Clinton letter to Obama on Michigan, Florida

A request to resolve the votes of Michigan and Florida:

May 8, 2008

Senator Barack Obama
Obama for America
P.O. Box 8102
Chicago, IL 60680

Dear 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 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 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

How will Obama respond? Will he toss it off as a political stunt? What about the DNC? Will he defer to the rules and bylaws committee meeting on May 31? Or will he take a lead role in resolving the MI, FL votes? I don't see how he can ignore these two battleground states. Good for Hillary for upping the ante and bringing the issue into the public's eye.

DNC rules ruse

Riverdaughter posted, A Tale of Two Videos, one that displays the cravenly misguided DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee hearing that eventually voted to strip Florida of all of its delegates. Toward the end of the video, Donna Brazile giddy-ups on her highhorse to ride the meeting to a disgraceful crescendo of its amen chorus... Piss off Florida voters!

For further background, read Wayne Barrett on how the Democrats got stuck on stupid with Michigan and Florida with help from their enemies, the Republicans. Barrett pointed out that Ralph Dawson, who at 35:48 in the video introduced the motion to penalize Florida with a 100% loss of delegates, "was Howard Dean's Yale roommate and an advisor to Dean's 2004 campaign. Dawson's role was seen as a signal of Dean's appetite for a kick-ass rebuke. . . As much as the DNC tries to pretend otherwise, it had choices. In fact, it later showed understandable leniency to three other states who changed their primary dates--New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina -- seating all their delegates. The tough love treatment was reserved for Michigan and Florida."

The other video via Riverdaughter shows Howard Dean in action on This Week with George Stephanopolous as he attempts to rationalize alienating Florida and Michigan voters. He said to George during the interview there was only one candidate on the Michigan ballot. Not true. Clinton, Gravel, Dodd, and Kucinich were on the ballot as well as Uncommitted, a designation that Obama and Edwards supporters campaigned for voters to to chose in lieu of the other candidates.

No one made Obama or Edwards remove their names from the Michigan ballot when four candidates didn't. Dean gets no cigar for his argument that superdelegates should decide who they support by the end of June before the convention.

He also stated that Democrats "have to win the election," that McCain isn't the best choice for the country. And then Dean audaciously warned that "the only thing that can beat us is disunity in the Democratic Party," conveniently overlooking how the party had already sowed the seeds of disharmony in denying the Florida and Michigan delegation to count during the nomination process--not after the nominee has been decided as Dean explained April 1:

One, they can be seated by agreement between the two campaigns if there is no clear winner, or, two, they will be seated I suspect by whoever does win the nomination.

As I said before, "If one thinks that seating the FL and MI delegates after the nominee has been decided will endear those states' voters to the Democrat in November, just put down the wacky tobaccy and step away from the bong." Dean has to hope that Clinton becomes the nominee if Democrats want to win the WH. Obama hasn't inspired loyalty by his opposition to a revote or proposing to count 50% of the MI and FL delegates.

If you can stomach the nauseating reality of a party hell-bent on losing the presidency because of its hubris, click the images to view the videos.

Amazingly, Democratic poobahs and Barry's arrogance mistakenly think Hillary supporters will vote for Obama in November. They need to re-think that scenario.

Additionally, Hillary, not Obama, beats McCain in swing state polls of Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Obama hasn't won the big states--including his anticipated defeat in the upcoming Pennsylvania contest--that deliver the Electoral College payload to beat McCain.

Hillary did and she can again in November.

Stuck on stupid

Why did I do it? Oh, why did I click on the headline in the sidebar at HuffPost that read, Hooked on Hillary? When, wham! Ugh! Eeeeeek! Ooooooh! Nora Ephron's self-indulgent pining appeared before me:

I would like to put myself among the growing chorus of people demanding that Hillary Clinton withdraw from the election. I don't really think it's fair to ask her to withdraw, and I certainly don't believe she's going to; she'll hang in there till the last dog dies, or till she runs out of money, whichever comes first. I'm not asking her to withdraw because I prefer Obama, and I don't think she should withdraw "for the sake of party unity," or whatever current bromide is being flung at her to get her to pull out. I think she should withdraw because I'm losing my mind. [Emphasis added.]

Sweetie, darling, you have already lost your mind.

Nora goes on and on...oh, the dizziness... about how "I used to love [Hillary] and I no longer do, but unlike what usually happens when love dies, I still think about her far too much." The pathos, "the Rorschach process," the obsession, like Meg Ryan in Sleepless in Seattle only without the happy ending.

Why, oh, why did I click on that damn headline?! I blame BDBlue! It's your fault! Damn you! May the plagues of a thou... Nah, just kidding.

Actually, I was reading an excellent article at HuffPost by Wayne Barrett thanks to BDBlue who posted on a hot subject last evening, Gullible Democrats: How the GOP Rigged MI & FL:

For a depressing treatise on how to lose a general election with a 48-state strategy designed by the opposing party, go read Wayne Barrett.

And do read Barrett's deep-into-the-history of the MI and FL primary nightmare, which plunges into the DNC cock-up and Howard Dean's finagling followed by the hazing of the Democrats by the Republicans in Michigan and Florida. We know the GOP does not have the Dems' best interests at heart so WTF were they thinking? One of many Democratic kickers of the self-injurious kind, unforgivable really:

The Democratic national committeeman who introduced the motion on the party's Rules Committee to deprive Florida of all its delegates -- a precursor to the Michigan decision a few months later -- was Ralph Dawson, a New York lawyer who was Howard Dean's Yale roommate and an advisor to Dean's 2004 campaign. Dawson's role was seen as a signal of Dean's appetite for a kick-ass rebuke.

As much as the DNC tries to pretend otherwise, it had choices. In fact, it later showed understandable leniency to three other states who changed their primary dates--New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina -- seating all their delegates. The tough love treatment was reserved for Michigan and Florida.

Does anyone recall a presidential election in the past few decades that turned on the Electoral College counts of either New Hampshire, Iowa or South Carolina? Ahem.

The national party had tried -- before New Hampshire's case wound up on its docket -- to leave the impression that zero tolerance was automatic once violations of the schedule occur. Back in June, a DNC spokeswoman, for example, told the Associated Press that neither Dean nor the Rules Committee "has the power to waive the rules for any state," explaining that "these rules can be changed only by the full DNC." Yet a few months later, on the same day that the Rules Committee stripped Michigan of its delegates, it waived the rules for New Hampshire, Iowa, and South Carolina, each of which had also moved up their primaries.

Barrett offers gracious plenty more analysis and facts that could make your hair set afire.

But if you head over to read Barrett's report--and I highly recommend that you do--don't click on "Hooked on Hillary." I played an April Fools' joke on myself. Spare yourself.

UPDATE: I refreshed the Wayne Barrett link to an archived copy of his HuffPo article at Common Dreams.

Florida and Michigan delegate alert

From Riverdaughter, an email (and more at the link):

“Word is filtering out from the campaign that we should contact people we know at the DNC ASAP. The FL and MI decision will be going down soon. The person we should really pressure is Phil McNamara. Phil will not be making decisions but he is the staffer who runs all affairs for the Rules and Bylaws Committee. Also if he receives a flood of messages it will get back to Dean.

Obama is pushing for a 50-50 split of the delegates. That doesn’t [reflect] the will of the people. It reflects the wishful thinking of the Obama campaign.”

Phil McNamara
delegates@dnc.org

And I agree with Riverdaughter's call to action:

Now’s your chance, guys. Make your voice heard, especially if you are in a state that went decisively for Clinton. Without FL and MI, our votes are meaningless as well. Let them know that there are millions of us out here who know what’s going on and the jig is up. Make it polite, of course. But if you must, tell them, “Don’t make me come to Denver and cause a scene.”

Now I must fire up my email engine.

UPDATE: I changed the above email address for Phil McNamara by request from the DNC. since his email account has been inundated by the response. I've been assured that he will still get the emails and "they'll be on a folder that's accessible to the rest of us and constituent services dept can read."

The late edition

Maybe Rembrandt didn't have this in mind



Wheeee-oooo! MSNBC fired Tucker Carlson! Pardon me while I quote Alex Blaze with exclamation points. "Hallelujah!!!"

The sublimely witty James Wolcott always entertains my intellect and Sunday--OMG!--he delivered a humdinger of a knock-out punch that made all my synapses light afire. If you're as weary as I am of the food fight in the Obamasphere, read The Sorrow and the Pity Party. Teh best.

Obama and the Muslims -- Republican Rep. Steven King of Iowa seems to think that "if [Obama] is elected president, then the radical Islamists, the al-Qaida, the radical Islamists and their supporters, will be dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they did on September 11 because they will declare victory in this War on Terror." ' Juan Cole aptly disputed King's nonsense.

In Spain -- Via Atrios, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's PSOE wins the election, "likely increasing their majority."

Jeralyn offers answers -- Why Did Obama Withdraw From the Michigan Primary? And I agree with her recommendation: "I think the DNC should remove the penalty from Michigan and Florida and seat the delegates. In Michigan's case, Hillary should get the delegates according to her vote total. The other delegates should remain 'uncommitted' and vote how they want when they get to the convention."

Clinton bloggers -- Tom Watson provides a summary of those who have braved the slings and arrows of the "vast armadas of angry commenters." Many of my favorite bloggers are on his list. Thanks, Tom. Count me in.

Listen up! -- Joe Conason offers advice to Obama: ". . .he should stop seeking to divert attention to [Hillary's] supposed ethical problems, and concentrate instead on responding to every serious question that is raised about his finances and his associations. He will have to address them all sooner or later. Sooner would be better for him, the party and the country." Salon Premium

Chelsea won't talk and CNN whines -- Olvlzl at Echidne of the Snakes puts it bluntly: "Anyone who is stupid enough to wonder why [Chelsea] doesn't choose to talk to the media, having grown up watching them trying to destroy her family with lies and distortions, is too stupid even for the cabloids." But if you must engage the media, tips from Rahm Emanuel.

Yippee! -- I would be remiss by not mentioning Democrat Bill Foster's victory in Illinois’ 14th U.S. House District. "Foster’s win marked the first time since 2004 that a political party won control of a U.S. House district from the opposite party in a special election. Upon Foster’s swearing in, he will become the 232nd Democrat in the U.S. House, which has 198 Republicans and five vacancies — three in districts where the Republicans are the defending party." CQ Politics

Wexler rocks -- Nicole at Crooks and Liars supplied video and email of Wexler's rebuttal to AG Mukasey's "refusal to enforce" congressional contempt citations. That's our nation's top law enforcement officer ignoring his duties. More at the C&L link.

Oh, Lambert! -- You made me swoon! Just kidding. . .but check Invisible Women for some brilliant blogging. An insight into the media's coverage of Obama perked up for me via this comment: "Could it be that the media oligarchs covet the youth demographic, and so pander to it in their coverage?" Aha! Now it makes sense. Duh.

A different kind of politics

A brief wrap-up for all you night owls

Steve Soto asked, "Senator Obama, did you want cheese with that whine?" as Obama attacks Clinton, dipping into the bag of the same ol' political tricks he so often promises he's not about. Oh, and of course, it's Clinton's fault as well as the media's for not having "cover[ed] the campaign properly." I don't think Obama was referring to blatant Clinton-bashing in the press or the right-wing freaktards. So could someone, please, call Barack a waahbulance. And get the smelling salts with a fainting couch for Donna Brazile before she hits the floor. She's highly sensitive to the politics of personal destruction.

Joebasic at Corrente offers some striking parallels to the campaign in 2000 vs. now in 2008. Scary!

Via Atrios, Laura Rozen adds a lengthy footnote to WashPo's publication of the sexist-laden "women are dumb" writing of Charlotte Allen. But just one thing's missing. Bob Somerby pointed out that barely a peep was uttered over the Post's equally-offensive Linda Hirshman. The explanation: "Allen, you see, is a pseudo-conservative; she writes for a string of kooky-con journals. Unfortunately, Hirshman is considered part of the 'liberal' team. In recent years, her work has appeared at the American Prospect, the New Republic, [Talking Points Memo]. Result? Liberal readers were allowed to learn half of what the Post did. They got to hear about Allen’s insulting piece, but not about Hirshman’s." Just when you thought liberal political pundits were--Ahem!--unbiased. . .Don't make us laugh.

Besides Hillary's stunning comeback, Avedon writes, "The best thing about Tuesday's results was the look on Russert's face." More goodies at Avedon's link.

This evening on CNN, I heard lots of talk about do-over primaries in Michigan and Florida. Let's hope they are not caucuses, which disenfranchises voters because the caucus system is less inclusive and prone to intimidation. For example, who wouldn't feel sheepish about standing up for a candidate that your boss hates. Secret ballots are the ticket, IMO. When I hear about all the caucuses Obama has won, I think of Geraldine Ferraro's point from this evening's NewsHour with Jim Lehrer: "There are no caucuses in November." Oops!

I also worry about a Republican governor from Florida--a state that has had its share of voting problems--bearing gifts in a contest that could decide who wins the Democratic nomination. One would hope that Chairman Howard Dean would have a plan for Michigan and Florida. But he doesn't.

A House Divided: What if Hillary loses? What if Barack loses? "Exit polls conducted Tuesday showed cause for concern among Democrats. In Ohio, 26 percent of Democratic primary voters said they would not be satisfied if Clinton won the nomination and 32 percent said they would not be satisfied if Obama won it. The findings were similar in Texas."

OTOH, Paul Krugman offered sage advice about polls: "Nobody knows anything." Word!

Yuck, yuck, yuck! Well, it isn't all that funny in reality. Chicago Sun-Times headline: "Sen. Obama, time to call us about Rezko: (312) 321-2417." Yeah, they listed their telephone number in the headline! "For months, Sun-Times investigative reporters have had a standing request to meet with Obama, face to face, to get answers to questions. . ." So why does Obama's head honcho David Axelrod claim Obama has "talked to reporters from both papers several times in several sessions about" Rezko when clearly he has not? What's Obama hiding?

How's this for audacity: Obama campaign lawyer Bob Bauer crashed a Clinton conference call. Thanks, Shark-fu! I preferred your version of the conversation. "Party unity. . . "

Oh, it is a different kind of politics depending on one's definition.