Those over there are not giants, but windmills.

Meet Mr. Allan Katz.



Mr. Katz serves on the City Commission for Tallahassee, Florida, and is a Democrat. Mr. Katz also serves on the 30 Member Rules and Bylaws Committee of the DNC, and was present on August 25th, 2007 when the Committee voted to strip Florida of its convention delegates. He was the only person on the Committee to vote in opposition to the penalty. The other 29 voted in favor. Not just in penalizing Florida, but in applying the maximum possible penalty. Twelve of the Committee members either were open supporters of Sen. Clinton at the time or pledged their support to her campaign since then, and conversely the same is true for eight of the Committee members and their open support for Sen. Obama. The other ten, including the two Committee Chairs, have not made any pledge of support to either candidate.

But here's the best part. You ready for it? It's pretty good.

Mr. Katz is an Obama supporter.

Not just any old supporter, actually. He's a member of the Obama Campaign's National Finance Committee. The one member of the Rules Committee which voiced opposition against stripping all of Florida's Delegates was campaigning for Sen. Obama the previous week, and continues to be a fundraiser for him.

From the Washington Post, dated August 26th, 2007:

Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/25/AR2007082500275.html

From "Obama making stop in Tallahassee", dates August 24th, 2007:

Link: http://www.barackobama.com/2007/08/24/obama_making_stop_in_tallahass.php


To summarize: The one member of the Rules and Bylaws Committee who voiced opposition to stripping Florida of its delegates was and is an Obama supporter, while twelve members of the Committee who were then open supporters of Sen. Clinton, or have since pledged their support to her campaign, voted with the majority.

Thank you. You may now return to your previously scheduled paranoid fantasy.

I'm hesitant to criticize Granholm, because she's normally a pretty savvy operator when it comes to these kinds of things. Unlike the Florida Democratic Leadership, who are just plain stupid. Example: She declared her support for Clinton after the other candidates took their names off the ballot. A lot smarter than people like Nelson and Wasserman-Shultz, who will continue to face allegations that they orchestrated this whole thing from the beginning to help Sen. Clinton get a bigger impact on Super Tuesday. Granholm can simply claim she's supporting the only candidate who decided that her state "mattered". Hell, for all I know that may even be the truth.

But this, in the end, has very little to do with the candidates involved, as per my OP. What needs to be understood is that this was basically an attempt by state parties to extort a favorable primary schedule from the National party. This is true of both the state Democratic and Republican parties, who worked together (without much hesitation, I might add) to move the schedule up within the state legislatures in both states. Holding early contests comes with it significant fund raising opportunities for state parties, as well as logistical support from the campaigns of national candidates.

However, they didn't expect the DNC to strip 100% of the delegates, which was necessary from the DNCs perspective to retain their prerogatives. Basically, they bluffed, and the Rules and Bylaws Committee called them on it. Power plays like these go on fairly regularly behind the scenes, but rarely to this scale, and rarely resulting in this level of abject failure.

:kick:

Because if you are, I have to give you high marks for a case well presented!

:evilgrin:

I'm alluding to the reality that the people who would fall for the disengenuous arguments perpetrated by the Florida Democratic Party and its sockpuppets should do a little research before engaging in paranoid fantasy. The argument that Obama and his supporters were behind the DNC ruling all along is so transparently stupid that five minutes on The Google destroys it utterly.

In the interests of full disclosure, I am a resident of New York and voted for Senator Clinton twice, both in 2000 and 2006. I would point out, however, that my votes were cast in legitimate contests. Lucky for me, the leadership of the New York State Democratic Party only screws high-priced hookers, and not with my vote.

Maybe one of these Obama supporters will let us know when their candidate will stop trying to disenfranchise the Roswell Alien vote. Area 51's electoral votes are critical for a General Election victory!

Why don't we leave the "noob" talk to the kids.