We are seeing the elite's anger toward, and intolerance of, real democracy in action.

[reformist2]

What would possess someone to say that you are going to hell if you support one major democratic candidate over another??? Naïve maybe, stupid even, but going to hell??? Also, why would you float trial balloons suggesting that someone else run if Hillary loses??? Don't they see how unseemly it is to say these things -- their corrupt "smoke-filled-room" discussions are out in open, and they couldn't care less what we think!

It's obvious: They only like democracy when the outcome - their outcome - is assured. If there's one person who has a right to be angry right now, it's Hillary Clinton. My God, she hasn't even started losing yet, and all her "friends" are freaking out, ready to drop her like a hot potato.

[cantbeserious]

1. All Too True - Mission Accomplished By The Oligarchs, Corporations And Banks

eom

[orpupilofnature57]

2. +

[polichick]

3. Yep - the establishment is showing its ass.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

52. Heck, the statements made by Albright and Steinem were so ham-handed I was wondering

if Hillary had called in favours, but they really didn't want to pay them back and were actually trying to sabotage her campaign.

[polichick]

54. We wish!

[hifiguy]

4. Bernie is a mortal threat to the corporatist/plutocrat gravy trough

the party establishment has been gorging at for the last 25 years.

They are terrified by the voice of the people and will fight like cornered, rabid weasels to maintain their access to the Precious - those trucks full of corporate cash they shoot up like heroin addicts.

[roguevalley]

44. Gloria Steinem lost her shit on Bill Maher and said

girls support bernie because they want to attract boys.

Jay-zuz.

[hifiguy]

45. I read and contributed to that thread.

Jay-zus is right. That is some seriously crazy shit. I'd admired her for a long time, but her need to see a woman - apparently even one who reminds me more of Margaret Thatcher each day - president has completely overridden her common sense and logic. Sad.

[bvar22]

57. I had the same response.

It was baffling.
This is a woman whose intelligence I have respected for years, now politically and completely blinded by a vagina.

[Downwinder]

5. Hope I'm going to Hell.

I don't want to be with the people who say they are going to Heaven. Been around them for too long.

[Fumesucker]

9. At least I'm enjoying the ride

[Downwinder]

13. Can't claim a ride like that.

Could never afford a Caddy.

[bvar22]

58. You obviously haven't made your deal with the devil yet.

You have to go stand at the crossroads between Hwy 1 and Hwy 8 outside Clarksdale at midnight
to cut your deal.

http://www.tdblues.com/2008/03/the-real-crossroads/

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

53. ...

[Live and Learn]

6. K&R nt

[DanTex]

7. All this because of one silly joke? Wow.

[SoLeftIAmRight]

12. That is the problem...

some think this is all a joke

[DeadLetterOffice]

21. It didn't feel like a joke to me, it felt like SHAMING.

And women in general - Democratic women, politically involved women - WE DON"T LIKE THAT.
Yes, maybe if I saw the speech instead of read excerpts, I'd have a different interpretation of Albright's tone or whatever, but most people who are exposed to this story? They're not gonna do that. That gonna hear 'you're a traitor toyour gender if you don't vote for the woman candidate,' and that? That is gonna piss some people off in a big way.

[DanTex]

22. As usual, the only people offended are people who already hated Hillary.

[FlatBaroque]

8. Remember when Palestinians were allowed to vote

They decided who they wanted, we decided we didn't agree. Democracy as long as we like who you pick.

[HooptieWagon]

10. They're in panic mode.

It seems to me that they're over-reacting to just having to pay their fair share of taxes, or (horrors!) people getting access to affordable healthcare and education. Nope, it's something more. More, like a President Sanders can appoint an Attorney General, knows where the bodies are, and Statue of Limitations hasn't expired. Yep, Wall St and DC are panicking.

[restorefreedom]

11. their willingness to put this all in the public display....

their blatant and craven attempt to wrest power from the people, and with complete, almost proud, exhibitionism, only shows their increasing panic and awareness of their impending downfall.

[MisterP]

14. it's a flaunting of power, an assertion, a showing-of-the-flag

[restorefreedom]

32. muscle flexing...but the guy who brags about how much he can lift

is often out lifted by a guy who says nothing at the gym but hi.

can't wait to see the smarmy smirk wiped off their faces...

[MisterP]

33. they're at the gym for the mirrors!

[restorefreedom]

39. lol nt

[Ed Suspicious]

15. It is because of their fervent resistance that we NEED to make this happen. I want the bodies dug up

and every last crooked politician getting their just desert.

[scottie55]

16. Not Enough Shovels

or jails....

Game has been played of, by, and for the 1% too long....

[Kip Humphrey]

30. They're all on one ship so they're easy to find, to know who to primary on down the line.

[restorefreedom]

31. gonna be a mighty big jail cell. nt

[GeoWilliam750]

17. Perhaps relevant

Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.
Frederick Douglass

[NorthCarolina]

18. If Bernie loses, it won't be allowed to happen again.

Of that I am sure. New party "rules" are likely already being drawn up that will prevent another grassroots campaign not sanctioned by the establishment from ever happening again.

[GoneFishin]

24. You can be sure of that. If they manage this time to install another corporate panderer then

they will unite to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Their first target will be to put a cork on the internet, it is their worst enemy this time around because it gives people a voice that isn't censored by the corporatist media.

[reformist2]

25. That is a chilling idea. It does seem as if the door is closing on any chance for real democracy.

Sure, the "people" will always have enough money to fund a popular insurgency. But they need a leader they can trust and that everyone can get behind, to lead the insurgency. Aside from Liz Warren and a few other names, there aren't that many people who can do what Bernie's done so far. We need to win this time around.

[snagglepuss]

37. Please make this an OP. It's chilling and its the absolute truth.

[bbgrunt]

40. well, that's the damn truth! (But they'll try even if Bernie wins)

[retrowire]

43. This makes me both angry and sad at the same time.

I shall call this emotion...

Sadry.

[hifiguy]

46. It will be the death of the Democratic Party

as we have known it. There will be a mass exodus.

[leveymg]

55. The Superdelegates are part of that legacy. Goes back to '72

Explains why Hillary declared herself victor in Iowa. She knew she had it in her back pocket. The outcome of the popular vote never mattered to her.

[reformist2]

60. If the Superdelegates decide this, all manner of hell could very well break loose.

[leveymg]

61. The Clinton campaign thinks they have it all planned and under control. That hasn't worked so far.

When it comes down to it, they probably do have the machine power to take over and control a brokered convention. But, they can kiss progressive Democratic support good-bye, and are probably prepared to spend huge amounts of money to try to do GOTV without us.

A prescription for disaster, particularly down-ticket.

[GeoWilliam750]

19. And another

Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.

Frederick Douglass

[Beartracks]

20. Assuring the Outcome = The Illusion of Choice

If people FEEL like they have a choice, then they FEEL like they have some say, some control. So, hey, a lot of the time we are allowed to choose from a rich, disconnected, corporate Democrat or a rich, disconnected, corporate Republican!

And yeah, I see your point about Hillary. It's like she's the QB and the team owners are calling the coach and demanding he get another player ready in case she fumbles the ball. (The football, in this analogy, is the White House, of course!)

==================

[reformist2]

38. Great analogy... and also just like pro-football, we're merely spectators!

[Enthusiast]

23. They know she is going to lose.

[AzDar]

26. K & R

[thesquanderer]

27. Yup, she's only won so far, and they're freaking out like she's losing.

What do they know that we don't?

[TIME TO PANIC]

28. They know the pitchforks are coming.

[silvershadow]

29. They are losing their minds at the American Spring. nt

[HereSince1628]

35. This ain't what Spring looks like, this is a February Thaw

[silvershadow]

47. hide and watch what happens next :D nt

[HereSince1628]

49. Really, just imagine what Spring may look like...

warm rain trickling through the ashes of a firewall.

[silvershadow]

50. Sounds romantic. lol nt

[HereSince1628]

34. You're clearly smearing Hillary supporters... er, I mean the establishment, er ah..

the power elite, er, umm,...Well, you know!

[PatrynXX]

36. thats horseshit my tea party dad told mom and I twice

for voting for Obama. didn't think Albright would stoop Tea Party that low yeah there are extremists in the party but they aren't from the left

[CharlotteVale]

41. k&r

[retrowire]

42. That is also pissing me off.

Here I am, my FIRST time getting politically involved. I've chosen Bernie. Many people have. And the political machine is clearly floating the idea of putting another candidate in, should Bernie's adversary fail to succeed.

Why not just let the process happen? People want Bernie, let them vote Bernie. What the hell?

[silvershadow]

48. Those forces aren't working for all the people, only the corporate ones (whatever that means). nt

[Nanjeanne]

51. There is such a whiff of desperation right now

It's really amazing to me. This is a woman who is the front-runner. She is a politician through and through. She and her husband have weathered storm after storm. She has heavy-duty political operatives in her campaign. She has all these well-known establishment Congresspeople campaigning for her, appearing on tv for her, writing articles for her. She has the media, both tv and print supporting her. She should be standing tall and talking truth. It would be so much more appealing.

Instead she's clawing and scratching and I simply cannot fathom why she is throwing so much crap against a wall - hoping - praying something will stick. It's like watching someone in quicksand struggling.

I'm a Bernie supporter. But I had hoped that I could comfortably support her if she won the nomination. And I originally thought she would and so I kept saying to myself - support and work for Bernie but (if) when the time comes - support Hillary. I honestly don't feel I can any more. As a Democrat I had hoped she would want the same things I would. Would fight for the same things I would fight for. And I never expected the kind of nastiness that just grows up around her. Between the innuendo, the condescension and the victimization - I'm really tired of saying "I'm for Bernie but I'll support Hillary if she wins". I truly have no idea if I can any more and that makes me so very sad.

[cui bono]

56. I totally agree.

She's looking at this in the completely wrong way if she were a person who was running for the good of the country. If that were the case she would be saying what she believed in and allowing the voters to make up their mind who they decided they want. But she is doing what she thinks she needs to do to win, because that is the end game for her, not what the voters want, but what she wants, which is to be president.

I posted the following earlier regarding the thoughts about if a Bernie supporter can support her if she were to pull off a win:

At least half of the party membership wants their party back from the DLC/Third Way corporate friendly leadership. If we get a 'pre-selected' candidate who doesn't represent the people and carries water for banksters and insurance companies and we don't want that anymore it's no one's fault for people not showing up than those who pushed Hillary on us and supported her.

The oddest thing is that Hillary and her supporters are trying so hard to convince us that she's a progressive and they claim they want progressive policy. If that is so, then get behind Sanders, because all his policies are actually progressive. He's shown he is a viable candidate. There is no more reason to support Hillary over Sanders when his policies are exactly what the Democratic Party was founded upon.

We want the party to get back to its roots. We don't want a corporate friendly party anymore that takes care of banksters and makes the people bail them out rather than the other way around. That's supposed to be the GOP's job.

If you shove something undesirable to people and they reject it, it's time to think about giving them someone they can be proud to vote for.

.

[jonestonesusa]

62. Excellent post. eom

[raouldukelives]

59. Wall St must not be allowed to lose.

Who knows what the real numbers are, who knows what they may be hiding, who will keep the long con going?

One thing is for sure. Bernie scares the bejesus out of them.

[Zorra]

63. The true colors of the oligarchs are the colors of currencies, and the lily white

of the long established Euro-American status quo of the white supremacist authoritarian male.

They will not give up their place and long established order without using every advantage and device they have at their disposal, no matter how duplicitous and unseemly. Democracy must be prevented at all cost.



"I do not admit... that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America, or the black people of Australia... by the fact that a stronger race, a higher grade race... has come in and taken its place." - Winston Churchill