This is my first diary, and it is going to be an extremely short one. I came across this article a few minutes ago. Apparently a Bernie support confronted an Alaskan super delegate about supporting Hillary despite Bernie receiving 81% of the vote in that state. The response provided is unacceptable and dangerous to our whole party. Here are some of the worst responses, but you can dive in yourself to see the scope of it.
Metcalfe: Because I believe Hillary would be a better president. End of conversation.
…
MetCalfe: You know it all.
If this story is true, and screenshots seem to confirm it at this point, the perception and narrative this feeds into will only hurt all of us. And it will hurt Hillary the most once the primary is over, and she needs to convince these voters she cares for and wants to represent them.
I am a Bernie supporter currently, but I’m aware enough to understand this sort of system creates the perception of rigging and undemocratic actions by super delegates, which will only turn off potential GE voters and possibly hand the presidency to a Republican. This is the quickest way to keep Democrats home this election year. If this is true, the DNC, Hillary, Bernie, or someone who has the influence needs to address this. No super delegate is required to vote for a certain candidate, but you are not going to get Bernie voters to come out in the GE by telling them their vote doesn’t matter in the primary; this also further feeds into the narrative Clinton is trying to continually deny, which is she is an insider who is rigging the system. These voters did exactly what they were asked to do, and all they got was mocked and ridiculed.
So, the DNC, or whoever, can let this small fire burn and hope it goes out without being noticed, or they can address this before it turns into an uncontrollable blaze that burns down the democratic party with it. There choice will speak volumes about how the DNC truly views its voters.
On a side note, this story has no relation to immature Bernie supporters releasing super delegates private information. That is unacceptable, and no matter who they support, it is a clear violation and attack on these individuals personal lives. Please keep comments focused on the subject of this story.
Thursday, Mar 31, 2016 · 7:01:01 PM +00:00 · l3lessed
Because of the first comments received, I want to clearly state I understand super delegates have no allegiance to anyone, and they were designed that way. I understand there is a history of this too. This article is about the already corrosive narrative it feeds about Clinton, the DNC, and our party. If we care about getting voters out in the GE no matter the nominee, this is not the optics we want nor the narrative we should be feeding.
Thursday, Mar 31, 2016 · 8:36:15 PM +00:00 · l3lessed
I’m providing another update for further clarification. Many Hillary supporters took this article as a personal attack on Hillary. It was meant to point out how the super delegate process is creating a self-inflected PR wound that feeds into the already existing narrative about Hillary, the DNC, and our Party. Rightly so, it was pointed out Bernie has a number of pledged delegates that didn’t follow their state vote. This is no different, and they should not be pledging before all voters have been heard from. As an example, Alan Grayson has pledged to Bernie despite Florida being handed to Hillary. This opens us up the the exact same narrative and story. This system and its rules are a danger to our party going into this and any other GE by providing unneeded stories, like the one above, that can handicap us before we ever get to face the republican nominee. Being right and following the rules doesn’t matter if people perceptions don’t agree. I’ve updated some of the language to try and clarify this further.