Meanwhile, Does our Presumptive Nominee live in a glass house?
And more convention alternatives….
UPDATE:
And later join our friend Matt at My Two Cents, more BlogTalkRadio to fill in the low points of the Democratic Convention:
Tonight is a special DNC Convention after party with review and discussion of the first day of the Democrat’s Convention in Denver! Special Guests: The Honorable Rev. David James Manning. Also Co-Founder of The Denver Group Marc Rubin! Topics: DNC Convention, Roll Call Vote, Clinton Vs. Obama, McCain Vs.Obama, Polls, Electoral Map, Etc!!!
Join Me[Matt] and my guest co-host Phillip Tonight at 11PM ET!!!
Look for us on your evening news, Conflucians. We got ourselves a posse and went down to Union Station in front of the MSNBC kiosk. We protested and shouted slogans (in NPR-speak) and completely drowned out the Obamaphiles.
making noise at union station
We had a lot of support from passersby. I was very encouraged that there were many sympathetic people. I don’t think the Obama people knew what hit them. They’ve had such a free ride for so long. No one challenged them. no one was skeptical. They have been handled with kid gloves like pampered little brats. But in the face of all of the people they’ve been calling stupid, old women, they seemed oddly subdued.
Chris Matthews made an appearance and stood there silently while some of us finally got a chance to tell him how we felt to his face. The coward waited until we left before he came down from the stage to talk to the crowd.
We stayed for about 45 minutes and then marched away up 16th street, the media in hot pursuit. They followed us to the Starbucks and hung around to interview. There were dozens of photographers getting shots of beautiful Murphy with her strawberry blonde hair striding up the hill, eyes fixed in front of her. She leaned over to me with a sly smile on her face and whispered, “I’m so damn glad we came to Denver.”
Update: We broke a site record! Murphy is getting tons of wonderful comments at PUMAPac and some have even donated money. Keep up the good work getting the word out.
Hey my Conflucians! Waiting for reports from RiverDaughter, who’s at Denver’s Cheesman Park “The Beautiful Protest and Rise 2008” (see flyer on the right hand column), followed by candlelight vigil and from our PUMAmobile Dynamic Duo, Gary and Mawm – stay tuned! In the meantime, add your Conflucian snark by captioning these photos and read post below if you like:
PHOTO 1
PHOTO 2
PUMAs are having a BALL in Denver! “WE are the one no was expecting,” as the lovely Darragh Murphy from PUMA PAc states.
Clinton’s Wishes Don’t Spoil PUMA’s Fun –byJason Horowitz | August 25, 2008
In a flat, windswept part of Denver known, depending who you ask, as LODO, for lower downtown, or RINO, for River North, where the city’s yellow cab company once had their depot and where office and loft space now sit in the middle of parking lots and tall body-dumping grass, the PUMA women, and a smattering of PUMA men, held a premier of the anti-Obama movie, “The Audacity of Democracy.” Under pink and yellow neon lights at the sleek Fuel Café, the group’s organizers offered a respectable spread of sautéed spinach, prosciutto-wrapped dates, seasoned mushrooms, falafel, mushrooms and assorted salads, including one fattened with steak. The party had a cash bar, but it carried all sorts of top-shelf alcohol served by a handsome wait staff dressed seriously in culinary whites. A large contingent of foreign press, nearly outnumbering the Clinton loyalists, gave the proceedings an even greater air of sophistication.
A reporter from Le Monde interviewed Edwin Paytner, a round man who blogs as Texas Hill Country, for more than a half an hour. Two German reporters flanked Darragh Murphy, the founder of PumaPac, who has accused Obama supporters of killing bunnies as a scare tactic, scribbling her every word into notebooks. A glamorous Italian reporter talked sympathetically to a white-haired woman in a white Hillary t-shirt .
Taku Tsuchiya, a Japanese television reporter explained the intense international scrutiny.
“It’s interesting,” he said, “Because Obama’s popularity is declining right now and they might have something to do with it.”
And yes for those viewing – IT’S NOT about Senator Clinton, it’s about DEMOCRACY. We’re not bitter dead-enders. We are about ACTION. We are the Democratic Base. We make things happen in the USA, and we come in every color, size, gender, age, physical ability etc. etc. you can think of. I wrote this yesterday, posting again because – well, it just says what I want to say:
I stand by my Floridian voter’s opinion:
If a bank robber was caught stealing money and at their trial, they made a plea bargain to give most of the money back – it still doesn’t exculpate them from the crime they committed. The robber should be punished regardless. PUMA was formed to protest the DNC’s hijack of Democracy. We want Democracy back in the Democratic Party, and you will not get our support and votes until our Democratic leaders start acting Democratically again.
In Florida, our votes are used like toilet paper since 2000, and since the DNC’s leadership mostly ignores its voter base, they thought the best way they can win an election is by copying the Rove playbook. How about counting our votes and LISTENING to your voters for a change? Everytime they do listen, Democrats win the General election. Had Ted Kennedy been the 1980 DNC candidate, Reagan would have never won nor started the Neo-Conservative movement. I still resent that the Democratic leadership did not fight for Al Gore’s votes in 2000, had they fought like their Democratic voter base asked and pleaded them to, we would not have 8 years of the most destructive presidential administration in this country’s history.
We put our trust in a party that we thought valued and represented Democracy and that would fight for our votes and for clean and transparent elections processes. But since they won’t fight for Democracy, we will.
As far as I’m concerned, this changes nothing. We still have an illegitimate candidate that won through illegitimate means. And PUMA will continue to be a consciousness that lives in all of us here at this little corner of the blogosphere until Democracy is back in the Democratic Party
I want to add my welcome to our visitors. And share some of the ground rules.
The most important thing to know is that The Confluence is a refuge for PUMAs and Hillary supporters. It was created by Riverdaughter in the wake of the abuse we received at our former blog-homes. And the administrators of The Confluence have always kept that concept of A Refuge in mind when we review the comments posted to this site.
The rule (if there is one) is pretty simple. If it makes us (or our friends) uncomfortable or unhappy we delete it. Obama supporters: We’re not here to “Inform” you. Or “Help you understand.” We might keep your comment if it’s amusing or if we want to play with you for a while. But, if you bore us? You’re gone. Without a trace. And we won’t apologize.
I want to repeat my welcome to PUMAs near and far. I love this place that Riverdaughter made and I hope you come to love it too.
* Photos take in Kansas City, Kansas at midnight last night. I just talked to Gary and the PUMA mobile is now a little west of Manhattan, KS. They haven’t got a generator so they only have Internet access when they stop for breaks.
There are PUMAs coming in and it’s getting packed! There are coolers of cold water and soda, packets of sunscreen, colorful T-shirts. We’re heading down to Union Park pretty soon and we’ll end up in Cheesman park later this afternoon. In the meantime, it’s time we let the DNC know how we feel about the party not following its own rules. Give Howie a call at the Loew’s Hotel in Denver. Here’s the number: (303)782-9300. Also, call your state’s attorney general and tell him or her that the taxpayers spend millions of dollars on a primary and have expended this courtesy to the Democratic Party. If the DNC isn’t going to follow its own rules about honoring the voters and the primary results, the state should stop extending this courtesy. Tell your friends, spread the word and shout out to Howard Dean:
THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING!!!
I thought I’d show you what is going on right now. Check it out:
Sheri Tag is crankng up the bloggy radio to fill in for Darragh Murphy. Murphy has been going non-stop since she got here. It is incredibly busy here so we are going to fill you in as best we can. Tune into NO WE WON’T at 1:30PM EST, 11:30AM MT.
Remember, “Friends don’t let friends vote Republican”. But if they do, blame Howard Dean.
Standard disclaimer: This site is not a pro-McCain site. The founder is not a Republican and does not intend to become one. She was a lifelong Democrat. PUMAs are not affiliated with the McCain Campaign and make no endorsement of his candidacy. However, some individuals have made the decision to vote for him in protest or simply because he is less frightening than the alternative.
I’ve had a look at our statistics and it looks like a lot of new visitors have been reading our post on PUMA Power. Here’s what it’s all about: your vote. Yes, you hold in your sweaty little hand the ability to change history. As Murphy says, “We are the ones no one was expecting.” YOU are the real change. You and me and 18,000,000 other voters are reaching out to one another and standing united in saying that we do not have to accept the fate that was decided for us. We are united in saying that we expect the Super Delegates to do what they were created to do: give us the most electable Democratic nominee to run against the Republicans this year.
Our party is not united now. There is no use in pretending that it is. But the Super Delegates can listen to the voters and do the right thing. They can assess the effect of the gaming of the caucuses on the pledged delegate count and decide if it can lead to an electoral victory for Obama. They can deliberate over what will happen to FL and MI now that they have been restored to full voting strength but were prohibited from throwing their primary weight behind their winning candidate – Hillary Clinton.
But the most important thing they can decide is whether it is better to allow perception management techniques to continue to portray Barack Obama as the presumptive nominee or whether it is better to force Howard Dean to strictly enforce the rules and procedures for a fair, open and transparent election.
If they do not, we, the voters, reserve the right to take our votes and put them to use elsewhere in order to make sure the powers that be become the powers that were.
You are not alone. No matter what happens, we will be here when the dust settles. You can get involved by visiting PUMAPac, signing up for the daily growl and doing simple actions in your community to let others know that THEY are not alone either.
Find a buddy, hold hands, stick together. People United Mean Action.
Last night, we had the premier party for the Audacity of Democracy and the media came. The Boston Globe, CNN, NPR and Japanese TV among others came to the Fuel Cafe on the outskirts of Denver for screening a 40 minute cut of the movie. Brad and Lorenda aren’t finished with the final product and won’t be until after the election.
Brad added a new section in the beginning of the movie about Barack Obama’s impact on his home town. What did he do for Chicago when he was a community organizer and a state senator? Turns out: Not Much. Brad also catches an Obama supporter and quizzes her about Obama. She can’t name a single accomplishment but she’s going to vote for him because he has “charisma”. I know, I know, you just lost your breakfast. But it’s very powerful to contrast her beliefs with the reality of the rest of the film. You come to realize just how out of touch Obama people here.
Talking with the press has been a little like talking to Obamaphiles resigned to their fate. There isn’t any real enthusiasm for Obama. It has now become just another election and they have become assimilated. The pattern is no different than any other year when the predetermined outcome prevailed- at least that’s how they sound. They acknowledge that Hillary got a bum rap. They admit that there’s something weird about how Obama got to where he is. But that’s so five minutes ago. Hardly worth pursuing. Why do we have to go over the numbers again? What can Obama do to get us onboard?
LadyboomerNYC is pretty in purple
It really is astonishing to me that the media is missing one of the biggest stories of the whole election- the gaming of the convention itself. This is going to be one giant caucus fraud and it’s going to be shown before a huge, televised, national audience and yet, the DNC and the Obama campaign are trying to force delegates into a final official vote before the actual roll call vote. Do they think no one will notice?
One reporter got a clue last night (though we’ll see if she actually follows up on it). She said something like, “Aren’t they supposed to do that on the convention floor? If the vote is official before they vote, isn’t that breaking the rules?” Ding! Ding! Ding! Now, as a journalist, it would be super keen and nifty if she would use her credentials and find out if the scenario I am painting for her is true. In normal conventions, is is the practice to take an informal vote before going to the floor, I guess to make sure there are no surprises, like Louisiana suddenly displaying a fondness for some obscure blue dog. But if it is true that *this* year, the pre-roll call vote that happens in the hotels is the vote that will be considered official and final, then it seems to me that we have taken the scripting of the convention too far. Other rumors are that some of the states are going to be skipped over until the end when they will be “adjusted” to make sure Obama is over the top ala the Indiana primary.
Patrick and Brad critique the hummus
We hope to be hearing the delegates again before Wednesday so we can firm up some of what is actually going on. But I challenge the press to investigate this more thoroughly. The convention is just a giant caucus and it is very easy to pressure the delegates, mislead them and game the system. Why would Obama have to do this if he were winning so handily?
We hope to see Gary and Mawm today in the PUMA Mobile. (We need a Chitty-Chitty-Bang- Bang song to go with it) Today is The Beautiful Protest and Rise in Cheeseman Park from 2-10pm MT to honor Hillary Clinton. We finish tonight in candlelight as we light our own little flames for Democracy.
More Tea Leaves:Heidi Li is following the conclusion of the FL and MI conundrum. I believe the credentials committee restored them to 100% voting strength. That means the final numbers to be the presumptive nominee have changed and presumably Obama is simply presumptuous. The DNC is desperately trying to manage perception again with false reports of Clinton releasing her delegates but it turns out that some of those pesky delegates still want to honor their voters. The reporter I spoke to last night was a pretty smart cookie, actually. She started to make connections and I saw her brain clicking to life right before my eyes. She fought through the confusion about the ROOLZ and the RBC meeting and credentials committee and I think she might finally see that the whole thing was Kabuki theater. FL and MI were ALWAYS going to have to count 100%. Withholding them was only a strategy designed to make sure that Hillary lacked the critical mass to put her ahead after superTuesday. The states were “adjusted” to make sure that Obama had just enough delegates to make him look inevitable and resign the public to their fate.
[This post is from our Sunday activities, and, gosh, it’s Monday already — in the wee small hours of the morning. I didn’t have a chance to post it before the party, so thought I would now. Think Sunday when you read it, and stay tuned for more updates from your dedicated Puma blogger crew.]
Pumas are slammin’ in Denver. I’m telling you, our presence is AMAZING! Puma Headquarters are a beehive of activity. At least 300 Pumas, including several delegates, have been here today. They’re making signs, attending events in protest. Riverdaughter, BettyJean, danceswithpumas, joanofart, and Pagan — are all live-blogging, so stay tuned.
The press dropped by. We were interviewed by CBS, ABC, the French press, Japanese press, and The National (an emerging newspaper from the Arab Emirates that acknowledges the existence of Israel, although their host country does not.)
I’ve met so many Pumas in the flesh whose names I’ve seen online all year. What a great group of dedicated and passionate Americans we are. People who have sacrificed money, opportunity, and many, many things to make sure that the ideals our of country are upheld. What a fantastic opportunity to solidify and build our relationships for now into the future.
There’s been so much activity that it’s taken me all day to write this update!
Tonight is the movie premiere of the “Audacity of Democracy,” by filmmakers Brad and Laurie Mays, which will be attended by Puma and Just Say No Deal members and covered by the press. This documentary shines a light on the caucus fraud perpetrated by the Obama campaign that has plagued this primary election process.
Tomorrow, Monday, is the Beautiful Protest/The Rise event in Cheesman Park 2-6 pm march, and 6-10 pm speakers, featuring Darragh Murphy, riverdaughter. I’ll even be taking a turn at the mic to say a bit about how and why I was motivated to hang in there for Hillary, why I’ve been compelled to keep going.
Sheri Tag will be broadcasting this week, Monday – Thursday at 7:00 pm MT, so be sure to listen and call in. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/no-we-wont. Call in number: 347-539-5420.
I’ll be posting some pics during the week and will be reporting on each day’s activities and goings on, so be sure to return for the latest.
Pumas, Just Say No Deal coalition members, know this: Our voice, our Democracy — live on through all of you. We have just begun to fight for our cause and our country. Know that you all are strong, our movement is strong.
I’ve had a look at our statistics and it looks like a lot of new visitors have been reading our post on
The Confluence 