WHY WE PROTEST 

WHY  WE  PROTEST

submitted by an anonymous PUMA

In this historic election year, when the press has been interested, it has expressed confusion regarding why some Clinton supporters won’t get behind Obama and support the Democratic Party.  Many commentators, news analysts, op-ed journalists and others have stated that it seems unfathomable that someone who supports Clinton’s values and platform would not support Obama.  What they fail to realize, however, is that the issue goes far beyond candidate preference.  The core of the issue now lies in how the candidate came to be the Democratic Party’s nominee in the first place.

It is has often been stated that Obama won fair and square and Clinton’s supporters, who have been described as “bitter”, “vitriolic”, and “rabid”, need to “get over it”.  However, Obama did not “win” fair and square, and herein lies the problem.

Media

• The media was calling upon Senator Clinton to drop out of the race after Senator Obama won the Iowa caucus and continued the pressure her to drop out of the race throughout the primaries.  This was done despite what ultimately resulted in Clinton winning more primaries than any other candidate in history.  In a refreshing and well researched piece, journalist Eric Boehlert (4/30/08, Media Matters for America) describes the media’s pressure placed upon Senator Clinton to drop out of the race as being “unprecedented”.  He notes that, historically, there has been no example of the media intervening in the primary process by telling a candidate when they should end their campaign.  Boehlert cites numerous examples in the press, ranging from small city newspapers to national publications such as The Washington Post providing example after example of the media’s relentless pressure for Clinton to drop out.

• The media did not vet Senator Obama, and instead gave him a free pass on numerous very important issues that deserved scrutiny.  The mass media literally swooned over Senator Obama from the get go, from the now famous references about getting chills up his let uttered by Chris Mathews on MSNBC to gushing op-ed pieces in which even journalists themselves commented that they had to make an effort “not to drink the cool aid”.  The debates between Obama and Clinton revealed enormous discrepancies regarding how the candidates were treated.  And after the final debate, moderated by Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos ended, the media pounded with voracity, claiming the debate was “shoddy”, “despicable” and “embarrassing”.  Why?  It appears that Senator Obama was finally held to the same degree of scrutiny as Clinton.  Meanwhile, as Obama enjoyed cheers, support, sympathy and applause from the media, Clinton was persistently painted in a negative light.  She was cast as a “shrill”, “driven solely by ambition” “untrustworthy” candidate who only got to where she is today because of her husband.  The media pounded away, day after day, with disrespectful caricatures of Clinton, leaving no stone unturned.  They ridiculed her laugh, her body size and form, her wrinkles, her earrings, her “bitchiness” her emotional “instability”.  The Gallop Poll, among others, validated that most in the country agreed that Clinton (and McCain) were treated more harshly by the press than Obama.

DNC

• The DNC was calling on Senator Clinton to drop out of the race early on in the primaries.

• The DNC, repeatedly referring to “rules”, initially “punished” Florida and Michigan for holding their primaries earlier than they had been allowed to do, depriving millions of voters from having their votes fully and honestly represented.  On May 31, 2008, The DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee voted to give the Florida delegation a half vote each.  The committee’s ruling pertaining to Michigan was even more complex, whereby the committee allocated votes to Senator Obama that had literally not been case for him.  Both Michigan and Florida were states where Senator Clinton won.  Once Senator Obama’s nomination appeared secured well in advance of the convention, the Obama campaign and the DNC then decided to give Florida and Michigan full voting privileges.  Their willingness to make a dramatic shift in their position regarding the rules leaves anything thinking person suspect as to their motives for their decisions and the timing of these choices.

• The DNC did not defend Senator Clinton when the media bombarded the American public with relentlessly biased coverage, coverage that often treated Senator Clinton in a disrespectful way due to her gender.  While Senator Clinton was subjected to a deluge of outrageous treatment by the media, the Obama campaign and the DNC fell silent.  After the fact, Howard Dean offered a sad excuse by saying that he doesn’t watch television.  And, two weeks after Senator Clinton suspended her campaign, Speaker Nancy Pelosi half-heartedly acknowledged that Clinton had been subjected to sexist treatment by the media.

• Although Senator Clinton ultimately won more primaries than any candidate in history and won the popular vote, the DNC continued to press her to withdraw from the race throughout the primary season.  In so doing, they sent the message that they already had the candidate in mind who they wanted to be their nominee, irrespective of the fact that millions and millions of Democrats continued to go to the polls to cast their vote for Senator Clinton.

Super Delegate Votes Bought

• It appears that Super Delegates votes were bought and that the dollars show a heavy financial influence from the Obama campaign, in particular. Per Foon Rhee’s 2/14/08 article in The Boston Globe, since 2005, Senator Obama’s pac contributed over $694,000 to the political campaigns of various superdelegates as compared to a total of $195,000 in contributions from Senator Clinton’s pac during that same time period. In addition, at the time the article was written, nearly half of the 81 superdelegates who had already come out in support of Senator Obama had received donations that totaled more than a quarter of a million dollars. In contrast, only 13 of the 109 superdelegates (less than 10%) who had announced their support for Senator Clinton had received contributions and the total amount of those contributions was less than $100,000. In sum, Obama’s pac gave more money to more superdelegates who came out in support of him, compared to Clinton’s pac which gave far less money, if any, to a much smaller percentage of the superdelegates who supported her candidacy.

Caucus System and Voter Fraud

• The very nature of a caucus system is undemocratic and disenfranchises voters.  Succinctly stated in The News Tribune (Tacoma, WA) regarding the caucus system, “This method of nominating presidential candidates is outdated, undemocratic and limiting.”  Huge blocks of voters are disenfranchised for countless reasons, including those that are too old or ill to attend a caucus, people working split shifts, those who working in the helping professions who must be on call 24/7, people whose religious obligations prohibit them form being able to partake of a caucus held at a specific time, parents with young children, those who are unable to cope with the often hectic and disorganized environment of a caucus, voters with no transportation to get them to and from caucus sites that are often far from home, as well as voters who may not want to announce their vote (typically a very private thing) in public in front of friends and neighbors.

• Voter fraud and intimidation was rampant in many states, particularly caucus states.  Clinton supporters were accosted, some were even physically attacked.  Sign in sheets were stolen, rules were not followed, and votes from people who did not live in the county or who were not living at all were registered, individuals voted without having to show any identification, among other offenses, all to the benefit of Senator Obama.  The litany of violations is long and disturbing and is documented in pain staking detail in an ongoing research project initiated and written by Dr. Lynette Long.

Rigged Democratic Convention

• In the days leading up to the Democratic convention, the Obama campaign and the DNC made it clear that having Senator Clinton’s name placed in nomination was not a done deal.  Senator Obama engaged in negotiations with Senator Clinton regarding this issue and it appeared from several press reports that Senator Obama had the ultimate power and final say so on this issue.  With precious few days remaining until the convention, in order to ensure Senator Clinton’s name be placed in nomination, many pledged delegates began to collect the required number of signatures to be presented on the convention floor as an alternative avenue toward this goal.  Some states discouraging pledged delegates from collecting signatures, urging them to hold off until the results of these negotiations were known.  At the same time, Senator Obama’s campaign began contacting delegates to inquire into how they planned to vote.

• The Democratic Convention roll call vote was a sham.  Per an August 27^th, 2008 CNN report replete with video footage, pledged delegates were pressured before voting to avoid any “drama” on the convention floor.  The subtext being quite obvious: Cast your vote for Senator Obama in order to reduce the number of votes for Senator Clinton during the roll call thereby skewing the results so as not to reveal how very close this election was.  Video tapes from the breakfast meetings of the California delegation at the convention show speaker after speaker touting Obama, calling for delegates to chant “We will unite” and “Yes we can”.  What message did such relentless speeches send to delegates who were pledged to cast their vote as assigned, each vote reflecting thousands of Democratic voters who went to the polls during the primary to cast their vote, 18 million of whom cast their vote for Clinton.  Ultimately, the roll call vote was a sham and did not even come close to reflecting Senator Clinton’s historic achievement.  As of this writing, all of what went on behind the scenes has yet to come to light.  From what we know thus far, it is apparent the vote was rigged.  Unlike Jesse Jackson’s historic campaign for the Democratic nominee in 1984 when his name was placed in nomination and his 465 ½ delegate votes were accurately recorded for the history books, Senator Clinton’s delegate votes ultimately did not reflect the will of the voters.  As a result, the fact that she won more primaries than any candidate in history and that she was a woman will forever remain obliterated from the official record.

This is what many of us are railing against.  We cannot support a candidate or a party that selects a candidate in the face of so many egregious acts.  Nor can we support a candidate or a party that condoned and nurtured such corruption.  It goes against the very fabric of our democracy.

This is why in past years many of us who had our preferred candidate lose the nomination but who still voted for the Democratic ticket cannot do so this year.  Because this is about far more than the fact that our candidate “lost”.  This is about the very nature of how Barack Obama came to be the nominee.  The journey has been anything but fair and square, honest and open.

For many of us who are Democrats, it is unacceptable for our party to operate in this way.  We will not tolerate it.  It will not stand.

The fact that Barack Obama is so inexperienced and has a history of affiliating himself with highly questionable characters is bad enough.  The fact that the Democratic Party selected him as they have and exhibited a tolerance for misogyny and fraud is even worse.   It would appear from an analysis of the data, that the Obama campaign and the Democratic party stole the election from Senator Clinton.

So, yes, we do protest and will do so for as long as we see fit.  This is America, after all.  We treasure our democratic values.  And we hold our right to dissent and speak out freely in the face of wrong doing near and dear.

WE ARE THINKING DEMOCRATS - NOT YELLOW DOGS

 

WE ARE THINKING DEMOCRATS - NOT YELLOW DOGS

by Bill Boe

 

Hillary’s speech answers the burning question that has been on the minds of her supporters since that Saturday afternoon when she suspended her candidacy—quo vadis? (i.e. dear girl whither go’est thou?). Are you still the war goddess we saw on the night of the South Dakota  victory just waiting for the right opportunity to launch a counteroffensive; or have you abandoned the quest and if so why? The answer is neither.  Instead, Hillary has decided to wrap herself in the tattered principles of the party, and the highest ideals of our nation, and to dare the rest of us friend and foe alike to follow her lead.  In this safe haven, she finds personal and political salvation. She knows who Obama is and supports him only to that extent.

The more I think about it the more I realize that this is the right answer for Hillary. Consider the matter from her perspective: you have given everything you have to this ship of fools called the Democratic Party–everything.  During the past eighteen months you made a clear, cogent and convincing case for your candidacy, your party and this nation. It resonated with the American People. You made them feel that they were a part of something wonderful which was about them and more than them.  Big Media dismissed the historic nature of your candidacy but we did not. You re-energized women and caused conservative men to rethink the whole issue of women’s rights at a time when this country needs all heads in the game. You connected with real people and changed the world for the better.

At the same time, what you have done for this country has come at a high personal cost– in terms of heartbreak, betrayal, and disappointment. We admire your commitment to duty and the self discipline it requires. But no human being is immune from such sentiments.  Thus, we can only imagine how it broke your heart to see two of your closest friends and allies suffer tragic deaths in the days leading up to the Convention.  Or to see your beloved daughter savaged by the likes of David Schuster and his MSNBC cronies.  Likewise, we can only imagine how it felt to see people like Bill Richardson forget all you have done for them and turn their backs on you in your hour of political need—after they promised to support you.  Or to be targeted by traitors like Dean, Pelosi and Brazille who conspired with the likes of Karl Rove to undermine your candidacy, and the standing of centrist   Democrats in the party. Or insiders like Patty Solis Doyle who betrayed your confidence and made you wonder who you can trust. Finally we understand the bitter disappointment of winning the popular vote only to be cheated out of the nomination by the forces of corruption, and thus deprived of the rightful opportunity to do great things for the country you love.

The Democratic Party has made a fatal mistake in nominating Barack Obama to be President of the United States. Now they will do everything fair and foul to foist that mistake on the American People.  They will hack voting machines in key states, they will lie cheat and steal, and they will launch the same misogynistic attacks against Palin that they did against you while Obama maintains plausible deniability. No doubt, you will do what you can to prevent this but it is not in your hands. Rather it is in the hands of people like Axelrod who are devoid of moral scruples and in the primary we saw the lengths to which they would go to disenfranchise voters. They are left wing ideologues of various stripes, their goal is to take over the country as they have the party and if they fail then they will try to make you a scapegoat. 

These people cannot connect with the traditional base of the party and they know it.  Therefore, they will cast you into the breach. They will ask you to sell their candidate to the same audiences who previously rejected him in favor of you.  Then they will ask you to spearhead the attack against Palin  to neutralize the gender issue.  I hope you will tell them that Obama and Biden must sell themselves to these audiences—it cannot be done by proxy. Furthermore, I hope you refuse to attack Palin personally and confine the discussion to policy related issues.  Everyone knows your candidacy is what made hers possible. And, you know that if you attack her on behalf of Obama then you will diminish the good will you have worked hard to establish with those audiences.  Lest we forget, it is Biden’s job as vice presidential nominee to handle any attack on Palin. If he is sane, sensible and sober, then he will keep it to a bare minimum.  There are plenty of snarling hyenas in the press who are chomping at the bit to destroy any opponent of Obama for a Pulitzer, a promotion and a passport to hell.

We are your supporters and we are thinking Democrats—not yellow dogs.  The party of Barack Obama is no place for centrist democrats. When Howard Dean calls the Republican Party the white peoples party, when the Chairman of the North Carolina Democratic Party tells black voters to not support white candidates, when Obama himself claims that people who live in small town America are bitter, cling to guns and religion, and when former Democratic Chairman Don Fowler hopes a hurricane will hit New Orleans during the Republican Convention something is clearly amiss. Furthermore, we know who is running the party now and what their real agenda is. Finally, we know who Obama is, who he is not and if he is elected then woe betide the country. We need leaders within the party who remember how things were before he took over and continue to fight for the American People.  But the Obama cancer is metastasizing throughout the party and the only way it will be cured is through a sweeping defeat at the ballot box.

It is clear to us that this train is headed in the wrong direction. Therefore, we must step off and switch to another train for the time being.  Yes, Obama talks a good game but if past is prologue then he will break his promises to the American people, and honor the ones he makes to big business and to a new coalition that does not include us.  We are freer than you are in this respect, since we do not have a constituent base to serve, or a senate position to protect. We can flatly state that an Obama presidency would be an unmitigated disaster for the country.  Consequently, we cannot possibly vote for him. So keep the torch lit dear girl, fight for us as best you can and lord willing we will rendezvous with you in after the election when Barack is beaten and this fever has passed.  Until then we bid you a fond adieu.  

The DNC’s Latest

 

 

Heidi Li Feldman on the DNC’s latest:

http://heidilipotpourri.blogspot.com/2008/08/when-calling-dnc-or-dncc-is-like.html

 

 

PUMA CALL TO DNC DELEGATES

OBAMA SIGNALS ENDLESS WAR IN IRAQ, SELLOUTS ON FISA, NAFTA, AND CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM

WANTED: 175 HONEST DEMOCRATIC DELEGATES TO LEAVE FRAUDULENT OBAMA IN DENVER!

On July 3, Barack Obama revealed once and for all that he has run a fraudulent campaign in his attempt to secure the Democratic nomination for President. The foundation of Obama’s campaign had been his claim that he was the anti-war alternative in his opposition to Bush’s war in Iraq.

Now, in a North Dakota campaign event, Obama has declared that he will consult with the generals and “refine his position” on the Iraq war. The Washington Post headlined: “Obama May Consider Slowing Iraq Withdrawal.” But the real message is clear: Obama is moving rapidly away from his earlier 11-month or 16-month timetables for withdrawal and towards full support for endless war, conflict, violence, and bankruptcy in Iraq.

Samantha Power had confessed Obama’s doubletalk on Iraq months ago. The handwriting is now on the wall: Obama will soon go to Iraq, meet with General Petraeus, and then announce his Baghdad road conversion to a policy of open-ended military occupation, oblivious to the immense human costs.

Soon there will be no difference at all between Obama and McCain on the Iraq war, and the Democratic Party will have missed yet another historic opportunity to help the American people end Bush’s and Cheney’s failed Neo-Conservative policies. McCain is exploiting Obama’s radical shifts in position as examples that Obama has no principles, but only opportunism and expediency, and that his much-touted soaring words mean absolutely nothing.

We Democrats now have our last chance to reflect: do we really want to give our nomination to this little-known newcomer who solicited support as a peace advocate, but has now unmasked himself as being a candidate with positions closer to McCain on Iraq?

 

OBAMA BETRAYS DEMOCRATS ON FISA, NAFTA, CAMPAIGN FINANCE, THE DEATH PENALTY, AND MUCH MORE

From the instant that he felt that the Democratic nomination was in his hands, Obama has moved relentlessly to the right in a breathtaking, stunning exhibition of cynicism, duplicity, and fraudulent campaigning. Everything he stood for has been thrown overboard, and Obama has broken his word — the commitment he made to his own core voters and donors.

Obama promised to stop Bush’s assault on the Constitution and civil liberties, and end illegal wiretapping. Now, Obama will vote for the Republican leaning compromise on the FISA bill, including immunity for the telecoms – something only yesterday he promised the Democrats who supported him he would filibuster.

Obama raised money from grassroots Democrats on the premise that their small donations would allow him to be free of the corrupting influence of big money, big business, and special interests, but he has now broken his promise by opting out of public financing for his fall campaign, junking the cause of political reform he claimed to champion.

In Ohio and Pennsylvania, Obama posed as a critic of free trade sellouts like NAFTA, CAFTA, and WTO, specifically telling voters that voting for Hillary Clinton would be voting to support NAFTA. Now Obama has told Fortune magazine that he is a great friend of free trade and the “market.”

Obama now openly supports the death penalty, more of Bush’s faith-based theocratic subsidies, and the “merit pay” assault on teachers. He wants to cut the corporate income tax, and he now opposes attempts to curb hand gun violence.

In a most glaring betrayal to his contract with the Democratic base, Obama’s current team of economic advisers suggests that he will soon come out for the partial privatization of Social Security, camouflaged as “entitlement reform.”

In short, Obama intends to betray not just his own basic commitments, but the historical foundations of the Democratic Party going back to Franklin D. Roosevelt. The modern Democratic Party was built on the New Deal Democrats, a party of shared responsibility, and a contract to be the voice and champion of working class Americans.

Obama’s “new coalition” dismantles the REAL Democratic Party and replaces it with an elite party of Neo-Liberals, stealing the mantle of FDR.

 

SENATOR CLINTON MUST BE OUR NOMINEE
DEMOCRATS DID NOT VOTE FOR THE OBAMA WHO HAS BEEN RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT AFTER JUNE 3RD

If Obama imitates McCain on so many issues, the November election will come down to a choice between two individuals, and a fraudulent Obama will not fare well against war hero McCain, who is seen by voters as a straight shooter.

McCain will point out that voters cannot trust the disingenuous Obama, and on that, McCain will be correct. Fortunately, Obama has tipped his hand by dropping his mask too soon: there is no Democratic nominee until the Roll Call of the States on August 27, 2008 in Denver.

We are not calling for some futile and self-defeating gesture – we are pointing to the path that leads to victory.

With Senator Clinton, we have a superior, battle-tested, and winning candidate who is waiting in the wings, ready, and willing to take over. Clinton would be a reliable leader on the issues that have built the Democratic Party.  She has stood firm on her positions — past and present — even when it is not politically expedient.

The lesson is clear: the Democratic Party cannot win back the White House without the support of the New Deal Democratic base and their ideals.

The Democratic Convention in Denver must put forth a candidate that represents the values of the Party of FDR and that will win the hearts, minds, and votes of Democrats in November.
The Barack Obama running after June 3rd is not that candidate.

We must have an open convention in Denver — not a thoughtless coronation — so that we can seriously deliberate the far-reaching choices the party must make in this time of war and economic depression.

 

175 PATRIOTS CAN SAVE THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY BY NOMINATING THE TRUER DEMOCRAT

The fate of the United States — and the future of the Democratic Party – now rests with a minimum of 175 Democratic delegates who must now exercise their mature political judgment in the service of their country, and turn away from Obama to support Senator Clinton.
As of now, Obama has about 2229.5 delegate votes, with 1766.5 pledged delegates and 463 super delegates.

Clinton has 1896.5 delegate votes, with 1639.5 pledged and 257 super delegates.

Shift just 175 delegates from Obama to Clinton, and Obama’s power grab comes to a halt.

There must be no nomination of Obama on the first ballot. Once Obama has failed to secure the nomination on the first ballot, the party will be able to reflect on who the nominee ought to be, based on the experiences of June, July, and August.

Senator Clinton is pledged to an orderly, sane, and secure pullout. Clinton wants mandatory universal health care and a freeze on foreclosures.  She wants to shift the federal gasoline tax away from motorists, truckers, and farmers and towards the Oil Industry.
Obama is on the wrong side of all of these issues.

Hillary Clinton is and has always been on the side of traditional Democratic Party values.

We want a president from the Democratic Party, not from a small group of elite, libertarian Neo-Liberals. Lexington and Concord were started by a few dozen farmers.

Does the Democratic Party still have 175 patriots with the courage to take a stand?

 

PUMAS URGE YOU TO BRING TO AN END WHAT HAS BEEN A MOST FRAUDULENT CAMPAIGN

We are PUMAs — Democrats who reject an automatic proxy vote.
Instead, we are fighting for real Democratic Party values and the future of the party we love and still claim as our own.

We call on the delegates to the Denver convention to search their consciences, their experiences in past elections, and their own common sense.

Our party has had enough of defeat and retreat. We must not allow the DNC to impose on us yet another losing General Election candidate.

Obama’s anemic poll numbers already foreshadow defeat in November, and his continuing sellout on the issues is only making matters worse.

We urge you to reconsider your vote for Obama, and to instead vote for Senator Clinton — the strongest candidate, the people’s choice in the popular vote, and the candidate who has and will continue steadfastly to represent the core pillars of the Democratic Party.
Vote to seat Michigan and Florida at full strength as elected in the January primary. Organize your fellow delegates to block Obama.

Vote for Clinton, for victory in November, and for an end to the long nightmare of the Iraq war.

Will Bower (in cooperation with other PUMAs)
PUMA / Just Say NO DEAL
PUMA08.com

Next Stop: “NO WE WON’T” — Sunday, 6/29, 8pm EST

NO-WE-WONT

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/NO-WE-WONT/2008/06/30/NO-WE-WONT