Florida and Michigan Redux

OK, so it’s been good sport watching the pearl-clutching, brawling and formation of circular firing squads over this Florida/Michigan delegate debacle. But now it’s time to get down to brass tacks.
Everything related to this mess has been a disgrace and those with direct involvement should be beaten with a stick. The legislators who dissed the DNC by flouting the rules. The DNC for not dealing with this inevitable trainwreck earlier. The craven Democratic operatives who are just now waking up to the awful repercussions if those delegates are not committed before the Denver convention and seated with their counterparts from the remaining 48 states and the territories.

There are so many galling elements to this story that it’s hard to begin, but I think a good place to start is with Howard Dean and his minions at party headquarters. I know some of you have taken me to task for being too critical of the DNC and would prefer to lay all the blame on the states, but Dean can’t and shouldn’t be given a pass.

Things are so bad and have spiraled so out of control that we are forced to look to the Republicans, of all people, for guidance on how to discipline unruly local pols who want to get cute with the national party while still enfranchising the voters. Sensible people got together at the RNC and decided to split the baby: Michigan and Florida (and a few other states as well) would be punished for jumping the line by having their delegate pool stripped by half. That way a message was sent but delegations from those states would still be nicely committed and seated before their convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul, home of the Larry Craig Memorial Stall, large enough to accomodate a wide stance.

The fact that Howard Dean would actually try to change the subject by whining to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid that the extended primary was “hurting” the Democratic party, immense public interest and large voter turnout notwithstanding, is simply unbelievable, as is his obvious frustration with Hillary Clinton for not having the grace to step aside to allow the Barack Obama coronation to take place. I never realized before now that the Democratic party had such royalist tendencies. You learn something new every day.

I thought I’d seen some unbelievable things in my time, but watching a national party that got royally screwed out of a victory in 2000 because of, yes, the Florida vote now exhibiting such a cavalier attitude towards “having every vote count” is infuriating. Maybe all this is happening because of bullheadedness, or ego, or pride. Whatever. I understand the DNC’s irritation with these rogue states, but something has to happen. If Dean thinks the party is suffering because the damned voters haven’t delivered a presumptive nominee yet, just wait until a gigantic brawl breaks out on the convention floor as bitter Floridians and Michiganers (is that the right term?) duke it out with DNC officials. The press is salivating in anticipation (and I admit I pray for fisticuffs. Conventions are so homogenized and content-free that it’s about time we had some action).

And while we’re analyzing colossal Democratic party fuckups, the genius who came up with the proportional delegate apportionment system should also be beaten soundly.

Democrats have long been known to be the party that snatches defeat from the jaws of victory. I was hoping it would be different this time around. I guess I was wrong.