Since the start of the primary season, I’ve been keeping a close eye on the Delegate Counters at MyDD (I’ve tried embedding them in this post but, I can’t get it to work). They’ve got two posted in their sidebar. The first one counts by Obama Rules & he’s ahead in the delegates there. But, the second one includes Florida & Michigan — and according to that counter, Hillary and Obama are neck and neck; virtually tied.
I’m sick of hearing Obama supporters (and secret Obama supporters) claim that he’s ahead by every measure. It’s wrong. By the measure that counts every vote, they are tied.
And this brings me to my question:
If we all agree that sooner or later the Florida and Michigan delegations will be seated, why can’t we count them now? I don’t get the part where they’ll only be counted after they don’t matter.
My friends, Clinton and Obama are tied and it’s our job to say that with almost every breath. Repeat after me, they’re tied. Repetition makes facts true.
Unsavory reading for Alice Walker fans. Her open letter to “sisters who are brave” dumps on Hillary with a truckload of conceits, deceits, and resentments against white women; declares Obama good enough if we can’t have Rep. Barbara Lee for President; bemoans the fact “that many of my feminist white women friends cannot see him. … That they can believe that millions of Americans … choose Obama over Clinton only because he is a man, and black”. Must read to believe.
Convention history. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. endorsed the credentials “compromise” that seated Mississippi’s regular whites-only delegation to the 1964 Democratic National Convention by adding two token delegates from the rival integrated Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. Reasons? LBJ was an essential ally, the Democratic Party was the major vehicle for change, and it needed to keep the southern states in play. [You’d think this would give a moment’s pause to folks who claim MLK didn’t need LBJ … folks who think Change materializes in quantum leaps after big beautiful speeches … folks who think the nomination is all about the RULZ … and folks who realize their candidate might have a fight on his/her hands come November.]
What goes around, goes around again. Donna Brazile managed Al Gore’s campaign that cleared the field in the 2000 nominating contest by painting life-long civil rights activist Bill Bradley as inimical to African American interests, and thereby destroying his prospects in key southern primaries. [You’d think this would give a moment’s pause to folks who bought into this year’s race-baiting accusations against the Clintons.]
Family Feud! Bob Casey Sr. tried to mobilize a Dump Clinton movement going into the 1992 Democratic National Convention, to save the Party from the “unelectable” presumptive nominee. Failing that, he felt he deserved program time for a passionate prime-time pro-life appeal (refused because he wouldn’t endorse the nominee). Failing that, he propagated the longstanding myth that Clinton would not allow pro-life Democrats to speak … damaging the party down-ballot throughout the 90’s. And after that, he prepared to challenge the incumbent Clinton for the nomination in 1996 (which bid was derailed by ill health). [You’d think that … oh, never mind.]
Reminder: Monday is the end of the quarter — be good to your dedicated public servants.
UPDATE: Adding a link to Brown economist Glenn Loury’s “Losing the Narrative”, a perplexed and perplexing foray into the wilds of Obama’s Big Speech and what the Obama phenomenon implies for the larger narrative of black folk in America.
Did Donna Brazile reveal a secret yesterday in this conversation with George Stephanopoulos & George Will? Ranting about the hopelessness of Hillary’s fight for seating the Michigan and Florida delegations, Brazile explained that Dean appointed 25 members to the Credentials Committee and the states each get to appoint 3 members. And (she said) since Obama has won more states than Hillary — The Math is against her. Fighting on is useless. Brazile says it’s over:
So, we went to the Denver Aquarium today.Rill was filling in for some staff shortageat the restaurant where her BFF is executive chef.(More about that in another post)Brook and I decided to walk back to the hotel.There are lots of sidewalks and it was only 2 miles.We crossed the foot bridge over the Platte river to a park that borders the river and what do you think we saw?You won’t believe it.
Ack!I am having fits wit iPhoto.Anyway, see that sign by the tree?It says “Confluence Park”.I thought, well that’s a nice touch.But it got weirder.
Because when I turned around, there were two guys standing on a bridge overlooking the traffic and what do you think they were holding?
Ahhh, I think I’ll have another coffee. It’s drizzly in Denver today although yesterday was a drop dead gorgeous spring day. I’ll have another installment of our culinary and *cultural* tour of Denver with Rill later.
But right now, I’d like to talk about something tragic that was completely avoidable: The villainization of Barack Obama. You’ve probably already seen the following items but it’s striking to see them altogether:
DisenfranchisedVoter points us to this comment at Greta Van Susteren’s blog:
Comment by Kim Frederick
March 29th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
I am the person in the video. I could write a thesis on dirty tricks that have been going on in Texas…but I’ve been up for about 24 hrs now. We had received a letter from the Obama campaign saying that we were Obama delegates. We also got a robo call from the Obama campaign that we were Obama delegates. We also got a phone call from Meyer Associates who was hired by the Obama campaign. The Meyer Associates group called friends of mine telling them their convention was moved. This group was hired by the Obama campaign. In any case…in this video…we called the Obama campaign because of the Obama robocall. My partner called first and it was REALLY misleading. So I called and decided to videotape it. I am a Hillary delegate and have been volunteering for the campaign for two months. If I wasn’t up to speed on things…I could have been easily confused and decided not to go.
Greta…if you want the full story of what has been going on…email me…I’ll give you my number, let’s talk.
Kim Continue reading →
The undiscolsed location I’m in in Denver has an expresso maker in the room and the coffee is the best I’ve ever had in a hotel. I think I’ll have another cup.
Anyway, about Denver, for those of you who are going to be coming here in August, let me give you a little preview in the next week. The city seems to be still evolving. Maybe it’s just because I live in what is essentially a suburb of New York City that I see Denver as somewhat unfinished. The city core has a lot of space between the buildings. Hmmm, maybe they *wanted* a lot of space here. There is a lot of activity going on construction wise. There is a mix of late nineteenth century Woolworth building, modern skyscrapers and neoclassical buildings representative of a state capital and regional federal district. The residential is only a few short blocks from the city center. The beautiful hotel where I am is a short distance away from a part of town where muggings are not uncommon and it’s a bit seedy. My local culinary tour guide, I’ll call her “Rill”, told us not to walk in that direction.
Obama discussed his relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright on ABC’s ”The View,” which was taped Thursday and aired Friday.
”Had the reverend not retired and had he not acknowledged that what he had said had deeply offended people and were inappropriate and mischaracterized what I believe is the greatness of this country, for all its flaws, then I wouldn’t have felt comfortable staying there at the church,” Obama said.
Oh, Really? Wright “acknowledged that what he had said had deeply offended people”? How did I miss that?
But silly me, I forgot the most basic rule of logic: How to evaluate the AND condition. The title of this article AND the above quote (which has been posted all over the place since yesterday) led me to believe that I somehow missed Wright’s apology. In spite of the title, the story continues with the truth:
Obama spokesman Bill Burton said the senator’s remarks did not imply that Wright has expressed misgivings about his statements. ”Sen. Obama was clearly saying that were Rev. Wright not retiring, he would need to be assured that Wright understood why what he had said had deeply offended people and mischaracterized the greatness of this country,” Burton said.
See? If Wright hadn’t retired, then Senator Obama would have required an apology.
Are these people serious? Do they really think Obama clearly said that? Did you?
While Obama is attempting to beat Hillary with The Math, our candidate is looking ahead to her presidency making it clear to one and all that she’s running on The Issues. She’s become the acknowledged leader among the candidates on both the issues of health care and the economy. Under the umbrella of her multi-state Solutions for America Tour, Hillary Clinton has this week issued major policy statements on the housing crisis, retirement security, job creation and shared more detail about her Health Care Plan.
My brain is reeling after reading these plans but, Hillary’s been out talking about them all week! Some people have reminded us that Edwards drew enthusiastic crowds right up to the day he suspended his campaign. But as good as he was on the issues, was he putting out issues statements like this?
Because I’m so impressed with the level of detail in her proposals and I want to show it off, I am deliberately reprinting her plans with very little snipping (still there is some — so please follow the links for more information): Continue reading →
Maybe the Obamaphiles drank oooone too many grain spiked beers at the last Obama kegger. Do they know it yet? Or will they feel it just after they take the last swig? Todd Beeton at MyDD thinks they might have taken things too far and Russ Feingold is telling them to put their foot on the floor to keep the room from spinning out of control.
Too late, I think.
BTW, the end of the month approaches and so does Hillary’s fundraising quarter. It takes money to run a campaign and until Obama drops out, she will need to raise funds. So, if you’ve got a C-note looking for a purpose, send it along. But I’m sure she would appreciate any amount you send. Help Make History!
The Confluence 