Washington, DC – U.S. Representative Alcee L. Hastings (D-Miramar) issued the following statement today in response to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Rules and Bylaws Committee’s ruling to seat Florida’s delegates to the Democratic National Convention with only 1/2 of a vote per person.
“It is with reluctance and disappointment that I accept the DNC’s decision today. I do so not because I agree with the decision but because it is time for us to move on and focus on winning in November.
“I applaud Karen Thurman and the Florida Democratic Party, Robert Wexler, Bill Nelson and others who represented our state and the candidates for doing the best they could with a bad situation.
“Florida Democrats have been serially abused and the DNC is the latest of offenders. How the DNC has the authority to ignore the votes of ‘Jack and Jane Lunch Bucket’ is beyond my understanding. The insiders who actively sought to disillusion and disenfranchise the more than 1.75 million Florida Democrats who voted on January 29 give new meaning to collective arrogance.
“The DNC’s decision today ignores the core principle of our great democracy: the right to vote. I know that the 1.75 million Democrats who voted on January 29 count and don’t give a damn what the DNC rules pronounce.
“Going to a party’s convention is a privilege. Courts have said that political parties have a right to make their rules. In this case, the DNC has chosen to take away that privilege from people who I believe have earned the right to participate in the National Convention in Denver with a full vote. As Americans, we should never insinuate or give vent to taking away the constitutional, time honored, died for, and cherished rights of voters from any state. Yet that is what today’s decision has done to the people of Florida and Michigan.
“I suppose the DNC has the right to block Democrats in Florida from attending the National Convention. They also have the right to be stupid, and stupid they are.
Comments on this Entry:
(odinseye2k on
Jun 1, 2008 9:13 PM)
When the facts are on your side, emphasize the law. When the law is on your side, emphasize the facts. When you lack both the facts and the law, pound the table.
(odinseye2k on
Jun 1, 2008 9:18 PM)
Turn ‘are’ into ‘aren’t’ and it makes sense.
(Mouth of the South on
Jun 2, 2008 11:38 AM)
What they should have done is ban all the florida and michigan party people from the convention and sent one obama person and one hillary person, each with the power to cast the representative votes of the states (if they can give each person half a vote, why not give one person 17?) under a theory of true reflection.
This was a state party mistake. Punish them, not the voters.
(odinseye2k on
Jun 2, 2008 12:53 PM)
“This was a state party mistake. Punish them, not the voters.”
I think the delegate numbers are more punishing of party activists and insiders, but whatever.
It dawned on me halfway through the meeting that Obama should have pushed for having the delegation while Hillary would push for halving the votes.
Halving the votes allows for a convention rewrite of the rules to instate votes at full power. Halving the delegation makes the matter more fully settled.
The funny thing about leaving uncommitteds uncommitted would have created a de facto convention / caucus within MI to replace the delegates, preferably with the Obama and Edwards campaigns (now effectively the Obama campaign) able to pre-screen out all Clinton supporters (since they already have their part of the delegation).
It’s kind of screwy the way the uncommitteds came out of the Rules committee, but it was probably the quickest fix. All the possible scenarios shuffle around a dozen or so delegates at most anyways.
But, hopefully most of the theatre and histrionics are now out of the picture and we can focus on more important matters.
(Mouth of the South on
Jun 2, 2008 4:06 PM)
Preventing the party from sending anyone including delegates seems like a party punishment. Maybe I didn’t phrase it right.
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