A Democratic Do-Over?
If at first you don’t
succeed, change the rules!
There are many things you can call the Democratic
Party, some of which is not printable here because this is a family
website. One of them usually isn’t “consistent.”
The party that gave us a President who had feminists eating out
of the palm of his hand while at the same time being Horndog Emeritus
with everyone from Arkansas secretaries to chubby interns from
Beverly Hills is giving us another bit of inconsistency. And this
one, ladies and gentlemen, is a doozy!
Before the Iowa Caucuses, states were grumbling about how unfair
it is for small states like Iowa and New Hampshire to have so
much power to determine who is running for President in later
contests. (Yeah, it’s not because the lower-tier candidates
raise less money than Paris Hilton’s last movie and get
knocked out easier than a narcoleptic boxer fighting Tito Ortiz.
It’s Iowa and New Hampshire’s faults for daring to
be first in the nation!)
In an attempt to increase the impact of their states’ voting,
some states like Michigan and Florida tried to jump the gun. The
Democratic National Committee rules that anyone who tried to jump
ahead of their scheduled caucus or primary date would not have
their state delegates seated at the Democratic National Convention.
And every Democrat candidate agreed. Florida and Michigan defied
the national party, and the DNC stripped those states of their
delegates. And everybody else was fine with that.
At least, until Hillary needed the delegates to catch up to Barack
Obama.
In a surprising turn of events…okay, so it’s not that
surprising, Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee
are now reconsidering their earlier decisions not to seat the
Michigan and Florida delegations. Now, they’re saying those
delegates should be seated because it would disenfranchise them
and that’s just not a part of our democracy, gosh darn it!
So let me get this straight. It wasn’t disenfranchising
the Michigan and Florida delegations before to punish them for
defying the DNC, but all of the sudden it is? If this isn’t
proof that Howard Dean is so far in Hillary’s back pantsuit
pocket that the designer’s stitching is etched in his skin,
I don’t know what is!
Maybe it’s just my wacky way of looking at the world, but
I happen to think Michigan and Florida Democrats should not be
allowed to send delegates to the Democratic National Convention
because they broke the rules established before the Iowa Caucuses.
In the real world, you don’t get a do-over if you screw
up. Once you make a bad decision, there are bound to be consequences.
Some aren’t so bad, like having to go see the aforementioned
Paris Hilton movie. Okay, I take that back. Nobody should have
to be subjected to that, not even the prisoners at Gitmo. But
when you mess up really big, the consequences are more severe.
What Howard Dean, Hillary Clinton, and anyone who wants to see
Florida and Michigan have their delegates seated at the Democratic
National Convention are saying is that there should be no consequences
for breaking the rules.
In other words, they’re being consistent with modern Democrat
thinking.
What people don’t realize in this situation is that it will
further quicken the demise of the Democratic Party as we know
it, maybe not this year, but certainly down the road. I guarantee
if Florida and Michigan are allowed to seat their delegates, other
states will try to jump ahead and the whole election year calendar
goes out the window. It would be mass chaos on a scale that we
haven’t seen since…well, since the Texas primary.
At this rate, Dan Rather will call Ohio for George W. Bush before
the Texas Democrats get done counting the votes. On the plus side,
though, at least we know where the vote counters from Palm Beach
County went after Election 2000.
As Democrats try to sort out this mess of their own creation,
I think it’s interesting in that it’s making the case
against whoever is the Democratic candidate for President. At
the outset, the party set rules and were adamant about them. Then,
as time passed and political influence was bandied about, that
adamant decision became wishy-washy after a matter of a couple
of months. Hmmm…doesn’t that sound like their support
for the Iraq War? When the going got tough, they stood firm...on
the opposite side of the issue from where they started!
Furthermore, this showcases how Democrats handle tough issues.
Let’s say President Imadinnerjacket decides to nuke Seattle,
Washington, just because he’s had trouble running Windows
Vista. Who would you rather have at the helm, someone who knows
what has to be done and does it, or someone who knows what to
do, but no one knows if he or she will do it? You’re going
to want the person who will take definitive action.
And that’s precisely why I’m writing in a candidate
this November. If my choices are Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton,
or John McCain, I’d be better off writing in Bullwinkle
J. Moose for President because at least I know he won’t
deviate from the script. Besides, I like his health care plan
a lot better.
And that’s the Bottom Line.
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