Letters to the Editor
-
@ Stewsburntmonkey
So 1,300,000 voters will be disenfranchised in Florida because the DNC is tired of bending over backward . . . priceless. And then you defend Howard Deans horrible leadership.
The way I see it they haven't started bending. See how relative things can be . . .
Oh, and BTW a "rally" celebrating victory is after the fact. Obama's TV ads were before the election, MANY of them after super tuesday. Oh, but poor Obambi, he has not a single hair of mailice in his head, neither does smearer emeritus David Axelrod.
-
@SobeOne
So 1,300,000 voters will be disenfranchised in Florida because the DNC is tired of bending over backward . . . priceless. And then you defend Howard Deans horrible leadership.
In part yes. Although I'd say the blame rests almost entirely with the Democratic leadership in Florida. If you break the rule and get caught, blaming your situation on the President because he doesn't pardon you is a bit rich. It is to deny all responsibility and to deflect blame to keep from having to confront the realities of the situation.
Oh, and BTW a "rally" celebrating victory is after the fact.
It's on the day of the fact. It's not hard to see that a Clinton rally on the day of the vote might well draw more of her supporters to the polls.
Obama's TV ads were before the election, MANY of them after super tuesday.
After Super Tuesday? Florida voted on January 29th; Super Tuesday was February 5th. How can an add be before January 29th and after February 5th? Florida voted before Super Tuesday, thus any national ads that aired in Florida that would affect the vote would have been during the run-up to Super Tuesday.
You really don't seem to have the faintest clue what you are talking about. I would advise you to do a little more research (or just pay attention) and lot less blind ranting on forums such as this.
-
DEAR KAREN...
As a Democrat, I understand your, and your state's Democrats, disappointment. And yet I keep going back to last year when you made an effort to move your Primary and were denied the request. Florida Democrats, deciding it would be better to vote early than be acknowledged at Convention, ignored the decision, and voted anyway. Of course, last year we had no way of knowing that your issues for wanting to vote earlier would be moot this year.
Who can forget the butterfly design ballot(by a Democrat, by the way) that created confusion for some of our Democratic voters causing them to cast wrong ballots, the inability of some counties to complete their counts during the recounts (controlled by Democrats, by the way), and the way some of you just folded to GOP-controlled intimidation in 2000? Yes, you sure have had it tough.
Well, we're really sorry, Karen, that you won't be able to vote again...and again...and again...until you get it right. You don't need to point out the importance of Florida to us Democrats across America. We saw the sorry handwriting on the wall last year when you wanted to jump the gun, refused the decision of the DNC, and decided to lurch ahead anyway.
What is really making me pissed off right now, however, aside from the obvious fact that neither candidate will not be able to garner anymore delegates, is how you are now trying to blame the DNC and everyone else for what you all decided to do. You are acting like the DNC disenfranchised the voters. The fact is: YOU DISENFRANCHISED YOUR ENTIRE STATE PARTY.
Love ya, mean it,
RamblinRose
-
Howard Dean
I think the whole Florida and Michigan debacle does point to major issues with Dean's leadership of the Democratic party.
If the Democrats did as the Republicans and sanctioned the states by half of their delegates, there would be no problem. The states would be duly punished, yet would have some representation. Instead, Dean insisted on a nuclear option: No delegates, and candidates can't campaign in those states.
Now, there's a major problem. Although both of these states are crucial to the Democrats winning in November, Florida and Michigan Democrats may sit out this election. They may not help with funding, and they may not help with voter turnout. You can say "rules are rules" all you want, but it isn't about who is the Democratic nominee. It's about a Democrat becoming president.
I like Dean and I like his positions on issues. I also highly believe in his 50 state strategy. Unfortunately, Dean has been having problems with running the Democratic party. He became a central issue in the 2006 race when he initially refused to help fund the Montana and Virginia Senatorial campaign because it meant taking money away from the 50 state strategy.
Dean didn't get involved in the primary scheduling issues, and thus got both Florida and Michigan politicians upset because they felt their states were being ignored. He pushed a nuclear option in dealing with states that jumped ahead in the primary schedule which now has us in our current position in these two states.
I also think that he's sitting too much on the side lines in the primary campaign. Yes, he needs to remain neutral, but where in the heck is he? He should be on all the talk shows explaining how great both candidates are and how either one would make a great nominee. He should be working to keep the party together and helping tone down the rhetoric. He should be meeting with the super delegates to help them work out a strategy to bring the two campaigns together during the convention and solve the Michigan and Florida problem.
Dean is simply out of his element in running the Democratic party. We need someone who can schmooze. We need someone who can workout deals between factions. We need someone who knows when to push their plans and when to layoff. In the United States, political parties are not a single unified organization.
The Democratic party is a coalition of 50 state parties (that's where the real action is). These 50 state parties have their own agendas, their own desires, and their own politics. The head of the party needs to be someone who can handle party details, who can workout compromises, and who can keep the desperate factions that make up the Democratic party together.
Remember Will Roger's saying: "I don't belong to an organized party. I'm a Democrat." It's just as true today as it was back in the 1930s. The leader of the Democratic party needs to be a person who can wheel and deal. Dean is a bright guy and he has some excellent ideas, but he just isn't cut out for the task.