Michiganders Demand Restoration of Voting Rights Following DNC Theft
By SusanUnPC on June 23, 2008 at 10:40 AM in Barack Obama, DNC, Disenfranchisement, Florida, Hillary Clinton, Michigan, Popular Vote, Rules and Bylaws Committee
As NoQuarter’s Bud White wrote recently in his devastating “The RBC: Bush v. Gore“:
We are seeing a recreation of the Florida 2000 coup d’état in mirror image. The Dean/Brazile/neo-liberal wing of the Party learned their lesson in Broward County all too well.
The most obvious clue of this theft, of course, is that Hillary has won more votes than Obama. Usually the popular vote winner wins the contest. Just ask Al Gore.
The insistence on “the rules” as a way of rewarding Obama over Hillary was a transparent power-grab echoing the Republican “Sore Loserman” narrative from 2000. The “rules” were created specifically to deny Hillary the nomination. The rules, as we saw over the weekend, are malleable, only needing to be massaged to assure the desired outcome. …
This theft is among many issues that have created a tidal wave of Hillary Clinton supporters joining the JustSayNoDeal and PUMA coalition. I urge you to read this ACTION item from a Michigan voter who I know personally as one of the smartest and most effective volunteers that Hillary Clinton has had:
“Please pass this on to anyone you know, and blog about it! There are petitions to sign for both Michigan residents and for our national supporters.
“Michigan Demands Representation (MDR) is a grassroots organization formed to protect the voting rights of Michigan citizens.”
Continued:
“We are not affiliated with any political organization. We received no funding [from any group]. We are a group of concerned voters who are outraged that our civil liberties are being violated.
“We, as Michiganders, must send a message to our elected officials that we will no longer sit idle and allow our voting rights to be abused and ignored. Any voter, regardless of party affiliation, should be concerned. This is a civil liberties issue, not a campaign or candidate issue.”
HERE are more must-reads on the daylight robbery by the DNC of Michigan’s delegates and the DNC’s blatant abuse of basic voter rights:
“RBC Selectively Enforced Its “Rules” — by Lisa B.
“The Three Acts of a Stolen Nomination — by Bud White
“The RBC = Bush v. Gore” — Bud White
“After the RBC Theft, No Other Outcome is Acceptable” - by Medusa
Click here for more stories on the stolen nomination.
What you want in a president:
1. Honesty
2. Experience
3. Love of country (including it’s inhabitants)
4. Independence
5. Decency (some at least)
Now apply to candidates
Pstttttttt…look.
Book about Obama - this will be PRICELESS!
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0608/11263.html
heh*……that one I’ll read.
Since they are so insistent on rules, why did they do nothing in the race of rampant reports of fraud and intimidation in the caucuses.
Why didn’t Dean say anything when he knew Republicans were temporarily changing parties to get a weak candidate elected?
For the same reason that a close family member who supports Obama has.
His quote: “everybody breaks the rules. If that happens and it breaks my candidate’s way, I can live with that.”
go figure…..
Instead of blockading the DNC headquarters, running a full-page ad in the Washington Post exposing this Alice in Wonderland nominating process, and demanding an investigation into whether or not Clinton’s endorsement/suspension involved blackmail, extortion and discrimination, we just sit here and do this…
(Well anyway, if you want to help with one minor campaign to urge the Senate Commerce Committee to investigate media bias in the election, click on my screen name for info and contact links. You can also write Naomi Klein via debra@naomiklein.org and ask her to press Democracy Now! to report on Obama’s relationship to Rezko’s Iraqi buddies.)
A new USA Today/Gallup poll has Obama leading McCain among likely voters by six points, 50%-44%.
But the most revealing numbers in the survey were the ones measuring voter enthusiasm: 61% of Democrats said they were more enthusiastic than usual about voting in this year’s election, while just 35% of Republicans said that.
Also in the poll, Obama’s fav/unfav is 64%-31%, while McCain’s is 59%-35%.
On the issues — when asked which candidate would do a better job on each — Obama held advantages on health care (51%-26%), the economy (48%-32%), energy/gas (47%-28%), taxes (44%-35%), and moral values (40%-39%). McCain had the edge on terrorism (52%-33%) and illegal immigration (36%-34%). And they were tied on Iraq (43%-43%).
National polls don’t mean squat. The Electoral college is run on a State by state basis.
oh an further more, this argument is not based on popularity. I don’t care how popular he is, I am not voting for him. I bet you would fall off a cliff with your friends, it “everyone was doing it”. LOL
The pollsters are Republican.
He’s very popular. Why, he’s popular in the very same ways Dukakis and McGovern were….
So what? The show hasn’t started yet.
Funny, I seem to recall everyone here getting all pumped up about the Rasmussen numbers last week.
This is not good news for Obama. He should be a minimum of 15% ahead (ala Kerry at this time), not just 6%. The Iraq issue should give him pause since that is his signature issue. As far as the economy, health care, energy, taxes, and moral values (that last one is a real joke), I see this as a Democrat against a Republican and McCain will start to define Obama soon.
Seriously, with the worst President ever who also has the worst polls ever at election time, McCain is either tied or not far behind. This is supposed to be a huge Democratic year, not good numbers for your master.
I don’t get excited about any polls before October 1. That’s because I have been in this movie before.
This bot is clearly malfunctioning and its logic processes are caught in a loop on endlessly repeating selected polling data. It needs to have its memory wiped and reprogrammed.
Or drop the old pants, reinsert head up arse. Ah now that feels better don’t it trolls.
Sorry! There are no CAUCUSES in the General Election. BO will have to win big states to win the most electoral college votes and THAT is NOT going to happen. Too bad for you.
And the republicans that changed parties to vote for Obama, are now changing back to vote for McCain.
LOL as IF they were going to vote for him in the GE. They just wanted to make sure he was the canididate.
And still……only 6 points. I’m very, very impressed that McCain is holding Obama down in the polls.
That tells me that there are, indeed, a lot of enthusiastic ex-Democrats who cannot WAIT to get to the polls to voice their opinion.
I know I can’t. I’m so darned enthusiastic I’m making small donations to candidates all across the country who are campaigning and have a shot at taking down the insider boyz.
You betcha there’s enthusiasm.
I disagree.
I think Obama is holding Obama down in the polls. Please give credit where credit is due.
If the party had any brains they would be worried about his poll “bump”. Even the Democratic Party’s biggest presidential losers had double digit bumps this early on.
I’m a Democrat(Hillary democrat that is) who is enthusiastic about voting in this year’s election….enthusiastic about voting for McCain.
WE WILL REMEMBER IN NOVEMBER
McCain ‘08 (no matter who the dem VP is)
I saw that poll on Digby, too. It’s sad to see someone as smart as Digby actually believes that this arrogant man is going to be the next president.
A big swath of the party is enraged and won’t vote for him, and the Republicans haven’t even started on him yet. It’s going to be quite a crash for the Kool-Aid slurpers and the Hope Bong smokers. Heh.
Obama leading your ass. Prince Bandar one of the Royal Saudis once said of GW Bush, “Bush can’t lead eight ducks across the road”. Same with Obama and his mob, Obama can’t lead his cult across the road. Hell, he has problems with remembering today what he said yesterday–too much crack cocain has fried his brain.
I am greatly angered by the treatment of the citizens of Michigan and Florida. The Democratic Party declared war upon themselves by hijacking Michigan votes for Hillary Clinton and giving Obama votes he never aquired. In Florida they became 1/2 citizens and the rules of no campaigning were thrown to the wolves so he was not punished.If he had been punished and received no Fl delegates and Michigan was given to HRC with BO having none since he did not want to be on the ballot HillRY WOULD BE OUR NOMINEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.hillaryloyalistnowformccain.com because of this conduct by the Dummycrat leadership!
What bothers me most about Florida is that they were punished because they voted before Feb 5th. One week early. According to the DNC, Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada were supposed to be the first 4 states to vote. All 4 states voted before Florida…so how is that stepping on the other state’s toes?
Iowa = voted Jan 3rd
New Hampshire = voted Jan 8th
Nevada = voted Jan 19th
South Carolina = voted Jan 26th
Florida = voted Jan 29th
Judy, the DNC approved the early primaries but did not give Fl. approval.
The DNC is allowed to waive the early primary penalty, which they did for the 4 states. FL and MI did not receive the waiver.
What was a shame was that the DNC is also allowed to waive the penalty if the states involved make a good faith effort to correct the situation. FL certainly did that.
But….Hillary won FL, so they held to the penalty. Can’t have any doubt that Obama won, can we? LOL*
Moreover, FL was shafted especially by both parties, since we all knew that the Republicans pushed through your early primary date. MI was a different story. They really did bully their way in early.
The scoop was that even Hillary supporters on the DNC committee would have loved to have not seated ANY MI delegates due to the behavior of the MI Dems. By the same token, everyone would have loved to have given FL the break on this.
The compromise was for the GE. Can’t throw MI away entirely was the thinking.
It sucked.
Obama is responsible. He definitely blocked revote proposals right and left. He was not about to test his strength in those states.
Dean ASKED for it when he broke tradition to let selected states jump ahead
THIS INVITED PROBLEMS.
Why SHOULD Nevada be allowed to change (harry reid, harry reid) and not Florida?????
Iowa and NH have always gotten the waiver. Dean just added 2 states to try to round out the pre-season.
Not everyone can be before Jan. LOL* As it was, it was nuts.
I disagree with people upset on this part of the DNC rules. I do agree with you on the penalties imposed.
From the get-go, the penalty was overly punative.
the thing that upsets me about the rules are that they changed it to let SC & Nevada vote earlier. I can understand they make rules, but they cannot take away people’s right to vote, much less entire states’ rights.
Thanks AnninCa-
I do understand that about Florida not having the waiver. i just wanted to drive home the fact that when I watched the hearings about what to do about Fl & Mi, they kept talking about giving those 4 states the right to vote first - that those poor little states had to vote before big bad florida…and they didn’t want florida to decide another election…etc…
my point was that all 4 of those states did in fact get to vote before florida. so there really was no harm/foul there. if those states are to be punished, then make them the last 2 states to vote in 2012. Don’t hurt the voters who had no say so in this matter.
At first, I didn’t know what to think about Michigan. But when they gave Obama all of the uncommitted votes…wth??? How is that fair? They put out campaigns that said to vote for uncommitted. Bill Richardson, Joe Biden, John Edwards, etc…were still in the race. To me, that’s like the people in Florida in 2000 who thought they were voting for Al Gore, but really voted for Pat Buchanan.
The DNC did not formally allow the four states to move their primaries/caucuses forward. They didn’t even address them. This is a total farce and the Roolz are the Roolz only when the DNC says they are - no way and this is exactly the reason why I am voting and working for McCain, voting and working against Obama Democrats and voting and working for Clinton Democrats. Yes, for the first time in my adult life, I am voting and working for a split ticket.
B0 kept saying “I” shall seat the delegates. Note the pronoun from the king of the party.
They might actually allow them at the convention (replacing them with B0 loyalists) and thereby confirming that the whole “principle” of the punishment was nothing but a dirty trick to falsify the results of the primary
He will. He’ll make sure everyone gets a whole party hat and a ball of confetti to throw.
i heard that someone on tv was talking about a hillary role in an obama administration. they said he could ask her to be vice president; he could appoint her to the supreme court; or he could just allow her to be the senator.
how gracious of him to ALLOW her to be the senator of the state she was elected to by the people.
I wonder, will MI be happy when Obama replaces all of the Hillary delegates with Obama delegates and then generously allows all the delegates to be seated?
..which is exactly what he plans to do.
I printed off the petition to sign and mail to MI in support of the voters there.
We were all disenfranchised!
I may make copies to hand out to other concerned Democrats.
Count Michigan!
http://www.obama-wire.com
Need to stop calling the party of Dean and Obama the democratic party. There is no resemblance to democracy in that mob. I watched Hillary Clinton on TV again yesterday eve. She was yelling at the top of her lungs how she FULLY ENDORSES and SUPPORTS the black thug from Chicago. Good for her, she can support Howdy Doody for all I care. I will never vote for Obama nor will I ever vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton again. What she gets from that mob from now on she will be deserving of it. Her and Obama are the same o same o politics as usual.
No, Hillary Clinton is fulfilling her promise. Plus, she is a Democrat and is in the Party - she has to do this if she has any chance of getting the nomination either this August or in 2012.
Scream and sign all the petitions you want, it doesn’t matter.
The DNC is a private organization that can do whatever it wants legally and besides they have the backing of most elected representatives which makes their position almost unassailable. if they want they can by fiat select anyone they want as the presidential nominee for their party.
So why throw Clinton under the bus? What is the DNC’s reasoning?
The only petitions I will be signing are the petitions to investigate the black Muslim Chicago thug for reasons of national security.
It’s assailable all right. Which is why they can’t fund their own convention now.
Obama follower, there is such a thing as Equal Protection and they cannot go against that legally. The DNC arbitrarily punished two states and did nothing to three others and instead of using the certified votes, they used flawed exit polling to select the delegates in MI - this is against their rules and against election results. It is a travesty,
BTW, the Democratic Party nor any Party can ever be viable without members and voters. So, go ahead, disenfranchise voters, the results are already in - many have left and many are working against the Party within. Terrible politics for a political Party to engage in.
Only 6 points with an margin of err of ?.
Thats is BAD sign for Obama. Image the Republican are losing seats in states, Bush poll numbers in the tank, unfavorable war, economy and health care worries and Obama only up 6. They haven’t had a debate yet( which will end all HOPE for Obama) Thats why hes ducking and weaving. Hes running a losing man race.
According to a recent gallup poll Obama is only up by two points which is within the margin of error. I don’t know what Newsweek was smoking.
http://www.obama-wire.com
Apparently it was based upon some hokey assumptions regarding Hillary’s supporters. I saw the article, but that polling stuff is pretty complex. If it goes past a certain level of detail, my eyes roll back in my head.
If newsweek could resurrect Karl Marx and name him person of the year, they would do it.
Funny. I have been thinking since January 3 that the winner would be the one having the most pledged and superdelegate. When did it changed ?
Pelosi changed it. SDs used to have the encouragement to vote according to a variety of reasons, including the number of delegates.
Pelosi is the one who pushed the idea that whoever was ahead should win the SD’s. That never made sense. That would mean SDs should always wait until the end, see who is ahead, and rubberstamp.
LOL*
Stupid.
I still can’t believe the media never questioned her logic.
Since a black African thug from Chicago aided by the socialist Howard Dean rigged the election. If you recall at the beginning when Clinton had the most delegates your thugs were screaming their heads off saying the delegates should not be ELECTING the nominee.
Superdelegates can be bought. Superdelegates can be threatened. Superdelegates can be told they will have a primary if they are an elected official and don’t toe the mark. Superdelegates are not American voters.
Superdelegates EXIST because of a Barack Obama of another era. their job was to make certain that a candidate of dubious intent like Barack Obama would never be the democratic nominee again. Superdelegates have not done their job. Superdelegates just lost an election.
Furthermore, Barack Obama couldn’t even limp his own ass over the finish line, even after his sycophants took over, threatened and bullied themselves into a boatload of caucus delegates.
Barack obama is a lucky puppy that people didn’t actually get to vote in those states.
People who work during caucus can’t go to caucus. That means cops, nurses, firefighters and other people on shifts that are there to keep you and barack obama’s ass safe. College kids and welfare people can caucus at any time. COllege kids cut class to bus their pissant selves to caucuses in states they didn’t even live in, while their parents, who are paying for their education, were at work. Barack Obama, even though he couldn’t limp his ass over the finish line by his own inept, exhausted self, still couldn’t make it with all those caucus tricks. And please do not tell me this didn’t happen in caucuses. I call bullshit.
Barack Obama is dead meat by the time October rolls around, just like the losers before him. And it will be nobody’s fault by his own inept, cheating, lying thuggish self. He’s George McGovern on sterioids, with a sprinkle of the race card to help piss off the electorate.
So if Hillary had been ahead, it would have made sense for the superdelegate to nullify the vote of the people and endorse Obama ?
Sure, if that’s what the SDs saw. They are to use their judgment.
If neither candidate has truly won the needed delegates and the decision comes down to the SD’s, then the candidates should be viewed as essentially even. In this case, they were absolutely neck-and-neck. Had she gotten a fair deal on FL and MI, she’d have been so close in delegate count that it would have paved the way for her to make a clear and cogent argument that the states she won should be viewed as much more important than the delegates he won in red states.
However, she was 200 delegates or whatever behind. Not close enough to help the SDs make the decision to go her way.
Or at least that’s how I think it went down.
Pelosi was instrumental. She misinformed the public constantly. So did Brazile and Dean.
They abused their positions to set up a public perception that it was about nothing more than who was ahead in delegates.
See why many of us say it was rigged? That was not appropriate. That’s an abuse of power. And that was wrong.
So…disenfranchisement is just fine, as long as it’s done for the benefit of your candidate? Not sure how you can square that one.
I didn’t say that. I agree that the penalties were over-punative.
Personally? I felt that FL, especially, made a HUGE effort to meet the requirements to have the penalties lifted. Obama blocked, blocked, blocked.
But I thought FL met their obligation and, therefore, should have had their full vote restored.
Personally, I thought MI Dems did NOT work to find a solution. They were even offered money to hold a primary, and THEY worked with Obama to block it. Therefore, I would have been happy to see them have no seats at the convention.
But…..that’s idealism talking. There was no way the DNC committee would have been that bold.
They came up with a cockeyed plan that pleased nobody except Obama.
It’s all rather moot anyway; even if HRC had gotten all she claimed she was entitled to (and no, she was not entitled to all of the MI delegates), she’d still be short on pledged delegates. At the end of the day, that’s how the game is played, and that’s how Clinton played it - at least before Super Tuesday.
Yeah she really should have learned the art of cheating and bullying old ladies at caucuses. It would have helped a lot.
They are supposed to use their independent judgment (hint: the reason for their creation was to avoid a candidate that can’t win and/or pick the best President). You wouldn’t need SDs if there only purpose was to rubber stamp the election results.
Anyway, the so-called pledged delegate lead was tainted by the RBC ruling (illegal and against the DNC rules) and the caucus results. It was not very large.
Most reasonable people in situations where there is doubt to the validity of the delegates selection process, the margin is small and there was quite a lot of chicanery involved, would pick the popular vote leader. Another measure that SDs could use is the momentum of the candidates at the end of the nomination process. Clearly, who would want to choose if one is being logical, the candidate that is losing badly in most of the latter contests and limps across the finish line.
This was a fixed selection process. The DNC should be blown up and the nomination process severely changed (get rid of caucuses, get rid of the proportional delegate selection, have rotating regional primaries, get rid of open primaries and get rid of the SDs).
only in america can 2 entire states be treated this way, and then the most liberal tv people say “well, you broke the rules” - and then complain about fixed elections in other countries.
i’m furious over florida and michigan. but i live in texas, and i’m not too happy about that. we heard “the winner of the popular vote will get 2/3 of the delegates & the winner of the caucus will get 1/3 of the delegates”. then why did hillary win the primary by over 100,000 votes…she got 91 delegates & he got 92. isn’t that breaking the rules??? how is it fair that i have to vote once and then go caucus for hours? how is fair that my 94 year old grandmother can go vote in the primary, but she couldn’t caucus?
First, she got a fair deal in Florida i.e. the delegates she won. Yes, I know they are only given half-votes. So are Obama’s. Anyway, the RBC voted unanimously for that.
BTW, Republicans won 11 of the last 15 elections in Florida. If that does not qualify as a red state…
Look, I think that whoever is the Democrat in New York and California will win.
Second, Hillary said herself on radio that Michigan would not count in January. Of course, at that time, she thought that the election would be over by February 5 and that she would have won.
If she had protested the ruling of the DNC back in the summer of 2007, it would have been admirable.
Instead, she waited until she won both states to protest the disenfranchisement of voters. That made her an opportunist and I am charitable here.
In fact, only one person voted against the punishment of Florida and Michigan at the RBC meeting in 2007 and it was an Obama’s supporter.
At the RBC meeting, there was 3 resolutions: Clinton’s, Michigan Democratic Party and Obama’s.
The proposition made by the Michigan Democratic Party won the day 18-9, including some Clinton’s supporters.
They did used their judgement. They endorsed the candidate with the most states won, the most pledged delegates and the popular vote.
You know all this mess could have been cleared up if they had a revote in Florida and Michigan, but no
Sen. Obama knew he wouldn’t win so he found every
reason to block to revote what a coward, if he really
cared about the voters he would want their votes counted!!!!
He did not have the popular vote. The most states won is bull shit metric. The pledged delegate “lead” is suspect due to the MI and FL chicanery and the caucus and delegate proportionality. It is disenfranchising voters, giving some voters more say in the selection process and inviting fraud and abuse.
Obama was selected by the Party elite and the DNC to be the nominee. I don’t intend to be a part of a Party that does that and there is no difference between the two Parties at all.
I cannot believe that this is going on in this country. I keep thinking that something is going to happen and people will realize what a fraud he and Axelrod are. How did this happen?
Obama stopped the count jsut like he knocked Alice Palmer off the Ballot,most of his constiguents said they would not have played the dirty politics of knocking someone off the ballot so he had no opposition. He idd the same thing to MI & FL. Becaue she knew he didnt have a prayer in hell to win in a revote.Hillary owned those states.They say she went along with it she probably had to.Nut the MI & Fl voters were against it from the start and they voted and the votes were certified and Hillary won.They said that much on the news.Our electon was stolen from us and our nominee wa thrown under the bus by the DNC.The superdelgates joined the ranks with Obama and pushed Hillary out just like the news media.
Obama is a dirty crook.
He stole my vote. I will Never vote for this illegitimate candidate.
bastard candidate.
My vote is not a bargaining chip.
“MI was a different story. They really did bully their way in early.”
Excuse me AnninCa? It does not help us putting false memes out there when non residents of MI and FL misstate what actually happened. Since I am from MI this statement is off base.
NEVADA was supposed to go SECOND, but it was NH that leapfrogged over them, blatantly insisting on maintaining their ‘Go 2nd’ status. Which broke the established lineup and pissed off MI party leaders. Even the odious Brewer had this to say because of what New Hampshire did in breaking the rules first:
The DNC & RBC remained silent for weeks if they were going to punish NH, and follow their own rules of automatic punishments. They didn’t, they didn’t say shit and kept everyone in the dark. Funny business was also happening with SC at the time which was factored in on Michigan’s decision to be forced to challenge the DNC & RBC. Michigan was provoked enough to finally take action. Somebody had to. Of the original 4 states only Nevada stuck to the date assigned to them even though they had lost their supposed placement guarantee to go second because of NH, and having NH being in collusion with SC (& SC Repubs). NH & SC were the arrogant bullies, not Michigan.
The bottom line is that the DNC should not be disenfranchising any citizen voters at any time whatsoever. And they think I’m going to bother trusting them or vote in any more of their primaries ever again, after a lifetime of voting Dem? Not hardly. They can kiss my PUMA ass.
Meanwhile, thanks to Susan I’m thrilled to see a new site has gone up for Michigan and have contacted them already. I sure hope some new lawsuits are generated just for the principle of the matter that the RBC/DNC cabal has to defend the indefensible on many fronts. I want to also thank you for alerting us to the new Native Americans against Obama group. I signed right up as I do have a tribal card.
Back in May, I observed a similarity to Gore vs. Bush and Obama:
“Obama’s May 20 Bash: A Cynical Replay of Election Night 2000 (with update)”
http://insightanalytical.wordpress.com/2008/05/12/obamas-may-20-bash-a-cynical-replay-of-election-night-2000/
with some good research pertaining to the actual event when Bush’s cousin helped FOX….
50 State Vote for McCain..that will send a huge message to the DNC who broke the rules by amending them to their will…I say…give McCain victory in all 50 states and vote very Democratic who supports him out of office when the election states..we can live with a four year lame duck of McCain and get a Real American Democratic in office in 2012! Only voice the voters have is in the voting booth…
PS..I believe Larry Sinclair-Obama Gay Sex and Drugs
http://larrysinclair.org/
Susan, thanks for reporting on this…I have been out of town for several days and need to catch up. Someone, on another thread, spoke about HuffPo and how people are going nuts over there. I decided to check it out, for the first time in 3 to 4 months. I could not believe the change. Huge drop in number of responses and more criticism of O than praise. Lots of buyer’s remorse expressed. What a mess we are in. The DNC got rid of the only truly qualified person for this? Disgusting.