The 2016 primary season is almost over, and looking back, my most honest reaction is to scratch my head and say ‘WTF?!!?’. When it’s over, both parties will have chosen the worst presidential nominees in my lifetime. That said, the presumed Republican nominee is so much worse than the Democratic, that electing her is imperative for the survival of this nation, and perhaps this earth. John Oliver satirizes ten ways in which the system is broken.
Presidential primaries and caucuses are, according to comedian and explainer John Oliver, “the electoral foreplay that we’ve been engaging in since February which will culminate in the mass ball ejaculations of this summer’s convention.”
He does have a way with words.
"Both parties nearly have their nominee and it looks like the two parties will be choosing between Donald Trump, America’s walking, talking brushfire and Hillary Clinton — the woman who exhibits either too much or too little of every human quality depending on who you ask," Oliver stated. But there’s still a lot that can be improved in our primary and caucus processes.
Oliver explained in one of his more brilliant and clearminded rants:
1. It’s possible for winners to take fewer delegates.
In the Wyoming Democratic Caucus Bernie Sanders won Wyoming but took only 7 delegates to Clinton’s 11. And in Louisiana, when Trump beat Cruz by 3%, “he was upset to find out that Cruz could potentially get as many as 10 more delegates.”
“We have voting booths for the same reason that Friendly’s has restaurant booth – so that we can have relative privacy while we choose from a deeply unappetizing menu," Oliver said.
From <Alternet>
That’s the first of ten. Either watch the video or click through for the other nine.
Not only is he funny, but also, he’s spot on.
However, I do have to say that the Republican Party deserves Rump Dump Trump. Starting in the seventies, they have courted, embraced, and provided a platform for an ever-widening assortment of people who hate one group or another, and who endorse violence. They thought they could control those people, but this time, in their lust for individual power, they fielded seventeen serious presidential candidates. The most extreme hate mongers all rallied around Rump Dump, and to a lesser extent, TRUS pervert Cruz. The rest split about half the electoral pie fifteen way, and none survived.
16 Responses to “Oliver on Primaries and Caucuses”
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If the Republikkkan Party deserves Trump, because they have been paving the way since the 70's for him, then I fear the Democratic Party may deserve Hillary, because they (I say they although I am a Democrat, it is really mostly the Party leadership) have been paving the way for her since the 80's. Social liberals and fiscal conservatives my unmentionable body parts. You cannot be a social liberal if you are so damned fiscally conservative tnat you have nothing to give to social programs. Besides that, "fiscal conservatism" doesn't work for anyone but those doing the fiscal conserving for themselves. Grump.
So well said!
I could not agree more!
John's explanation is spot on, Vote Blue!! no matter who!!
Thanks, Tom.
Joanne's point about the Dems deserving Hillary is on point!
The system sucks, but we MUST keep the GOPigs out of the White House. Damn, I can just see Rumpy winning, and then inviting David duke into the WH to do a "cleansing" of "That black family's stench!" VOTE BLUE, period!
STILL! VOTE BLUE, NO MATTER WHO!!! That should be the rallyin call for ALL Democrats of they want the party to survive! I don't get it! Why do people keep trying to split the vote and making it a cake walk for Rump Dump Drumpf!!!
Thanks, TC!
I think the phrase that sums this up for Rethuglicans is …
Is history repeating itself (or am I in wishful thinking mode)?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whig_Party_%28United_States%29
You may be in wishful thinking mode if… you are counting on deep dissent such as the Whigs experienced over slavery. I think the last Republican who had a conscience toward people of color just died (Bob Bennett) – in fact, was it not you who reported that demise?
I shared you're wishful thinking for a while, but they seem to be circling the wagons and supporting Rump Dump. If we could hand them a catastrophic defeat from top to bottom, that could tear them apart. As I have saod before, to make room for a progressive party to the left of the Democrats, we mist send the Republicans to the way of the Whigs.
Jon Oliver should be listened to by many of our fellow citizens, he could educate them on what a farce our election processes have become. Bernie Sanders has asked for a recanvas of votes in Kentucky, and I don't blame him Our Secretary of State, Allison Grimes, is a close friend of the Clintons. Remember I supported her when she ran against McConnell, but she refused to say whether she voted for Obama during that campaign and I declared I would never vote for her again. She should have been honest.
Indeed she should have been.
I think John summed it up well . . . "It's a cluster f**k!"
John is funny! It is a shame though that an import knows more about the system than home growns.
Glad someone explained the primaries to me (again) with a bit of humor thrown in (again). One thing I know for sure now is that my grasp on it is still very feeble and I'm sure I can't repeat what I've heard, not even after watching John Oliver 4 more times. Which I won't. His explanation left me with a feeling somewhere between mirth and flabbergasted, but mostly agreeing with John that the system is seriously flawed and in desperate need of fixing before it gets even worse next election time. But then it also came to mind that the political elite will not want to change it at all, but by order of their tribe, the 1%, will make the system more chaotic and less transparent at every opportunity they get, all the while telling the voters their changes will make it "even more democratic". By doing so they discourage as many (unwanted) voters as possible and nominate the candidate of their choice. Gerrymandering, voter suppression, fraud and what have you, will then make sure that their candidate wins the election. Because it seems to me that the primaries and caucuses are just part of the democratic problem.
IOf there's aything you don't understand, don't hesitate to ask.
Thanks all!! Hugs!!
Vote Blue No
Matter Who!!!