On a day when it appears that the Michigan controversy may be resolved in a way that's fair to all parties -- but not in a way that gives Hillary Clinton all that state's delegates and Barack Obama none, as her campaign insists -- Clinton has just upped the ante by issuing what seems a hastily penned open letter to Obama, pretending that he is the sole obstacle to a fair resolution of the Michigan and Florida brouhaha and that she has always supported revotes (neither of which is accurate). There's lots to discuss, but the letter itself is more than adequate fodder:
May 8, 2008
Senator Barack ObamaObama for America
P.O. Box 8102
Chicago, IL 60680Dear Senator Obama,
This has been an historic and exciting campaign. Millions of new voters have been brought into the process and their enthusiasm for the Democratic Party and the principles for which you and I have fought and continue to fight is unprecedented.
One of the foremost principles of our party is that citizens be allowed to vote and that those votes be counted. That principle is not currently being applied to the nearly 2.5 million people who voted in primaries in Florida and Michigan. Whoever emerges as the Democratic nominee will be hamstrung in the general election if a fair and quick resolution is not reached that ensures that the voices of these voters are heard. Our commitment now to this goal could be the difference between winning and losing in November.
I have consistently said that the votes cast in Florida and Michigan in January should be counted. We cannot ignore the fact that the people in those states took the time to be a part of this process and to make their preferences known. When efforts were untaken [sic] by leaders in those states to hold revotes to ensure that they had a voice in selecting our nominee, I supported those efforts. In Michigan, I supported a legislative effort to hold a revote that the Democratic National Committee said was in complete compliance with the party's rules. You did not support those efforts and your supporters in Michigan publically [sic] opposed them. In Florida a number of revote options were proposed. I am not aware of any that you supported. In 2000, the Republicans won an election by successfully opposing a fair counting of votes in Florida. As Democrats, we must reject any proposals that would do the same.
Your commitment to the voters of these states must be clearly stated and your support for a fair and quick resolution must be clearly demonstrated.
I am asking you to join me in working with representatives from Florida and Michigan and the Democratic National Committee to arrive at a solution that honors the votes of the millions of people who went to the polls in Florida and Michigan. It is not enough to simply seat their representatives at the convention in Denver. The people of these great states, like the people who have voted and are to vote in other states, must have a voice in selecting our party's nominee.
Sincerely,
Hillary Rodham Clinton
The typo-ridden dashed-off letter seems at least in part a response to Obama's touring Capitol Hill today in the wake of what may turn out to be Tuesday's decisive Democratic primary contests in North Carolina and Indiana. The enthusiastic response he garnered from House Democrats, who CNN reported "surrounded" the senator when he arrived, suggested that many of the Congressional superdelegates believe a turning point has arrived and that at last a sure party nominee for president was moving among them.
Obama claimed he was not on The Hill seeking undecided superdelegate votes, but admitted that he'd "love to have their support" and was happy to respond to any questions they might have for him.
Clinton's Open Letter was released to reporters as the cameras were clicking on Capitol Hill.
In recent weeks, the Clinton camp has made the seating of the Florida and Michigan delegations to the national convention a cornerstone of the campaign, its only real path to the nomination. The Hillary For President website posted a petition this week that supporters could sign to help advance the cause and the campaign has included the Florida delegate numbers in its nomination tallies. Clinton has included them in her stump speeches as well.
Of course not all Clinton supporters agree with the campaign's logic. Mame Reiley, a pro-Clinton superdelegate and a member of the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee, for example, says she is inclined to seat the Florida delegation as is, due to the full slate of candidates there, but, she says, "it's a whole different ballgame with Michigan," where Hillary's main rivals followed the rules and withdrew their names from the ballot. "My decision there," Reiley said, "might make Hillary not happy with me."
Read M.S. Bellows follow-up piece, Clinton's Hail Mary, at OffTheBus.
Additional reporting contributed by OffTheBus blogger Chip Collis.
Visit the writer's blog, Vichy Democrats
Follow M.S. Bellows, Jr. on Twitter: www.twitter.com/msbellows
Someone, please get her a bus ticket back to New York. I think she ran out of money and is stranded in West Virginia. Perhaps her hubby would pick her up or something and take a vacation...(so long as she doesn't come to Hawaii).
If MI and FL had not broken the rules they would have had more influence than they are going to have now.
There is a delivery point for this letter, but it isn't Chicago, Illinois. Did you forget that you agreed to the rules disqualifying Florida and Michigan if they broke those rules? You must go now. Sure, you love Senator McCain and would rather have him in the WhitePeople's House than that uppity upstart (code: wink, wink), but it would look bad for you to continue this way. You can undermine your enemy in other ways more suited to a devious nature.
Viva Zapata
1. revote
2. appeal to the DNC Rules Committee and/or the Convention Credentials Committee
Neither of these options breaks any rule. Neither ofthese options is overridden by the agreement to strip the delegates initially.
Option 1 was tried and thwarted by Obama
Option 2 has now been initiated by each of the two states dem parties and those efforts are being supported by Clinton.
None ofthis breaks any rules.
-Justice an American principal.
I don't know of Obama blocking a revote -- in Michigan a revote was blocked by Sen. Carl Levin, and in Florida the party wanted to do a caucus rather than a revote because it was cheaper, and Clinton blocked that. And based on a press conference I attended today, it seems Clinton's the one currently rejecting the Michigan plan, while Obama has agreed to accept it (even though it gives him 10 fewer delegates than it gives her).
But I'm always open to correction, if you can provide links or citations to back up your statements.
Doesn't anyone else see that Clinton=Republican lite? Christ, Bill gave away so much
of this nation to NAFTA, started the war in Kosovo and avoided taking Osama Bin Laden to
task...doesn't it shine, bright and clear that the sheep has fangs and a long gray tail?
The wolf is bleating for votes so that the "Other Republican" can get into office.
The charade is working....wake up!
Who she gonna be acting like next month? Last month, she was a Stanton, PA blue collar, beer drinker...
Oppose Obama on the merits if you like, though the game's over already -- but give the factless spin a rest, please.
the US Supreme Court:
Here's the gist of her case:
It is not enough to simply seat their
representatives at the convention in
Denver . . .the people who have voted and
are to vote in other states, must have a
voice in selecting our party's nominee.
Never mind that she signed affadavits agreeing
not to abide by the outcome of the elections.
Of course it's a winner, the Republican
majority only has to write 'this ruling applies
only to Hillary Rodham Clinton.'
Do the Clintons never run out of ideas to
alienate the super delegates?
alienate: arouse hostility or indifference
where there had formerly been love,
affection, or friendliness
I hope I'm right.
neither Hillary nor obama will reach the magic total of 2005 or 2235 whichever so as it turns out the pledge delegates have no bearing and all those folks who voted in all 50 states really have no say the party hacks will beside for one or the other making the winner a loser like Bush who was picked by the Supreme Court
It is Obama's fault his name wasn't on the ballot, it was his choice. Those Americans want their voices heard, and they deserve it.
Do you have any clue why Michelle Obama got a 200,000 raise when her hubby got elected senate? Aren't they now multimillionaires? Im sure after this they will get a lot richer, especially with friends like Tony Rezko and the dirty and antiAmerican politics that are the roots of Obama.
I just cannot believe how ill informed many here are of how their Country really works.
Your right to vote and have it counted supersedes any National Political Party period.
No National Political Party has the right of a Governor and State Legislature to decide when
a Primary Election should be held.
None period.
Party rules, in this case, Don't apply.
The United States Constitution does!
Both Michigan & Florida changed their primary dates (legally done by their Governors and State Legislatures) and their people, those who chose to, voted.
Ethically, Morally and Legally, their Delegates should be seated in the fashion that they were elected.
Sorry, but to do otherwise is to act in as much an unethical and immoral and Unconstitutional manner as The Republican Party and The Supreme Court did when they stopped the recount in November of 2000 and proclaimed George W. Bush President.
Now I know most of the Obama people may disagree.
But you are sadly mistaken...
And we will all pay dearly for that price come November for many good patriotic Americans, who deserve much better, will either decide not to vote or possibly vote for McCain.
And if Mr. Obama, chooses Not to seat the Delegates in the fashion they were chosen, he is guilty of a character flaw...and he has many and most sadly, quite a number of democrats don't see them:(
The state set the primary, they had their primary. Nothing and no one prevented people from going out and voting.
However, as the supreme court has ruled several times over, the party as such, has no requirement to seat or adhere to anything that's decided in the state primaries.
There is no law about political parties, US government was set up without their consideration.
There is NO law about this. There is NOTHING in the Constitution about this, there is NOTHING the government of the United States or the states of Florida or Michigan can do to force the DNC to do anything.
As far as morally and ethically; rules were set up by the national party to recognize delegates selected by the states. Michigan and Florida violated those rules. Obama AND Clinton both signed off on those rules. It is Clinton that is now violating her oath and pledge. It is now Clinton that is throwing all ethics about rules of the system to the wind for her political gain.
This is NOT about everyone having a voice. In 9 out of 10 primaries most states get NO voice. Look at the Republican primaries, McCain already has the nomination, so their votes mean NOTHING for the overall campaign.
Primary elections are held by private clubs called "parties." Those clubs can be exclusive or inclusive, letting everyone vote or just club members. They can have elections with all their members voting, or smaller meetings where those members that really care get together and actually talk back and forth and try to educate and persuade each other before they vote. They don't have to have primaries at all (the Greens aren't on every state's primary ballot, but they still pick a Presidential nominee!). Get it? They're clubs. They make their own rules. They're not the government.
Obama's role: the Democratic Party's Rules & Bylaws Committee warned MI and FL not to advance their primaries. MI and FL said, "we think you're bluffing, so screw you." The DNC, to its credit, wasn't bluffing and responded to a direct, intentional violation of party rules by doing what it said it would do. The R&BC voted UNANIMOUSLY to disqualify those states. Longtime Clinton supporter/strategist/bundler/lackey Harold Ickes was on the RBC and voted to disqualify. Hillary herself signed a pledge backing it up.
There's a lot more to the story, too, but this is (1) not the same as Bush v Gore, because the parties can pick their own candidates however they damn well please, they're not the government; and (2) Obama has had almost nothing to do with MI and FL .
Explaining the matter with facts !!!
How silly, when all one has to do, is squeeze their uninformed emotions and misinformed understandings right into the computer keyboard and it will create a blog reply.
It doesn't matter if the strong points of the emotional discussion have nothing to do with the facts - it doesn't matter whether they are logical - and most of all - it doesn't have to be even remotely true.
It's simple take
1 part campaign rhetoric
2 parts gross misunderstanding of what one is talking about.
1 part righteous indignation
3 parts disregard for truth
Then blow a whistle for up to 1 hour.
Reserve spittle in whistle - set aside to cool for 30 mins
Add 1/2 cup Alligator tears
Remember that whistle spittle? Add to tears , lightly whisk and pour into computer keyboard - and immediately post. It's easy .. it's fun ... it doesn't even require a stream of consciousness.
Then threaten people around you that if you don't get your way - you have no intention of compromising, just like the Republican Congress you've been creamed by for years, and then work in a counterproductive way to further pass on bad information encouraged by the Republicans, and willingly complied by the HRC Campaign.
I'm amazed how you remained composed !
Binx101
The Almost Daily Binx
http://binx101.wordpress.com
Nothing?
Everyone doesn't vote in America. If you're in jail, you don't vote. If you engage in voter fraud, your vote is disqualified. Lots of people who break the rules can't vote. Florida and Michigan thought the DNC was bluffing. It wasn't. Their voters lost. That sucks. It's not Obama's fault.
Why does America have a 15 minute memory?