Why does Obama want to disenfranchise Michigan and Florida Democrats?

[MethuenProgressive]

Is it only because those voters don't support him?

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[Dogmudgeon]

4. You must be having a bad week, then

Lots of us are.

:hide:

--p!

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

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[Kittycat]

3. It's the Mich & FL Dem Leaders that dissenfranchised their own voters. Please stop with the lies.

[K Gardner]

6. Lying/cheating= The only way HRC and supporters know to win now.

[bellasgrams]

23. With all the misquotes and assertions that BO has made

the past couple of weeks, and the shameful remarks of his supporters including this one, your comment doesn't mean anything.

[Kittycat]

30. And you're doesn't change the facts.

[thunder rising]

5. He hates them ya'know. Yep, can't stand Floridians or MI lunatics

I don't know about MI, but this treatment serves Florida right for being, well ahhh, Florida. I mean they are always in the middle of some really STUPID voter fraud issue. Florida has not place in saying anything about what the nominee is going to be until it cleans it's house.

So, there you have it. Obama hates Florida and Michigan.

(writing live from WPB, FL, Thunder Rising)

[thunder rising]

8. And don't forget Howar Dean hates Florida and Michigan. He needs to be fired and HRC is the one

to do it. She will set this right. Fire Howard Dean.

[Hugabear]

7. Obama is standing by the DNC decision! Is that so hard to understand?

Obama is not trying to "disenfranchise" anyone. The states disenfranchised themselves when they moved up their primaries in direct violation of the rules. They were warned repeatedly not to do so, and they did it anyways.

The DNC is the one who decided to strip Florida and Michigan of their delegates, not Obama.

And once again, why is this righteous indignation coming out only two days before the Florida primary, and AFTER Hillary has already won in Michigan - where her name was the ONLY major one on the ballot?

[ristruck]

10. Pattern

Clinton supporters appear to be like her. They will say anything true or not to get elected.

[jonnywishbone97]

16. Obama is sleazier than any repuke

That I have seen.

[Hugabear]

18. And you call yourself a Democrat?

There are plenty of faults to go around with any of the Democratic candidates. But to say that Obama is worse than any rethug is outrageous, and shouldn't be tolerated on this website. You do know where you are, right?

[jonnywishbone97]

20. yes i know where i am

and if it doesnt promote freedom of expression that would fall right into obamas camp.

[bellasgrams]

28. BO supporters say much, much worse about Hillary.

And the way he has thrown the truth around this past week or so IS pure sleeze.

[muriel_volestrangler]

36. Bush?

Nixon?
Cheney?
Rumsfeld?
Reagan?
Bush Senior?

How many more do you need listed?

[Skip Intro]

25. Yeah, that's why he ran ads in FL.

Oh wait, he ran national ads that just happened to appear in FL.

Yeah, that's right.

Somebody must've pushed a wrong button or something.

[bellasgrams]

26. It has been in the media all along that the delegates would

probably wind up being counted. Why blame Hillary she didn't take their names off. There was no agreement to remove names, just not campaign. Like in FL where BO agreed not to campaign but is running all kinds of ads.

[Mz Pip]

9. RIght

Obama hated MI so much he took his name off the ballot. :sarcasm:

Mz Pip
:dem:

[book_worm]

11. All candidates agreed to this, it's just Hillary two days before the primary

who is, once again, wanting to change the rules. If she felt so she should have made waves a long time ago, but we know how she is--she was for the war before she was against it.

[madfloridian]

32. She got a Bill Nelson endorsement when she said that.

All goes together.

[DefenseLawyer]

12. I'm no James Carville

but proposing that the rules be changed after the fact to benefit your candidate and attacking your opponent for NOT going back on his word seems a little weak. It is kinda like playing poker with your friends for fun and then after you win demanding cash for your chips.

[John Q. Citizen]

19. Yep, it reminds me of retro-active immunity for the telecoms. The OPs questions

is similar to saying, "Why does Chris Dodd hate patriots.?"

The Democratic voters of both Florida and Michigan need to vote out their state party leadership if they are pissed at them for making sure their votes won't count.

It's hillaryous to blame the candidates for the skulduggery of there own state party leadership.

[Maribelle]

34. Seating the Florida Delegates would not favor any candidate.

Clueless pomp being trown about will never make the pomp reality.

[indimuse]

13. "Why say you're for a new tomorrow, then do old-style Chicago politics to remove legitimate ..

Obama is not an innocent BOY!


Barack Obama's Hardball, Old-Style Chicago Politics
Posted by Kim Priestap
Published: June 4, 2007 - 3:50 PM
I don't think this Chicago Tribune article ever made it to the national news but it should have:

The day after New Year's 1996, operatives for Barack Obama filed into a barren hearing room of the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.

There they began the tedious process of challenging hundreds of signatures on the nominating petitions of state Sen. Alice Palmer, the longtime progressive activist from the city's South Side. And they kept challenging petitions until every one of Obama's four Democratic primary rivals was forced off the ballot.

Fresh from his work as a civil rights lawyer and head of a voter registration project that expanded access to the ballot box, Obama launched his first campaign for the Illinois Senate saying he wanted to empower disenfranchised citizens.

But in that initial bid for political office, Obama quickly mastered the bare-knuckle arts of Chicago electoral politics. His overwhelming legal onslaught signaled his impatience to gain office, even if that meant elbowing aside an elder stateswoman like Palmer.

A close examination of Obama's first campaign clouds the image he has cultivated throughout his political career: The man now running for president on a message of giving a voice to the voiceless first entered public office not by leveling the playing field, but by clearing it.

One of the candidates he eliminated, long-shot contender Gha-is Askia, now says that Obama's petition challenges belied his image as a champion of the little guy and crusader for voter rights.

Askia said. "He talks about honor and democracy, but what honor is there in getting rid of every other candidate so you can run scot-free? Why not let the people decide?"

In a recent interview, Obama granted that "there's a legitimate argument to be made that you shouldn't create barriers to people getting on the ballot."


It's well known that Chicago politics is rife with corruption, so it's no surprise that there were so many illegal signatures, although Alice Palmer to this day insists her signatures were legal. Nonetheless, Obama looks really bad insisting that he believes there shouldn't be any hurdles to get people on the ballot and then turning around and working to get every other candidate thrown off the ballot, making himself unopposed. So much for giving voters a choice.

[Bad Thoughts]

14. People of Both States should schedule legit contests. eom.

[Pathwalker]

17. Michigan can't afford it - like anyone really cares.

[Orangepeel]

27. The DNC offered to pay for a caucus if Florida held it later

They probably offered to pay for Michigan's too.

[sam sarrha]

15. Link>>

http://zmagsite.zmag.org/Feb2007/street0207.html

[Maribelle]

33. Obama referred to Senator Paul Wellstone as "something of a gadfly" - Ouch

Thank you very much for the link - - that was an extremely eyeopening column for me.

Obama “dismissively” referred—in a “tone laced with contempt”—to the late progressive and populist U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone as “something of a gadfly.”

[IsItJustMe]

21. Sometimes you have to play by the rules that you had nothing to with in creating. THAT SIMPLE!

Now, spin on.

[sam sarrha]

38. isn't that convient....!!

[madfloridian]

22. I just noticed something.

It is okay to just post stuff and hope no one notices that is not the truth.

I guess it is ok to do that...but not ok to tell someone they are not telling the truth.

:shrug:

[JAbuchan08]

24. It's not "enfranchisement" if the only choice is Hillary - what's so hard to get about that?

[Alexander]

29. Why do you support breaking the DNC rules?

Is it because you're a Shillbot?

[Blarch]

31. Jeeesh

the hillary supporters know better than this , they know Hillary isn't sincere in her wishes, otherwise she would have spoken up before the vote.

The Hillhacks are exposing themselves as political hacks.

People Like Monkey Funk have been a great disappointment to me, I really thought they were smarter than this. But here we are.

[Maribelle]

35. The only guess I can make is that Obama is attempting to force a brokered convention

Once the convention starts, the nominee can let the delegates in.
Obama, I guess, does not want a nominee by then, and he wants the nominee to be bickered over with politics in the convention hall being the driving force.

When Obama says he wants change, it appears the changes he wants is to bring the dirty politicking that Chicago is notorious for, right there to the convention floor dominating all Democrats in the country.

Sweet, no?

[Auntie Bush]

37. Maybe because he doesn't want Clinton to get those votes/states or delegates..

IMHO