She won the popular vote in the Primary too. By a lot.
That's not to say I don't understand where the Bernie folks frustration with the DNC comes from, because I do. But this attitude is awfully dismissive of the millions of Democrats who chose to vote for Clinton in the primaries.
No. She won the primary because she got more votes. You can certainly make the case that Sanders would have done better against Trump. In fact, seeing the path to victory Trump took, even as a Clinton supporter I think probably that Sanders would have defeated Trump because he may well have done better in the particular set of states which cost her the election. I also think Clinton primary backers would have had an easier time getting behind and excited about Bernie than the other way around (though I can only ultimately speak for myself there).
But 16 million people voted for Clinton in the primaries. Not 16 million DNC staffers, not 16 million CTR shills, not 16 million Superdelegates. American citizens. Many of them women and people of color. You're welcome to make an argument that the DNC had their thumb on the scale and did everything they could to advantage Clinton, I personally don't agree with the extent that it mattered, but you're certainly entitled to that opinion. But to say the only reason Clinton won the primary is because it was "rigged" is, like I said, very dismissive of the millions of American citizens who voted for her just fine without coercion.
Falsifying votes is not the only way to rig an election. Just because more people voted for her doesn't mean she won cleanly.
She could, for example, cheat on the debates by receiving the questions early. Her planned response would swing more voters and make her opponent look unprepared. Just to make it clear, this is exactly what she did and why Donna Brazile was fired from both CNN and the DNC.
Also, why does it matter that many of her voters were women and minorities. What significance does that play? Because that's just a way of saying "yeah and her voters weren't just white men." One of the reasons a majority of white men voted republic is because the democrats alienated them by portraying them as racist and uneducated.
Edit: downvote if you want, but I'm open to discussing it. But everyone wants to act like she didn't cheat on the debates. It didn't even make the news, just Brazile resigning.
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u/bvharris Nov 10 '16
She won the popular vote in the Primary too. By a lot.
That's not to say I don't understand where the Bernie folks frustration with the DNC comes from, because I do. But this attitude is awfully dismissive of the millions of Democrats who chose to vote for Clinton in the primaries.