Reid Also ready to Shut it Down: Coordinates with Dean & Pelosi

[Kittycat]

http://thepage.time.com/2008/05/29/reid-pelosi-dean-coordinate-to-avoid-convention-fight/

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/

Reid also ready to shut it down

Per Political Radar:

Uncommitted superdelegate and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., visiting San Francisco, told KGO Radio today that he spoke this morning with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and last night to DNC Chairman Howard Dean. "We agree there won’t be a fight at the convention," he said, later adding that "simple math indicates" Barack Obama is likely to become the Democratic nominee.

ALSO: Pelosi, CNN reports, has begun calling uncommitted superdelegates, urging them to make up their mind.

The Senate Majority leader says the three Democratic Party toppers have spoken recently, are figuring out how to get the nomination wrapped up shortly after next week’s contests.

Tells San Francisco’s KGO Radio that supers will likely flock to a nominee a couple days after June 3rd, added Obama may even have the necessary number at that time anyway.

[AtomicKitten]

1. It will be over next week whether Hillary accepts it or not.

The goalposts have nowhere else to go.

[fed_up_mother]

4. "The goalposts have nowhere else to go."

Oh, that is hilarious. I've never seen phrase before."

[cliffordu]

8. OK. I'll put them up ONE FINAL TIME....

[SaveAmerica]

28. Unless you wear the goalposts on your head...

[Rosemary2205]

2. IMHO they'll need Saint Al too.

[Spider Jerusalem]

25. Best way to do it: a press conference

Pelosi, Dean, Reid, Al Gore, and Jimmy Carter all announce their support for Obama at once. There is NO WAY Hillary's sham of a candidacy can survive that.

[cliffordu]

27. That'd really leave a mark, too.....ouch....

:rofl: :rofl:

[suston96]

3. So, Reid, Pelosi, and Dean are going to tell 17 million Democratic voters to fuck off.....? nt

[reflection]

6. No. They're going to tell them their candidate lost.

There's a big difference.

[Bensthename]

7. And how exactly did you come to that conclusion?

[NotThisTime]

9. Both candidates have 17 million voters and it's BY THE MATH....

[JimGinPA]

10. Well, If They Voted For The Candidate That Came In Second Place...

:shrug:

[cliffordu]

11. Try to pay attention.

YOU don't speak for 17 million voters.

stop saying that.

They are acting in accordance with the rules.
Live with it.

[JerseygirlCT]

12. You do understand that when there is more than one

candidate only one of those candidates will eventually win, right?

[Kittycat]

Nope. Just that they have a presumptive nominee. The race was for Delegates, and Obama won them.

[Bigleaf]

13. No. They telling the Supers to make their choice known. If they vote for Hillary, so be it.

If they vote for Obama, well, he has the majority of elected delegates. Don't forget, Hillary had a hundred or two Supers commit when this started.

[DevonRex]

14. You do understand that it has to end sometime, don't you? nt

[Bensthename]

16. Unfortunately, some would rather see this go to the convention to guarantee a McCain win.

Because there is no well in hell Hillary is going to win this.

[DevonRex]

18. It's so disappointing. And I place the blame right at the feet

of Hillary. She can't win. She knows it. Yet she is hurting her supporters by dragging this out, keeping it barely alive, prolonging their dream.

I feel really terrible for them. I know how hard it is to see something slip away - I've had to face it when my candidate lost before. But the losing candidate has to be the mature one, the strong one, for the good of the supporters if for no other reason.

[Bensthename]

19. yup, Hillary has the power to make an Obama win or not this Nov.

and her route at this time looks like she is taking the Obama loss route... Sad.
Maybe when Obama gets the delegates she will give in and tell her supporters it is time to go to work for Obama, our party, and country. Let us hope..

[Triana]

22. The mature thing to do would have been for her to drop out...

...at LEAST by the beginning of this month (the 6th) (if not back in February) and thrown her support behind Obama and encouraged her supporters to do the same. It would have saved all the infighting, division, and animosity here and outside of DU. As is, her continued presence in the race only prolonged the agony and divided supporters further.

Maturity doesn't seem to be the Clintons' strong suit - at least not behaviorally.

Heck, Edwards could have stayed in it until now too if he chose to - but he didn't. He dropped out saying his being in it and losing would not help the party or the process and he wanted the race to play out as it should - and it has. THAT (what Edwards did) is mature.

I supported Edwards. I was HEARTBROKEN to see him leave the race and was unsupportive of any other candidates for a couple of months until I decided to throw my support to Obama. I can understand how Hillary's supporters feel. I have no animosity towards *them* at all. But Hillary herself has not behaved well in this race nor has she handled her campaign well. And it has cost her. I wanted to support her - a woman! But when she started with the Republican-like attacks (and supported theirs against Obama), started getting cozy with Republicans and I could see that old-style politics from her again - the same stuff we've seen for the past 8+ years - and against a FELLOW DEMOCRAT no less (within the party) - the word that came to mind was DIVISIVE and I couldn't support that - no matter WHO was doing it. Not Dem on Dem destruction to win. Nope.

[suston96]

26. It has to end sometime? Sure. At the convention when all the certified delegates ....

....from all 50 states and the others are seated and when the first roll call is taken and one candidate gets the required number of delegate votes.

That's when it ends and not when GD: P says so.

[Yael]

29. So, if it goes to the convention and she loses on the first vote

You will suddenly support the nominee?

[suston96]

31. As long as all 50 states and the rest take an equal part in the nominating process.....

....I will support the nominee.

Otherwise......fuggedaboutit.

From my journal here:

I have already posted that I would support the nominee. In fact, I said so back in December of 2006. (On another forum board).

In the Zone
Posts: 29037
(12/12/06 12:36 pm)


New Post Re: Barack

I love Hillary dearly. At this point, I would be thrilled at seeing Obama as the candidate and watch this country go through his election as president.


Check that date.

However, I will not "rally" for the Democratic Party if Florida and Michigan are not counted in this primary process. I spent too many years working for voting rights. Ignoring the voters of two major states goes against my democratic principles.

[Yael]

32. Fair enough!

:hi:

[ecdab]

37. You know that voting in a primary isn't a constitutional right - right?

Independent voters are not allowed to vote in many states, states are not even required to allow voters to participate in any form in selecting nominees for a political party - and they didn't for the vast majority of this nations history. The political parties get to choose how they want to do that. It still happens in that manner with the smaller parties. I find it very odd when people try and spin this into a voters right case. That's simply not case at all.

This isn't - and never was - a voters rights issue. Never.

[Samantha]

40. You are so right

Starting with the Supreme Law of the Land, the Constitution delegates the right to conduct elections to the individual states. The states write into law through their state constitution the rules of conduct for those elections. These laws are penned by the respective State legislatures. Embedded within these laws, are procedures for determining, for instance, the winners of elections, how delegates are appointed, etc.

Within each state, there are political parties. Persons enrolling for membership within those parties are bound to observe those party rules. If not, they should withdraw from that party's participation. No one or no group of people has the right to change the rules as they are presented within the state constitution and memberships within political parties. For instance, when a candidate dismisses caucuses, that candidate is out of bounds. If a candidate chooses to participate within the system, that candidate must play by the rules or exclude him or herself from the running if he or she cannot do so. It is not an option to change the rules in the middle of an election to suit one's personal advantage.

Within a civilized political society, there must be laws and rules or there will be chaos. When chaos prevails, there goes the Republic ....

[suston96]

44. Voting in primaries IS protected by all voting rights mandates and that includes.....

...constitutional protection. There was the Texas Whites Only Primary case where a primary election qualification excluded blacks. Guess what happened to that primary "rule".

There was another that required a huge filng fee for candidates to keep the wrong kind of people from running for office. Guess where that rule went.

ALL elections are protected by the voting rights amendments and voting rights acts. Especially presidential and congressional primaries because they are the beginning of the election process for US constitutional offices.

Read the Twenty Fourth Amendment. It explicitly mentions the primary election:

The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any State by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.

Read the Fourteenth Amendments where for the first time the US Constitution mentions the "right to vote":

But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied.....or in any way abridged......

Count the number of "right to vote" amendments in the Constitution. Go ahead. Learn something. Those crafty Founders didn't want just anyone voting in their new republic.

Can political parties make rules that say, for instance, that only voters with college degrees can vote in their party primary?

Sorry, but people who do not want to recognize voting rights are very suspicious. Why are some people so afraid to let every vote count? You people are Democrats - Democrats - the voting rights party?

And by the way, regarding constitutional rights, there is no right to life in the US Constitution either. Does that mean that we have no right to life?

[ecdab]

45. You are missing my point completely.

Many people are not allowed to vote in primaries that are registered to vote - because the political parties get to make the rules by which the primaries are conducted. Independent voters are not allowed to vote in many states - is that an infringement of their right to vote? No. If a state chooses to have their delegates distributed - during a primary election - in accordance with the will of a few party elders (and they could do so by amending state laws, not federal laws) would that be an infringement of the peoples right to vote? Many would claim that it was - but the answer would still be no.

By the way - here's the entire 14th amendment

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

Section 3. No one shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article

In no way does what occurred in FL or MI represent an abrogation of the 14th or 24th amendments. The 24th simply doesn't allow people to be charged money to vote in a primary, and the 14th doesn't address primaries at all. If you are claiming that the 14th covers primaries than you are in fact claiming that states like PA held illegal primaries because they exclude registered voters from being able to vote in them.

[cali]

15. that's not at all what they're saying. They're saying Obama won

it's that simple. They know that a convention fight would spell disaster. It's over. Why Hillary supporters don't recognize that she lost, I don't understand. That's been clear for months.

[newmajority]

17. Have you Hillbots ever been through a fucking PRIMARY before??

You start out with anywhere from 4 to 10 candidates. This year there happened to be 8 of them.

Obama won. That means the other 7 candidates lost. Hillary included. She had more votes and more delegates than Edwards, Richardson, Kucinich, Biden, Dodd, or Gravel, but she did NOT have more votes or delegates than Obama.

She lost. And if you're a Hillary supporter, that sucks. Just like it sucks for the supporters of the other 6 candidates. Many of whom are still here, and most of whom are now supporting the winner and nominee, Barack Obama.

That's how it works. It's nothing new. Deal with it, or don't, that's your choice. But don't expect preferential treatment just because Hillary thinks she's the Queen of the God Damned Planet.

[IsItJustMe]

30. They are going to tell the truth. It's over. Get a grip.,

[stop the bleeding]

33. grow up and stop it, you make DU look dumb with posts like that

:beer:

[wileedog]

36. No, they are going to patiently explain to them that they lost

Because the other guy got more and got the delegates, and that is the way the game is played.

[slinkerwink]

5. YES! ! !

[Bensthename]

20. Fantastic.. Leadership, finally..

[slinkerwink]

21. and it's been highly needed

[crickets]

23. "Leadership, finally." Yes, this. Whew.

:dem:

[Mike L]

24. Reid and Pelosi can't stop it. Only HRC can. em

[thewiseguy]

34. Hillary lost.

[AZ Criminal JD]

35. Reid and Pelosi can't do anything in Congress

They made sure impeachment stayed off the table but they know how to shut down voting by the people.

[ecdab]

38. Right - which is why they are waiting until after all the contests are over.

Do you think before you post?

[AZ Criminal JD]

41. They are waiting for the contests to be over so they won't be embarrassed.

If they come out for Obama now and the voters go for Hillary they will be seen as weak frauds. So they will be quite like church mice, like they have been in Congress, and wait. Then they will pressure people not to wait until the convention by promising them pork if they go for Obama.

[ecdab]

46. What? First you claim they are shutting down the voting, even though

they are waiting for all the votes prior to doing anything - and now this wholly fictitious claim. Do you have any support for this, or does it just seem obvious to you?

[nebula]

42. Thinking is hard work

[Doityourself]

39. It's about time...Craig Crawford on Abrams being a whining bitch..ugh

[Why Syzygy]

43. K&R