The article every superdelegate should take seriously

https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/06/consider-2020-for-democra...

The GOP won the down-ballot race the last time there was a Census — in 2010 — which allowed them to gerrymander the House districts heavily in their favor, and the Democrats have been unable to win control since.

So with the fate of the party in the balance superdelegates have to ask themselves: Can they afford to drive away the people who Bernie has managed to bring to the ballot?

Hillary Clinton is not a strong enough candidate to win two terms. She may not even be strong enough to win one. Her favorability ratings are the second lowest for a presumptive nominee since David Duke, and only getting worse. Most people feel she is “dishonest.” The only way she could ever be president is because the Republican nominee is even less liked than she is (barely), and even then, that is subject to change.

Clinton’s problems can be attributed to the internet and the way she conducts herself politically. She is a politician of a bygone era of insider politics. Like Mitt Romney before her, Clinton has fallen victim to the fact that, today, anyone can readily pull up a video on YouTube of her saying different things to people on different sides of various issues.

Americans today — particularly the young people — have caught on to the fact that the insider game is rigged in favor of the donor class. They realize popular opinion has a negligible impact on public policy.

Her numbers never go up. If the expressed purpose of the superdelegates is to avoid another McGovern, then they need to abandon Hillary and vote Sanders. But there's more at stake than just the political aspirations of Hillary Clinton. There's the serious threat that if the voters who have rallied behind Bernie don't see change, they won't turn out in the future. And if that happens, 2020 will be the year that in hindsight, the Democratic Party died.

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party died. The nos. of people vowing to leave just before or after the GE are not negligible. The shrinking-tent party. Time for a new tent and new party.

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"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." --Jiddu Krishnamurti

Alligator Ed's picture

but, being a cynic there are several things, not rational things, but things just the same, which caution me from believing in your rational analysis.
1. A recent poll of Democrats said that 71% would still vote for Hillary EVEN IF she was indicted for criminal behavior
2. People vote against their self-interest all the time
3. (This next point has never failed) NEVER UNDERESTIMATE HUMAN STUPIDITY.

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dervish's picture

She could strangle someone with her Armani scarf on live television, and nobody in the DOJ would indict her for it. Bad press is about as far as this is going.

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"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."

reflectionsv37's picture

You need to spend some more time investigating what has actually transpired with this email case. Here is probably the best current source of information and reading it is simply mind boggling. http://www.thompsontimeline.com/The_Clinton_Email_Scandal_Timeline Her lack of concern over sensitive classified information has put the identities of CIA operatives(possibly as many as 18) and they're lives in danger. She has allowed classified information to handed to people unauthorized to posses it. She has committed multiple counts of perjury and obstructed of justice by withholding work related emails from those released that refute prior statements. But her most damaging crimes are in the negligent mishandling of classified information. She has personally handed over classified information to a firm without security clearance of any kind. The entire contents of her private server, with all the classified material so far identified, was uploaded to the cloud by that firm. Unbeknownst to Clinton, IT firm had emails stored on cloud; now in FBI's handsEven her own attorneys who had possession of her data on thumb drives did not have the security clearance required to be in possession of some of that classified material.

This section from 18 U.S. Code § 793 - Gathering, transmitting or losing defense information is where she is in very serious trouble. I've block quoted what I see as the most pertinent section below.

(f) Whoever, being entrusted with or having lawful possession or control of any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, note, or information, relating to the national defense, (1) through gross negligence permits the same to be removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of his trust, or to be lost, stolen, abstracted, or destroyed, or (2) having knowledge that the same has been illegally removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of its trust, or lost, or stolen, abstracted, or destroyed, and fails to make prompt report of such loss, theft, abstraction, or destruction to his superior officer—
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.

Do your self a favor and read that timeline. Even the short version will leave you wondering what was that woman thinking. After you do, I think you'll realize that not only are indictments possible, they're very likely.

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“Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.”
George W. Bush

Yes-HRC has violated many important laws
Yes-The FBI will bring down the hammer, and Obama will not stop them
Yes-It will stop her from being the nominee, eventually, unless Obama and the Democratic Party decide to fall on her sword

According to my source, who has a high-level source, which may all be BS but it sounds good to me, is that they are going to end up giving her a deal. A slap on the wrist, IN EXCHANGE for just going away. Gracefully bow out, and all will be forgotten, maybe just a fine.

But they have a mountain of material on her. If she doesn't take the deal, they will bering down the hammer. She can try to fight it, but she would drag Obama and the Party down with her. And then she will probably end up in jail, unless by some miracle a HRC friendly person became President in 2020 and pardoned her. Otherwise, the choices are "go away" or eventual prison.

Also, I have been told that Biden has put his campaign team on high alert, and has called major donors and told them to cease contributing to HRC SuperPacs.

The basic idea is that Obama is playing dumb, but knows that HRC will likely never be the nominee. He just wants to pretend to be surprised when it happens.

For those looking for sports analogy, I heard rumors that the first time Michael Jordan retired
from the NBA it was really a secret gambling punishment. Instead of soiling the rep of the greatest NBA player ever (IMHO), they told him to take a hike for about a year and a half until things cool off, and so nobody in the know can say that he got off scot free.

I don't think Biden will make very many #BernieOrBust people happy, and he's nothing compared to Sanders, but he is a yuuge improvement over HRC.

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GradySeasons
"The nightlife ain't no good life, but it's my life."

reflectionsv37's picture

I actually agree totally with you!

They are not, under any circumstances, going to put Hillary in an orange jumpsuit and send her to federal prison. But I am confident that she will be indicted and at least some of those indictments will be made public. At this point, they have to be. I agree that the likely outcome, once announced, is that she will step down. They'll make a backroom deal like they did with Patreous, give her some probation and a big fine and send her on her way. And, I can happily live with that. At least she'll be gone and we should never have to hear from her or Bill again.

I'm not sure that the DNC would really be crazy enough to look for someone like Biden to step in, but then again, I wouldn't have anticipated that the DNC would have done half of what I've seen this election. I think the Bernie people would scream until buildings started falling down if they try to take it away from him. I still have hope that come November, I'll have the opportunity to vote for Bernie.

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“Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.”
George W. Bush

lunachickie's picture

hang in there until the convention. A lot can--and will--happen to this race before then.

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featheredsprite's picture

Trump would make so much evidence public that her reputation would be torn to shreds and she couldn't be elected dogcatcher.

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Life is strong. I'm weak, but Life is strong.

What you say is exactly right. Hillary's job right now is to defeat Sanders so that the DNC can put Biden up.

Obama must have known that Clinton was using a private server for public business, how else would he have have emailed her? He must have known about the pay-to-play Clinton Foundation and her interaction as SOS. After all he made her sign an agreement to keep them separate. Having opposed her, Obama knows that she is a power hungry junkyard dog, but his agreement to get her support was to support her follow-on run for the presidency.

I'll bet that the indictment contains a very large list of violations. The whole timing of this seems to reflect hidden agreements. She gets to go out having achieved the Democratic party nomination for president. Meanwhile, she can go retire and pull down huge speaking fees, after a slap on the wrist, which will also be shortened to insignificant, if revealed at all.

I must say that it has been a very rude awakening to see the Democratic party in action. I have been a lifelong Democrat, but I am re-registering as an Independent. I can't help but contrast this to the RNC primaries. Even though the RNC establishment hated Trump, the contest was mostly fair and democratic.

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Capitalism has always been the rule of the people by the oligarchs. You only have two choices, eliminate them or restrict their power.

featheredsprite's picture

and if justice were to prevail, he would be charged as a co-conspirator in a RICO trial.

That will never happen, of course, but Obama needs to duck for cover. I don't think he can charm his way out of this.

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Life is strong. I'm weak, but Life is strong.

lunachickie's picture

Nobody outside the party liked him in 2008, nobody is gonna support him now. He needs Indies just like Clinton does, and he is not going to get them.

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Cant Stop the Macedonian Signal's picture

And it'll be less than 26% after this debacle. 157 million spent, and they have to steal it via media announcement.

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"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha

"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver

and now the ConservaDem brand, for all to see. "Never underestimate human stupidity," spot on.

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Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

like polls really capture anything anymore. Can we stop quoting polls now? They're so out of touch it's not funny.

71% of who? Elderly democrats from Georgia? Who did the poll poll? How about you poll Sanders supporters. Siince that's the whole point being made here?

20% of the populace would have voted Nixon even if he'd strangled his wife on national TV, during the Watergate scandal.

It's not like Hillary is going to beat Trump. She's not. Her numbers never go up. So tossing out some random poll isn't going to change the calculus. You seem to have missed the point. Come 2020, when the census comes around again and the Dems are looking at another 10 years of Republican gerrymandering if they can't GOTV, they're going to be screwed if they shoved Hillary down our throats in 2016 because there won't be anyone interested in voting Dem anymore. They will have driven off the youth vote.

Bernie is getting out the vote. If the super delegates want whats best for the party, they better get behind him.

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Jay Elliott's picture

I didn't seen the crosstabs on that 71%. Was it registered Democrats or Democrat-leaning voters? That would make a big difference.

I can't imagine Independents backing her if indicted, so it sounds like those are registered Democrats. Remember that only 27-29% of registered voters are now Democrats, while over 40% are independent.

She can't win with just registered Democrats, even if she gets 100% of them.

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WindDancer13's picture

Well, kind of. = )

If only 5% of those registered Democrats leave because of the BS, Democrats will be down to 22-25% equivalent with the current Republican Party.

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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.--Aristotle
If there is no struggle there is no progress.--Frederick Douglass

I'm going to cast my vote for Bernie this morning and then immediately switch to Independent.

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Bernie's supporters will leave en masse. If they do, they certainly don't care. Just look at Barbara Boxer. Hillary's team actually thinks that she's going to make up the votes she loses on the left by picking up disaffected Republicans and scaring Americans about Trump. That tells you everything you need to know about where the establishment is at right now.

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She may not have been speaking and acting more extemp than usual.

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"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." --Jiddu Krishnamurti

riverlover's picture

seems to ignore that many of the flock disappeared back a few hills ago. Hills. I am also amused that BS has taken on many meanings. Some opposite to others.

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

The two major parties are hardly "regionally-based, ideologically heterogeneous" when they are both funded by the same economic class. While the author does note that the vast majority of us are completely ignored by these political funders, it doesn't matter at all what we want. Tonight's declaration of a Hillary victory is the perfect example that The Will has Triumphed. Leni! Hillary on Line One!

I wish I could relate in detail a Hillary ad I heard on the radio in Los Angeles today. I had to dampen my attention to it lest I cause a major traffic tie-up, the worst of sins in Tinsel Town. It was the embodiment of all the snarky crap we have seen and heard since Hillary began to worry that Bernie just might keep her from realizing her dreams. It was as if the Borg Collective had taken over LA media (like, how would we know?). Resistance is Futile! SHE Will Be Coronated.

I will carry on as long as Bernie wants to continue. I will vote Jill Stein if he does not. But I no longer have any hope that the nation can be saved. Not now. Not in 2021. Not ever.

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Vowing To Oppose Everything Trump Attempts.

Robots, drones, hackable voting machines, bribes, media collusion, psy ops, paid internet trolls, are the new way that Third Way politicians steal-win elections. If you thought that Bill was a DLC pioneer for winning elections back in the nineties, he's learned a think or two since then. Emboldened and enriched by his Clinton Initiative Foundation $billions and speaking fees, and not wanting to give all that up, he's gone rogue with technology and bribes to clinch Hill's nom. Dems have discovered they don't need voters for staying in power. All they need are board of elections officials to purge voter rolls, come up with byzantine state primary/caucus rules, and hackable voting machines. So what if they never regain Congress? Republicans in Congress align with Dem policies anyway, as both follow neocon and trickle down agendas. So long as Dems continue to occupy the Oval Office by encouraging scarier Repubs to run against them, everybody's happy, except voters of course.

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lunachickie's picture

and he's not smart enough to not get caught. We've seen that in action more than once, haven't we? Wink

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You are right, he is an idiot and will most likely get caught. Please, let it happen.

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Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur