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RUH ROH: In 2008, Tad Devine Predicted ‘Very Bad Reaction’ If Superdelegates Contradicted Will of Voters

By Peter Daou
April 9, 2016

In recent days, the Sanders camp has announced a strategy to flip superdelegates to Bernie’s column. They initially suggested it was only about superdelegates in states Bernie won. Now, they are going all in, with Bernie’s supporters harassing superdelegates [ http://www.wsj.com/articles/bernie-sanderss-supporters-press-hillary-clintons-superdelegates-to-flip-14601 57358 ] and his campaign aides suggesting they are willing to thwart the will of the voters. BNR has unearthed a 2008 interview in which Tad Devine, Bernie’s top adviser, warned that such a strategy would trigger a “very bad reaction among the voting public.”

Hillary has a big lead in the popular vote and among pledged delegates — she is clearly on track to earn the Democratic nomination. Bernie’s campaign, realizing his dwindling prospects, are not only going hard negative [ http://bluenationreview.com/toxic-the-culture-of-bernies-campaign/ ] on Hillary, but suggesting they are willing to overturn the will of the voters.

ABC News: [ http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/sanders-camp-100-percent-contest-convention-clinton-doesnt/story?id=38231154 ]

Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver says that if Hillary Clinton fails to reach a majority with pledged delegates ahead of the Democratic convention, Sanders will “100 percent, absolutely” challenge her for the nomination –- even if Clinton has more votes than Sanders.

Bernie’s top aide Tad Devine, who helped create the superdelegate system, told the Washington Post [ https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/03/28/sanderss-plan-to-win-nomination-by-flipping-super-delegates-is-a-long-shot/ ] that “Sanders’s broader aim is the more important one: getting super-delegates as a group, including in states that backed Clinton, to support him.”

He even said Sanders would call for this switch if Sanders trailed in the popular vote and was very close behind in the pledged delegate count, too.

Devine felt very differently in 2008. When asked by NBC’s Brian Williams to comment on the ’08 Democratic primary, he said this:

Now if one candidate goes out and succeeds in the days and weeks ahead and that candidate looks like the candidate who has proven themselves to the voters and the superdelegates go in a different direction, I think there will be a very bad reaction among the voting public.

WATCH TIMMY RUSSET TOM BROKAW and TAD DEVINE:

Anyone interested go to the link and you can see the video
http://bluenationreview.com/tad-devine-predicted-very-bad-reaction-if-superdelegates-go-in-different-direction/