Priebus: Unlike the Democrats, We're Going to Let The Voters Decide Our Nominee

[JudyM]

(Jury: Not posting right wing propaganda, but a view shared by many on the left, the truth of which is made more stark by its adoption by the right)

The DNC's *democratic* nomination process has been bested by the GOP's.

PRIEBUS: Come on. That's not my job. My job is to put forward the fairest process that we can put forward, to not put my hand on the scale,... unlike on the Democratic side where they have superdelegates and could give a darn about what the grassroots are telling the party. That's not how we operate our party on our side.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/02/24/preibus_unlike_the_democrats_were_going_to_let_the_voters_decide_our_nominee.html

[jillan]

1. How nice is this? Thank you msm for giving the repugs something to use against us in the GE.

[Lorien]

3. DWS gave it to them, not the msm. nt

[Renew Deal]

12. Super-delegates have been around for like 60 years

And there are fewer now than 2008, so you're wrong to blame her.

[CorkySt.Clair]

15. Most Bernie fans are new to politics

So this is their first election. They can't be bothered to learn about little things like history and rules.

The post Super Tuesday meme will be "There's too many states, DWS is tipping it for Hilly, there's too many states in one day and it's not fair to Bernie!1!"

Super Tuesday has been around a long time too but mark my words, you'll read bleating here along those lines on Tuesday night.

[artislife]

28. Sad thing for h is that if it seems like they tipped it for her

they will be like the SC PoC voters who will be happy enough in their knowlegde of h and look no further--however, they will NOT vote for her.

[CorkySt.Clair]

37. Yes she will get zero poc votes from here on out

[artislife]

38. That is not what I said.

I said the young would act like the SC PoC votes that was held up on an OP here as Truth. In that OP, the PoC said they knew enough about Hillary so they didn't need to look into her or any other candidate any further.

Well, the young will look at Hillary and decide they don't need to look into her any further. They will just believe she is a part of the corrupt system and NOT vote for her.

Thank you for allowing me to further explain.

[jeff47]

19. It's 2044? My, how time flies. (nt)

[TIME TO PANIC]

21. I thought they were created in 1984. n/t

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

31. No - only since 1984.

It was a plan concocted at the time to keep the rabble from deciding who the nominee would be. After the old "smoke-filled room" process was changed to allow actual voters select the nominee, the party PTB were afraid they'd lose their power, so they came up with a sneaky way of doing basically the same thing that party bosses did in the old days, while giving the impression that the voters had a voice.

[Fumesucker]

6. So the DNC isn't putting their thumbs on the scales for Hillary?

[ihaveaquestion]

11. That's the point of having Super Delegates, yes.

[ladjf]

14. More than "thumbs". They are leaning on the scales. nt

[CoffeeCat]

34. Who are you kidding

The DNC's outrageous coronation of HRC is a laughing stock among ALL people who care about free elections and democracy.

The fact that the RNC notices it and calls it out, just shows how utterly obvious it is.

The RNC has their own problems. They thought they were being clever by using right-wing hate radio to lull supporters into supporting their outrageous policies. The unintended consequence was that they created a massive Frankenstein faction in their party that has turned against them and now worships Trump.

But the DNC now has its own set of issues because they have completely abandoned the base of the party. Like it or not, that's half the party! By ordering all of us to accept Clinton as the nominee--through their "thumb-on-the-scale" tactics--the DNC has caused a fracture that will cause horrendously low voter turnout--which is just as devastating as what is happening in the Republican party.

I cried the night that Obama was elected. He galvanized our party after a derisive primary. What is happening within the Democratic party now is DNC driven--and that is an entirely different situation. Anyone in the Democratic party who does not see that great damage has been done, and that it will affect elections--is living in a parallel universe.

The Republicans aren't telling Democrats (especially the base that has been disaffected and stomped on by the DNC) anything that they don't all ready know. The fact that the Republicans see it and are calling it out--demonstrates how fucking off-the-charts these DNC abuses are.

SAD. Really sad!!

[UglyGreed]

39. Then they wonder why turnout is down???

One candidate is a so called lock and the other is "unelectable" according to the DNC and MSM

[Skwmom]

2. Way to go Establishment Democrats.

[senz]

4. Gad, even the Repubs are noticing. It's embarrassing.

[bunnies]

25. SO embarassing. The DNC should be ashamed. nt

[AZ Progressive]

5. The Democratic establishment is emboldening the enemy

Thanks for making Democrats look undemocratic!

[dreamnightwind]

7. Ouch, the truth hurts

That's about the only truth we'll hear from that side of the aisle for awhile, but it is a painful one and it should be changed. We (supposedly) aren't the party of special interests and elites, we don't need superdelegates, entirely undemocratic.

[Skwmom]

9. Oh, I think they have only begun.

[cui bono]

8. The DNC has become this big of a joke. How sad.

SMH.

.

[TIME TO PANIC]

10. It's a damn shame that republicans can righteously criticize the Democratic party,

but in this instance they can.

[EndElectoral]

17. I don't understand the origin of this superdelegate thing. Flies in the face of the word democratic

[TIME TO PANIC]

18. The purpose is to stifle any grassroots uprising, just as DWS admits. n/t

[jeff47]

20. 1968.

The 1968 primary had a very small number of actual primaries. Most delegates to the national convention were selected via caucuses, or via totally opaque state party processes.

That caused a riot at the convention. Because the candidate who won the few primaries did not win the nomination. "The kids" were rather adamant that continuing the Vietnam war was a bad thing. The candidate who won those primaries was against the war, the candidate who won the nomination supported the war.

That riot caused a movement in the party to have more primaries and otherwise "open" processes for choosing state delegates. But those primaries have the pesky problem of not responding well to deals made in smoke-filled rooms.

So superdelegates were proposed and pushed as a way to let the smoke-filled rooms still have leverage in the nomination process. Those pesky voters might pick the "wrong" candidate.

The first convention with superdelegates was in 1984. Since then, the superdelegates have not overturned the pledged delegate result. It's unlikely that they would this time too.

But it sure looks bad.

[artislife]

30. It smarts, but they are right. nt

[TheBlackAdder]

13. Just remember: Every once in a while, an asshole will shit something impressive. nt

[Freddie Stubbs]

16. And they are picking the least electable Republican

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

23. Trump vs Clinton could be a real horse race

I don't think Clinton is a lock for that win.

[Punkingal]

22. He's lying...they want Rubio and not Trump and they are trying to make that happen.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

24. He's just pouting because we've replaced the GOP as the party of Wall Street.

[TheUndecider]

29. Not so much replaced as joined

[Skwmom]

32. You think they were going to put their eggs in one basket (party)?

[CoffeeCat]

36. and apparently, Democrats are now the darlings of the neocon warmongers

with the founder of the neocon movement--Robert Kagan--endorsing Hillary this morning.

I mean...that guy is the godfather who started it all. He hatched the PNAC movement that planned the Iraq wa. He crafted the PR plan to use Sept 11 as a psychological ploy to manipulate American into invading Iraq.

You'd have to dig real hard to find a bigger warmonger than Kagan.

This neocon kingpin just formally and publicly endorsed Clinton, over Rubio, Cruz and Trump!!! Some of the biggest warmongers we know!!

What in the hell has happened to our party? Can someone explain it to me?

We have gone completely off the rails.

[NCTraveler]

26. I'm noticing a certain group agreeing with the GOP establishment a lot lately.

Really spreading what they are saying and holding a position of agreement, as is being done here. Once is like a broke clock. This many times simply shows similarity in thought across the board.

[Herman4747]

27. So, No Brokered Republican Convention then...

...well, that should help The Donald.

[AzDar]

33. Good lord, I hate to say it... but he's right. Thanks, DNC etc...

[olddots]

35. hey Rence get a real job

[MisterP]

40. the grinning lackeys of course will now say that wanting the candidate to match

the vote is *just like the RNC!*

but the Clinton Party has brought all this down on itself: they thought they could use superdelegates, war, outsourcing, offshoring, and setting races against one another because 1. it profited them and 2. the voters and party faithful weren't able to do a damn thing

now of course they're outplayed at their own game by a man who can be as hypocritical as he wants while pointing out Clinton's hypocrisies: Trump hires only Poles and Mexicans without papers? Clinton shipped a million jobs overseas with NAFTA, another mil at WalMart, hundreds of thousands of H1Bs, and a few more under the overall rubric of neoliberalism, and she wants to GUILT Mr. Shameless over outsourcing?

she thinks she could get away with voting for Iraq and border fences because, hey, us Dems have nowhere else to go and are well-trained at holding our noses if we're in a swing state; we're children to be guilted into not stealing cookies from the jar ("yes, mother&quot ; she then turns around and her footmen say she's a peacemonger and she runs a Spanish ad with a crying girl and says "I won't send them back"; now Trump is no less duplicitous, but he gets away with it: Clinton just keeps trying to

[Jim Lane]

41. Priebus is telling a half-truth

Oversimplifying a bit:

In the Democratic Party, automatic Convention seats, with votes, are granted to a bunch of party apparatchiks (National Committee members) and to a bunch of elected officials. These people are collectively known as "superdelegates" in the media (but, IIRC, not in the party rules).

In the Republican Party, automatic Convention seats, with votes, are granted to a bunch of party apparatchiks (I think it's National Committee members plus state chairs) but NOT to elected officials merely by virtue of their elective office. The term "superdelegate" is seldom used to describe these Republicans, even though they, like superdelegates in the Democratic Party, get votes at the convention without regard to the results of any presidential primary or caucus.

As a result of the difference in the rules, people with automatic votes at the convention, regardless of the results of any presidential primary or caucus, form a higher percentage of the delegates at the Democratic National Convention than they do at the Republican National Convention -- but the Republicans do indeed have them.