No Need To Wonder How The DNC Will Help Their Status Quo Establishment Candidate In 2020

Who do you think the DNC had in mind when they passed this rule on Friday? The new rule requires all Democratic presidential candidates to be a member of the Democratic Party. Becoming a member of the corrupt and flaccid party is something Bernie has always avoided when he was running for the House and later the Senate. He's always caucused with the Democrats. At first they used to run their shitty conservative candidates against him but eventually Vermont Howard Dean got them to stop doing them and the party has backed him ever since. He also helped the party, even endorsing and campaigning for Hillary Clinton after her allies in the DNC-- Wasserman Schultz and the rest of the garbage there-- were shown to be breaking the party rules by working against him in the primaries.

“At the time a presidential candidate announces their candidacy publicly, they must publicly affirm that they are a Democrat,” the rule says. “Each candidate pursuing the Democratic nomination shall affirm, in writing, to the National Chairperson of the Democratic National Committee that they: A. are a member of the Democratic Party; B. will accept the Democratic nomination; and C. will run and serve as a member of the Democratic Party.”

The rule seems like a clear response to Sanders, who caucuses with Democrats in the Senate but has steadfastly maintained his status as an independent. Sanders ran to the left of Clinton and identifies himself as a “democratic socialist.”

During the 2016 primary, Clinton and her supporters regularly criticized Sanders for his lack of an official affiliation with the party. After an unexpectedly close race, Sanders ultimately lost to Clinton. His base of support included younger voters and independents, whom many Democrats see as vital to the party if it hopes to avoid a repeat of its defeat to Trump in 2016. Many Sanders supporters angrily felt the DNC stacked the deck in Clinton’s favor, a perception that was amplified by hacked emails from party leaders that were published by Wikileaks in the lead-up to the party’s 2016 convention.

In the wake of Clinton’s loss to Trump, the party assembled a unity commission with members appointed by both Clinton and Sanders. The Sanders wing focused on recommendations designed to open up the party’s nominating process and make it more inclusive to what Sanders termed “the working people and young people of our country.” One of the commission’s proposals that was particularly important to Sanders was the elimination of the unelected Democratic superdelegates who are able to vote for a nominee regardless of who won the race in their home state. Sanders and many of his supporters viewed these superdelegates as a way for the Democratic Party establishment to control the nominating process irrespective of the will of the party’s voters.

How about this for a 2020 ticket?

With Sanders’s independent status and push for inclusivity, the new rule change would seem to be a slap in the face and a potential roadblock should the Vermont senator decide to mount another presidential run in 2020. However, Sanders allies do not believe he would be affected by the measure thanks to a unique rule in his home state.

Sanders, who is currently running for reelection, typically runs in the state’s Democratic primary but declines the party’s nomination after winning. The move allows him to fend off Democratic challengers in the state while still running as an independent. Last month, the Vermont Democratic Party passed a resolution supporting this strategy and proclaiming that Sanders would still be considered a member of the party “for all purposes and entitled to all the rights and privileges that come with such membership at the state and federal level.” That membership could inoculate him against the DNC’s rules change.

Even today you see the worst on the brain-dead conservative Hillbots on Twitter attacking Bernie for not being a Democrat and going out of their ways toantagonize his supporters. Lately, corporate Democrats have been rallying around Joe Biden, whose Senate record is exactly what conservative Democrats love-- status quo, pro-Wall Street, pro-Big Business, pro-Military Industrial Complex... good, ole, lesser of two evils Republican-lite. And if Biden decides he doesn't want to run again, there's always Kirsten Gillibrand or Cory Booker, each of whom is trying desperately hard to remake themselves as "Berniecrats." If you actually do want the genuine thing, please consider contributing to Bernie's campaign by tapping on the Blue America "Bernie Sanders 2020" thermometer on the right.