So I unsubscribed from any futher emails and then dropped them a line expressing my disgust at their proposal.

On two occasions the Democratic primary in my state was corrupted by organized Republican crossovers. Superdelegates can help to ameliorate such discrepancies.

since the McGovern Commission put us on the road to primaries/caucuses in every state (there were 15 primaries in 1968, up from 13 in 1960)the law of unintended consequences has seriously damaged our political system. As a direct result of the universal primaries the corrupting influence of big money has increased many fold (the cost of running for president has exploded because of the need to run so many campaigns in so many states for so long)and has made government by checkbook standard operating procedure. Picking candidates has been furher corrupted by the open primary allowing independents and crossovers to participate in choosing a candidate that should rightfully be chosen only by those that embrace a general core set of principles that characterize a party and who have committed themselves to the party.

The value of that type of commitment should not be taken lightly. Beginning in 1932 the ’smoke filled rooms’ of the convention deal chose 4 winners and 2 losers. Since 1972 the primary system has chosen 2 winners and 5 losers.

The 4 winners chosen in the smoke filled rooms enacted the most liberal legislation in our nations history. The 2 winners picked via primaries were the most conservative Democrats since Grover Cleveland.

Today our most liberal candidate finished 3rd and is on the sidelines and the nominee will be chosen from the two most conservative of the candidates.

Explain to me again why primaries are better.

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I have seen those analogies posted here on FDL (in multiple comments).

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Love this idea always. Might never fly in a “winner” take all society, but that to may change if we start losing.

1. abolish them now.
2. abolish them in the next election.
3. keep them they are good.
4. dunno.
5. dont care.

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I though planning was a good thing, could have used more in Iraq War II. Letting things blow up is not really such a good way to approach policy.

I think they mean the candidate that the “super delegates” want, the establishment DNC as opposed to the popular vote (or rather the delegates assigned by popular vote….)

It’s official – Mark Penn is a moron. “quality of where the win comes from”? Why doesn’t he just say “those little square states in the middle suck, anyway”, and be done with it? I have tin ear, not to mention an aversion to people who seem to live for being offended. Yet even I can see why people would be offended at that one.

But then I’m reminded about how many years I’ve spent being disgusted by Clinton-style politics and policies, and Hillary is not that much different from Bill in that respect. I literally thought I was losing my mind through the 90s as I was pointing out to fellow Liberals how Bill Clinton was using us for votes, only to sell-out America to the highest bidders, and being told to, “relax, we have a Democrat as Prez. You’re so negative…lighten up.”

Thanks to blogs in particular, I was able to see that there were many of us out there after all, and now we’ve been able to develop programs to stop “Centrist” Dems, which the Clintons, both of them, embody.

Hillary has broken down some barriers already, and as a father with young daughters, I’m happy for that. Her candidacy has sparked a lot of important conversations about sexism in America. I just don’t think she’s the choice to bring about real change to our flawed system that prizes profits over people.

I disagree when people say Barack will set back the women’s movement. In fact, I think he understands these issues quite well, and will cultivate a feeling in current and future generations that anyone can “make it,” whether male or female or the color of your skin.

I’ve never made a critique about Hillary based on hair, or clothes or other sexist stuff, just as I try not to make fun of McCain’s age. That is not cool. I highlighted that video clip to show how she’s being beaten on the strategy front as well by Obama, which also shows leadership abilities and knowing how to put together effective teams.

So I understand feeling sorry for her, but she really has made a lot of very big mistakes along the way.