Hillary Clinton had a great night on Saturday. The Democratic Party had a terrible one.

[whereisjustice]

For the Democratic Party establishment, these wins are being interpreted as a sign that the universe is back in order, after a 74-year-old democratic socialist from Vermont had seemingly knocked everything out of orbit. Party leaders long ago picked Clinton as their standard-bearer for 2016 and worked to clear the field of potential primary challengers. When Sanders began closing on Clinton in national polls and clobbered her in New Hampshire, the establishment bet was starting to look shaky. Had they lost touch with the core concerns of the party's base? After South Carolina, Sanders' chances to secure an upset nomination are dwindling.

Exit polling showed that Clinton won every demographic tracked except voters under 30. Even here, she was far more competitive with Sanders than in prior contests, losing just 54 percent to 46 percent. She even won a higher share of the black vote than Barack Obama did in 2008.

But Democratic Party elites shouldn't be high-fiving each other. They should be very, very worried.

In primary after primary this cycle, Democratic voters just aren't showing up. Only 367,491 people cast a ballot for either Clinton or Sanders on Saturday. That's down 16 percent from the 436,219 people who came out in 2008 for Clinton and Obama. Factor in the 93,522 people who voted for John Edwards back in the day, and you can see the scope of the problem. Democrats in 2016 are only getting about two-thirds of the primary votes that they received eight years ago.

Republican turnout in the South Carolina primary, by contrast, was up more than 70 percent from 2008.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/democrat-turnout-south-carolina_us_56d2e392e4b03260bf77247f

By shoving Clinton down our throats, the DNC is cutting off its nose to spite its face.

[peacebird]

1. "By shoving Clinton down our throats, the DNC is cutting off its nose to spite its face." Bingo!

[Thinkingabout]

2. Hillary Clinton is working hard in every state, her campaign workers are working hard

she will continue to go to all states and deliver her agenda. We are Democrats, please we are better than this nit picking.

[Bluenorthwest]

25. Nit picking? Turnout is the key element of victory. Without good turnout, hard work and blather mean

nothing at all. Read those numbers. It's dismal. And the Hillary folks claimed SC was insanely excited about her. As the OP says she beat the fuck out of Bernie but she did not produce any draw to the ballot box for all that alleged passion about her. Bernie got more votes in NH than anyone ever before but turnout again was low. Neither thing is good. Neither campaign has delivered that most vital element to the ground game. It's a problem. It has to be addressed or there is no reason to bother at all. We are down, they are up that means we lose.

[Thinkingabout]

31. I have been talking about voter turnout for years, it lost Democratic seats

In 2010 and 2014. I heard the story more than once "we don't have anyone to excite us", it should excite to elect Democrats rather than staying home and Republicans electing Republicans.

[PyaarRevolution]

41. You and I know that's not good enough.

Most of here may feel that's enough but not for most people. It hasn't helped they've been so disenfranchised and for a long time the mainstream media all but blockaded or marginalized Bernie's ideas.
Imagine if Bernie got a 1/4 of the support Barrack did in the media. Yeah, I know part of the fact he was the first Black president helped but he did get a LOT of media coverage too.
That being said, Thom said it and it bears repeating, that there's been a lot of disenfranchisement by "voter fraud" efforts from Republicans and those BS voter id laws. There's that book, "The New Jim Crow", by Michelle Alexander. Well that right there is the truth, voter id laws are the new Jim Crow. I mean explain to me how GUN permits are valid forms of id but not college id?! WTF?! This likely accounts for quite a bit of the shitty turnout too.

[Jitter65]

50. Turnout can only be suppressed by BS supporters who keep pushing for it. nt

[Thinkingabout]

55. Yes, not turning out gives Republicans the opportunity to pass our progressive agenda.

[mindwalker_i]

34. "... she will continue to go to all states and deliver her agenda"

Therein lies the problem. Her agenda will hurt us - the people below the 1% mark. Also, Trump will wipe the floor with her both because this election is about challenging the status quo and also because her e-mail server put top-secret information out to the world. A case can be made that she doesn't care about national security. I don't either, but a lot of people really do care.

[Agnosticsherbet]

3. It is odd that when a big majority of Democrats voted for Clinton that would be bad.

The establishment did not vote in SC. Rank and file Democrats, young, old, white, Hispanic, African American, very poor, poor, middle class, and affluent voted.
Most of them voted for Clinton
And, some of those voted for Sanders.
That was a win, for every Democrat.

Zach Carter doesn't know what he is talking about in this article.

[whereisjustice]

6. Only 367,491 people cast a ballot for either Clinton or Sanders on Saturday.

That's down 16 percent from the 436,219 people who came out in 2008 for Clinton and Obama. Factor in the 93,522 people who voted for John Edwards back in the day, and you can see the scope of the problem. Democrats in 2016 are only getting about two-thirds of the primary votes that they received eight years ago.

Republican turnout in the South Carolina primary, by contrast, was up more than 70 percent from 2008.

What part of this is not true?

[Agnosticsherbet]

8. And everyone of them were Democrats. That is a win for Democrats....

Except for those who think that South Carolina should not count.

[whereisjustice]

9. So Dem votes down 16% and Reps up 70%. Turnout matters. Clinton and DNC are going to blow it by

sticking to their campaign that change is bad, conservatives are good.

[Agnosticsherbet]

10. So Democrats voting is a bad thing, if they don't vote for Bernie.

That is bullshit.
If it proves anything, Sanders Revolution is a failure.
I support the people who voted, and we will GOTV and win no matter who our nominee is, and Sanders will help Clinton win if he looses the primary. He has said that both he and Clinton are a thousand times better than any Republican. I think he was telling truth.

[whereisjustice]

11. Dem voters down, Rep voters up. I think reasonable people understand that as a failure

of DNC leadership and a huge problem against Trump.

[Agnosticsherbet]

16. A general election where Trump has alienated Women, Hispanics, African Americans, Muslims

and anybody who is not White will be a disaster for Trump.

He still wins only a plurality of Republicans.
And then there is this.

Donors ask GOP consulting firm to research independent presidential bid
A group of Republicans is moving quickly to research ballot-access requirements for independent candidates in case Trump wraps up the GOP nomination next month.

That is what is waiting for Trump, even if he drives the Clown Car to the Republican Nominating Convention.

[whereisjustice]

19. You know what? I've heard conservative Dems laugh at tea party extremists every time we warn

that if the DNC doesn't start moving the message left, they will enable right wing extremism.

This is exactly what is happening

I've seen it for 40 years with Dems following Republicans in their move to the right.

Why do people think this isn't threat to the nation?

Sanders is in no way a counter balance to the radical extremism that Trump, Cruz and Rubio legitimize.

Yet the best Clinton can do is attack Sanders for speaking the truth against the corrupt establishment she represents.

Clown car? Go ahead and laugh. That these people are getting as close to the White House as they are is a massive failure of Democrats to hold their leadership accountable.

This is a fucking disaster in American political history. We have a modern Mussolini running for president. And Clinton/DNC are just enabling it.

We need to move left. Fuck the clown car meme. These people are making huge gains in local elections, school boards, etc.

DNC is spending all their time limiting participation and influence from non-rich voters and..

IT WILL BACKFIRE IN A SPECTACULAR WAY ONE DAY.

[Agnosticsherbet]

21. Even Sanders thinks Clinton is "100 times better than any Republican candidate."

With that big a difference, we will do fine.

SANDERS: I agree with what the secretary said. We shouldn't be getting ahead of ourselves. And as I have said many times, you know, sometimes in these campaigns, things get a little bit out of hand. I happen to respect the secretary very much, I hope it's mutual. And on our worst days, I think it is fair to say we are 100 times better than any Republican candidate.

I don't think Sanders was lying.
Opinions may vary.

[whereisjustice]

23. Avoiding the point... extremists running as president is a failure of DNC and Democratic Party...

and GW Bush is 100 times better than David Duke.

That doesn't validate that our political leadership is doing the right things to govern the nation.

[ccinamon]

52. AWESOME!!!

Perfectly said, very eloquent and true!

Thank you!

[Bluenorthwest]

26. In NH, Bernie won with more votes than anyone has ever gotten there. Turn out was down, and that's

a problem. Turnout has been down for Democrats and up for Republicans in every States so far, the Hillary blow out, the Bernie blow out and the two closer Hillary wins all had low Democratic turnout, high Republican turnout. It's a problem that is not specific to any State or to either candidate and it is a most decided problem.

The 2008 Primary was the opposite, we were adding new Democrats hot and fast. Expanding the voter rolls. Hilary was part of that too, and that was very good. So this is not candidate or location material, this is we need voters on the rolls even if we end up nominating Jesus Christ and his running mate Moses.

[PyaarRevolution]

46. Did you READ what he said?

He said she needs to change her campaign, he didn't say vote for Bernie. That is worth noting. When people hear about TPP, GMO's, Marijuana reform from her, etc. they don't like it. She hasn't firmly dismissed TPP, she's still for GMO's and saying we still need to do studies on the effects of Marijuana is absurd.

[Agnosticsherbet]

49. Some people don't like it.

At this point, she has won 3 of 4 primary contests. So a majority of Democrats, so far, like what she says, what she stands for, and like her.

We may find at the end of the primary that Sanders has won. But it is damned disingenuous to argue that the Democrats who are voting don't like her.

And in SC, man, they loved her.

[Buzz Clik]

4. Sour grapes.

[msongs]

5. shoving clinton? so why can't b ernie get people to vote for HIM instead of her lol nt

[whereisjustice]

7. Typical deflective spin. Why can't DNC get people to vote at all? Because that tells the

real story. By putting their full weight behind Clinton, the DNC is suppressing the vote.

[TBF]

57. "The DNC is suppressing the vote"

It's transparent and sickening.

[Doctor_J]

12. They are happy about this. They can elect a dino, have her "compromise" with Paul Ryan, and get

the rest of the looting of the commons that they have been executing for twenty five years. The best results for the oligarchs is a far right republican congress together with a far right democratic white house. They managed to give our healthcare system to their donors during Obamas term. Should Hillary or trump get elected, education and social security will be profitized. The millions of new voters that favor Sanders are an impediment to their plans, so the dlc would prefer they not vote

[whereisjustice]

13. +1 this is exactly what they want. Clinton will have no problem helping Ryan move conservative

agenda forward.

[MisterP]

35. they NEED the commons looted--that's why we're dying for more worker-ownership

and state-responsibility talk on top of the good-governance bare minimum that we've had taken from us!

[FlatBaroque]

14. This election will forever be known as the "Wasserman Schultz" Election

when the Democratic party finally caught its own tail and ate its own ass.

[TheDormouse]

30. lol nt

[ybbor]

42. Now that is funny!

Gross, but funny.

[whereisjustice]

15. KING: Democratic turnout at primaries is down, and fewer voter registration drives could be to blame

As much as establishment politicians have broken for Hillary, young people under the age of 35 have broken for Bernie Sanders. Without fail, in each primary so far, in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada, young people under the age of 35 have voted for Bernie by a margin of 85% to 15%. It's not even close.

Consequently, party leaders (again, that's code for Hillary supporters) have seemingly hosted fewer voter registration drives. Doing so, would, in essence, be drives for Bernie Sanders. In some cases, party leaders are just skipping them altogether in many states and at college campuses.

When the Democratic Party loses interest in voter registration and voter empowerment, it is truly blurring the lines between what makes it fundamentally different than the Republican Party.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/election/dem-voter-registration-leading-turnout-article-1.2545420

h/t to akamai

[Broward]

17. Hillary benefits, almost everyone else suffers.

[oberliner]

18. Why didn't more Sanders supporters turn out and vote?

The weather was quite nice.

[whereisjustice]

20. I listened to NPR news the day before

and they had a snip on Trump and Cruz. Then they ended their top of hour news with something very close to

"South Carolina gets ready to vote with Trump and Cruz campaigning for the Republican nomination and Hillary campaigning for the Democrats."

Every media outlet has ordained Hillary as the nominee.

The DNC is no longer registering voters on campuses and they have changed corporate campaign contribution limits for favor Hillary.

It all adds up.

That's why.

Dem voters down 16% over all. Rep voters up 70%. Seems to me that Sanders isn't the problem here. DNC leadership is the problem here. They need to be held accountable, although they will never do that. It's always the fault of the "left".

[oberliner]

24. The Sanders campaign was very active across the state

There were numerous well attended Bernie Sanders events and quite a significant ground game (one article argued that his ground game in SC with better than HRC's).

Here is that article:

Bernie Sanders Has A Larger Ground Game In South Carolina Than Clinton

https://www.americarisingpac.org/bernie-sanders-larger-ground-game-south-carolina-clinton/

[TBF]

59. You're really not listening are you?

And I'm quite sure that's intentional. The MSM ignores Bernie - I can only find his rallies and parades through Twitter.

[oberliner]

61. You have no idea what you are talking about

USA Today: Sanders takes on Trump, Clinton in Oklahoma rally

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/02/28/sanders-takes-trump-clinton-oklahoma-rally/81089184/

Fox: Bernie Sanders hosts campaign rally in downtown OKC

http://okcfox.com/news/local/democratic-presidential-nominee-bernie-sanders-hosts-campaign-rally

Dallas Morning News: In Grand Prairie more than 7,000 rally for Bernie Sanders

http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2016/02/in-grand-prairie-more-than-7000-rally-for-bernie-sanders.html/

NBC: Bernie Sanders Supporters Rally In Charlottesville

http://www.nbc29.com/story/31333715/bernie-sanders-supporters-rally-in-charlottesville

CBS Pittsburghers March, Hold Rally To Show Support For Bernie Sanders

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2016/02/27/pittsburghers-march-hold-rally-to-show-support-for-bernie-sanders/

Live coverage: Bernie Sanders rally in Fort Collins

http://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/2016/02/28/bernie-sanders-rallies-supporters-in-colorado/81074520/

MSNBC: Full speech: Sanders holds rally after South Carolina loss

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc-quick-cuts/watch/full-speech-sanders-rally-after-sc-loss-632853059552

[Tarc]

22. It's called a vote

Try winning one. (Hint; getting more people to vote for your candidate helps)

[Bluenorthwest]

27. It's called a Party. Total all the votes for the Party's candidates and you get the Party's vote.

When you totaled up 2008 votes the Party had more votes than the Party has in 2016. Although an electorate of 100 would still bring a winner and a loser, it is nevertheless not sufficient voting numbers for the Party in which both the winner and loser are running. When Obama won SC in a blow out, he had far more votes than Hillary and his opponents had more votes than Bernie. The Party had more votes in 08 than it had in '16.

If I was a Hillary supporter this would be a big issue for me. When Bernie won NH with great numbers for him but low turnout for the Party I started worrying. Nevada was down as well, way down. This is made worse by the fact that GOP turnout is up. Way up.

No matter the nominee, we need to built the turnout. This train needs to be making energy not taking energy.

[Adrahil]

28. "Shoving Clinton down our throats"

What a load of bullshit. PEOPLE went to the polls. It's that simple.

You support Sanders? Fine. But don't assume that everyone who supports Clinton is part of some machine to just shove her down your throat. People are deciding. And voting.

And yeah, the turn out numbers are being misrepresented. Turn out this year IS down form 2008, but is up.... WAY up from both 2000 and 2004.

[alcibiades_mystery]

29. I guess the Political Revolution is not producing the Groundswell it promised

Sandersian Groundswell Theory seems to need some reworking.

[restorefreedom]

32. clinton, rubio. the oligarchs dont care

trump and sanders they fear.

and one of them WILL be the next president. count on it.

[Land of Enchantment]

33. The emails coming

in from the DNC asking for my money are now diminishing in number. Don't know if there is a correlation but every time I receive one I write back to DNC HQ and tell them 'not one penny' for YOU but I'm sending Bernie another 27 bucks. Maybe someone there is actually seeing similar emails? They can't raise money off us so they had to reverse Obama's ban of Federal Lobbyist's dirty money.

[HoosierCowboy]

37. Clinton's victory in South Carolina is meaningless...

...think about how many times South Carolina has voted Blue for the Presidency? Nada....

[erlewyne]

43. Another Super thread!!!

You guys are good!!! The posts are superlative.


I am voting for BERNIE SANDERS on March 15 at 7a!

[AgerolanAmerican]

44. That 16 percent

represents white working class Democrats who seem to have been completely taken for granted by the Democratic Party.

They fled to the GOP primary where they voted for Trump. If you look at the demographic breakdown in the GOP exit polls, Trump cleaned up among white blue-collar voters. If this is a trend rather than an aberration then a 1980 scenario is a realistic possibility.

[blondie58]

45. It is not HER turn.

Democracy doesn't work like that. Personally, i don't Want to vote for one of the 1%'ers- with she qualifies for with a net worth of $33.1 million. As a politician! Unbelievable.

[blondie58]

47. It is not HER turn.

[jalan48]

48. South Carolina is just one of many states Hillary will lose if she is the nominee.

[Trust Buster]

51. So much for the will of the people in yesterday's election according to the OP.

[Cryptoad]

53. SO u thought SC was going Blue this year, eh?

[Dustlawyer]

54. I can see how this is playing out.

Trump is the Republican version of Obama, they are fired up for a trash talking POS because they are hateful idiots. They think he will screw us Libtards etc.

We are heading towards putting up the perfect foil in their Establishment arch nemeses, Hillary Clinton. There is no way she will beat him, especially since her under-handed campaign and many obnoxious supporters have driven off any hope of support for her from many Bernie supporters. They love to hate her most of all and will vote in droves! Our only chance would be to get Bernie and his anti-establishment platform and his strong group of young supporters along with the rest of us.

Before you alert, not all Hillary supporters are bad and not all Bernie supporters are good, but that's how this is looking to me. If Bernie loses the Primary, save this so you can tell me later how right I was back in February 2016!!!

[whereisjustice]

56. Dem Party thinks Republicans are funny, clown car, etc

when the first tea baggers showed up, it was all yucks. They'll never amount to anything. Democratic Party moved right.

Then the baggers started taking local elections and getting huge money from corporate interest groups.

Democratic Party moved more to the right.

Then the baggers started making inroads in national elections.

Democratic Party moved more to the right.

Sarah Fucking Palin.

Democratic Party moved more to the right.

Now Republicans are going to run a cross between a televangelist, Putin and Mussolini.

Democrats are moving more to the right.

Now, Hillary supporters are claiming young people don't vote so who needs them, blah, blah, blah.

The ending of this story has been written a thousand times through the course of history.

No matter what happens with this election, Hillary will still be rich, privileged and entitled.

And we will still be fucked.

Democrats get what we deserve.

[Dustlawyer]

58. It's sad that we could take it back if enough people really

understand what has happened to our government and how negatively it has affected our lives. I remember before they had a complete lock on things. Now we live under corporate rule and corporate injustice.

I fight corporations for a living. I see what's going on, I have watched BP pervert the justice system, the political system, and the media, who wouldn't air anything negative to the biggest advertiser on the Gulf Coast since the spill. Ed Schultz did a couple of months before he was axed. They even bought up almost all of the documentaries before they came out.

Hillary will never do anything about it, just like Eric Holder who, instead of revoking BP's probation they were already under, let them off early! Let them drill before they paid the victims, settled with them before most victims and let them deduct almost all of the settlement so taxpayers pay it! Then the money is a political slush fund!

We really need a political revolution!!!

[whereisjustice]

62. Thanks for standing up to corporations. I imagine it must be a stressful job. Someone needs to keep

them in check. Our politicians won't do it.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

60. The message from the DNC to young people is to stay home.

[Beacool]

63. No one is being "shoved" down" anyone's throat.

Hillary worked hard for her votes in SC. No one stopped people from voting for Sanders.

If he loses it'll be simply because more people preferred Hillary and voted for her.

Something called democracy.

[whereisjustice]

64. DNC super-delegate shove Hillary down our throats Democracy? Because what we have here

resembles nothing like original recipe democracy.

[Beacool]

66. Hillary is currently ahead in votes and pledged delegates.

[Blue_In_AK]

65. I think people might say

"Why vote in a primary if Hillary is inevitable, as they keep telling us?" If I wasn't such a strong Bernie supporter, that would be my position. Why bother?