How they will try to cheat Bernie: DNC Edition

I want to emphasize that they will try to cheat Bernie.
You shouldn't trust anyone who claims to know the outcome for certain, because there are far too many variables.

That being said, Sanders has taken a commanding lead in N.H. and appears to be on his way to victory in Iowa as well. He's within striking distance in Nevada, which means that Bernie could sweep the first three states, and that would destroy Biden's phony "electability" platform.
At that point Bernie's machine could simply steamroll the other candidates and make history.

The MSM will be out to stop him. Wall Street and the MIC will try to stop him. The wealthy elites, both foreign and domestic, will try to stop him. The GOP will try to stop him.
But for now I want to focus on the DNC.

Muddy The Waters

What better way to keep Biden's pathetic campaign alive then by casting doubt about who is winning the states?

For the first time, the Iowa Democratic Party will report three sets of results from the party’s presidential caucuses. And there is no guarantee that all three will show the same winner.

Each set of results represents a different stage of the caucus. The new rules for the Feb. 3 contest were mandated by the Democratic National Committee in a bid to make the process more transparent.
...
There will be three sets of results: tallies of the “first alignment” of caucus-goers, their “final alignment” and the total number of State Delegate Equivalents each candidate receives...Caucus-goers whose first-choice candidate fails to get at least 15% of the vote can switch their support to a different candidate. The threshold can be higher at some precincts.
... The Nevada Democratic caucuses on Feb. 22 will also report three sets of results.

This is actually a good thing, but you can bet it will still be used against Bernie. Intentional confusion about the winning margin, and maybe even the winner, will be pushed by the MSM.

Also, since super delegates still exist, the MSM could still report pledged delegates as if they were no different and could vote in the first round of the convention.

What Voters?

In 2016, 200,000 New York City voters were illegally wiped off the rolls and prevented from voting in the presidential primary. This voter suppression was done by Democrats against Bernie supporters.
The NY Democrats tried to do it again, but this time they were blocked in court.

Will the Dems try it elsewhere? Probably, although it might look different.

An additional wrinkle is that California law allows the parties to choose whether to allow No Party Preference voters to participate in their presidential primaries. In 2016 and again in 2020, Democrats have said “yes” while Republicans have said “no thanks.”

But there’s a catch for NPP voters wanting to vote in the March 3 Democratic presidential primary: They have to ask for a Democratic ballot. That’s easy enough at a presidential polling place. But with voting-by-mail becoming the regular practice for a large and increasing majority of voters, NPP voters have to request a Democratic mail ballot, too.
...There’s an additional problem for hundreds of thousands of California independents: They have registered — mostly inadvertently — as members of the American Independent Party as opposed to registering with No Party Preference... None of these people will be able to vote in the Democratic presidential primary unless they re-register as Democrats or as NPP filers.

When you are losing, you change the rules

It's the least surprising, most anticipated development so far.

dnc1.PNG

Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez has nominated dozens of lobbyists, corporate consultants, think tank board members, and former officials linked to the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and Bill and Hillary Clinton to serve on the Democratic National Convention (DNC) nominating committee this July.

Many of Perez’s nominees are vocal opponents of Senator Bernie Sanders and spoke out against his campaign when he challenged Hillary Clinton for the nomination in 2016.

Just as it did in 2016, the DNC appears determined to sabotage a Sanders nomination, foisting a collection of neoliberal and imperialist hacks onto the convention committee to hold back a popular rebellion against the policies of endless war and corporate free trade they have personally presided over.

This is a dangerous development.
If the Democrats think that they can cheat Bernie (assuming he wins a plurality of the delegates), and the Left will just take it lying down, they are in for a shock.
If Bernie is the top vote-getter, and they cheat him, it will literally destroy the Democratic Party.

dnc2.PNG

The list of nominees, Sunrise Movement political director Evan Weber said Sunday, looks like “a who’s-who of people explicitly opposed to the progressive agenda.”
...The list of Perez’s nominees, Andrew Cockburn, Washington editor of Harper’s Magazine, wrote Sunday on Twitter, represents “The true, grim, face of the Democratic establishment.”

I personally think that they are bluffing.
They've just set the table to see if the Left will blink.

On the other hand...

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mimi's picture

[video:https://youtu.be/Xydf351l-gw]
and a revolution is coming
[video:https://youtu.be/qkDlDPxzryI]
and the left will not blink, they will bite.
Their vests will be green, red and black.

Just letting out my emotions. Can't do anything else.

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18 users have voted.

@mimi
politico.jpg

You might hurt the feelings of a rich person.

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28 users have voted.
Cassiodorus's picture

@gjohnsit Because a world of doom and despair is so much better than one in which Jeff Bezos has to pay a 1% income tax.

And whatever happened to the superdelegate strategies?

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22 users have voted.

“The loyal Left cannot act decisively. Their devotion to the system is a built-in kill switch limiting dissent.” - Richard Moser

Hawkfish's picture

for the campaign. The volume of volunteers is high and they are incredibly diverse. All ages, all walks of life: attorneys, small business owners, realtors, students, union members, you name it. Lots of different bilinguals too, including one or two languages I’ve never heard of (and I have a background in speech synthesis).

The revolution is here - it’s just not being televised.

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41 users have voted.

We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg

WoodsDweller's picture

@Hawkfish
... are there any decent open source speech synthesis systems? I read a while back that the Mozilla Foundation had a project going, but I never heard anything more about it.

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6 users have voted.

"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

Hawkfish's picture

@WoodsDweller

About the time that Dragon systems was being screwed by Goldman Sachs. Man those aholes get around...

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12 users have voted.

We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed.
- Greta Thunberg

mimi's picture

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@mimi
It would spark violence.
It would destroy the Democratic Party.
It would be a Late Roman Empire move.

They would openly endorse Trump first.

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mimi's picture

@gjohnsit

It would spark violence.
It would destroy the Democratic Party.
It would be a Lingate Roman Empire move.

That would be the only way to finally get to the point of collapse that makes a rewrite of the US consitution a necessity. Can't help to see a lot of Weimar, Third Reich, and the writing of a new consitution in 1948 in the back of my mind.

But I am undereducated, too angry and too tired to be taken literally. or seriously. What the heck.

And what you have right now, is already plenty violent, the Democratic Party is a joke, and the empirs is here.

Nothing for Ungood.

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15 users have voted.

@mimi about "Make America Ungood Again" as Trump's new campaign slogan, in the fashion of his 2016 campaign where he was so brutally open and honest about what he thought of immigrants and minorities and the non-whites.

As for Lee Camp, he's an entertaining fellow, but sometimes I think he should stick to football.

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CB's picture

@mimi
before they will have to use the nuclear option.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj5CziicMgM]

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mimi's picture

@CB
and I love Russians singing Russian folk music. When we demonstrated against the Vietnam War in the early seventies in Berlin, we marched and samg the internationale and nobody mistook us for authoritarian communists sowjet style.

NOw I am not sure if you are kidding me. But Russians were not our enemy for a very long time by now. The DNC is just braindead.

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9 users have voted.
CB's picture

@mimi
You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time," and that's all it takes.

32% of all Americans consider Russia to be their greatest enemy.
Watch and weep:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOHJg1ZPQo8]

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@CB The only question is whether this propaganda can turn against Trump. Off hand I think not as other polls put Russia at the lowest concern of what people care about.

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@mimi Dems already pulling dirty tricks. I read that the caucus locations have been changed twice already with many not getting the message. Changing polling place is a dirty trick practived by the either dem or goper voters.

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WoodsDweller's picture

Compare it to radiation therapy. It kills the cancer cells just a little faster than the rest of the body.
Will the Establishment bet that they can kill the progressive movement just a little faster than they kill the Democratic party? They will still have money and influence, if not outright power, if Trump is reelected. If the progressives win big enough they will lose it all. Which do you think they will pick?
They can't cut off Sanders' money. They've already had a media blackout. Do you really think there is some scandal out there that the Clinton's missed four years ago?
If Sanders is corrupt, he's really bad at it. No mansion in the Hamptons for him after half a lifetime on Capitol Hill.
Any scandal will likely be made up. After Warren's little experiment they may be cautious about what they try.
It's down to the campaign rules, and he helped draft them after the last cycle. Not to say that there isn't anything there, but he knows full well what it is and must have been planning for it.
It starts in Iowa. If there's a big turnout he'll win. He's looking strong in New Hampshire. Krystal Ball said in a video I saw this morning that everyone that has won both states has gone on to win the nomination. I don't know how far to trust that sort of thing, but I can see it happening.
Big thrills for political junkies. Get your popcorn ready.

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28 users have voted.

"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

snoopydawg's picture

@WoodsDweller

No mansion in the Hamptons for him after half a lifetime on Capitol Hill.

Who just bought a $15 million house 3 years after leaving office. Then there's his house in Chicago that ain't no shack and did he buy one in Hawaii? The Clintons only bought a $2 million house, but then they played with their mortgage that was $10,000 a month which is what they charged us for housing the secret service. I wonder what deal the Obama pair made?

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Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?

snoopydawg's picture

Nothing like being open to rigging the primary.

For gawd's sake doesn't a billion dollars mean that people are set for life? It'd be one thing if they hadn't rigged things in their favor to accumulate their money, but it's another when they are doing at the expense of everyone else.

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28 users have voted.

Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?

@snoopydawg There was no "we will beat Bernie with a better message". But one of smear, illegalities, sander, cheating, etc.

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snoopydawg's picture

and then he ran on his policies and then he stabbed us in the back.

Obama made it cool before Podesta did.

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18 users have voted.

Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?

Wally's picture

Just in time for the Democratic Majority for Israel giant ad buy starting tomorrow in Iowa, Bernie goes and does this as reported in Common Dreams:

Denouncing Trump Plan as 'Unacceptable,' Sanders Declares It Is Time to 'End the Israeli Occupation'
"Trump's so-called 'peace deal,'" warned the White House hopeful, "will only perpetuate the conflict, and undermine the security interests of Americans, Israelis, and Palestinians."

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPlqLHcphyw]

edit/corrected name of PAC

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25 users have voted.

the moneyed and bought candidates staying in until the bitter end. After all THAT'S WHAT BERNIE DID TO HER!!!! Victims come out of the woodwork....witnesses swear Bernie tripped them in the halls and took their lunch money in grade school. Then if he wins, it's not by enough, so then comes the brokered convention and long suffering Hillary volunteers to step in. Trump wins and the US goes full dictatorship. Canada builds a wall.

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snoopydawg's picture

"It depends on how nice he is to me." Hey, Joe, you're the one telling people not to vote for you. This is how one wins elections in case you didn't know that.

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12 users have voted.

Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?

@snoopydawg
So it's ok to work with Republicans but not leftist

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Wally's picture

@snoopydawg

So much for blue no matter who. They are scared. Really scared.

Let's push 'em over the edge by getting out to vote for the Bernmeister, heh?!!!?

Biden suggests his decision is contingent how he's treated by Bernie?

What about how Bernie is treated by those stinking PACs that are popping up like mushrooms?

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13 users have voted.

@Wally ridiculous to be true ... APNews has now corrected the initially misreported story, supposedly from the reporter mishearing the audience member question to Biden.

What Biden really said:

Former Vice President Joe Biden wouldn’t say Tuesday whether he thinks Bernie Sanders could effectively unify the Democrats if the Vermont senator wins the party’s presidential nomination.

“We have to unite,” Biden told reporters in Muscatine, six days before the Iowa caucuses. “I’m not going make judgments now. I just think that it depends upon how we treat one another between now and the time we have a nominee.”

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Wally's picture

@wokkamile

Imagine if Bernie said that in any context.

“I’m not going make judgments now. I just think that it depends upon how we treat one another between now and the time we have a nominee.”

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@Wally And the actual quote is definitely more reality-based than the initial "It depends on whether he's nice to me" absurdity.

This one is largely a non-story when the actual quote is reported. But room there for a follow up question at the next press gaggle or debate when he should be asked directly if he would support Sanders if Bernie wins the nom.

Meanwhile Bernie's camp needs to stay focused on the truly Big Stuff, the things which can bring rich rewards -- such as continuing to pound Biden on his repeated calls for cutting SS and Medicare. The Sanders campaign seems to be in the phase where they are trying to show the MSM the truth -- that a) Biden didn't just call for cuts one time but repeatedly over a 40-yr period, which the MSM is reluctant to acknowledge, and b) Bernie's one-time use of the term "adjustments" 25 yrs ago was clearly in the context of finding ways to increase SS benefits, not cut them as Joe's adjustments would, and therefore there can be none of this false equivalence between the two candidates on this issue.

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@snoopydawg A dem superpac is running anti Bernie ads in Iowa. I guess we will see how far they'll go after all.

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snoopydawg's picture

.....

Very cool.

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7 users have voted.

Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?

snoopydawg's picture

....

Pro-Israel Democratic Super PAC to Air Attack Ads Against Bernie Sanders

The group, the Democratic Majority for Israel, will begin airing a negative campaign spot on Wednesday, as worries mount among moderate Democrats that Mr. Sanders could win the Iowa caucuses.

A Democratic super PAC will begin airing attack ads in Iowa against Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont on Wednesday, marking the first time a Democratic organization has run a negative campaign spot targeting Mr. Sanders by name in either of his two primary campaigns.

The ad, backed by Democratic Majority for Israel’s political action arm, comes as concerns among democratic republicans moderate Democrats mount that Mr. Sanders could win Iowa, setting the avowed democratic socialist on a possible path to the nomination. With Mr. Sanders leading in some polls ahead of the Feb. 3 caucuses, the spot is the first sign of a still-disjointed effort to stop his rise by the moderate wing of the party.

It also signals a new line of attack against Mr. Sanders. For much of the Democratic nomination race, his rivals have focused on his policy positions, arguing that his proposals for “Medicare for all” and free public college are too expensive and unfeasible.

While Democratic Majority for Israel is focused on raising support for Israel within the party, its spot targets the dominant concern among many Democrats in Iowa and elsewhere: beating President Trump.

Featuring six Iowa voters, the ad argues that Mr. Sanders would be unable to defeat Mr. Trump in the November general election, citing the senator’s heart attack last year, his left-wing ideology as evidence that he would be too risky a choice for primary caucusgoers focused on winning back the White House.

“I like Bernie, I think he has great ideas, but in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Iowa, they’re just not going to vote for a socialist,” a male voter says. “I just don’t think Bernie can beat Trump.”

Another voter adds: “I do have some concerns about Bernie Sanders’s health considering the fact that he did have a heart attack.”

Hello? Is this thread dead?

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11 users have voted.

Was Humpty Dumpty pushed?

@snoopydawg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Majority_for_Israel#Board_of_Di...

Board of Directors
Ann Lewis – Democratic Party strategist and White House Communications Director during the Clinton administration

Jennifer Granholm – Former Governor and Attorney General of Michigan and a current CNN political contributor

Henry Cisneros – Former mayor of San Antonio, Texas, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) during the administration of President Bill Clinton

Anton Gunn – Former head of the Office of External Affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and former member of the South Carolina House of Representatives

Shelley Berkley – Former U.S. Representative for Nevada's 1st congressional district

Paul Begala – Political consultant, political commentator and former adviser to President Bill Clinton

Cliff Chenfeld – Co-founder and co-CEO of Razor & Tie

Todd Richman – Prominent Democratic fundraiser

Edward Kelly – 11th General Secretary-Treasurer of the International Association of Fire Fighters and co-founder of the Board of Directors for Massachusetts Iraq and Afghanistan Fallen Heroes

Peter Villegas – Vice President and Head of the Office of Latin Affairs for Coca-Cola North America

Mark Gerstein – Democratic activist, corporate partner at Latham & Watkins LLP and a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council at the University of Michigan

Sam Laute – Pro-Israel advocate, Democratic advocate and former personal assistant to Joe Biden

Meghan Stabler – Democratic strategist

Barry Porter – Democratic activist

Archie Gottesman – Co-founder of JewBelong an organization focused on rebranding Judaism

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Cassiodorus's picture

@humphrey Or just rebranding Israel?

I'm imagining TV commercials: "Israel. It's Russia for kewl people."

Or: "Zionist imperialism: it's what's for dinner."

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“The loyal Left cannot act decisively. Their devotion to the system is a built-in kill switch limiting dissent.” - Richard Moser

Wally's picture

@humphrey

Initally, I thought it was predominantly a Jewish PAC but it sure seems like it's just a bunch of Clintonistas put together by Brock to cover for attacks against Bernie who just happens to be Jewish (in case that's gone unnoticed by any Iowans).

I was going to say how these people are snakes but I really don't have much of anything against snakes. Not big on wasps, though.

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I think they will do anything to stop Sanders. They saw what Trump did to the top republicans in the debates. One by one they were squashed. It will be soon. They can't allow Sanders momentum to build. Trump got away with it because everyone thought he was a buffoon. They just can't make jokes about Bernie the wacky socialist and hope he'll just go away. Sanders is dead serious.

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