Florida and Michigan Unions Picket DNC Headquarters
By Fleaflicker on April 14, 2008 at 5:47 PM in Current Affairs, DNC, Disenfranchisement, Donna Brazile, Florida, Howard Dean, Michigan, Unions
The Howard Dean-Donna Brazile attempted coup of the Democratic party is meeting unexpected stiff resistance from union members in two states that the DNC doesn’t care about. Politico is reporting that union members from Florida and Michigan are picketing outside of DNC headquarters today. This is the first of what may become a routine daily activity from disenfranchised voters.
They’re complaining that the DNC’s refusal to seat Florida and Michigan delegates will prevent dozens of union members who are delegates from attending the convention, and they want DNC Chairman Howard Dean to resolve the dispute.
And being realistic, the unions are comparing the DNC 48 state strategy to something union members everywhere fully understand: A Lock Out.
“We’re getting locked out,” said Williams as he and the other union members picketed the DNC. Williams estimated that as many as a dozen building trade union members, and 30 union members overall, would be part of the Florida contingent to the Democratic convention.
The only trouble I see with this analogy is that it is the DNC that has gone on strike. They are no longer working for all Americans. The DNC message is clear: When it comes to expanding Democratic prosperity nationwide, Florida and Michigan need not apply.
UPDATE: A very special thanks to Birgit for bringing this to my attention.
Fla., Mich. Construction Workers First Picket, Then Meet With D
After the meeting with DNC Executive Director Tom McMahon and Political Director David Boundy, several of the picketers said they appreciated the time and attention, but remained unsatisfied with what they were being told.
Mike Williams, president of the Florida Building & Construction Trades Council, was similarly disappointed.
“Their response was basically that they are still in the mode of trying to get something done,” said Williams.” “Frankly they did not have any more to tell us than the feel-good press releases of (DNC Chairman Howard) Dean and the congressional delegation.”
(small, medium and large sizes; for both dogs and cats)
+ 
Wow!. that’s a powerful force to be rockon with.
This is not going to be pretty.
I used to worship Howard Dean, and am reluctantant to quickly turn on him until I understand what is really going on.
It’s -looking- like he’s out to hurt the Clintons. If that is indeed the case, then off with his head.
If not, I sure wish someone could explain this.
South Carolina upped their date without a penalty. SC was an Obama state.
The 2 Clinton states were penalized.
The ugliness is more apparent if you follow the link to Ben Smith’s blog and read the comments.
These are so-called Progressives finding it just hunky dory that the votes of people in two states will not count. If support for Obama can do that to people it is the most repulsive thing I have ever seen and I’ve been following politics for over 40 years. We have an infestation of Fauxgressives.
People that don’t give a damn if voters are disenfranchised based on whether it benefits their candidate or not are simply not Progressives, they are not liberal, they are not Democrats, and they are UnAmerican. They are Obamans. A sub-species of humanity know for chanting slogans and hoping for change. Or is it hopping for change?
Obama and his coterie of imbeciles may well win the primary as the DNC and the MSM so obviously wishes. But in doing so they will tear the Democratic Party in two. And stupidly deliver another Republican win.
That may be a good thing in the long run. Because over the course of this election it has become abundantly clear that there ARE two Democratic Parties. The one for the insider, elite, snobs that think they own the world and only want input from the peasants at election time.
The other part of the party, the REAL Democrats are those blue-collar people that may not be able to afford to drive a new car but know how to fix the damn thing. There are a lot more of us than there are of them.
Add to that number the “cloth coat Republicans” who may finally have had their fill of the elitists in their party telling them who they should vote for and why. An indication of that is that the RNC wanted Romney and the voters wanted McCain.
Hey Marge,
Sorry I have to take exception to this comment:
I am not “blue Collar”, I have a PhD and ample common sense, and thus agree wtih 99% of what everyone write here.
I do not know how to fix a car, but I sure do know who to call - and I have had AAA since I was very young.
Ther than that - totally agree, and luv ya!
Beauty!!!!!
HEADLINE: WOLVERINE AND GATOR DEMOCRATS FINALLY SACK UP!
Does anybody know which unions are demonstrating?
Unfortunately this is all the information I have at the moment. Been trying to gather additional info and if I do I will add it in an update.
Like this two articles
http://blog.mlive.com/elections_source/2008/04/union_members_urge_democrats_t.html
http://www.mgwashington.com/index.php/news/article/fla-mich-construction-workers-first-picket-then-meet-with-dnc-officials/853/
This is fantastic, will Dean and Brazile wake up?
It is nice hearing Americans standing up for what is their right!
Not to compound things, hope they picket Obama for his tactics in locking out Florida and Michigan too!
It would be nice to see protests outside Wednesday’s debate. Hint!
I hope they call out Pelosi and other party elders too b/c they are all in the tank for Bambi.
Well you know, a lot of those Union members still cling to their guns, bibles, and jobs.
They just don’t represent the New Demobamacratic Party, but they shouldn’t be so bitter about it.
Working is so twentieth century!
They are in the building trades, so this is good timing for them then really, isn’t it?
God, I hope this snowballs. They deserve every scrap of bile thrown their way for having stripped those voters of their rights. I’m still so disgusted by this — the left-wing blogboyz all whined up such a moanfest when the Repubs stole Florida, and now we can see how strong their commitment to democracy was. They were just all pissed because the Repubs did it first.
Again, it’s Hillary or McCain. I already live in a country where ONE political party is a corrupt, bought-out antidemocratic mess. I’ll be damned if I’ll let the second party pull that shit without slapping them down HARD.
If anyone’s up for it, the Obamaborgs are dissing Hillary pretty badly in their replies on the Ben Smith story on Politico, linked in Fleaflicker’s piece above.
Give em a piece of your mind, why not? I know they’re unpleasant, but do it for our girl.
did, gues mom’s and dad’s are busy making supper right now to monitor their children at the computers……lol
OT: what kind of crap is Obama pulling?
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j3-Sfm2fVoTgNAyfOyvkIoc0a3DgD901THHG0
…shrug. The guy is not getting out of that shit he stepped in.
Did you notice the photo of the pompous ass. Smug as a bug in a rug.
Not even “missing white woman” or “shark attack” can change the subject. Obama has shit on his shoe, and toilet paper trailing behind him.
A rabbit out of his ass?
I can’t believe he made a joke about “bitter” at that AP speech. I thought the arrogance and gall of him. If anybody missed that part of the speech, be sure and get back to it, he seems to think the whole comment is FUNNY! I find this especially offensive.
barbh: Which AP speech? Can you say tell a bit more about it?
GOOD FOR THE UNIONS!!!!!
There should be a huge and organized effort on the part of bloggers to protest the efforts of Dean,Brazile,Pelosi in their attempt to hi-jack the Democratic Party by excluding Florida and Mi in order to deprive Clinton her true popular and delegate votes.
Their plans to seat these delegates AFTER selecting Obama is entirely transparent and totally undemocratic.
Only a huge and concerted write in protest asin a MoveOn mode can possibly budge the cabal that has grown like a cancer in the Democratic Party. They need to know that their actions will truly COST votes.
This group is sure the voters who are disaffected will relent and come back to vote Obama. This is all part of Dean and the left wingers strategy who have joined with AA’s to capture the Party in a wholly dishonest manner.
They need to be advised that their actions will have unintended consequences..
Sorry, Flea, you got that half right. Howard Dean has not attempted any coup. Let’s stop with the tin foil mad hattery.
You’d like him to be a strong leader and adopt your point of view—then ram it through the DNC.
fleaflicker
Tell the whole truth. The DNC established the rules about the primary time line well BEFORE the earliest primaries. All the state Democratic committees knew this. Florida and Michigan went against the rules everyone knew about. Now you want the DNC to change the rules. Florida and Michigan had opportunities to either re-vote at another primary election or hold caucuses. They did neither; they whined.
I support Dean’s stance on upholding the original rules.
Ken,
Please don’t forget the WHOLE truth which is that Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina all moved up their election days, too. The DNC rules stipulate that any state that any states that voted too early were supposed to be punished. Typically, that punishment would be that they would lose half their delegate total at the convention.
I understand that the DNC wanted IA,NH,NV, and SC to vote first, but if rules are rules, then those 4 states should also be punished. Howard Dean and the DNC arbitrarily punished only two states for voting early… Florida and Michigan, and then he took the extra step of stripping ALL of there delegates. How is this fair if you want to play the “rules” game?
How stupid this all is. Howard Dean should be fired.
Nevada did NOT move up its caucus date. I am from Nevada, I am heavily involved with the Democratic Party, completely for Hillary, but facts are facts. Please stop lumping Nevada in with all the others. Thanks.
You can find the DNC Delegate Selection Rules here. (PDF)
The rules also say that the delegate penalty was 1/2 the pledged and 100% of the super (automatic) delegates. The 100% purge was a later decision, which I completely disagreed with when they did it, and obviously still do.
However, the rules pretty much cover any contingency and stacks the deck in favor of the DNC as final arbiter. Basically, according to the rules, THEY can change the rules at any time. But nobody else can.
So did Nevada and South Carolina but they didn’t get punish..Why?
You know what - F the ruulzz.
First of all this is punishing voters who did not have a damn thing to do with moving the dates. Seriously, how much control do you have over the votes in you owm State legislature?
Whether you sub-human thugs like it or not, that is the equvalent of starving the citizens of Gaza so the leadership of Hamas capitulates. So you now support group torture in addition to all the other (cough cough cough) “charming” traits you have shown the last 8 months? No more screaming about the Geneva conventions in your world??
This whole thing absolutely REEKS of Pure Fascist Tactics. Take a cruise through the History of WWII and you will see the Nazi’s and their Gestapo changed the damn “rules” so often, nobody could figure out what the hell they were on any given day.
Then you scum have the Chutzpah to come here an lecture us??? Give it up until your brain cells are doing something besides absorbing whatever Bambi’s talking point for the day are.
How difficult is it to understand YOU DON’T PUNISH VOTERS. they had nothing to do with all this “rule” crap. slap a fine on their state partys if u wanna…but you can NOT in AMERICA ignore votes!
There is no way in a democracy that any of this FL and MI bullshit of Dean and Brazille can be justified, not one iota.
Not only is it totally inexcusable. This B/S cannot and must not go unpunished!
Howard Dean said in an interview on NPR (March 5th) the DNC wanted African Americans to have a decision in who would become the dem. nominee and that is why they decided to have SC vote before Florida.
The republican Florida State Legislature refused to change the primary date to PLEASE Howard Dean. State governments pay for primary voting….the dem. party pays for and local dem. leaders run, caucuses. There is no oversight of caucuses or official tally of voting.
If as Dean says, there is no money to support a revote in Florida now, does that mean that his intention was if democratic voters in Florida hadn’t voted on the republican chosen primary date, he would then have decided Florida would hold an undemocratic caucus???? And which candidate would that have favored?
Say you were charged with a punishable driving offense however by attending a safe driving class the punishment would be wiped away. BUT the driving school was shutdown. Now what? Would you have been punished or released from that obligation? In simple terms this is what Dean did, set a rule then when the situation changed, he didn’t offer a solution. He should be fired.
Those of us who “knock democratic voter doors” for democratic candidates are getting an earfull from our local dem. voters such as….”that damn undemocratic caucus system…..how could Pelosi refuse to impeach those criminals in power….I’m fed up with the useless dem. congress…..disgusted with Dean for disenfranchising Florida and Mich. voters….don’t understand what the democratic leadership is doing….I’m afraid they are going to lose this election….how could they have screwed this up?”.
Does democratic leadership in the beltway have a clue as to how their base feels?
It’s hard for the leadership to have a clue about the base as they have their noses up OBAMESSIAH’S ass
Gotta love the Unions! A lock-out! Let’s get that spread around!