Infuriating. Vice chair of Florida Democrats calls for Dean's ouster.

[madfloridian]

He did this while at the convention. He said it openly. At the Democratic convention. He said it clearly and loudly. He said Howard Dean should be stripped of his position because of what he did to Florida.

From the Miami Herald blog:

Top Florida Dem says Howard Dean must go.

I am furious. I have said here often that hubby and I are no longer welcome by the local Democrats because we stood up for Dean's side which was following the rules.

DENVER -- As he sits on a bus heading to the last night of the Democratic national convention, State Rep. Luis Garcia of Miami Beach offered four parting words: "Howard Dean must go."

Garcia, who serves as vice chairman of the Florida Democratic Party, said Dean should be stripped of his post because of the national party's crackdown on Florida and Michigan for holding early primaries. The two battleground states were shut out of the history-making campaign and nearly banned from the convention.

"What he has done to Florida, I won't forgive him for,'' Garcia said. "I take it personally. I've been telling this to everyone who will listen, and I don't think it's falling on deaf ears."

How dare he? He is an officer in the state party. I have heard others, many of them, who hold office here whining that Howard Dean hurt Clinton here.

I have heard them over and over saying that Dean did not handle the primaries fairly. That is just a lie. But they got it from someone very important not so long ago in May.

Today, at the first of five campaign events in Kentucky, just days ahead of the May 20 primary here, the former president said the lack of attention to the unseated Michigan and Florida delegates was proof that the party and the political pundits are trying to force Democrats to get in line behind Obama.

...."And do you seriously believe, if the votes had been the other way, that they would have made the same decision?" Clinton asked a crowd in Owensboro.

Yes, they would have made the same decision no matter how the votes went...because they did what they had to do and followed the rules.

I was proud of the Clintons at the convention. But as I watched them, remembering how proud I was of this country when they were in the WH...I knew in my heart that it was not over. There is too much anger and bitterness because the state was manipulated. No one ever told the truth.

I am going to get in touch with Mr. Luis Garcia. I am going to again contact Karen Thurman, the Florida party chair.

I will again tell them what I think of those who whine and accuse instead of getting to work for the nominee.

We have a treasure in Barack and Michelle Obama. If my state keeps on doing anything to hurt the party, Howard Dean, or the Obamas....I will speak up.

Shame on you, Luis Garcia. You will be hearing from me.



http://www.fladems.com/content/your_party_officials

[midnight]

1. Shame on you, Luis Garcia.

We owe so much to Howard Dean. What a short sited comment to make.

[madfloridian]

4. It is like that all over Florida. No one told the truth about what happened.

For healing to begin, truth must be told.

[rfranklin]

8. Luis Garcia must go....what a piece of garbage...

The Democratic Party does not need idiots like this.

[billyoc]

2. Good luck with that, Luis.

dummy

[Cha]

13. Yeah, if anyone is "going" it will luis garcia

for being such a stupid, ungrateful, piece of shit.

[trueblue2007]

31. See ya Later ALLIGATOR!! Luis Garcia, your 15 minutes of fame is up!!!

You are out of here you disloyal man. I won't even call you a Democrat!!

[yourout]

3. Dean should be permently seated as DNC chair.

Or as long as he wants the job.

He almost single handedly has lead us from the road to nowhere that the DLCers put us on.

[madfloridian]

5. He deserves so much credit...FL only gives him scorn.

I will never work with the Democrats in this state again. We can work for Obama by going around the party here.

[tbyg52]

57. Absolutely. We have Dr. Dean to thank for where we are today. nt

[madfloridian]

65. I agree.

The irony is that he probably won't stay on anyway...he has indicated he might not.

SO all the efforts against him by my state...really for nothing.

[Murdock]

6. It's a safe bet..

That Florida's going into McCain's column. I cannot fathom Obama winning here at all.

[madfloridian]

34. There's a chance, but not if the FL Democratic leaders keep ripping the DNC

I honestly believe Karen Thurman has tried to cooperate with the national party and bring peace.

But the legislators will not let us.

[madfloridian]

7. I am so angry. I say thank you to Howard Dean....

and to Mr. effing Garcia.....apologize.

[madfloridian]

9. Here's the contact page for FL party officials.

http://www.fladems.com/content/w/contact

Mailing Address:

214 South Bronough Street
Tallahassee, FL 32301

Phone:

850.222.3411

Fax:

850.222.0916

Email:

[e-mail]

Press Contact:

The Florida Democratic Party Communications Director is Eric Jotkoff. For Press Kits, schedules, email updates, reactions and interview requests, Eric can be reached at 850.222.3411 or by email at [e-mail] .

[Tommy_Carcetti]

10. "Shame on you, Luis Garcia. You will be hearing from me."

I'm sure he's shaking in his boots.

[masshole]

11. wtf is your problem?

I applaud Madfloridian, and even though I'm not a FL resident, I may just send an email to him as well.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

48. I dislike scabs. nt

[madfloridian]

60. Calling someone a "scab" with impunity. Amazing.

There's one thing I pride myself on. It is that I post real stuff, and I don't call names.

It's called acting like a grown-up.

[madfloridian]

64. Calling me a scab with impunity.

Still there, still okay.

[madfloridian]

17. Well well well..... a real cutesy response.

I knew who it was before I even emptied my little bitty list.

And you know what? I hardly know Mr. Luis Garcia....but his words tell me he is a whiner.

He did not get his way and he is pouting. He is trying to get vengeance on Dean. He is acting like a baby and hurting our party.

Dean is a far better man than Luis Garcia.

I am done with the Florida Democrats...I will work with the Obama campaign....but done with the party in this state.

I will remain a Democrat at a national level...but until the leaders step up and are honest that they lied about Dean...then I will call them out on it.

[Name removed]

23. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[dionysus]

51. spaketh the bitter hillary supporter...

[Sancho]

12. Dean is taking flack for a situation that he didn't create.

It is clear that some Fl leadership was out of control. The DNC as a whole didn't see what was happening very quickly, but that is not Dean's fault.

To me, the accusers don't take their share of the blame. Unfortunately, I think that failing to campaign in Florida during the primaries was critical to getting the votes to win in a close state. That was a DNC mistake and some are still frustrated.

Right now, the court cases are hopefully going nowhere, but who knows with all the GOP judges in place. Look at Alabama and the 2000 election and many other examples of CRAZY decisions.

It would be cool if Dean and the DNC simply met the Florida delegation now and got something settled. Waxman could referee.

[madfloridian]

18. You are wrong. The delegation got their votes.

You are still making excuses for them. Dean and Obama both have gone out of their way to follow the rules strictly, but to be inclusive.

FL knew every word of the rules....they voted for them the year before.

There is no excuse for their behavior.

The Clintons encouraged it during the primary. They are trying to make up for it now, but it is too late for my state.

[Sancho]

44. Don't get me wrong, I think that the Fl. "leaders" were fouled up (and still are).

I just think that it would have helped Obama and whatever candidate prevailed in the general election if they had campaigned and debated in Fl. The GOP debate in St. Pete and other tours got lots of attention and $'s. It would have been good for the general election if Obama, Edwards, Hillary, etc. had been seen in Miami, Orlando, etc. last year as part of the process. We had McCain, Rudy, etc. all over the retirement homes, churches, and fairs. Crist was out raising money standing beside McCain.

I would rather have allowed campaigning and lost half the delegates than giving so much advantage to the repubs in FL. The part of the penalty that I disagreed with directly affected the party, but didn't really hurt the worst of the culprits who continued to run in local elections and even became local heros.

I'm NOT excusing the idiots' behaviors; even though I'm sure that the GOP legislature was pretty quick to take advantage of the situation and prevent a revote or make a revote very difficult.

I have no reason to think that Dean was to blame for anything, but the one on top always gets the heat for anything that happens. I don't doubt that all the candidates manipulate things to their advantage if they get the chance, including Hillary in Florida. Obama did his share of strategy decisions with the caucus states. That's part of the game and I'm not as bothered by that even though I admit it happens, I just expect it.

[madfloridian]

56. Saying the chairman threw the primary to Obama is not part of the game.

And that is what the former president said. I posted it above. He accused Dean of cheating when he was following the rules they all voted for.

Thus, the propaganda continued from his mouth.

If it doesn't stop here, there will be no healing. It's dangerous.

[Sancho]

67. I'm just suggesting that the restriction from campaigning mostly hurt Obama.

Once the FL GOP got involved in the primary date and allowed their candidates to campaign; it would make sense (to me) for the DNC to do the same to keep the process even regardless of which candidate wins the primary. That may include a penalty of loss of delegates, but would not hurt the party as long as all candidates were included and allowed to campaign and raise money. The prior agreements didn't anticipate a state legislature from the other party being part of the manipulation. The prior rules also didn't anticipate a court challenge that might disrupt the primaries.

I'm not saying that Dean did anything unfair and I have no reason to think that he did anything wrong. The DNC needs to clean up the primary rules, and they seem to have figured that out and will do better next time as far I've heard. That would go a long way to getting Florida back.

IF Obama and the candidates had campaigned in Florida, organized, registered voters, and gotten contributions during the primary; there is a much better chance that Obama would win Florida in November. In hindsight, the GOP was smart to impose a penalty that allowed campaigning. McCain has been all over Florida.

I suspect that many Floridians have not gotten over missing out on visits from candidates during the primary. Who knows how many blame Dean or the DNC instead of the actual ones who created the problems. I think we all know that Bill Clinton can be disruptive. At least he and Hillary were on board for the convention.

[madfloridian]

19. You are right it was not Dean's fault at all. But I think entire blame goes to FL

Because they voted to move up the primary and then lied and blamed Dean.

[Cha]

22. And stupid people, either, believe it or are

too damn lazy to find out what exactly happened and their gullibility is a danger to their person.

[unfrigginreal]

27. Hi zidzi!

Glad to see ur still around too! Just getting fired up for the election and Barack made it easy last night. Good to see u here.

[Cha]

32. I remember you! HOw the heck you doin',

unfrigginreal?! I can't quit this place..no way no how Not when what we've been waiting for 8 years is almost here

[Dr.Phool]

39. You are wrong about one major point!

There is no such thing as "Florida Leadership". You have a bunch of self-interested, wannabe fixers, who throw tantrums when they don't get their way.

I wish these people would STFU already.

I'm with MF. I won't work with these idiots again. I worked with them for several years, and saw a lot of the bullshit they pulled. No more.

[Sancho]

45. I agree, I'll do what I can to replace Luis, etc.

I think the FL decisions over the primary dates were as stupid as they could get. Right now, I'll try to get anyone that I can to register as a Democrat, and I'm working to get some NEW people in office on the west coast. We have got to get rid of Buchanan and Martinez. Replacing Young is a long shot, but there's always hope. We've been successful with Castor and two local state representatives from Pinellas. Jennings has a real shot.

Personally, I've also done some union organizing in education in FL. I've worked in non-union states as a teacher and professor. Never again.

[lonestarnot]

14. Florida is full of those two-faced pugs.

[fadedrose]

15. What should we do to show support for Dean?

There's sites with online petitions . . . .

[madfloridian]

16. I am going to call them Monday.

It's like that all over here.

[unfrigginreal]

20. Thanks to Gov Dean

we had one of if not the greatest DNC conventions in history. Ty Doc!

[Arugula Latte]

21. Screw you, Garcia. You're the one who must go!

*flips middle finger in general direction of Florida*

[Dr.Phool]

40. Don't be pointin' that finger at me!

Tally is a little more to your right, and Miami is a little more to the left.

[madfloridian]

42. Heh Heh

[unfrigginreal]

24. Hi Mad!

Long time no speak...fallen on some hard times so haven't posted lately. Was a little embarraseed to do so...bu8t after last nights speech i'm fired up and ready to go. Just wish i could "pay my way" but Du is kind enough to let u keep login even if u can't contribute...anyway, glad to see ur still around

[madfloridian]

28. Hey back at you.

It's been hectic here. I tried to give you that donor star, but the donation system is not working like it should. It won't move on to the user name.

Hang in there!

[unfrigginreal]

29. OMG ur too sweet Mad

Not necessary things should be looking up in a few months...especially after november lol...thanks 4 ur generosity though

[madfloridian]

33. Well...

As soon as they get the link fixed, I will do it anyway. I think we should do that for each other.

[madfloridian]

68. Still not working....

on the donor star thingy...I will write the admins about it. Odd, they must have changed the system around.

[cliffordu]

25. I call for Luis Garcia's ouster!!

Loose the hounds!!

[madfloridian]

26. Speaking with forked tongue.....

FL Dems still shift blame

On March 1, the Florida party spokesman said this:

"The state party wants to be prepared in case it succeeds in efforts to have delegates seated when the convention begins this August in Denver. The Democratic National Committee stripped the state of its delegates because it violated party rules by holding its primary before Feb. 5.

"We said from the beginning that we're going to move ahead with our plan because we were forced into this election date. We're trying to comply with the rules," said state party spokesman Mark Bubriski. "We remain confident that our delegates will be seated and we plan to appeal to the nominee or the credentials committee to seat our delegates."

Oh, no, that is not at all what you said before. The former spokesperson changed his tune.

No, Mark. You speak with forked tongue. The Florida Democrats were not forced into anything. Here is what you said in March 2006 when you agreed with Mark Rubio, the GOP Florida House speaker.

Nobody realized it, but the storm began gathering in late March 2006. New Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, a Miami Republican, visited Washington-based Florida reporters and touted a plan to boost Florida's influence in picking presidential nominees by moving the primary earlier than March.

"With all due respect to New Hampshire and Iowa, nowhere are you going to be on a national stage like Florida," Rubio said at the time. "You're going to get questions about Israel, Latin America, immigration. It's the old South, it's Latin, it's Midwestern, it's rural and urban."

Rubio already had Democrats on board.

"Florida Democrats are all for it," Mark Bubriski, spokesman for the Florida Democratic Party, said at the time.

The Florida House voted for it 115 to 1...and it was almost as close in the Senate

[madfloridian]

30. 850.222.3411

[e-mail]

They won't quit that stuff here until we make it uncomfortable for them.

[madfloridian]

35. Garcia is running for re-election. Maybe he is trying to sound tough

and distance himself from his party by dissing the chairman. FL Dems do that a lot.

[AuntPatsy]

36. what an ass, I hope he falls to the wayside..We need Dean we do not need his kind

of baggage

[madfloridian]

41. There are a lot here like him.

Sadly.

[democracy1st]

37. 99% of Latinos want nothing but greatness from this country

but its asses like this guy that wants to run over people,truth be told he's a Latino that has a problem with Obama for crazy bs reasons thats if he's really a democrat

[madfloridian]

38. I love Al Rodgers at Daily Kos. He knows good people and posts good pictures.

A couple from Al's super post tonight.

The Audacity of Denver

Great awesome pictures.

And these two are just great.

"He will be remembered as one of the greatest members of our party.
He democratized Democracy."






Al Rodgers knows good people. Florida Democrats don't recognize good people yet.

We have lost friends because of what they did.

[krkaufman]

43. Can't thank you enough for your efforts, mf. n/t

[JCMach1]

46. Moot point, Dean will go when Obama wins...

[madfloridian]

52. You don't even see my point, do you?

I thought you would see that what is going on is shameful...but never mind, JC, never mind.

[JCMach1]

69. I gave up on Karen Thurman and CO a long time back

And that's not a good thing...

The Florida party is dysfunctional in the extreme.

Obama operatives should look for no help in that direction. They will truly be on their own in the state.

On a positive note, my home county will replace the good old boy sheriff and School Superintendent with non good old boy dems.

[barack the house]

47. Poor Dean feel for him. He must train some folks in the 50 state strategy so we can at least not eve...

lose this method. It works for us. He's a very tough guy to have handled all of this. He si such a good man and taken so much heat for following rules that even Ferraro instated.

[vanderBeth]

49. I wrote a quick e-mail to them

This really pissed me off.

[madfloridian]

59. Thank you for doing that.

There is no excuse for this.

[tsuki]

50. What Nelson, Thurman and Garcia have done to the Democratic

Party in Florida, I shall not forgive.

They do not support Democratic candidates for office. They treat the rank and file like they are unworthy and Florida is their own 'Banana Republic.'

I considered placing an "I" after my name, but I will not purged from my party by a bunch of RW oligarchs.

[nickgutierrez]

53. Ugh. The entire Florida Democratic party needs a big-time overhaul.

They've been nothing short of disgusting throughout the primary campaign.

[madfloridian]

54. Two FL folks posting in my thread just showed how well propaganda works in FL

It makes the point that the state Democrats have so completely snowed people with the media on their side that even Floridians here question my motives for saying that the state vice chair wants the national chair to resign.

That's how it is here, folks.

[ljm2002]

55. I have really appreciated your posts on the topic...

...of Florida state Democratic politics.

It seems to me that there is something... odd about the Florida Democratic party. Almost like it's been infiltrated by Republican moles. For example, that butterfly ballot (was it in 2000? or 2004? I forget...) that was approved by the local "Democrat". And how the Florida Democrats laughed about moving their convention up, against party rules. And then used it to cause strife and division within the party.

I know there are yellow dogs, i.e. more conservative Democrats. But the Florida bunch just seems to have a special way about them. And knowing that Jeb is there, and ergo the tentacles of the BFEE, makes me go "Hmmm...".

(on edit):

And before anyone accused me of tinfoilery, please recall that NRA mole who infiltrated the gun control movement. These people do play for keeps, and they do put ringers into positions of influence, for long periods of time. I believe this is one of the main sources of the corruption of our political process right now, the fact that not only is it based on lies about policies, but lies about the real agendas of people at all levels of the process, including even who they are and what interests they are representing.

[madfloridian]

58. There is a lot to what you say in that post.

I know some of the undercurrents, but not all. It is quite amazing how much the two parties here are as one. Yes, the way the primary problems happened, the way they laughed it up, was indicative of more going on.

Yes, there is some infiltration, I just don't know how much. The party here will not heal as long as the truth is not told about the primary.

You reminded me of something. One of the main policy making groups for the Democratic party is called The Third Way. It is tied to the DLC and PPI. It was founded by men who were directors of Americans for Gun Safety. It just reminded me when you said that.

[madfloridian]

61. Too many FL Dem party leaders are worried about their personal agendas

and it shows not just in words but in actions. This Florida blogger got it right.

At some point shouldn’t a Democratic leader actually be expected to lead?

The activists are ready to move ahead, but the party leaders often are holding them back. We need leaders to lead us.

[AtomicKitten]

62. The Clinton Wing of the Democratic Party has had its say.

It's long past time for them to get on board or move out of the way.

I am happy with the end-result of the dramatic theater at the convention, but I still see Clinton surrogates on tee-vee not vigorously defending the Obama-Biden ticket and emphasizing the divide by continuing to point out that out Obama was not their candidate of choice in the primary.

Howard Dean did precisely and actually quite spectacularly what was expected of him - his job. Quite frankly I am amazed he and the Obama team have kept the ship upright during the barrage of chaos and nastiness perpetrated on behalf of the Clintons.

The most surreal moment for me in Denver was an impromptu rally between Clinton supporters that have dug in their heels and Clinton supports that are now fully on board the Obama-Biden ticket. It made me truly appreciate the Clinton supporters who have thrown their shoulder to the wheel of history* (plagiarized from Barack Obama ).

K&R

[madfloridian]

63. May I ...

give you a round of for that post?

It is well past the enough is enough stage now.

It's been a painful time for us. Hubby and I were so excited about being active in politics locally in 2003 and 2004. We remained that way until last year when the Florida Democrats lied about their involvement in the early primary.

Thanks.

[Norrin Radd]

66. Garcia has to be a mole.

[madfloridian]

70. 850.222.3411

http://www.fladems.com/content/w/contact

Mailing Address:

214 South Bronough Street
Tallahassee, FL 32301

Phone:

850.222.3411

Fax:

850.222.0916

Email:

[e-mail]