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From The Reporter’s Notebook
Rep. Richard Hanna (R-NY) on Tuesday lamented the prominence of “extreme” members of the Republican party, noting that favoring those candidates in the primary will keep a Republican from winning the White House, TPM’s Caitlin MacNeal wrote. “The Republican Party is not capable of nominating anyone who is electable nationally,” he told New York newspaper The Daily Star.
Agree or Disagree?
Josh Marshall: “Jeff Weaver says that if Sanders is mathematically eliminated from winning the pledged delegate race, the campaign will spend June and July lobbying Super Delegates to overrule the pledged delegates and give the nomination to Sanders. As I’ve mentioned a few times, the Super Delegate system, at least in its current form, is unjustifiable. It’s a ticking time bomb sitting at the heart of the nomination process. The only saving grace is that it’s just never going to be lit. History shows that the Supers always go with the pledged winner. And if they threw the race to the non-winner, it just wouldn’t get past go. ”
BUZZING: Today in the Hive
From a TPM Prime member: “Concentrated wealth and the influence it can buy is the greatest threat to our democracy that I can think of. When you have lobbyists actually writing bills and inserting seemingly innocuous language to create loopholes or a revolving door system that rewards former lawmakers or their spouses after they leave office or the simple access that is denied most citizens because the entry fee is too high, that system is corrupt and you don’t have to be a purist to find fault with it or a radical to believe that we need a systemic overhaul to prevent the abuses which are baked into the process. When regulatory agencies are powerless to do their job or are hampered by “other considerations” or are simply toothless in penalties no mater how egregious the behavior, you can be certain that there has been influence bought and services rendered even if you can’t pinpoint the time and place of its occurrence. Judge the system by its practical application and the results. The verdict is apparent that money is corrupting our democracy and it applies to the actions of both parties.”
Related: Of course the U.S. is an oligarchy — we keep electing the rich.
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What We’re Reading
We already know 2016 will be the warmest year on record, and it’s only April. (Slate)
The puppet masters behind online shopping. (WNYC)
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