The Way Democrats Count Every Vote
By California Yankee Posted in 2008 | Democrats | Florida | Michigan | Rules Committee — Comments (8) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Based on what the Press is reporting about the Democrats' great compromise to allow the seating of the previously disenfranchised Florida and Michigan delegations, you may believe you understand that the Democrats reached a reasonable and fair compromise giving each Florida and Michigan delegate half a vote.
According to the press reports, the Democrats will allow each vote to count and still punish Florida and Michigan for violating the Party's rules about how soon primaries could be held.
That is what the Democrats did for Florida, but not Michigan.
No, for Michigan the Democrats decided to do a little of their creative counting of every vote.
Read on, there is more.
According to CNN, Hillary managed to "win" the Michigan Primary:
Clinton - 55%
Uncommitted - 40%
Kucinich - 4%
Dodd - 1%
Gravel - 0%
Based upon the votes, Hillary earned 73 delegates and Obama none. Fifty five delegates should be uncommitted.
Instead of agreeing to seat a Michigan delegation based on the actual votes, the Democrats cut a deal to "let every vote count" that "allows" Hillary to have 69 delegates and gives Obama 59 delegates. That's right, even though Obama's name wasn't even on the ballot and therefore no one voted for him, the Democrats are giving him 59 delegates.
Watch Harold Ickes, one of Hillary's chief advisers, explain the undemocratic nature of the way the Democrats creatively counted Michigan votes:
The Rules and Bylaws Committee, 30 elite members of the Democrat Party substituted their judgment for 600,000 Michigan Voters and gave Obama four pledged delegates specifically won by Hillary and 55 delegates the voters said should be uncommitted.
Hillary supporters are not happy.
The Democrats' fuzzy math never ceases to amaze me. The way the Democrats decided to count every vote in Michigan reminds me of the way they tried to count Florida votes in 2000.
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The Way Democrats Count Every Vote 8 Comments (0 topical, 8 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
Or that they felt some voters were too stupid to pick the candidate they were supposed to, thus they needed to have their votes re-assigned (Palm Beach: butterfly ballots)
Then there was the irony that oldest political party in the world couldn't understand how the electoral college worked.
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777
Why pour more gasoline on the already burning bridge Obama has with Hillary supporters who he will desparately need for four measaly delegates?
If everything is such a "forgone conclusion" that will be decided by the end of this week, as the Obama crowd keeps claiming, what difference do the four delegates make in the grand scheme of things, other than to rub the Clinton crowds nose in it over who really got their way.
Oh well, probably my mistake trying to make sense of this carnival freakshow of a nominating process in the first place.
arrogant opportunist.
Dumb, dumb, dumb move. But, hey, whatever makes him happy.
Bwahahahahahahah!
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Just a typical, small town, British-American girl...
To hear the D's tell it, the committee "split the difference." The delegate totals they approved for Michigan were halfway between what the Clinton camp wanted, and what the Obama camp wanted.
This is the act of people who are still not sure which candidate will prevail. But whichever one it is, they do not want to have wrecked their chances for a plum job in the Administration.
Everyone agrees that this C-SPAN circus was ugly television that heightened divisions within the Party, made the D's look like the worst demons they conjured up to explain their loss in 2000, and solved nothing. Now YouTube is filling up with angry rants from (mostly female) Donks who are spitting nails and vowing to vote for McCain. All of these results were foreseeable. So the question is, why was it allowed to happen? The whole thing could have been rendered moot if a mere 50 of the remaining uncommitted superdelegates had declared for Obama prior to Saturday. Instead of this mess, the Donks would have headlines like "Obama wins" and "Dem primaries end with Obama victory." But no one could persuade the necessary 50-or-so delegates to go on record in order to prevent this TV debacle. Why?
It has to be because many of them know that in the end they have to hand the prize to Hillary because Obama is fatally flawed and will lose big-time in November. But they have to wait for Obama to step on a rake and knock himself out, because if -they- knock him out their most loyal voters will go away and never come back.
I say the fact that this horrible, horrible meeting even took place tells us that the Smoke-Filled Room™ has decided that it's Hillary. They just haven't figured out how to say that without wrecking the place.
Drink Good Coffee. You can sleep when you're dead.
Drink Good Coffee. You can sleep when you're dead.