during this interminable primary season(...s?) the democrats continue to wring their hands over which candidate will be able to withstand the republican attack machine. oh, i am not underestimating the republicans' formidable power and organization. nonetheless, there was so much hope among the democrats: the strength of the main dem candidates (yes c4ts, including edwards), the questionable viability of all of the republican frontrunners, not to mention the sad state of the bush presidency. how can the democrats possibly do wrong? but you know, it turns out that all the republicans had to do was to sit back and watch bc, surprise, the dems can't get themselves together to save their lives.if i'm getting this straight, michigan and florida first decided to move their primaries to january in violation of party rules. the DNC stripped michigan and florida of their delegates as a result. the candidates also promised that they wouldn't campaign in either state. clinton won in both states, with obama not even appearing on the michigan primary ballot (unbeknownst to me. i kind of magically tuned all of this noise out before).
all through the primaries the clinton campaign grumbled about how they will eventually seat those hard-fought - not really - delegates. i kind of ignored this and this asinine statement from clinton herself. once a lawyer, always a lawyer. i've noticed this instinct to parse everything to death in myself, even at this very early stage in my career.
anyway, now the obama and clinton campaigns are at war over what to do about said michigan and florida delegates. the head of the DNC is flip-flopping himself. seat the michigan/florida delegates in accordance with their january vote? hold new primaries? spend even MORE money?
i kind of want everyone involved in this fiasco to all get on a really big bus, then drive themselves off a cliff. this is maddening.
4 comments:
Well, what do you expect from a party that undermines the whole pledged delegate system with a superdelegate order, which Tom Daschle confirmed last night (on the Daily Show) is in place to prevent the people from willing into office someone too far outside of the party brass?
i cannot stand this shit. the truth is, i am too pragmatic and just not vindictive enough to reject clinton in the general should she get the nomination. but there are enough people out there who are, and when those people are combined with the droves of republicans who decide they will vote after all just so they can vote against hillary, one has to worry about november. but if superdels go with the will of the people, who will resent the party?
seating MI and FL delegates is not an option without another primary (or caucus) in those states. but watch as they conveniently select JUNE for the voting, just late enough to avoid all those pesky students, right alex?
did you catch meet the press over the weekend? i managed to listen to it for once (thanks anonymous alex and anat!) some of rendell's statements were totally nuts (e.g. hillary won michigan bc running against "uncommitted" is more difficult than running against a real candidate? huh?), and even daschle seemed to be worn out by rendell's arguments.
oh, i am firmly of the "any democrat before a republican" mindset, but i think this ceaseless in-fighting and inexplicable superdelegate system (thanks for explaining nothing, geraldine ferraro!) just makes the dems look completely incompetent, as per usual.
and even more infuriating is this whole "obama as VP" biznatch. what, he is incapable of answering any phone calls past 2:59am but he can step in as the prez? gimme a break.
meanwhile, mccain is sitting back and watching his coffers grow.
p.s. don't you love how texas has been declared hillary's, even though pundits beforehand described the possibility of her winning the primary and obama winning the caucus as one of those "complicated" scenarios that might still require hillary to duck out? for some reason they can't seem to count those votes, but of course obama is ahead. by the time they're counted, i s'pose, it will all be an afterthought.
anyway, i agree.
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