Sunday: Working out the kinks in Denver

I just drove around Denver and Oh. My. Gawd. What a nightmare. It took me half an hour to go about 2 miles. The barriers are going up everywhere. I was using a GPS and the poor dear was busily recalculating every couple of blocks. There is a visible No More War presence downtown surrounded by an even more visible presence of cops. The city is on lock down and from what I hear, the residents are PO’d.

In the meantime, more of us have arrived overnight. Sheri Tag is here, chipper as ever. LadyBoomerNYC is lending us her calming presence. There is media on all of the networks. Diane is busily setting up interviews. I have been asked to give a short speech at The Beautiful Protest and Rise tomorrow evening. Things are picking up here.

Just one more note: Darragh Murphy is doing a fantastic job and her mother is here as well. They are pulling out all of the stops to get things done. We are resetting our watches for Mountain Time and we do not expect to have any more glitches.

The Credentials Committee is going to meet at 11:30am at the Colorado Center. Eastern? Mountain? See if you can catch it on CSPAN.

Hang in there, Conflucians. It’s going to be a wild ride!

Meanwhile, here is some very good news:

The grassroots petition that roared

When the Clinton and Obama campaigns announced last week that Senator Clinton’s name would be placed into nomination, a group of Clinton delegates cheered for a moment and went right back to work. With Hillary Clinton’s name “officially” on the ballot, the petition signatures were no longer technically needed. But this group of determined individuals pressed on.

“When we started this effort, it was the ONLY way for us to be able to vote in Denver to represent the people who elected us,” said a Clinton delegate from Texas. “We’re proud of what we did. We’re going to see it to the end. Just like our candidate – we don’t quit.”

According to DNC rules, a floor nomination petition needs a minimum of 300 signatures from voting delegates to be submitted. In July, a small but determined group of Clinton delegates and volunteers started reaching out to fellow delegates in true grassroots fashion – one by one – to collect the signatures. This proved to be slow going since Democratic Party officials would not provide contact lists for delegates. The 300 Delegate Petition group was born.

After national and international mainstream media attention, petitions started pouring in. When they received the requisite number of petitions, they once again took a breather and went back to work. DNC rules state that no more than 600 petitions can be submitted. They’re working on it.

“We’ve got well over 300 petitions now in hand,” explained Sue Castner, a Clinton delegate from Portland, OR. “Since we never consulted with Senator Clinton’s campaign, we don’t know if ‘the petition that wouldn’t die’ had anything to do with the two joint campaign announcements made last week. We will probably never know but it certainly made us feel good.”

Signatories include a governor or two, county Democratic party chairs, members of the diplomatic corps, and even some brave Obama delegates. The names of those who signed the petition will remain a mystery unless Senator Clinton decides to file the petition, in which case, their names will be a part of recorded history.

As a meager reward for those delegates who saw the nomination process as a path to party unity and signed this historic document, a numbered commemorative pin will distinguish them from fellow delegates. Rest assured, the green pin, featuring the number 300 with a pen, will be THE most coveted pin in Denver.

One more thing: CBS coming over for a cup of sugar at 2:30pm. We’ll let you know when you can expect to see us.

When Obama Loses, Whose Fault Will It Be?

Obama Respects Hillary

The Obama/DNC Conglomerate’s.

Not Hillary’s. Not McCain’s. Not the PUMAs’ (although some PUMAs wouldn’t mind taking credit for it!). No, Party Leaders and Obama himself must share the blame for snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory.

DNC PARTY LEADERS – You did the following, assuring that you would split the Party among racial, sexual and ideological lines:

• Decided that Hillary and Bill Clinton must not be given another shot at the White House.
• Ran an African-American against Hillary so that anyone who didn’t want to vote for him could be labeled racist, including the Clintons themselves.
• Allowed the most vile and hateful sexism to be directed at Hillary and her supporters by Obama and his campaign.
• Perpetrated anti-democratic election fraud by apportioning delegates to Obama in a state where he had removed himself from the ballot. Even worse, your “compromise” actually took delegates from Hillary and gave them to Obama. So much for the will of the people and the Democratic Party’s commitment to democracy.
• Allowed Obama to move your operations to Chicago, even though he had not even won the nomination at the time – and still has not!
• Forced Hillary to suspend her campaign and withdraw from the race despite the fact that she had just as much right to the nomination as Obama, if not much more, considering her overwhelming tally of blue-state and swing-state primary victories AND her popular vote victory (which in any other year, would have unquestionably won her the nomination).
• Told Hillary’s voters to stay home in November, and that we were not welcome in the “New Democratic Party.”

Scratching Post Saturday Night – Gary & Mawm’s PUMAmobile photos!!

PUMA HAKA!!!

 

Our brave Conflucians are on the road to Denver!  Riverdaughter made it safe to PUMA headquarters with Darragh Murphy, see post below!

Our Infantry Co-Commanders made their first stop in Virginia at Conflucian Commenter Supreme, Miss IndigoGirl, who Conflucian-ly donated time & materials from her graphics workshop to decorate the PUMAmobile!  Let’s give a round of applause and a BIG Conflucian Fuzzybear hug to IndigoGirl for her time, materials & effort, who’s now promoted to Infantry PUMA Colonel for her extraordinary efforts to the PUMA cause!  Three cheers for IndigoGirl!

Satire on a Budget moments made it on the PUMAmobile – plus some new graphics too!  Gary, Mawm and yours truly worked on it last night.  IndigoGirl gave the ok and they made it on the PUMAmobile!  Order your drink with Rico, check in nasty words with Flo and lets celebrate with Gary, Mawm & IndigoGirl and ultra PUMATized PUMAmobile, please check out the photos below!

Entertainment, her Madgesty herself, for all of our PUMAs traveling to Denver who are the “Ray of Light” before “Macaca” Biden and the Obaminator take the DNC’s MTV Downtown Julie Brown stage. (No offense to Downtown Julie Brown, who I think is a fab diva!)

First Pink PUMA on the house to celebrate Hillary’s not the VP!!

More photos here:

Attack of the PUMAs!

Goddess of Democracy!

Full size (long blue section is the Confluence banner!)

Another "attack" side look

ConflucianMobile!

PUMA HAKA, for the rear view mirrors!

UPDATE:  Images on the side of PUMAmobile for better viewing

 

On the ground in Denver

The paint is fresh at PUMA HQ.  We’re located right next to the Police Department so we shouldbe relatively safe.  There are cops EVERYWHERE.  It’slike a lice infestation.  On the way from the airport, we passed three bike medics.  That’s right, they have their equipment in paneers(sp) on the back ot their bikes.  Rill says she’s seen police on bikes too but she can’t quite take them seriously.

People are arriving as we speak.  Darragh’s mom is here.  DancesWithPumas is here.

MarylandPUMA, TruthIsGold and some of the documentary film crew.  Murphy is out getting some stuff from the rental store.  We’re setting up tables, getting the swag together and generally having a good time.  We’ve got Aretha Franklin on the laptop speakers.

Yeah! More later.
in the meantime, the Declaration has been updated:

Obama’s VP Selection: A Play in One Desperate Act.

The Democratic Convention Stage

THE SCENE: A conference room in Barack Obama’s campaign headquarters. Giant photos of The One and all of his various symbols (the Possum seal, the circular hands, the “Buy American“) are plastered all over the walls. The color scheme is aqua, magenta and off-white – the colors of Barackracy(TM)!.

Seated around the black granite table are BILL BURTON, DONNA BRAZILE, MICHELLE OBAMA  and DAVID AXELROD, Obama’s (real) VP selection team. The action takes place over several months, but has been distilled into one short span of time for dramatic effect.

BURTON: Well, Mr. President, let’s get to it. We’ve got a great list of options for you – all the Democratic bigwigs are just DYING to jump on the Obama Train!

OBAMA: Great, great. List ’em all for me one more time, Bill?

BURTON: With pleasure! I’ve got ’em separated into groups for you – you know, to sort of highlight what they’d give to your administration.

Okay, first up, we’ve got Democratic Governor VP’s.

OBAMA: Yeah, um – what would they give me again?

AXELROD (patiently): Executive experience, Mr. President.

OBAMA: Oh, right, right. Funny – I can’t believe my community organizing credentials aren’t enough for these people. I mean, what do they need from me, assurances that I’ve held a full-time job or something? Anyway, let’s hear it.

BURTON: Okay, here we go: Ted Strickland, Ed Rendell, Tim Kaine, and Kathleen Sebelius. Which one do you prefer, Mr. President?

OBAMA: Let’s see. Strickland. No, Rendell. No, Kaine. No, Sebelius. Dammit! I just can’t pick. Text ’em all and see what they say! (A slight pause, while AXELROD, BURTON and BRAZILE all type on their iPhones.) 

BRAZILE: Crap. Ted said no.

OBAMA: Really no, or Joe Biden no?

BRAZILE: Really, REALLY no. Here’s what Ted said (reading aloud): “Absolutely not. If drafted I will not run, nominated I will not accept and if elected I will not serve. So, I don’t know how more crystal clear I can be.”

MICHELLE: Ouch! That’s okay, honey. He was a Clintonite anyway. You’d probably have to hire a food-taster. (all laugh)

AXELROD: Yeah, I’ve got basically the same story from Rendell. He really wants you to pick Hillary.

OBAMA: As if! My supporters already think she is Satan. Can you imagine what they’d say?

BURTON: Hate to be on the receiving end of THAT blowback! Man, those guys are vicious. Anywho, good news! Sibelius is willing and available.

AXELROD: Uh, Mr. President? I’m getting some not-too-encouraging feedback on her. Apparently, she bored everyone to tears after Bush’s SOTU address.

OBAMA: Ah, well, so much for that. We need someone who is as dynamic a speaker as I am!

MICHELLE: Well, not QUITE as dynamic, Mr. President. (everyone laughs) What about Kaine?

AXELROD: Unfortunately, he’s a little too unpopular in Virginia to help you there. Another dead end.

Saturday tid-bits: PUMAmobile is off! Zogby, not happy. Macaca Biden/Preciouzz speak

Hugs & happy/safe travels to our Conflucian Denver-bound Pumas!

Our lovely blog-mother Riverdaughter (Sister RD for MYIQ 🙂 ) is having some lovely Pink PUMA cocktails at her layover in Indianapolis, PUMA-SF & Simofish are prowling to Denver with a 15-member PUMA Pack from the SF bay area and the Cat-wrangling Dynamic Duo, GaryChapelHill & Mawm, have started their PUMAmobile trek to Denver!  Thank you all who donated PUMAmobile juice to our brave RV riders.   PUMAmobile’s first stop is going to be at a familiar Conflucian’s place, and they will post photos of their journey along the way.  I have the honor and privilege to know some INSIDE details regarding our Infantry’s Co-Commanding vehicle.  Please check in later this afternoon/evening for their post!

Rainy days give me the urge to cook massive meals, so today I’m making Boliche, black beans and white rice.  Get a plate and serve yourselves!

In the meantime, here’s another great video from GeekLove:

Speaking of Super-Delegates, Obama-loving pollster, John Zogby of Zogby Polls has some sobering news to report:

Watch the polls go lower after “Macaca Moment” Biden stops taking his Wellbutirin.  I. can’t. WAIT to hear him  talk about his “clean and articulate” Bossman.  But I’m a happy camper our gal ain’t the VP pick.  Party time!

Speaking of laughs, here’s the “joke-writing themselves” moment from teh PRECIOUZZZ:

Obama says Joe Biden is ready to be president –By BETH FOUHY and CHRISTOPHER WILLS, Associated Press Writers

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is calling his running mate, Joe Biden, “a leader who is ready to step in and be president.”

Hey, somebody has to know what they heck their doing while Obama preens in the mirror all day.

 ¡Que viva los PUMAs! (long love PUMAs!)

Saturday: Leavin’ on a jet plane

Good Morning, Conflucians!  Everybody awake?  I’m headed to my local Starbucks for a Vivanno before I hit the road for the Philly airport.  I *think* it’s Philly.  Maybe its Newark.  That’s one of the great things about living in Central NJ.  You have the added excitement of ending up at the wrong airport. (peaking at E-Ticket, whew, it’s Philly)

Lucky me, I have a layover in Indianapolis.  But Wait!  Obama picked Joe Biden as his VP.  That means he might be making his announcement from Delaware.  Take a look at this picture of the two of them together and tell me whether they really want to resemble Bush/Cheney so closesly, er, except for the whole African-American thing:

Change! My Ass.

This was all about making sure the old, white guys continued to run the country.  (Cute.  They sent the text message at 3:00am probably because they aren’t quite done sticking it to Clinton.)  It all makes sense to me know, especially the part about them expecting all the women in the party to just fall in line.  The idea of letting Hillary run things must have just frosted their crockies.  Oh, plus all of the lobbyists must be high fivin’ each other.

Kos, I hate to say I told you so but this is exactly what I would predict would happen back when you threw me off.  Obama made a right turn and threw YOU off.  What you have here is Biden as the man behind the curtain, working with the old, white guys in Congress to party like it’s 1959.  Are you satisfied now?  What else can you expect from a candidate who has no discernable core principles, no CV to speak of and a complete and utter dependence on his congressional backers? Go back and take a look at that pic.  Who is in charge?  We gave up Hillary Clinton for Joe Biden???  Who couldn’t manage to eek out any delegates on his own?

{{sigh}}

The DNC has lost its mind.  Not only have they perpetrated fraud after fraud on the voters this year but they send me an email seeking my help in promoting this stupid meme that McCain doesn’t know how many houses he has.  Tell me they aren’t really this clueless.

It doesn’t matter how many houses McCain has.  It doesn’t matter that he doesn’t know about all of them.  The point is, men who live in million dollar mansions (that they purchased with help from a convicted felon) have no right to point to the abundance of his opponent’s living arrangements.  Neither one of them knows what it’s like to live in a Philly row home or a trailer park or a modest three bedroom townhouse or a California ranch. Pursuing this line of attack is a waste of time and effort.

Oh, what do I care?

Who is running the DNC these days?  They are really amatuers.  Someone should keep them away from sharp objects.  They are a danger to themselves and others.

Well, I’m going to hop in the shower and finish stowing my stuff.  I always over pack.  With any luck, I’ll be in Denver by 4:00PM MT.  Er, that’s 6:00PM EST.  There probably won’t be much to report until then unless the Indianapolis airport is more sexy than I thought.  Stay tuned for Gary and Mawm’s great adventure and don’t forget to check out Murphy’s Schedule of Event’s on PUMAPac.

Caucus Fraud: Coming soon to your convention

After all, what is a party convention but one giant caucus?  And what has Obama’s campaign been up to the last couple of months but figuring out new ways of intimidating, bullying, deceiving and poaching Hillary’s delegates?  This stuff is second nature to the Obama campaign by now.  After all, It worked so well during the primary season.

You can get a glimpse of the documentary through this extended trailer.

John Siegal of WeWillNotBeSilenced has been working on a documentary to expose how the game was rigged and who pays for the damage to the process.  Says John:

The information in the film is especially jarring for those who were not in caucus states, but it is information that our party must face. There is a reason why half of all Hillary voters are not currently willing to vote for Obama, and this is a big part of it.As I told my friend Rep. Lois Capps, whose son in law is Obama’s National Communications Director, it would be unfair and unethical to delegates, both pledged and super, to withhold this otherwise untold story prior to their floor votes in Denver. This is, oddly, also an opportunity for unity; if the Obama campaign stated that they played rough in a caucus system that should be abolished, it would heal a lot of wounds.

We will have copies of the DVD with us if you need one in Denver.

http://wewillnotbesilenced2008…

John Siegel
Executive Producer, We Will Not Be Silenced
http://wewillnotbesilenced2008…

You can get a glimpse of the documentary through this extended trailer.

This is not just playing dirty. This isn’t just ratf%&ing. The result of rushing the caucuses and overwhelming the precinct captains contributed to the invalidation of the votes for Hillary in the Big D and Swing States on Feb. 5, 2008. In other words, what they did in the caucuses cancelled out my vote in NJ. My state paid millions of dollars for a primary that was a sham and a waste of time. And all because the Obama campaign just couldn’t help themselves from exploiting the weaknesses in the caucus system that were absent in primary elections. Hey, guys, just because it *can* be done doesn’t mean it *should* be done.

I don’t know how they thought they could get away with it. I guess they thought we voters would just turn a blind eye because we would be so grateful to have a Democrat in the White House. But this Democrat is no better than a Rovian Republican.

But wait! There’s more. The convention is also gameable. There are all kinds of ambiguities in the Rules and Procedures for the Roll Call vote and Vice Presidential Nomination. A delegate has 10 minutes to challenge his state tally. But how will the tally be announced? Will it be by PA? Electronically? How does one file a challenge? Details, details. Unless we pin every single one of those suckers down, Barack Obama will figure out a way to exploit the loopholes and cheat 18 million voters out of their votes. Of course, he will have the DNCs help.

But don’t worry, Conflucians, we will have the final say in November. They can’t rig voting machines quite as well as Republicans.

The “Big Tent” of PUMA

Our brave PUMA Commanders of the Rebel Alliance, Riverdaughter, Gary & Mawm, Darragh Murphy, Will Bower, Diane Mantouvalos, Piper in Pucci & many other wonderful PUMA/Just Say No Dealers are packing their bags and heading towards Denver to PUMAtize the Democratic Convention!  Please send them positive thoughts as they trek to Denver!  

Fuzzybear, if you have a FuzzyPrayer to share, please write one for our brave PUMAs while you save Gainsville from Fay’s watery wrath?  I know, I know, a SuperBear’s work is never done!

Today the mood’s been philosophical on the Confluence, and I wanted to write in response to some comments I’ve read in the NoObamasphere about PUMAs and our organized chaos (which is really proof we are a true grassroots movement.) In fact, we are the true remnants of Big Tent Democrats who formed the Big Tent of PUMAs.  I will not link them since its not the point of this post.  It’s out there, you’ve read them and we’ve commented here and there about it. 

What I do want to say is this:

We are “Democrats in Exile” (as Mother Riverdaughter states above at the green tab post).  We coalesced long before the RBC meeting on May 31st, 2008.  Like a nebulae cloud giving birth to a brilliant star, or like the Big Bang itself, PUMA formed.  From collapsing matter and energy that condensed to nothing and BANG!  There it is.  We didn’t know it when it happened, but after a couple of days, PUMA grew to massive proportions.

Some of us PUMAs are regular, everyday people that hold 9-5 jobs, some of us are “creative-classers,” some of us hold post-graduate degrees, some of us only graduated high school, some of us are retired, some of us are very wealthy, some of us are on fixed incomes.  Some of us are women, some of us are men, some of us are heterosexual, some of us are gay/lesbian, some of us are bisexual.  Some of us are black, white, green, brown, red, yellow, orange with purple polka-dotted, plaid people.  Etc., etc., etc. 

The Big Tent of Democrats – those that were not on the guest list for the remodeled VIP Lounge of Obama’s DNC, reunited under a common thought that Democracy was not allowed its due process during the 2008 Democratic Presidential Primaries.  Had it been, we’d be a Democratic Party that’s united and strong to defeat the Republicans in the November general election.  Instead, PUMA is united, which is the only reason for our fast ascent.  We are united by the promise of Democracy and that every person that votes should have their voice heard and counted. 

Now, there are a slight few in our movement that say some of us are too brash & loud, or too soft, or too militant.  Regardless of what your opinion is – PUMA IS HERE and we all are a part of it.  Like the human body, PUMA is comprised of many parts and we function very much in the same way.    Some PUMAs are parts of the brain that orchestrate action, some PUMAs are the hands and feet that make action possible, some of us are hidden internal organs that pump out energy and nutrients to keep everything alive and in motion.  Every part is vital, regardless if you are a scholar, PUMA prowler, protester, blogger, commenter, or lurker.  We all depend on one another.  Like the atom, PUMA is a bunch of electrons, neutrons, protons and dark matter/energy, bumping and colliding into one another to form something that’s bigger than what we ever thought possible.

Some PUMAs want to create a body that will last beyond the November election, while some PUMAs don’t see themselves participating beyond the Democratic Convention.  Regardless of what your conscience tells you to do – we MUST remain constant in our goal to bring Democracy back into the Democratic Party.  

Personally speaking, I see PUMA as a steadfast state of consciousness that wants Democracy back in the Democratic party.  It’s a virtual Think Tank where every Democrat that wants Democracy back in the Democratic Party can particpate and become active.  It’s an “un-Party” like Riverdaughter said in her PUMA manifesto. 

But whatever you decide to make of your personal PUMA consciousness, remember that we are re-building the Big Tent of Democrats that Obama, Dean, Pelosi and Brazile tore down.   Some of us are loud & brash in our ways (like me!), others are more intellectual and scholarly, but remember one thing:  we are parts of the same body.  We all want to bring Democracy back to the Democratic Party.  

Wish your PUMA brothers & sisters in Denver a safe & happy trip in the comments section. 

UPDATE: Spartacus Youtube, ehhh not quite the mood I wanted, so lets go with THIS:

UPDATE 2:  At the request of the fab Carol Diamonds, here’s a tribute for our 21st century cyber-patriots:

¡Que viva los PUMAs!

(Long live PUMAs!)

Attack of the Killer Chihuahuas

Oh Lordy!  The rabid killer chihuahuas of Obamanation are in an ankle-biting frenzy over how many houses John McCain and his wife own.

They seem to think they have found “THE ISSUE” that will carry Teh Precious to victory.  Once again they prove their lack of political instinct.

First of all, they have completely forgotten the old saying “Those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”  Guys?  You really don’t want to discuss the candidates’ real estate holdings.

Why?  Two words: “Tony Rezko”

Secondly, negative attacks don’t work unless they resonate with the target audience.  The target audience will be one or more of these: your base, their base, and/or undecideds.  Your goal should be to motivate your base, depress their base, and/or persuade undecideds to vote for your candidate

If this attack gets your base fired up, y’all need to switch to decaf.  This issue is another “big nothing burger.”  The McCains are rich, so what?  The Obamas are millionaires too.  Not only that, but this is the United States of America, where being rich is the ambition of 99% of the population.

This attack isn’t going to depress and demoralize the GOP base, nor is it likely to persuade any undecided voters, especially since it opens the door to the issue of Uh-bama’s relationship with slumlord Tony Rezko.

Do you guys ever learn anything?  Has an attack on a candidate’s financial status ever worked?  You guys went into an ankle-biting fauxrage over Hillary and Bill’s tax returns showing they made beau coup simolians since he left office, and the blue-collar and rural voters of West Virginia were soooo impressed they gave Hillary a 41 point victory.  Without the money issue, she might have won by 60 or 70 points!

What’s that you say?  This issue is just like when Poppy Bush was amazed at a supermarket checkout scanner?  Well, yes it is, but not why you think.

The reason they are the same is because that story is an urban legend!  IOW – a big nothing burger.

 

(Cross-posted at Klownhaus)