AP Calls Bogus "Clinch" for Clinton

BRADENTON – On Monday, the narrative of the political news cycle was framed around the idea that Hillary Clinton was "poised to clinch" the Democratic nomination after Tuesday’s primaries, with a passing mention that Bernie Sanders stood a good chance of winning the day’s biggest prize, California, after pulling even in the polls. Last night, the AP got out in front of the outcomes and simply declared that because of its informal polling of Super Delegates, Clinton was already the winner.

The problem with the new narrative, which has been repeated by virtually every outlet in the mainstream media this morning, is that Super Delegates cannot cast a vote until the actual convention next month. As several of them have switched their pledged support throughout the primaries–and can continue to do so until casting their actual votes–asking them where they stand now is by no way an official metric that would allow Clinton or anyone else to clinch anything. However, by announcing the former Sec. of State’s victory just as voters headed to the polls today, the press has just given Clinton an enormous advantage, as many Sanders supporters may decide that it’s pointless to cast ballots.

This continues a theme throughout the contest in which mainstream media institutions have aided Clinton by promoting the Super Delegate count, often including it in what appeared to be the tally of pledged delegates and thereby extending the narrative that support for her opponent was irrelevant, because he couldn’t win. In all likelihood, Clinton would have easily clinched the nomination after today’s contests with actual pledged delegates. However, a loss in California coming on the heels of the damning report from the State Department’s own Inspector General regarding her callous disregard for warnings that her private email server was creating security risks, would have further highlighted her weaknesses as a general election candidate. Instead, today’s news cycle had a decidedly celebratory ring.

Last week, Clinton was hampered by two recent polls that showed her losing to the presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, and a poll aggregate that showed them tied within the margin of error, nationally. As one right-wing pundit quipped: The Democrats may be on the verge of nominating the only member of their party who is disliked enough to actually lose to Donald Trump. The pro-Clinton mainstream media, however, seems intent on actively doing all it can to ensure that happens.