The DNC on Friday said it would drop the donor threshold for the Feb. 19 primary debate in Nevada. The move could open the door for Bloomberg, a billionaire who is refusing any donations to his White House bid, to win a spot at the event.PLUS: "I watched the debate in Iowa here two weeks ago -- the all white debate -- and the fact that the Democratic, the DNC will not allow Cory Booker on that stage, will not allow Julian Castro on that stage, but they are going to allow Mike Bloomberg on the stage? Because he has a billion f*cking dollars!"
Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) presidential campaign ripped the DNC over its new debate qualifications, saying it is supporting “a rigged system.”
“To now change the rules in the middle of the game to accommodate Mike Bloomberg, who is trying to buy his way into the Democratic nomination, is wrong. That’s the definition of a rigged system,” said Jeff Weaver, a senior adviser to Sanders’s campaign....
Entrepreneur Andrew Yang [tweeted] "The DNC changing its debate criteria to ignore grassroots donations seems tailor-made to get Mike Bloomberg on the debate stage in February...."...
Businessman Tom Steyer [said]... “changing the rules now to accommodate Mike Bloomberg and not changing them in the past to ensure a more diverse debate stage is just plain wrong..."
AND: It's not just changing the rules for the debates: "DNC members discuss rules change to stop Sanders at convention/The talks reveal rising anxiety over the Vermont senator's momentum on the eve of voting" (Politico).
Posts
80 comments:
They are right...
If you were Hillary 2020 you would want four or five front runners going into the convention. You would want your people in positions to manage that...
I mean it could be they’d just prefer a front runner that was actually a member of their own party...
Even when you know what the Democratic party is, and who they are, they just have to keep showing you.
If they’re worried about it being rigged now, how will they feel when the superdelegates start playin’ whip-out?
Chuck says he's not reading Althouse today, and is commenting over and over. Althouse says she is tired of rigging and posts twice on it.
Early Groundhog day?
The Democrat party is not very democratic.
I hope there are riots In Milwaukee. The eventual Dem nominee can then bring us together.
Maybe they need a rule that to run in the Democrat primary, you have to be a Democrat: right, Bernie?
Not only are the rules are being changed mid-campaign to accommodate yet another wealthy old idiot (when there are already three in the race), note also that the only significant office Mike Bloomberg ever held he held as a Republican!
the first rule of primary fight club, is you don't talk about primary fight club,
Althouse struggling to maintain a consistent facade here.
I was worried that Sanders's supporters were going to bern Milwaukee. Now I'm hoping they just Bern down the convention!
I have corrupt media/ corrupt Schitt fatigue.
Adam Schitt is like a collective impacted bowel.
Rigged to keep the truth from flowing.
Don't you dare ask him any questions. The rat bastard(D) is above the law.
They needed another old white man at the debate, for diversity.
"'To put a system in proper order for working or use.' That’s the definition of a rigged system,” said a dictionary
They need a game. swing a dead cat and hit the D-money whore. They are all above the law! everyone is a winner!
According to bleach bit bimbo from Brighton Beach, Adam Schiff needs to go on The Joe Rogan all meat projectile diarrhea diet.
Democrats are like that kid you played tag with who, when you tagged him, would say, "no no no! You have to tag me three times before I can be it!" He would constantly change the rules to suit himself. Your only choice was to not play with him.
The Democrat party are spoiled children, who've been spoiled by their bad parents in the media making excuses for whatever they do. Any serious thinking adult who votes for the current Democrat Party is acting like a bad parent.
Wow! Rigged party, and they will never be satisfied in sequence.
They needed another old white man at the debate, for diversity.
@alanc709, the rules were strictly enforced when they kept People of Color off the stage, weren’t they? Do the Dumbocrats not realize how that looks to black and Hispanic voters? Either they think nothing can shake their grip on those voters, or they think they can win them back in the nine months between now and November 3rd.
Michael Moore looks like he's still on his "see" food diet.
Face it, the Democrat Party is all too eager to shove minorities to the back of the bus whenever they cannot be used as pawns.
The "stop-Bernie effort" tag is new. I have 2 old tags of the same type: "the stop-Trump effort" and "the stop-Warren effort."
The stop-Warren effort was successful.
And yet, Democrats turn a blind eye.... And will vote as they are told.
ne should look inwardly, toward stopping oneself, before one looks outwardly, toward stopping others, shouldn't one look?
Can ANYBODY explain how the Democrats think they can get away with this debate nonsense? What possible rationale can there be?
Mike
I thought Democrats had it in the bag now that Hunter is in the clear. They should be happy; they should go with Joe.
If it weren't for the fact that the Democrats are trying to destroy the country to keep power for themselves; and that they are essentially corrupt or just retarded stooges..... I might feel something for their quandary about Sanders/Warren and the slow motion falling apart of their hopes and dreams.
They have created this problem for themselves.
And..... to paraphrase someone else...It takes a heart of stone NOT to laugh at them :-D
When the Democrats screw over Sanders again, they will have well and truly screwed themselves. I just hope they haven't screwed over the rest of us as well.
It's not a certainty that giving Bloomberg exposure in the debate will be good for his prospects. He's not very good on the stump.
Diversity breeds adversity. For the DNC, there can only be one. They will need to decide what flavor of left-wing ideology to normalize. Sanders' color is not favored by the establishment. Clinton was knocked down, too. Obama is still representative of their axis.
tcrosse said...
It's not a certainty that giving Bloomberg exposure in the debate will be good for his prospects. He's not very good on the stump.
Agreed. He is a technocrat, only marginally more inspiring that Zuckerberg. This being said, I cannot see anyone else on either side of the political divide that might actually do something about the the deficit.
This being said, I cannot see anyone else on either side of the political divide that might actually do something about the the deficit.
Oh. Anyone on any side can "do something". The question is what can they do. Most of the policies suggested/threatened by the Democrats are guaranteed to do something. Most likely make it worse and crash the economic boom we have been experiencing for the last 3 years.
The Dems want to destroy our energy and manufacturing sector and increase to unlimited social welfare spending. Those are something. Not good...but something.
Sometimes the best thing is to, do NOTHING.
Or...to put it into Deplorable Language. If it ain't broke...don't fix it.
It is the Republicans who have most recently blown an enormous hole in the budget with the unfunded Ryan/Trump tax cuts, creating trillion dollar deficits for as far as the eye can see.
The stop-Warren effort was successful.
She didn't need much help.
"Sometimes the best thing is to, do NOTHING."
Which has helped our economy and general well being over the past 3 years. Both Republicans and Democrats are busy fighting each other and Trump: and Trump makes it easy for them to do so (deliberately: he's a big target, but he can take it). Keeps the rest of us free to get on with life and actually Keep America Great.
The DNC is in the right here, in my opinion. Bloomberg is outpolling what Booker, Castro, Harris, Gabbard etal were polling when they were in debates. With his support, Bloomberg should be on the stage with the other candidates.
I think Bloomberg, though, has a decision to make here- is it really to his benefit to accept the offer of a position on the stage? I don't think this question has a clear cut answer.
The othe side of this, though- Sanders can use this issue effectively- changing the rules in the middle of the game is going to strike most people as completely unfair. This is one of the reasons I think Bloomberg might well help himself by refusing the DNC offer.
The Senate trial was rigged by and for the Dems.
The Dems got what they want. They are keeping Sanders and Warren from being in Iowa which helps Biden. They also kept the Bidens from having to testify which helps Biden. They whine that they didn't get witnesses but they could have gotten Bolden had they agreed to the Bidens, etc.
They had no hope of getting a two-thirds vote to remove Trump. But they still got plenty.
"It is the Republicans who have most recently blown an enormous hole in the budget with the unfunded Ryan/Trump tax cuts, creating trillion dollar deficits for as far as the eye can see."
Nope. Tax receipts are up since TCJA was enacted. Look it up.
Unfortunately, federal spending is up even more. And it is fair to give Republicans some blame for that. A year ago Trump promised to never again sign an out of balance spending bill. The promise expired in December.
Deficits are real, but please stop blaming a very good tax reform package that, on net, did not cut taxes at all. YMMV, of course.
unfunded Ryan/Trump tax cuts
There is no such thing as "funding a tax cut" or funding a cut in income.
BUT>>>>>Hey..Guess what. How you fund a tax cut?.....stop spending so much.
Now get the Democrats to stop whinging and blocking every time Trump, or anyone else, proposes cutting spending.
Although there is something to be said about cutting taxes that depress economic activity. Those types of tax cuts will increase economic activity and likewise INCREASE revenue which will then be taxed by the existing taxes on that TYPE of revenue.
Economics 101.
“Agreed. He is a technocrat, only marginally more inspiring that Zuckerberg. This being said, I cannot see anyone else on either side of the political divide that might actually do something about the the deficit.”
Oh, you mean tax increases. Threw me for a moment...
Also....when you have a hole in your own budget, you re-calculate your budget and make adjustments. Cut back and tighten your belt. You don't go rob a bank to pay for your bills.
Instead of cutting back and eliminating waste......Increasing taxes on taxpayers to pay for things that they don't necessarily need or even want, is the equivalent of the Government robbing the bank
Dust Bunny Queen said...
How you fund a tax cut?.....stop spending so much.
Which didn't happen. Ryan/Trump lacked the political courage to decrease spending to match the decline in tax revenues, thereby harming the long term prospects of the economy.
The dead hand of Hillary! still grips the DNC. Too bad, so sad (HAH!)
Althouse said...
I just said I have rig fatigue, but here are Democrats saying their own party is rigged, so that's kind of interesting.
I drop in to see them deep into the "death" metaphor, and it was really weird to hear them using death to keep the audience as they broke for commercial. What a nutty promise: More death!
Rig-or-mortis?
If the dead hand running the DNC really is Clinton, then they want Bloomberg on stage not to blunt Sanders, but to blunt Biden. Biden is the candidate that is now most likely to secure the nomination before the convention. Sanders has made a big jump in the last week, but the fact remains that Biden is sure to scoop up massive delegate totals through the non-coastal areas and the big cities with large minority populations. In short, Bloomberg getting more news attention hurts Biden the worst, followed by Buttuvwxyz, Warren, and Sanders the least.
ARM Which didn't happen. Ryan/Trump lacked the political courage to decrease spending
Don't get me wrong. I don't blame the Democrats solely. The Rino Squishy Republicans are also to blame. Trump has been trying, but given the opposition he is facing you can't say it is Trump's fault either.
Everyone squeals when their sacred cow is threatened.
Just listen to the wailing when it is suggested that MILLIONS of illegal aliens jumping onto the welfare roles and stressing out our taxpayer...publicly funded health and education budgets, should be addressed and stopped. OMG THE RACISTS!!! HOW DARE WE. They are all going to vote Democrat so we CAN'T STOP giving them freebies!! Sacred Cow #1
We are hemorrhaging money and no one wants to stop it. Well...Except Trump.
The stop-Warren effort was successful.
You won’t know that for sure until after South Carolina.
This is how political parties operate. I have no problem whatsoever with the Democrats doing everything they can to prevent Sanders from winning. HE'S NOT A DEMOCRAT! I don't know why they let him run for the Democratic nomination when he refuses to identify as a Democrat.
It wasn't all that long ago that candidates were chosen behind doors in smoke filled rooms.
I wrote a comment a few days back- Sanders support is the most solid. However, the range between his floor of support to the ceiling of it is probably the most narrow of the candidates. This is why I don't expect him to win the nomination. What would change my mind would be Sanders sweeping IA, NH, and NV followed by a close second in SC. If he can do that, then my thoughts about the ceiling on his support are wrong.
I think the Democrats actions last night forcing Warren and Sanders to come back to D.C. on Monday morning is the bigger attempt at rigging the process. Honestly, if I were Sanders and Warren, I would refuse to come back, and I would make a point of doing so to the press. Their presence in D.C. isn't needed on Monday, and I do think Schumer did this to keep them out of Iowa on Monday afternoon as a sop to Biden. Both candidates have a chance to give the DNC and Schumer the finger. Will they take it?
that's the part I don't get, people are going to forget what warren and co, stand for, because they're not in iowa, klobuchar cannot said to be memorable in any regard, bennett did he quit the race,
Narciso,
I don't think it will matter to the result whether or not Warren and Sanders are there, but I think the DNC leadership believes it, and it is why the trial didn't end last night- Schumer wanted it running on Monday afternoon. He could have easily made a deal to take Monday off, too, but didn't.
just goes to show, they know little really about what motivates people to choose a candidate even in their party, so they deserve to lose for such a stupid stunt, I think the downside is if sanders doesn't end up first or a strong second, then his glass jaw is cracked,
Steyer is shocked, shocked! that some rich guy would try to buy his way to the nomination.
Trump wins again. Who believes that a party willing to rig the election against their fellow leftists would not be willing to rig the system against the opposing party.
Visibility in the debates for Bloomberg will pull support from the "moderates" in the party. This will draw a few votes away from Biden, Klobuchar and Buttigieg and put Sanders in a slightly stronger position.
Sanders will protest the Calvinball rule changes for good effect but won't make a serious effort to keep Bloomberg off the stage.
Number of posts by ARM lamenting government spending from Jan 2009 to Jan 20, 2016: ZERO
Unexpectedly.
Sometimes ones most "deeply felt principles" arrives "suddenly" with no apparent warning.
ARM: "It is the Republicans who have most recently blown an enormous hole in the budget with the unfunded Ryan/Trump tax cuts, creating trillion dollar deficits for as far as the eye can see."
Tune in tomorrow to see if there are enough zeros in the universe to allow for publishing proposed democrat spending promises!!
Then stay for the infanticide and gun confiscation!!
Rabel: "Sanders will protest the Calvinball rule changes for good effect but won't make a serious effort to keep Bloomberg off the stage."
Our little socialist stooge Sanders makes little yappy sounds all the time but he always shuts up when directed by the dem elites.
Bernie complained that it was unfair that by skipping the debates, Bloomberg wasn't answering questions.
Bernie now complaining that Bloomberg will be answering questions.
Tax rate cuts do not generate deficits. They generate economic activity which generates more revenue to the gov. The IRS is collecting more revenue now than ever before. I have seen this happen three times in my lifetime. With Kennedy, Reagan, and with Trump.
2% GDP growth.
At least Bloomberg is trying to buy the nomination with his own money.
2.3% GDP growth.
That point-three represents about 70 billion dollars.
70 billion dollars of new economic activity.
ARM thinks that point-three is nothing.
The Dems best shot at winning in November was Tulsi Gabbard. (They still may win; it's a long time until then and lots can change.) But Tulsi ripped out and ate the heart of the DNC's Chosen One on live TV, and since then they've done everything they could since to shut her down. She, Yang, and Mayor Pete are representative of the future of the Democratic Party, but the aging swine are fighting hard to keep their heads in the trough.
ARM: "2% GDP growth."
With full employment, rising wages and consumer confidence at a multi-decade high.
Gallup survey on American satisfaction on US economy: 68% positive.
68%
Gee, why arent the dems running ad after ad after ad attacking the Trump economy?.
.....its almost like they know ARM's complaints are moronically off base.
So D contenders feel like R's when Goal Post is kinetic!
Rigged Right v "jury rigged"
Discuss.
I would STRONGLY recommend dems run ads attacking Trumps economy in the midwest battleground states...right after running Green New Deal ads.
Should work like gangbusters.
Bloomberg can make side deal to give Sanders and others more real estate!
The Democrat party has the perfect right to control its own rules and to reject anyone it wants.of course its rigged, it should be rigged. Not just anyone can be elected pope either.
Yancey
Pretty convincing speculations. Remember Reagan's microphone moment? Warren is incapable of such a thing, even with (as here) several days to think about it.
I don’t think there was a “stop Warren” movement. AA was emotionally invested in her prediction Warren would win. Easier to believe in a stop Warren thing than to just admit the woman never had any appeal to normal voters.
Bloomberg has the money to run as an independent. The Dems want to keep him inside the tent. The candidates of diversity don't pose the same threat.
they have weaponized rigging.
Rory at 9:02 AM said what I was going to say, but he did it better than my version.
Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) presidential campaign ripped the DNC over its new debate qualifications, saying it is supporting “a rigged system.”
Except Bloomberg is drawing voters from Biden, not Sanders. So Sanders should be jumping for joy about this
Ann Althouse said...
The "stop-Bernie effort" tag is new. I have 2 old tags of the same type: "the stop-Trump effort" and "the stop-Warren effort."
The stop-Warren effort was successful.
Was it?
https://www.mediaite.com/news/bernie-sanders-fans-leave-iowa-colleges-mock-caucus-in-protest-as-he-gets-trounced-by-elizabeth-warren/
Supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders (I-VT) left a mock caucus at Iowa’s Drake University in protest after Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) won and Sanders failed to meet the event’s “viability threshold.”
With voting in Iowa’s statewide caucuses just a week away, colleges held simulations of the events across the state Monday night. NBC News campaign embed Ben Pu covered the Drake University mock caucus, and reported that after the first round, only Warren and former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg exceeded the 15 percent viability threshold.
How about we assume the polls are all crap, and wait until the Monday night vote totals before we make assumptions about who's in and who's out?
Greg tct
Bernie can be pleased at the change AND use it to push his “rigged” angle.
Sure, when it keeps Gabbard or Yang off the stage, the rules are the rules, no matter how trivial is the exception. But for Little Mikey, we'll throw 'em all out.
This is the second time they did this to Sanders and his supporters. It's enough to make me sympathize with the old Communist.
Nothing to see her, move along.
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