During the 2016 democratic primary season I have learned that it is not at all democratic with 400+ super delegates pledging to vote for Hillary Clinton before a single public ballot was cast. And secondly, to the point of this article; so called news media have been misrepresenting the race from the very start, counting super delegates before they have even voted and are planning to raise Clinton’s hand in victory on Tuesday, June 7 at 8pm EST despite in all likelihood not passing the 2383 pledged delegate mark.
All US news media outlets have consistently included super delegates in the election results, exaggerating Clinton’s lead over Bernie Sanders, giving the impression that Sanders has no chance of winning the nomination; potentially swaying millions of voters who were on the fence towards Hillary’s yard. As I write this, Clinton’s real lead is only 290 pledged delegates, not a 792 delegate lead that the likes of CNN, MSNBC, FOX and AP are reporting. Super delegates don’t vote until the Democratic convention in July.
I am an unashamed Bernie Sanders supporter and I want him to stay in and fight to the bitter end. But I am also a realist; I know he faces a real uphill battle to turn the super delegates he needs to clinch the nomination. As mentioned Sanders is 290 pledged delegates behind; but there are 714 pledged delegates to play for this Tuesday; with a big enough margin, Sanders can, not only stop Clinton from getting the required number of delegates, but could take the lead in the race to be presidential nominee.
Let’s be realistic, the vast majority of super delegates are establishment through and through; they will vote for Hillary Clinton come hell or high water. They really, really don’t want a progressive socialist democrat being their nominee for president, Sanders wants to end their gravy train; end big money influencing our political system, that thing we laughingly call democracy here in the United States.
Do I think Sanders can convince enough super delegates to switch at the convention? No, not a chance in hell, but the movement has started. Thankfully the younger members of society ignore establishment cable news and consume online content instead, which is much more progressive. Thanks to progressive websites like US Uncut, Represent Us and online streaming services like The Young Turks, the large, growing progressive population can get real political information about the current situation.
Any news network proclaiming Hillary Clinton winner of the Democratic nomination for president on Tuesday night should be ashamed of themselves for willfully misleading America; none of these people can legitimately call themselves journalists if they willingly misrepresent the facts. The nomination will happen in Philadelphia on July 25th thru 28th and not before. The establishment media will strengthen the resolve of the Sanders supporters and potentially lead to the US having it’s first orange president.
Bottom line here, the news media is supposed to be there to report the facts, not use their influence to further their chosen candidates agenda. Some CNN political analysts are actually working for companies retained by the Clinton’s for heavens sake. At no point did CNN disclose this to it’s viewers, effectively misleading millions of potential voters. This is not unbiased reporting of the facts, it’s propaganda.
