Posted by
rycK on Tuesday, February 19, 2008 9:58:30 AM
The Party of Democrats Enters the Sleaze Phase of Politics.
A review of the jumble of the 1968 Democratic Primary [1]gives us some hint as to what might be happening as Hillary Clinton sees her chances to become President fading out like a dim bulb in the projects. This chaos was one of the first instances where the internal party politics of big city machines were exposed for all to see and the results included rioting and such. The cops were beating people in the streets under the close control of Mayor Daley. That might happen in Richmond.
The quest is simple: just get a majority of the delegates on the first ballot and you win.
The ringer and main reason that the process has soared beyond the Ultimate of Sleaze has to do with the official policy that ‘pledged’ delegates are not pledged as one would think. [2]
“Pledged delegates are not really pledged at all, not even on the first ballot. This has been an open secret in the party for years, but it has never really mattered because there has almost always been a clear victor by the time the convention convened.”
And
““I swear it is not happening now, but as we get closer to the convention, if it is a stalemate, everybody will be going after everybody’s delegates,” a senior Clinton official told me Monday afternoon. “All the rules will be going out the window.”[3]
What rules?? There are no rules.
This careless proclamation is probably meant to be some form of misinformation to show that, at least for the moment, some rudimentary form of democracy might prevail in the Democratic Camp, which would make the first instance of this strange notion.
Deals are being made, the pie is being cut and money flows into the pockets of the delegates like cheap wine and Angel dust flows at a San Francisco street carnival.
Not to belabor this notion, but:
““Delegates are NOT bound to vote for the candidate they are pledged to at the convention or on the first ballot,” a recent DNC memo states. “A delegate goes to the convention with a signed pledge of support for a particular presidential candidate. At the convention, while it is assumed that the delegate will cast their vote for the candidate they are publicly pledged to, it is not required.””[4]
Using some retrograde analysis, we might wonder who chooses the delegates in the first place, using some simple logic that transcends the simplistic politicos of the Democrats, as this clinches the nomination before the primaries and caucuses even begin. The Queen Bee was the anointed until Obama captured the imagination of the voters and is on a rush to run the table as they say in pool. There were no precautions about this? The voters are ill trained and sometimes wander from their assigned roles as stooges who are supposed to rubber stamp the designs oft he party bosses.
The Clintons did not fix this race at the beginning? We are going to let the voter decide??
That would be the first time.
In this sorry stew, we have to mix in the fact that the Florida and Michigan delegates don’t even get to vote. How can they get some of the loot if they cannot throw votes in the direction of the glitter and fluff?
The din of violent threats begins:
“Donna Brazile, who was Al Gore’s campaign manager in 2000 and is a member of the DNC, said recently: “If 795 of my colleagues decide this election, I will quit [the DNC]. I feel very strongly about this.”
Richmond will burn for the second time we hear:
“On Sunday, Doug Wilder, the mayor of Richmond and a former governor of Virginia, went even further, predicting riots in the streets if the Clinton campaign were to overturn an Obama lead through the use of superdelegates.”
The good old days when party bosses made the correct decisions as to who would run have vanished in the aftermath of the 1968 bloodbath. Or, have they?
It would be sloppy politics indeed if this nomination were not locked in before it started. The Clintons are not stupid. They are brutal. They have more goodies to pass around than Obama.
Hillary wins so let the riots begin.
rycK Comments: ryckki@gmail.com
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._presidential_election,_1968
[2]Clinton targets pledged delegates By: Roger Simon Feb 19, 200805:48 AM EST http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8583.html
[3]Clinton targets pledged delegates Ibid.
[4]Clinton targets pledged delegates Ibid.