Bob Fitrakis: Hillary Stole the Nomination from Bernie

[Brainster]

Some of you may recall Fitrakis for his 2004 claim that Bush stole Ohio, which got quite a bit of traction on the left. Fitrakis is a political science professor at an Ohio community college, which at least gives him some veneer of credibility on the issue of politics in that state.

But check out his rambling argument in support of a CT that Hillary stole New York from Bernie Sanders:

FITRAKIS: Well one of the obvious things in this election was the visible hijacking of Bernie Sanders voters. Bernie brought in what political scientists would call an asymmetrical entrance of new voters. He went out and got a lot of people that hadn't voted previously and at first emerged in New York City, in Brooklyn where you had 126 thousand people.

Overwhelmingly new voters supporting Bernie that were purged at the last second from the voting rolls. And that's being investigated but it turned out to be a clerk said to have Republican leanings. But just prior to the purge, the daughter of a Clinton super delegate had bought property from her. A million and a half dollars over the street value that wasn't even being listed. So at least it calls into question, whether it was an old fashioned Tammany Hall bribe for purging voters.

CNN explains what really happened:

Speaking to CNN on Tuesday night, Board of Elections Executive Director Michael Ryan pushed back against the growing criticism, saying, "We're not finding that there were issues throughout the city that are any different than what we experience in other elections."
Of the 126,000 Democratic voters taken off from the rolls in Brooklyn, Ryan said 12,000 had moved out of borough, while 44,000 more had been placed in an inactive file after mailings to their homes bounced back. An additional 70,000 were already inactive and, having failed to vote in two successive federal elections or respond to cancel notices, were removed.

Now remember, Fitrakis was claiming that Bernie was bringing in new voters, a lot of people who hadn't voted before. But the 126,000 who were purged from the rolls (by definition) had voted before (or at least made their initial voter registration). Hence Bernie's new voters couldn't be any of the 126,000.

Hillary beat Bernie pretty convincingly in New York, and I'd be willing to bet a lot that she crushed him in Brooklyn (which is, after all where her campaign headquarters was located). Brooklyn is about 32% Black, and Hillary shellacked Bernie among African Americans.

And the bit about the clerk who received $1.5 million over the market value of her property? Sounds like a Pulitzer-Prize winning story to me; it's amazing Woodward and Bernstein never pick up on Fitrakis' clues.

 

[fuelair]

But Bernie could not have won the election. Hillary should have - and clearly would have had it been run fairly - popular vote wins!!!!!

 

[Belz...]

But Bernie could not have won the election. Hillary should have - and clearly would have had it been run fairly - popular vote wins!!!!!

How was it not run fairly? The rules were known and have been in place for a while. That's a separate question from the issue of Russian interference or whether the EC should be abolished.

 

[Axxman300]

49% of Americans didn't vote at all.

Those are the people who are to blame. Even if Clinton had won it would have come at the behest of 25% of the population, and would be equally as questionable as Trump.

Bernie Sanders is the Ralph Nader of 2016.

The DNC should have much to answer for with their corruption, but the leadership has not changed on any level. These are very frustrating times to be an American.

 

[dudalb]

49% of Americans didn't vote at all.

Those are the people who are to blame. Even if Clinton had won it would have come at the behest of 25% of the population, and would be equally as questionable as Trump.

Bernie Sanders is the Ralph Nader of 2016.

The DNC should have much to answer for with their corruption, but the leadership has not changed on any level. These are very frustrating times to be an American.

IF people are not interested enough to vote, they are not interested enough to study the issue, and it's probably better they don't vote.
I don't like mandatory voting laws.

 

[Axxman300]

IF people are not interested enough to vote, they are not interested enough to study the issue, and it's probably better they don't vote.
I don't like mandatory voting laws.

I don't like mandatory voting laws either.

My point is that our democracy depends on people having their crap together enough to vote. Say what you will about the Tea Party, those guys show up at the polls to get their candidates in office.

Six or seven weeks ago Los Angeles had an election, and in a region of 14 million people there was only an 11% turnout - this on the heels of the November 2016 election, and after two large demonstrations protesting Trump. In a city where there have been protests from the Black Lives Matter crowd you'd think there would have been more interest in shaping how the city does business...but no.

Like I said, I don't believe in mandatory voting laws, they diminish democracy, but at some point the GOP/Alt-Right will control enough State Houses, Governor's offices, and Congress where they can begin to amend the Constitution, and that will be loads of fun.

 

[Parsman]

But Bernie could not have won the election. Hillary should have - and clearly would have had it been run fairly - popular vote wins!!!!!

Why do you think Sanders couldn't have won the election? While Clinton never held a lead of more than about 5% points over Trump, Sanders regularly out-polled Trump by 15%. And while there would have been points of attack on which Sanders was vulnerable, he was strongest on those issues where Clinton was weakest (globalisation, Wall Street, establishment, the 1%) and could have attacked Trump more effectively. You could also assume he would have campaigned in the rust belt states that Clinton assumed were in her pocket. This is not to say Sanders would have won, but to say he couldn't have seems a step too far.