Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

bigtree

(85,917 posts)
Fri May 27, 2016, 01:38 PM May 2016

Sanders' Superdelegate Hypocrisy

Last edited Fri May 27, 2016, 02:33 PM - Edit history (1)

DemocraticWhore ?@word_34 4h4 hours ago
Sanders apparently had no issue with super-delegates putting Obama over the top in 2008 (before the convention)


Bernie Sanders doesn't like superdelegates. Neither do members of Bernie's staff, nor Bernie's legions of supporters. Superdelegates are unelected, unaccountable, undemocratic. These party elites, who get to vote however they want, shouldn't be counted in assessments of the Democratic primary race. Superdelegates "don't count until they vote, and they don't vote until we get to the convention," Bernie's campaign manager, Jeff Weaver, said on CNN last month.

But, as The Hill reminds us, Sanders didn't always sing the same tune. On June 5, 2008—two days after the last state voted, but before Hillary Clinton dropped out—Sanders pledged his support to then-Senator Barack Obama in an interview with The Burlington Free-Press. The Vermont senator had customarily held off endorsing anyone, the paper explained, until the party had chosen a nominee.

At that point in the '08 race, Obama had the support of 1,766.5 pledged delegates, according to The Hill, while 2,118 total delegates were required to secure the nomination that year. Clinton had 1,639.5. That meant that Obama needed superdelegates to put him over the top and make him the nominee—something Sanders apparently had no issue with at the time. Clinton dropped out two days after that interview, conceding defeat when she was 127 pledged delegates behind.

In the 2016 race, 2,383 total delegates are needed to win the nomination.

Clinton has 1,768 pledged delegates, while Sanders has 1,497. That's a lead of 271 without any superdelegates, with six states plus Washington, D.C., remaining. It's unlikely Sanders will narrow the gap to the 127 that separated Clinton and Obama in 2008, and virtually impossible for him to catch up to her completely. Yet he has promised to go to the convention and force a floor fight for superdelegates.


read: http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a45267/bernie-sanders-superdelegates/

4 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Sanders' Superdelegate Hypocrisy (Original Post) bigtree May 2016 OP
kick bigtree May 2016 #1
So Sanders and his supporters are oppotunistic question everything May 2016 #2
So there is the item in the article that seems to hang the mantle of hypocrite on Bernie Sheepshank May 2016 #3
Also to note rock May 2016 #4

question everything

(47,265 posts)
2. So Sanders and his supporters are oppotunistic
Fri May 27, 2016, 02:48 PM
May 2016

looking for ways to get their way. This is news?

I can't wait to November when they will all crawl back to the stones from where they emerged for one bright shiny moment. Maybe

 

Sheepshank

(12,504 posts)
3. So there is the item in the article that seems to hang the mantle of hypocrite on Bernie
Fri May 27, 2016, 02:59 PM
May 2016

Then there is the issue that he called the SD function unfair, he is courting them to increase his count. And to further add to the hypocrisy, Bernie wishes to nullify the will of the voters, seems to want to suddenly and conveniently ignore Democracy, and have the Super Delegates go against the popular count and caste their vote for him.

rock

(13,218 posts)
4. Also to note
Fri May 27, 2016, 04:56 PM
May 2016

The DNC (with its super delegates) does NOT elect a president (in this case) but rather nominates a candidate for the voters to decide on. They, of course, want some control over who presents themselves as democrats. They may have made a serious error with Bernie Sanders, but that's another issue.

Latest Discussions»Retired Forums»2016 Postmortem»Sanders' Superdelegate Hy...