OK, This is Getting Old
By dcmediagirl on August 25, 2008 at 10:55 AM in Air America Radio, Barack Obama, Delegates, Democratic Nomination, Democrats, Democrats Against Obama, Disenfranchisement, Florida, Michigan
Sorry to burden you all with this nonsense, but it’s important to record the “thinking” of Democratic party insiders for posterity. Behold the musings of Elaine Kamarck on Salon. “Schaller” is the Salon interviewer. “Cohen” is Michael Cohen of the New America Foundation. The article was published before the Biden announcement.
Kamarck: The worst thing that can happen at a convention is that it can in fact turn into an actual decision-making convention. The worst thing that can happen at a convention is that it can be real. That is almost always a harbinger of bad things to come.
So 1968, the reason there was such turmoil was because the party was in a mess and they were making real decisions at that convention and they lost. In 1972, one of the reasons McGovern went on with his acceptance speech at 3 o’clock in the morning was because there was significant intra-party strife that had to be dealt with and they lost. In 1980, when Carter and Kennedy fought to a draw at their convention, the Democrats lost. In other words, whenever one of these conventions has real business, as opposed to being a show, that’s really trouble. Which is why, of course, now in the last couple of weeks, I am sure that the Obama campaign and the Hillary campaign are working very carefully on this roll-call vote on Wednesday night, because there is the potential that there could be an embarrassment there depending on what Hillary delegates do.
Schaller: This brings us to the next question, which is, how much do you anticipate that Clinton supporters could be a serious problem for Obama at the Democratic convention? Are these PUMAs [Party Unity My Ass] and Just Say No Deal people a fringe element, and is it just going to be the media paying attention to them because there’s a story there but, ultimately, Hillary Clinton and her people are sitting on them? Or could this spin out of control?
Kamarck: Because I was a member of the rules committee, I’ve been bombarded by these folks for some months now. And there are two or three major groups that send out massive numbers of e-mails each day with bizarre, unsubstantiated rumors in all of them.
I will tell you they feel like Republicans to me. The whole business smells like a Republican front. I’ve been through intra-party battles, Mondale and Gary Hart and Carter and Kennedy, I was in the middle of those battles and this is not the way Democrats fight each other. And so something’s wrong here. Something’s weird here. I don’t quite believe it. Now if I get to Denver and there’s a significant Hillary revolt, I’ll have to eat my hat, but I think this is an Internet phenomenon. And it smells to me like a Republican front.
Cohen: I actually think this is a huge problem for Obama. I look specifically at the most recent poll from Ohio, which showed Obama’s biggest weakness, his biggest problem there was actually among Democrats. About 17 percent of Democrats were not supporting him. And I think that could be a real problem for him and that’s something that the convention can hopefully take care of. But I think a lot of the burden actually falls on Hillary to make peace to some extent with Obama and make sure this is as seamless and as frictionless a convention as possible.
I also think on some sort of bizarre level that it actually does suggest that a potential Hillary V.P. pick might not be the worst idea in the world.
OK, for about the billionth time:
Why is it so difficult for party insiders to understand the bitterness and anger of Hillary voters? I’m not sure what planet Kamarck was vacationing on during the Michigan and Florida mess, but as a member of the Rules Committee – and as someone WHO WORKED FOR AL GORE’S CAMPAIGN IN 2000 – even she must (or should) comprehend the frustration of the rank and file with the party’s inability to arrive at a solution until the last minute. Unsubstantiated rumors? How about disenfranchisement as an issue, which is quite substantiated thank you very much? How about assigning delegates to a candidate who did not campaign for them or win them fair and square? Does she remember what happened in Florida in 2000? Maybe hanging around Hahvahd Yahd for all this time has clouded her memory. I, on the other hand, remember that travesty like it was yesterday. And you can bet that if Republicans tried to pull this stunt on the Democrats during the general the Dems would be screaming bloody murder, and justifiably so.
Then there’s this:
The worst thing that can happen at a convention is that it can be real.
Oh really? So respecting and listening to the points of view of ALL the party’s members, not just those with whom you agree, is the worst case scenario? Well, maybe for this crowd it is. Finally someone tells the truth.
And Michael Cohen was on a roll, until he blamed Hillary for everything and announced that it was her responsibility to put a lid on her supporters. Not a word about the sexism and calumnies the woman endured during the campaign. Not a peep about how the media, the blogosphere, “progressive” radio and Democratic mandarins dogpiled on her and tried to push her out of the race almost from the get-go.
There’s a lot more to talk about but I’ll leave that up to you.
by Ronald Scott
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