Both parties pledged to keep their supporters in line during the Democratic rules committee meeting on Saturday. However, after the committee agreed to seat all of the Michigan and Florida delegates with half of their votes, some Clinton supporters erupted in anger. I was invited to attend the meeting but had to decline due to litigation demands, but it appears to have been quite a scene. This video of Clinton supporter Harriet Christian’s rant against the “inadequate black man” indicates that the ongoing campaign is clearly hurting chances for November for the party.
Christian goes ballistic against the “black man” and views the matter as merely an effort to bar the “white woman.” In this video, Christian proclaims:
“I’m proud to be an older American woman….
“The Democrats are throwing the election away. For what? An inadequate black male, who would not have been running had it not been a white woman that was running for president? And I’m not gonna shut my mouth anymore. I can be called white, but you can’t be called black. That’s not my America. It’s equality for all of us. It’s about time we all stood up for it. I’m no second class citizen, and God damn the Democrats….
“I came here for the vote of every American, and our Democratic Party threw us down the tubes. I was a second class citizen before, now I’m nothing. Why? Because they want to do what they want to do. And they think we won’t turn and vote for McCain. Well, I got news for all of you: McCain will be the next president of the United States.”
It is amazing to see such language in a party meeting but it clearly shows the deeper injury with Clinton’s demographic strength, particularly among older white women. One can only imagine how this video is getting the rounds with McCain supporters.
For the video, click here
Wow, JR, that is quite an account. I really missed an event and the opportunity to meet JR.
Thank you for the background, JR. “Lucky you!”
Okay, I admit it, I was there.
I was sitting no more than ten seats from Harriet Christian during most of the proceedings. We were both on the far side of the room from the big screen–I was near the wall (for the outlets) and she was nearer the stairs. And the woman Never. Shut. Up. The entire post-break session was punctuated with her yelling at the panel from the back (frequently followed by me turning in my seat to offer a rejoinder along the lines of “For the love of God, can you shut up for five minutes, lady?”) She heckled with some comment about a “black male” but that was around the time the “Denver! Denver!” chants began, so I gave her the benefit of the doubt and assumed she said “blackmail,” which would have been idiotic hyperbole but at least not racist.
When the Florida vote happened, she went nuts, shouting at the panel that “you just gave Flawrida to Muh-Cain!” Then continuing to yell for some time until the rest of the room quieted (she was generally the last one to stop yelling at any perceived slight). After the Michigan vote she simply lost it, stood up and started yelling at what I presume to be the top of her lungs. After her previous outburst security had moved behind our section to extricate her if necessary, and after a bit told her she had to leave. She got up to leave, continuing to shout at the panel things like “how can you do this? How can you throw me out for speaking? These are my woooords. This is a dem-awwwww-cracy!” She at first climbed up the far-right stairs, which dead-ended into the tech booth, so she had to walk back down them and walk up another row.
We could hear her yelling from the doors in back, even though we were sitting down a level and a good thirty yards away with the committee talking into microphones. When someone opened the door to follow her out a few moments later, we could hear her now-infamous tirade in the hall. The Clinton supporter in front of me, another older white lady, was fairly embarrassed by Christian’s conduct. The twenty-something young woman who had been sitting with Christian, however, was encouraging her all the while and making rather obnoxious comments of her own (albeit far quieter ones).
Having seen it all up close, I am more convinced than ever that we can’t let this go to the Convention unresolved. Clinton has to concede and endorse Obama before Denver, because what happened on a small scale in a room of 500 people will look like Pandemonium on a larger scale at the Convention.
I am stunned at this tirade as well as an interview I heard on NPR a few days ago with Pat Schroeder, former US Rep from my home state of Colorado and now the head of the American Publishers Ass’n. It seemed that Pat’s only explanation for Hillary’s losses was sexism.
It wasn’t that she had for a long time a ‘campaign strategist,’ Mark Penn, who charged millions of dollars for worthless ‘strategy’; not because she has a former President for a husband who puts the fear of a Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton pseudo-dynasty in our minds; not because of campaign spending that can be viewed as ill-advised at best that has resulted in her being tens of millions in debt. Nor could it be the fact that in Texas she couldn’t organize her campaign sufficiently to effectively participate in the caucuses. No, none of these factual pieces of evidence that, to me, make a clear point that Hillary Clinton, who couldn’t attract and retain the kind campaign staff necessary to organize a caucus, clearly should not be trusted to run a government.
No, you’re right, Pat and Ms. Christian, it must be sexism.
Yesterday’s meeting had nothing to do with any particular campaign, and everything to do with repairing a breech in the system that occurred when MI and FL stepped outside the guidelines and the complications that evolved. The respective State parties screwed up big-time.
The unfortunate tape from the Hillary supporter is the extreme wing-nut extreme. Don Fowler summed it up best, a party elder with much experience and time in grade. Harold Ickes and Lanny Wadkins are out for blood and further put a stain on what might have been a graceful exit.
The Obama campaign did all its work were it was supposed to be done – not in the press. Ickes and Watkins are the remnants of a dinosaur Democratic machine that is dedicated to all things Clinton. That in itself is fine … but when you agree to abide by the decision of a more than balanced committee and then launch a “pity us” campaign and essentially quit the agreement – dignity is the victim.
Hillary Clinton was the presumptive nominee before the first primary was vote was cast. Obama’s campaign is short on tenure and devoid of dinosaurs. It was also run expertly. Clinton’s largest blows have come from being confronted with her own words. The fact is that the committee couldn’t have come to its decision if not for the votes of committed Hillary supporters, agreeing to its fairness.
This continued bloodsport vitriol by Ickes and Wadkins has many Hillary supporters mystified, even in their grief.
The woman depicted in the underlying article is irrelevant as irrelevant to the political landscape as the toothless woman from West Virginia who declared “enough Hussein.”
Hillary Clinton is not just running a campaign against Barack Obama.
She has been running a campaign, from the beginning, against the Rove Republican machine because they prefer to run against any other nominee.
Along with that opposition have come others including those in the media – mostly men with their own male-dominated industry agendas,
IMHO.
The fact that she chose not to squawk about what has been AND what continues to be obvious does not mean that it wasn’t apparent or that we didn’t see it. Rather, it would appear the upside of pointing it out early is not nearly as precarious as choosing to wait.
I watched the whole thing yesterday (including C-SPAN struggle for coverage during the 1-hour turned 3-hour “lunch break” — gotta love back-room deals) and was surprised these people weren’t removed. Alexis Herman seemed alternately annoyed and amused. Arthenia Joyner stole the show – I’d like to see more of her.
To me this is another example of the Law of Unintended Consequences. At the point where Mrs. Clinton’s campaign began to falter the “sexism” explanation began to be brandished by her campaign to serve as a rallying point. To me this was when I knew that her campaign was incompetent. The why is not that the claimed sexism of the media was false, it was in fact true. The media has treated her in a sexist fashion since 1992.
Her campaign was incompetent because instead of understanding that they were facing a formidable opponent, who was running a formidable campaign, they chose to find scapegoats. Instead of analyzing their own mistakes, which were many, they pinned blame on outside factors and gave their own lack of competence a pass. The inability to analyze ones own mistakes in any life/business/public situation most often leads to dire consequence.
The use of the “sexist” excuse, religious bigotry in the Rev. Wright situation and injecting race into the campaign has led to the Clinton’s becoming marginalized in Democratic Party affairs. It has inflamed her followers into believing that they were somehow cheated of victory and unleashed vitriol extending far beyond the bounds of Democratic Party political discourse. i.e. Ms. Christian’s diatribe. The outcome will be the loss of power, prestige and respect by the Clinton’s.
Made for rather interesting TV.
Donna Brazile provided a lot of clarity.
She should have been an actress. The monologue sounds Bette Davis-ish, with a New York accent.
stushie:
“After all, weren’t some of his [Ickes] clients gangsters and mobsters who couldn’t care less about democracy?”
************
Though it sounded like a political ad, it all made sense until the non-sequitur stated above. Professor Turley’s represents convicted terrorist sympathizers. I’ve represented rapists and murders. Does that say anything about us,or is the Constitution only for the “good” people?
So the final wait is over. Michigan and Florida delegates get all of their delegates and half of their votes. Doing the math, Obama is still 178 points ahead of Hillary. Even is she were to receive 100% of the delegates in Peurto Rico, Montana, and South Dakota, she still would reach Obama’s total. The committee voted, the fat lady sang, and the party’s over it, Hillary.
Will Obama choose her as VP? That’s the only ticket Hillary has to ride in this election. She will have to earn it because of the internal and infernal division she has caused the Dems. Hillary will have to concede and let go of her Presidential dreams. She will have to settle for second best and stop sabotaging the Democrat Party. If not, then it only proves that she was in it for herself all along.
On a side note, Harold Ickes stated that votes were stolen from her yesterday, but his voice in the wilderness went unheard. After all, weren’t some of his clients gangsters and mobsters who couldn’t care less about democracy?
Out with the old and in with the new. The golden ticket has been won by Obama. But we already knew that before and after West Virginia and Kentucky. The question is this: are the Clintons still in the land of denial, or are they ready to go home?
Well after watching that I think the real culprit is the hotel bartender. My favorite line is at the end of the video when the reporter asks her is her name is spelled H-a-r-r-i-e-t, and she promptly responds: C-h-r-i-s-t-i-a-n. (not the religion presumably since it’s her last name). Well at least she’s in the ballpark with the answer.