Clinton's doublespeak hits the AP...

[mckeown1128]

Somewhere, Harold Ickes is smiling


From the AP:

Twelve automatic delegates bring 's total to 57. Obama has been endorsed by four of those and Clinton three, with the remainder uncommitted.

(It's the first time I've seen the term "automatic delegates" outside quotation marks, a small victory for Clinton in the language wars.)


http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0308/Somewhere_Harold_Ickes_is_smiling.html#comments



This kind of GOP style manipulation makes me sick.

[boston bean]

1. The DNC calls them automatic delegates. nt

[mckeown1128]

2. Link please???

Link?? anything??? or have you just forgotton about those articles written about how the Clinton campaign has been trying to rename "pledged delegates?"

[Umbram]

7. I'd like to see the link for that as well.

It appears to me they are referred to as "Party and Elected Official delegates."

http://www.dnc.org/a/convention_2008/delegate/

[Exilednight]

8. Here's a link to Hillary's own website attempting to rename them....

http://delegatehub.com/

The Obama campaign is claiming, without precedent or justification, that automatic delegates (commonly referred to as "super delegates") should switch to Sen. Obama en masse based on arbitrary metrics, with the aim of tilting the delegate balance in his favor.

[Igel]

9. Actually, you gave the link for "automatic delegate".

Sometimes I really appreciate irony.

On page 14 (printed page 10), you read:
"9. UNPLEDGED AND PLEDGED PARTY LEADERS AND ELECTED OFFICIAL DELEGATES
"A. The procedure to be used for certifying unpledged party leader and elected official delegates is as follows: ..."

Scroll down to the bottom of page 15 (printed page 11) and you read:

"E. Except as provided in 9.A. above, no person shall serve as an automatic delegate at any level of the delegate selection process by virtue of holding a public or party office."

(If you don't want to go to your link, but directly to the delegate rules PDF, it's here: http://s3.amazonaws.com/apache.3cdn.net/de68e7b6dfa0743217_hwm6bhyc4.pdf )

Seems that "automatic delegate" is a term of art, the cover term for what the "unpledged party leaders and elected official delegates" are. Never heard it before. Seems a reasonable term: By virtue of holding a position, they are automatically delegates. As opposed to "super". (Eh. Stupid word games.)

There are no "superdelegates" in the document. I guess "unpledged party leaders and elected official delegates" is how we *should* refer to them if we want to be precise. Note that "superdelegates" is already too long for some people, who promptly truncate the term to "supers". I assume "automatic delegates" would quickly become "automatics" or even "autos". :-) (The drivel about "automatically voting" for somebody is based in too deep a pool of ill-will to merit further comment.)

In searching for the page (rather than following your link) I noticed that the term "automatic delegate" also shows up in some union and NY organization webpages.

[UALRBSofL]

12. igil, I looked at the DNC rules in the PDF foremat

And there it was clear as day. They specified "No Party Or Public Official" may be an Automatic Delegate unless they go through the delegate selection process. Seems to me Hillary knows a bit more about the DNC rulebook then most people. I just googled Automatic Delegate and there were several links questioning Clintons' use of the term. I suggest these people read the DNC rule book as well as most people in GD-P.

Superdelegate Replaced With "Automatic Delegate" By Clinton ...
Superdelegate Replaced With "Automatic Delegate" By Clinton Adviser - The Huffington Post.

Not Larry Sabato: Virginia's Automatic Delegates to the Dem ...
A lot of people have been wondering who these people are that are automatic Delegates (sometimes called Super Delegates by the media) in Virginia and how ...

Why doe the Clintons call them Automatic Delegate...? - Yaho...
and everyone else calls them SuperDelegates? Is ...

[Elidor]

3. Josh Marshall noticed it, too

A while back we noted that top Clinton advisor Harold Ickes had admonished the press not to use the phrase "super delegates" but instead to employ what he claims is the more accurate "automatic delegates." The Clinton campaign has pushed for this change of phrase on the thinking that calling them "super delegates" carries a negative connotation that somehow they're more powerful or privileges than other delegates. And that's important because their path to the nomination will almost certainly have to rely on super delegates going overwhelmingly for Clinton despite Obama's having the majority of pledged delegates.

Got that?

Anyway, has the AP gotten the message? In tonight's AP report about Obama's new delegates in Iowa reporter Mike Glover has adopted the Clinton campaign "automatic delegate" formulation.

Now, sometimes spinning campaigns come up with phrases that are so heavy-handedness and tendentious that it's just ridiculous -- the "death tax", "personal accounts" for Social Security privatization, etc. In this case, I think you've probably got to have your head pretty deep in the delegat-ology weeds to have any sense of whether it matters to use one term over another.

But I think it's a good journalistic principle not to switch terminology in the midst of an election campaign or public policy debate at the bidding of one party or another, unless someone makes an extremely good case that the existing word choices are patently misleading. And doing it at the behest of one party to the dispute is almost always bad practice. Otherwise the journalists whose job it is to sift through the spin become its messengers, wittingly or not.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/183723.php

[cooolandrew]

4. They are still superdelegates to me until the DNCsays otherwise.

[Vinca]

5. I don't know about you all, but I interpret "automatic" as being

they automatically go to the candidate who is ahead at the end of this nightmare primary. That's just about a sure thing for Obama. How much did Harold Ickes get paid for that gem?

[Cha]

6. Well, harold ickes is not smiling about

this.. loser with lawyers' strategy.

"Clinton Request Violates the Law (TX)"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5110903

Delegates schmelagates...Obama's going to win and the m$$$m, harold ickes, and hilary can eat his dust.

[Abacus]

10. I saw this too

it made me do one of these: :eyes:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5100160&mesg_id=5101361

[mckeown1128]

13. It kind of reminds me

of the "death tax" wording ploys.

[thevoiceofreason]

11. Kick

[JimGinPA]

14. I Noticed That Too. I Guess As Long As They Keep Coming To Obama Who Cares What She Calls Them

K&R