From left, Democratic presidential candidates, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.,former Vice President Joe Biden, former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., stand on stage before a Democratic presidential primary debate Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020, in Las Vegas, hosted by NBC News and MSNBC. (AP Photo/John Locher)
How long have we been hearing from Democrats attacking the Electoral College?
One person, one vote! Electoral College is horrible and undemocratic! We need to pass the National Popular Vote compact to get around it!
Except when push comes to shove, it sounds like the Democratic candidates running for the presidential nomination are not supportive of “democracy” when it applies to them and might not operate to their benefit.
During the debate on Wednesday night, NBC’s debate moderator Chuck Todd asked the question.
NBC cut this section out of their Youtube upload. Share it, download it, re-post it, spread it like wildfire. Make sure they can’t make it disappear. pic.twitter.com/ZZ1Rh8a8ho
— Nathaniel Foley (@NathanielKFoley) February 20, 2020
From Daily Wire:
“Theres a very good chance none of you are going to have enough delegates at the Democratic National Convention to clinch this nomination,” debate moderator, NBC News’ Chuck Todd noted. “If that happens,” he went on, “I want all of your opinions on this, should the person with the most delegates at the end of this primary season be the nominee even if they are short of a majority?”
Every one of them, except Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), said that they would not accept who was leading with the most votes/delegates at that point if it didn’t meet the threshold needed, that they would throw it to a brokered convention and votes involving the super delegates. “Let the process work its way out” was the most common answer. You mean like the Electoral College that we have but you attack?
“I think the will of the people should prevail. Yes, the person with the most votes should become the nominee,” Sanders said, tacitly admitting that he would be the Democratic candidate most likely affected by the decision to take the convention to a second — or even a third — vote.
“To win the party nomination, a candidate needs to secure a majority of pledged delegates: 1,991,” The Hill reports, explaining how a brokered convention might work (emphasis added). “But because of a new rule implemented by the Democratic National Committee, reaching that number could be challenging for White House hopefuls.”
“The [DNC’s] rule states that superdelegates — including Democratic leaders and lawmakers — could vote on the first ballot at the convention, helping to boost candidates who had a plurality of delegates. But because of the new rule, those delegates are not eligible to vote until the second round.”
Sanders got locked out of the race in 2016 because of the hold that Hillary Clinton had on the super delegates which basically put a foot on the scale and gave her the advantage. His supporters haven’t forgotten how that was used against him and they were furious that it might be pulled out at the last minute to work again.
Naturally, this infuriated the Bernie Bros and Sanders’ various surrogates.
— Lisa Says #WomenForBernie ???? (@Torchlight_lms) February 20, 2020
— J. B. III (@Inc02) February 20, 2020
The Democrats are undemocratic.
Superdelegates are undemocratic. pic.twitter.com/2hDpmj07WD— VoteBlueNoMatterWho? #VoteBernieNow! (@NegCovfefePress) February 20, 2020
Out of all the candidates, Bernie is the only one to advocate for the democratic will of the people – he wants your vote to count more than a superdelegate’s #DemDebates
— DSA ???? (@DemSocialists) February 20, 2020
Bernie Sanders was the only candidate with the RIGHT ANSWER re: should the person with most delegates going in to the convention get the nomination – YES, let the will of the people prevail. #DemDebate
— Linda Sarsour (@lsarsour) February 20, 2020
What’s fascinating about all this is that the Republican Party doesn’t have the “untethered” super delegate system the Democrats have, they are literally more democratic than the Democrats. Hillary was able to have delegates committed to her far in advance of any vote.
