Bernie Sanders: Primary isn't 'rigged,' just 'dumb'

[imagine2015]

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/sanders-primary-isnt-rigged-just-dumb/ar-BBtB6Js?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=iehp
Sanders: Primary isn't 'rigged,' just 'dumb'
by Evelyn Rupert
May 28, 2016

Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders rejected Donald Trump's characterization of the Democratic primary system as "rigged," but did give his own harsh assessment.

"Well, I've been very touched by Donald Trump's love for me. But John, you know, with all due respect, I think there may be some aspect of this which he thinks will advantage himself," he told host John Dickerson on CBS News' "Face the Nation" in an interview to air Sunday.

On Thursday, Trump gave "Jimmy Kimmel Live" host Jimmy Kimmel a question to ask Sanders during his appearance on the show. He asked if Sanders would launch a third-party campaign because "both primary systems are rigged, but in particular the Democrats' ridiculous system of superdelegates."

"I wouldn't use the word 'rigged,' because we knew what the rules were," Sanders said on "Face the Nation." "But what is really dumb is that you have closed primaries, like in New York State, where 3 million people who were Democrats or Republicans could not participate. Where you have a situation where over 400 super delegates came on board Clinton's campaign before anybody else was in the race, eight months before the first vote was cast. That's not rigged. I think it's just a dumb process which has certainly disadvantaged our campaign."

Sanders and his supporters have protested the Democratic nomination process, especially the influential role of superdelegates and the limited amount of primaries open to Independent voters.

Sanders also continued to hit Trump for backing out of a proposed debate, saying that he has flip-flopped on the idea.

"I think that is who Donald Trump is, and I think the American people should be very concerned about somebody who keeps changing his mind not only on this debate, but on virtually every issue he's been asked about," he said.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/281619-sanders-primary-isnt-rigged-just-dumb

[liberal_at_heart]

1. From what I've experienced, it's both. At my precinct caucus, we voted on

a change in interpretation to a caucus rule, but were told by the party leaders that if we voted against their interpretation that we would lose all of our delegates. That is not democracy.

[merrily]

3. +1 Sanders may not want to give Trump an inch or discourage voters, but the system and primaries

have no been clean.

It's hard to have confidence when the head of the Iowa Democratic state party peels out with contested caucus ballots in his car without selecting delegates and his license plates say Hillary Clinton 2016, when the head of the DNC comes up with a bizarre debate schedule, etc. Sorry, but it has been obvious to me since 2012 that a coronation was on the agenda. Before Obama even won re-election, people like Shields and Shrum were on TV declaring that the nomination was hers if she wanted it: no one would even challenge her.

When a viable challenger appeared anyway, Plan B went into operation.

See also, http://jackpineradicals.org/showthread.php?12103-Second-merrily-Modest-Proposal-Abolish-Presidential-Primaries&p=75930#post75930