Evil Snow Queen.
What matters, the only thing that matters, is the health of the two current contenders. How’s your heart, Bernie? Any chest pains lately? And Joe’s keepers better keep a close eye on his meds, on the off-chance somebody might replace the contents with powdered sugar or something.
Bernie has a massive MI, or Joe starts singing show tunes from “Evita” during his townhall meetings, and Cruella de Clinton waltzes in to save the world.
UNLESS! Comes the day when the Good Lord decides He’s had enough of all this foolishness and strikes the Dark Empress down with an enormous thunderbolt. It’s something we’d all love to see, and live coverage on CNN would be the miracle that would save that network.
“Dem machine politics is indistinguishable from Pro-Wrestling, except the costumes are different.”
Nonsense, the characters in Pro-Wrestling are far more likable – even the ‘heels’ – and the writing is better.
You make a good point.
Now I know you wouldn’t have any ammo handy while cleaning those bang-sticks, but knowing your intemperate manner, you’d need a good back-up supply of TV’s since they don’t handle lumps of steel being thrown at the screen well.
If the super delegate select Hilary Von Pantsuit I know more than a few dems who will vote for trump so I am all for a plurality
The Dem party rules are Calvinball: They are never the same twice in a row, and can be changed by Calvin (the party) any time they want.
They screwed Bernie in 2016, and will likely screw him again in July…For understandable reasons: He will get beaten like a red-headed step mule in both the popular vote and EC.