Dionne: Friends May Seal Clinton's Fate

[cali]

By E. J. Dionne

WASHINGTON -- Hillary Clinton is talking as if the battle over seating disputed delegations from Florida and Michigan at the Democratic National Convention is the greatest crisis for democracy since the 2000 Florida recount.

Her rhetoric flies in the face of intensive efforts by members of the party's rules committee to settle the delegate battle with a compromise that would likely guarantee the nomination for Barack Obama. Ending the struggle quickly depends on whether the rules committee's peacemakers succeed in their work.

Clinton's chances of winning are slim, partly because some of her own supporters believe the contest is over. They see the clash over Michigan and Florida as futile for Clinton and destructive to the party.

<snip>

Because of this, Clinton could see some of her own supporters defect on a rules vote rather than risk a party split. In an interview, Don Fowler, a South Carolina committee member who supports Clinton, stated his own view very carefully: "I'm inclined to support the Clinton position, but that's not a carte blanche." Without endorsing rules committee efforts to split the differences, Fowler noted "an inclination to reach a compromise."

<snip>

The heat of Clinton's rhetoric threatens to end an informal cease-fire she and Obama have observed in recent weeks, and some Democrats fear it presages a fight to the convention. It may thus fall to Clinton's own supporters on the rules committee to force her to accept a settlement. By picking this fight, Clinton may guarantee that her defeat is sealed not by her enemies, but by her friends.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/05/friends_may_seal_clintons_fate.html

This is an excellent, factual opinion piece.

[FrenchieCat]

1. I'm bookmarking for tomorrow morning.

Thank you!

[cali]

2. FC, what's happening tomorrow morning?

[phrigndumass]

3. Good read, cali ... K/R

Democrats should not, and will not, let her tear this party apart.

:thumbsup:

[FSogol]

4. K& R n/t

[H2O Man]

5. This fits together well

with your other post I saw this morning. People who have supported her campaign, including in the RBC, have been telling her campaign that it is important for her to accept the committee's proposed ruling. There is far more going on behind the scenes than the media is reporting.

[cali]

6. true, Waterman, but the clues are pretty darn obvious

and a lot of people don't seem to see them. Sometimes I honestly think people prefer the most dire scenario.

[H2O Man]

10. Right.

I think that if people are paying attention, and combining information from a number of sources, then it is pretty obvious what is going on. But even some intelligent, interested people do not have the time to do that. I am basing this on something that I think was interesting: recently, I've become friends with a guy who teaches at a local school. During our discussions on the elections, I've quoted from a number of books that I've read this year. And he said that he feels frustrated, because he has so little time to read books.

He teaches full-time, coaches sports, and has a young family. And he attends some local political events, including one of my recent presentations at a local university. I saw him again recently at a picnic, and he said that he had given a lot of thought to the things I had said, and that they made sense.

Often, it is a matter of presenting information in a different sequence than people are used to processing it in. More, those who read can have a huge advantage, in having access to even one or two "missing links" that the media does not present to the public.

[AspenRose]

25. That's very true.

eom

[Life Long Dem]

7. If it's such a crisis

why did she approve of it? Is this another one of her authorizations into war?

[Rene]

8. If they mainipulate for obama......it's a write-in campaign for Hillary

[rateyes]

9. I'm with you. Don't manipulate the rules for anyone....

let's live with the rules that both campaigns agreed to before the race began.

[indimuse]

22. but they already manipulated the roolz for

IA NH and SC they gave them a waiver...but are punishing FL and MI! why?

[rateyes]

24. Because FL moved without seeking a waiver,

and wouldn't have gotten one had they asked. Ask Hillary why she agreed to those rules before she decided not to agree.

[gal]

32. They did not manipulate the rules for those 4 states...they are the rules.

There is a reason on why they want those states to go first, they want to give a representation of the little states and minorities a voice in the process BEFORE the big states come in and make / break the nominees. This is all out there on the internet ...research it if you really want to know the TRUE story.

[roseBudd]

11. bye bye roe v. wade

[Tesha]

12. To ensure that you lose (on many levels), ehh? (NT)

[cali]

13. I'm sorry, but politics at this level is about manipulation. You don't

think both candidates haven't been trying to manipulate people and events to their advantage? ack. Obama isn't doing anything to bull and embarass Hillary. The voting will continue, but it's over. And childish threats are silly.

[Forkboy]

21. Have fun storming the castle!

[undeterred]

14. Imagine if she had the same passion for fairness

over what happened in the elections of 2000 and 2004. People might take her as serious instead of selfish now.

[cali]

15. I am convinced that if Hill had voted against the IWR

she'd be the nominee. Obama would never have run. She made a decision out of political expediency and she's paying for it. She deserves to.

[DevonRex]

20. You are absolutely correct. And I would have supported her fully.

On another note, Cali, there was a poster who was tombstoned yesterday that you and a couple of others recognized as a troll from the start. I didn't read his entire looonnngggg post but welcomed him and told him not to pay attention to the idiots. (I had been a repub when I was very young and stupidly voted like my parents did.)

I just want to let you know that I was talking about the couple of HC supporters I saw at the top of the thread who kind of laid into him.

[jakem]

16. oh, i misunderstood your thread title!

thought tht was odd...

[Aloha Spirit]

29. ha! get nancy reagan on the phone.

[flpoljunkie]

17. In Boca, Hillary went so far as to say each vote cast was a "prayer for our nation."

The Clinton campaign could not have chosen a better place to raise the issue of counting votes than Century Village, the first of three South Florida stops Wednesday. In November 2000, the sprawling condo complex of about 10,000 residents was one of the voting places worst affected by the "butterfly ballot" fiasco in Palm Beach County. Many elderly voters ended up voting accidentally for Reform Party candidate Pat Buchanan.

"Here in Florida you learned the hard way when your votes aren't counted and the candidate with the fewer votes is declared the winner," she said. The lesson was "crystal clear," she added: "Our democracy is diminished."

She went on to compare the decision in Florida not to count the disputed ballots in 2000 with the current debate over the 2008 primary results. "The votes should not be thrown away on a technicality," she said.

Counting votes in the primary was "just as important" as votes cast on election day in November, she said. Clinton sought to cast the issue in the most profound moral terms, saying each vote cast is a "prayer for our nation."

http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/national/article518485.ece

[Barack_America]

18. I honestly don't remember Hillary fighting for the 2000 recount.

Can somebody fill me in on what I apparently missed?

I thought that I followed it pretty closely. Obviously not...

[doublethink]

19. She didn't but if she feels so strongly about election reform now .....

President Obama should appoint her to some kind of position dealing with that after Jan 20th 2009.

[flpoljunkie]

30. Your photo signature is something else!

[doublethink]

34. Yeah I've got kinda attached the the little thing ......

and am gonna miss it when Hillary finally gives in .....

NOT

;) .....


Note: I know Hillary is a big fan of the Wizard of Oz from childhood so ...... it's still appropriate for now. Peace.

[Inuca]

26. What I saw of that speech was unbelievable

I happened upon it by chance, and I continued watching mesmerized and not believing my own ears. As Dionne says "Clinton is leaving no incendiary metaphor behind in tying her personal interests to an argument for democracy". It was CRASS.

[otohara]

23. What Does This Mean?

The popular vote understates the weight of states that held caucuses and has no formal role in the nomination process.

And why doesn't the Clinton camp ever mention Colorado when talking about caucuses?

[jonestonesusa]

27. We can only hope the headline comes true.

Thanks for the post...

[suston96]

28. Absolutely - counting all 50 states in the nominating process would destroy......

.....what the Democratic Party stands for. Rules are rules.

And if the rules say that the DNC will decide which states count then that is what democracy is all about. Screw those 2.3 million Democrats who voted in Michigan and Florida.

Screw the Democratic Party Charter which says all members will be guaranteed full and equal participation in the nominating process.

The DNC can violate that Charter anytime it wants to. It's only a piece of paper.

[flpoljunkie]

31. Those rules were copacetic for the Clintons when she did not need these FL, MI delegates.

This is the blatant hypocrisy of their position.

[suston96]

33. Copacetic? Dunno what that means. The rules violate the Democratic Party Charter......

...ALL members are guaranteed full and equal participation in the nominating process.

Only the Democratic Party IN CONVENTION can change the Charter. And I doubt that it will ever change that part.