Penny for My Thoughts

When I'm not singing the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" to myself on a run, I'm gnashing my teeth about the fracas between the DNC and the delegations from Michigan and Florida, among other political ruminations. Sadly, that's the proper frame for this fight. The Party vs. the people. Make no mistake about it. The DNC screwed it up in the first place and the DNC has had the power all along to make this right. It's stated quite plainly in its rules.

Misinformation is a dangerous weapon. I opined in a recent entry about democracy with a capital D. Picking up on that thought, I'd like to know why that august body's rules committee chose to punish these two states by stripping all the delegates rather than just forfeiting 50% of the delegates as stated in the rules. It's beyond understanding. Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina all moved their primary dates up in violation of the rules, but were not punished. Why the double standard? Who exactly is the DNC teaching a lesson?

If you haven't already done the homework assigned in a previous posting, now's the time to read Wayne Barrett's article. As Mr. Barrett of The Village Voice fame points out, one of the compelling reasons the Democrats in the Republican-dominated Florida legislature supported a bill that moved the state's primary earlier than February 5 is because the bill included a reform that would make a paper trail mandatory for all votes cast in future elections. That's just one nugget in an article full of useful information about cynical Republican skullduggery and the DNC's selective and inconsistent application of its own rules.

Since the DNC's draconian actions and the subsequent wrangling over it, the canards, red herrings and baloney have been flying nonstop. What really frosts my ass is when someone wags their finger at Hillary as if she is playing fast and loose with the rules. Oh how they cry about how she's going to steal the election. She's trying to change the rules! She'll do anything to win! Oh really? The nonsense that gets trotted out to justify denying 1.7 million Democratic party voters their say is galling. Clinton worked with both states to find solutions within the state's and party's rules to get those votes counted. Obama blocked all efforts. I cannot understand how he can make claims to practicing a new style of politics when he went out of his way to undermine the process.

"Rules are rules." Yes they are. So let's read them and apply them, shall we?

I feel compelled to send along something I was sent regarding the DNC rules. Turns out those rules provide for seating the delegations from Florida and Michigan. This piece is written in an easy true and false format so your eyes won't glaze over if you have any interest at all in this donnybrook from hell.

You can read the full text here: Talking Points Memo: Rules provide for the Florida and Michigan delegations to be
seated

If you care to dig deeper and actually read all of the rules, this link will take you to a page from the Democratic National Committee web site with a PDF of the rules. Click on the fifth link to get to the following PDF:
www.democrats.org/page/-/pdf/DelegateSelectionRules.pdf

Before you jump away from this posting in fear of what follows, I urge everyone to contact the DNC directly and express your concerns and outrage. Demands that we just stop in-fighting and just pick a winner already is undemocratic and truly disheartening. Why bother with the 50 primaries if we want the race decided by March at the latest? What have the party leaders been doing? Further undermining the process by banging the drum for the naming of "the winner" so that they can start begging for money to fight in the general election. In the name of unity, they want to close down the elections. It's sick.

The whole process requires a major overhaul. In the short-term, the DNC's various committees need to apply the rules fairly and devise a path forward that does not disenfranchise millions of voters in Florida, Michigan and others in the general election. Call the DNC at 202 863 8000. Write to democraticparty@democrats.org. Howard Dean's direct number is 202 863 8125 or write to him at dean@dnc.org.

Here's the introduction to the memo referenced above:

Currently the race for pledged delegates is so split that neither candidate will receive the 50% plus 1 delegates they need to seal their nomination before the Convention. Obama now wants to set the rules and insists that the DNC must refuse to seat Florida and Michigan's delegates, even though DNC Rules clearly provide remedies to include them. His arguments are not based in the rules and are not in the interest of democracy or the Democratic Party, but only in the fact that those delegates reflect a greater nationwide preference for Hillary Clinton.

Senator Obama and his surrogates, including MoveOn.org, are waging a public relations battle to pressure the DNC to refuse credentials to the Michigan and Florida delegations for the Democratic National Convention. Their message consists of misrepresentations and lies about the DNC rules concerning these states. Unfortunately most news outlets and commentators are repeating this misinformation without ever
checking the Obama campaign's claims for accuracy against the actual DNC rules.
It is critical that every one of us combat this misinformation. There has been much discussion recently about the will of the voters. We can't accurately determine which candidate has the greatest support amongst primary voters if we disregard the preference of 1.5 million voters in Florida while giving outsize weight to the 250,000 who caucused in Iowa, and even more outsize influence to the mere 20,000 people
who participated in the Democrats Abroad contest. Senator Clinton won decisive victories in both Florida and Michigan in January and is entitled to the delegates she won from those states. In the tight race for delegates, Florida and Michigan could decide who will be the Democratic nominee for president.

Regardless of who wins the nomination, it is important that the victory be based in the rules. If the nominee's victory is perceived to be based on false information or rules violations, the Party will be divided going into November. We can't afford such a scenario.

Please correct all misstatements and cite the actual sections of the Rules where applicable. Also direct the person repeating the misinformation to the actual DNC Delegate Selection Rules posted online.

But I digress....