Florida, Michigan delegates will get half-votes

Justice prevails and now that Hillary has stirred the pot up enough to get a raise out of her supporters, I'm sure the DNC meeting will be one of the worst in history.

Way to go Hillary, you sure know how to unify a Party, and to think she wants to produce this kind of chaos as a leader of the free world...

I don't think so.

Honestly the DNC can't pull this off and fully seat both states without looking weak and loosing it's election credibility. The best solution I can think of is to have a proposal that enables 1/2 of the delegates from each state to be seated, and in turn award those delegates on a 3/5ths ratio in favor of Hillary. That proposal would then be ratified as fair and acceptable by both candidates so that the integrity and fairness of the DNC elections process can remain intact.

This works for two big reasons. First, the states get partial seating but are still penalized for their failure to follow the rules, which keeps a fair amount of bite to go with the DNC's bark. Secondly, the delegate awards reflect a mostly accurate skew towards Hillary's wins there but without being totally lopsided against Obama who followed the DNC processes to the letter, and though Hillary would gain a few delegates on him it would be no-where near enough to take away his substantial lead and put his candidacy in any more realistic jeapordy than it is now.

The result would seat some delegates, but not all, and in mostly favor of Hillary, but not overwhelmingly. The only downside is that it's unfair to Obama who played utterly by the rules, but since the numbers are telling us that he's going to take the nomination anyway this offers him the chance to shore up the democratic divide in a way that Hillary seems unwilling to do, and I believe it would gain him huge favor with those two states... not to mention it just looks good for him.

In short, this would give those states some delegates while minimizing the impact of those rogue elections against the current election results, at least enough that it doesn't tilt the results out of skew.

What a mess.

I can't understand or endorse changing the rules in the middle of the game. Michigan and Florida knew the consequences and accepted them when they changed the dates of their primaries. The punishment should stand as originally stated. My article on the matter can be found here.

JUST FOOD FOR THOUGHT ...

This is an EXCERPT from a very insightful Newsweek Article dating back to March. Title:
"A Redux Convention for Lady of the House (Pelosi)"

Party squabbles parallel '84 for Democratic convention's lady of the House
_________________________________________________________________

The FL/MI and Superdelegate never-ending saga ...

After reading the article, I knew exactly why our Party was subjected to the "Florida/Michigan fiasco" and "Superdelegate Scandal." Wow! Talk about Déjà vu ...
Here's the Newsweek excerpt:
__________________________________________________________________

"... In advance of the 1984 convention, it fell to Pelosi to take a hard line against New Hampshire and Iowa as they threatened to---and then did---schedule their contests earlier than party rules allowed ..."

Let's fast forward a bit to the bottom line:

" ... Mondale came into the convention without enough pledged delegates to secure the nomination, although he had many more than rival Sen. Gary Hart and was ahead in the popular vote. After the voting was all over, the support of superdelegates--who Mondale courted early as Clinton has during this race gave him the edge. ...

... Superdelegates are poised to play an even more defining role in this year's contest, with Clinton and Obama much closer in the delegate and popular vote count ..."
_______________________________________________________________________

My comment/opinion:

NOW I KNOW WHY FLORIDA/MICHIGAN and THE SUPERDELEGATES ARE SO IMPORTANT TO HILL & CO. Is SHE this election years Mondale?
This Superdelegate Showdown seems like it was setup WAY IN ADVANCE huh? Wow! I just hope that that Rules and Bylaws Committee sees right through all the shenanigans that are apparently still goin' on.

May God help the DNC Committee with this very important, historical, decision. Our Party has been torn to pieces over this and we need to put this behind us once and for all. P.S. Obviously, HRC didn't follow the '84 script word-for-word, nor is she in the exact same position that Mondale was in at this particular point, but it sure seems like her camp is still trying to pull off a similar plot.

Personally, I think Obama won our Primary fair and square. Nonetheless, I know that there are countless Hillary supporters that feel differently. And I respect that. I just hope and pray that we can all come together after this mess is dealt with come tomorrow.

God Bless America!

A. Why is everyone blaming Barack Obama for any of this? He played by the rules, that were agreed beforehand by all the candidates which was, if any state moves their primary out of the rules, they WILL BE PUNISHED. In fact, the Rules Committee, dominated by Clinton supporters and backers, adopted that rule! before all of this started. Why cry now because the same rules are against CLinton?
B. Why aren't the Florida and Michigan voters lining up against the state legislators who put them in this situation? It would seem to me their anger should be at their state legislators, not the DNC or especially not Barack Obama. He had nothing to do with it and HE WAS PLAYING BY THE RULES! Isn't that one of the things we Americans profess to stand for - play by the rules?
C. How are FL and MI votes not being counted? The voters who voted have their votes counted in full! But these voters are forgetting that they were not voting in a one person one vote election. They were voting in an election to pick delegates who would have certain voting rights subject to the election rules of the party, and yes, subject to any punishment for breaking those rules. By the compromise yesterday, the voters have had the votes counted in full but subject to the agreement that the voting ability of their delegation would be subject to any penalties for any infractions. All 50 states, including MI and FL, agreed to this beforehand and so were their voters. How are they being disenfranchised by this compromise?
D. All you people talking about one person one vote, what about the people who stayed home and did not vote precisely for following the rules i.e. the rules that the contravening primaries will not count and so no need to go vote. They stayed home. What about their right to vote? Why aren't all these CLinton supporters and the Clintons crying for them? Why aren't the Clintons calling for punishment of the state legislators precisely for suppressing these votes?
E. Does anyone really think if the situation was reversed, the Clintons would be calling for all this activity?
G. People forget the compromises reached yesterday was exactly what the MI and FL state delegations asked for. So, the representatives of these same FL and MI voters crying disenfranchisement have decided a course action they think is in the best interest of their constituents at this moment in time. Why is that disenfranchisement?
H. The entitlement of FL and MI Clinton voters is nauseating. They defied the rules and went and voted, knowing fully well that there will be consequences, and when the hammer falls, they cry foul!
I. For all you democrats talking about third party, staying home, voting for McCain, this is precisely why we have had 8 years of Bush/McCain policies. J. One thing you Clintonites need to realize (and I am a big Bill Clinton fan, used to be a big Hillary Clinton supporter but now hate her guts), is that Obama took on a former first lady/sitting Senator, a very popular former President, candidates with great name recognition, candidates with 10-20 years of democratic party machine behind them, a former VP Presidential candidate and beat them all. In addition, while he is beating back the clintons these past two months, all at the same time Obama has had to deal with the Republicans national committee, McCain campaign, TN republicans, an increasingly hostile media (hostile not because they dislike Obama but because they have a financial interest to see the democratic party race go on for months), right wing talking heads and a FOX News Network dedicated to bringing him down. But guess what, he is not only holding his own or beating them all. If that does not make you democrats proud of Obama and realize his skill then you have your head in the sand.
K. Obama is the only candidate whose campaign has a surplus. Not McCain, not Hillary. Think about that. Hillary's campaign is actually 20 million in debt - this from a candidate who was already crowned the President before the whole thing started. Now she is 20 million in debt. McCain was so broke he had to break his own campaign finance law to use his wife's company's jets for his campaign. McCain and Clinton's campaigns have been beset by staff problems. So, for all you democrats out there who are @!$%#ing at Obama, think about this. If a no-name junior politician can run such a campaign both in terms of financing and staffing while the so-called "experienced" candidates are running campaigns with debt and staff problems, who do you trust to run the country better? These same experienced candidats who, when tested in terms of campaign organization, ran huge deficits and staff upheavals? And you trust them to run the country just like they ran their campaigns? Give Obama his due!
L. Let's say Clinton is nominated...what exactly would be her experience arguments against McCain? That she is better experienced in Washington than McCain? That she had better judgment in Iraq than McCain? Think about that? Obama, unlike Clinton, has a stark contrast to McCain and has the superior positions. N. For all you democrats @!$%#ing and moaning about staying home, or voting for McCain, or blaming s Obama etc, keep in mind that the next President will appoint at least 3 Supreme Court justices. So, enjoy your McCain vote when the right to choose is gone (as McCain said he would take away), when more Americans are dead and maimed in Iraq and probably Iran, when your freedoms are taken away even further by this hawkish President, when the same corruption continues in Washington since McCain is being surrounded by the same unethical lobbyists and Bush cronies like Karl Rove. Enjoy your protest vote when Karl Rove shows up again pulling the strings. Enjoy!!!!!
O. For all you Clinton supporters saying you will vote for McCain, here is the truth about the McCain that you all are clamoring to vote for:

Yes, McCain was and is a war hero 30 years or so ago (just like John Kerry was), and no one should do to him about his war time service what the Republicans did to John Kerry (the swiftboard veterans) or to Senator Max Cleland (who lost both arms and legs in Vietnam but was still called unpatriotic by Republicans who did not even bother to go to Vitenam like Cheney).

But, since entering politics after Vietnam, McCain has been one of the worst this country has to offer in politics. Things you should know about John McCain:

1. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has "evolved," yet he's continued to oppose key civil rights laws.
2. According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain "will make Cheney look like Gandhi."
3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.
4. McCain opposes a woman's right to choose. He said, "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned."
5. The Children's Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children's health care bill last year, then defended Bush's veto of the bill.
6. He's one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a "second job" and skip their vacations.
7. Many of McCain's fellow Republican senators say he's too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He's erratic. He's hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."
8. McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.
9. McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his "spiritual guide," Rod Parsley, believes America's founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a "false religion." McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church "the Antichrist" and a "false cult."
10. He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0—yes, zero—from the League of Conservation Voters last year.
11. Nobody has gotten a bigger free pass than mccain. maybe because the republican primary has been over for months. but there is more corruption in his past than there is in bill clinton's. and that's saying something!
12. McCain has a pretty poor voting record in the senate. mccain has second worst and obama 4th worst for 110th congress. this can be blamed on running for president but mccain was worse.
13. McCain was part of the keating 5, one of the worst scandals in politics.
14. McCain hhas had major relationships with lobbyists, free trips and votes on behalf of them, not just running his campaign but getting his votes.
15. If michelle obama is open game so should mccain's wive's, plural. the reason his first arriage ended was because he was unfaithful to her. this is fact in the divorce papers. 16. Squeeky clean Cindy McCain could have had a criminal record had it not been for a deal with the department of justice. she became addicted to pain pills and was caught stealing them from a medical charity she set up. 17. McCain's involvement with Keating 5 should have gotten him time in jail and at the very least booted out of the senate. instead the Republican Senate leadership only opted to censure him and cover it up..
18. McCain is one of the biggest flip floppers in the Senate: a. He was against the King birthday but now he is for it; b. he thought rightwing preachers were hate mongers but then he decided to seek their endorsement to win the republican nomination and then promptly threw them under the bus in the general election; c. he thought Jerry Falwell was a merchant of hate but then was the first to go speak at his University and receive an honorary degree; d. Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) new-found opposition to Roe v. Wade is rather remarkable, even for him. In 1999, McCain was in New Hampshire, campaigning for the GOP nomination as a moderate. He proclaimed himself a pro-life candidate, but told reporters that "in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade." He explained that overturning Roe would force "women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations." Yesterday, campaigning for the GOP nomination as a conservative, McCain said the opposite.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Let me ask one question about abortion. Then I want to turn to Iraq. You're for a constitutional amendment banning abortion, with some exceptions for life and rape and incest.
MCCAIN: Rape, incest and the life of the mother. Yes.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So is President Bush, yet that hasn't advanced in the six years he's been in office. What are you going to do to advance a constitutional amendment that President Bush hasn't done?
MCCAIN: I don't think a constitutional amendment is probably going to take place, but I do believe that it's very likely or possible that the Supreme Court should — could overturn Roe v. Wade, which would then return these decisions to the states, which I support…. Just as I believe that the issue of gay marriage should be decided by the states, so do I believe that we would be better off by having Roe v. Wade return to the states.
The old McCain didn't want an amendment and didn't want Roe overturned. The new McCain completely disagrees with the old McCain. e. McCain criticized TV preacher Jerry Falwell as "an agent of intolerance" in 2002, but has since decided to cozy up to the man who said Americans "deserved" the 9/11 attacks. (Indeed, McCain has now hired Falwell's debate coach.) f. McCain used to oppose Bush's tax cuts for the very wealthy, but he reversed course in February. g. In 2000, McCain accused Texas businessmen Sam and Charles Wyly of being corrupt, spending "dirty money" to help finance Bush's presidential campaign. McCain not only filed a complaint against the Wylys for allegedly violating campaign finance law, he also lashed out at them publicly. In April, McCain reached out to the Wylys for support. h. McCain supported a major campaign-finance reform measure that bore his name. In June, he abandoned his own legislation. i. McCain used to think that Grover Norquist was a crook and a corrupt shill for dictators. Then McCain got serious about running for president and began to reconcile with Norquist. j. McCain took a firm line in opposition to torture, and then caved to White House demands. k. McCain gave up on his signature policy issue, campaign-finance reform, and won't back the same provision he sponsored just a couple of years ago. l. McCain was against presidential candidates campaigning at Bob Jones University before he was for it. m. McCain was anti-ethanol. Now he's pro-ethanol. n. McCain was both for and against state promotion of the Confederate flag. o. McCain wanted to allow tax paying illegals to get path to citizenship. Then to appease Republicans, he promptly changed his mind and wants border control wall built. p. This week alone, McCain now supports upholding the law against the criminals at AT&T, et al (telecommunication immunity act). this is in opposition to the administration line that "if we don't grant them immunity, they won't break the law next time we ask them to". He remained silent when Bush was holding the line that AT&T employees etc. should be immune from liability for illegal wiretapping - now, in the general election, he favors not granting immunity.
19. McCain has been one of the sleaziest politicians in Washington. Don't even get started about the Keating 5 scandal. On top of that, his own bill banned free air travel by senators from corporations but carved an exemption for himself to use his wife's company's corporate jets; he is so bent on cleaning up government but his own campaign managers and officials such as Charles Black are/were at the same time active lobbyists for dictators such as Jonas Savimbi (Angola), Marcos (Phillipines), Siab Barre (somalia), Mobutu, saudi arabia etc etc; Phil Gramm, yes, the same Phil Gramm who was the Senator whose "deregulation" caused the housing mortgage crisis, is a McCain co-chair lobbyist who was being paid to lobby Congress about the housing crisis on behalf of a Swiss Bank while at the same time shaping McCain's economic and housing policy.
20. McCain is being advised by the same people and team that gave us Bush, Iraq war, Katrina etc., including Karl Rove. Does that not say it all?
21. Until 2006 when they were ousted, McCain and the Republicans led the house and the Senate with McCain a committe chairman. If McCain was so concerned about the prosecution of the war in Iraq, why did he not convene hearings on the issue? 22. Now McCain wants to make the Bush tax cuts permanent. But in 2003 Bush sold us that the tax cuts would create wealth and jobs and advance the economy. With the tax cuts in place, we are now headed into or already in a recession 5 years later. So, why is McCain giving us the same failed Bush prescription for the economy? if the tax cuts did not work 5 years ago, why should they work now?
23. McCain is critisizing Obama for wanting to talk to foreign leaders we don't like but has never explained what is wrong with that. How does McCain explain why Bush administration is presently talking to Iran and North Korea while McCain is critisizing talking to these same countries. 24. McCain has been in Washington for almost 28 years and does have experience in Washington. But isn't that precisely the problem - he has the expereince that has taken this country down the tubes especially in the past 8 years sinceMcCain has been a leader in Washington? Why should he be made President to do the same thing over again? The saying is: stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. Isn't it time for him to step aside and let's try something else?
25. McCain says Obama has no experience (after 6 years in the Illinois Senate and 3 in the US Senate). But, remember: a. The job of the President of the United States, as the last remaining democratic superpower, is truly unique. There is no prior job that can prepare anyone for it. The only person who has experience to be United States President is a President running for reelection. Otherwise, no person has "experience" to be President. b. Some of the most politically experienced people who became President have the worst records as President and no one remembers them. To the contrary, some of the most reverred US Presidents had little or no experience whatsoever (Lincoln, Kennedy, Roosevelt etc.). In fact, Roosevelt actually had no experience at all. So, take any talk of experience with a grain of salt.
Obama and Clinton supporters who say they would not vote for the other should their candidate lose, please rethink. Do you want John McCain as President? Think carefully please and support the Democrat winner. Please. Don't be fooled by this so-called "maverick" McCain - he is a very very conservative flipflopping wolf in sheep's clothing!