2016 Postmortem

TalkingDog

(9,001 posts) Fri May 20, 2016, 06:05 PM May 2016

Today in - History Rhymes, But Doesn't Repeat - Aristocracy: "The peasants are revolting!"

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/05/20/establishment-collectively-stunned-see-citizens-reject-rigged-democratic-primary

Democratic Party leaders accuse Bernie Sanders and his presidential campaign of inciting “violence” among supporters by promoting allegations that the primary process is rigged in favor of his opponent, Hillary Clinton. Surrogates for Clinton and pundits, who favor Clinton, have ramped up their attacks on Sanders for maintaining a robust campaign, even though the last votes have yet to be cast in the primary.

Much of the pressure to rein in supporters stems from a belief that Sanders no longer has a right to run in the primary, and that he is now a spoiler candidate in the race. The pressure has ramped up in the aftermath of the chaos at the Nevada State Democratic Party’s convention, which was largely provoked by how it was handled by chairwoman Roberta Lange.

snip

Yet, there are several examples of how the Democratic presidential primary is and has been rigged: hundreds of superdelegates pledged their allegiance to Clinton before votes were cast in Iowa, a limited number of debates were scheduled to ensure voters had the least amount of exposure to Clinton opponents, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Clinton campaign falsely accused the Sanders campaign of “stealing” voter file data, the Hillary Victory Fund has funneled millions of dollars through state parties to the DNC, and Democratic women supporting Sanders have faced forms of retaliation.

Senator Harry Reid called the president of the Culinary Workers Union in Nevada for the sole purpose of ensuring “tens of thousands of casino workers” would not have to work on the day of the caucuses. The union president did Clinton a favor, let workers off with pay, and workers from six major Las Vegas casinos showed up to help make certain Clinton did not lose.