Crossposted from The Wild Wild Left and to Station Charon and My Left Wing
You would have thought by now we may have figured out that Saturn’s strategy just might be a flawed one.
I guess it all depends on what one defines as their own.
Tag: Democratic Party
Feb 19 2008
Pick a number
Everybody’s very intrepidly attempting to conjure the current delegate count. Of course, the problems with Superdelegates, Florida, and Michigan make it difficult to decide which standards apply, but there seem to be more different totals than applicable standards.
CNN has it at Barack Obama 1262, Hillary Clinton 1213.
Jerome Armstrong has a pledged count of Clinton 1127, Obama 1119, with Superdelegates at Clinton 240, Obama 140.
Covering different bases, MSNBC has Obama at 1078, 1128, or 1306, with Clinton at 969, 1009, or 1270.
The New York Times has Obama 934, Clinton 892, and also gives the AP count of Obama 1275, Clinton 1220.
Real Clear Politics has Obama 1302, Clinton 1235.
The Washington Post gives Obama 1280, and Clinton 1218.
Confused yet?
And while I thank everyone who is trying to figure this out, the real story, as usual, is not even being discussed; the question is this: if all these intelligent, assiduous efforts are coming up with so many different results, how screwed up is the Democratic Party’s nominating system? We’re talking about a presidential election, and we’re talking about an in-house effort. This can’t be blamed on hanging chads, butterfly ballots, Diebold or Katherine Harris.
Given the level of vitriol and distrust that is poisoning the partisans of both candidates’ camps, wouldn’t a clear, transparent system of determining who is actually winning, and by how much, be of some benefit? This is a mess. This is the Democratic Party’s mess! Whoever wins this nomination, the DNC needs to radically reorganize the process. It might even be a good idea to make the results explicitly based on the clearly counted total of the popular vote. At this point, we don’t even know for sure what that total is.
Feb 06 2008
Obama’s Anti-Clinton Spin At Odds with DNC
…Or, how Democrats Eat Their Own.
Talking Points Memo has an article up describing Obama’s latest mailer attacking the Clinton Presidency:
In what may be Obama’s most direct and aggressive criticism of Bill Clinton’s presidency yet, the Obama campaign dropped a new mailer just before Super Tuesday that blasts “the Clintons” for wreaking massive losses on the Democratic party throughout the 1990s.
“8 years of the Clintons, major losses for Democrats across the nation,” reads the mailer, which goes on to list the post-1992 losses suffered by Dems among governors, Senators and members of the House of Representatives. The mailer was forwarded to us by a political operative who told us it was sent to Alaska, though it was probably sent elsewhere, too.
Jan 02 2008
It’s accountability, stupid!
With the comment, “We were stonewalled by the CIA”, the co-chairmen of the 9/11 Commission once again highlight what is a major problem for the people of this country. We have allowed the current caretakers of our government to do as they wish, say what they want and to do so with no accountability repercussions. They are, literally, getting away with crime. Today, The Huffington Post reports and Glen Greenwald blogizes on the CIA matter.
Dec 21 2007
Will the Real Democratic Party Please Stand Up?
Submitted by feline on December 21, 2007 – 12:31pm.
The Democratic Party has morphed into a strange multi-headed creature over the last 10 – 15 years. I’m all for diversity, but when they can’t remember their own principles and vote consistently as a group, the Republicans and the Administration end up winning on legislation as if they were the majority.
The Dems are invested in the idea that voters are so fed up, we’ll vote for anyone that doesn’t have an R in front of their name. But, here’s the problem: I have no idea what the D means anymore.
Does it mean this?
CHARTER OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
Or does it mean this?
Democratic Leadership Council
I had once had hopes that it meant this:
Congressional Progressive Caucus
(Remember when those used to be the ideals of the Party and not just a Caucus?! Sad…)
Anytime I see the word “New” anymore, I get really worried:
New Democrat Coalition
And I don’t know how a representative who identifies him/herself “conservative” even gets to have a D in front of their name:
The Blue Dog Coalition
(How in the hell did the Democratic National Committee let that start happening? Do these folks even know the Bylaws of the Party?)
Well, there you have it, the “Democratic Party”! It’s become so hybridized, I wouldn’t know some members of the Party unless they had the D in front of their name (with the exception of a few who actually seem to have read their Bylaws and the U.S. Constitution).
Every election cycle, the Democratic Party feels the need to reinvent itself in order to secure or gain a majority. Maybe if members of Congress with a D in front of their name would just adhere to the principles of the Democratic Party while they’re in office, they wouldn’t have to work so hard and waste so much money trying to convince the voters that they’re different from the Republicans.
We’re NOT STUPID, you know…
(That was my Andy Rooney, impersonation, I hope it was okay.)
Dec 14 2007
Why I Will Vote For Whichever Democrat Is Nominated
Yes, there is much corruption in the Democratic Party. Yes I would personally like to throw Nancy out on her ear. Yes I am disgusted by the shameless cowardice and/or self aggrandizement of too many Democrats in Congress.
However
I do not belive the Democratic Party is capable of what The Republican Party – lead by its criminal leaders have done to this country. Make no mistake. The Democratic Party must improve it’s pathetic records of sheep like cowardice as represented by the current Congress. But stoop this low? No. Only Today’s GOP leadership is capable of this
Nov 30 2007
Britain’s Tories, Race/Ethnic Politics, and the 2008 Election
crossposted from Daily Kos, Truth & Progress, and My Left Wing
Ever since the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863 during the American Civil War — when President Abraham Lincoln committed the Union to ending slavery — the issue of race has bedeviled not just the United States to this day but in recent decades, several European countries too as they struggle to assimilate minorities of color in their societies. Progressive-minded parties in Western liberal democracies have long been the home of minorities and immigrants seeking to benefit politically and economically from government policies designed to ease their assimilation into society. Some tangible successes notwithstanding, complete assimilation and recognition has often been elusive.
As has been true for the Democratic Party since the 1930’s — when African-American voters started to switch their political allegiance from Lincoln’s Republican Party to the Democrats as President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal programs provided economic relief to the poor — minorities in Britain have long supported the Labour Party for over 50 years.
Are we now witnessing an electoral drift from Labour to the Tories in Britain? More on the flip side.
Nov 19 2007
Novak Needs to Resign
(Cross posted at DailyKos)
I saw this over the weekend and filed it in my “dead issue” mental file.
But, today, it is still there!
My question is: why would anyone believe anything that Novak writes anymore? The man should not even be allowed to write a column, even from a jail cell.
He traitorously outed a CIA spy and experienced no charges or reprimand. Now he publishes a little gossip rag and someone actually believes it!!!!! He should put up and shut up. If he has proof, surrender it. If he knows who is planting this trash, expose them or else cease and desist.
Nov 06 2007
Ron Paul and the Democrats We Deserve
So, yesterday, Republican Ron Paul raised $4.07 million, in a Guy Fawkes Day fundraising stunt. That is more money than any other Republican has raised in a single day, although it falls short of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s biggest single day take.
Dr. Paul is a candidate whose campaign has caused no shortage of consternation, both among us here on the political left, as well as in Republican circles. Dr. Paul is, after all, a nut. He’s an unapologetic isolationist, a goldbug, a religious fundamentalist, and a possible to probable racist. He polls at under 5% in nearly every poll.
So why is this person who most Americans had never heard of a year ago outraising nearly all Republican contenders and most Democrats, without any support from major lobbys or corporations, and drawing adoring crowds nearly everywhere he goes?
Nov 01 2007
Let’s think about strategy for a moment.
Think about it. The Democratic Party now sits at Point “A”, second fiddle. The Party is hopeful that it can move to Point “B”, the Conductor, head of the orchestra. What might the strategy be that would accomplish that goal.
If you will allow me to use a ship and its crew resting at its home port, Point A with an agenda to get underway and move to Point B as an analogy, then I will proceed…. Thanks, I proceed.
Oct 31 2007
Fuck this “debate”
So everyone with a blog or a newspaper is writing about the “debate” held tonight by the Democratic candidates for their party’s nomination for President. But I’m not. I didn’t watch it. Sure, I was at work while it was going on, and could not have done so. But I have been home for several of them, and proudly ignored them. Because the “debates” are a sham, about little of substance, and won’t make much of a difference anyway.
We can all remember the vast attention paid to the Presidential debates in 2004, as well as many of them previous. But the “victories” of Kerry over Bush in the debates then did not matter, and no matter how much we venerate the “You, sir, are no Jack Kennedy” moments of debates, debate results don’t matter much, except for in a single area. The Swift Boat ads trumped whatever success from the debates Kerry had.
The only way that debates matter, particularly in the primaries, is that it can help determine not who any of us will vote for, but who gets major financial supporters. Because you can blow it by having a terrible debate performance, and the money will not go to a candidate who has blown it. And you can maybe pick up some money from a surprisingly strong debate showing; Mike Huckabee has finally seen an uptick in donations after repeated “strong” performances in the eyes of the press.
Oct 05 2007
Skeleton of a Manifesto
What
There are issues, and then there are principles. I’m a principles and process person, so this post is about principles. (It’s okay, you can put the stem cell research funding on the entry table, it’ll still be there for you on your way out.) Of course issues are hugely important, since they’re what impact people’s everyday lives. To have a coherent platform – to have something which the whole party stands for – I believe those positions on issues must flow from our principles. I want you to question the biiiiiiiiiiig, obvious ones. I want you to ask “Why?” ad nauseam, like a seven-year-old child questioning a parent.
What principles of government can we all agree upon? Pointedly, I am not saying, “Why can’t we all get along?” If you disagree on a point, I want to hear why. If there’s nothing you disagree with off the bat, I challenge you to find something. What is missing or miscategorized? If you think something is of core importance, even if it’s blindingly obvious, I want to hear about that most of all.
Crossposted at Daily Kos