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Super Delegates: Thwarting the Rank and File
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NPR Check
February 17, 2008
Scott Simon was chatting this morning with Tad Devine about Democratic Party super delegates. Simon mentioned that Devine was there at the creation of the super delegates following the 1980 election cycle. Here’s what Devine had to say:
"They were created for a number of reasons…..a feeling at the time that the activists who were getting elected as delegates at the time during the 70s and 80s really didn’t reflect the mainstream of the Democratic Party and that these elected officials [super delegates] would actually be more representative of the mainstream of the Democratic Party. And they were also picked so there would be some mechanism to make sure that there was…a backstop in case someone who was way outside the mainstream was going to be the nominee…."
I about fell out of my chair. This was great. Here was a Democratic Party insider explaining how the super delegate mechanism was created to thwart the voting of the Democratic rank and file activists in the name of some mythical "mainstream" (trans. = center-right, pro-business, etc.) Surely, any interviewer worth his or her salt would home in on these comments, ask some follow-ups, ask for details, clarification, etc. But, I forget, Scott Simon is the one performing this interview.
It would have also been interesting to bring up the string of inspiring "mainstream" candidates that Mr. Backstop has championed. On Devine’s biography, available as a Word document here, we learn that Devine
* “in 1980…worked on President Carter’s reelection campaign as a delegate tracker.”
* “Deputy Director of Delegate Selection in the nomination campaign of former Vice President Walter Mondale and Executive Assistant to the Campaign Manager in the 1984 general election.”
* “served as Director of Delegate Selection and Field Operations in the nomination campaign of Governor Michael Dukakis.”
* “In 1992, Tad Devine was Campaign Manager for Senator Bob Kerrey’s campaign for President.”
* “In the 2000 general election, Mr. Devine served as a senior strategist to the Gore/Lieberman 2000 campaign and oversaw the day-to-day management of the campaign.”
* “In 2004, Mr. Devine served as a senior advisor and strategist to Senator John Kerry’s campaign for President.”
Quite a track record of inspiring (and winning!) candidates and campaigns. A good reporter might have asked if a glance outside the "mainstream" might not have been a good idea…unless that reporter is so steeped in center-right ideology that such a concept wouldn’t even enter his narrow mind.
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February 17th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
boycott the vote this november!!!!!
dont bother voting for Mccain or barack/hillary.
February 17th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
uh oh, I’m wondering now if then the super-delegates will switch to Hillary in case Obama gets too much support.
February 17th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
We must vote to expose the robery of our vote in the election to not vote let the world UN and the world globalist win.
February 17th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
——uh oh, I’m wondering now if then the super-delegates will switch to Hillary in case Obama gets too much support.
Yes, they will. It’s not really significant however since Obama has always been the NWO’s plan B for the democratic party anyway. Haven’t you wondered why we are suddenly offered a chance to elect the first woman president or the first black president AT THE SAME TIME? How could a lefty possibly resist electing an NWO shill under those circumstances? The uninformed with lefty tendencies are supposed to just eat it up, and they are. This is why trying to politically snipe off their key operatives is likely to prove futile. We need to figure out the political equivalent of carpet bombing and damn the collateral damage.
February 17th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
They really should have a vote for “none of the above” like in the richard pryer movie
Ron paul 2008 baby !
February 17th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Write In!
Prez-Ron Paul
VP-Alex Jones.
February 18th, 2008 at 1:42 am
George Says:
February 17th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
Write In!
Prez-Ron Paul
VP-Alex Jones.
HEY! THAT’S MY PLAN TOO! HOPE THE OTHERS WILL DO THE SAME! SEEMS THERE’S A BUTTLOAD TOO MUCH DISENFRANCHISEMENT AMONG Ronny P. PEOPLES. IT’S PISSING ME OFF TO SEE SO MANY LOSE THERE GUTS TO PULL UP THERE PANTS & FIGHT; INSTEAD THEY SEEM TO BE GIVING UP! BUT NOT W/OUT A FIGHT FROM ME: FOR THE ONES I KNOW ANYWAY… C’MON R.P. PEOPLES! DON’T LET IT GET YA DOWN!
REMEMBER… “THE REVOLUTION HAS BEGUN”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
REDPILL BANDIT
February 18th, 2008 at 4:26 am
This is just another reason why voting in this country is a complete farce. The majority of super delagates are former and current government officials who in the past and currently have been bought and paid for. Not to mention how the Federal Election Commission runs and owns are elections. People in this country need to stop being so misinformed and naive. Stop watching network and cable news. All this does is feed u all this BS 24/7. Its a joke to see and hear my fellow citizens buy into any of these puppet candidates like Obama and Hillary. Stop the madness and find out some REAL information about these two. You will never find it in any mainstream forum. Don’t wait until its to late like all the misguided people who voted for Bush… TWICE. Not voting for any of these scum is the far better alternative. When u vote u are endorsing that person. All u would be doing is endorsing the status quo. The status quo is what is destroying our country.
February 18th, 2008 at 8:00 am
HEY AMERICA VOTE OUT ALL INCUMBANTS AND KEEP VOTING THEM OUT UNTIL ONE OF THEM LISTENS AND WALKS THE WALK!!! They work for us and they need to act accordingly.. Power to the peacefull live to love love to live RIO in NC
February 18th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
write in vote,Ron Paul.
February 18th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
if you really want to make a statement not voting is not the way to do it, on the contrary!
vote, but don’t vote for anyone.
casting a blank ballot in your name actually gets counted as a vote of no confidence, so if enough people cast blank ballots, there a chance it could actually get in the news that no one wants one of these pre-picked liars, oh i mean leaders.
February 19th, 2008 at 1:32 am
I don’t see how casting a no confidence vote would do anything to get the news talking about anything. If 100 people went to vote and 95 of them casted a no confidence vote, the msm would only focus on the five people who voted for one of “there candidates”. The only way to get the msm media to notice is not showing up AT ALL. You can’t manipulate votes that aren’t cast.
February 19th, 2008 at 2:56 am
No def better to vote no confidence! If the 10% Ron Paul supporters don’t vote it wont make a blip against all the standard non voting zombies, but 10% no confidence says something!
On the article, the quote is doublethink! How can the opionion of the people not be mainstream??!
He might aswell say the superdelagetes are to prevent the voting process from counting for something, I mean god help us if we get a situation where the medias anoited one dosen’t win!
February 19th, 2008 at 4:16 am
10% of no confidence says something to who? Have u ever heard the msm media announce the % of no confidence votes? They haven’t and they won’t because they don’t care. As long as there is even a small % of people voting(practically is now) they will only mention the votes cast for the bought and sold candidates. The msm media will ignore no confidence votes like they continue to ignore the ever so growing message that Paul is bringing to the table. It would be virtually impossible to ignore empty or near empty voting locations.