My Evening With Harriet Christian
It was when the DNC's Rules & Bylaws Committee made its ruling on Michigan that Harriet Christian came into my life.
From a few rows behind me, her piercing, wizened, New York voice rang out through the awkward silences in the auditorium of the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel.
I wish now I could remember each and everything she said. All I remember is that I was glad she was saying it. The DNC had just committed a crime, and I was happy that there was someone unashamed to reveal her fury to all those present.
As we all exited the ballroom -- many of us in disgust -- I saw the cameras swarm in on our Harriet. I decided to stay and watch her in her glory.
In fact, I have a confession to make. It was I who encouraged Harriet to stay and to face the cameras. Each time she wanted to storm from the lobby in a fiery exeunt, it was I who stopped her, consoled her, turned her around, and told her "Your anger needs to be heard, friend. Don't stop."
Did I think that she could have been more coherent at first? Yes, I did. Did I feel that she was flirting with the edge of reason? Yes, I did. Would I have had her change a thing? No, I wouldn't.
I would like to add that I don't condone any correlation between the words "black" and "inadequate." It is my belief that she was not *equating* "black" with "inadequate." I believe she was saying that *Obama* is inadequate, and that he is where he is because of affirmative action tactics -- much as Geraldine Ferraro has said, and not unlike Joe Biden's misspeak last year. Again, though, not words I personally would have ever chosen.
Many have criticized Harriet for what is being categorized as her "circus antics." What they call "antics," I call the red blood of Democracy. She was angry. She was angry as I was angry. We were angry as thousands of people were angry. That anger needed a voice that wasn't couched behind cold, intellectually dishonest reason.
The DNC had committed an act of war, and Harriet was firing back with bullets of passion. Was she the best marksman? Perhaps not. But did she reveal to America the depth of frustration that many, many people are feeling right now? That she did.
We all know that -- had she been as calm and collected as so many of you feel she should have been -- that she wouldn't have the nearly 800,000 YouTube hits she now does. Her voice has been heard.
Is that to say that I believe that Harriet was seeking attention? Not at all. As I've said, it was I who kept the fires of encouragement lit beneath her. She has since confessed to me many a time how she now fears that her emotions might be used to hurt Hillary Clinton's campaign. That is the last thing she wants. She simply wanted to cry out against injustice... as so many of us often want to do, but so few of us actually do.
And, for the record: No, she hadn't been drinking. I had the fortune of talking with Harriet well into the night that night. (It was 2am when we finally said "Good night" to one another). While I was knocking back my white Russians and my margaritas, she touched nothing but her Diet Coke. She hasn't touched alcohol since 1985. The only thing she was drunk on that afternoon was indignation.
I hope you will all take the time to get to know Harriet as I have. Harriet is salty. Harriet is a firecracker. Harriet is many things. But Harriet is not a lunatic. She is a life long New Yorker who has worked for civil rights for over forty years. She's a woman full of life and passion. She's a woman who gave her emotions free reign for a few well-televised minutes.
Let those of you who have not exploded in anger cast the first stone... whether or not you were on TV when you did so.
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I live in Florida. This is the thing, in Florida we wanted to make sure the votes in the future would be valid. We wanted our governor (Republican Charlie Crist) to sign a bill making paper ballots a backup requirement. In order for Crist to sign the bill, He 'backdoored" stepping up the date of the democratic primary. This was not something we democrats asked for or wanted. All we wanted was to make sure there would be no future problems with counting the votes. These are the realities of politics. In the end, at least we are getting the nominee I want!
Thanks to the coverage of Saturdays DNC meeting in DC, I hope a lot of people realized tha the Dems in FL were shafted by the Repubs. That said, the Florida DNC should have been more proactive in moving the Primary date so it complied.
I have no doubt that the FL GOP was hoping that by moving up the date, that they would cause this kind of trouble. Do we have to start suspecting ulterior motives everytime the GOP does something, whehter it's on a local, state or national level? The DNC may have to.
I guess, we dems have still not learned that the GOP will stoop to the lowest common denominator to stay in power.
Why is it that Republicans control everything in your state?
I completely understand what the Gov. did, but HRC took this issue and pressed it only when she needed it.
I find your apologist treatment of her rant disgusting. She very blatantly called Obama an inadequate black man. How you can parse the words of that statement to make it not racist is, well, Clintonian. Undoubtedly if the roles had been reversed, and some Obama supporter had shouted that Hillary was an inadequate woman, you and Geraldine would be screaming about her sexist mistreatment.
Hillary got more than she deserved out of the RBC meeting, and the way she has played this to make it seem like it was Obama's fault is destructive. In fact, her campaign manager Terry MaCauliffe and chief hypocrite Harold Ickes both strongly supported stripping Florida and Michigan of their delegates when Hillary did not need or want them. The self-righteous indignation they now show is pathetic and infuriating to those of us with a brain. That's why Hillary lost.
Ridiculous. If you don't think Obama would have been doing the same thing - you're very naive. Hillary didn't get more than she deserved. Obama got delegates that he didn't earn! Yeah, that's democracy.
If you don't think she would have done the same thing that Obama did if she was in the lead you are naive. Therefore your complaints about the subversion of democracy are simply tactical. You know your "fighter" would have done the same thing. Take the defeat with a little reason and grace.
Exactly. Reminds me of what another poster here said about sexism in novels. When faced with a character, flip the gender and see if the actions/de
Everybody went into Michigan and Florida under agreement that it wouldn't count because they had broken the rules. Everybody. That's why Obama wasn't on the ballot and that's why nobody campaigned there. I am sick to death of this revisionist history. If I lived in one of those two states, I'd be mad at whoever moved their elections ahead, not Obama, Hillary or the DNC.
Hillary agreed to it and now it's politically expedient to disagree and run around claiming you got more votes than somebody that wasn't even on the ballot. Duh. We'll need those states in November so some sort of compromise had to be done because it wasn't the voters fault but Hillary has tried to lie and race bait her way to the White House .... and she's pissed it didn't work.
I'm glad I switched to Obama.
Will,
Sorry but I'm not buying it. I'm not saying that Harriet Christian is a racist person, but what she said reeks of prejudice.
Let's be honest here, there was no purpose in Harriet using the word "black" in making her point other than to suggest that the word had some importance in that point.
And her point was clear: She felt, despite the honest to God facts, that the Democratic party was GIVING THE NOMINATION to Obama, an "inadequate black man" to spite the chance of a woman (an adequate white woman I can only assume) being elected.
It's disingenuous. It's ugly. It has no place in this party.
Obama won the most states, the most delegates and the most votes. He has won on the rules. NOTHING was handed to him. He is not an "Affirmative Action" candidate any more that Hillary Clinton was. And yes, women too have profited from Affirmative Action.
It's okay to be passionate about your choice of candidate. It's okay to disagree with the RBC ruling.
It's not okay to assume that because your candidate lost, Democrats have betrayed you or that the nomination was given away.
Today, the final votes of this primary season will be cast. The winner of the most delegates this primary season, the deciding factor of the nomination will be known.
We all have to come to terms, honestly about that.
On the lighter side, I find it hilarious that her name is Christian. I have been hearing her referred to as an loopy aged bitter racist Jewish woman from Florida.
I don't know many Jews with the last name of Christian.
OK, in the interest of full disclosure, I don't know any Jews with the last name of Christian.
I'm not saying it's never happened. But, I am saying the thought of it is cracking me up. :~}
On the Daily Show, Jon Stewart came back from the clip by saying "bye Grandma, see you at Passover." I guess he hadn't heard her name.
My guess is that there were more than a few Jews who let out a sigh of relief when they found out she wasn't one of them.
As soon as I heard she was from New York I knew she wasn't Jewish...w
She's from New York, not Florida. She could have married someone with the last name Christian.
See Will Bower's Profile
She's Greek.
Will,
Time for you to get outside the beltway. You sound like Harold Ickes. "Declare war?" On whom? On the Democratic Party? Vote Republican? Hey, do it!
No one stole anything. Hillary lost the fight. Period. She fought hard. Brilliant in the debates. A lot of obstacles. A lot of unfairness. Sexism. And a whole lot of mistakes starting with underestimating Obama and hiring a bunch of knife fighters to run her campaign..
I suspose you will now join the chorus, which I am afraid Hil's surrogate-in-chief Bill will lead, of voices that will claim the nomination was stolen from her. Harold will move on and so should you. There is a lot of work to do to clean up the Bush mess. Barak Obama is capable of doing it. John McCain is not.
Was she outraged when Harold Ickes voted to strip Michigan and Florida? Was she outraged when a primary was held in Michigan with only Hillary's name on the ballot? Was she outraged for all the voters who didn't show up because they were told their votes wouldn't count and then a candidate insisted the results did count? Was she outraged at any of those points? I couldn't care less if she was outraged by the DNC's actions because for those "thousands" who were bussed in to express their anger, there were TENS OF THOUSANDS who would have been justifiably furious that Clinton stole the delegates that weren't supposed to count in the first place.
And, just where was your anger at all these previous points?
While Harriets comments are fiery and good sound bites, two issues prevail:
1. The Clinton campaign should have thought about leaving the contest when she had 11 straight losses during the Super Tuesday primaries. No candidate running for this office has ever endured that kind of loss and recovered to win the nomination.
2. How can Democrats criticize Republicans about following the rules and the process if we are not able to do it. Both she, Obama and others agreed not to count Florida and Michigan. So any compromise that puts those delegates back into the game and into Denver should have been welcomed with open arms.
3. It was wrong to string her supports along with this fight to the end talk when it was impossible to gain the lead and take the nomination with out some hugh blunder and mistake on the part of Obama. That is not political strategy, that is wishful, magical thinking. I think she owes her supporters an appology and every attempt she can give to put them back on tract to supporting the nominee. Never has this happened where the second place person in a contest stated that I will take my votes and go home if you do not play it my way. It is hard to say this, but even the Republicans were more civil to reach other and knew when to fold and bow out gracefully than Democrats do.
Chris Porter
Seattle, Wa
I live in Michigan.I am one those outraged voters.Our delegates should have been split 50/50. Our primary was not legal in any way shape or form.Clint
The fact is that Obama is not inadequate. That's a lie from the Clinton campaign.
He has a track record of achievement that overshadows Senator Clinton.
He has more legislative and elected experience than Senator Clinton. 8 years in the Illinois State Senate and 3 years in Congress.
He has more foreign policy experience than Bill Clinton or George Bush did when they first won the Presidency.
He has better judgment and has been on the right side of the major issues like the Iraq war from the very beginning, whereas Clinton only started to talk about withdrawal in Iowa.
Clinton ran a campaign based on polls, pandering, spin and smears. She is the inadequate candidate, who failed abysmally at the only portfolio given her during Bill's two terms. If sh was competent and fiscally responsible, she wouldn't be 40 million dollars in debt. If she was adequate, she wouldn't have been able to keep her almost insurmountable lead in the polls which she had before the primary season began. She's had more than 7 years of glowing press coverage and any negative coverage she has gotten during this campaign, has been because of her own personal and political inadequacies and her kitchen sink strategy, which backfired on her, creating divisiveness and anger.
She should have saved her negative campaigning for Bush and McCain, but instead chose to endorse McCain over a fellow Democrat.
I hope you were amongst those who extended the same courtesy to Sen Obama when his pastor's 'well televised' rants were being used to unfairly damage his character.
If not, I'd like to introduce you to my friend, Karma.
Not to be disrespectful to Harriet Christian, but I actually knew a woman like her! Looked like her, sounded like her, and acted like her, every time she got off her meds. She was a manic depressant. And after only one week off her meds she was positive the FBI was following her, the CIA wanted to brain wash her. She was also positive that she alone held more knowledge and wisdom in her pinky finger then the rest of the world could ever possess. One minute she would be calm and collective, the next would explode loudly about some kind of injustice towards her or others. After 3 to 5 days back on her meds she would return to her baseline and act pretty much like a normal woman.
I just found it interesting that this woman reminded me so much of my bipolar friend from the past.
your speaking from personal experiance aren't you?!
She has a nerve saying she supports every American voter.
No suprise there. That what the Clinton's has been promoting inside their campaign. Bill Clinton, Geraldine Ferrao all said the same thing.... DEMOCRTATS PLEASE WAKE UP.....
She related to Geraldine? She sounded to me like the mean-spirited, elderly aunt who embarasses everyone at the dinner table by insisting that everything that passes through her mind has to find it's way through her mouth. I don't think the Clinton shills at the RBC did their candidate any good.
I found her entire tirade, its premise and execution, revolting. Parts of It were racist, parts were woefully ill considered.
But it is an appropriate face to put on the end of the long national nightmare known as the Clinton era. Morally bankrupt, hypocritical, seething with expectations of entitlement and hubris, all topped off with a Liebermanesque penchant for ditching and betraying the party when the party threatens to spew them from their mouth in disgust.
hadn't thought of it that way, but it is a fitting ending to the failed clinton campaign strategy.
and this never ending primary. thanks
Oh please!
Harriet Christian, who is a die-hard Hillary supporter, was able to fund a trip from New York to the RBC meeting in Washington, but was only able to donate $200 to her campaign???
Is she kidding me? Take a look for yourself.
http://fun
I read an article earlier (can't remember where) talking about a candidate's supporters and "supporters". Their definition of supporters were people who believed in their candidate and worked for and contributed money to that campaign. The definition of "supporters" was a person who did not like the opposing candidate (in this case Obama) for whatever reason and was working AGAINST that candidate, rather than actually supporting their chosen candidate (Hillary).
Not to defend what this woman said AT ALL, but fyi it is not at all expensive to get from NYC to DC.
Is that the same person? The one you linked appears to be a waitress. If that's the case, then $200 is an impressive amount.
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