May 31… We Will Never Forget

The Democratic National Committee’s Rules & Bylaws Committee Meeting on May 31, 2008 in Washington DC where Florida’s vote on January 29 was officially recognized. Democrats will have 50% voting strength – in the form of a full 211-person delegation with one-half vote each.

Sources with knowledge of the RBC’s inner dealings say a compromise is being crafted in which all of the candidates who took their names off of the state’s ballot would voluntarily agree that the now-uncommitted delegates would go to Obama, after which the state’s entire delegation would be seated.

The proposal, which two sources confirm has been discussed, would stand the greatest chance of passing: it would pacify Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, who has demanded that his state’s non-sanctioned January primary be fully honored; and it would circumvent the Clinton campaign’s insistence that party rules prevent simply assigning all of Michigan’s uncommitted delegates to Obama.

On May 31, 2008, and a stormy day in DC by all measures, Harold Ickes mounted an impassioned defense of Senator Clinton’s position at the DNC RBC Meeting. Asserting:
that we have one of the lowest voter turnouts in the world, and it’s hard to find an election in the US that isn’t flawed;
Ickes said those were:
not an excuse to overturn elections, nor to substitute their judgment for the voters. One election wouldn’t stand the test that’s been laid down here. Fair reflection: you cannot take delegates from one candidate and give to another. Not only will this motion hijack four delegates from Mrs. Clinton, it will take 55 delegates from uncommitted status, which is a recognized Presidential status under our Constitution and convert them to Barack Obama.

Finally, there’s been a lot of talk about Party Unity, not withstanding the flawed aspect of this, let’s all come together, wrap our arms around each other. I submit to you, ladies and gentleman, that hijacking four delegates, notwithstanding the flawed aspect of this, is not a good way to start down the path of party unity. One final word, Mrs. Clinton has instructed me to reserve her rights to take this to the Credentials Committee.

That evening, following the decision of the Committe, after months of grueling appeals in attempts by Florida and Michigan voters to have their votes counted and delegates seated, Harold Ickes and Tina Flournoy (my heroes) made the following statement on behalf of the Clinton campaign:

The Committee awarded to Senator Obama not only the delegates won by Uncommitted, but four of the delegates won by Senator Clinton. This decision violates the bedrock principles of our democracy and our Party.

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“Until the Rules and Bylaws Committee of the Democratic National Committee met on May 31, 2008, the pro-obama propaganda (pro-bama-ganda?) in the So Called Free Press (SCFP) was already widespread. Heck, that propaganda is what brought us
• Hillary Clinton the premenstrual CRY BABY
• Bill and Hillary Clinton THE RACISTS
• Chelsea Clinton THE WHORE
• Hillary Clinton THE PIMP
• Hillary Clinton the TYPICAL NASTY EX-WIFE
• Hillary Clinton the CASTRATING BITCH
• Hillary Clinton the WAR MONGER
• Hillary Clinton the TEA PARTY HOSTESS
• Hillary Clinton the LIAR LIAR LIAR
• Hillary Clinton the STUPID BITCH who won’t quit
• Hillary Clinton who WANTS OBAMA ASSASINATED

But after that infamous day, all stops were pulled on the media’s full-court propaganda press. Seven short days later, Hillary Clinton, the only TRULY QUALIFIED AND HISTORIC CANDIDATE in the race dropped out and promised her full support to the selected nominee.

And the rest, as they say, is history. But it’s ongoing history. The history of what was started is still being made. It’s being made by people like us and all the Democrats and Independents who are waking up to how much mediocrity and venality can be bought with a three-quarters of a BILLION DOLLARS Marketing Campaign.

I was in Washington D.C. at the RBC Meeting at the Marriot Hotel with my three daughters, my father, and my niece. I still had hope that the Party would do the right thing and count the votes of Democrats in Michigan and Florida. Along with hundreds of Clinton supporters who came from as far away as California, Florida, Arkansas, and Tennessee to protest the swindle Wexler and the rest of them were pulling off behind closed doors, I watched my Party blatantly betray on national TV the ideals I thought it stood for.

During the LONG 14 hour drive home to Boston on June 1st I made my plans. Inspired by the women I met in DC, women like Harriet Christian and Deborah, Joan from New York and others, I knew I had to do SOMETHING. Being in Washington I realized that the fix might be in, but there really was a critical mass of Democrats who would not go quietly into the night of mindless Obamadoration. We KNEW something really rotten had infected Denmark even if the SCFP would NEVER report on it or expose its ugly dark side.
And so two days after getting home from D.C. I started Puma PAC and watched in awe as tens of thousands of outraged, heart-broken, organized, and active women and men visited, commented, and became members of our fledgling group.

And what did we accomplish? Did we force the DNC to act with integrity? No. Did we defeat obama in November? No. The forces arrayed against were too organized and too powerful, and the strongest enemy was the propagandistic media.
So, what did we achieve?

We made it clear to the United States and the world that all was NOT RIGHT in the Democratic Party.

We raised questions about the $750 MILLION dollars in campaign contributions, obama’s unseemly associations, his razor-thin resume, his narcissism, his secrecy about EVERYTHING (yes, including the gosh darn birth certificate), and his utter lack of commitment to true Democratic values like women’s and LGBT rights that are still being asked and which will continue to be asked until satisfactory answers are found.
We created an organization and a movement that continues to this day to attract disaffected Democrats and Independents and which treats the president and his administration to DAILY skepticism, left-leaning criticism, and the only dose of HONESTY his benighted tenancy ever has to contend with.

• The national media knows what Puma is and what we fight for. The international press does too.

• The Democratic Party leadership knows who we are and know how much damage we’ve done to their preposterous attempts to claim a unified party.

• Markos Moulitsas and the rest of the thoroughly discredited Blogger BOIZ know who we are.

• And because, surely, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Bill Clinton, know Who We Are and Why We Are,

I want ALL of them — the media, the DONC, the Blogger BOIZ, and the Clintons — to know
WE’RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE.

I’ll leave you with this thought, from Cinie:
“Remember PUMAs, it’s complacency that is our enemy; critical thinking and healthy skepticism are our long suits. But, our ace-in-the-hole, the strongest trait we have, and must never lose, is our thoroghly justified, well earned, complete, total, fucking rage.”
Oh, and p.s., for all the idiots who STILL repeat the lie that Clinton ran a terrible campaign and Axelrod is some sort of incredible GENIUS who was working for a stupendously charismatic candidate, ahem – Hillary Clinton WON the Democratic Primaries. The final vote count was:

Hillary Rodham Clinton: 17,857,446 (48.04% of the votes)
Barack Hussein Obama: 17,584,649 (47.31% of the votes)

Clinton won by 272,797 votes. That’s a lot of votes. “”

–Murphy, May 31, 2009

WE WILL NEVER FORGET!