and all the king's men couldn't make me vote for a Republican again. But my outrage has nothing to do with a Clinton strategy. I thought that Florida should have had a re-vote in 2000, and let the chips fall where they may. I have believed since then that the progressive movement and the Democratic party stood for counting every vote. When Kerry conceded with nary a peep about the voting irregularities in Ohio in 2004, that faith was shaken. We have had eight years of George W. Bush enabled by one stolen election, and one very questionable one. And in all that time, not one damned Democrat has done one damned thing to try to fix the voting process. If we go into the general election with a nominee that won that nomination by silencing the voices of voters in two large states, a lot of people are going to question the legitimacy of the process. I have seen numerous diaries and comments on progressive blogs railing against the unfairness of convicted felons not being able to get their voting rights restored. But now we have many of those same people arguing that "rules are rules", therefore it is perfectly fine to deny the votes of millions of people because they didn't storm the state capitol with assault rifles to keep them from breaking the rules. We have a DNC chairman(who I used to have a lot of respect for) who stupidly and shortsightedly stripped all the delegates instead of just half, and who hasn't shown any leadership in trying to remedy the situation. And we have approximately half of the Democratic party cheering him on. And I'm not interested in a "symbolic" anything. The people in third world dictatorship's get "symbolic" votes. But that doesn't make them legitimate.
Let's put their backs against the wall now and force re-votes. We are not being unreasonable. It is not like we are asking for re-votes in all the caucus states. Hillary won Texas, What does this idiotic caucus game have in common with the future vote in the general election, ZERO.
I will vote for Obama but not if Howard Dean doesn't stop this deal he made with Obama to screw Hillary. No re-vote, I vote for McCain and get everyone I know to do the same.
Obama wants to be cute and conniving, well this one is for him and Howard Dean and for all the super-delegate hypocrites who want the election to be based on the will of the people and yet they will go against their own states votes. Besides, without the re-vote he is dead in the water because the election will look like a put up job.
And what about Ted Kennedy who tried to overturn the elected delegates in 1980 when it was obvious Carter would lose to Reagan. Well, it is obvious if this charade goes on, there will be no Democrat in the White House in 2009 and all the damage Bush has done will only get worse. That's what happens when a few people try to kidnap the Party and disenfranchise millions. When you are dealing with kidnappers you have to use extreme measures and when all you are asking for is fairness, you cannot be wrong.
need to protest by sitting out the election, but not the threat to vote for McCain. Especially if you are in a swing state. I'm not even ready to say unequivocally that I won't vote for Obama. That possibility is becoming more remote all the time, and I may not make a final decision until Nov. 2, if he is the nominee. But if the Democratic party doesn't allow Fla. and Mich. to weigh in on a primary this close, they might as well sit down and shut up on voter's rights issues, because they will never have a leg to stand on again.
