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Tag: 2016 democratic presidential candidates
Bernie Sanders Legitimizes Those Damned Superdelegates

Bernie Sanders Legitimizes Those Damned Superdelegates

Considering how loudly the Sanders campaign has complained about the nominating role of superdelegates – a group of 712 Democratic party and elected officials appointed rather than elected to the convention — Bernie’s current plea for them to deliver victory to him instead of Hillary Clinton carries a strong whiff of…expediency.

Over the past few months, Sanders supporters have inundated print and airwaves with angry denunciations of the superdelegate system as elitist, unfair, undemocratic, biased against their candidate, and fundamentally illegitimate. Many observers agreed that they had a point (although to me the caucus system seems worse). The most fanatical Berners in the press even openly accused party officials of plotting to “steal” the nomination. Most Sanders voters seemed to view superdelegates just as dimly as big corporations and billionaire donors, elements of a discredited system ripe for “revolution.”

And since last winter, major progressive organizations that support the Vermont senator, such as MoveOn.org and Democracy for America, have circulated petitions demanding that all of the superdelegates cast their convention votes for the candidate that won a primary or caucus in their respective states. Sponsoring the DFA petition was none other than Robert Reich, the economic commentator and former Clinton labor secretary Robert Reich.

Having gathered more than 400,000 signatures total, the petition sponsors now find themselves awkwardly in conflict with their own candidate, who said on May 1 that the superdelegates supporting Clinton should switch to him – regardless of who won their home states.

But that was then and this is now, as a cynic would observe. Beyond his disorderly abandonment of what was previously advertised as democratic principle, Sanders has now validated the role of the superdelegates, no matter whom they ultimately choose. By urging them to deliver the nomination to him, he is agreeing that their votes alone can determine the validity of a presidential nomination, even if that means overturning the popular vote (where Clinton leads him by around three million ballots or so).

Coming from a candidate whose campaign and supporters righteously criticize Clinton for insincerity and flip-flopping, this latest strategy is refreshingly pragmatic (to put it politely). Yet more than a few #FeelTheBern activists can still be heard complaining about those dastardly establishment superdelegates. Evidently they haven’t gotten the memo yet, explaining that the supers are now supposed to anoint Sanders.

Dowdgate? Biden Insists Deathbed Scene With Son Beau Never Happened

Dowdgate? Biden Insists Deathbed Scene With Son Beau Never Happened

Not every day does the Vice President of the United States accuse America’s most respected newspaper of publishing a falsehood about him and his family. Over the weekend that is what Joe Biden alleged, posing a difficult problem for The New York Times.

Appearing on CBS 60 Minutes, Biden denied that the affecting deathbed scene between him and his older son Beau, as famously recounted by Times Op-ed columnist Maureen Dowd, had ever occurred. Dowd’s sensational August 1 column sparked a media conflagration, fired up the “draft Biden” movement, and the scene, not incidentally, was reported on the paper’s front page that same Sunday.

According to Dowd, Beau Biden on his deathbed “had a mission: He tried to make his father promise to run, arguing that the White House should not revert to the Clintons and that the country would be better off with Biden values.” But according to Joe Biden, it didn’t go down that way at all.

Asked by correspondent Norah O’Donnell about the conversations he had with Beau about running for president, he replied:

Well, first thing I’d like to do, and you’re being very polite the way you’re asking me the question because some people have written that, you know, Beau on his deathbed said, “Dad, you’ve got to run,” and, there was this sort of Hollywood moment that, you know, nothing like that ever, ever happened…Beau all along thought that I should run and that I could win…there was not what was sort of made out as kind of this Hollywood-esque thing that at the last minute Beau grabbed my hand and said, ‘Dad, you’ve got to run, like, win one for the Gipper.’ It wasn’t anything like that.

While the facts behind this bizarre drama remain mysterious, the motivations seem obvious. Certainly Dowd, whose corrosive hatred of Hillary Clinton is the stuff of soap opera, wanted to encourage the entry of Biden into the Democratic presidential primary (as did many of her colleagues in the Beltway press corps). As for Biden, the dramatic scene in Dowd’s column encouraged supporters and sympathizers to rally behind his possible campaign, which may explain why he failed to shoot down the story until now.

While the vice president allowed this anecdote to persist for two months — notably failing to deny it when he appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert or when Politico reported that he was its source — he seems to have no compelling reason to prevaricate about the matter now.

That leaves a big dark cloud of doubt over Dowd and the Times editors. (In today’s edition, a story on an inside page about Biden’s 60 Minutes interview glancingly notes his denial of “news reports about conversations with his dying son,” while neglecting to mention the role of the newspaper and its star columnist.) Presumably the public editor, Margaret Sullivan, will inquire how this happened on behalf of perplexed readers. The explanations should be interesting.

Inside Democratic Party, Growing Concerns About Clinton

Inside Democratic Party, Growing Concerns About Clinton

By David Lightman, McClatchy Washington Bureau (TNS)

MINNEAPOLIS — As Democratic Party insiders gather for their summer meeting, there is a growing undercurrent of concern whether Hillary Clinton would be the party’s strongest candidate to keep the White House next year.

They still like and mostly support her. But many are increasingly questioning her handling of official emails while secretary of state and her response to the furor over it. Some worry about her ability to connect with voters. And all this is aggravated by Vice President Joe Biden and his supporters stepping up their soundings on whether to mount a challenge.

The controversy over Clinton’s emails “muddles the thinking of a lot of people,” said Alexandra Rooker of West Sacramento, vice chair of the state party in California.

“The email issue is affecting her campaign,” said Nancy Jacobson, a member of the Democratic National Committee from Orlando, Fla. She urged Clinton to offer an explanation with “simplicity and clarity.”

Clinton will address the Democratic National Committee meeting in Minneapolis on Friday. As party members gathered Thursday, Clinton support was easy to find.

But so was nervousness about her viability as a general election candidate. A new Quinnipiac University poll Thursday, for example, showed Biden doing better than her against potential GOP opponents Donald Trump, Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio.
Party officials most of all want a winner and are open to a Biden bid.

The vice president spoke to DNC members Wednesday in a 40-minute conference call. Asked about a presidential bid, Biden said he was trying to gauge “whether or not there is the emotional fuel at this time to run,” according to two people familiar with the call.

“If I were to announce to run, I have to be able to commit to all of you that I would be able to give it my whole heart and my whole soul, and right now, both are pretty well banged up,” CNN reported Biden as saying. Biden’s son, Beau, died earlier this year.

The conference call was arranged ostensibly so that Biden could discuss the Obama administration’s Iran nuclear deal. It also proved a reminder of his role as a key Obama lieutenant and showcased his expertise on a complex national security issue.

Biden has recently stepped up his consideration of a third run for the Democratic nomination. Saturday, he had lunch with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a favorite of the party’s liberal wing. Thursday, he reportedly met with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.

Biden supporters are expected at the DNC meeting this week. Party officials said the Draft Biden 2016 committee, which is not formally affiliated with the vice president, is seeking meetings with members. Josh Alcorn, former top political aide to Beau Biden, joined the draft group this month.

Clinton is pressing hard, too. About two dozen volunteers, waving Clinton signs, were strategically positioned where DNC members gathered for meetings. Some officials said they expect to meet privately with Clinton here on Friday. They want to hear more about the email controversy.

Another concern: Clinton has so far failed to make much of an emotional connection to voters.

“I do hear that a fair amount, even among people for her,” said Donald Fowler of South Carolina, national party chairman during part of Bill Clinton’s administration.

Biden has that warmth, as well as longstanding political and emotional connections to this group. They gratefully recall his leadership roles over the years in championing tougher domestic violence laws, stricter tougher gun control and gay and civil rights, and more.

“He has a particular bond with a lot of folks in South Carolina,” said Jaime Harrison, chairman of the state party in South Carolina.

In Iowa, site of the first 2016 caucus, Biden is also well-liked, though he lost badly in the state’s Democratic caucus when he ran in 2008.

“There are some very loyal Biden people here,” said Andy McGuire, Iowa Democratic chairwoman.

Remember, said insiders, it’s still early in the presidential process and most voters are far from deciding. “We’re focused on North Carolina. What’s happening elsewhere is not affecting us yet,” said Patsy Keever, North Carolina Democratic chairman.
Clinton has tried to defuse the email controversy, earlier this month turning over to the Justice Department a server that has stored her email traffic since a few months after she left the State Department in early 2013.

Her lawyer also handed over a thumb drive containing copies of her official email. Clinton turned over 30,490 official emails to the State Department in December, and in March said she simultaneously deleted more than 31,000 personal emails.

State Department officials first found classified information in Clinton’s official emails last May, long before the controversy reached its current fever. It’s uncertain what she and her lawyer did in the ensuing weeks to fully secure the sensitive data, McClatchy has found. It also reported that her top aides are part of a federal probe into possible security breaches. Two emails on Clinton’s private account have since been classified above “Top Secret.”

When Clinton appeared at a Democratic gala with her presidential rivals in Iowa Aug. 14, she joked about the emails. The next day, she offered a vigorous defense during a news conference at the Iowa State Fair, saying she never sent classified material on her email and never received any classified information. And, she said, voters do not raise the issue.

That’s the general take of many of her supporters. “This will blow over,” said former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell.

Except so far it hasn’t, and that leaves an opening for Biden, if not someone else.

“A lot of folks out there are still looking at all the candidates,” said Scott Brennan, Iowa national committee member.

Photo: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton addresses union members as she tours the Carpenters International Training Center in Las Vegas, Nevada August 18, 2015. (REUTERS/David Becker)