THE DAILY BLADE: Road To Dem Party Unity Leads To Roll Call Vote
In what both Dem frontrunners are describing as a “symbolic tribute” to Sen. Hillary Clinton’s “historic campaign,” she and presumptive nominee Sen. Barack Obama jointly announced an agreement to formally place her name in nomination at the DNC convention:
Since June, Senators Obama and Clinton have been working together to ensure a Democratic victory this November. They are both committed to winning back the White House and to ensuring that the voices of all 35 million people who participated in this historic primary election are respected and heard in Denver. To honor and celebrate these voices and votes, both Senator Obama's and Senator Clinton's names will be placed in nomination. …
Senator Obama's campaign encouraged Senator Clinton's name to be placed in nomination as a show of unity and in recognition of the historic race she ran and the fact that she was the first woman to compete in all of our nation's primary contests
The New York Times reports that “[t]he details of the roll call have not been worked out, including how or whether Mrs. Clinton’s delegates would be released or turned over to Mr. Obama,” but its sister paper, The Boston Globe, seems to know more of the story:
The traditional roll call of the states is scheduled for the next night. The tentative plan is for the states to announce the number of delegates for Clinton and Obama, then for Clinton to turn her delegates over to Obama and cast her own superdelegate vote for him.
The Times notes that “[w]hile this is hardly the first time a losing candidate’s name will be placed in nomination - Mo Udall persuaded Jimmy Carter to allow it in 1976 – the duration and intensity of the Obama-Clinton nominating fight created wounds that have yet to heal among some Democratic activists. Many backers of Mrs. Clinton have been vigorously pushing for her candidacy to be validated through a roll-call vote.”
Though Obama’s convention spokesperson Jenny Backus insists, “This is a united convention. This is a united party,” the symbolism of the roll call vote may be lost on those who remain convinced Hillary is the better candidate and was maneuvered out of the nomination by the party leadership.
“The only way a Democratic Party will have the credibility to elect a Democrat in November is if the party uses a legitimate process to choose its nominee,” The Denver Group co-founder Heidi Li Feldman tells The Associated Press, adding, “We are not per se a Clinton support group, we are a Democratic Party get-your-act-together support group.”
The Washington Post reports that some Clinton supporters plan to “leave the convention after [she] speaks on Tuesday night, as part of an ongoing protest against Obama's nomination.” But others aren’t satisfied with passive protest, and are “itching for a fight and plan to wage one in Denver,” according to AP.
If Clinton does not win the party’s nomination after the roll call vote – an unlikely scenario – some unknown percentage of Hillary’s die-hard supporters plan to cross party lines or to vote for Green Party nominee Ralph Nader in November.
Just Say No Deal Coalition co-founder Will Bower tells AP: “I have been voting Democratic for 18 years. I only voted for Democrats, from dog catcher to president and everything in between. I will be voting for someone other than Barack Obama come November.”
While Women for Fair Politics co-founder Cynthia Ruccia (video) is “thrilled” that there will be a roll call vote, she tells The Boston Globe, “I don't think Barack Obama is qualified to be president of the United States. They continue to call us racist, sour old women, sore losers. This is all very insulting, and it's very sexist and completely uncalled for.”
Ruccia – a Dem party activist from Columbus, OH - will participate in a joint press conference during the convention with former Dem officeholders, candidates and diplomats to explain why they will not support Obama – and is planning to attend the GOP convention next month as a guest of McCain campaign co-chair Carly Fiorina.
In Times Of Trouble, The U.S. Finds Out Who Its Real Friends Are
When the Russians invaded Georgia, the U.S. State Department evacuated family members of our diplomats stationed in the country - along with more than 170 American citizens who found themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time - from Tbilisi to neighboring Armenia in two convoys, reports The Associated Press. The Armenians gave our citizens safe haven even though Condoleezza Rice and other Bush administration officials spared no effort to cow Congress into tabling the symbolic H.Res. 106/S.Res. 106 ("the Armenian Genocide Resolution").
Turkey, on the other hand, refused to allow the U.S. to use its facilities to stage an attack on Iraq from the north at the start of the war, and repeatedly threatened to close the border with Iraq and to cut off access to its Incirlik Air Base – built with U.S. taxpayer money, BTW – to make it impossible to get supplies to our soldiers if Nancy Pelosi brought HR 106 to a vote in the House. There is one thing that Turkey does allow across its borders (second item): Muslim insurgents to join al-Qaeda in Iraq to kill and maim as many of our soldiers as possible.
The Stiletto hopes that the next president - whomever (s)he may be - keeps all this in mind the next time The Armenian Genocide Resolution is scheduled for a floor vote.
Is This One Of Those Jobs That “Americans Won’t Do?”: Part X
JetBlue Airways Corp. is looking for 1,000 frequent flyers to help them test bag check and security systems at its new terminal at NYC’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, which is scheduled to open in September, reports Reuters. Participants who show up on August 23rd are promised free parking, lunch and “giveaways.”
Imagine having to take off your shoes and belt and put them in a bin, along with your cell phone and keychain; take your laptop out of its carrying case and put in another bin; and hoist your overstuffed carryon on the x-ray machine conveyor belt, then walk through the metal detector, put your shoes and belt on; put your cell phone and keys away; put your laptop back in the case; and yank your carryon off the conveyor belt. Over and over again. And you’re not even going anywhere.
The “giveaway” had better be a pair of free airline tickets that can be re-used for any destination within the continental U.S. for one year.
Editorial Note: You’d be amazed at some of the jobs Americans are doing. To read previous posts in the “Is This One Of Those Jobs …” series, click here (second item), here (fourth item), here (second item), here (third item), here (third item), here (second item), here, here and here.
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