The Moving Train: Black Superdelegates

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2008/02/black_superdelegates_rethinkin.html

Yep, as usual "chickens are coming home to roost" alright...Let's hope enough of these mercenary black politicians in the Clinton machine's hip pocket come to their senses soon enough to find out "what time it is." Many of them are currently stuck in some ideological No Mans Land where they childishly indulge themselves and actually pretend to be NEUTRAL. Ha & Double Ha! THAT'S A LAUGH! How politically delusional can one be? Ain't no "NEUTRAL" in this fight folks...As the radical historian and activist Howard Zinn always says: "You can't be neutral on a moving train..." AND THESE JOKERS ARE GETTING READY TO FIND OUT THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH OF THOSE WORDS VERY SOON...Much sooner than they think in fact...

Meanwhile: THE TRAIN IS MOVING AT SUPERSONIC SPEED...

Kofi

Black superdelegates: Rethinking Obama, Clinton

by Mike Dorning

The outpouring of support for Barack Obama's presidential candidacy in African-American communities is shifting the political calculus for superdelegates with large black constituencies and causing some of them to reconsider promises of support for Hillary Clinton.

Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.), who represents a predominantly black suburban Atlanta constituency, announced late in the week that he was shifting his support from Clinton to Obama, citing an overwhelming vote for Obama in his congressional district. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), who also endorsed Clinton, was quoted Friday in The New York Times saying he would vote for Obama at the nominating convention, though neither Lewis nor his spokeswoman responded to inquiries about his comments and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution quoted an aide describing the report as "inaccurate."

They and many other black elected officials are experiencing firsthand a powerful movement toward Obama, reflected not only in lopsided votes for him but also a surge in African-American turnout.

In South Carolina, Georgia and Virginia, Obama attracted more than 80 percent of the African-American vote, exit polls showed. Turnout among black voters was up 89 percent in Georgia and more than doubled in South Carolina and Virginia.

Confronted with that political reality at the same moment that Obama has seized the momentum in the campaign for the nomination, more black members of Congress are having second thoughts about endorsements of Clinton, said Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), an African-American who is lobbying fellow House members on behalf of the Illinois senator.

See the rest of the report in today's Tribune

(And see what Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) had to say about this matter on National Public Radio:

"You know, a lot of things can change after the primary. I don’t know why people keep dealing with that. Next week, something might jump out that’s serious and even that will cause some of the people to rethink how they cast their votes on February the 5th. We already have people who are superdelegates who are now rethinking their commitments that they made two and three months ago because the circumstances have changed.'')

See more here in the Swamp:

More from today's Tribune:

"I do know several who are struggling with the issue and are re-evaluating the landscape, re-evaluating the circumstances under which they were supporting Sen. Clinton," said Butterfield, who switched his support from home-state candidate John Edwards to Obama in early January, well before Edwards quit the race.

So far, the movement among black party and elected officials has been small. In addition to Scott and Lewis, Christine Samuels, an African-American politician from New Jersey, also announced Thursday that she would switch her support from Clinton to Obama.

But it is a visible fracture of support for Clinton among a segment of superdelegates that is especially sensitive to arguments from the Obama campaign that party officials should follow the will of their constituents when they cast their votes as superdelegates.

Despite the huge margins of support that Obama has consistently won among African-American voters, black party and elected officials have been much more divided on the presidential nomination. On the eve of the Iowa caucuses, the 43-member Congressional Black Caucus was about evenly divided among those who made public endorsements between Obama and Clinton, and even now 15 African-American members of Congress are announced as Clinton supporters.

Politicians are traditionally reluctant to reverse public endorsements; it devalues their word in future dealings. But a break with a politician's base also can be perilous, and allies of Obama are reminding colleagues of that.

Clinton spokesman Mo Elleithee argued that such tactics amounted to a political threat.

"We believe that superdelegates ought to vote for the person they think would make the best president. It's disappointing that the Obama campaign would engage in threats and tactics like these. It doesn't sound very much like the politics of hope," Elleithee said.

Tribune reporters John McCormick and Rick Pearson contributed to this report.

What follows is a transcript from NPR's News and Notes, courtesy of NPR:

FARAI CHIDEYA: From NPR News, this is News and Notes. I’m Farai Chideya. Many political pundits thought that the presidential primaries would be over effectively by this point, that the rush by many states to hold their contests early would decide the nominees quickly. That hasn’t turned out to be the case.

In fact, for the Democratic Party, there’s been the exact opposite effect: The race has tightened over time and the people who may have the most influence are the late-voting states and the superdelegates. Hundreds of Democratic elected officials and party leaders hold superdelegate status, among them, the members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina is the majority whip in the U.S. House of Representatives. He hasn’t stated a preference for either candidate. He joins us now. Representative Clyburn, welcome.

REPRESENTATIVE JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC): Thank you so much for having me.

MS. CHIDEYA: So your state, South Carolina, was pivotal in the race, and it’s Democratic primary was called informally by some folks the black primary because black voters made up more than 40 percent of the Democratic electorate. So this was a moment also when comments by former President Bill Clinton helped to activate the issue of race directly in the campaign. And Barack Obama won your state. You have remained studiously neutral. Where are you today?

REP. CLYBURN: I still remain studiously neutral. I think that the historical significance of so-called superdelegates, these are unpledged delegates – is very, very important for us to maintain. We are in place in order to either extend the wishes of the voters or to try to make corrections if they need to be made.

MS. CHIDEYA: Contributor Donna Brazile who is also a long-time Democratic party insider ran the presidential campaign of former Vice President Al Gore has said she will just up and leave the Democratic Party if the superdelegates are used to broker a convention and that it’s not the committed delegates who have come as a part of the voting process who get to make the decision. How do you react to that – someone who is so passionate about the Democratic Party but is absolutely against the superdelegates deciding?

REP. CLYBURN: She’s in a big club, a club that I think would be overflowing at the meetings if that were to happen. I don’t think anything like that will come close to happening. Here is the deal: we all know, the Democrats, we have what we call proportional voting. So if we have votes in these primaries that are proportional and then you get to the end of the process and you’re still not at the magic number of 2025, which would be 50 percent plus one, what do you do? Well, that’s when the superdelegates step in. They step in to extend the voter’s will, not to reverse it.

MS. CHIDEYA: But even if someone has that magic number, the superdelegates could throw it the other way.

REP. CLYBURN: No, that’s not what I said. I said, they will not reverse it. I’m saying the superdelegates will step in to extend the will of the people. But you cannot –

MS. CHIDEYA: But it could happen mathematically but you’re saying you don’t think it will happen?

REP. CLYBURN: No, that’s not what we are. We are here to do for the Democratic Party what United States congresspeople ought to do.

MS. CHIDEYA: Congressman, let me ask you just on a personal level, former President Bill Clinton is calling people, Senator Clinton is calling people, Senator Obama is calling people. Have any of those individuals called you recently and asked for your support as a superdelegate?

REP. CLYBURN: I don’t think I’ve talked to President Clinton – yes, we did talk a week after the South Carolina primary. I have not talked to him since then. I have not talked to Senator Clinton since the primary. I’m trying to think – I may have talked to Obama. I’ve talked to all of their people, but I’ve not talked with them personally.

MS. CHIDEYA: Give me an example of something that one of the candidates has said – and you don’t have to say which one – one of the candidates’ proxies or supporters has said to try to swing you one way or the other?

REP. CLYBURN: Oh, they remind me of what the voters did in my congressional district and wanting to know whether or not I’m ready to reflect the will of my congressional district to further Obama’s interests, and there’s some people who want to know that to see whether or not I’ve got enough guts to vote the other way. And I can tell you, I do have enough guts to vote the other way if I thought that was in the necessary – that was in the interest of nationalizing our party. And I think that’s what my voters would want me to do.

You know, a lot of things can change after the primary. I don’t know why people keep dealing with that. Next week, something might jump out that’s serious and even that will cause some of the people to rethink how they cast their votes on February the 5th. We already have people who are superdelegates who are now rethinking their commitments that they made two and three months ago because the circumstances have changed.

MS. CHIDEYA: Speaking of which, Representative John Lewis of Georgia endorsed Senator Clinton. And recently, the New York Times said he had moved his support to Senator Obama. He is saying that that is not what he said. But they quoted him saying something is happening in America. And people are prepared and ready to make that great leap. He’s again saying he is not casting his superdelegate vote for Senator Obama, but he is reassessing the situation. Does that show the huge amount of pressure that’s particularly on members of the Congressional Black Caucus who have been split in their endorsements?

REP. CLYBURN: Well, yes, that’s true. Congressman David Scott who represents the congressional district adjacent to John’s has flat-out switched. He’s made it very clear: He is switching to reflect the will of his voters. I think Obama got 80 percent in his district. I read that two other superdelegates have said they’re moving to the uncommitted column who had previously committed to Senator Clinton, and another one has since switched. Remember, a lot of these people made their commitments 10 months ago, even a year ago when everybody was getting ready for a coronation. They now see that there’s not going to be a coronation. So everybody are adjusting in order to reflect what their current emotions are.

MS. CHIDEYA: Do you think this whole issue of who gets to decide could tear the party apart as opposed to uniting it?

REP. CLYBURN: It could just as soon unite it too; yes, it could. This is a very, very unusual election year. And nobody could have anticipated any of what has happened.

MS. CHIDEYA: Well, Congressman, we thank you so much for your time.

REP. CLYBURN: Well, thank you so much for having me.


Posted by Mark Silva on February 16, 2008 2:05 PM

Donna Brazille & the Clintons

February 12, 2008

An email to one of my sisters in response to her email below:

OF COURSE Donna Brazille is talking out of both sides of her mouth! THAT'S WHAT FLUNKIES AND CONMEN DO. Didn't I tell you just a few days ago that YOU CANNOT TRUST HER? Yes, I did. This means, among other things, that she (as media mouthpiece for the Clinton machine AND the DNC--which as I also pointed out the Clintons CONTROL AND DOMINATE) is making all these contradictory pronouncements on CNN so that she (as Hillary's media surrogate/representative) can give the FALSE impression that she 1) Cares about 'justice, fairness, and democracy' WITHIN the Democratic Party (thus the bullshit claim that she would "quit the DNC" if this election was decided by the Super Delegates; and 2) That she would be "just as happy" with Obama winning the nomination as she would if Hillary won (Note: This bullshit media congame is also being run by the national Latino political leadership--like the Latino Mayor of Los Angeles--who keep falsely claiming that they are NOT trying to defeat Obama necessarily and that they too would be "satisfied" no matter who won). THESE ARE LIES. Brazille is intentionally sending mixed signals via the media because she knows (as do the Clintons obviously) that people--and especially BLACK PEOPLE-- are listening to her. They also know that many people/votersj in the U.S. who have not done their POLITICAL HOMEWORK will be CONFUSED and this confusion will help keep some of the political heat off of Hillary and her campaign. It's a CLASSIC POLITICAL TRAP that mercenary political operatives like Brazille set for unwary, naive, and/or ignorant voters that far too often works--precisely because many voters/citizens ARE NOT PAYING CLOSE ATTENTION to what's ACTUALLY going on as opposed to what they THINK is happening. This is why CONSTANT STUDY of the political terrain through CRITICAL READING AND THINKING are so much more important than watching TV news pundits for information and insight. In fact most TV coverage of politics today is notoriously bad, ill-informed, unreliable and BIASED. In other words: Pay NO attention to Brazille and people like her when you make critical, informed judgments about this election. READ NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES, AND MOST ESPECIALLY BOOKS TO FIND OUT WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THESE THINGS. The Internet is also an excellent source of information and knowledge.

The Clintons took over the DNC in the late1980s after the huge debacles of the failed campaigns of Walter Mondale in 1984 who was crushed by a massive reelection landslide for Ronald Reagan (remember him?) in 1984 (Mondale won only ONE STATE in the national election--his home state of Minnesota!). In addition there was the equally devastating landslide loss just four years later of Michael Dukakis who ran against Bushwhacker # 1 in 1988. Dukakis's campaign is widely regarded by many political historians and scholars (AND ME!) as the worse, most incompetent, and inept Democratic Party campaign in history. As a result of 12 straight years of Republican rule and domination from 1980-1992 Bill Clinton and his political cronies and partners--like Al Gore and many other Democratic senators, Governors, and various mayors throughout the country--took over the DNC for good in 1990 and began to appoint its own people to the committee (like Brazille). In fact one of Clinton's biggest supporters (he was also Clintons campaign manger in 1992 when Clinton won the presidency for the first time) was a brilliant black man from Harlem named RON BROWN (who had previously been Jesse Jackson's campaign manager in 1988!) [Click on this link for more important information on the late Ron Brown: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Brown_(U.S._politician). ]

In 1989, a year after Brown ran Jesse's campaign, Brown was elected Chairman of the DNC. His election of course was vigorously backed and supported by Bill and Hillary Clinton. The rest is history. Brown ran both the DNC and Clinton's successful 1992 campaign and in 1993 was appointed to Clinton's cabinet as Secretary of Commerce--the first African American in that position in history. Ever since the election of the late Ron Brown to chairmanship of the DNC by the forces within the Democratic Party led by the Clintons (i.e. the still very active and powerful Democratic Leadership Council or DLC that Bill Clinton and Al Gore co-founded in the early 1980s) the Clintons machine via the DLC--which by the way is now run by still another black political official--36 year old Harold Ford, Jr.--has dominated the DNC (which is why Donna Brazille who was Al Gore's campaign manager in 2000 is serving as the Clintons media proxy in this election).

NOTICE how consistently SLICK and SHREWD the Clintons have been in MAKING SURE that many of the major appointments within the DNC and DLC alike go to BLACK POLITICIANS like Brown, Brazille, and Ford. This of course is precisely how the Clinton machine ENSURES that many high profile/prominent black politicians remain supportive of and faithful to THEM (like--unfortunately--Maxine Waters in L.A., James Clyburn in South Carolina, John Lewis in Georgia, and Charles Rangel in Harlem, NY)> These are MAJOR black politicians who are working for and supporting Hillary in this campaign and it just goes to show ONCE AGAIN that if you don't exercise genuine political independence and SELF DETERMINATION in who you align yourself with politically you will become a mere servant/flunky/lackey for others whose primary agenda and loyalty is reserved to and for THEMSELVES first and foremost. The Clintons have MASTERED this "divide and conquer" game and as Malcolm X once, brilliantly pointed out that unless we develop and maintain an agenda of our own "blackfolks become nothing but well paid mouthpieces for others." As usual Malcolm told the real and unvarnished truth and this is why Obama is having such a tough time getting the Latino vote (which is also being manipulated and exploited by their own versions of highly compromised and sellout Latino political leadership). Ironically enough the only major black politician of the last 30 years who is NOT allowing himself to be pushed around and bought off by the Clinton machine this year is JESSE JACKSON. The reason that is so ironic is that AFTER Jesse ran for President in 1984 and 1988 (and was bitterly attacked by the DNC, the Clintons, and the DLC for doing so) he too finally caved in to this clique and allowed himself to be used politically by the Clinton machine from 1990-2004 (with obviously disastrous results for his own INTEGRITY). So Jesse's support for Obama this year is obviously Jesse's way of giving the Clintons THE FINGER after nearly 20 years of kissing their political asses (AND HATING EVERY MINUTE OF IT). But the bottom ugly line is that Jesse STILL DID IT. The fact that Jesse has finally decided to reclaim the political BALLS he lost or rather GAVE AWAY in 1990 by actively endorsing Obama this time around tells me that at least SOME black politicos over the age of 50 understands and appreciates what the Obama campaign means and signifies.

As for your question about how Hillary wound up on the Michigan and Florida ballots and Obama and Edwards didn't--it's a little too complicated to explain in this email so I'll hold off on explaining that until later. But you should know for now that it largely happened because of the Clinton machine's control of the DNC--which sets the rules for primary elections in the Party...Stay tuned...

Kofi

On Feb 12, 2008, at 9:00 AM, Regina wrote:
Kofi,

1. How did the Cinton's get a stronghold on the DNC?
2. How did Hilary end up on Michigan's and Florida's ballot and not Obama or Edwards?
3. Last night, Donna Brazille said she will quit the DNC if the SuperDelegates decides this vote - I'm confused, I thought she said last week that the SuperDelegates should be able to vote however they choose to vote - sounds like she's talking out of both sides of her mouth!

===========

Regina,

Donna Brazille is just a FLUNKY MOUTHPIECE for the Clinton campaign.
YOU CANNOT TRUST HER. She was the CAMPAIGN MANAGR for Al Gore's
failed bid for the presidency in 2000 when the Bushwhacker (via the
Supreme Court and especially that sniveling, pathetic UNCLE TOM
Clarence Thomas cast the deciding vote for his Massa the Bushwhacker
II) STOLE THE ELECTION AND THAT COWARD GORE REFUSED TO FIGHT THE
DECISION ABOUT FLORIDA (remember?). Donna Brazille HAS ALWAYS BEEN
IN THE CLINTONS HIP POCKET AND ALWAYS WILL BE! The Super Delegates
are a super CORRUPT backdoor attempt by the Clinton machine to STEAL
this nomination election if Obama goes to the convention this summer
either ahead or in a deadheat tie with Hillary (as seems highly
likely). WATCH OUT!! The bullshit has just begun and these
muthafuckas ARE GOING TO TRY TO PULL A FAST ONE. Read the email I
sent you earlier tonight on the Super Delegate scam and pay attention
to my comment about it. The reason Brazille is calling for the
Super Delegates to simply "vote the way they want" is so the Clintons
can CIRCUMVENT the process if (as also seems highly likely) the
majority of delegates vote for Obama at the DP (brokered) convention.

As far as the Michigan and Florida primary votes go: Check out what
I sent to Rayfield Waller back into Detroit today (see article below)
about the Michigan scam by Hillary. Remember: The DNC (Democratic
National Committe)--the main governing body of the Democratic Party
is DOMINATED by the Clintons. You hear what I'm saying to you
sister? THE RATS ARE IN THE CHEESE FACTORY AND TRYING TO DEVOUR
EVERY MORSEL THAT CAN STUFF THEMSELVES WILL. Which is precisely why
WE AND OBAMA are going to have to bring some SUPER DEADLY RODENT
REPELLENT QUICK, FAST, AND IN A HURRY!

TRUST ME: Obama is not going to give in ONE INCH to the Clintons
machine bullshit attempts to STEAL this election from him. His
people are gonna be READY TO FIGHT THESE MUTHAFUCKAS TO THE FINISH
LINE AND WE--HIS SUPPORTERS--HAD BETTER BE FULLY AWARE OF EXACTLY
WHAT'S GOING ON AND HOW TO COMBAT IT AT THE CONVENTION. I HAVE NO
DOUBT WE WILL--NO MATTER WHAT THE CLINTONS AND THEIR FLUNKIES (like
Brazille) SAY OR DO...STAY TUNED...

Kofi

(Here is the piece on Michigan that I sent Ray earlier today--read it
carefully). PROFESSIONAL THIEVES ARE ALWAYS VERY TRICKY...

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/michigan/index.ssf?/base/