I'm not missing the fact that the parties are going to put themselves before the public's interest. I just think it's become more brazen. And I don't think what the DNC did with Hillary / Bernie was explicit - I think it was subtle. And that was the problem, IMO. I'd almost prefer them to say, "Hey, we're shitty and we're just gonna tell Bernie and his flock to fuck off." Which is what the RNC is basically doing.
And I don't think Hillary's choice for VP is what did her in. I think she was incredibly ill prepared for her one-on-one debates. There were so many changes where she could've destroyed Trump for the dumb shit he was saying, the fact that he clearly has no idea what he's talking about, etc. But she basically just let him say whatever he wanted, which made him look that much more reasonable of a choice. She thought she had this in the bag from the very beginning. If she put in at least a little effort, I think things would've been different.