The NY Times lead editorial said what a lot of people feel:
The Republican Party's trek into the darkness took a fateful step in Indiana on Tuesday.
But then went on to, as usual, diss Sanders:
The Hoosier State delivered an all-but-crowning victory to Donald Trump, who beat Ted Cruz soundly in the state, sweeping up at least 51 delegates. On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders won an unexpected victory over Hillary Clinton, though it was not enough to halt her march to the nomination.
With Cruz gone - thankfully even to many in the Never-Trump crowd - Trump will almost certainly climb well over the 1,237 delegates needed to win on June 7's Pacific West (plus New Jersey) Tuesday with just 220 left to acquire, technically but laughingly fighting against the near loosingest Republican candidate, John Kasich, who must believe his party will NOT trek into darkness as the Times says. It will help Trump that the Republican primaries remaining are largely winner-take-all or winner-take-most contests designed to seal the nomination for whomever is currently ahead, like Indiana's contest last night.
The reports of the death of the Republican Party are not just greatly exaggerated however, they are actually self-serving. The Republican party knows it has an image problem with its presumptive nominee being the least prepared, most xenophobic, racist, misogynist since Barry Goldwater, when it was still almost acceptable to be those things, but they do still control both houses, and most of the State level houses and Governorships. And with Clinton running they stand an even chance to get the White House.
First, the FBI has not voted yet, and when they do it'll either be to indict Hillary, or, in the eyes of many, it'll be a whitewash politically influenced dereliction of duty. Clinton DID set up a private server, bypassing the secure Federal network. She DID pass what are now at least judged to be classified emails on that server, and if she didn't know all that she should have.
This is going to be gutter politics like we haven't seen in most of our lifetimes, punctuated by angry and even violent protests at nearly every Trump appearance, and a few Hillary ones. It'll be hard to identify the agitators, and the police will be stretched and may even over-reach.
Then...there's Bernie. The Times shows him 290 delegates behind. This is better than the ridiculously sloppy roll-up of superdelegates that in-the-tank-for-Hillary MSNBC has been showing for Clinton, committing that network to calling Clinton over the 2,383 threshold long before even Clinton or the pro-Clinton Democratic Party will. But it still miscounts Nevada where Sanders may actually have won, or at least swung delegates in later counts away from a Clinton v. Sanders win of 20:15. It miscounts some trailing vote totals not counted by mass media arbitrator, Associated Press (I guess no mainstream media can longer afford to do their own counting), which typically under-counts Sanders' votes...and keeps it that way.
As of now, AP has stopped counting, with 98% of the vote counted, leaving Marion county (Indianapolis) with 10 precincts out of 600 uncounted, heavily Bernie-favoring counties like Huntington county with 21 out of 37 precincts reporting, Decatur 21 out of 22 precincts reporting, and even more Bernie-favoring Vigo county with only 61 of 89 precincts reporting. If history is any guide, it'll stay uncounted too. Even New York state still shows 99% counted, and that primary was on April 19. A petition has been circulating to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to do New York's primary over, with its illegal purging of an eighth of a million Brooklyn voters, and another petition demanding a hand recount. Both actions will be ignored, of course, and not just because New York has one of the most corrupt political systems in the country (during voting day, former Assembly leader Sheldon Silver was sentenced to 12 years in prison for influence peddling and bribery; his Republican counterpart in the Senate, Dean Skelos, is soon expected to follow).
In a corrupt, thoroughly biased primary and caucus system comes Bernie Sanders, untouched by scandal in over 50 years of political life.
He's only 290 delegates behind, even by the distorted math of the mainstream media, and he has a good shot at the remaining 1,114 delegates remaining, better if, as many believe, the FBI wraps up its investigation this month, though FBI Director Comey insists there is no rush. Really? Since when is not catching criminals running for the highest office in the land not a matter of national urgency? Or, does Comey already know "it's in the tank" for Clinton? The LA Times reports:
At a recent Democratic debate, Clinton grew exasperated when asked what she would do if indicted. "That's not going to happen," she said.
Is the fix in and does Clinton know something the rest of us don't?
In any case, there's enough illegal and semi-legal background stuff on BOTH presumptive nominees to keep the upcoming potential Clinton v. Trump contest entertaining, if depressingly so.
It is by no means clear who will win, but it may be that the biggest loser is the country.
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