Clinton Supporter Attacks "Exceedingly Unfair" Texas Caucus System

CNN:

Former HUD secretary and Hillary Clinton supporter Henry Cisneros excoriated Texas' arcane electoral process as "a great burden on voters" and said that losing the delegate count on Tuesday because of the state caucuses would be "exceedingly unfair."

Cisneros was speaking to a group of Clinton volunteers who had gathered on Saturday morning at Fox Tech High School to train for Tuesday evening's state caucuses, which follow a day of primary voting. One-third of the state's pledged delegates are allocated through the caucuses, while the rest are determined by the day's primary vote.

Read the whole story: CNN

Comments

[BatedBreath]

I agree that the Texas Democratic party system is pretty ridiculous. However, you cannot cry foul because you are losing or because you didn't take the trouble to find out how it works before you went in to campaign. The gall of the clinton people is astounding!

[mrdontplay]

well no matter what happends its not Hillary's fault.

[ScandalousCandice]

Has anything actually been Hillary's fault in this campaign? She doesn't seem to think anything is her fault.

[anythinggoes]

SHE LIKE BUSH AFTER SIGNED IT AND NOT OBEY THE LAW SO WHEN BE PREZ SO SCAY JUST SIGN THE FENCE BUT DO NOTHING...­FRAUD...FR­AUD

[hugs4u]

Itis an even playing field as they both have the same rules to go by. You can't get any fairer then that. Hillary just wants to cry and make excuses cause she is going ot lose her ass Tuesday and needs someone or something to blame it on. the real fact is she is just a poor loser. She only has her own self to blame for losing as she is a bitch and there is no more polite way to say it. .

[JerryJef]

Texas illustrates that we Democrats try so hard, perhaps too hard, to be fair and equitable. All we accomplish is to inadvertently rig the system in some other way. I suspect the rules will be totally rewritten after this is over. Let’s be honest, absolute fairness, like truth and beauty, are philosophical models but are practically, realistically unachievable.

Currently, the super delegates are much cussed and discussed. If they did not exist and there were only the proportional delegates, it is conceivable that proportional allocation could produce a tied convention. That would be a complete mess. Proportional allocation is no guarantee of either equity or unity.

We have two realistic alternatives. One is to stop this idiotic proportional delegate allocation and go back winner take all by each state. It recognizes what we are--a Union of States, although Democrats don’t like to admit that. If you can’t win a State, well, that’s too bad.

Now the second alternative, eliminate the conventions and remove the parties from the presidential selection process. Nothing is more fair than to let the People vote. Nothing is more fair than a national primary. Anybody who wants to run runs regardless of party affiliation. The two candidates who receive the most votes advance to the general election regardless of party preference.

If you want fairness, there it is. But I can hear the screams, “It will never work!”, before I even post this.

[Markometer10000]

What?

It is because of the superdelegates that it's possible to go into the convention without one candidate holding the necessary majority. Take the supers our and the chances of that happening are very slim indeed and would require three strong candidates. It has nothing to do with proportional allocation.

If you don't believe me, let's do the math yourself. Take out all the superdelegates, now all you need for a majority is 50% + 1 of pledged delegates. Now throw all the superdelegates back in. Pledged delegates now only constitute 80% of the delegate total. So to get the necessary 50% + 1 of all delegates (pledged and super), a candidate can either get about 63% of the pledged delegates or he/she can get some help from the supers.

[acanthus]

I don't see why the Texas rules should be rewritten, and I don't think they should be. The rules reward the areas of the state that have the most faithful Democratic voters. I don't think that's unfair.

[the964kid]

This is such a joke - does anybody for one second think that any of these same people would be complaining if it was Hillary benefiting from the system in TX??! This system is 60 years old - and all of the sudden because Hillary is losing its 'unfair'?? What I think is unfair is that we, the public, have to hear Hillary whine and complain every time anything little thing doesn't go in her favor. Hillary: you are not a victim, you had everything to your advantage leading into these primaries, and when you blow it this tuesday you can only blame yourself (and maybe the idiots you hired and listened to who ran your sorry campaign). So, in the words of your tired and credibility-eroded husband Bill: GIVE ME A BREAK!

[joje]

Precisely, the system in Texas is very old. It's just that nobody has paid attention to it. Now, Texans are paying attention to it and want to get it right. Why all the whining from you all about our Texas system.? We're not bothered by Clinton's concerns., because we're concerned too. Mind your own business.

[jcandrsn]

Here, let me summarize this for all of you: WAAAAA!!! wAAAAAA!!! Booo HOOO!!!! boooooo hooo!!!!

[TXFreedomFighter]

We know the system here. It's not all perfect, but it makes you work a little harder for the candidate of your choice. I'd like this story picked up on by the media in here in Texas. Billary's complaining about the system will turn off many voters. At this point, they will do just about anything to win or stay in the race. She will have to drop out, because she WILL NOT win Texas and she needs a big win here. What happened the 20 percent lead?

Go OBAMA

[joje]

Ya, but moving a caucus around several times, keeping people in a caucus for hours to see who will drop out, and chanting, jeering and generally making so much noise while people are speaking requires some illumination of the ground rules. Texans are not upset because order and fair play are important to us.We welcome the meeting of the minds between the Clinton, Obama, and democratic party in Texas. After all, we'd be upset if it was like the Florida chad situation.

[slow2]

IS THERE ANYTHING more sickening than hearing losers whine about the system that everyone participates in?

"The questions aren't in the right order; they make fun of me on SNL; they don't treat my daughter right; I ran in FL and MI even though I said I wouldn't, now seat the delegates.­.." Oh, and let's not forget the IRS returns and "we're working on getting those out AFTER the nomination­."

This campaign is revealing so much more about the Clintons than they expected. All those forced smiles and teary moments have changed a lot of minds, but, not in Hillary's favor.

[joje]

She didn't whine, she very assertively bitched about the obvious media bias against her. MSNBC has been so outrageous ly sexist in their remarks towards her, that Russert, Mathews and Shuster have been compelled to apologize to her.
What has been revealing to me is that men, whom I once respected as journalists, are really just entertainers.

[mrdontplay]

and what do you think of the women?

All participants play by the same rules. The seen and unseen ones.

There are women who are used by MSM just the same.

In our society for females its mostly based on "how much the camera likes them", ya know.

Which promotes women with a "vogue" look over talent or measurables.

I love women and for that reason I have a lot in common with lesbians.

However women have a distinct quality of unreasonably wanting things "their" way. Irregardles of anything else. The name for the attitidue is entitlement.

Some have heard the saying, "whats yours is mine and whats mine is mine?" what sex is the character saying this statement?

Oh, i'm not supposed to say this though?

Is it true?

I hate to say it but where Obama looks more and more like every American Hillary is starting to look like a spoof of a politician in a SNL whining skit.

[hippybaby1970]

hey henry, why did you not warn the clinton campaign about our quirky system? it would seem to me that would have been the smart thing to do.

[JerryJef]

Henry Cisneros served 4 terms as mayor of San Antonio from 1981 to 1989. He was a real powerhouse. He might well have been governor, possibly Senator. In fact he turned down appointment to the Senate to replace Sen. Lloyd Bentson when Bentson was named Treasury Secretary by Bill Clinton. Then for some strange reason Cisneros turned right around a accepted appointment as Secretary of HUD by Clinton in 1993. But, like Bill, Henry couldn't keep his pants zipped up. And his bright future in Texas politics went dark.

Cisneros probably helped write the rules he now complains of. He was in the right place and had the big reputation to have had much influence on their writing. Texas has used the primary/caucus system and has allocated delegates on State Senate Districts instead of state wide vote for a long time.

Perhaps the "unfairness" of the Texas system is only now visible because 1) Hillary is losing and 2) Texas has never really mattered before in the nomination process.

[PJay]

Must see: Bill Clinton's campaign ad for Obama:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe0BPwWAxnk

[the964kid]

wow that was great - and sums it up perfectly - every voter should see this.

[SeekerOne]

Excellent.

[lldem]

Now that's unfair; using Pres. Clinton's words to promote Sen. Obama. LOL!

[soylentgreenleftovers]

Not to worry....s­he is ready to sue if she doesn't get her way on Tuesday.

Now, if she DOES get her way, well......­..maybe she won't have to sue after all.

[VOTER]

She has already agreed not to sue.

And she is already aware of her very high chances of losing.

Departure Date......­.pending but soon.

[moda31]

it would hardly be the first time she went back something she agreed to

[Tankan]

Unfair? Did this happen recently?

Like when Hillary was sleeping?

[nacilbuper]

around

[lldem]

This is bullshit and totally uncalled for. Disagree with her on the issues, but this kind of crap is beneath all of us.

[nacilbuper]

lldem

this was not an insinuation that clinton was sleeping. this was an addendum to a post i made that got posted in the wrong place by the blog engine.

[LoRiseAntlers]

In Michigan and Florida,she understood and agreed to the rules,until she started losing.Thi­s is more of the same.

[brueso]

with a $130 million war chest, Clinton couldn't have had one staff member spend half a day to figure out how Texas works? Her and her supporters whining about how unfair everything is is a complete joke. If you can't stand the heat, Hill...

[nacilbuper]

-with a $130 million war chest, Clinton couldn't have had one staff member spend half a day to figure out how Texas works?-

nope! they were too busy thinking about the doughnuts

[soylentgreenleftovers]

Have you seen how may double cheeseburgers Mark Penn puts down. 130m may sound like a lot but it can go quick.

[nacilbuper]

had senator 'ready on day one' and her campaign staff bothered to plan for a possible post super tuesday fight, they'd have challenged the improprieties of the texas system at the outset.

just another prime example of why she's not ready for the job of potus.