Sanders's Campaign Manager Previews an Undemocratic Strategy for the Dem. Primary →
First, Sanders blasted New York's primary for being closed to independents. "Today, 3 million people in the state of New York who are independents have lost their right to vote in the Democratic or Republican primary," Bernie Sanders said. "That’s wrong."
But later that same night, Sanders's campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, went on MSNBC and said that the campaign's plan is to win the election by persuading superdelegates to dump Hillary Clinton.
This isn't the first time the Sanders campaign has previewed this strategy. They began talking about it in March, arguing that if they could finish the primaries strong, then even if they trailed Clinton in delegates, they could use their strong poll numbers, tremendous small-donors fundraising, and general momentum to persuade superdelegates to switch sides and hand them the nomination.
Despicable. On so many levels. First, the idea that New York Independents didn't know that they couldn't vote in the Democratic primary is bullshit, plain and simple. I've known that since I was twelve. You want to say that it's unfair, or arcane, or whatever, that's fine, but to act as though this is the first election that this is the case, or worse, that somehow it is indicative of some strawman establishment pulling dirty tricks to throw the election for Hillary, is just idiotic and indicative of a desire not to be an active part of the democratic process, but just to burn shit down (pun intended).
On top of that, the inference of voter disenfranchisement from Bernie Sanders, of all people, is rich. Just, like, ignore-the-children-who-want-breakfast-and-post-about-this-because-you're-so-pissed rich. This is a candidate who has show that he can only win in states that hold caucuses rather than primaries, mostly because of how disenfranchising and limiting the caucus process is.
And to hear talk of superdelegates—the same superdelegates that Bernie Sanders supporters were frothing at the mouth over a couple of months ago!—being used to overturn the will of the popular vote (I don't actually see it that way, but you understand my point)—it's laughable. It really is.
I, like many liberals, understand and am in agreement with many of Bernie Sanders' policies from a theoretical perspective. But in watching eight years of President Obama, I've also learned a lot about what it takes to overcome the obstructionism of the Republican Party. I've been planning on proudly voting for Hillary Clinton for some time now. I'll do so in less than a week. But as the days go by, and the insults and the hypocrisy mounts, I'm also voting against Bernie Sanders.