For a brief moment, I allowed myself to contemplate the possibility that we would be granted a happy surprise -- that Bernie Sanders would drop out with grace and attempt to unite the party. But now this...
Bernie Sanders is staying in the Democratic presidential race after meeting with rival Hillary Clinton, the party’s presumptive nominee, for nearly two hours at a Washington, D.C. hotel on Tuesday night.More here...
Sanders and Clinton met at the Capital Hilton just blocks from the White House to plot a way forward after the Democratic primary season came to a close on Tuesday.
Neither took questions from press after the meeting. They were whisked away in black cars behind the protection of legions of security guards and campaign aides.
Still, Sanders has refused to concede the race. He hoped to extract concessions from Clinton on the Democratic platform and other issues during Tuesday's confab, their first face-to-face meeting in months.How dare this man try to "reform" the Democratic party when he is not himself an actual Democrat?
Earlier in the day, despite being hours away from losing his ninth contest out of the last 12, Sanders issued a series of demands ahead of the meeting.
He called for a replacement to Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Democratic National Committee chairwoman with whom his campaign has often feuded, an end to superdelegates, more open primaries, and the most progressive platform in the party's history.
Sanders said in November that he would run in all future elections as a member of the Democratic Party.The DNC will probably give Bernie what he wants in terms of the platform, as they did with Ted Kennedy in 1980. I certainly hope they do not offer up the head of Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
However, when Sanders’ Senate campaign committee renewed its registration with the Federal Election Commission in October, it listed its party affiliation as “independent.”
The FEC continues to list that campaign committee and Sanders himself as independent and not affiliated with the Democratic Party.
Bernie's main goal seems to be remaking the primary system, with an eye toward allowing the Republicans to rig elections.
Sanders also called for open primaries -- in which independents could vote for Democratic candidates -- and for doing away with superdelegates, the party officials and leaders who are free to vote for the candidate of their choice at the convention. And he argued for same-day voter registration.All of this is music to the ears of Roger Stone, Karl Rove, and other GOP manipulators.
Given the undeniable fact that Republicans love to tinker with Dem primaries, and given the undeniable fact that Sanders could never prevail in a general election, I'm starting to think that the Bernie campaign offers an argument in favor of the superdelegate system. Yes, I know that just a few days ago, I called for scrapping that system. As Ron Moody sang in Oliver: "I'm reviewing...the situation..."
What's particularly galling here is the hypocrisy of Bernie Sanders -- for he is a superdelegate himself, despite not being a Democrat (his protestations to the contrary notwithstanding). And who made this possible? Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
Bernie and the FEC. Uh oh. Looks like he's in trouble...
He says it so well: A Hillary supporter posted the following to Reddit...
To the cult-of-Sanders nutjobs: Thank you for handing the primary to Hillary. You really made her supporters (like me) job easier. You are not only the reason Sanders lost, but so many people ended up ROOTING for Sanders to lose. Congratulations. Your cult-like zealotry, childish immaturity and smug ignorance really destroyed a guy who actually had some pretty noble goals and his campaign. You did close to nothing but weave conspiracy theories, frame lies and distort and bury information. Many of you losers probably didn't even vote, yet you had the loudest and most obnoxious voices. I sincerely hope most of you fedora-wearing, vape pen puffing, wannabe intellectual, wannabe marxist clowns fade back into the rat holes you dwell in, /r/conspiracy and the other shitholes around the world wide web.Okay, the phrasing is a bit awkward; a rewrite would have helped. Still, I loved that "fedora-wearing, vape pen puffing, wannabe intellectual" remark...
In unrelated news... We have additional indications that Orlando mass-murderer Omar Mateen -- despite his last-minute pretensions -- was not a political terrorist but a lunatic whose rage stemmed from a conflict over sexual identity. He didn't visit Pulse simply to case the joint but was actually a regular there...
A law enforcement source said Omar Mateen's wife, Noor, is telling FBI investigators she tried to stop her husband from committing the attack. Investigators have interviewed her twice and given her a polygraph test. She told them the couple had been to the club at least once before.Not only that...
Club patron Jim van Horn said Mateen was a regular. "Everybody knew his name. Omar," van Horn said. "He used to come in the bar on the weekends sometimes, he would be there, sometimes he would miss a couple of weeks and then be in again."
The FBI has been speaking with the owners of other clubs in the area, including Michael Bass, who operates the gay club "Revere." He said he received a Facebook friend request from Mateen three days before the shooting.
Orlando nightclub gunman Omar Mateen visited online gay chat rooms despite expressing outrage at the sight of two men kissing and making inflammatory comments about gays, law enforcement officials said.Oh come on. A future mass murderer visits an online gay chat room for reasons of surveillance? Not bloody likely.
Investigators don't know whether he visited the chat rooms for personal reasons or for surveillance before carrying out the brutal attack early Sunday at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, killing 49 people and wounding more than 50 others.
The gunman's first wife, Sitora Yusufiy, said she was not sure about his sexuality.By the way: Am I mistaken, or are the second-amendment fundamentalists unusually quiet? They're not silent -- they never are, nor should they be. But even they must be wondering how a rage-addicted loon like Mateen was able to acquire an automatic rifle, a concealed carry permit, and a job working for a security firm that guards federal facilities. Did you know that G4S runs security for Area 51?
"It doesn't surprise me that he might be gay. And it doesn't surprise me that he was leading two totally different lives and was in such deep conflict within himself," she told CNN's Don Lemon. "I hope people can truly understand that this is one insane person that did such a tragic thing."
I fear for the secrecy of our UFO fleet, though they will probably be safe from invading gay Muslims.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion the Middle East is a cauldron of religious dominance that has hindered the development of sports. I believe sports help to channel societal violence and without it, religious dominance creates disciples with suppressed feelings.
ReplyDeleteAllegedly anal intercourse with minors is not considered sex in parts of the Middle East, including male & underage male, yet homosexuality is punishable by death?
Get some more team sports to take away the constant monitoring of everyone's individual behavior. The hypocrisy of forcing men to bow in groups in public close enough to each other to smell each other's sweat and body odors seems to be a cruel twisted plot that was never exposed. If a religion is truly against homosexuality, then why force men to smell each other several times a day under the guise of praying, why allow anal intercourse to not be considered sex?
The call to 911 to proclaim loyalty to ISIS was an obvious cover-up that this killer was gay and angry he could not be public about it without repercussions from his own countryman.
Roger Stone was just on Alex Jones very recently. Is that something you can derive any info from by watching?
ReplyDeleteI am absolutely on board with you. The media is so bias its ridiculous at this point. This morning you've got the WashingtonPost.com saying that Trump claimed Obama had something to do with the shootings, which is absolutely not true. I'm not saying I love Trump, but when you've got websites soliciting poll votes against him (like http://trumpfeedback.com/) you really can't trust anything you read or the statistics. Its depressing. An independent run would be terrible.
ReplyDeleteHillary Clinton's counter move if Sander's pledges an independent run is to interview Newt Gingrich to be her V.P. and possibly even select him.
ReplyDeleteFor the record, Hillary Clinton won 28 primaries and Sanders won 12 primaries.
Sanders should have saved about 20 million of his "RECORD" donations and used that money to fund an independent primary for 2020. Suddenly Sanders would see his vote totals go DOWN as Trump and other hi profile characters came forward to dilute the independent vote.
Sanders basically enjoyed getting all disenfranchised democrats and younger voters because he had no direct competition. Let him learn how hard it is to keep a base when others come along and simplify offer even more promises they most likely won't be able to keep.
You are indirectly saying HRC does not represent disenfranchised Dems and young voters. That sort of makes sense to me cos her policies won't do much to help the Tom Joads of this world. And I agree it might well be hard to achieve some of the Sanders platform. But I guess for such voters the important thing was to try. Not trying was taken as the politics of the status quo which have done so much to increase inequality in the US and will continue to do so if unchecked. If these voters views and interests are not represented, why should they vote for the Dems? The answer is the lesser evil, right? Well social security is about the only thing standing between 50% of the population and very Dickenson old age. And the sensible people on wall street like druckenmiller etc will tell you that America can't afford it. Unless there is some shift in what are the perceived national priorities and how commitments are funded, they are probably right.
DeleteHarry
The whole point of the superdelegate system is to prevent another McGovern or Mondale debacle. Of course, Sanders would have lost all 50 states and even have put DC into play had he been the nominee. He is simply a ratfucker now.
ReplyDeleteI would love to be there at Philadelphia to take part in the convention and watch in person Sanders' shenanigans. I have been selected as an Oregon delegate, but I am finding raising money to go there next to impossible. I will probably have to withdraw in a couple of weeks.
RE the shootings. CNN is being absolutely despicable. There is NO evidence AT ALL this had anything to do with terrorism. This Mateen was a Elliot Rodger-type of batshit criminal. Period.
ReplyDeleteIt is so obvious why CNN is pushing this terrorism narrative. It is to help Trump politically. The network is completely in the tank for him, Jack Tapper notwithstanding.
Bernie's still saying he'll do everything possible to defeat Trump, and running a third-party campaign would in no shape or form be doing everything possible to defeat Trump. Which makes me wonder why he thinks he has a right to demand anything unless he's threatening a run. I think we absolutely need the superdelegates and closed primaries. Caucuses have to go. Is he demanding that? Ahole.
ReplyDeleteHere are the two critical FEC document filings:
ReplyDelete(1) Presidential candidate 30 April 2015 -- Party affiliation = Democratic Party
(2) Sanders' Senate campaign committee registration renewal 15 Oct 2015 -- Party affiliation = Independent
Yet questions remain about his party membership and its legal implications. For those of us who are not up with the technicalities of US party membership registration what effect does point (2) have on Sanders' ability to run as an independent against Hillary? Is he still legally a Democrat? How might this conflict with any 'sore loser' laws?
My bad and my apologies. That second link is the FEC filing of the group Friends of Bernie Sanders (his Senate team). It is not the official Sanders Presidential campaign team. On June 29 2015 FOBS sent a memo to the FEC (signed by Bernie) saying that neither would be conducting Senate election activities while the Presidential campaign is under way.
ReplyDeleteThere's still those pesky questions however about his legal status as a Democratic Party membership and running as an independent.
Harry, the the most foundational disenfranchised group in the U.S is the Sandwich generation. Bernie Sanders does not acknowledge them, Hillary Clinton does.
ReplyDeleteBernie Sanders acknowledges those who live in the basements of the Sandwich Generation households, ironically making the burden of their own parents and their Sandwich Generation travails that much harder to balance.