19 Comments

1. Patrick  •  May 31, 2008 @9:56 am
   

   "I voted to strip them of 100% of their delegation because I couldn't predict that Floridians would be interested in the Presidential race."

   Classic.

2. Al  •  May 31, 2008 @10:45 am
   

   Given that Florida has, historically, played such a minor role in Presidential races it's easy to see how someone could come to that conclusion.

3. Brian  •  May 31, 2008 @10:58 am
   

   Harold Ickes really is looking like a complete jackass today.

4. Brian  •  May 31, 2008 @11:52 am
   

   Did Donna Brazile just call Hillary Clinton a cheater?

5. Chris H  •  May 31, 2008 @8:06 pm
   

   Early in the week it became apparent that hundreds, if not thousands of Obama supporters were going to descend on DC today to counterprotest the Hillaryites. Camp Obama begged and pleaded with their supporters to STAY AWAY from the RBC meeting today. To give their traveling supporters something to do, they did a huge voter drive in Virginia instead.

   Now, I just watched "Recount" this week, and the idea of not fighting tooth and nail for this seemed incredibly wrong. I couldn't believe that Plouffe and Axelrod were calling for quiet calm. This thing could be stolen, dammit!

   And now I am once again reminded that there's a reason why those two fellows do what they do for a living, and why I do what I do for a living. Clinton's supporters were obnoxious, loud, and frequently simply over-the-top. They interrupted the proceedings constantly, and did their best to create chaos out of the calm order of the way things went today.

   In other words: they showed the uncommitted Democrats in the party a preview of what might happen in Denver if they don't wrap this thing up now. If the rulings by the RBC put the lid on the coffin of the Clinton Campaign, the behavior of her supporters today nailed it shut.

6. Brian  •  May 31, 2008 @9:20 pm
   

   My favorite was the scene of some Floridian woman sobbing in the lobby. Sobbing. Sobbing because the FL delegates will only get a half a vote each. SOBBING. Ridiculous.

7. Ken  •  May 31, 2008 @9:50 pm
   

   Watch the video of this Clinton supporter:

   throwing the election away…for what—an inadequate black male who would not have been running had it not been a white woman that was running for president. I’m not going to shut my mouth anymore. I can be called white, but you can’t be called black…God Damn the Democrats.”

8. Ansley  •  May 31, 2008 @10:35 pm
   

   OMG, Ken. I lose more faith in my fellow human beings every day.

9. Brian  •  May 31, 2008 @11:08 pm
   

   Awesome. That old crone is complaining that she's a second class citizen because her vote didn't count? She's from Manhattan. Was there a problem seating the delegation from New York?

10. Brian  •  May 31, 2008 @11:32 pm
    

    The folks over at TalkLeft are beside themselves. It's fantastic. I love watching Harold Ickes getting all outraged over Michigan's delegates not being seated – all the while armed with the knowledge that Harold Ickes voted to strip Michigan of their entire delegation. If it was such a travesty of justice – why did you vote to strip them of their entire delegation Harold?

    /crickets

11. Patrick  •  Jun 1, 2008 @5:33 am
    

    Wasn't that Carmen Pacheco Esq. in the video?

12. Barbara  •  Jun 1, 2008 @7:24 pm
    

    This actually really worries me. The DNC failed to come up with a solution palatable to Hillary's supporters. And I don't think those spectators were kidding when they say they won't vote for Obama. Hell hath no fury and all that…I tell you what, the Eumenides have nothing on Hillary's fans.

13. Derrick  •  Jun 2, 2008 @4:32 am
    

    The only solution palatable to HIllary's supporters was to seat FL and MI's delegations in full.

14. PUMA  •  Jul 25, 2010 @6:59 am
    

    Over 2 years later now. Are you sorry o-bots any smarter now? Look at the incompetence Obama shows daily that we all warned you about. You were just racist (and sexist) voters. And you DO know he won't be running in 2012, right? I wonder what excuse he'll give.

15. Ken  •  Jul 25, 2010 @8:37 am
    

    Crazy Hilary supporters! What a blast from the past. Fun.

16. Brian  •  Jul 25, 2010 @8:43 am
    

    Awesome. I do feel smarter now, thanks. And no, I didn't know that Obama wouldn't be running for re-election. Did I miss the press conference?

17. Patrick  •  Jul 25, 2010 @11:24 am
    

    And you DO know he won’t be running in 2012, right?

    This is probably some variant on the "Party Elders" theory, with Hoyer and Durbin as the "wise men" of the party, persuading Obama to step down in favor of (depending on the theory) Hillary Clinton or Joseph Biden.

    Historical reference applies.

    "Write that something looks new to you: some will point out that the thrice-accursed Greeks said it long ago." — Charles Fort.

    Of course the analogy that applies here is not the Greeks, but the Romans. In 49 BC, Gaius Julius Caesar, one of two surviving members of the First Triumvirate, sought the Senate's consent to run for the Consulate from outside Rome, specifically from his proconsular province in Cisalpine Gaul, from which Caesar had raised the legions which he led to the conquest of what later became the Roman province of Gaul, or France proper as we know it today.

    Caesar's request was not without precedent. Other great men of the Republic, including Marius and Pompey himself, had been allowed to run for the Consulate from outside the pomerium, the ancient borders of the city of Rome.

    Caesar's request was also justified. The Senate had granted Caesar proconsular imperium which was to last until 48 BC, until the date was modified by an act passed (for another purpose), by a tribune of the people at Pompey's instigation. Caesar had rendered great service to Rome, defeating the Gauls, who had terrorized Rome for centuries, in multiple battles including the siege of Alesia, which despite the obsession with Hannibal's victory at Cannae by commanders such as Rommel and Montgomery, must rank (as Napoleon himself insisted) as the greatest military victory of all time, ending for 500 years the threat of Gaulish invasion from the North and bringing great treasure and prestige to Rome.

    Caesar's request, considering his recent achievements, was hardly unprecedented and indeed justified, considering that this man, who had done as much for Rome as any man (to that point) except for Pompey himself and for Scipio Africanus, who defeated Hannibal and Carthage, more than even Marius, would be prosecuted by Cato and the optimates if he returned to Rome without the benefit of imperium, not for his treatment of the Gaulish people, of which the optimates approved, but for passing a series of acts through the popular assembly rather than the Senate during his tenure as Consul ten years earlier, acts for the benefit of Pompey himself, as their prime effect was to redistribute lands, which were supposed to be held in common by Rome, from the optimates (who had used their senatorial connections to lease them on the cheap) to Pompey's veterans.

    But given the fratricidal infighting of the time, Cato, the spokesman for the optimates and even Pompey himself, a new man and a great general, but a poor politician, who was used by the optimates, turned on Caesar, refusing to allow Caesar to run for the Consulate from his province in Cisalpine Gaul.

    Considering that Rome had only two punishments for malfeasance, exile or death, Caesar had no choice but to begin Rome's second civil war, against the optimates led by Cato and the forces of the novus homo Pompey. Caesar had the benefit of a veteran army, far more formidable than Pompey's untrained, inexperienced legions, so the outcome, in the hands of a genius as capable and aggressive as Caesar, was not really in doubt. The result was the destruction of the Republic, not by Caesar, who was assassinated after his victory against the Pompeians and his assumption of the dictatorship, but by Caesar's leading legate, Antony, and his heir, Octavian, later to become Augustus.

    We can discount Biden entirely. Like Obama, Caesar also had a consular colleague from the "old boy network" who'd run against him, but with whom he was forced to share power: The utterly ridiculous Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus. Like Biden, Bibulus was a man of small gifts, known more for his connections than his ability. His political career ended when, during a debate against Caesar, the people poured a bucket of dung over his head.

    Consider the facts: Obama, like Caesar, will not step down voluntarily if his Democratic Party elders seek to replace him. He cannot, because the Republicans will prosecute him for alleged crimes against the Constitution if he gives up his office. Hoyer (as an uncharismatic but upright longtime Congressman and a conservative Democrat, an obvious Cato the Younger) and Clinton (a once powerful, but faded arriviste, a novus homo (pardon the sexism) if ever there was one, a modern Pompey) seek to destroy the American republic even more surely than Obama, who merely wishes a second term, and has control of the army to back up his claims.

    Do you really want a second American Civil War, PUMA? Hoyer and Hillary can't stand against the army, and even if they should assassinate Obama, can there be any doubt that Sasha or Malia, like Octavian / Augustus, will fight on?

    Do you really want to destroy the American republic, replacing it with an empire that may last a few hundred years but will ultimately end, replacing the good nation that is America with a Papacy, a theocracy, and later, leaving what's left of America as a corrupt banana republic best known for quality shoes, fashion models, and food, like Italy today?

    Or, at best, do you want America to be led by the modern-day Bibulus, a man whose head is covered in dung?

    You should be ashamed of yourself.

18. rsm  •  Jul 25, 2010 @6:01 pm
    

    That strained rather quickly, although it was worth a good laugh.

    I think we can improve on your history lesson a bit: If Octavian wasn't someone related by blood, but adopted, then I'm sure we can come up with a better name for a modern comparable. It should probably either be a life-long civil servant or senior army officer who is well known and popular with the troops. Someone willing to offer a bonus of three years pay to the Secret Service and Armed Forces upon assuming the Oval Office?
    The reason I suggest that is the above is that your suggestion that Sasha or Malia take over means that we would be looking at another Nero – run by their mother and still teenagers – a fantastic parallel I think is best avoided as Washington burning a couple years early and before I've had a chance to take the kids to the Smithsonian is definitely not a good thing.

19. Patrick  •  Jul 26, 2010 @7:30 am
    

    But Octavian was related by blood. He was Caesar's closest male relative. Caesar probably adopted him (posthumously, by a will deposited with the vestal virgins) to make sure his estate, auctoritas, and the loyalty of Caesar's clients and legions would pass to Octavian seamlessly. Unlike many great men, Caesar was well-acquainted with his own mortality. He was an epileptic who'd held the head of Pompey, the only man in the world of similar stature, in his hands. He'd experienced the death of his only legitimate biological child. (We don't know about Caesarion, but Augustus took the claim of Caesarean paternity seriously enough to have Caesarion killed after defeating Antony and Cleopatra.) All of the evidence is that Caesar saw in Octavian the traits that enabled the young man to become Augustus, one of the most successful rulers in history. It was also a rather explicit rejection of Antony, who'd lost Caesar's favor by governing Rome incompetently while Caesar was fighting Pompey in Greece and Egypt.

    It's worth pointing out that adoption was both more common and carried less stigma among the Romans than it did among us. They didn't have the neurotic hang-ups that we do about adoption, perhaps because infant mortality and premature death was so much higher in Roman society.

    That Octavian was so readily accepted by Caesar's legions, and clientele, is some evidence of this.