Written By:
Anthony R0bins - Date published:
4:32 pm, July 27th, 2016 - 69 comments
Categories: us politics -
Tags: bernie sanders, hillary clinton, jill stein
Quite a day for the Democrats and their convention in Philadelphia.
Hillary Clinton made history, being confirmed as the first woman candidate (from a major party) for president – congratulations to her.
Unfortunately for Clinton, however, too many chickens are coming home to roost. Sanders supporters, despite Bernie himself committing support to Clinton, staged a walk-out in protest over the tactics revealed in the DNC email dump and aspects of the convention process. Up to 1000 delegates left the convention, and took part in various protests – see the very active Twitter hashtag #DNCWalkOut – (which for some reason never made the “trending” list).
Protestors recently converged in FDR park and were given a rousing impromptu address by Green presidential candidate Jill Stein. She will be the main beneficiary of this chaos – along with Trump of course.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JO41AStCYPM
https://twitter.com/Twitrauma/status/758126959767326720
https://twitter.com/sci_solar/status/758117863441825792
Still marching with the people after the #DNCWalkout. Chants of #JillNotHill echo through the streets. #DemExit pic.twitter.com/Zjq7AdTBzN
— Dr. Jill Steinđť (@DrJillStein) July 27, 2016
It’s coming together nicely. Bill Clinton spoke as only he can, and with the fair-weather democrats not in the hall, the lasting impression will be of laughter, joy and rapturous applause. A great day for Hillary Clinton personally and for the campaign generally.
Seriously?
Yep, all on track in the Thorndon Bubble/DC Beltway parallel universe that these establishment lefties inhabit.
1/2 empty ?
Even if 1000 Berners walked out, that only makes 21%. They never could count
So it official then, you guys are going to run with the continued put downs then?
Oh no, that would be like just planning a run a negative campaign because there is so little positive to say about the candidate. Te Reo has been listing all of Hilary’s political assets, so far that is (as best I can glean)
1) She’s a woman.
2) Her husband is Bill Clinton.
If that’s not sufficient for you to make up your mind then I don’t know what is…
21% of the Democratic Party’s youngest, most energetic, most innovative organisers and most promising future party leaders from each and every state.
It would be typical of a Thorndon Bubble type like you to shrug and say “they could never count”.
Im sure they will fill the hall with suitable attired Hillary lovers and they will look like a 100% singing from the same songsheet.
I cant really see too many of the walkout crowd and their friends voting Trump, but I can see Dr Stein getting a lot more votes.
As I understand the US system, if no candidate gets to 50% in the POTUS election, the Congress get to choose who will be POTUS and Im not sure they are restricted to those standing.
Congress is controlled by the Republicans, so I wouldnt assume that given unbridled power, that they would automatically choose Trump.
Exciting times for sure. And maybe dangerous one too.
The twelfth amendment says the house of representatives has to choose from the top three placegetters in the electoral college vote. One vote per state delegation. The senate chooses the VP from the top two, with all senators voting. So they can’t just go out and pick anybody. But they just might choose Johnson over Trump.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelfth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
Thanks for the accurate info. Much appreciated.
Bernie Sanders’ speech for me was extraordinary. I took notes as I was so impressed with his vision and by the detail with which he outlined the common cause which he had with Hillary Clinton.
These are the notes I took. I hope they may inspire similar policies here.
“Points of action outlined by Bernie Sanders in his address to the DNC.
The political revolution for economic, social, racial, environmental justice must continue in America.
The 40 year decline of the middle class must be arrested.. What must change is the fact that 47 million US citizens live in poverty while 85% of new income goes to the top 1%.
$10.45 cents an hour not enough. Wages are inadequate. A person working for 40 hr a week should not be living in poverty. The minimum wage must be raised to equal a living wage- more than $7.25 as it is now.
Millions of new jobs to rebuild infrastructure are needed.
The Citizens United Supreme Court decision allowing the wealthiest to threaten democracy in buying elections must be overturned. Justices will be elected to the Supreme Court to overturn this decision. The movement towards oligarchy must be ended.
Womenâs right to choose, workersâ rights ,LGBT rights, rights for minorities , immigrants and the environment must be enacted.
Proposal to revolutionise higher education- guarantee children of family below $125,000 pa or less will go to public college or Uni free. 83% of the US population will benefit. Substantially reduce student debt.
Environment change is needed. 100,000s jobs to be created, transforming the energy system.
Work towards universal health care, reducing number of poorly insured or those uninsured. 55+ should be able to opt onto medicare. Millions are denied access to primary care, dental care lower cost prescriptions, health centres, mental counselling. This will change. The high cost of prescription drugs- highest prices in world- means 20 million unable to afford prescription drugs whilst companies make huge profits.
Immigration reform. Broken criminal justice system reformed. For young, good school and good jobs- invest in jobs and education, not more cells to rot in.
Diversity is one of the USâs greatest strengths- diversity is strength, standing together to create a country we all know that we can become. Realise that democracy is about different opinions, even within the Party.
Break up Wall St financial institutions. Pass a new 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act.
TPP trade killing agreements should not to be passed.”
Not a bad blueprint for any left of centre party.
I’m not afraid to stick my neck out on this one.
First, I concede I don’t know the details of these email leaks, but as far as I can gather -and in a nutshell – a very senior Democrat employee ( a woman I know that much) suggested a ‘dirty tricks’ campaign to discredit Bernie Sanders. We know all about Dirty Tricks campaigns but there’s one big difference. In NZ the perpetrators carried it out. In the US Democratic party, as far as I can see it didn’t happen. There was bias towards Hillary Clinton but did anyone imagine there wouldn’t be? There isn’t a major political party anywhere where the Party elite don’t have a preferred candidate in mind.
I noted on the opening night that the vast majority of Bernie supporters were under the age of 25. I say to them it’s time they grew up and started thinking with their heads. Has there been any evidence that Hillary Clinton was a part of the suggested campaign and approved of it’s usage? Not as far as I can tell. As the actress said to the…..
STOP BEING RIDICULOUS.
I think you may be underplaying it a little Anne.
Here’s the Wikipedia summary of what has been revealed so far:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Democratic_National_Committee_email_leak
Wikileaks has indicated there is more to come.
The essential point was the DNC was meant to be neutral with regards to the process and it clearly wasn’t. There appears to be systemic bias towards Clinton and attempts to influence media by smearing Sanders campaign and campaign personnel. No direct evidence of outright manipulation of the voting process in the Primaries & Caucuses but certainly obstruction and hinderance placed in the way of the Sanders campaign. It is certainly not a good look.
“a very senior Democrat employee ( a woman I know that much) suggested a âdirty tricksâ campaign to discredit Bernie Sanders.”
She didn’t suggest it herself, actually. She wasn’t directly involved in it, but set up the culture where this was discussed.
OK. I stand corrected. My knowledge of the details are sketchy as I said.
I cannot describe how annoyed I am at your statement Anne. OK, I admit you are a veteran political activist. But any 25 year old can tell when they are being royally screwed, and they don’t need you to provide cover for the a**holes doing the screwing.
Does that answer your question of whether or not Hillary Clinton approved (and probably collaborated with) Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s corrupt and underhanded behaviour?
And if Clinton wins, what’s the bet that Wasserman Schultz gets a nice political posting in her new administration.
http://observer.com/2016/07/clinton-rewards-wasserman-schultzs-shady-behavior-with-new-job/
… any 25 year old can tell when they are being royally screwed, and they donât need you to provide cover for the a**holes doing the screwing.
To begin with I said the supporters were under the age of 25 – quite different. And good on them. Reminds me of ‘me’ 40 plus years ago. They will grow wiser over time just as I did.
I don’t provide cover for “arseholes” and I never suggested as much. I’m a Sanders fan not a Clinton fan, but I do care about what will happen to the world if a megalomaniac is elected president of America.
Great 2 weeks for US democracy.
And fantastic mobilization for Hillary.
Loved Michelle and Bill.
Supporting lifetime criminals The Clintons, while openly ‘loving’ the performance of an impeached and disgraced former POTUS, who is, at best, a womanizer extraordinaire
There are some low levels of consciousness on this site
A little dog known for its yappin’,
And snappin’ and flappin’ and crappin’,
Scratching at fleas,
Spreading dis-ease,
Pot howling at kettles to blacken.
Have you read this?
I recommend it.
Good to see the left going to the Greens.
About time too.
For too long the liberal elites in the democratic party have swooned at the altar of the corporations.
This is not so much burn, as the a new dawn of left and finally some hope for a better future.
Don’t play the card trump, the democrats brought this on themselves.
Plus, the right have had their own democracy spring as well. Just look how well the Libertarians are doing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOL0REJmgRQ
Protests getting more Dangerous Outside the DNC. Cops Get Pushed back.
footage from 3 hours ago from posting
They were arresting Bernie supporting 8 foot fence jumpers today. (The fence was 8 feet high not the Bernie supporters…)
I saw Nate Silver have a little wobble about a poll saying Trump was in the lead this week.
Convention bumps are common: even Walter Mondale caught Ronald Reagan in the polls following the 1984 Democratic – before getting smashed like a month-old apple against a brick house.
Yeah, but you also need to look at things on a Pollster-by-Pollster basis.
Here’s CNN’s overview of its post-GOP Convention Poll published a couple of days ago:
It’s at this stage that for the record, I would like everyone to note that the Democratic establishment had the option of going with a democratic socialist candidate who would slaughter Trump in November by double digits.
And they went with the far weaker ‘glass ceiling’ breaking candidate instead.
“You also need to look at things on a Pollster-by Pollster basis”
Which is what Nate Silver does – to a much greater extent that any other polling organisation in the States; using mathematical modelling techniques that are considerably more sophisticated than the other pollsters.
Hold your breath until they’ve both had conventions.
Your match ups are otherwise meaningless.
I’m betting that Clinton’s numbers are going to go down lol
It’s diabolical that the presidency is likely to be decided on the timing of respective gaffes / exposition of faux or mini-scandal etc. That’s what happens when both candidates are so divisive. That wouldn’t be the case if Sanders were one of them.
“⌠There hasnât been a significant post-convention bounce in CNNâs polling since 2000 ⌔
Which actually doesn’t mean much. In 2014 I was sure the polling for National would overstate their result by 2-3% as it had done for the previous 3 elections, giving Labour a slim chance to form a coalition.
But as it turned out, the polling was very accurate for National. The track record of the prior 3 elections didn’t play out again in 2014.
So just because CNN’s polling methodology in the past didn’t show convention bumps, doesn’t mean the fact that it is showing one now should be particularly important, given how much time has passed since those other elections.
“In 2014 I was sure the polling for National would overstate their result by 2-3% as it had done for the previous 3 elections, giving Labour a slim chance to form a coalition.
But as it turned out, the polling was very accurate for National. The track record of the prior 3 elections didnât play out again in 2014.”
True. Although bare in mind that both National’s pollster, Curia, and Labour’s pollster, UMR, recorded a roughly 2 point swing to the Nats in the final few days. As Farrar has said – the National hierarchy attributes that crucial late boost to Dotcom’s Big Reveal. Without that, you may well have seen the same over-estimation. (one-way swings to that degree are fairly rare in the final week of the campaign … the 1993 “Bugger the Pollsters” Election being one of the few other examples in recent times).
Bare in mind, too, that the Nats were polling 50% or more in quite a few polls from May right through to August and even three (50% / 53% / 54%) in early September, just 2-3 weeks out from Election Day.
Or … you could even bear it in mind.
Two point swing to the NATs due to Dotcom…odd how the Labour caucus blamed Cunliffe for that.
If you want to see more of Jill Stein, here’s a great interview, done straight after she did another rousing speech a couple of days ago. That’s probably why it’s so good. Starts at 6:15
very good. Do you know what was her earlier speech that the interviewer referred to?
Oh, that’s the speech at the beginning of the clip – the first 6 mins.
oh right, of course, doh!
Sabine said that 150 sour faced Bernie die hards walked out and they didn’t count for shit.
I imagine that the repercussions of today’s DNC Convention are going to reverberate, and reverberate loud.
As for Trump’s polling.
The electorate absolutely hates disunity. A week a go that was the Republican’s problem. No one remembers that any more.
150?
Nonsense.
http://www.cleveland.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/07/dnc_2016_bernie_sanders_suppor.html
4 brutal poll numbers that greet Hillary Clinton at the Democratic National Convention
Washington Post story before the latest turmoil …
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/07/25/4-brutal-poll-numbers-that-greet-hillary-clinton-at-the-democratic-national-convention/
I read something somewhere (it may even have been a link from something posted here – perhaps 538?) that said Trump & Clinton are the 2 most unpopular Presidential candidates in decades.
It really does seem a case of holding your nose when you vote!
Of course the US should ditch it’s antiquated system and elect a President on a popular vote with runoff elections to get a candidate over 50% – perhaps like, oh I dunno, Russia! đż
I am predicting that by the end of August, Trump will smell like roses (relatively) in terms of disapproval ratings.
Perhaps a Preferential Vote election. Would also help their democracy greatly if they did STV or MMP for Senate and Congress.
“Untrustworthy and dishonest”? That’s not what Politifact says. In fact, they currently have Clinton rating at 71% true(ish). http://www.politifact.com/personalities/hillary-clinton/
Please note that Sanders is 72% (an improvement on his previous rating).
http://www.politifact.com/personalities/bernie-s/
And our beloeved Mr Trump? A whopping 29%! http://www.politifact.com/personalities/donald-trump/
Let’s look at some real polling results from a few days ago shall we, instead of some synthetic metric which ignores what actual people think?
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/25/politics/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-poll/index.html
But then only 70% of the citizens of the USA think CC is real. Admittedly an improvement following the massive droughts they have been suffering this past year, but still 30% deny, and that is enough for the 80 odd republican senators to hold up any real intergovernmental policy on climate change.
It’s vaguely a democracy (of sorts) right? 70% sounds like the basis for a huge majority.
Yeah – very vaguely a democracy
Noam doesn’t think it is:
Bernie is trying to extract the max policy concessions from the DNC on various issues; but really if he could not be VP nominee he should then have run Green or independent, and all you political geniuses that follow US politics intimately can squeal at me but Bernie was the more likely to be able to defeat Trump
Strategically he was probably better off being inside the tent and trying to drag the Democrats as far left as he could (and let’s not forget he got very close to winning the nomination).
The only way he could have run as a Green or Independent and had a shot would be if the US reformed its Presidential voting system away from the antiquated one it has now.
Perhaps his legacy may be a slate of new Democrats who move the party to the left.
Chris Hedges.
Saying it as it is.
Listen from 2:30 to 7:10, from 11:35 to 14:45, from 25:00 to 28:05 and from 29:15.
Nope. Imo, Robert Reich is right on the button. Sane and sensible reasoning.
Hedges explains his thinking.
Chris Hedges:
An interesting counterfactual – what if Trump was knocked out earlier on by the Elephant Establishment (as everyone expected) and Jeb Bush was now the Republican candidate, giving the distressed working class vote truly nowhere to go for.
Leaving aside the emails and other dirt, the Clinton brand is pretty tired. The public know to expect more of the same from Hillary – but the same hasn’t worked for them at all. Hope the system gets reformed – I’m expecting a Trump win.
Concur. The writing has been on the wall for a Trump win for awhile, particularly with a Clinton nomination.
Yeah – I think too that Jeb Bush’s chances were killed by his brother as much as anything. There hasn’t been a credible GOP candidate since McCain. There’ll be a lot of protest non-votes from both sides. Russia and China will make hay while the US is paralysed with a surfeit of stupid.
There hasnât been a credible GOP candidate since McCain
Romney got closer to beating Obama in ’12 than McCain did in ’08.
Not everything worth measuring comes down to numbers. Numerically Key could be mistaken for something other than a lying white collar criminal.
I tend to believe numerical results are, as a way of assessing political credibility, a far superior method when compared to relying on a political partisan of the left (right) having a balanced view of a candidate of the right (left).
Like they “truly” have reason to hope with Trump! You truly do continue to amaze, CV. Even if you don’t like Clinton, “My friend’s enemy is my friend” doesn’t hold, here.
Sanders knows damn well that Trump and all that he represents is the real worry. He’s endorsed Clinton and spoken with real passion about the need to reject Trump. They were in competition for the leadership of the Democrats (a party he’s only belonged to for a couple of years) and it’s common in the US for competitors in the primaries to vilify each other, but now’s the time to pull together. He knows this, but it seems his supporters don’t. I really hope they (and we) don’t have to live with the outcome of their (and your) immaturity.
I hope you and your ilk keep demonising ordinary people as being tantrum throwing kids.
It really helps your likability numbers.
PS if the Democratic Party hierarchy had been serious about nominating a candidate who by all the polls would smash Trump in November, they would have picked Sanders.
So please don’t have the gall to blame the rest of us for their shitty short sighted judgement.
They will keep at it CV. Beltway types just don’t seem to get it.
I’ve shared this before (in reply to yourself if I can recall), it still stands. Quote from John Pilger (my emphasis):
” Trump is a media hate figure. That alone should arouse
our scepticism. Trump’s views on migration are grotesque, but
no more grotesque than David Cameron. It is not Trump who
is the Great Deporter from the United States, but the Nobel
Peace Prize winner Barack Obama … The danger to the rest of
us is not Trump, but Hillary Clinton. She is no maverick. She
embodies the resilience and violence of a system… As
presidential election day draws near, Clinton will be hailed as
the first female president, regardless of her crimes and lies
– just as Barack Obama was lauded as the first black president
and liberals swallowed his nonsense about “hope”.”
http://johnpilger.com/articles/trump-and-clinton-censoring-the-unpalatable
While Trump represents a worldview that I generally don’t agree with he’s unlikely to start WW3. Clinton on the other hand…
Also worth referencing:
“The equivalent in the US are the politically correct warmongers on the New York Times, the Washington Post and network TV who dominate political debate. I watched a furious debate on CNN about Trump’s infidelities. It was clear, they said, a man like that could not be trusted in the White House. No issues were raised. Nothing on the 80 per cent of Americans whose income has collapsed to 1970s levels. Nothing on the drift to war. The received wisdom seems to be “hold your nose” and vote for Clinton: anyone but Trump. That way, you stop the monster and preserve a system gagging for another war.”
http://johnpilger.com/articles/silencing-america-as-it-prepares-for-war
IMO Clinton represents the system that is ‘Gagging for another war’. In order to prevent another major or world war Trump must be elected.
While I concur that Hillary has little to offer, the Donald may make concessions to Putin in Europe that allow whole countries to be re-enSlaved by Putinic militarism. The wheels have pretty clearly fallen off Dahlian polyarchy, America looks set for a despotic period.
I do not agree that Putin has any intention of enslaving anyone. IMO Putin is doing what an intelligent elite in his position does and he does it well. Putin is a remarkable politician in that he has maintained popularity whilst holding the hawks + neocons in his own government at bay. Who know’s Russia could end up with a reactive hawk at the helm. Putin isn’t an angel by any mark but he’s no comparison to Clinton.
I believe Putin is a major reason why there hasn’t yet been a major escalation in the US / Russian conflict even though the US and its vassals / proxies have been agitating and inciting Russian responses via encroachment of its interests, overt or otherwise, for years. For example Putin brokered the deal with Syria when Assad was falsely accused of using chemical weapons, for Assad to dispose of his stockpile, averting direct US / NATO intervention (bombing). Ukraine was not invaded after an illegal and overt hostile takeover with swift insertion of delegated quisling and their neo-nazi thugs. Russia has no interest in any conflict with Europe, while recently NATO runs the largest maneuvers since the end of the cold war, near Russia’s border. Who’s the aggressor?
Eventually Putin will run out of political capital and or buckle to internal pressure to respond more forcefully to the US and its NATO quislings. My bet is that should this come to pass, it will be under Clinton. Giving how the US behaves, that means WW3 just got hot.
As for America being set for a despotic period, they’ve already developed a fairly advanced form of Oligarchic Plutocracy masquerading as a Republic, so we’re already there.
While western media parrots blame Russia for warmongering if Moscow conducts military exercises within its own borders.