Dirty Words and How They Feel On Clean Skin
When I awoke the morning of June 4, 2008, I thought I would be bitterly disappointed. After all, the nominating contest between Senators Clinton and Obama had been decided the night before by a march of cowardly Super Delegates, bowing to pressure from the party leadership to forcibly shut down the process. Surely I would be furious or curled up in the fetal position crying my eyes out. That would be only natural since I worked harder for Hillary than I had for any presidential candidate – ever.
Did I want her to win so badly because she is a woman? No. Did I want her to win because she is an eminently qualified woman with a spine of steel, one who offers bold, progressive policies, is ever prepared, energetic, a worker bee and a visionary who is willing to roll up her sleeves to get the job done? Yes.
She’s my candidate.
The truth is I was relieved the morning of June 4th, even serene. I thought, since the race has been declared over, at least she won’t get flogged today. For the first time in six months, I wouldn’t have to watch, or avoid watching, the frat-boy media hit squad trash her mercilessly, simply because they knew they could get away with it. With very rare exception, no one, save her own husband, stood up to declare anything was wrong with that disgraceful practice.
But I was wrong in my assessment that the honor killing, the gang attacks and unforgivable disrespect to a sitting United States Senator were over. Pundits were wringing their hands, alternately furious and mystified as to why Hillary hadn’t just collapsed to the floor in a puddle the night before. Why hadn’t she gotten out of the way of the DNC power elite’s chosen messiah so he could have his historic moment on the stage to claim his crown?
Her historic moment was completely ignored.
Suddenly everyone wanted to kick Hillary off the stage. Actually, it was not sudden. The Democratic elites and misogynist male media, along with hopeless females like Andrea Mitchell and Maureen Dowd, who bond with their male offenders, either out of a need for self preservation, jealousy or self-loathing, had been trying to get rid of Hillary since before the New Hampshire primary in January. They rubbed their hands together gleefully after Iowa, waiting for her to be declared dead. Then she won – and kept winning.
Ironic that Hillary convincingly won two out of three primaries even in the last week of the contest. She did this with a false Associated Press story being released early Tuesday morning reporting she had already conceded – while voters were just going to the polls in South Dakota and Montana. Yet these media blowhards were telling us she hadn’t even earned a moment to celebrate her victories with her supporters who had been working for her faithfully for sixteen months. None of us, male or female, could contain our rage at this last stroke of disrespect. How politically idiotic, never mind thoughtless, that Senator Obama couldn’t wait one more day to have the news cycle to himself. Why ignore her? Why ignore the millions of voters whose help he would need to win the election in the fall?
The DNC, suffering from Clinton Derangement Syndrome, cannot understand why we hold her in such esteem and want her to lead us. Certainly we cannot understand why she would be tossed out like so much garbage. I have seen many women treated this way in my lifetime and been on the receiving end of some of this myself. The hurt is not lessened by time or age.
Senator Clinton’s candidacy is just as historic as his. Why is this never spoken of?
She is not only the first woman to ever win a primary, she won the votes of 18,000,000 people, more than any primary candidate in history. She won almost every large state, all the swing states and arguably had the electoral map in her pocket, yet the berating, belittling drumbeat grew ever louder for her to just sit down and shut up like a good little girl and get out of the way.
Hillary, will you for the love of God just get out of the way? Your success is but a mere inconvenience. And your 18,000,000 voters should sit down and shut up, too. Just pretend you didn’t notice that fair reflection and democracy were thrown out the window. Just pretend you didn’t notice that the far stronger candidate was kicked to the curb. Just shut up and sit down, will you, for the good of the party.
Perhaps you think I have taken this campaign too personally. Well, what is the correct response then, watching grown men, who presumably have wives, daughters, sisters and mothers, making comments about Hillary such as “it cries,” or the collection of quotations I will never be able to get out of my head:
A Super Delegate needs to take her into a room and only he comes out, that kind of scenario. (Olbermann) The only reason she was elected to the Senate is that people felt sorry for her because of her husband. (Matthews) When she is on camera, I involuntarily cross my legs. (Carlson) Doesn’t it seem like the Clinton’s are pimping their daughter Chelsea out in some weird way? (Shuster) We don’t want to have to watch a woman grow old in the White House. (Limbaugh) If she had any dignity, she’d just bow out. (Alter) Some women deserve to be called bitches. She’s Alex Forrest in “Fatal Attraction.” She sounds like your nagging mother-in-law. She’s like your ex-wife waiting for her alimony check on the courthouse steps. She-Devil. The psycho ex-girlfriend of the Democratic party. What does she want anyway? She has unpleasant ankles. That cackle!
And my all-time favorite: Someone needs to take her out behind the barn.
Even more unforgivable to the media it seems, is that she would actually stand before voters on flatbed trucks and in town halls across America and offer specific policy solutions. Why couldn’t Hillary understand this was not nearly as important as the myriad comments we had to endure about her pantsuits?
I remember waking up early in the morning of each successive primary, terrified at what negative press the day would bring, how they would spin the exit polls, what awful things they would say. The day of the Pennsylvania primary, where she was outspent 3:1 yet still won by ten points, listening to Wolf Blitzer and company, you would have thought she was getting trounced to the tune of double digits.
But Senator Clinton was not the only one done dirty in this contest. Her voters bear the scars as well. We were and are called racist, bitter, Archie Bunkers, over the hill, uneducated, clueless, shoulder-pad feminists and sweeties and much worse. Wow. We were painted with the same dirty brush they used on her.
Lou Dobbs and Greta Van Susteren stand alone as journalists who reported fairly.
I watched my own mother receive daily abuse in our home, a non-stop barrage designed to make her feel small despite the fact that without her strong work ethic and fortitude, we would have all been out in the street. Perhaps that’s why it was harder for me to witness a more qualified woman be figuratively defecated on in favor of an affable younger shape shifter with no discernable experience. Hillary Clinton actually won this contest by any reasonable metric and yet was declared the loser.
It is cold comfort at this moment, but I am heartened by the fact that millions of women and progressive men in this country are outraged that the stronger candidate was treated like the scullery maid, an inconvenience who should be brought to heel so she could drag this particular man’s inexperienced, unqualified behind across the finish line. Senator Obama was certainly limping to that line and if not for the mercy of the Super Delegates, he would not be able to claim the nomination even today. But for their weakness and lack of good judgment, this contest would, and should, be decided at the Convention. With everything in my power, I work to make sure that is still a possibility. Remote or not. To those who wish me to abandon my principles in the name of a convenient party unity, I say no deal.
How can I reconcile what feels like an injustice on so many levels? Are we to be deprived of excellent leadership because it does not fit in with the DNC’s back room fix and the media’s cozy little narrative?
Most painful is that we were all fooled into thinking sexism was a thing of the past. We have discovered these last months just how false a notion that is.
What kind of a message are we sending to our daughters when we tell them, you can reach as high as you want – as long as you don’t reach that high. What are we teaching our sons when they watch how this woman was treated and see no punishment meted out for such behavior.
When you demean one woman, you demean us all. Surely if the racist equivalent had ever been leveled at Senator Obama, there would have been hell to pay and many of these self same pundits would now find themselves on the unemployment line.
On the night of her victory speech in Ohio, Hillary Clinton said, “For everyone who’s been counted out, but refused to be knocked out; for everyone who has stumbled and stood right back up; for everyone who works hard and never gives up — this one is for you!”
Hillary stood tall in the face of ridiculous odds and opposition, undeterred by attacks that never would have been leveled at any male candidate. She taught boys and girls everywhere to speak up for their beliefs, to fight on till the buzzer sounds. I will ignore voices that wish to take away her triumph. It was and is an amazing victory. Those who deny or diminish it, or turn a blind eye to the injustice of the outcome, do so to their eternal shame.
Hillary Clinton will always be my Joan of Arc in a pantsuit. I know she will continue to stand up and work for the ideals and causes that belong to all of us.
The men and women of this country deserve nothing less.
on July 28th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Many thanks to Ani for sharing such an eloquent post - I have no doubt many hireheelers can relate it powerful message…which reminded me why I continue to fight….
princess has no regrets — hillary has awakened the iron-jawed-angel in all of us
on July 28th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
it reminds me of why i fight every day against the male dominated society that says no you can’t. please…she lost, it was her fault. even diane admitted that on her lame display on fox.
don’t blame obama for hillary running a crappy campaign. hillary ran as a man, talked like man, ran away from being a women and so now you are bitter at obama? please come to your senses people. this was no conspiracy. she lost, she ran her well funded campaign into the ground.
on July 28th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
NO I don’t blame Obama but, the people who lost their value to the people who have been running this country for too long. Ruthless CEOs wring working people dry and the neocon ideologues in the White House, the House and the Senate. People that we voted with good conscious and good faith that they will do the right things has abondone the belief and agenda for their own.
As for Obama, he can go straight to hell for all I care!
on July 28th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
i’m just arguing with myself here for the most part. where are the millions of followers you people claim. I don’t see it.
rey, good luck finding whatever your looking for. you aint gonna find it with this group or any other country.
diane is out promoting herself and the fox network. shameless she is. watch out…besides this group, they are the next biggest backstabbers out there.
on July 28th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Nice job, ani.
The Clinton camp made some mistakes and the Obama camp made some smart moves, but those together still don’t add up to the explain away the treatment Clinton got at the hands of her own party officials and the mass media. Nobody talked about eliminating Obama and got away with a nod and encouragement from his media peers the way plenty of the big boys did when talking about Clinton. No Nixon-era button man created a 527 with the n-word as its acronym against Obama the way one did using the C-word against Clinton…much less got coverage on every @*$&%*#$&( network for it.
These trolls who want to deny that massive, pervasive sexism played a major factor in Hil getting the shaft must be from another planet. Or maybe they’ve just never had to face their own misogyny.
on July 28th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
hello…i live on the same planet where hillary clobbered obama in west virginia and kentucky. just like sexism played a role so did racism. you didn’t see obama bit*hing and moaning about it.
as everyone pointed out, she won all the “big states” and every other state that matters to you. but the chosen one still won twice as many states as her and kept the delegate lead. the sd just followed the will of the party.
she ran a crappy campaign and came off as a cold policy wonk. as soon as she changed her tune, the results followed. its not obama’s fault she figured that out too late.
on July 28th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
think what you like, I love women. I don’t have any qualms about voting for a women. I would have voted for hrc except I like the chosen one better.
on July 28th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
rey, good luck finding whatever your looking for. you aint gonna find it with this group or any other country.
*nod*…..it’s not perfect, although we ought to strived to be better rather than yield to the idea.
on July 28th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
the puma pounce is working!!!!!!!! this from HOT AIR:
Wow: McCain leads among likely voters in new Gallup poll; Update:
berlin bounce has “disappeared” says Rasmussen this morning on FOX…
You want disappearances? According to a Gallup tracking poll taken Friday through Sunday, i.e. after the “We Are the World” singalong in Berlin, Obama leads by eight among registered voters. But according to, er, another Gallup poll taken over the same period, Obama’s lead is only three — and he actually trails by four among likelies. Even better:
The Friday-Sunday poll, mostly conducted as Obama was returning from his much-publicized overseas trip and released just this hour, shows McCain now ahead 49%-45% among voters that Gallup believes are most likely to go to the polls in November. In late June, he was behind among likely voters, 50%-44%.…
on July 28th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
* yawn *
on July 28th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
Ani:
You get a hireheels kick-up! Thank you for penning such a powerful and poignant post. princess and i started hireheels for many of the reasons that you cited.
— scl
on July 28th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
you know why this site and its supporters are a joke? because if the sd would have voted for hrc instead of the chosen one, none of you would be crying about sexism, the media, and caucuses, and the the rules committee.
everything that you profess to be wrong with the system, you would have conveniently ignored if hillary were the nominee.
if its wrong when she lost, wouldn’t it be wrong if she won? fortunately this is hireheels fantasy land where reason doesn’t matter.
truth hurts, huh?
on July 28th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
hireheels - thanks for those poll numbers. … and the GREAT posts lately. your writing skill is just spectacular…
on July 28th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
If there are only two of us bitter voters, why do O supporters bother to come here and taunt us. Obviously, the chosen messiah will have no problem getting elected without us. Why expend the energy?
They doth protest too much methinks.
on July 28th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
can’t answer my question can you…
figures.
on July 28th, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Posted #12
because if the sd would have voted for hrc instead of the chosen one, none of you would be crying about sexism, the media, and caucuses, and the the rules committee.
Damned you are smart! Leaved the ladies alone, man. Their heart are in the right place despite if you agree with their choice or not it’s their right to choose to stand their ground, just as much as you stand with the choosen one.
on July 28th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
its not too late
miricales happen all the time
puma
on July 28th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
I just want to ask if Obama beat Hillary, why did the DNC give him 4 of Hillary’s delegates in Michigan? I am an angry Florida voter, upset with the statement “we will count all of the votes at the convention if it does not change the outcome!” What kind of double talk is that? I voted for Hillary because she is the most qualified, not because she is a woman. Donna Brazille and Ophra both have admitted that they voted for Obama because he is black. How bad is that? How disgusting is it that Obama uses being black, by saying that he looks different then what they are used to seeing from America while in Europe. this is the racism he has been subtly using all along. Hillary 2008!!
on July 28th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Ani, let this be the first of regular posts timed to rekindle the sense of judicious rejection of all we know to be spin….and to the rest of you; good job of staying on topic and not noticing the niusance that goes along with being a big dawg.
on July 28th, 2008 at 9:24 pm
looks like t-bones threaten by Hillary
probley could’nt handel a women president
and princessby in texas & we were icampaigned for her in texas she was outspent 4 to 1& we still won
I rember that night at the victory party it was awsome
it takes a real man to vote for a women
go hillary
on July 28th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Thank you for this site, and thank you ani for this well thought out message. My husband and I were both sickened by all of the unacceptable behavior surrounding this primary season. I had joined the party because of all that had occurred in 2000, and the demands that every vote be counted. Both of us have changed party affiliation because the words meant nothing, much like the empty words of the chosen one. Oh well empty words from an empty suit with no experience. no surprise. What does anyone see in lines like we are the ones we have been waiting for. Prove it, what have any of you done to show you will ever do anything. People who are going to accomplish something don’t stand around talking about it, they do it. The chosen one is 47 years old. he didn’t work before college, too busy smoking weed I suspect. His time in college is now being closed off from the public eye, oops, what are they hiding here? His accomplishments since seem to have strong ties to his wifes father to get a foot in the door of politics. The party wants us to vote for him simply because he is a democrat, yet cannot offer a record to show who he really is and what he would do. I am proud to be a puma, I say no deal. My vote is going to the person who has shown who he is and has put his life on the line for love of country. That man’s name is not Obama.
on July 28th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Ani, so true and beautifully written with heartfelt emotion. Thank you. The women in the media were often more vicious than the men. I agree; Greta did not participate. For so long, the media coverage was so brutal against Senator Clinton. Listening to the verbal attacks against her felt like being shot by a rifle fired in rapid succession. I felt as if I had been assaulted. As Ani said, “you demean one of us, you demean all of us.” Senator Clinton did not lose; and Senator Obama did not win.
on July 28th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
Boogie: Real men love Hillary.
on July 28th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
tbone: I notice a couple of things about your writing. You never say anything in defense of obama’s lack of experience, you usually make personal attacks on either one of the writers here or you make general attacks on clinton supporters, and when someone writes something of substance, you feign indifference (”yawn”) or mocking (”lol”, “lmao”, etc.).
Would you please tell me and for the benefits of others here, why you support Senator Obama?
on July 28th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
dose any body know why the DNC gave 4 dels to obama what was the dnc reason that.
what did they have to say for it.
on July 28th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
We celebrated the 160th anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention a couple weekends ago by dressing in period clothing and attending a large summer event here in our city. I was stunned and sickened by the number of obama supporters with whom I spoke who admitted they knew that the caucuses were terribly flawed/rigged and they didn’t care because it was more important to them that their candidate be nominated. I asked several if they were even a little concerned about ethics or what this means to future elections and they just shrugged and smiled. Same for the media’s obvious bias. It didn’t matter to them because it got obama where he is.
This is really bad news. If no group in our society; lawyers, accountants, judges, bankers, elected officials, doctors, nurses, atheletes, or voters, cares that we enter into our social contracts with integrity and that there is no standard of honesty, then we cannot know what justice.
Someone has filed a complaint with the organization in Illinois that oversees the state bar. It regards Barack Obama’s possible lying on his bar application about illicit drug use (well documented in his own published writing) as well as lying about the existence of unpaid parking violations (a decade old). Some will say that the parking tickets is absurd and shouldn’t be considered. Others will say that he wasn’t arrested for the drug use. What will be lost in these arguments is that he may have lied on the application and that is what is germain to the complaint. Lying. Just lying. You are not supposed to lie on the bar application regardless of what it is you are lying about. Think about that. If we allow obama to get away with lying in this way — in this most basic way — then we cannot do anything but smile and shrug to the rest of his lies.
on July 28th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
First, I’m not here to offend anyone or call anyone names. I truly understand the feeling when your candidate did not win. I felt that way when John Edwards dropped out so I do sympathize. However, I do want explore the question that was asked earlier in the blog which is “I just want to ask if Obama beat Hillary, why did the DNC give him 4 of Hillary’s delegates in Michigan? I was seriously considering voting for Hillary. My girlfriend wanted to vote for Obama. We both live in Mid-Michigan. When Michigan moved its primary voting date up, the DNC, Obama, Edwards, Richardson and yes Hillary Clinton told my state that our vote would not count. In fact, each of those candidates voluntarily signed the 4 states pledge that said that they would not campaign or participate (which means not putting your name on the ballot.). Clinton broke that pledge and put her name on the ballot. My girlfriend voted uncommitted and I didn’t vote at all because they said my vote would not count. I personally know my family members and friends that said they would vote for Obama but they could not and some voted uncommitted. My question is this, if you are so concerned about letting every vote count, then what about those that wanted to vote for their perceptive candidate? Hillary agreed with the DNC decision not to count Michigan and Fl. And after super Tuesday, she changed her mind. She broke her pledge her word in writing. And when things didn’t go her way, everyone wants to blame Obama. I just don’t get it. Help me understand.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/02/us/politics/02dems.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
on July 29th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Article:
By WILLIAM MARCH and ELAINE SILVESTRINI
The Tampa Tribune
Published: September 30, 2007
TAMPA - Barack Obama hinted during a Tampa fundraiser Sunday that if he’s the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, he’ll seat a Florida delegation at the party’s national convention, despite national party sanctions prohibiting it.
Obama also appeared to violate a pledge he and the other leading candidates took by holding a brief news conference outside the fundraiser. That was less than a day after the pledge took effect Saturday, and Obama is the first Democratic presidential candidate to visit Florida since then.
Obama and others have pledged not to campaign in Florida until the Jan. 29 primary except for fundraising, which is what he was doing in Tampa.
But after the fundraiser at the Hyde Park home of Tom and Linda Scarritt, Obama crossed the street to take half a dozen questions from reporters waiting there.
The pledge covers anything referred to in Democratic National Committee rules as “campaigning,” and those include “holding news conferences.”
Obama seemed unaware the pledge he signed prohibits news conferences. Asked whether he was violating it, he said, “I was just doing you guys a favor. … If that’s the case, then we won’t do it again.”
Frank Sanchez, a Tampa Obama supporter who helped organize the fundraiser, said the encounter illustrates the awkward situation the candidates have been put in by the controversy over the state’s Jan. 29 presidential primary.
That date - earlier than allowed by rules of both major political parties - has led to a threat of sanctions against both Florida Republicans and Democrats, and to the Democrats’ boycott pledge.
“This wasn’t planned,” Sanchez said of the brief press availability. “He was going to the car, and he just went across the street for a moment.”
According to Sanchez and Tom Scarritt, Obama was asked during the event about making sure Floridians have a role in the nomination, despite the DNC sanctions and the pledge. Scarritt said Obama responded that he’ll “do what’s right by Florida voters.”
The DNC has threatened to refuse to seat a Florida convention delegation because of the too-early primary, which the Florida Legislature decided on last spring. But if a candidate amasses enough delegates before the primary to ensure the nomination, that candidate would take control of the convention, including the power to seat a delegation.
State Democrats are considering asking all candidates to pledge they would seat the state’s delegation.
The boycott pledge was demanded by the four states - Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina - which are allowed to hold primaries before Feb. 5.
Ok now for the AD he ran in FLORIDA before our primary?
Here it is.
on July 29th, 2008 at 12:01 am
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1381642760?bctid=1385609375
on July 29th, 2008 at 12:05 am
It appear that Obama broke it first.
on July 29th, 2008 at 12:32 am
Rey
Thanks for the response. 1st it does not answer the question about those who wanted to vote for Obama in MI but was denied the opportunity for doing so. 2nd Hillary also did some fundraising in Fl during that time too.
http://quinnell.us/sspb/?p=745 3rd as far as the commercial, he aired that commercial on networks in neighboring states . http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/01/obama_airs_nati.html
my main question is fairness in counting all votes as Clinton and her coalitions are saying. How do you take in consideration for those people in Michigan that wanted to vote for Obama but was forced to either vote uncommented or not vote at all?
on July 29th, 2008 at 12:53 am
Florida voters also know that BO ran tv ads in the state before our primary, they claimed that it was a national cable buy and they couldn’t block out Fl., but we all know that cable ads are so popular because they will gladly tailor them to whatever your needs are. The DNC gave him a pass on it. So, lets not get into campaigning in the sanctioned states. Also, most of us know that there were numerous accounts of voter fraud, and even Ms.Dowd has opened the door to talk about the possible large-scale fund-raising fraud of BO’s campaign.
They set up the Denver date a year ago, and moved the usual July date to August, giving the Dems a month less for general election campaigning. Yet, somehow they set the date for the acceptance speech to coincide with the anniversary of MLK’s “I Have a Dream “speech.. How would that have relevance if Edwards, or Dodd, or Richardson, or Clinton were delivering the acceptance? Get real. If they had planned the acceptance speech to coincide with the Seneca Falls Convention, would any of us suspect that they were planning for a woman to be on the podium?
We can talk about the lack of experience. We can talk about the obvous colusion with the upper echelon DNC. We can talk about all the amazing items that have come out so far, that would have permanently derailed any, any, any other candidate. We can talk about the thuggery, and the blatant racism, and the not so subtle name-calling. What we cannot do is ignore what has occured on any and all of these fronts. Tbone, your nasty comments not only fall on deaf ears, most of us chuckle to think that anyone could keep trying to sweep all this under the rug. If you can, then you are in the wrong country, in the wrong form of government, in the wrong society. Just because we have had to endure eight years of stupidity and being run over, doesn’t mean we will stop trying to make the system work correctly. Would we be happy if Hillary won by cheating and garrotting her opponent? No? She wouldn’t be our candidate. As for those of us who would rather vote McCain than BO, don’t even start with the four more years of Bush, just getting rid of the VP will change most everything.
I cannot beleive that we are going to elect another man who can’t speak extemporaneously, and doesn’t know that the plural of crises isn’t criseses. Please.
on July 29th, 2008 at 1:31 am
w-princess YOU point out some very good points . makes you wonder. the dnc gave the chosenone as pass on everthing. he can do no wrong in the medias or the dnc’s eyes
go pumas
on July 29th, 2008 at 8:44 am
I also verify that O campaigned here in FL through his ads. On January 29th, a date which will forever be burned in my memory, I suffered through a “A Man Like My Father” ad by Carolyn Kennedy. In early March, MSNBC reported that O was answering to the DNC about why he broke that rule. At that time his explanation was his campaign thought he could advertise in FL , but not in MI. Like other instances, O blames his staff. Why doesn’t he just say, “the devil made me do it.” When Senator Clinton won this state she said in her speech that she would work with us to count our votes. The rules were sent by the DNC, the candidates had nothing to do with it; and their was no such rule their names could not be on the ballot. O just used this as a political strategic and gutless move. And it backfired. He lost anyway – all three state, FL, MI, and his feared NH.
In my area of FL, the news did not broadcast that our votes would not count. I did not learn of this until January 28th, when one of my work colleagues found out the evening before. We were both outraged, and I tried to verify this by calling the elections office in my district. The staff, did not even know. I was told by a staff member that the Secretary of Elections, Gertrude Walker had not made such an announcement and doubted it was even true. Although I left several messages for Ms. Gertrude, she never returned my calls. So now that O plans to be the only nominee, he will generously reinstate the full delegate vote by Florida delegates. How generous. He will do as much for the State of FL as he has done for the State of Illinois. Nothing!!
on July 29th, 2008 at 10:16 am
WOW! And again, WOW!
An absolutely right on essay on how millions of us really feel. Thank you for saying it so eloquently.
PUMA
on July 29th, 2008 at 10:18 am
boogieman7167 said,
on July 28th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
dose any body know why the DNC gave 4 dels to obama what was the dnc reason that.
what did they have to say for it.
********************************************************************
Harold Ikes named it for what it was. Affirmative Action at its highest level. The RBC decided to play psychics - - imagining that O should get 4 delegates from Clinton and delegates earned through the Uncommitted votes. They looked into a crystal ball and saw all the people that would have, should have, may have, wanted to, were going to, etc… vote for Obama, and did not go to the polls because they knew their votes didn’t count. The fact that O and his supporters campaigned on local news and radio, telling the voter in MI that a vote for the Uncommitted was a vote for O was a fact they conveniently ignored. They continued to say MI was not an accurate reflection because of the “beauty contest” aspect. Do we actually believe that millions of voters went to the polls to tell America they didn’t know who to vote for? If anyone does….there’s a lovely piece of waterfront property in the Everglades for sale.
on July 29th, 2008 at 10:39 am
You should address those question to the DNC and ask them also what was their reasoning behind waving SC, New hamshire and Iowa who also broke the roles. Yet penalize Michigan and Florida, I don’t think anyone have quite answer those question yet and the motive in accordance of what is the truth.
on July 29th, 2008 at 10:51 am
hello…the chosen one beat her by 123 votes. You can have the 4 votes. it doesn’t matter. she is the big loser!!!
funny how ickes and company were the ones who voted for the rules and then realized how stupid they were and tried to change the rules after the game started.
she ran a crappy campaign. it was hers to lose and she did. its why we have elections and not coronations people.
on July 29th, 2008 at 11:38 am
just came out:
Obama seeks to overcome doubts among women
Good Luck with that one!
on July 29th, 2008 at 11:57 am
what they did i MI was abought the most undemocratic thing i can think of.
beacuse its set a precedence. its ment its was ok to do that.
it ment it was ok to pick chose & override the will of the people . & they had no problem doing it either.
if thats not thats not rigged nothing is.
when that happend this whole thing became bigger than hillary or obama
our demcracy our democracy is a stake.
go hillary
on July 29th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
The Clinton reps began pressing gently but persistently for the committee to answer why 4 other states pushed back their primary with no penalty. Senator Levine blurted it out (I am sure accidently) - - state order was designed to give O the advantage. They wanted the states with high Black populations to vote first. Levine said the reason was that Black Americans deserve a turn in determining the President. And they call us racist.
When FL & MI pushed back their primaries, we threw a monkey-wrench into their grand design; our states were ignored and not even discussed. And O went right along with it; in fact he used it!! Dean told both candidates to get together and resolve MI and FL. Dean said if these candidates want to be the next leader of the free world, then they must each demonstrate those qualities in resolving this issue. Dean should live by his own philosophy.
Clinton suggested a re-vote, aka a solution, and billionaire backers volunteered to pay for that revote in both states. Knowing full well, Clinton would win both states again, the Chosen one, who if elected will go up against our enemies, chickened out. He said no to a revote in both states. Is this the type of personality we want in a president? If he can’t deal with Senator Clinton and her campaign, if he couldn’t deal with President Clinton on the campaign trail with her, how will he deal with Iran, North Korea, Lebanon, Syria the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, & etc. Will he run and hide from them too? Yes. That is exactly what he will do.
on July 29th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
hireheels said,
on July 29th, 2008 at 11:38 am
just came out:
Obama seeks to overcome doubts among women
Good Luck on that one!
*******************************
Princess: send him a copy of Ani’s post.
on July 29th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
wish i could flowerchild…!
on July 29th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
our democracy is at stake? LMAO…you really are the boogieman, huh?
I got an idea…how about we all write a letter to santa claus or the tooth fairy and wish for bad things to happen to all the “so-called superdelegates” who voted against our gal. then we can all go and take turns back stabbing rendell who at first was on our side but then came under the spell of O and turned to the dark side.
first one to write a hundred letters…i’ll give a hundred pennies to write down her debt.
on July 29th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
You know, as much of a cynic as I can be, I don’t even mind the DNC admitting they wanted to give African-American voters a bigger role. AA voters have certainly been through enough over the generations (and even as recently as 2000 and 2004) to have some extra consideration. I know that’s a controversial point and I certainly won’t give anyone grief for having a different opinion on it.
It’s the DNC’s stunts with Florida and Michigan, and their other overall sandbagging of the Clinton campaign and softballing the Obama campaign that still sticks in my craw. A lot of it wasn’t overt, but the soft stuff that makes you wonder if you really are imagining it…until someone strings it all together in one of the many viral videos we’ve seen.
It’s almost like gaslighting, having someone change your environment and deny you correct information, give you false information and make you begin to believe that your own brain and senses aren’t reliable. We’ve been told that we’re oversensitive hysterical dried-up hags based on our reactions to very real (though sometimes subtle) incidents of sexism, misogyny and breaking of rules. It’s usually very effective in silencing those who have the reactions…until we start working together to validate our experiences and fight back.
on July 29th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
clinton team made up half of the rules committee. if there is someone to blame, you don’t need to look any further than your gal and ickes.
this is so yesterdays news
on July 29th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
i don’t think the working together part is going to work all that well. things don’t seem to change unless there is a tragedy of tragedies…and this doesn’t rise to that level.
the election with gore managed a little bit of change but what you folks are hoping for is a wholesale slanted view of change in democracy. you really don’t want change, you just want enough change to make it so your gal would have won and o would have lost. and that is not real grassroots change.
the reason it wont work is everyone can see the hypocrisy this site is advocating. no one on this site would be working to change anything if she would have won.
on July 29th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
guys …this JUST BROKE….nothing we didn’t already know @ hireheels & justsaynodeal….because we got hundreds of emails on this topic!!!
Voters unenthused by Obama tour: poll
on July 29th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
on the bright side, o said the odds of him winning are pretty good. and he is the messiah so he should know.
on July 29th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Stay on the sunny side,
Always on the sunny side,
Stay on the sunny side of life.
You’ll feel no pain as we drive you insane,
If you’ll stay on the sunny side of life.
on July 29th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Florida, Michigan and any and all other states “punished” by the DNC for moving their primaries were always going to have their entire delegations seated at the convention by the eventual nominee.
And everybody knew it.
It’s always been that way.
Nancy Pelosi said that when she tried to bully New Hampshire in ‘84, they said, “ha, ha, ha.”
The question was, what weight would be given to these primaries in choosing the nominee.
The “rules” gave the RBC the leverage to use those results in any way they saw fit, to punish or benefit any candidate they chose.
on July 29th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Off topic, but any of our folks here from the los angeles area? The quake didn’t do any major structural damage, but my friends there said it shook things up quite a bit.
on July 29th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
luckily, josgirl had her secret decoder ring to foil the rbc…
on July 29th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
tbone,I’m sure your comment meant something, but I have no idea what.
on July 29th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Either the rules were upheld or not, neither of the candidate was going to reach the magic number without the SD. So I think the complain is valid, else what was the rush to pledge their support while in traditional practice, there is why we have a democratic convention. She was basically told to get in line no matter how you conceal it.
The deadline that pelosi and dean instated in June was not for the candidate to stop but, for the the SD to close ranks to the selected one. Else, if the situation on primary was reverse on the delegate count, the convention to them would have a different meaning and I can almost here the arguement.
Obama didn’t campaign any better than senator Clinton, she was out spent financially and in bought allegiance. Even her old friends had a price and this is how it went. Calling it as I see it!
on July 29th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
hear
on July 29th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
I wonder if the dnc will ever figure out why they can’t get a jump on the old man. And the silent majority haven’t spoken yet.
on July 29th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
Jim: at the end of the day, you are the voter and it is your responsibility to caste your vote. stand up as an american, a michigander and a democrat. never allow anybody to tell you your vote won’t count. look them in the eye, demand a ‘provisional’ ballot or submit an absentee ballot to be certain to have registered your preference, even if only as a protest. have faith that americans who trust themselves will go to bat for their sacred voting priveleges. had you done so yourself, you would now be firmly in the mix instead of standing on the sidelines failing to understand. have integrity, exercise your rights and stand for yourself and whatever you believe, support and know is right.
on July 30th, 2008 at 3:52 am
I’m not here to stroke animosity with the Clinton supporters. Nor am I’m here to try to intimidate or convince you to change your mind about Obama. I realize that there is no way that you will vote for Obama and I accept that. If any of my earlier postings came across to the contrary then I apologize. That was not my intentions. You are entitled to your vote and opinions. I came on this site and other PUMA sites to have an intelligent conversation and to 1) understand the hatred towards Obama 2) understand from your view point on how Hillary was robbed by the DNC rules committee with the Michigan decision. Hillary Clinton said that every vote should count. What does that mean? Does she include those that voted for other candidates as well? How do you do that fairly? She agreed, like the rest of the candidates, with the DNC that states that hold their primaries before Feb 5 without the authorization from the DNC would not be seated at the convention and their votes will not count. I don’t understand why she changed her mind so late in the primaries and I don’t understand why only her votes should count in Michigan. So far, in the two sites that I’ve visited (including this one) my questions have not been answered.
And by the way, the DNC’s rules committee that made the decision to punish rogue states that change their primaries without authorization was created during the time that Terry McAuliffe was the DNC Chair. If I am wrong about that, please feel free to correct me with facts.
SWPAnnA. Thank you for your reply. I’ve always voted in general elections and primaries. By my candidate was not on the ballot even the provisional one. The only choice was Clinton, Kucinich, who was the only candidate that did not sign the 4 states pledge by the way and uncommitted. Yes I should have voted uncommitted but I feel bad for those who wanted to vote Obama and others because they felt they were doing the right thing by not participating. It does not make me feel any better but that’s life and I have accepted it.
on July 30th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Each and every time I go on justsaynodeal sites like hireheels, etc, I get frustrated. Why? Because the “proof” of Obama winning comes down to talk about the Fl and MI delegates. I concede that if both states had been treated according to the rules Hillary would have won. However, Hillary would have won anyway had the superdelegates from the states she won fairly committed to her at the time of each primary thereby reflecting the will of the voters. These Obama trolls like to get into the FL and MI argument. They don’t like to talk about the other states. Each candidate should have fairly gotten the proportioned pledged delegates they won based on the percentage they obtained in the primary or caucaus. However, the superdelegates should have committed to the candidate who won the state. That was the only way to reflect the “WILL OF THE VOTERS IN EACH STATE”. Hillary would have won outright!!Instead, superdelegates from all the states composed of senate and house members such as Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, (MA)Parrick Kennedy, et.al (RI) Tom Dashle et. al (SD) voted as they pleased and ignored the WILL OF THE PEOPLE”. Because THIS happened, a TRAVESTY was perpetuated on the voters in the democratic party. All the bullsh*t talk can not explain that away. GOTDA*N HILLARY WON!! Not the smooth talking , race baiting, inexperienced, don’t know nothing about nothing, liar from Chicago. I am a 63 year old African American female Hillary supporter. I can not be fooled, nor made a fool out of like Obama did to blacks and whites.. I guarantee you he and Michele are laughing at all of you. I hope the last laugh is on them.
on July 30th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
However, the superdelegates should have committed to the candidate who won the state. That was the only way to reflect the “WILL OF THE VOTERS IN EACH STATE”. Hillary would have won outright!!Instead, superdelegates from all the states composed of senate and house members such as Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, (MA)Parrick Kennedy, et.al (RI) Tom Dashle et. al (SD) voted as they pleased and ignored the WILL OF THE PEOPLE”.
Then get the rules changed!
For goddess’ sake - manolo minx herself is calling for super delegates to vote their conscience, not what their state voted.
Which is it supposed to be? vote like the state, or vote their conscience - which is what the rules for super delegates have always said?
on August 8th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
hey tbone,
you sound like a smartass street kid. i like your sense of humor, but your immaturity shows. just because he won the primary does not mean he’s got the election in the bag. you’d do him more good if you touted some of the reasons you think he’ll do a good job.
meanwhile, the people here mostly do not want him as their leader, some of us are serious. i am voting for mc cain.
let me tell you: i could not believe it when bush got elected to a second term. could not believe it could be happening. but happen it did. and i think odrama should not count his chickens before they are hatched. me and a lot of other people are going to do our best to crack his eggs.
on August 15th, 2008 at 12:17 am
yea i plan on do more than crack his eggs . i think ill scrambel them to.
go hillary