"Revolution Thus Ran Its Course From City To City . . ."
By Pejman Yousefzadeh Posted in 2008 | Barack Obama | Hillary Clinton | The Best Democratic Primary EVER — Comments (25) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Political junkies like me are more than delighted that the Rules & Bylaws Committee of the Democratic National Committee, in deliberating on what to do about the delegates from Florida and Michigan, decided to let people attend its hearings and broadcast those hearings to the public. But I have a feeling that the members of the RBC themselves regret that decision, because pure chaos descended on their apparently-unsuspecting persons.
First of all, let's understand exactly what was agreed to at the end of the RBC hearing--and the reaction that this agreement prompted:
Democratic Party officials agreed Saturday to seat Michigan and Florida delegates with half-votes, ruling on a long-running dispute that has threatened the party's chances in November and maintaining Barack Obama's front-runner status as he moves closer to the nomination.
The decision was a blow to Hillary Rodham Clinton as she was on the verge of watching Obama make history as the first black Democratic presidential nominee. It prompted an irate reaction from boisterous Clinton supporters in the audience and her chief delegate counter, Harold Ickes.
Ickes angrily informed the party's Rules Committee that Clinton had instructed him to reserve her right to appeal the matter to the Democrats' credentials committee, which could potentially drag the matter to the party's convention in August.
"There's been a lot of talk about party unity--let's all come together, and put our arms around each other," said Ickes, who is also a member of the Rules Committee that approved the deal. "I submit to you ladies and gentlemen, hijacking four delegates ... is not a good way to start down the path of party unity."
There is much more. Read on . . .
The resolution increased the number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination to 2,118, leaving Obama 66 delegates short but still within striking distance after the three final primaries are held in the next three days.
The deal was reached after committee members met privately for more than three hours, trying to hammer out a deal, and announced in a raucous hearing that reflected deep divisions within the party.
"How can you call yourselves Democrats if you don't count the vote?" one man in the audience shouted before being escorted out by security. "This is not the Democratic Party!"
The sticking point was Michigan, where Obama's name was not on the ballot.
Clinton's camp insisted Obama shouldn't get any pledged delegates in Michigan since he chose not to put his name on the ballot, and she should get 73 pledged delegates with 55 uncommitted. Obama's team insisted the only fair solution was to split the pledged delegates in half between the two campaigns, with 64 each.
The committee agreed on a compromise offered by the Michigan Democratic Party that would split the difference, allowing Clinton to take 69 delegates and Obama 59. Each delegate would get half a vote at the convention in Denver this summer, according to the deal.
The deal passed 19-8. Thirteen members of the committee supported Clinton, so she wasn't even able to keep her supporters together.
The committee also unanimously agreed to seat the Florida delegation based on the outcome of the January primary, with 105 pledged delegates for Clinton and 67 for Obama, but with each delegate getting half a vote as a penalty.
Proponents of full seating continuously interrupted the committee members as they explained their support of the compromise, then supporters of the deal shouted back.
"Shut up!" one woman shouted at another.
"You shut up!" the second woman shouted back.
Needless to say, of course, none of this constituted friendly joshing between amicable rivals. Check out the end of the story for more . . . um . . . blunt commentary on the matter.
Oh, and about that Ickes speech:
For more coverage on the results of the RBC hearing and the decision that it made, be sure to check out this post and this post and this post and this post. And just so that we show we can be bipartisan about this whole thing, note this post, which further indicates that the word for the day in the Democratic Party is "schism" and the following reaction from Jerome Armstrong:
Lots of pissed off people exiting the room shouting "Denver".
Guess no one saw that coming, eh? What? No recent consultations with the Kuiper Belt to anticipate these problems? I mean, sure, astrology ain't gonna help you predict the onset of your basic, garden-variety SEC investigations, but I thought that it was supposed to be useful in political prognostications.
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"Revolution Thus Ran Its Course From City To City . . ." 25 Comments (0 topical, 25 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
They've been preaching for years that it's not fair if your decisions have consequences. Obama, having taken his name off the ballot, is now awarded delegates anyway.
They are so afraid to get to the convention without a candidate, when that is exactly what they should be trying to do. Ratings would be through the roof, and they would undoubtedly have consensus at the end of it.
But the specter of '68 looms large.
B.P.E!
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Gone 2500 years, still not PC.
Check out this lady (short clip):
and you will know exactly what they are not. They have a fatal case of reverse projection and this "count every vote" mantra is right up there. Chickens coming home to roost, hoist by their own petard, etc.
Unless Hillary does something truly shocking (and more full of grace than I believe her capable of), Denver could well be incendiary. I don't see how they were ever going to avoid it.
Many will fall in line behind Obama, but to a great extent the 2 groups have become mutually exclusive. I suspect they are all hoping that with a complicit media everyone will aim their guns at McCain and settle down, but the new media is now also a tool of the left, and the Hillary folks will use YouTube and other means to undermine Obama at every turn. I don't think things get settled from the top down anymore and Howard Dean has yet to understand that. I predict major subterfuge by Dems that only helps our side.
You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.
Don't get all holier than thou over this.
Let us not forget that the Republican National Committee penalised these states as well. The only reason there was not a fight about it is because the powerbrokers managed to force out everyone but McCain.
The Fuzzy Puppy of the VRWC. I've been usurped!
Oh, you mean the voters. Sorry, my mistake - I thought you were implying some insidious conspiracy.
The Unofficial RedState FAQ
“You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say. ” - Martin Luther
broken tag.
The Unofficial RedState FAQ
“You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say. ” - Martin Luther
This is hilarious! The Dems just decided to intentionally disenfranchise over two million voters with a committee decision in order to push the more radical of their two candidates on to the nomination. I hope the Dem voters in Michigan and Florida realize what what their party just did to them, and never again vote for another Dem candidate. Having people worth only half a vote reminds me of the Dems who pushed for blacks to be worth 3/5 of a person in Article 1, Section 3 of the Constitution.
Credentials fights have happened at many conventions in America's history. It only seems new to folks now, because we haven't had real convention fights in 30 years. All the recent conventions have been staged coronations, not real contests.
At the 1964 and 1968 Democratic conventions, there were big fights over whether to seat the Mississippi delegation. It was an all-white delegation, and blacks came to address the convention to charge that blacks had been systematically excluded from the process, and to demand that the convention refuse to seat the Mississippi delegation in retribution.
Fearing a walkout by the South if that happened, Lyndon Johnson proposed a compromise, but the black activists refused to accept it. Some walked out in bitterness.
By 1968, blacks had become more powerful politically. There was also an energized antiwar movement. Between them, these activists mounted credentials challenges to some twenty different state delegations. One of those challenges led to the barring of the all-white Mississippi state delegation from the 1968 convention.
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777
If ever there was a time to be joyous, this is it. These voters who won;t cast for Obama is going to make an enormous impact in the general.
If the message of disenfranchisement is put out enough among the average voters in all states. I can see a 20-30% of all democrats not voting or even for McCain out of spite.
_____________________________
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
--Aristotle
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777
If Hillary takes the VP spot then we are right back at status quo ante folks..
"Small town folks get bitter after which they cling to guns or religion, or antipathy to people who aren't like them, or anti-immigrant sentiment"- Barack Carter Obama
Votes
didn't the Republicans agree to seat half the delegates from Florida and Michigan?
I thought our primary was bloody? We got nothin' on these people when it comes to candidate drama.