Another Rift in the Democratic Party?
By LisaB on August 8, 2008 at 9:10 AM in Barack Obama, Civil Rights, Congressional Black Caucus, Current Affairs, DNC, Democratic National Convention, Democratic Party, Democratic Platform, Donna Brazile, Howard Dean
On Tuesday, The Austin American-Statesman had an interesting article about a rift in the Democratic Party. Not the one you think.
. . .an increasingly nasty lawsuit against the DNC, brought by Donald Hitchcock after he was fired as the party’s gay and lesbian outreach director, has exposed the rift between gays and one of the party’s most important constituencies, African Americans.
As an outsider to both groups, it seemed to me that the LGBT groups were looking for recognition, participation and a guaranteed voice in DNC matters. Many consider this a civil rights issue. While the use of the term “civil rights” seems to offend some AA groups, it does not necessarily look as if “civil rights” is the driving factor in what follows.
In my read of the available materials, the issue is power. Powerful AAs in the Democratic party want to keep that power in AA hands. An example of this was the recent election in Alabama of Patricia Todd, the first openly gay state legislator. In a race for the seat of a retiring AA legislator, with no Republican opponent, the Democratic primary would decide who held the seat.
Five people ran and the vote was close enough to force a run-off between the top two vote-getters - Todd, a white gay woman, and Gaynell Hendricks, an AA woman. The run-off was decided in favor of Todd by 59 votes out of 2287.
From Wikipedia:
[Todd's] run-off victory was challenged by her opponent’s mother-in-law, who claimed that Todd had received “illegal votes” and had filed a campaign finance report late.[4] That report contained information – a $25,000 contribution from the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and payments to two of her primary opponents – that opponents charged could have affected the outcome.
It was widely reported[5] that the contest centered around the question of race. Todd is white, and the outgoing legislator, like the majority of the district, is black. Many of the state’s African-American political leaders were apparently eager to keep the seat in black hands.[6]
A sub-committee of the Alabama Democratic Party (ADP) met to decide the contest and voted 5–0 to disqualify both Todd and her opponent, on the basis of what the ADP Chairman Joe Turnham called an “archaic party by-law”.[7] The by-law had not only been superseded by the 1988 Fair Campaign Practices Act but had not been followed by any candidate running for any office since 1988, including candidates for governor. It also emerged that the by-law was in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act and may well actually have been repealed.[8]
Following sustained pressure and newspaper editorials criticising the judgement,[9], the State Democratic Executive Committee voted on 26 August to overturn the sub-committee’s ruling by a vote of 95–87. According to press reports, the voting was “mostly along racial lines”.[5]
Footnotes at Wikipedia will take you to original articles, some of which are no longer available.
The NYT had this to say at the time:
The challenge was brought by Ms. Hendricks’s mother-in-law. But it was tacitly supported by Joe L. Reed, a longtime Democratic kingmaker and the party’s vice chairman of minority affairs. Mr. Reed had urged voters to support Ms. Hendricks, and at one point the Alabama Democratic Conference, a black political organization that he is chairman of, gave a check to cover the $3,000 fee needed to bring the challenge in case Ms. Hendricks missed the deadline. He also controlled the subcommittee; three of the five members were drawn from a pool of Mr. Reed’s appointees.
“This is really not about race,” Ms. Todd said in a telephone interview as she traveled to Montgomery for the hearing. “This is about Joe Reed controlling the party and trying to get his way, and he’s just a bully.”
Mr. Reed disagreed. “She doesn’t even know me,’’ he said, “so she wouldn’t be in any position to know. This is not about lifestyles; this is not about race. This is about whether she complied with the party rules.”
The Times seems to suggest the issue may have been race, but LGTB groups saw sexual orientation as the issue.
The WaPo reported the eventual outcome this way:
The Alabama Democratic Party Executive Committee voted 95-87 on Saturday to reject that decision. Party chairman Joe Turnham said no candidate has filed a disclosure report with the party since 1988.
The vote, which pitted vice chairman Joe Reed, a powerful black political leader, against other party officials, fell mostly along racial lines.
Prior to the Todd election, the DNC’s director of outreach to the gay community, Donald Hitchcock, was fired after his domestic partner, Paul Yandura, wrote a letter criticizing DNC chair Howard Dean to gay Democrats.
Hitchcock sued the DNC alleging discrimination. During the course of the lawsuit, the Todd election and other issues between the LGBT community and the AA community surfaced.
According to the Washington Blade:
Yandura’s open letter to gay Democrats in 2006 came shortly after reports surfaced that some members of the DNC Black Caucus opposed a proposal by gay DNC member Garry Shay of California to add gays to the party’s affirmative action guidelines for selecting delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
According to documents obtained by the Blade, Daughtry allegedly led a vigorous effort to thwart the plan.
Leah Daughtry, Dean’s chief of staff and long time party operative, is an AA woman who is also a pentecostal minister.
Shay’s proposal called for a DNC rule change that would require all state parties to set goals for selecting a minimum number of gay delegates, much in the same way that delegate quotas exist for African Americans, Latinos, Asian-Pacific Islanders, Native Americans and women.
Here’s where Donna Brazile comes in. Apparently she supported the change as long as it was voluntary, not required. Why might she do this?
The New York Daily News reported that Brazile, a member of the DNC Black Caucus, was among the Democrats who were concerned that Shay’s proposal could result in fewer black delegates attending the convention.
Not surprisingly, some information has come forth - from YouTube. The first clip is from the beginning of the Dean deposition. The second concerns the Shay proposal.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LprQ-LOkucE[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aD0ANgN36z8&[/youtube]
So, while this may or may not directly impact every NQ reader, it is instructive. Any group with power and a guaranteed voice is not likely to share that without a fight. In this case, it appears the main objection to full inclusion of the LGBT community in the Democratic party relates more to a potential loss of power than even race or sexual orientation, although those go hand-in-hand when people are grouped this way. But ultimately, it’s about power - and keeping it. Naturally, to the LGBT community, it is a denial of their rights.
Ironic from a civil rights standpoint, but predictable from a human one, and the Democratic Party is showing the strain. However, I’ll just bet the calculation within the upper echelons is that the LGBT community will just have to hold on. Where else can they go, right?? Well, maybe the Log Cabin Republicans, in a pinch?
If you are a student of irony, this is good. The Todd election was initially reversed based on a rule not enforced for nearly 20 years because it was superseded by the 1988 Fair Campaign Practices Act. The rule was also in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act and may have been repealed to boot. The panel that ruled the Todd election void based on this discriminatory rule was majority AA and appointed by Joe Reed, the vice chairman of minority affairs for the Democratic party in Alabama.
In the end, is this a racial issue, a gay / straight issue or simply about power? Yes, to varying degrees and individuals, it is about all of the above. However, it is clearly about keeping power in the hands of established Democratic operatives. In this case, those operatives are AA. Would the outcome be the same if the gay participants were also AA? Hard to say - in that case, other issues, like gay / straight tensions or religious ones, might have more influence. Would a gay AA win over a straight white person in a traditionally AA district? I have no idea.
In today’s political climate, with AA presidential candidate BO promising a “post-racial” inclusive administration, this issue is particularly poignant. How the Democratic Party handles this and how the AA community responds to the challenge of the LGBT community will be interesting, to say the least.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::
NoQuarterUSA Action Of The Day: We ask that you take part in the I Own My Vote Virtual Platform Committee Meeting now! It takes five minutes. Click here to start. If you have not yet signed the pledge, click here to do so.
What will Reid and Pelosi do wher Preznit Obama forces them out?
The perils of identity politics.
The chickens are coming home to roost for the idiots who run the DNC.
This is what happens when you label yourself as a party of whom, instead of a party of what.
BINGO SAL….This is why the Left hate the centrist ( Clintons ) as much as the Right GOP……I mean after all they did the impossible in the 90’s…Moved the party after it’s factional ID Infighting quagmire and did what FDR did….
Economy first…..The rest follows….
Exactly. And of course no one wants to talk about any AA politician’s problem with the ‘down-low’ nor the Latino issue. AAs need to get their house more in order before they start waving their fingers under my nose.
I don’t own nor did my familiy every own and slaves. Period.
I don’t look down on our Brown sisters and brothers nor our friends, some of which are mine, from the growing LGBT Army.
Fuck Obana for his dog-whistling to the black church and whites who hate Teh Gay.
A Citizen
Absolutely correct! I agree. The Lesbian and Gay issue will haunt the DNC. If the (ex)Democratic Party is truly to hold onto its values, then it can’t throw the Gays under its fuming Bus! No matter how much the black community may wish this.
The AA community has more in common with the Republicans in treating the Gays in the same shameful fashion the AfricanAmericans were treated in the 60s before MLK came in the picture and Lyndon Johnson’s legislation. Kennedy would not have voted it in w/o Johnson!
THE GAYS ARE A LEGITIMATE GROUP NOW OPPRESSED BY THE AFRICAN AMERICANS WHO THEMSELVES WERE OPPRESSED. FULLL CIRCLE ON THE STUPIDITY OF THE DNC.
THE DNC CHICKENS HAVE COME HOME TO ROOST
YOU GO MR. HITCHCOCK. SUE THE HELL OUT OF SCREAMER DEAN AND HIS GANG OF PSEUDO-DEMOCRAT THUGS WORSHIPING CHICAGO SEWER POLITICIAN BARACK HUSSEN OBAMA
Interesting that the “post-racial” candidate’s ascendancy has brought so much racial politics to the forefront. To some extent, it must have been there all along - however I can’t help but think that BHO’s tone-deafness on this matter (as on many others) has exacerbated the the problem.
More disturbing to me are the actions and responses of his campaign shock troops: their scorched-earth tactics towards Hillary in the primary season has created a permanent rift in the Democratic party, whether they like it or not. The actions of Axelrod, Brazile, Dean and Pelosi have deeply damaged the Democratic party and their effects will be felt long after the convention or, indeed, this year’s election.
Roseeriter
and
Craigdp
Tahnk you for expressing exactly what I feel about the ignominious behavior of the DNC. After their Hillary-bashing with assistance from the misogynist media frat-boys’ antics that pushed him to a fraudulent “finish” line, what next? This is truly a Permanent Rift and the “scorched earth” tactics will NOT ever be forgotten by those who witnessed day after day and night on their so-called “news” channels.
Why cannot a Third Party (Puma) be born after this. If it weren’t for the third party in Canada, (NDP–new democratic party) they wouldn’t have accomplished thier progressive legislative achiements:
Universal Health Care (similary to HIllary’s)
since 1965.
Gender fullEquality Rights. Since 1982 constitutionally entrenched. Women have equal rights while ERA is struggling still.
A third party make sure complacency never sets in. If one of the 2, say, major parties has a minority position while governing, then a Confidence Motion by a third party that refuses to support them, means ELECTION! And the minority govering party won’t chance it!
Go Pumas
The slice and dice of the corrupted DNC. PUMAs saw it happening. It is so black and white. Very clear and obvious to Independent thinkers. Can’t have unity when half the democratic party has been thrown under the bus.
So true, I am unsure the party will ever be the same I think It will take years for it to happen. Possibly another Bill Clinton or FDR. We could be waiting a while.
http://nativeamericansagainstobama.wordpress.com/
________________________________________
Gee….Sen. Clinton was reminding me more and more of both FDR and Truman…..
LIsa B…What a great article. Thanks. I agree with you about the factional infighting. Hispanics and AA’s have been engaged in similar fighting both regionally and nationally for years. AA’s have worked hard to gain political influence and of course they don’t want to see this chipped away by competing groups like Hispanics, Asians, and other ethinc minorities. The difference with Gays is of course the added component of MORAL JUDGEMENT BASED ON RELIGIOUS/CULTURAL BIGOTRY. It is interesting that AA’s as a political force find themselves acting like the dreaded….CRACKER MAN….LOL….Trying to hang on to their little bit of power at all costs…..Of course any student of recent American History knows the ending…In a Democracy the fringe group fighting a just cause for Civil Rights will prevail….Ghandi prevailed against an EMPIRE and MLK patterned his movement after Ghandi’s….
Gays and Women are the last groups still fighting for EQUALITY.
interesting that the last people fighting for equality are doing so because of sexuality and gender.
Gee…..Typical I would say….aaaaaand both of these groups are singled out for torture and murder…..around the world no matter what their race, culture or religion is……No ?
ANIMAL FARM! the aa’s have power and are now acting like the ones they battled for power with civil rights as a tool. only now they are on the other side and twice as hypocritical.
Ok so how do I rationalize this
I’m not Gay and I’m not Black and I DON’T FEEL WELCOME AT THE DNC OR IN THEIR PARTY!!
I couldn’t even go to Log Cabin in a pinch.
I’ll just stay UNA until my UNA’s BLEED!
lol seriously is there ANYONE left the DNC has NOT thrown under the bus?
besides elites, dumb kids & AA’s?
Remember when Hispanics were marching for Immigration Rights….and the AA politicians were coming out in droves ( at least in Texas ) to support their brothers on TeeVee……I never laughed so hard at the Phony Unity show….
Yeah We’re SOLID….Until you outnumber me or get to big a slice o’ my Political Pie…LOL…….sheeesh!
Well, Obama has also thrown AA’s under the bus, some of them just don’t realize it yet. Rev Wright went under, Jesse Jackson appears a wee bit annoyed, and Al Sharpton didn’t enjoy being critisized over the Bell protests. There’s those people in Chicago who went without heat. There’s Tavis Smiley who got death threats. There’s black superdelegates who were being threatened. Lot’s of black people under this bus, too.
Obama really is just all about Obama. That’s who he plans to represent if he’s elected.
You are not gay, you are not black but you are a woman and women were the firsts thrown under the bus… and you didn’t know that.
Hmmmm…..How many decades did women have to wait for the right to vote after the Emancipation Of AA Males ?…….5 I think….sumpin’ like that….
I hope you Hillary supporters don’t ruin my and my fellow Obama supporters Convention. All we want from you is to drag your sorry selves to the polls in November and vote for Obama. Do you think you could at least do that ? Meanwhile let the big boys lead.
BoboBolinski…
Can you tell me the reasons that you support Sen Obama for president-and please try to be specific and give examples where applicable.
Thank you…
Gawd you’re a real comedian. It ain’t goin’ to happen.
NOBAMA EVER!
Shouldn’t you be praying for unity?
LOL - typical Obamabot. Denigrating us WHILE demanding we vote for Oblahma.
Dems for McCain - no Hussein!
that is child’s talk, anchovy. Better go back to your sandbox.
“your” convention? that is typical, isn’t it? it is not yours, obamas, or anyone elses.
HA–obobo will be in jail in november, having lied to the american public about who he is.
WOAH, BoboBolinski, you ass wipe. It is neither your nor Obama’s convention. It is the Democratic convention. The audacity of your myopothy!
New category of troll: The OC troll (OC=Operation Chaos). This is obviously a Repub who relishes in sowing discord and is marching to Rush Limbaugh’s little tune.
YUP- They’re as sick in the head as the Obobobots
BoboBolinski:
Some troll, didn’t you just call your candidate a “boy”?
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Robbedvoter/SunMoon/?action=view¤t=thatsracistgm7.gif
I only know 1 person voting for barry, that’s because he’s a TEAMSTER OFFICIAL and Obama promised to remove Gov’t oversight and leave the workers without protection from their UNION.
It is comments like yours that make us even more convienced it will be a cold day in HELL before I carry my Ass to the voting both and select your boy… MCCAIN MCCAIN MCCAIN MCCAIN MCCAIN CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW??????????????????? NEVER BO… HE IS NOT WORTHY OF THE JOB AS PRESIDENT!
http://www.hillaryloylistnowformccain.com
ROFL! That’s so funny BoboBolinski it must be satire. Nobody could seriously post something so silly.
Hey Bobo,
You need to read up on your leaders platform.
Bobo,
“Your” convention? “Obama supporters’” convention?
It’s the frakking DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S convention. And in case you hadn’t heard, more Democrats support Hillary Clinton than Barry Soetoro. Does that put a damper on the Nazi rally you’ve planned for Mile High?
I sure hope you and your fellow fascist Obama supporters don’t spoil my frakking FREE DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY!
Oh, and we’ll be “dragging” our “sorry selves” to vote in November, but no way in Hell will it ever be for your worthless sack of shit excuse for a candidate.
wishful thinking you are! Do you really think American people are that stupid to vote for this fraud?
BoBoBolinski Please tell me who in the Hell died and “gave” you Obama supporters the party. Come to think of it though…………it’s so BAD that you and the Obama Supporters deserve it!!! Thank goodness I had the forsight to Leave it to you!!!!
Geez….it is utterly ridiculous that the MSM, Obama, and his supporters are acting like honoring this Convention tradition is somehow rude and whiny.
Obama having probelms asking the last Democratic President to speak at the Convention. Makes me wonder just how weak he is on A LOT of levels.
It is obvious that Bill Clinton would speak…it is obvious that Hillary should speak with her name in nomination.
To drag his feet on the obvious to try and inflict more damage on the Clintons via the MSM. Shows poor character and an ungracious winner and disrespect to the party he claims to lead.
well you can rest assured we will do our best to disappoint you.
“Barrack’s my Big Boy, Mommy!” shrieked Stanley Anne to the weeping Madelyn. “Really, really Big! Bigger then Pappy! Barrack’s going to lead me.”
Hillary supporters are going to spoil yours and fellow Obama supporters’ convention? I thought it was the convention for ALL Democrats!!! You think you won’t need Hillary’s 18 million votes because Obama is going to get all those Republican votes and win the red states? Well good luck to you… you’re certainly going to need it!
OMG…have you guys seen this???
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/washington-whispers/2008/8/7/one-nation-under-a-new-obama-salute.html
an obama salute?
hey, if they want to call him a big zero thats ok by me!
that’s about the 5th time it’s been advertised on this blog
and I still think it’s disgusting so NO thanks I won’t look at the big stupid O again
sorry it disgusts me
Maybe that’s to measure phallux symbols. So stupid.
roflol!
ohhhhhhh lawdy
It seems i have seen that salute before. Oh, yeah. Battlestar Galactica.
Continue.
RFLMAO….THE BIG ORIFICE SALUTE…..chuckle…..how fitting….
That’s odd. I have a salute for Obama and it doesn’t look anything like that.
The Obama Handjob Salute, soon to slide over the NBC peacock.
Obama and his campaign are becoming pornographic.
BoboBolinski:
You’re right about one thing: you and “the big O” are definitely “BOYS”. McCain and his team are the men. Now go out and play (with yourself)!
The whole party needs to really crash and burn… we need to form a peoples party for real Americans what the dems used to be. We need to form a PUMA PARTY. They the radical liberal AA’s can have the Dem party find their own resources and we all can be done with them. We are better off with The Republicans than putting up with this BS. Vote McCain turn the country red teach the elite idiots a lesson they will never forget. MCCAIN NATION IN NOV! Country First!
http://www.hillaryloyalistnowformccain.com
BoBoAsswipe,
You need to get your head out of your “Big Boy” ass. Your Convention? Give me a friggin break.
And isn’t Donna Brazile gay? Why is she not fighting more for gay rights? I cannot stand that woman.
JUST SAY NO TO BLACK LIBERATION MARXIST THEOLOGY
NO OBAMA
MCCAIN 2008 OR UNTIL HILLARY RISES
yes, brazile is a lesbian.
Commissar Donna Brazeal….chuckle….Is an AA Lesbian who is also Catholic.
Alot of conflicts in that persona….chuckle…I’m sure she and Barry have lots to chat about….LOL
Leah Daughtry, is also a minister and is in charge of the convention operations. Earlier in the year, the NYT did an article on how she was bringing the faith-based elements into the convention and the party and, in turn, the election. Since then, she has been the subject of more NYT articles. She is the head of the DNC’s “religious outreach.” Question: is this discrimination against lesbians and gays a “faith-based” strategy? Do the black churches embrce the lesbian and gay community? When you start to add up the groups that have been “excluded” from the Dems “big tent,” including the Clinton Dems, does it form a realistic, viable, base for a new third party? Donna Brazile’s retort to unhappy Dems –”Stay home!” — and Obama’s “Get over it!” are still hanging in the air. It might be too late to reclaim the Democratic Party given the number of deeply entrenched operatives … the DNC bureucracy that brought Obama to power could very well be a long-term fixture. But, if more of the base continues to be excluded, the question asked regarding the LGBT community — “Where else can they go, right?” — could very well be answered by a new third party. After all, when your family disowns you and organizes against you, isn’t it more empowering to start a new family?
Somebody should post a guard at Darwin’s Grave..chuckle….
LOL! It might be too late for that as well!
well how are they going to run the dnc when the lose and contributions dry up. even brazile has to eat. hehehehe
This story reminds me of the drive in Illinois by Oabama and other black pols to address an increasing Hispanic community by pledging to stop them from picking up seats in the House.
Basil,
Yes, I am sure that is a little thing he did not address when he spoke with LaRaza. I think it needs to be put into a television ad aimed towards the hispanic voters.
JUST SAY NO TO BLACK LIBERATION MARXIST THEOLOGY
NO OBAMA
MCCAIN 2008 OR UNTIL HILLARY RISES
As outlined in a letter sent to the DNC by the Donald Hitchcock’s attorney, Tara Jensen, the following was stated:
Note the comment from the DNC Attorney telling the female attorney to “know her place” and not to contradict the male attorney, and he spit in her face.
The “new” Democratic Party and Obama treat all women like second class citizens.
FASCIST IS AS FASCIST DOES……nuff said…..
This incident never took place. But it sure makes good press if you’re Donald Hitchcock.
Which reminds me: Who is paying Hitchcock’s legal bills if he’s out of work? The GOP?
Oh this just gets better and better. And it will really hit the fan after Labor day. If the BO camp thought it was rough going in the primary or this summer, be prepared for the perfect storm this fall.
Phase 2 after the Obama loss in Nov is who, when, where; who drives the bus, when do they drive it over people, and whom is thrown under the bus and by whom? And where do the Dems go after all that carnage?
Does anyone know off-hand how many on the DNC Rules Committee are AA? I remember there were a lot of black faces, but I don’t remember if they represented the majority. Could that partially explain why they were so intent on preserving Barack’s delegate lead?
the aa community has become very anti gay as of late the rap lyrics re virulently anti gay. if u r gay lesb. bi. or tg there is now only romm for u under the dnc bus! hilly 0c or mcain 08. clinton 2012!!!
Gotta love the way pliantiff’s attorney called him “Mr. Dean”. The needle.
Whoa - I campaigned hard for Howard Dean in 03-04 (yyyeeeeaaaahhhhh) until he dropped out. I then worked to help get him elected to DNC Chairman by getting many friends and family members to write and call influential people. I feel so let down by this so called “leader” I am now so disappointed in Dean and would like to know what has been protected by request of the DNC (homophobia perhaps). Note: Thank you Donald for going after this lawsuit on civil rights and exposing the Black Caucus for who they are – power hungry and unwilling to be fair to fellow Americans also discriminated against. I know the struggle that African Americans have been through but skin color folks aren’t the only kinfolk that look out for your back. If you don’t have our back we don’t have yours.
Dean has chosen sides and hurt this party. He should have insisted as Chairman for equal treatment and made seating delegates of LGBT people mandatory. But alas the black caucus was too powerful and power hungry and did I mention homophobic to have that.
What this has done is destroy the integrity of this Democratic Party.
To hell with the DNC and Donna Brazile.
I will punish them with my vote for McCain. At least I know he isn’t a shyster cheater and liar like the Presumptuous presumptive BS or BHO. Which is it? We don’t even know.
maybe not having dean on the ticket and winning the wh was a gift and we didn’t know it. i too wanted dean to get the chair of the dnc and boy was i ever mistaken.
Lesbian, gay and transgendered Americans should join the PUMA party. Screw the DNC!
Sure, because Republicans are so much better on LGBT issues than Democrats…right?
debbie: What’s your point? If you think all Pumas are for McCain, you are misinformed.
debbie, don’t be a ditz
the bottom line is “debbie”, democrats claim to be for the little guy and the forgotten mistreated women. the fact is they aren’t so screw them.
I am absolutely spell-bound watching the Democratic party (my party) implode. I can’t think of a more deserving bunch of morons. It is so pathetic to witness discrimination of one group, the LGBT, being perpetrated by the AA group. What is not acknowledged is the long standing historical bias the AA group has always had for the other, usually sanctioned by religion. Not saying that this bias is not rife in other groups, but it seems especialy deep seated in this one. Obama really thinks that by a wave of his magic wand, he can bring the Gay hating group and the Gays together under his celestial banner. Of course, he is as wrong on this issue as he is on virtually everything else. Unless Hillary is resurrected in Denver, we deserve to loose. Only she can reunite us.
http://www.politico.com/playbook/
Well I do not believe one thing Obama says or what his surrogates say he supports. Including Hillary. She is towing the party line, being a good girl and carrying Obama’s apple cart. She is trying to prove that she is not divisive, as Obama and his surrogates painted her throughout the primary. I just get angry thinking about this…
Anyway, there are words and then there are actions…
McCain has more women on his staff, they are paid more and have higher positions than Obama’s staff.
Words vs deeds…
poor hillary! i feel sorry for her having to pander to that pathetic axx.
It doesn’t matter. The DNC, for telling large segments of their base to “Stay home on election day.” (Brazile to HRC supporters) or “Get over it.” (Obama to HRC supporters, that DNC needs to be taught a lesson. Rewarding their horrific behavior with a vote in November is just plain dumb. It will only encourage them to behave badly again. Dangling buzz words in front of the women voters like carrots on a stick is shameful. My party needs to clean up its act. Obama dragged it into the gutter and he expects to win from that position because “it’s the Chicago way.” It’s not enough for him to be President. He wants total control of the party.
I am not sure this is about identity politics as much as it is about power.
If a majority of gays and lesbians voted for Obama in the Primary (though instead they voted for Clinton at nearly 70% on average), then, of course Brazile would be pushing for LGBT inclusion in the affirmative action for convention delegates.
My theory is that Brazile and the DNC planned to play the race card against the Clintons, knew that AAs would be a strategic demographic during this Primary (thus AA heavy districts were also weighted to get more delegates), and this issue with Hitchcock and the Shay Amendment reflects that Brazile and the DNC would do anything to prevent any erosion of the AA delegate number.
Hmmmm…..I beg to differ…..This has been goin on a while…imho
workingclass artist - maybe it’s a combination of both motives.
i think one of the undercurrents of the fight for gays to have equal rights is because they’re not a visible minority, and that’s why some of the AA leadership is making an issue of this.
Maybe….But when the Centrists ( Clinton et, al ) gained the political edge in the 90’s…..The party began to shift center. This was important because the Centrists ( at that time called the New Democrats which is a name Commissar Brazeal has shamefully HIJACKED ) were trying to resurrect the FDR formula….Economy First and the rest will follow. Of course this means that ID agendas for all ID political factions take a back seat. The GOP was pissed because they had been taking advantage of the ID Turmoil and using it to unify their own factions under the great Fear banner……Aaaaaaaand….Lo & Behold…..WJC and his centrists pulled it off.
GOP never forgave FDR for being economically savvy….They would love to return to HOOVERVILLE…..Aaaaaand here comes another Democrat who understands the economy…..OH MY !
*** The first people that turned on WJC during Monica BS were those GOP Goosteppers ( predictable )….Aaaaaaand the Democratic Left who want the party to return to the ID Political Fringe cause it helps them get re-elected…..***
animal farm revisited.
Sounds like the black caucus yields a lot of dirty politics. We saw that in the primary with anyone who defied the AA candidate who was themselves AA. We now have a corrupt candidate and a corrupt DNC. Power corrupts absolutely, as the saying goes, even in the hands of those who deny they have it.
Leah Daughtry, Chairwoman of the Democratic Convention, and Pentacostal Minsiter has been committing Tax Fraud in the District….
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-belonsky/leah-daughtry-has-been-up_b_83328.html