So, let me get this straight…
Michigan and Florida were penalized by the Democratic Party for holding their primaries earlier than allowed. They were stripped of their delegates for this election, as a result. Obama’s name did not appear on the Michigan ballot, and neither candidate campaigned in Florida.
Now that she trails in the delegate count, Clinton, who won these states, wants to see their delegate slate restored? I think that if there was agreement and no complaint by the candidates about the penalty for these states before they held their elections, it lacks integrity to shift opinion on the matter in pursuit of personal gain.
The LA Times writes about it here.
Entries (RSS)
May 8th, 2008 at 7:38 am
Yes: She’s nuts.
May 8th, 2008 at 9:20 am
I don’t think she’s nuts, per se, but I think she’s an egomaniac. Everyone who runs for President is, to some extent, but I think she is really taking it to a new level.
On the other hand, I think she’s clinging to every last chance she has to win. If she stays in the race and just keeps fighting and fighting and fighting (now with more and more of her own money?!) at least that will make her the last person standing if Obama is caught (as I’ve heard it put) with either a live boy or a dead girl :).
In some sense, that’s a virtue. She & Bill certainly haven’t gotten to where they are by giving up, so props to her for that. It reminds me of situations in poker when you might call a raise with a mediocre hand because it gives you SOME chance to win the hand, whereas by folding you have a ZERO chance of winning. But just like in poker, those situations rarely work out for the best.
A few weeks ago Hillary was realistically hoping for a Miracle. Now, at worst, she needs a Series Of Miracles. And meanwhile she’s pouring her own and her supporters’ money down the drain. And yes, she’s mortgaging her integrity (not a new opinion for a lot of people) to do it.
BTW, what the LA Times article kind of glosses over is that, while Clinton will have some influence at the first committee, any solution they come up with will have to be ratified at the next level by a committee that will be controlled by Obama’s people. So at the end of day, she would have a tough time pushing through what she wants even if it made sense. I read all about the process on Wikipedia a while back, but I forgot the committee names now.
I believe the FL/MI delegations will be seated, but the decision to seat them (and the allocation of delegates) will come after Obama has things really locked up and will be structured in such a way that it doesn’t change the contest. Clinton is posturing about it a lot, but again, the only way the contest changes now is the live boy/dead girl scenario. It will set a TERRIBLE precedent for primaries in the future for the sake of political theater, but at least it will shut up the damn Floridians.
May 8th, 2008 at 11:12 am
Yeah. Damn Floridians.
May 8th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
Those Floridians are nuts.
May 8th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
Floridians are symbionts with all other living things; that is, without them, life could not exist. The Jedi have learned how to listen to and coordinate the Floridians. If they quiet their minds, they can hear the Floridians speaking to them, telling them the will of the Force. In order to be a Jedi or a Sith, one must have a high concentration of Floridians in one’s cells.