I want to add a few thoughts to John’s post about the disunity the Democrats already are experiencing before their convention formally begins. Most reports center around Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the leaked emails that confirm how the DNC operated to undermine Bernie Sanders’ campaign.
I agree with John that Wasserman Schultz likely will be sent packing soon. Like many before her, she damaged her reputation serving the Clintons and, her usefulness to them having expired, will be cast aside to placate Sanders’ supporters.
But it is not the DNC emails that have those supporters most upset. The emails simply confirmed what everyone knew, and the DNC’s partiality in favor of Hillary is old news.
What has the Sanders folks most up in arms is Clinton’s selection of Tim Kaine as her running mate. I wrote on Friday that picking Kaine, who is pro free trade and sympathetic to banks, “wouldn’t sit well” with the party’s left wing.
It hasn’t. An organized network of more than 1,000 Sanders delegates polled network members about Clinton’s decision. According to Norman Solomon, the leader of the group, 88 percent of those polled disapproved of Kaine as the VP nominee. Only 3 percent approved.
Normally, indeed almost invariably, the nominee’s choice for VP is approved by acclamation. Reportedly, however, there is a strong movement among Sanders delegates to demand a roll call vote on Kaine’s nomination.
Team Clinton almost certainly will make sure no such vote occurs. This, if nothing else, spells doom for Wasserman Schultz. To retain her and deprive Sanders’ supporters of a vote on the VP nomination would create too much bad blood.
But bad blood will exist and likely linger, in any event.
Almost certainly, there will be no real drama at this convention other than the discord between Team Clinton and Sanders’ supporters. I assume, therefore that the mainstream media — including even the three broadcast networks — will report on the discord. But I’m interested in seeing whether the MSM plays it up (as it did with the Republicans in Cleveland), plays it down, or plays it straight.
Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.