DNC Chair Says Superdelegates Ensure Elites Don’t Have To Run “Against Grassroots Activists”

[WillyT]

Un-Democratic Party: DNC chair says superdelegates ensure elites don’t have to run “against grassroots activists”
Critics say the unelected superdelegate system is rigged. Debbie Wasserman Schultz basically admitted this is true
Ben Norton - Salon
Saturday, Feb 13, 2016 12:30 PM PST


Vice President Joe Biden, right, laughs as he is introduced by DNC Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., at the DNC Women's Leadership conference in Washington, Friday, Sept. 19, 2014. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)(Credit: AP)

<snip>

The Democratic Party’s superdelegate system has come under attack this presidential election, as critics blast it as undemocratic. There are hundreds of superdelegates, unelected party elites, who can sway the primary election, undermining the candidate democratically chosen by the party’s mass base.

Bernie Sanders won the primary election in New Hampshire by a landslide in early February, with 60 percent of votes to Hillary Clinton’s 38 percent. Sanders won every demographic group, excluding rich voters and those aged 65 and older. Yet, although Clinton drastically lost, she ended up leaving with an equal number of delegates. This is because of the superdelegate system.

Sanders won 15 delegates in the primary; Clinton won just nine. But New Hampshire has eight superdelegates — also known as unpledged delegates — and six of these unelected party elites pledged support for Clinton. Despite the fact that Sanders had drastically more votes, therefore, both candidates got an equal number of total delegates.

Because of this system, the Washington Post points out, Sanders could technically win the primary election, earning a majority of the 1,670 delegates determined by actual voting, but still lose the Democratic Party’s nomination, if Clinton gets most of the party’s 712 unelected unpledged delegates.

Critics have begun to ask why this undemocratic system exists. CNN’s Jake Tapper posed precisely this question to Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, an ally of Hillary Clinton who co-chaired her former presidential; campaign, in a Feb. 11 interview. She responded with shockingly blunt honesty.

“What do you tell voters who are new to the process who say this makes them feel like it’s all rigged?” Tapper asked the DNC chair.

“Unpledged delegates exist really to make sure that party leaders and elected officials don’t have to be in a position where they are running against grassroots activists,” Wasserman Schultz calmly explained.

Tapper did not press her on her response. “I’m not sure that that answer would satisfy an anxious young voter, but let’s move on,” he said, and dropped the issue just when it was getting hot.

You can watch Wasserman Schultz’s interview below, from CNN’s YouTube channel:

[leftofcool]

1. Correct! Democrats want Democrats to win the White House

[azmom]

3. Incorrect. The elite want an elite to win the White House.

[plus5mace]

8. Democrats won't win anything if they overturn their own primaries.

I don't think they are dumb enough to try, but we will see.

[TheBlackAdder]

16. Sure they will. They'll win illegitimacy!

[WillyT]

11. By Any Means Necessary... Huh ???

[TheBlackAdder]

17. The Democrat's 2016 version of the Republican ABO campaign... Anybody But Sanders

[Duckhunter935]

2. sickening

[Fairgo]

4. What does the democratic party stand for?

You will know them by their deeds

[Purveyor]

5. Wow she went there did she?

[tk2kewl]

6. Yes she did

[TDale313]

7. Well, I'll give her props for telling the truth.

She needs to go.

[PeoViejo]

9. They don't give a shit what we think.

No need to couch words.

No shame.

[Shandris]

10. Well, it was nice of her to come out and admit it. Not that any of us are surprised, natch.

Oh, I know, I know, actual democracy is so darned messy. Just listen to the wealthy and put them in power, they have your best interests at heart, honest!

[Lucinda]

12. Bernie isn't a grassroots activist. He is a 25 year member of one of the most exclusive

clubs in the world, the US Congress. And he is well aware of the super delegate process.

[JudyM]

13. Hillary should be asked in the next debate whether she thinks this is democracy and if not, to

scrap this system for the election, or release the delgates, or whatever the best process would be.

[MisterP]

15. given what she did with the DNC and Honduras, we should ask her whether she thinks

democracy's a good idea at all

[JudyM]

19. Yes, maybe that should be explicit in the question's framing.

[Warren DeMontague]

14. Millennials suck, Medical Marijuana users belong in prison, and screw the grassroots.

She's gone full on Tony Clifton, I think.

[KPN]

18. Why contribute to the DNC???!!!! This is exactly the kind of stuff ....

that convinced me I should no longer contribute to the DNC. So in the past two years, I've made it a point to only contribute directly to candidates/office holders who represent my views and priorities. ... I would encourage you all to consider doing the same.

Sorry DNC. You've got to clean up your act before I will come back.

[roguevalley]

20. she's a fucking clown. steal the election, riots in the streets