DNC's Brazile Says Clinton Camp Refused Obama 'Olive Branch'

On today's This Week, Donna Brazile, fresh from yesterday's DNC Rules and Bylaws Tango at the Marriott Wardman Park, broke a little bit of a bombshell whilst paneling. According to Brazile, the Obama campaign had enough votes to get a fifty-fifty split of the Michigan delegation, a result that would have greatly advantaged the Obama campaign and minimized the delegate gains Clinton garnered from Florida. However, the Obama camp passed on pulling the trigger on that deal in favor of the less favorable 69-59 split that the Michigan delegation was proposing.

Brazile, who was taken aback at the lack of effort made by the Clinton campaign to "cut a deal" or otherwise "come to the uncommitted superdelegates" in the room, said: "He also could have won on a crucial vote on this Michigan proposal to split the delegation 50-50. And rather than cause a ruckus they gave in. He had the votes. and the Clinton campaign never took the olive branch."

Naturally, George Stephanopoulos immediately interrupted Brazile and changed the subject, because he has the worst news instincts of any carbon-based lifeform walking the face of the Earth.

[WATCH.]

STEPHANPOULOS: But Donna, you were one of that 219 undeclared superdelegates left. First of all, I'll give you the opportunity, you can declare right now.

BRAZILE: Look, in 72 hours I'm sure many of us will declare because there's no question that the pressure is on to end this nomination fight. The battle's over. We know the victor. And I learned a great deal sitting in a room, on some of the struggles we did in the middle of the night. Of course, we were drinking fresh water. I kept waiting to see if the Clinton campaign would go over to the Obama campaign or the undeclared superdelegates and cut a deal. And there was no effort whatsoever to come to the undeclared superdelegates. Remember, we're a bunch of superdelegates. The Clinton campaign went in with 13 declared superdelegates. Obama had nine. He walked away yesterday, if you look at the final vote, with 19 people taking his position. He also could have won on a crucial vote on this Michigan proposal to split the delegation 50-50. And rather than cause a ruckus they gave in. He had the votes. and the Clinton campaign never took the olive branch. Instead they wanted to come out and --

Comments

[stanjz]

She would resign if superdelegates over turned the will of the pledged delegates. Barack won by well over 100 pledged delegates. It could have been much closer.

[pupbayer]

Has Donna resigned yet?

[rachaelisacancer]

Yeah! Lady - you promised that if superdelegates decided this nomination you'd go away and show your bias elsewhere.

Get out Donna!

[zbearlady]

Part 2:

I used to like Hillary. I liked her because of her strength, & her seemingly fearless & unwavering ability to speak her mind. I believed her to be a strong woman.

But over these long months, I question where that strength has gone -at least the strength that truly comes from within. Instead, I"ve seen a woman who is desperate -one who has schemed & manipulated to accumulate strength from 'without'. I've seen a person who cheats, slanders & controls. And I've witnessed the lowest form of desperation, as she radically shifts her positions, 'truths' & beliefs, simply to win the approval of others.

I ask, are these the actions of a strong, feminist woman?

In Hillary, I do not see a woman of integrity or ethics. I see someone who'll quickly abandon all morals simply to serve her own ego-agenda. I see someone who"ll do anything to discredit her opponent -conjuring up horribly deceptive accusations, smears & unthinkable insinuations...& then not having the dignity & grace to own up to her mistakes w/ humility and/or appropriate acts of contrition.

When it comes to voting for someone, I"ll always vote for the person who represents the core values & beliefs which are most important to me. Whether it be, "man, woman, black or white," what matters most is the person...& the true quality & ethical foundation of their character.

When comparing the actions of Barack and Hillary, Obama soars high above Hillary as the true feminist!

[MalamuteMan]

Very eloquent!!!

As a man I have not had to put up with sexist discrimination, but it has always been clear to me, even as a young child, that women (or girls) do not get a fair shake in our society.

I think it would be great to have a woman lead our country, but not just because she is a woman but because she is a great person. At the start of this contest I didn"t know Hillary very well, and even though I preferred Barack, I thought of her as a good second choice. But time and again I have seen her pass up the high road in favor of tactics that disappoint and even disgust me.

To those women that have supported Hillary because they believe her election would vindicate the unfair life experiences they have had to endure, I say, I think you would find it to be a hollow victory. If I were a woman, I would want the first woman President to be someone that demonstrated more integrity and wisdom than Hillary has shown us in the last few months.

[zbearlady]

Part 1:

To all loyal feminist supporters of Hillary:

I am white, 50, and a feminist!

Growing up, I had a lot of people tell me I couldn't do certain things simply because I was a woman. But...I chose not to listen to those voices of oppression. Instead, I listened to my own voice -the voice of strength that lives within.

I did not cry victim, I did not whine about unfairness. I laughed in the face of fear and created what I wanted my life to be!

I don"t deny that sexism is a real and dangerous issue that we must contend with -even still in this day and age. And this is sad to me. Just as racism, ageism, class-ism, gay-prejudice, fat-prejudice, or any other prejudice and 'ism' is, that is rooted in hate.

But, does that mean that whoever strongly disagrees with, dislikes, and/or is completely outraged by Hillary, is necessarily a sexist? What about those who legitimately reject Hillary (the actual person and not the symbolic cause) simply because of her anti-feminist actions?

When we no longer look at others through the lens of prejudice, don't we then ultimately judge them by their actions?

[thefirehorse]

I guess Father Pfleger was wright.

[joFlorida]

Justhope
Sen. Clinton's camp offered to pay half of the re-vote in Florida! Obama said no, because he knew he would lose again. Check how Obama operates, go back and find articles from the Chicago Tribune. Note what he did to the elder, beloved, Stateswoman Alice Palmer! He has wanted to be president for 15 years,as documented. It is not "the urgency of now", those are just his empty words. He is the one that used his race and was quoted in the Chicago Tribune. When Geraldine Ferraro repeated what he said, she was crucified.

Obama's plan was executed perfectly from his law degree, working on Chicago's East side(with poor), the State Senate seat , U.S. Senate seat and now running for President of the United States. These are the steps to take, but he did not stay in each category long enough because he is too anxious, for egotistical reasons. His dirty politics will surface. The Rezco trial did not bring out his real envolvement ,because they can use him better in the much higher office.

Donna Brazile! She is not as bright as she would like us to think. She thinks she fooled us into thinking she was UNDECIDED. That is the way they stacked the deck against Hillary Clinton on May 31st! They quoted 13 for HC, 8 for Obama, and the trick was to knowing that the un-decided or un-declared were for Obama to make it a done deal. Democratic?

[Fati]

JoFlorida, and your point is? Are you so naive to think that any of these Presidential hopefuls just woke up one morning and decided they'd like to be President? Hillary has had her eye on the prize since her high school days. You think her move to New York was just because she "loved" New York so much? Every politician is that ambitious and that's the nature of the game and if you don't get that by now, you have no business even posting a comment on a political forum.

As for your thoughts on the undecided superdelegates, talk about stating the obvious. Again you display such naivete as to believe that the so-called uncommitted delegates were really undecided. Remember, even before a single vote was cast in these elections, HRC had several Superdelegates commiting to her when they were supposed to stay neutral or appear so until the end.

Bottom line is HRC got beaten at her own game and you all need to just face up to it. Of course, why should I expect you to do so when HRC herself cannot be gracious enough to admit it. Even in defeat, it is all about her. Does that tell you something?

[DontBeFoolish]

Does anyone remember a man by the name of Father Pfleger? He's sure looking like there was more truth to his rant than we all thought.

[Tyrione]

To Donna: Put down the twinkies.

[DontBeFoolish]

Thats good down home cookin son, get it right.

[pupbayer]

Has Donna resigned yet like she promised to?

[sej100]

Brazile deserves no respect.
She worked for ABC as a commentator while being active in the campaign politics.
She should have quit ABC
She is self righteous and hypocritical.
just as her little speech about her momma teaching her to follow rules and then she made up a few just to justify unfairness.

[Tyrione]

She worked for CNN so perhaps she's a two timer?

[DontBeFoolish]

Your kidding right? Are you insane or what?

[nodonjuan]

I have less problem with Brazile being with ABC News and a campaign than Kathleen Harris being in charge of certifiying an election and being in a campaign, then certifying the election for the campaign she was working for. That is a real travisty. That is unfair.

[Yappa]

Obama wouldn't have wanted to win the nomination in a rules committee, especially when by waiting three days he could win without controversy. It was hardly an "olive branch" to the Clinton campaign. I think Geoge S was right to move on.

[Sneakerface]

To deny this was an 'olive branch' is COMPLETELY irrational. Splitting the delegates 50-50 was the only fair way to settle this, but he decided to make a concession of several delegates anyway.

[TonyNJ]

In my humble opinion, it appears to be a case of Women's intuition at it's best. Maybe Hillary Clinton, our next President Under God, sensed the thorns on the stick Ms. Barzile. Just because some of us were democrats, before your organization declared the votes of some citizens valued as "half a vote" something so undemocratic, it does not mean we are all jackasses!

[Bobzmcishl]

Only in politics can rules be agreed upon ahead of time, and then when the rules are broken, and a candidate gains an advantage in that state, then the rules become irrelevant. Try that in the sports world! I think Hillary has taxed the patience of millions of Democrats in states that did play by the rules. She should admit that she and Bill ran a lousy campaign, and they have no one to blame but themselves. They are supposed to be the ultimate professional politicians and yet they let a newcomer beat them at their own game. The Democratic rules meetings over the weekend showcased just how fair minded the committee was in trying to reach a just conclusion. I think they were successful, and minimized the destructive politics that could have doomed the Democrats in the Fall.

[Sneakerface]

What makes you jackasses is when you self-righteously act as though an unfair, undemocratic vote should be counted in full when it happens to favor your candidate - who previously didn't even care and accepted the sanction- until the time she found she could gain an advantage from it. The problem is that Clinton supporters have INSISTED, beyond all reason, that these illegitimate votes be counted as full, when previously EVERYONE, in including the candidate & her campaign, accepted that they would not be counted AT ALL. MI delegate votes aren't going from a full vote to half a vote; they are going from ZERO votes per delegate to half a vote per delegate. By analogy, it is the difference between seeing the "glass" of those votes as "half - empty" when they should be seeing it as "half-full."

[guibanquinho]

The Clinton campaign refuses to bow out gracefully. Yesterday nigh, BO clinched the nomination and what does Clinton do? She tries to steal the show, saying she would accept the VP position. What a disgraceful, selfish person, seriously, now everyone is trying to bully BO to pick her as VP. Come on, it makes no sense, it is not what he has fought for and what he is representing during his campaign. He can pick another good VP, without being pressured!

[CHARLIESBABI]

He is not fit to be president, unless of course its in Africa, where his allegiance lies1 well this is America, or it was until barack Hussien Obama and his terrorist friends sabotaged it. Woe to all if he is elected. And the Blacks think they are safe because they are Black! Well think again, terrorist and communist have no friends. They will subject you to their dictatorship the same as anyone else. he didnt win the nomination, he bought it, with the help of some half brain dead people! And i agree with one thing, Hillary shouldnt be V.P. She is too good for that snake to be her boss! He will never be my president! And im going to persuade as many as i can to vote for mcCain!

[huntunseasun]

They "foldered" (I do believe you meant folded) their tent, Gore's tent, AFTER 911. The country was divided and America was STILL counting chads on 910.

How short people's memories are.

[politicgirl999]

Brazile is a liar. He didn't win anything.He was given the delegates by backstabbing and corrupt members of that meeting. There are hundreds of thousands of us who will never vote for an inexperienced habitual liar.

[SuperSaba]

"Brazile is a liar. He didn't win anything.He was given the delegates by backstabbing and corrupt members of that meeting. There are hundreds of thousands of us who will never vote for an inexperienced habitual liar."

...and notice how calm and rational I am!

[pupbayer]

Actually, he is an inexperienced politican not an inexperienced liar.

[Rachel36]

Time to wake up and smell the olive branch.

[Fati]

politicgirl999, and there are hundreds of thousands of us who will never vote for an EXPERIENCED, power-hungry habitual LIAR! Bosniagate is only the tip of the iceberg.