Florida Beep, beep. I've already got that Wile E. Coyote feeling, and it's only February

[madfloridian]

A humorous look at Florida through the eyes of the Palm Beach Post.

Kudos to Ybor City Stogie for this article.



Florida's Democrats once again too wily for own good

Being a Democrat in Florida is like being the coyote in a Road Runner cartoon. Things start out so promising, but in the end you just screw up everything in a comical way. Beep, beep. I've already got that Wile E. Coyote feeling, and it's only February, nine months before Election Day.

If we weren't so hell-bent on self-destruction, Florida Democrats would be looking forward to being a key primary state in the Hillary Clinton-Barack Obama battle for the nomination.

The Florida primary, originally scheduled for early March, would be a real prize on the political calendar. But instead, state Democrats were led off the cliff by state Republicans, who came up with the idea for a unilateral assault on the primary calendar.

It was one of those arrogant, "we can make our own rules" moves, and just like the Iraq invasion, Democrats were swept along so as not to appear soft on state pride.

But that is only the beginning. Hillary is after the delegates. She is going to get them, she thinks, and will then turn to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi to get Obama to step down...apparently.

Telegraph says Hillary plans to ask Reid and Pelosi to tell Obama to step down

That might lead to the question of who is really the final authority on this issue. Hmmm...mmm. Is it really coming down to that? Is everybody in charge of everything now? Reid and Pelosi in charge of deciding who to ask to step down.

Pelosi won't argue about the situation. She is not happy about what was done to Florida. She said none of it was Florida's fault and of course the delegates would count

Yep, it might be coming down to that. There are too many bosses in this party right now, and there is one the others are trying to marginalize.

The Clinton camp hopes to stop the Obama bandwagon by winning Texas and Ohio primaries on March 4, after which Mrs Clinton is planning to call on party grandees including Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives and Harry Reid, the party's leader in the Senate, to persuade Mr Obama to stand down.

I hear that Mark Penn is saying, and Hillary as well, that they will continue to try for Florida's delegates. The Florida Democrats are getting all ready for that scenario.

State Dems to appoint delegates, hoping Florida will be counted

Local Democratic party leaders, confident the results of the Jan. 29 primary will be counted and the state's 210 delegates will be seated at the national convention, are going ahead with plans to appoint Florida's delegates to select a presidential candidate.

The district caucuses to select delegates from across the state remain on schedule for March 1, they said Monday.

"We still have time in front of us," said Celeste Bush, the Democratic Party leader in St. Lucie County. "I do believe we will be seated without a bunch of hoo-ha."

Ah, Celeste again. The lady who did the most emailing to stop funding the DNC. This Celeste Bush. Celeste can take here "hoo-ha" and put it where the sun don't shine.

[madfloridian]

1. Can she would she really do this? Or is it Telegraph spin?

From the OP

"The Clinton camp hopes to stop the Obama bandwagon by winning Texas and Ohio primaries on March 4, after which Mrs Clinton is planning to call on party grandees including Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives and Harry Reid, the party's leader in the Senate, to persuade Mr Obama to stand down."

[southern_dem]

2. She has to win both convincingly first n/t

[madfloridian]

3. But can she do it through Reid and Pelosi?

Do they make those decisions?

[joshcryer]

16. She'd have her sit down with Dean then.

Convincing arguments could be made. But it's unlikely, Obama would have too much of a lead by then and she would see the futility of her actions.

[tomreedtoon]

4. Can we bring Chicago cops with mace to the convention?

I would love to see the Florida "delegation" that tries to claim a seat tear-gassed and dragged off to jail. Then, an impassioned explanation from Chairman Dean that Florida HAS no Democratic Party. Which it doesn't; it only has Republican operatives doing the Republican will and using stolen Democratic Party stationary.

And a plea to Florida voters who believe in Democratic ideals to form a genuine Democratic state organization for the next election.

[XemaSab]

5. I'm sure Obama could hook some of that up.

:hide:

[smalll]

6. Oh yeah, that would work. Trying to put Diebold out of a job or something?

McCain wouldn't even need to steal it in November, he could win Florida fair and square :wow: if your happy little scenario comes to pass.

[Dr.Phool]

10. Boy have you got that right!

I've seen DEC members donating money to repukes (campaign finance records are readily available online) in local and county races, with a credible Dem in the race. Someone tries to bring them up on party charges for it, and they get crucified.

Florida has no Democratic Party. You have Wexler and a few progressives who try to be Dems, but they get shunned.

I agree. Let Thurman lead a delegation of DINO's outside the convention center, nominate Pigasus again (or Bill Nelson), and let the Chicago Police gas the hell out of them!

[madfloridian]

7. Why would she ask Reid and Pelosi to get Obama to step down?

Pelosi will be convention chair. Doesn't she have to be neutral? The paragraph from the Telegraph is very confusing to me.

"The Clinton camp hopes to stop the Obama bandwagon by winning Texas and Ohio primaries on March 4, after which Mrs Clinton is planning to call on party grandees including Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives and Harry Reid, the party's leader in the Senate, to persuade Mr Obama to stand down."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/09/wus509.xml

[Sam Ervin jret]

8. and why in the hell would Obama or anyone else listen to these two traitors?

[madfloridian]

9. I am not feeling kindly about Reid today. That FISA bill was a set up.

They hoped we would not notice.

[Dr.Phool]

11. Reid, Pelosi, and elson are getting some very angry letters from me.

Howard Dean will get one that's not angry. And Feingold and Dodd will get my thanks for fighting.

I'll post some of them after I send them.

[madfloridian]

12. Will be looking forward to reading them.

:hi:

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

13. Ohio and Texas, the easiest to rig states

With Cuyahoga County ballots to be picked up mid day on election day and hauled
off site to be counted, and then again at the end of the day.

Plenty of time for Cuyahoga to screw things up again.

Texas - plenty of paperless voting machines with lots of problems
Weird election results.

No wonder Hillary went straight to Texas.

[Dr.Phool]

22. I lived in Cleveland before I moved to Florida.

If there's any place on earth that can fuck things up worse than Florida, it's Cuyahoga County.

And sheesh, It's solid Democratic.

[UALRBSofL]

14. NAACP/Bond wants Florida and Michigan delegations seated at convention

WASHINGTON (AP) - A civil rights leader is calling on the Democratic National Committee to reconsider its decision not to seat delegates from Florida and Michigan at the party convention.

The DNC penalized the two states for moving their primaries up, in violation of party rules. Both states were stripped of their delegates, and the presidential candidates promised not to campaign in either state.

In a letter to party chairman Howard Dean, NAACP chairman Julian Bond is expressing "great concern" at what he says is the prospect that millions of voters in the two states could "have their votes completely discounted." And he says the refusal to seat the delegations could remind voters of "racially discriminatory primaries."

Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign has pushed hard for both states' delegations to be seated. She won both primaries, and was the only candidate to appear on the Michigan ballot.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[madfloridian]

He's wrong. He's turning into a racist thing....that is awful to do.

It is not the truth, and I think he knows it.

[madfloridian]

15. Another dupe...deleted.

[knitter4democracy]

19. I disagree with his reasoning. It's not about race. It's about our entire state.

Here we are, slowly dying up here, and we get kicked while we're down. Most everyone I know is pissed off about the whole fiasco. There are calls for the party to hold a caucus (they'd have to pay for it--state funds can't be used for a caucus), but the stupid party higher-ups are sticking to Hillary for some reason.

I think our delegates should get seated but not our superdelegates. They're the ones who screwed this up.

[AtomicKitten]

17. This is most definitely a disaster waiting to happen.

Many people think ClintonCo will, in fact, go to court on this. Gawd, that reeks so horribly of Bush v. Gore. Put me down for not wanting to go there. I hope Barack wins this outright before the convention to put this looming bit of nastiness to bed. Otherwise, I trust Dean to be the Chairman I know he is and handle this with skill and finesse. And all will be right in the universe.

[madfloridian]

18. I think they will go to court...but I think many are on Dean's side on this.

I hope we are wrong about the court. Like Donna Brazile said on AAR...paraphrasing but close.."Dean has lots of people on his bench, and I am one of them."

[AtomicKitten]

20. Good to know.

[Barack_America]

21. If Obama steps down, I will step down with him...

...and leave the Democratic party.

[UALRBSofL]

23. GOP Uses Dems' Primary Fight To Recruit

By Brendan Farrington, Associated Press Writer
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida's Republican Party is using a feud between state and national Democrats over the presidential primary as a recruiting tool, warning Democrats in a mailer that their votes won't count in the election.
The mailer, to be sent this week, quotes Florida Democrats criticizing the Democratic National Committee's decision to strip the state of its delegates to the convention where the presidential candidate will be nominated next year.

The Florida GOP is using voter data to target thousands of Democrats it thinks may be receptive to the message, said party spokeswoman Erin VanSickle.

"The Democrats in Washington are out of touch. Now -- thanks to their egos and political infighting -- you, as a Florida Democrat, may lose your vote," the mailer says.

It includes a form for recipients to change their party registration.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Washington | South Carolina | Iowa | New Hampshire | Nevada | Democratic National Committee | Dems | Florida Democrats | Florida GOP | Republican-led Legislature | DNC Rules Committee | Mark Bubriski
State Democratic leaders said Sunday they will stick with the Jan. 29 primary date set by the Republican-led Legislature in violation of DNC rules.

The DNC Rules Committee has threatened to strip Florida of all its convention delegates if it did not come up with a different plan for choosing its delegates by Saturday.

Candidates have signed pledges not to publicly campaign in Florida.

Democratic Party rules say states cannot hold their 2008 primary contests before Feb. 5, except for Iowa on Jan. 14, Nevada on Jan. 19, New Hampshire on Jan. 22 and South Carolina on Jan. 29.

Michigan has scheduled a Jan. 15 primary.

State Senate Democratic leader Steven Geller is quoted in the mailer as saying, "The DNC apparently wants us to campaign on the slogan, 'Make sure not a single vote counts.'"

[madfloridian]

24. Geller? You want Geller? Here you go.

Florida's Geller joked about his amendment: "sarcasm and audible laughter in chamber"
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1461

Petty state Senate leader in Florida: Dean is "welcome in certain, small enclaves of the state”
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1525

"The gang who can't shoot straight"....
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1527

I have got lots more Geller stuff for you.

[UALRBSofL]

25. Al Sharpton: Fl Delegates A Civil Rights Issue

The Buzz Florida Politics
tampabay.com
02/12/08
UPDATE: Al Sharpton, officially neutral in the Democratic primary, doesn't want the 1.75-million Fl Democratic votes counted: "I do not understand how you can say that you're going to have primaries that are not going to be ragarded, not going to be respected, candidates are not going to campaign, many voters not come out, and then later change the rules,'' he said on MSNBC. "That's like getting to the third quarter of the Super Bowl and the the referees get together and say we're going to change everything. That is a civil rights issue. Because I'm neutral I will weigh very heavily to resist that because I think that disenfranchises voters and that is a civil rights violation."

[xxqqqzme]

26. clinton, reid and pelosi are now making

policy for the DNC and all the committees?????

When Dean was elected chair, reid, pelosi & emanuel met w/ him to dictate that there were to be NO policy statements from him. They were running the democratic show on the hill - he would stay w/i the bounds of the party.

I am getting aching ass tired of reid (especially after today's vote) & pelosi. Their crap got old a long time ago.