Delegates Mad As Hell: Scramble for Floor Vote

Clinton Delegates are pissed. The Clinton National Delegate Network, a grassroots movement of delegates is on the streets of Denver collecting signatures from Hillary delegates. This eleventh hour effort is being organized to ensure that delegates who were elected to represent the voters of each state can and will vote for the candidate they were pledged to.

The DNC and Nancy Pelosi, the Chairman of the Democratic Convention, are doing everything in their power to make sure that does not happen. With Obama’s flagging support, according to the polls, running neck and neck with McCain, they are very worried that Hillary will get the nomination if a roll call vote takes place on the convention floor. That is why they are making the delegates have a secret hotel vote, instead of the floor vote that’s been done since forever. The hotel vote will purportedly take place on Wednesday morning, August 27, 2008.

However, there is a DNC rule that says if 20% of a candidate’s delegates sign a petition for a roll call vote, it must happen. This means that Hillary needs 826 of her delegates to sign this petition. I visited their headquarters along with BettyJean, Pagan, Hill08, and BrendaLynn. As we set out on our mission, we got three signatures in less than one block. They headed for the Pepsi Center to collect more, and got about 40 in an hour, and I came back to Puma Headquarters to blog. Last word I got was there were over 400 signatures gathered.

Pagan reports that he talked to a delegate who originally supported Hillary. The delegate declined to sign or divulge the delegation he was from. He said he would vote the way his state party told him to vote and that Terry McAuliffe had instructed them in how to vote. When Pagan asked if he’d mind sharing what that way of voting would be, he also declined, and then just turned his head and refused to engage in the conversation anymore.

Delegates have reported to us that Obama supporters are stationed outside of each delegation’s room with clipboards, ready to make sure that once again, despite their best efforts to represent their constituents (approximately 12,225 voters per delegate in the case of primaries, and 2,110 in the case of caucuses), that Hillary delegates and voters are ROBBED of their democratic rights.

As recently as this afternoon, we knew that the hotel vote would take place in each delegation on Wednesday morning, and that Hillary would have a special luncheon with her delegates at 1pm. Rumor had it that she might release her delegates then.

However, we have an unconfirmed report coming from someone inside the Pepsi Center that Hillary Clinton will make a special announcement tonight during her speech. Although I’m ever the optimist, call me paranoid: Will she try to pre-empt this grassroots effort by releasing her delegates tonight?

I can’t even imagine the pressure she is under by party leadership. We even heard that President Clinton’s speech would not be televised live in prime time.

Oh my, is the DNC running scared or what? We need divine intervention. If you’re a praying person, give it your all.

Please Note: I don’t mean to cut in on LadyBoomer’s brilliant post but Sheri Tag says that NO WE WON’T will be on after Hillary’s speech.

[cross posted from Lady Boomer NYC]

Scratching Post DNC Tuesday – Hillary speaks! 10 pm EST (estimated time) Plus DNC “Caption this moment”

RISE, HILLARY, RISE!!!

WE LOVE YOU HILLARY!!!!

Conflucians, Senator Hillary Clinton will speak tonight at the Democratic National Convention at 8pm EST.  Our first viable female candidate who won more votes than any candidate in our nation’s history, is being forced to relinquish her votes on the 88th anniversary for Women’s Suffrage.  We know that she’s going to ask us to unite, to come together as she’s graciously asked us to do since suspending her campaign on June 7th, 2008, but everyone who reads the Confluence knows that we cannot unite as we have in the past when the DNC stole votes and delegates, thrwarting the DNA of Democracy itself: our right to have our votes counted and cast as they were intended.   

Esteemed Senator Clinton, we acknowledge you are between a Mt. Everest of rocks and a hard place.  But we will march and fight until every vote is counted and reported, and when Democracy comes back to the Democratic Party, so will we.  Until then, PUMA!

While Riverdaughter, Mawm and Gary go with their PUMA packs to PUMA headquarters in downtown Denver or prowl in the PUMAmobile, Rico’s got his Pink PUMA & Mountain Lion Martini glasses chilling in ice, while Flo’s got her catcher’s mitt ready for unwelcome words.  If you didn’t have any dinner, we have Denver Bison (or Tofu) mini-burgers and fresh popcorn for all the action that’s going down in Denver.

Speaking of action, just like RiverDaughter said here, and BostonBoomer said below, PUMAs are the news story!  Here’s this little nugget from Rebecca Traister from Salon.com:  Rebecca’s not exactly a PUMA-friendly reporter, but at last she gives Tweety a good slap: 

Aug. 26, 2008 | DENVER — “This is where you see the civil war!” burbled Chris Matthews, experiencing near-asphyxiatory pleasure on an outdoor stage in the sweltering Denver heat, while behind him two competing groups, Obama supporters and the PUMA (Party Unity My Ass) backers of Hillary Clinton, chanted “Obama! Obama!” and “Hillary! Hillary!” at each other. Matthews looked as though he might wet himself as a camera panned the crowd, and he declared, “We’re at ground zero!”

…

Talking to these women, I began to believe that the threat of PUMAs, or aggressive Hillary supporters who planned to take over the convention, was a full-blown myth. I couldn’t find any; I hadn’t seen any. I half suspected that they were the creation of a media anxious to gin up a story in which the villains were a bunch of grumpy old white chicks.

But that was before I left the confines of the official indoor events and stepped out into the wide world of public protest and freedom of expression. And before the news of Monday’s shifting policies on the roll call vote began to leak out, and before Hillary supporters lining the streets of downtown Denver heard convoluted versions of what was likely to happen.

…

“You mean Reverend Wrong,” Mar interrupted. “Look, I know about the race card. I know about race. I’m African-American. And it was Obama who played the race card, and it’s going to come back and bite Obama in the butt.” African-American supporters of Obama, in Mar’s view, “are proud. Yes, I understand that. But you want someone who can lead America, not because he’s African-American, or because she’s a certain gender, but because she can lead.” But what about the woman they wanted as America’s leader? Clinton has been leading her supporters, or trying to lead them, to vote for Obama. “We want Hillary,” said Novacek, with the fingers-in-her-ears insistence of an implacable toddler. “She can stand on her head and plead with us, and I still will not vote for him. I want her. She is best for the country.”  

Caption this DNC moment!  Add your Conflucian Savoire-Snark to these photos:

PHOTO 1:

PHOTO 2

RISE, HILLARY, RISE!!!

¡QUE VIVA LOS PUMAS!

(Long live PUMAs!)

Find the PUMA (Open Thread)

Photo taken by Jeralyn at TalkLeft

Carville: If this party has a message they did a hell of a job hiding it

While we get news from Riverdaughter’s night at “The Beautiful Protest and Rise” and Gary & Mawm’s PUMAmobile adventures, here’s this:

UPDATE (h/t MadamaB!)  James Carville’s full quote per Jake Tapper/ABC News:

On CNN this evening, Clintonista James Carville voiced his displeasure with tonight’s proceedings as having no theme, no message.

“James Carville seems the least satisfied Democrat in here right now,” noted CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “What’s going on James?”

“Well if this party has a message it has done a hell of a job of hiding it tonight I promise you that,” Carville said.

“How do you mean?” asked the anchor. “You haven’t heard about Iraq? You haven’t heard about John McCain?”

“…George W. Bush, you haven’t heard any of this,” said Carville. “I mean we are a country that’s borderline recession, 85% 80% wrong track country, people, health care, energy, I haven’t heard anything about gas prices, I mean maybe we are going to look better Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday but right now like I say we are playing hide the message pretty good.”

“David Gergen said this a short time ago, that in the first two hours what is the message?” said Cooper.

“And you know what? David didn’t get to where he was in life because he’s stupid  He was exactly right. I look at this and I am about to jump out of my chair…There’s no message coming out of here, there is no sense that the party has a sense of urgency, and we’ve only got four nights this is 25% of the whole thing.”

But, but James, it’s important for people to get to know the REAL Barack.  Besides, Democracy is so 90s. 

Dealmaking and drama lead up to Clinton speech – By SCOTT LINDLAW, Associated Press Writer

The Clinton and Obama camps agreed to limit Wednesday’s divisive nominating process for president, allowing some states to cast votes for both Obama and Clinton before ending the roll call in an acclamation for the Illinois senator.

In one scenario, Clinton herself would cut off the voting and urge the unanimous nomination of Obama, according to Democratic officials involved in the negotiations. They discussed the deal on condition of anonymity while final details were being worked out.

But some Clinton delegates said they were not interested in a compromise, raising the prospect of floor demonstrations that would underscore the split between Obama and Clinton Democrats.

“I don’t care what she says,” said Mary Boergers, a Maryland delegate who wants to cast a vote for Clinton.

“There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that this is Barack Obama‘s convention,” Clinton told reporters. And yet, she said, some of her delegates “feel an obligation to the people who sent them here” and would vote for her.

As part of the deal, Obama and Clinton activists teamed up and circulated three petitions on the convention floor Monday night — supporting Clinton, Obama and his running mate, Joe Biden. Each needed 300 signatures.

Clinton said she wouldn’t tell her backers how to vote, but she told them she would cast her own vote for Obama. “We were not all on the same side as Democrats, but we are now,” she said.

The lineup for the second day of the convention features 11 governors and prominent House and Senate leaders. The convention’s keynote address will be given by former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, a former supporter of Hillary Clinton‘s.

James, you didn’t get the memo?  The message is “destroy all things Clinton.”  So what if she won the popular vote with 18 million votes and was the candidate that won the most votes in primary history.  Hogwash!  She needs to go to the back of the line and make room for Gov. Mark Warner!  But what is the presumptive presumptuous Preciouzzz doing to smooth any differences?

Obama has taken the minimum public steps necessary to accommodate the Clintons, including giving them prime-time speaking spots. 

But he has taken few of the extra steps that Clinton allies say would have gone miles toward fostering goodwill.

He did not work hard to help her retire her $24 million campaign debt.

He did not make a high-profile statement repudiating any suggestion that Bill Clinton played “the race card” in the nomination contest — an allegation that the former president considers grossly unfair and that continues to infuriate him.

Just as significant, Obama has maintained a certain cool diffidence toward the former president. They spoke by phone last week. But for weeks before that, associates said, Clinton had heard nothing and did not even know when he would be speaking at the convention. The Obama campaign’s only communication was a form letter sent to all delegates.

Clinton loves to offer advice to fellow Democrats. But even in their conversations, Clinton friends say, Obama shows little deference or signs that he thinks Clinton, the only Democrat since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win two terms, has any special wisdom to offer.

“There is a lot Obama could have done to unify the party, and basically he hasn’t lifted a finger,” said one Democratic operative who is close to the Clinton team.

Do you think that the press is finally getting it? 

¡Que viva los PUMAs! (Long live PUMAs!)

When Democracy returns to the Democratic party, so will we. Until then, PUMA!

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.

Here’s a snippet from the New York Observer:

Clinton’s Wishes Don’t Spoil PUMA’s Fun –by Jason 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.

What happened on May 31st, 2008 was a crime against Democracy.  4 delegates and 600,000 votes were STOLEN in order to cushion Obama’s popular vote and delegate pile.   Had Obama won fair and square, if he had a popular vote lead (which Hillary does and Obama doesn’t)  and had won his delegates without the caucus fraud and DNC/RBC fiasco on May 31st, we’d be a united party. 

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

 

As Carol Diamonds says: PUMA HAKA!

¡Que viva los PUMAs!  (Long live PUMAs!)

Talk to the hand ’cause the DNC don’t understand

Talk to the hand cuz the face don't understand!

Despite Obama having an endorsement lead, the RBC/DNC and Obama campaign still have yet to give back those 4 Hillary delegates from Michigan, plus 600,000 “uncommitted” votes which violates the DNC’s rule of “Fair Reflection.”  If anyone has any news on the extra 4 MI delegates the RBC took from Hillary, please post it in the comments and I’ll update this post.

Here’s how AP is reporting it:

Dems give Michigan and Florida full voting rights

By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 7 minutes ago

DENVER – Democratic delegates from Michigan and Florida were awarded full voting rights at the national convention Sunday, despite holding early primaries against party rules.

The convention credentials committee voted unanimously to restore the voting privileges at the behest of Barack Obama, the party’s presumptive nominee for president. The states were initially stripped of delegates for holding primaries before Feb. 5. The party’s rules committee restored the delegates in May, but gave them only half votes.

Democrats hope the gesture will strengthen their standing in two important battleground states while ending a contentious chapter of the nominating process.

“The only way we will be successful is if we are unified as a party and all Democrats know we are full partners,” said Chris Edley Jr., a committee member from California who introduced the resolution to restore Florida’s votes.

The party’s move raises questions about whether it will be able to control its primary calendar in the future. A commission will work on the issue over the next two years.

Representatives from Florida and Michigan said they were penalized enough. None of the major candidates campaigned in the states before the primaries, and the delegates’ votes weren’t restored until after the nomination was decided.

“We realize that mistakes have been made, but we’re excited in Florida,” said Scott Maddox, a former Florida Democratic chairman and a member of the credentials committee. “We have suffered enough.”

Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan called Sunday’s vote “a victory for change in the system.”

Levin has been working to challenge the early voting status of Iowa and New Hampshire.

“We had the guts to take the system on, and we made progress this year,” he said.

Obama’s former Democratic rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton, won both primaries. Obama’s name was not on the Michigan ballot and neither candidate campaigned in Florida.

Some of Clinton’s supporters were outraged that the delegates were not fully reinstated in May. They were also angry that Obama claimed some of the delegates won by Clinton in Michigan.

Obama clinched the Democratic nomination June 3 and he has been working to win over Clinton’s supporters ever since.

The credentials committee’s work is expected to win ratification by the whole convention Monday.

Florida has 211 delegates, including superdelegates, and Michigan has 157. Both states are expected to be battlegrounds in the November election.

Restoring their voting rights increases the total number of delegate votes at the convention to 4,419. It will take 2,210 delegates to win the nomination.

Obama ended the primaries with a 365-delegate lead over Clinton. Reinstating the Florida and Michigan delegates will not affect that lead because Obama has more endorsements from the states’ superdelegates.

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.

What happened on May 31st, 2008 was a crime against Democracy.  4 delegates and 600,000 votes were STOLEN in order to cushion Obama’s popular vote and delegate pile.   Had Obama won fair and square, if he had a popular vote lead (which Hillary does and Obama doesn’t)  and had won his delegates without the caucus fraud and DNC/RBC fiasco on May 31st, we’d be a united party. 

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.

As Carol Diamonds says: PUMA HAKA!

¡Que viva los PUMAs!  (Long live PUMAs!)

PS: Gary & Mawm updates coming soon!  PUMAMobile is somewhere near Kansas.

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

 

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!)

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!)

Superdelegates also work the oldest profession in the world

UPDATE:  Internet Radio Show Site:  www.plainsradio.com – Listener call in numbers:  888-447-0270   or   806-447-0270 – Will be guests on an internet radio show TONIGHT, Mon 8/18/08, 8pm-10pm Eastern Time.
* POCPUMA.com* NativeAmericansAgainstObama.com* PUMALatinos.com

Democracy, Schmocracy, turning tricks at the Convention is where the money’s at, especially if your john is Madame Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, video courtesy of Dr. Lynette Long & Geeklove:

Awww, don’t you feel for these SuperDelegates, though?  They really think Barack Obama is going to “Pretty Woman” them and drive off in a limo straight to the White House.  After they sold out their constituencies’ votes, SuperDelegates are certain that Obama’s going to marry them with DNC funds for down ticket elections.  Hey SuperSweeties, if you really think that Obama’s Chicago-based DNC will help you fund many of your November re-election campaigns, I got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.   PUMA Priestess Alegre at Alegre’s Corner has the scoop, plus ACTION ITEMS.  Democracy should not be replaced by “Quid-pro-quo-ocracy.”

Another action item: WIll Bower, PUMA Chieftan Supreme issued his PUMA Prowl at the suggestion of the fabulous Heidi Li Feldman from The Denver Group and Heidi Li’s Potpourri:

Yes, we’ve been told that Hillary’s name will be placed into nomination…but now we need to help make sure that that actually happens… and that it MATTERS !! 

First, we need to let Hillary know (in a heartfelt and respectful manner) that we want her to retain her delegates… and that we do *not* want her to discourage them from voting for her!: 

http://www.hillpac.com/action/issues/?sc=2498&utm_source=2498&utm_medium=e

Next, we need to contact Phil McNamara (Director of Party Affairs and Delegate Selection) and (respectfully but firmly) “ask” that the delegate voting process be a *fair* and *legitimate* one!:

http://www.demconvention.com/ask-phil

Finally, for more information on these matters, please read Heidi Li Feldman’s latest articles at: /http://heidilipotpourri.blogspot.com

For those staying put during the Demagogue, oops, I mean Democratic Convention, our PUMA Infantry Co-Commanding Cat-Wrangling duo, Gary & Mawm, still need help filling up the PUMAmobile!  Click on Gary & Mawm’s PUMAmobile below to donate to the G & M Excellent Adventure fuel fund – or click HERE. 

 

The next week is going to be filled with activity, every Just Say No Dealer is working furiously to PUMAtize Denver.  Please keep up with the PUMA Prowls at PUMAPac and Just Say No Deal.  

¡Que viva los PUMAs!

(Long live PUMAs!)