Murphy has a post up about The Beautiful Protest and Rise in Cheesman Park in Denver on Monday night. The purpose of the Rise is to celebrate the achievments of Hillary Clinton (since it looks like the middle aged white guys aren’t going to do it). Dr. Saharra Bledsoe conceived the event and PUMAPac will be coordinating with her group to make this a fitting tribute to one of the most amazing women in American history. If you can join us, please do. If you can only be there in spirit, be sure to light a candle. See PUMAPac for all of the details.
Rico, break out the Moet, it’s Bill Clinton’s 62nd birthday!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILL!!!!!
Here’s a reminder why the Big Dawg is one of the greatest presidents and global world leaders that ever lived:
(Raise your champagne glasses, please.)
Mr. President, may you live a happy, long life, may you continue to bring light and wisdom through your foundation, may we all remember your service to your country and to the world. Thank you President Clinton, from this humble citizen.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! ¡Salud!
Open thread & drinks & birthday cake on the house!
[I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair, Rodgers and Hammerstein]
How true are the words to this song when applied to our current “situation”!!! And how prescient are my old time heroes, Rodgers and Hammerstein in their 1949 broadway musical, South Pacific. Here’s a South Park-inspired version. This post was inspired by myiq2xu’s: http://myiq2xu.wordpress.com/2008/08/19/how-to-turn-win-into-whine/
The most difficult part about writing this was deciding which line to use as the title, because there are a plethora of appropriate choices. I began with the oh-so-eraser-friendly Denver ballot analogy: “rub him out of the roll call.” However, I carefully reconsidered in case it might be misconstrued in Soprano-like terms.
Read the lyrics and see for yourself. What a choice for l’il ole Libra me to have to make! I did it, but pick a line, any line in the song, and you’ve got a winner — I mean a winner about a loser. As for the two pinup men at the end: not up on these things and haven’t a clue — unless they’re the current or ex-boyfriends of the video producer. If they’re famous or sports stars, oops, sorry.
Personally, I’ve got the man I want to wash out of my hair clearly focused in my mind. Oh, no, guess not, he’s gone. Washed up and washed out! From my lips. . . .
I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair
from South Pacific by Rodgers and Hammerstein
I’m gonna wash that man right outta my hair,
I’m gonna wash that man right outta my hair,
I’m gonna wash that man right outta my hair,
And send him on his way.
I’m gonna wave that man right outta my arms,
I’m gonna wave that man right outta my arms,
I’m gonna wave that man right outta my arms,
And send him on his way.
Don’t try to patch it up
Tear it up, tear it up!
Wash him out, dry him out,
Push him out, fly him out,
Cancel him and let him go!
Yea, sister!
I’m gonna wash that man right outta my hair,
I’m gonna wash that man right outta my hair,
I’m gonna wash that man right outta my hair,
And send him on his way.
If a man don’t understand you,
If you fly on separate beams,
Waste no time, make a change,
Ride that man right off your range.
Rub him out of the roll call
And drum him out of your dreams.
Oho!
If you laugh at different comics,
If you root for different teams,
Waste no time, weep no more,
Show him what the door is for.
Rub him out of the roll call
And drum him out of your dreams.
You can’t light a fire when the woods are wet,
No!
You can’t make a butterfly strong,
Hmm, hmm!
You can’t fix an egg when it ain’t quite good,
And you can’t fix a man when he’s wrong!
You can’t put back a petal when it falls from a flower,
Or sweeten up a fellow when he starts turnin’ sour
Oh no! Oh no!
If his eyes get dull and fishy,
When you look for glints and gleams,
Waste no time,
Make a switch,
Drop him in the nearest ditch!
Rub him out of the roll call,
And drum him out of your dreams
Oho! Oho!
I went and washed that man right outta my hair,
I went and washed that man right outta my hair,
I went and washed that man right outta my hair,
And sent him on his way.
She went and washed that man right outta her hair,
She went and washed that man right outta her hair,
She went and washed that man right outta her hair,
And sent him on his way!
And if you haven’t had enough, here’s a karaoke, slightly off-key version from Pequinito. Appropriate, ain’t it? Sing along, enjoy yourself. I hate to be redundant, but this wash bears repeating. In fact, my hair is so dirty from all this DNC, Nobama, Pelosi, Dean grime, that I’ll have to shampoo it twice in order to get it clean.
Besides PUMAs, Just Say No Deal Coalition members, and those who have been paying close attention to the 2008 primary process, everyone in the US and some people abroad think that: Obama won the Democratic Primary; therefore, he secured the nomination; and he is being gracious by allowing Clinton’s name to be placed in nomination at the Democratic Convention.
In fact, the Obama and Clinton campaigns issued a joint statement on August 14, 2008 about it, and we have achieved a small victory. Or as Heidi Li Feldman puts it, we’re where we were in the first place. (Oh, forgive me: as Barbra WaWa might say: Were where we whah in the furst pwace.) The MSM is all over the story, asking if we disgruntled old ladies, gays, and republicrats are satisfied now? They claim that we’re just sore losers, and that we want Clinton’s name on the ballot because of her historic win as a woman. They’re touting it as symbolic. It’s not symbolic; it’s normal!
In fact, we are sore winners! Neither candidate won the requisite number of pledged delegates. Instead (rolling eyes, PUMAs repeating themselves, ad infinitum), Nancy Nine Percent Pelosi and Harry Reticent Reed pressured the Democratic Superdelegates to endorse a candidate prior to Denver. This act in turn defies their true purpose: to nominate the candidate who can win POTUS in November. In 2008, there are 855 Superdelegates with FL and MI according to Connect-the-Dots. CNN says it’s 825. Over 200 are uncommitted. Any SD can change their vote through the first ballot in Denver, no matter who they or their state or district endorsed.
Didn’t Hillary run on the assertion that she was the only Democratic candidate who could win the Electoral College in November? The virtual Nobama/McCain dead heat in the polls proves that she wasn’t lyin’, despite Obamamoneys-raised, European jaunts, and a vacay away from the barely investigative, mostly fawning MSM spotlight.
The Obama/DNC presumption is that it’s all a done deal. To dispel any doubts, Invesco Field/Mile High Stadium was booked as the site for what our movement, (and back in the day, Jesse Jackson) calls a coronation. Let’s be clear:
From CNN’s count, we see that neither candidate had the requisite 2,118 pledged delegates as of June 3 to clinch the nomination. Obama had 1763, Clinton had 1640, a 123 delegate lead for BO. It is difficult to find an accurate vote count that shows Hillary Clinton won the most popular votes of any primary candidate in history. Why? Real Clear Politics has Clinton at 18,046,007, Obama at 17,869,542, including MI and FL, with estimates for IA, NV, ME, and WA. There, Clinton nets +176,465 votes.
1. Why does popular vote matter when everyone keeps hammering on the delegate totals? Delegate counts are inconsistent, uneven reflections of the will of the voters, because they include caucuses. Caucuses represent far fewer voters than primaries, yet delegates selected in that process carry more weight.
Worse yet is the impact on the delegate count. While [as of 5/31/08] 2549 delegates earned in the primaries represent an average of 12,225 voters, in the caucuses each of the 515 delegates elected represents a mere 2,110 votes. Each caucus vote, then, is weighted 5.8 times greater than each primary vote when it comes to allocating delegates.
2. Why don’t PUMAs admit that Obama won more caucuses, which is why he won and Hillary lost, and stop changing the rules? In 2008, there are substantiated reports of caucus fraud. Please read Dr. Lynette Long’s research who concludes: “the Obama campaign willfully and intentionally defrauded the American public by systematically undermining the caucus process.”
3. If Obama now has enough delegates when SDs are included, why isn’t he simply the nominee? Superdelegates are party officials — both elected and un-elected. They can vote for whomever they wish at their Convention, regardless of their states’ vote, to make sure the most-electable Democrat becomes the nominee.
4. Why am I still writing about this, when Obama and Clinton agreed on 8/14/08 that Hillary’s name will be placed on the Convention ballot and up for a roll call vote? Because, it should have been automatic, as in every election since 1884. None of the other candidates came anywhere near Clinton, yet it’s a “negotiation”? Look at all these guys who were nominated, without even coming close to their opponents in delegate count. Courtesy of EdgeOfForever:
1972: Ted Kennedy – 12 votes on first ballot
Kennedy had no chance of winning, but his name was placed in nomination.
1976: Ted Kennedy – 1 vote on first ballot
Kennedy had no chance of winning, but his name was placed in nomination.
1980: Jimmy Carter – 1981 delegates
Ted Kennedy – 1225 delegates
Uncommitted – 122
Kennedy had no chance of winning, but his name was placed in nomination.
1984: Jesse Jackson – 465 votes
Jackson had no chance of winning, but his name was placed in nomination.
1988: Jesse Jackson – 1218 votes
Jackson had no chance of winning, but his name was placed in nomination.
2004: John Kerry: 2192.5 Pledged delegates
Howard Dean: 114.5 Pledged delegates
Dean had already dropped out, with no chance of winning, but his name was placed in nomination.
5. Who are the delegates, and why shouldn’t they just go along with the DNC’s choice, Barack Obama? Delegates are elected by their grassroots supporters to go to the Democratic convention as representatives of the total votes cast in their state’s districts. Although they each may represent thousands of HRC voters, they can just change their votes as if we, the US voters, are not even in the picture! According to CNN,
Pledged delegates are not actually bound to vote for the candidate. Consequently, candidates are allowed on a state-by-state basis to review lists of delegates who have pledged their support and can delete anyone whose support they consider unreliable.
Surprise you? This could account for the DNC’s treatment of Clinton delegate, Sacha Millstone, or even what happened in Florida right after June 3, when Obama’s campaign began replacing his elected delegates with their own. I’m still not getting how someone who represents your, or my, or anyone’s vote could be intimidated into changing it and have that be part of the deal. Our deal. You know, the one we get as citizens. The deal, the one true thing we’ve got in this country that our guys and all those Iraqis are supposedly dying for and about. That democracy one person one vote representative thing.
6. How can the DNC represent the will of the people, if the delegates are pressured to support Obama as if he is the nominee, and they are afraid to publicly declare otherwise? How can there be “unity” if Hillary Clinton is allowed to be booed unchecked at even one of his events? DNC chairs and party officials, and delegates are being intimidated and threatened to not cast THEIR votes for Hillary Clinton. These are not THEIR votes. These votes are OURS. The delegates are merely our proxies. If not us, who DO they represent? How is this representative government?
Whether you agree or disagree, please learn about the process. Watch this three-part series, Democrats ’08: CONNECT-THE-DOTS, with Host Leslie Stevens. The program is sponsored by The Educational Foundation for the Integrity of the Democratic Process, Asheville, North Carolina. Bloggers, please post it! Readers, email it to friends and family.
[Connect-the-Dots Part 1]
[Connect-the-Dots Part 2]
[Connect-the-Dots Part 3]
Have you connected the dots? That’s why we’re not satisfied. It’s about the process being fair and reflecting the will of the voters. And, you can help!!! Call or email your delegates or any that you know TODAY. Ask them to sign the 300 delegate petition to ensure that Hillary’s name is placed in nomination. This petition was created by and for delegates. Email: hrc300delegates@yahoo.com.
Still, we’re not ready to make nice. . . .
[160 Years and Still Waiting — Rise Hillary Rise by DemocracyDame]
h/t to DemocracyDame for “Connect-the-Dots” lead and her video above.
Doubters, awake! Yes, I know who you are. You’re the ones who say, “I consider myself a PUMA for lots of reasons but I’m not crazy enough to think she can actually get the nomination.”
‘Fess up. You guys are all over the place. You hang out here and Corrente and Alegre’s Corner and TalkLeft, of all places, where BTD has actually called us “nuts” and “Wrongheaded”.
Ok, let’s examine this for a minute: We have a candidate that nobody much likes, who lacks the weightiness of a substantial resume and the ability to speak in coherent sentences, going up against a man with more intestinal fortitude and clarity in his piggy toe than Obama has in his long, skinny body. OUR candidate has a new campaign technique where he attempts to win votes by systematically insulting every voting bloc he will eventually need in the mistaken belief that we enjoy dancing to the masochism tango. Barack Obama has spent his entire life climbing that ladder of success by not doing much of anything but schmoozing.
Large swaths of people out there are not warming up to him. He has been unable to break the 50% mark in the polls. In fact, his numbers are declining while McCain, who hasn’t really started to campaign with the GOP big guns, is holding his own or increasing slightly. And in this chaotic landscape and ominous omens for the fall (he’s going to LOSE, DNC, LOSE! BIG time!), we have a number of bloggy solons tsk-tsking and patting us on the head with a knowing smile and telling us we’re out of our minds. We’re wrongheaded, like little children who need to be schooled. Oh, they ackowledge that everything we say is true. Obama really *is* acting like an arrogant ass who can’t debate, who whines if he loses, who has all the experience and gravitas of a butterfly and whose campaign organization with its strong armed tactics in the caucuses and deep pockets for the superdelegates are primarily responsible for his success thus far. They too are both fascinated and horrified at what is about to happen in the fall. But THEY are not foolish.
No, it is much safer from a social standpoint to just watch the house of cards collapse and say, “I told you so” to the DNC in mid-November. They don’t want McCain to win but running around with their hair on fire yelling, “They must be stopped!” is making a scene and they don’t want to be thought of as hysterical. They know, now, that Hillary was the better candidate and more electable and would give John McCain a run for his money and would neutralize the effect of the media because, after all, what could they *possibly* throw at her now that we haven’t already seen? But even as they acknowledge their stupidity during the primary season for letting themselves be swept away by the Obama spring fling instead of sticking with the earnest and faithful guy, they can’t quite muster the courage to say that they would prefer she were in the driver’s seat headed into the fall.
I guess it has something to do with the fact that the Obama campaign has created an image of his inevitabilty. He has the convention nailed down to the very last jot and tittle (er, until last week, when he didn’t). He has all of the superdelegates lined up, except for the ones that he doesn’t. He’s been to Europe to give a series of well attended public soirees, that went over like a lead balloon. He has rented Invesco Field for his investiture and sent out the invitations. Wouldn’t it just be embarrassing for him if we made him cancel his plans?
Damn right it’s embarrassing. But considerably less so than losing the election in the fall, the third in a row, in a year when Democrats had every possible advantage going for them. We could not lose, we told ourselves. And now, we’re looking like the biggest losers on the planet. Who will take us seriously after this? Hey, if those older, wiser bloggers want to spare Obama embarrassment, what else are they going to overlook in Obama when he puts himself in a compromising situation? And what about the old saying about not counting your chickens before they hatch? Why aren’t we calling Obama and the DNC fools for putting the cart before the donkey? Like, shouldn’t Obama be required to pass some kind of test demonstrating that he has earned the confidence of a majority of the Democrats before we give him the car keys? Shouldn’t we expect him to compete on a level playing field with his closest rival who won more of the bigger and more significant states? Isn’t that fair to US?
Princess Wears Prada reminded us of something the other day. She says you don’t get something you want if you don’t ask. I want Hillary to be my nominee. I have a zillion reasons why she would be a better nominee and president than Barack Obama or John McCain. At this point in time, not only is it logical and rational to ask for this but it is very possible for it to happen. All we need is for the Credentials Committee to restore Florida and Michigan to full strength and strip Obama of unearned delegates. Then we need a nomination and roll call for Hillary with a majority of pledged and superdelegates voting for her and voile! It’s done. We’re back on track for winning the White House. If necessary, we offer Obama the VP spot so he actually has a full time job for once in his life and we can assess whether he’s up to the demands of the job. It’s so perfectly logical, straigtforward and sane that I have every expectation that it will happen.
In any case, I am not going to sit around caustically complaining about how stupidly Obama has behaved and then resign myself to his nomination. That is another form of learned helplessness and I’m just so not into that. The Obama camp has been very good at pushing learned helplessness and “we must not embarrass the precious, he’s been waiting all year for that pony.” But Obama is applying for President of the United States. In the next four years, embarrassment is the least of his worries.
Nope, I want to win. The only shot we have of actually winning is with Hillary in the top spot. So, that’s what I am asking for. To do anything less is just nuts.
The Confluence 