LUMPENPROLETARIAT—One of the most antidemocratic aspects of the 2016 Presidential Primary Elections is the role of (unelected) superdelegates in both corporate political parties, particularly the Democratic Party.  Like the electoral college in presidential elections, which has the legal ability of overriding the popular vote, superdelegates have the legal ability to override the popular will in primary elections.  Branko Marcetic has written a new article for In These Times entitled “The Secret History of Superdelegates”.  Marcetic spoke with free speech radio’s Letters and Politics to help demistify one of the most important, and least understood, decision-making bodies in the presidential primary elections.  Listen (or download) here. [1]

UPDATE [18 MAY 2016]  “Will 712 Democratic Officials Decide 2016 Election?  Uncovering the Secret History of Superdelegates” by Democracy Now!  Watch the newscast here. [2]

Messina

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[Working draft transcript of actual radio broadcast by Messina for Lumpenproletariat and Letters and Politics]

LETTERS AND POLITICS—[17 MAY 2016]  This is Pacifica Radio’s Letters and Politics.  On today’s show:

BRANKO MARCETIC:  “You know; when you read the transcripts, and when you look at what people like Jim Hunt and other members of the commission were telling the press at the time, they made no secret about it.  They say pretty openly: We don’t want another McGovern or a Carter.  You know?  They saw these guys as failed candidates and, actually, they saw them as unrepresentative of what the Democratic Party was.  In the case of McGovern, they saw him as too far to the left, running against Nixon.  In the case of Carter, interestingly, actually, he was seen as more of a conservative candidate.  So, he was actually seen as being more to the right.”

MITCH JESERICH:  “A conversation on how we got superdelegates in the Democratic primary contest.  Our guest is Branko Marcetic.  He’s a reporter with In These Times.  And he went through documents at the National Archives about the 1981/1982 Hunt Commission, that instituted such superdelegates.  His article is called “The Secret History of Superdelegates.”  And he joins us, next, on Letters and Politics.”

[KPFA News Headlines (read by Aileen Alfandary) omitted by scribe]

[SNIP]

[SNIP]  (c. 59:59)

[This transcript will be expanded as time constraints, and/or demand or resources, allow.]

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[1]  Terrestrial radio transmission, 94.1 FM (KPFA, Berkeley, CA) with online simulcast and digital archiving:  Letters and Politics, hosted by Mitch Jeserich, Tuesday, 17 MAY 2016, 10:00 PDT, one hour broadcast.

[2]  Terrestrial radio transmission, 94.1 FM (KPFA, Berkeley, CA) with online simulcast and digital archiving:  Demoracy Now!, hosted by Amy Goodman, Wednesday, 18 MAY 2016, 9:00 PDT, one hour broadcast.

Also streamed online and carried by affiliates across the nation at DemocracyNow!.org.

[10 JUN 2016]

[Last modified 08:30 PDT  10 JUN 2016]