Thursday, May 22, 2008
Hillary Clinton Takes a page out of George Bush and Karl Rove's Playbook. Plans to "Swarm" DNC meeting on May 31 just like Republicans did in 2000.
Jason Linkins at HuffPo
So, if I have this right, here are the potential remaining battles in the 2008 Democratic Primary process: Primaries in South Dakota, Montana, and Puerto Rico. A meeting of the DNC Rules and By-Laws Committee to determine how the Democrats will continue to pretend to "punish" Florida and Michigan for moving their primary without actually enforcing any rules or handing down any penalties. Then, possibly, a superdelegate convention where uncommitted superdelegates will be forced at gunpoint to make a decision they could have plausibly made months ago. And finally, a full tilt bloodbath at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, which will prepare America for when John McCain is named King of America and Her United Anbar Provinces, propels us via time machine to the year 2013, and then explains how our Chinese overlords have forced us into a largely "Thunderdome-based" economy.
Speaking to the voters of the Sunshine State yesterday, Senator Hillary Clinton invoked the 2000 Recount Fiasco and spoke of the lessons learned. Now, for me, the lessons mainly are: "Do not allow the fate of our democracy to rest on David Boies' shoulders," but for Clinton, it's different:
"We believe the popular vote is the truest expression of your will...We believe it today just as we believed it back in 2000 when right here in Florida, you learned the hard way what happens when your votes aren't counted, and the candidate with fewer votes is declared the winner. The lesson of 2000 here in Florida is crystal clear. If any votes aren't counted, the will of the people isn't realized and our democracy is diminished. That's what I've always believed."
But that's not the only lesson she's learned from Florida:
The next Democratic donnybrook will be in a Washington ballroom.
Busloads of Hillary Clinton supporters will swarm a meeting next week at a D.C. Marriott, where Democratic Party elders hope to forge a compromise over Florida and Michigan's now-voided convention delegates."We really don't know what to expect, but we do know that the Clinton people are very organized," said a senior Democratic National Committee source.
Tactically, this takes a page right from the Karl Rove Recount 2000 playbook: send a mob of angry villagers to turn a relatively genteel process into a shrill folderol. Nevertheless, while the stage is set for roving gangs of superfluous supporters to disrupt the DNC proceedings, this will still be a model of decorum and tranquility compared to Clinton's other bizarre voter-rights reference, Zimbabwe. Though it should be noted that Zimbabwe's electoral strife would have been magnified one hundred-fold if it had featured Howard Wolfson conference calls.
Labels: Hillary Clinton, Intimidation, Undemocratic
