The news organization took it upon itself to privately poll those 720 unelected super-delegates (wealthy donors, lobbyists, elected officials and party elders) as the basis for their announcement that Clinton has already clinched the nomination. Therefore, there is no need for New Jerseyites and Californians and denizens of smaller Western states and D.C. to even bother showing up to make their voices heard.
Our free and independent beholden press has informed them that their votes will not count.
This is one more indication, as if we needed any more, that American democracy is well and truly dead. The super-delegates pledging their allegiance to the Empress-in-Waiting were not even required by the news organization to give their names. Their anonymity is well protected. It is a slap in the face to even pretend-democracy. Forget Noam Chomsky's theory of Manufactured Consent. They have taken public consent right out of the equation and exposed the ugly old machine innards for all to see.
The announcement of the Clinton nomination is not only premature, it is highly suspect. It is very poorly sourced, to say the least. Who's to say that the AP really even talked to the people owning the weighted votes? Did they verify identities before they trusted?That's just one of the questions we should be asking.
But the announcement that the primary is over before the fat lady sings has White House influence written all over it. President Obama was scheduled to be in New York tomorrow for a plutocratic buck-fest, and the liberal moguls want to be assured that they'll be getting plenty of Clinton bang for their bucks, especially in light of her unpopularity and FBI investigations into who really knows what chicanery.
The fact that the Democratic establishment felt the need to get Bernie Sanders out of the way as quickly and as undemocratically as possible speaks to the dangerous inherent weakness and desperate aspects of the Clinton candidacy. She can't afford the optics of having Bernie win even one ultimately meaningless state primary. It might hurt her chances against the Trumpmonster.
After last night's chicanery, I really don't foresee legions of embittered Bernie Sanders supporters flocking to Hillary's embrace, do you?
The only question left is what will Bernie do? Even a plea from the man himself to vote for Hillary will likely fall upon millions of deaf ears, Trump or no Trump.
Another distinct possibility: Against all the newest manufactured odds,Bernie could still beat in her California and elsewhere, making her premature coronation look even more corrupt and tenuous.
Here's my published comment on the New York Times banner-headlined article announcing this Pravda-like travesty of journalism:
This smacks of Clintonian paranoia and attempted voter suppression, especially in California. Whoever heard of calling a nomination based solely upon an unscientific survey of the unelected superdelegates?
I fault the AP for jumping the gun with this pseudo-scoop. It's just one more piece of evidence that the media is more interested in access and personality politics than in news-gathering and holding the powerful to account.
Everybody already knew that Hillary (despite her flaws) practically has the nomination in the bag. So would it really have hurt for her to save her victory lap until Tuesday night, PDT? This premature seizing of the crown just puts more taint on an already suspect process. It is unfair to both Sanders supporters and Hillary supporters to essentially inform them that their votes have been rendered moot.
When all the votes are counted, and if Hillary does secure the nomination in late July in Philadelphia, I will graciously congratulate her. Until then, we should hold off on the coronation and let what is still left of our democracy run its assigned course.In other news, Hillary was spotted wearing a $12,495 Armani jacket during a recent event on income inequality. Personally, in light of last night's end run around representative democracy, I think the Kim Jong Il couture suits her much better.
