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Black Superdelegates Threatened, Pressured

By SusanUnPC on February 16, 2008 at 10:59 AM in Barack Obama, Civil Rights, Hillary Clinton, Jesse Jackson Jr., John Lewis

I’ve been wanting to get to this story for days. Now I simply must because the reports are coming in fast and furious about just how ugly this is getting — and the race card is getting played, by blacks against blacks, in the most vicious ways. The Obama campaign? They’re pushing the racial divisions, sending a misleading NYT story on Lewis everywhere. Obama and crew WANT this ugliness to continue:

Obama Co-Chair Jesse Jackson Jr. is THREATENING superdelegates (“Jesse Jackson Jr. Threatens Colleagues as Pandemonium Breaks Out Over Lewis“). Rep. Jackson is threatening to harm their own reelections!

“Many of these guys have offered their support to Mrs. Clinton, but Obama has won their districts. So you wake up without the carpet under your feet. You might find some young primary challenger placing you in a difficult position” in the future, he added. … (A.P./Google News)
Obama is buying superdelegates with his “big money reach.” A comparison:
Obama: $694,000 (40% of his superdelegates)
Clinton: $194,000 (12% of her superdelegates)
Although Obama’s campaign and the MSM have pushed the story that Rep. John Lewis, the legendary Civil Rights hero, has switched from Clinton to Obama, his staff says that that is not true. But Lewis is under unbelievable pressure, and he is the victim of vicious robo-calls (and Missouri’s Rep. Cleaver is also getting nasty pressure):

[Missouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus] says some — such as John Lewis — have become the victims of “robo-calls.” In Lewis’ case, the calls said “very, very derogatory things about him.”

[Cleaver says] “I had a person in my district send out a newsletter, for which I know he didn’t pay, distributed primarily in the African-American community, in which he suggested that I had been paid by Sen. Clinton to support her. I don’t know if there’s anyone who [is African American] who hasn’t taken some grief for supporting Sen. Clinton.”

For more, see Taylor’s story, in which she astutely observes:

Vote for Barack Obama, or you just might “find some young primary challenger” stepping in to take your job. It’s hard to know where to start, but considering Jesse Jackson Jr. has done this sort of race baiting before for the Obama campaign, I cannot say that I’m surprised. There is, however, something so offensive about his threat that it smacks of the same type of hierarchical control African Americans, especially John Lewis, have always fought against, only this time it’s a black man in the position of power telling people how they must use their vote or else.

Here’s more from National Public Radio, via Taylor Marsh’s “Clyburn, Superdelegates and Robo-Call Threats” — and Taylor rightfully calls this “swiftboating” (particularly the last quote below):

Cleaver says he hasn’t faced lobbying from other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, but that he and colleagues in the group, such as Jesse Jackson Jr., joke about his support of Clinton.

“We’ll go back and forth and back and forth. He says to me, ‘Cleaver, let’s say we’re at the convention in Denver and everything is all tied up and it all boils down to you, you have the last superdelegate vote. Do you want to go down in history as denying the first African American a seat in the Oval Office?’ And it’s a powerful question.

“I always answer the question by saying, ‘Loyalty trumps everything,’” including race, Cleaver says.

Cleaver notes that some members of Congress who support Clinton are experiencing threats — not from fellow members but when they return home.

They have been told that they would face opposition in their next election if they do not support Obama, and Cleaver says some — such as John Lewis — have become the victims of “robo-calls.” In Lewis’ case, the calls said “very, very derogatory things about him.”

Cleaver, too, has experienced some troubles.

“I had a person in my district send out a newsletter, for which I know he didn’t pay, distributed primarily in the African-American community, in which he suggested that I had been paid by Sen. Clinton to support her. I don’t know if there’s anyone who [is African American]

Taylor Marsh nails it:

Seeing Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri pressured by Jackson, with Cleaver’s response: “There’s nothing going on right now that would cause me to” change his support from Clinton, brought me back to growing up in Missouri. This is a state with quite a bit of history regarding race. It’s a troubled past, like much of the country. The veiled threat coming from Jackson hits that dangerous strain in Missouri politics, which few native Missourians will miss. Others beyond the Show Me state will sense it too.

Never in a million years would I vote for Hillary Clinton only because she’s a woman. She happens to be the most competent person in the field of candidates. Jackson’s suggestion that his colleagues switch their votes to vote for the African American, or face the threat of a primary challenge, is not only anti-democratic, but racist. It’s not the first time the race card has been played by the Obama campaign. They sent out a memo in South Carolina pushing it. But not until things got tight did they overtly threaten African American lawmakers directly.

It’s understandable that a lawmaker vote his constituents’ will. However, what the Obama campaign has done through Jesse Jackson Jr.’s audacious threat is make race the reason to do so. It’s a deadly decision.

Be sure to read all of Taylor’s well-vetted, highly detailed article, “Clyburn, Superdelegates and Robo-Call Threats.”

And here’s a poignant story that Rep. Cleaver tells to illustrate his point about loyalty to his chosen candidate, Sen. Clinton — for which he is being chided by many Black Caucus members — in the midst of the unbelievable pressure on him to fold and support Obama, via NPR:

Cleaver relates a story to illustrate his point.

During this year’s State of the Union speech, Cleaver was sitting with his friend and colleague, Congressman Jim Cooper of Tennessee.

Cooper got up to leave temporarily and asked Cleaver to hold his seat. An African diplomat saw the empty seat and asked Cleaver if he could sit in it. Cleaver responded that he was holding the seat for someone.

When Cooper — who is white — returned, Cleaver told him, “I was holding a seat for you, but a black man came along, and I didn’t know him well, didn’t know him at all. … Should I give this seat to a black man because he’s black? Or should I hold the seat for my friend, someone who lives down the hall from me, who I work with every day?”

Cooper responded: “I get the point.’”

“For me, that’s the way life is. You don’t abandon your friends,” Cleaver says.

http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

I haven’t read it yet, but got this in my daily newsletter from the WaPo. It’s their top story today:

Blacks in Congress Torn Over Candidates

African American members of Congress, many under enormous pressure from their constituents, are grappling with the question of whether they should abandon their support of Hillary Rodham Clinton and back Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination.
(By Shailagh Murray and Paul Kane, The Washington Post)

IF Obama had any class, he’d speak out on this, and ask people to back off. It is shameful to pit blacks against blacks, and threaten their reelections. He should PUT A STOP TO IT. (Seriously doubt he’ll do that though — he, Jesse Jr., and Axelrod are eating it up, probably.)

Percy

Agree 100% …. the reason this behavior is going on…because Barack supports it. He should denouce it…strongly. Yet he will not. He is in it for himself only to get the White House at any costs. Supports disenfranchising voters in FL and MI ….and not allowing threats. He is not a respectable man. He is hujacking our country at all costs. he will cost the democrats the election in November.

SUPERDELEGATES …. stand up for AMERICANS….not just like Obama says he will…..REALLY stand up for all Americans. Do not succumb to such idle threats. We are on the bringe of our own civil war.
Banquo’s Ghost

The exact same complaint can be made about Hillary Clinton.

TeakWoodKite

If Obama wants to arm twist and threaten ala “ruff and tumble” Chicago style politics he does so at his own personal peril. Slash and burn tactics have a very high negitive in terms of the political “futures” market. While you may have a point to some degree, it is important to note the tactics being used. In evaluating Senator Obama’s M.O., I am asking myself “Change by force” or change by example and leadership. Which will we see if he becomes POTUS?
The blow back Obama will face will be of a higher amperage than Clinton. A point that appears lost on many in the Obama supporters.

While Hillary, as reported, has been giving some attention to Super D’s ; please show me what derogatory tactics that she has used.

Money makes the world go round.
Obama: $694,000 (40% of his superdelegates)
Clinton: $194,000 (12% of her superdelegates)

Cee

Susan,

You keep making me laugh. Obama should do what Hillary didn’t do?
Have you forgotten her black attack dogs Johnson and Rangle?

simon

Have you forgotten her black attack dogs Johnson and Rangle?

Wow, that comes across as racist, Cee.

And given the mess the whole “super delegate blackmail” opera, ala Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, jr., you might want to avoid racial inference.

The whole Obama thing is getting gross.

Cee

He was also robbed in New Hampshire.

Obama Got Robbed in NYC
by BooMan
Sat Feb 16th, 2008 at 10:49:42 AM EST

Charlie Rangel has some explaining to do:

Black voters are heavily represented in the 94th Election District in Harlem’s 70th Assembly District. Yet according to the unofficial results from the New York Democratic primary last week, not a single vote in the district was cast for Senator Barack Obama.
That anomaly was not unique. In fact, a review by The New York Times of the unofficial results reported on primary night found about 80 election districts among the city’s 6,106 where Mr. Obama supposedly did not receive even one vote, including cases where he ran a respectable race in a nearby district.

City election officials this week said that their formal review of the results, which will not be completed for weeks, had confirmed some major discrepancies between the vote totals reported publicly — and unofficially — on primary night and the actual tally on hundreds of voting machines across the city.

In the Harlem district, for instance, where the primary night returns suggested a 141 to 0 sweep by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, the vote now stands at 261 to 136. In an even more heavily black district in Brooklyn — where the vote on primary night was recorded as 118 to 0 for Mrs. Clinton — she now barely leads, 118 to 116.

Election anomalies have a tendency to help only one party…or only one faction within the Democratic Party. I thought Chicago has supposed to be the place that counted votes this way.

http://www.boomantribune.com/

Mr.Murder

“… a light will shine through that window, a beam of light will come down upon you, you will experience an epiphany … and you will suddenly realize that you must go to the polls and vote for Obama” – Barack Obama, Lebanon, New Hampshire.
January 7, 2008.

No cult-like tendencies there, nosiree….

To the topic, super delegates assigned regions outside their own districts have to obligate the vote returns from other precincts, counties, etc.

http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

Oh lordy.

I’m trying to get to a story about all of that — it’s incredible — my daughter has pitched in and done some outstanding research. Just wait! This weekend, I hope!

Next, I have to get up something hideous that is being done to Chelsea Clinton … then onward.

(Well, the superdelegate system is probably less than ideal, but it was instituted, and voted in, back in the early 1980s by the DNC. If the Democrats want to change it, they need to vote on that — after the nominee is selected under the CURRENT system. They can’t change the rules in place just because they don’t suit them. Or put NASTY pressure on blacks to vote for Obama.)

S. Markom

If the polls hold as they are it is unlikely that either candidate will be nominated on the first ballot at the convention. Therefore this will be a brokered convention in some way.

This super delegate system was troubling at the start of this primary election and now the entire nomination may well rest on what these people decide in a smoke filled room. By the way Bill Clinton is one of those super delegates – talk about a conflict fo interest.

The division between Obama and Clinton is such that it is hard to understand that any resolution can be achieved, particularly if Obama goes in with a larger popular vote. This is a division that is worse than 1968 and we know what resulted from that.

There are rumblings that Al Gore may well be asked to be the nominee in order to unite the party. Has anyone within the party heard more than has been reported in Newsweek and the NY Times?

1950democrat

If the polls hold as they are it is unlikely that either candidate will be nominated on the first ballot at the convention. Therefore this will be a brokered convention in some way.

Hey, that’s beginning to sound like a caucus — the sort of thing Obama likes. The difference is, no crossover “Dems for a Day” here; these are real Dems for decades, and hopefully enough of them will know where Obama’s claimed ‘majority vote’ came from: crossovvers in red states.

S. Markom

Not as easy as you think. This is not a caucus.

The only way one of these people is nominated is if they receive the magic number of delegate votes. It is very likely neither candidate will.

More and more party leaders are stating that the popular vote should not be overturned by a small group of suoer delegates. If the super delegates are 100% committed to their respective candidate than how do you see someone getting nominated?

1950democrat

That’s why a good number of superdelegates need to stay uncommitted till the last minute — so they CAN vote as a bloc (or threaten to) to break a tie.

That’s their job — to provide a clear winner. Otherwise it might bog down in recounts and lawsuits.

It’s good to have some human judgement in the final decision also: they can look into “Dem for a Day” scams and discount those ‘votes.’

Why do Obama people act like this was his only chance? After this good a showing, he’ll be in good position for 2016 (or 2012) — unless he makes too many enemies now.

S. Markom

You make it sound so simple. Somehow I don’t think it is going to turn out that way.

This was a very poorly laid out plan. The idea of super delegates, the moving up of primaries, and the punishment of FL and MI , adding in the whole racial thing, are all going to make for a very acrimonous convention – much worse than the 1968 convention.

Do not be surprised with Al Gore coming out of this convention as the nominee.

http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

LIke I said: This is the system. It is the legal system of the Democratic National Party.

If you don’t like it because it’s not influencing things your way, lobby to have the rules changed at some point.

But you can’t alter the rules just because you don’t like what they might be.

This has been in place since the 1980s and I’ve never heard anybody complain until now. Of course.

Ron Cowin

It has been so long that noone really can remember a convention that was little more that a coronation. At least the networks won’t be cutting back their coverage. Without the 313 delegates from Florida and Michigan, neither candidate may be able to get the majority of votes needed. We may have to agree on a compromise of some sort. A woman who is part black and hispanic would be perfect. Some speaking experience a help. No skeletons in the closets. Nice to have a sense of humor. Send applications to the DNC, Attn Howard Dean.

For next time we can change the entire process and have all the candidates placed in a political “survivor” situation. Registered Democrats could call in to vote one candidate off the island each week. Sell commercial time and it should pay for itself. Many say that more people vote for American Idol than President anyway.
S. Markom

The super delegates were the rules since the 1980s. What was more recent was the moving up of primaries and, more importantly, the punishment of FL and MI.

This rush to judgment with the early primaries is resulting in this locked convention.

I agree that the super delegates should reflect the popular vote and not any kind of backroom deal made a few years ago by the Clintons or a more recent deal made by Obama.

By the way, Bill Clinton is one of the super delegates. I would say that is a conflict of interest.
Banquo’s Ghost

Susan is happy enough with illegitimate candidates and stolen elections so long as they benefit *her* candidate of choice.

Lu

Now why on earth would you be calling yourself after that scum bag Banquo? After all, Shakespeare borrowed the character from Holinshed’s Chronicles, (a history of Britain published in 1587.) The real Banquo was an accomplice to Macbeth in the murder of the King. Shakespeare, had to do a double cross and pretend that Banquo was something else — the good guy –for King James I, was a descendant of Banquo.

You don’t seem to know who’s who.

TeakWoodKite

Lebanon? That’s funny.

kj1313

It should be popular vote PERIOD. None of these pledged delegates or super delegates. Or have we forgotten all about 2000.

http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

See my reply to Mr. Murder just above.

Frankly, I’d like to see the whole primary system improved. But it’s a daunting task for the parties, because they’re facing pressures from so many different state and regional groups. HOWEVER, they can’t change the rules just because, this time, it’s not working out for them.

ALL THE CANDIDATES knew — going in to this race — that those are the legally established rules. And so do their campaigns. The whining about it now is just self-preferential. If Obama were slightly behind in voted delegates, he’d be buying even MORE superdelegates than he already is.

(It’s like the whining about the electoral college every four years. If people really don’t like it, change it! But don’t whine about it when it doesn’t suit you.)

John

Obama is all for letting the people speak when it suits him; but the two million people who voted in Florida and Michigan can go to hell because they didn’t “obey the rules”- the rules he’s trying to game when it comes to Superdelegates.

Cee

John,

Wrong again. The DNC decided that they can do to hell and all of the candidates AGREED.
TeakWoodKite

Don’t forget, Obama’s campaign staff releasing a statement that the Floridavotewas “meaningless”.

John

Which popular vote? By state, or Congressional district? Do you mean nationwide? If so, you want to include the caucus votes, where active service military personnel, the elderly, single moms and dads, and everyone else who can’t devote several hours to caucus were disenfranchised? Do you include the two million votes cast in Michigan and Florida?

“Popular vote PERIOD.” Real simple, until you start dealing with those annoying little details.

1950democrat

Right. I suspect the Obama people are just blowing smoke and sowing confusion.
kj1313

Re:Michigan & Florida, they broke the rules right? Or are we going to forget about that? They never should moved up their primaries. These were rules that ALL candidates agreed to. Are we cherry picking data like the Bush Administration did during the run up to the Iraq War, it sure seems like it….

1950democrat

We’re remembering 2000. In a close contest, the raw “popular vote” means recount lawsuits in multiple venues over every hanging chad.

The superdelegates were instituted as tie-breakers (among other things). Most of them are people who clearly won their own recent elections. All of them are real Democrats, not “Dems for a Day.”

I’d rather see it decided by Democratic superdelegates — than by the Bush Supreme Court, which is where Obama would take it, if he’s threatening to sue about the seating of the FL/MI delegations.

http://NoQuarterUSA.net Larry Johnson

Talk about playing the race card. Threatening other African Americans and accusing them of being akin to Uncle Tom and Oreos would be vilified if done by any caucasian politician. Maybe this was not Obama’s idea, but it is happening on his behalf. A true leader interested in taking the race issue off the table would speak up and tell folks to cut this shit out.
LJ

Banquo’s Ghost

Both candidates are playing the race card, Larry. In addition, Hillary is playing the gender card.

Both candidates are acting like politicians.

The problem, again, is less the candidates going after the superdelegates – they’ll both be playing the same game – the problem is much more the existence of the superdelegates to begin with. They are completely anti-democratic.

Look at this way: Washington State, where I live, went for Obama and rejected the Clintons by an overwhelming majority state wide. In (white as rice) Seattle, where I live, precinct caucuses were going by as much as 90% for Obama. My own precinct (no black voters, incidentally) went 87% for Obama. In 2004, we had 43 voters in this precinct for the primary. In 2008, we had over 90. 12 went for Clinton/s. Nobody was undecided. Do the arithmetic yourself.

The point being, what are the voters of Washington State to do if the superdelegates erase our votes? Would we have any reason whatsoever to vote for a candidate who was basically nominated by elite party insiders, over our (VAST) majority?

It would be interesting to hear you answer those questions, Larry, and it would also be interesting to hear you talk about how Hillary Clinton is going after superdelegates just as is Obama.

Banquo’s Ghost

I want to reiterate something important. In my precinct, more primary voters out of the total attending voted for Obama than SHOWED UP IN TOTAL IN 2004!

This is what you call RECORD turnout.

If the superdelegates overturn the will of the state’s voters – in particular in urban Seattle, where Hillary Clinton was hugely rejected in lopsided proportions almost never seen, with record turnout never seen – why should we believe at all in the value of the Democratic Party? Why would we believe at all that our will was fairly accounted for in the Clinton nomination if it is purely the result of superdelegates?

For all the complaining here about how Obama is “threatening” superdelegates, you forget that, increasingly, the only hope for Hillary Clinton to win this election is by overturning the popular vote as recorded in awarded delegates from the states, via the major access she has to elite party insider superdelegates. This is the only delegate total she is ahead with now.

Can you address that? More voters showed up for Obama alone this year in my precinct than showed up in total for all candidates (and there were more than two) in 2004. Yet this record election here seems meaningless to you if it must be discounted and buried so that your candidate can be awarded the nomination by party insiders, increasingly her only hope.

Jess Wonderin

So help me make sense out of the 40% of Obama’s Iowa support consisting of
Republican “Democrats-For-A-Day” voters . . . ya REALLY think they’ll cross over and dump “Da Party” when it counts?

Could they just be motivated members of the Small Dick He Man Clinton haters Club, naw . . . but I could be wrong . . . BIFKDI.
Lu

Perhaps the reason Obama won so big in Washington was that he told the biggest lies that the caucus sheep “yes we ~~canned”~~ conned themselves into believing. Following are some of Obama’s whoppers. This is a consistant pattern of aggrandizing that Obama indulges in. Talk about delusions of grandeur!

On Feb. 9, 2008, the Seattle post-intelligencer ran a column by Kimberly Mills titled Snark Attack. Below is the column:

They all do it. Even Barrack Obama, the bearer of change. In literature handed out at the Winslow ferry terminal this week, prospective caucusgoers were treated to a fair amount of, well, let’s be charitable and call it hyperbole. As in: “He passed $100 million in tax cuts for working families” during his years in the Illinois Legislature. Sorry, not even a governor can do that by himself. And. “He reformed a death penalty system that had sent 13 innocent people to death row.” Again, it takes more than one state senator to achieve that.–Kimberly Mills.

Lu

Because he lied more . . .read on . . .They all do it. Even Barrack Obama, the bearer of change. In literature handed out at the Winslow ferry terminal this week, prospective caucusgoers were treated to a fair amount of, well, let’s be charitable and call it hyperbole. As in: “He passed $100 million in tax cuts for working families” during his years in the Illinois Legislature. Sorry, not even a governor can do that by himself. And. “He reformed a death penalty system that had sent 13 innocent people to death row.” Again, it takes more than one state senator to achieve that.–Kimberly Mills

Cee

Larry,

I agree with this. I must also say that Jackson Jr is an IDIOT.

I also don’t think much of the coward who raced to press screaming about being a victim.

mimi

WOW!!!! And this is the CHANGE that Obama’s campaign is touting.

I’m an AA. And although I’m not surprised that this is happening, I am surprised that they’re being caught. I guess like all demagogues and their followers they’ve bought into their own hype. They probably thought that the media would continue their free pass. Hate to break it to you guys but this stuff is just to good for the Republicans to pass up. They want to WIN in Nov. I wonder what Obama promised Jackson Jr? Secretary of Labor…. An Ambassadorship for his dad? I guess they’ve forgotten how much white people LOVE Jesse Jackson, Sr. I can’t believe these guys really believe that those white folks who voted for him to trounce Hillary will cast a vote for him in Nov. Talk about delusional!

These guys are failing Politics 101. This is embarrassing.

Banquo’s Ghost

What is Chelsea promising the superdelegates whom SHE calls? Susan and Larry probably haven’t even taken the trouble to look in to THAT, prior to posting yet another (hypocritical!) complaint about Obama.

Both candidates are promising the moon in a tea cup to all the superdelegates. This is less a problem of the candidates who are in an election, and more a problem that “superdelegates” exist to begin with.

Jess Wonderin

ASSWIPE! “what is Chelsea promising?” You are some piece of work. Most times you annoy me, but now you just simply pissed me off.

Blackmail is unsavory in life AND politics – Jessse Jr just shit on the great Mountain made black and white Civil Rights workers of the past. MLK would be proud of him . . .

Banquo’s Ghost

calling me “asswipe” might make you feel good but it doesn’t actually have anything to do with what I wrote. The Clintons are bribing superdelegates and attempting to coerce superdelegates, too. Some of Chelsea’s phone calls will be about that. I find it strange that Obama’s attempt to get superdelegates is found outrageous, whereas Hillary’s goes unmentioned.

I maintain that the problem is less either candidate in this case, though I really don’t think Hillary wants to win an anti-democratic superdelegate election, for her own sake, and nothing else matters to her – the problem is the existence of superdelegates, period.

Mike Howell

Banquo’s Ghost –

Sure isn’t a million dollars like Barack Hussein Obama. Maybe it’s world peace.

Banquo’s Ghost

Both candidates are going after the superdelegates with carrots and sticks. The problem is not the candidates. The problem is the superdelegates, who have the capacity to overturn the popular vote in this election.

Susan and Larry will not mention Hillary’s threatening and attempting to buy out the superdelegates, only Obama’s. And Susan and Larry will not complain if the superdelegates hand the election to the Clintons, only if they hand the election to Obama.

Again, the problem is not the candidates’ attempt to corner the superdelegate vote. The problem is that the superdelegates exist to begin with.

Cee

Banquo,

Lincoln bedroom jammie parties?

Hillary won’t get that far.

simon

Lincoln bedroom jammie parties?

Hillary won’t get that far.

Word was the DNC put pressure on the Clinton’s to use the White House for donation purposes.

Bush had Abramoff in that role, and Obama, well, Obama just lies, or uses Rezko.

I wonder who Obama’s new Rezko is, still friendly to middle easterner um, money guys?

I suppose I’ll google “Saudi.”

spega

Banquo-
In response to your comment that everybody’s going after the super delegates. That may be true–BUT Obama’s pursuit has been on a wildly different level:
REALITY CHECK:_
“According to the Center for Responsive Politics- __Obama’s political action committee has doled out more than $694,000 to superdelegates since 2005, the study found, and of the 81 who had announced their support for Obama, 34 had received donations totaling $228,000. __Clinton’s political action committee has distributed about $195,000 to superdelegates, and only 13 of the 109 who had announced for her have received money, totaling about $95,000.”

CLK

As a Democrat since LBJ-I’m not sure today’s Democrats are ready for prime time.

The Democratic leadership/DNC members have designed a Nominee Selection Process guaranteed to fail: confused state-to-state proportional allocation of “pledged” delegates +superdelagates. Now we have arguments over national popular vote/vote in districts/pure pledged delegate totals/pledged+super delegate totals/causus versus primary/1.7 million voters in Florida stripped of delegates. How democratic!
What a mess-
Positions are hardening every day. Both remaining Democratic candidates are damaged. Unifying the party will start after the post-Labor Day convention–too late.

Republicans’ winner-take-all primaries/caucuses have given them a candidate. Republicans are in the process of unifying.

Do we really want the Democrats who designed this confusing, divisive system running the government?

Ron Cowin

Hey CLK, we are Democrats. It is what we do. I was 3 years old when Truman won in 1948, and in all that time we have had five Democratic presidents and only one got reelected. In the same period four out of five Republicans served two terms. The late Will Rogers said: “I don’t belong to an organized political party. I am a Democrat.” When I was in New York, it was Tammany against the reformers. Now I live in San Francisco, where Republicans are on the endangered species list. We don’t even need them here. We can argue enough amongst ourselves to make Republicans superfluous.
RalphB

NO

Mr.Murder

“All politicas is local.”

Except for when you don’t want local votes to count for the candidate they voted in.

Let’s only let other districts decide the votes.

That’s what Obama’s doing when he trieds to override superdelegates.

He’s claiming to the contrary while doing so. Hypocrisy abounds.

TeakWoodKite

Hypocrisy abounds

Chicago politics.
Gregoryp

I think he has taken his que from Bush and the winger crowd. It is bizarro America for them. Everything they say is the opposite of what they do or intend to do. They race bait yet claim it is the Clintons. Obama, his campaign and many of his supporters do exactly what they publicly condemn. I am tired of dishonest politicians who lie about everything.

Gregoryp

Somehow I mispelled queue.

http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

Actually i think you meant cue.

lemonv

The point is, Banquo, Jesse Jackson, Jr. is pressuring the black superdelegates to vote for Obama by telling them that there might be repercussions if they vote wrongly. So what does he mean by that, really? To me, he seems to mean that if a black superdelegate vote for Hillary, then there might be repercussions while if they vote for Obama, then there “might” not be repercussions.

If that is not race baiting, then what do you call it, then, Banquo?

Banquo’s Ghost

I disagree that Jesse Jackson Jr. is the point. He is a surrogate. The Clintons have their surrogates as well. Politicians in national elections rely on surrogates for many things.

The point is that the existence of superdelegates is threatening the legitimacy of the primary.

RaceBasedVoting

Jesse Jackson Jr is not just a surrogate. He is Obama’s National Co-Chair.

Ron Cowin

I am shocked, shocked, to find out that there are pressure tactics being used.* What next? The promise of ambassadorships? The carrot and the stick. The yin and yang of politics. This is more of a dog-bites-man story than man-bites-dog. So what else is new? Is anyone pressuring Ted Kennedy and John Kerry to support Hillary since she easily won Massachusetts? When you start playing that game, where does it stop?

*with love and thanks to Casablanca.

Mike Howell

Ron Cowin –

Does anyone want Ted Kennedy and John Kerry? Keep them – please!

mimi

Sorry, but the Caucus system doesn’t impress me. 90 people showed up. Is that all that’s in the state? I’ll take one vote per person primaries where neither party can switch at the last minute along with no Independents voting, any day. Why is it called a Democratic Primary? How are we supposed to trust that Washington State would go for Obama? Is that what Jackson,Jr. believes. Clearly, he doesn’t remember how Harold Ford lost in Tennessee just little over a year ago? Yeah just think what the Republicans are going to do with all of this info. Waving around veiled implications that Jesse Jackson Sr is going to be an Ambassador to Israel, or maybe a Special Mid-East Envoy?

I take it back, you all aren’t drinking Kool-Aid, you’re all on crack. It’s ridiculous that they are maneuvering behind the scenes in ways that it’s even seeing the light of day. Of course, we know stuff like this happens, but these guys look like amateurs. Sure we want them running things.

There’s no reason for them to carrying on like this if they’re ahead. Why not at least wait for the next Primaries in March. If Hillary doesn’t pull a hat trick, then I could understand them making a case. Right now it looks like race-baiting. And I’m telling you, I don’t care how many or how few people showed up at these caucuses, this won’t play in the privacy of the voting booth in Nov.

http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

I’ll go out on a limb and predict that Washington state will vote for McCain over Obama, if he’s the nominee. Only the latte liberals in Seattle and a few elsewhere will end up with Obama. I could be wrong … but I KNOW (!) that my “pink” county will go heavily McCain. And so will all of Eastern Washington state, as well as SE rural counties.

Banquo’s Ghost

I do not like being called a Latte Liberal. Would you like me to make up on an obnoxious name for you? I could probably come up with one.

Quite frankly Hillary was destroyed in EVERY COUNTY in the state including the 2/3 of the state that is Republican territory. The Republicans here will certainly vote for McCain but the state is reliably Democrat in presidential elections and, quite frankly, with the hugely lopsided support for Obama in the primary, it seems clear that in the general, if Obama is the nominee, there will be greatly increased turnout amongst Democrat voters and the state will vote for him.

TeakWoodKite

SusanUnPC: We could have some Maine Lobster overnighted to you if you’d like. Beats looking for a Safeway to deliver.

Quite frankly Hillary was destroyed in EVERY COUNTY in the state including the 2/3 of the state that is Republican territory

susanUnPc:

“Only the latte liberals in Seattle and a few elsewhere will end up with Obama”

Banquo’s Ghost:
I do not like being called a Latte Liberal.

Hey BG: Where are you mentioned in this sentence? Unless you are what you drink;

Your identification with this “group” is down right howling funny. I mean, here is a person using the name of “Banquo”, an accomplice in Macbeth’s murder, whining about beverages. You think the following describe you?

This term derives from liberals who sit around and drink overpriced diluted Starbucks coffee while lamenting the plight of the poor.

Latte Liberals have no sense of discretion and usually forget what they’re arguing about soon after other latte liberals judge newer causes (polygamy, discrimination against left-handers, etc.) to be more worthy.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=latte+liberal
simon

Quite frankly Hillary was destroyed in EVERY COUNTY in the state including the 2/3 of the state that is Republican territory.

Has anyone heard that republicans are crossing over in the primaries, and voting for Obama, as they think he will be easier for McCain to beat?

MyDD had a very interesting diary on this topic, but it has yet to be thoroughly investigated.

It certainly would explain a lot, wouldn’t it?
Lu

Well Banquo, I was at a Washington caucus and I found most of the Obama supporters both naive and ill informed, especially on some of the claims they made about Obama. Many were also darn right aggressive. For those who were Hillary supporters it was an aweful experience. Some later told me they were afraid to say anything. How is that fair or democratic?

I kept thinking about the film Being There the 1971 novel written by Jerzy Kosiński. Obama succeeds because he can be everything to everyone — and mainly because nobody seems to know much about him. “He inspires me” is an intellectually vapid reason to vote for someone. I did not think much of him while at Harvard, he spoke well and did . . . nothing. I am at the point where I hope Gore steps in and wins.

Banquo’s Ghost

I am not attempting to “impress” you, nor is it important to do so. FYI, the precinct in question is about 4 blocks square, a small subset of a Congressional district that has many, many such precincts. In a large city, having 90 people show up from a 2 block by 2 block area to vote in a primary is a big deal. The same with the other 30 or so precincts in the single Congressional district.

What I can take from your reply is that you don’t care about my right to legitimate elections and representation if that is not on a case-by-case basis convenient for your candidate. I encourage you to understand, if you can’t accept just how anti-democratic your position is, that you are actively endangering your candidate’s legitimacy by demanding that elections only serve to elect your candidate and not to represent people in general.

Also, quite frankly, very few people of a calm and objective disposition would accuse me of being “on crack” for having my viewpoint. That is a very insulting and dismissive thing you write, and it is not a very respectful or respectable way to address someone who is trying to be serious with you. It might make you feel good, but, let’s just say, if you were at our caucus, you wouldn’t be accusing anyone of being “on crack”. You would have felt quite ostracized and unwelcome after such a comment.

CK

It is unseemly to the extreme to suggest that a sitting representative might face an election challenger for any reason. Except when that sitting representative is Dennis Kucinich. Notice that suddenly Dennis has four well-funded blue dog dem challengers for his seat. I wonder who Dennis pissed off by running for president. Actually I think I know who Dennis pissed off but since that organization is a heavy funder of one of the remaining dem contenders it would be unseemly to notice.

Mike Howell

CK –

Plus his run for President made him look crazy, whether fairly so or not.

Jessie

I would like to take the time to thank ***blackcentury.com*** for the wonderful service they have provided. I met my husband through the site 1 year ago, we were two people of different cultures and countries. Yet, because of this great website we were brought together after finding love. Maybe you will love it.
felicia

The moral of the story is missing. That is Black Superdelegates should have automatically respected the will of their constituents. They are criminal in their neglect to do the jobs they were hired to do.
How long should status quo go unchallenged when Black children are shot down in the streets, and deprived of entitlements all other american children get without a fight. Black Superdelegates are showing their evil intent, they are dark hearted, they stand on the necks of Black Babies, they are the biggest threat to Black life in American. They have blood on their hands, they are the evildoers.
They can ignore the fact they are worth 10,000 votes, that is 10,000 black lives their status quo have a murdering hand in each year. The will of the people is the Will of God Speaking, serve my people these are the least of these, otherwise you are the bullies, and child murderers, and internal race extinctioners of our time. Therefore no Blacks can threaten or harass you, for you are the threat and the harrasser, the evil one, the murderers of children, and the shame of your ancestors.

Simon

“Felicia, Jeese,”

Ah, no imagination, no real color, just more drool from the wannabe crowd.

Maybe you should find a real writer, a real talent, instead of these wannbe ops you keep trying to disrupt, with.

You stink, foo.

You have no imagination, no talent, I guess the narcissism of crewbois doesn’t allow them to adequately assess their talent, or lack thereof.

You’re laughable.

You know how Kos and Adam are half assed lawyers, nothing special in Washington, or anywhere, really, a dime a dozen, yet they think they’re pretty hot, because they don’t get it, they just don’t have eyes, they’re narcissistic no talent twits?

You are that.

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