The Clinton campaign is succeeding at disrupting the party process and staining Obama.

madfloridian

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Mon Apr-14-08 05:45 PM
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The Clinton campaign is succeeding at disrupting the party process and staining Obama.

I believe that has been her goal. I think if the nomination is not hers, then she has other things in mind. She is so enamored of John McCain, even to using his talking points, that she might be considering teaming up with him if she does not get the Democratic nomination.

There is something not right about the way this "bitter" comment was released for use by the Clinton campaign...what was it..a week after he said it? I see that I am not the only thinking it.

There is an effort at Huffington Post to defend Mayhill Fowler, and the program she works for there called Off the Bus. I have wondered if the candidates are aware of this program, that some among them may not be what they seem.

You can read the article about her by Jay Rosen. He does not succeed in clearing up any of it in my opinion. It was a shady thing to do. If you truly support a candidate you would never ever try to sabotage them. And Mayhill Fowler did that.

The Uncharted from Off the Bus to Meet the Press

It is not at all convincing to me.

Would Russert pick up on the novelty of the situation? An Obama supporter and donor, who also wrote regular dispatches for Huffington Post's pro-am campaign news site, OffTheBus, recorded Obama's words at an April 6th San Francisco fundraiser, and then wrote about what concerned her in them. From there it exploded. Pretty good story! (As the Guardian recognized today.) Plus, it would allow Russert to sound a savvy warning: "Heads up, candidates, your supporters include bloggers and they exercise their First Amendment rights. Barack Obama found that out this week...."

It's not surprising to me that Tim erased Mayhill. And it's not a shock that some misguided Obama supporters tried to turn her into an enemy of the regime, which she is not. Or that Jay Newton-Small of Time magazine changed her scoop into a leak from someone inside the campaign to the Huffington Post.

We're in uncharted territory here. There are languages missing. People get mad when they don't know what to call things. So much so that Mike Allen of the Politico in 12 reasons 'bitter' is bad for Obama couldn't even find the word "website" to describe the Huffington Post, which became in his tortured rendering, "a liberally oriented organization that was Obama's outlet of choice when he wanted to release a personal statement distancing himself from some comments by the Rev. Wright." Sounds like a shadowy 527 group.

Jay Rosen has not convinced me at all that Mayhill Fowler is an Obama supporter. The oldest trick in the book is giving big money to a candidate, then trying to sabotage them in some way. It means nothing.

I am also very uncomfortable with what Debbie Wasserman Schultz is doing in Florida. She is the co-chair of the national Clinton campaign. She is keeping things stirred up here about the Florida delegates. She gathered a bunch of senior citizens and had them hold signs saying count our vote. The picture from the paper was blurry...but it sure is posed looking.

The article.

Democrats Rally For Convention Voice

Politics and seating the Sunshine State's delegates was just about the only table talk at a picnic and rally over Florida's lost delegate seats.

"We're here … trying to make sure that the 1.75 million people who voted in the state of Florida, who took the time on January 29th to come out and vote, get their votes counted," said club member Barbara Effman.

On Saturday, a scroll circulated throughout the crowd of nearly 3,000 Florida seniors who gathered for the rally. The older voters signed on to support a decision that could help determine the Democratic nominee for president.

"A scroll that has been signed all over the state of Florida … is here today, voters are signing to urge the Democratic National Committee to seat our delegation," U.S. Rep. Debbie Wassermann Schultz told the crowd.

Schultz, one of many organizers behind the effort to ensure Florida's votes are counted, said she believes Hillary Clinton can overtake Barak Obama if votes from Michigan and Florida are added to the mix.

Keeping things stirred up here in Florida so Hillary Clinton can win, even though it was the Florida Democratic leaders who went along and voted yes.

Not only that, union members from FL and MI are protesting in front of the DNC.

Unions pressure DNC to seat delegates

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Union workers picketed outside Democratic National Committee headquarters on Monday to pressure party leaders to seat delegates from Michigan and Florida at the party's summer convention.

About 40 members of the Michigan and Florida Building and Construction Trade Councils and other unions wore signs and handed out leaflets, creating the odd spectacle of union members, a core constituent of Democrats, demonstrating outside party headquarters.

The gathering was peaceful and the union activists, who were attending a Washington convention, did not prevent anyone from entering the party's offices. One union member wore a sign that read, "Guam delegates. Yes ... Florida. No?"

"To ignore just about 1 million votes I don't believe is something in our best interest," said Patrick "Shorty" Gleason, president of the Michigan construction union.

Someone asked me why I thought this was such a big deal. It is because FL and MI are the excuse Hillary Clinton needed to keep going until the convention. Even though the odds are against her, she has said she will not stop until they are seated.

Her campaign accepted and signed in on the DNC rules. She did not oppose them until she needed their delegates to win.