Obama's new love: The secret ballot
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Submitted by lambert on Tue, 08/26/2008 - 10:35pm
The Obama campaign is considering an abbreviated roll call Wednesday that would allow Democratic convention delegates in Hillary Rodham Clinton’s strongest states to support her — and is mulling a plan to let delegates vote by secret ballot, according to those familiar with the planning.
Gee, so why not have genuine secret ballot elections in the primaries, and get rid of the caucuses?
The shortened roll call, which would avoid a time-consuming state-by-state canvass, would be quickly followed by a motion for all the delegates to nominate Barack Obama for president by acclamation or, under another scenario, secret balloting. The deal could be announced as early as Tuesday night, the Democratic sources said.
I like that "nomination by acclamation" idea. Heck, why didn't we just do that back in February, and avoid all that pesky, "time consuming" voting business then, too? Oh, wait....
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Comments
See; and you claim that Obama
never listens.
He's just a little slow coming around to the secret ballot thing. Bet once he tries it, he'll be all for it in November as well. Such is progress.
anybody who marks their ballot too early
will be made into a non-person. or a half-person. or at the 11th hour, a person [or maybe a werewolf].
This is sickening. I may lose all the good feeling Hillary
created for the need for a Dem prez, even Obama.
I cannot believe they toying with such a thing. If I were a delegate, I would refuse to take part.
And, can they do that?
I remember as a kid loving the roll call of states, with all the different accents, the flowery praise of the state. So, no Obama hemandhawer is an efficiency expert? Sheesh.
Me too
I love the roll call. Sure, it takes forever, but so fucking what.
And it ought to be about the people, the states.
[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
Beyond Stupid
I wonder just who the Obamacans think they're fooling with a sham partial vote.
Anything short of a full roll call vote is an insult that will piss off many people.
Bonior said that a roll call vote will make the party look divided. The stupid really smarts.
Anything short of a full role call
it is incredible this genius Obama has for picking unnecessary fights.
Why Do They Need A Secret Ballot?
Who is afraid to cast his or her vote publicly? I'm betting it ain't the Hillary people.
But more importantly, who would count them? Because it's not like there's a lot of trust running around the Democratic Party right now.
And, yes, this is a fight they don't need. Just suck it up and do it like they always do it. It's not like it's some state secret that the nominating contest was ultra close and decided by SDs. Everyone freaking knows that already and pretending otherwise isn't going to change it. What a bunch of fucking wimps our "leaders" are - afraid of a roll call vote.
Not to mention the roll call vote rocks. "The great state of Maine, home of lobsters and really cold winters casts its delegates for the next President of the United States..." Who doesn't love the cheesy goodness of that?
The reason that Obama....
...doean't want a roll call vote isn't because he wants to create the illusion of party unity --- rather he doesn't want people to be reminded of where his "victory" came from. Look at the current EC map and count the number of deep red states that Obama won -- Obama doesn't want people to hear that he lost CA, PA, OH, FL, MI, NJ, MA, etc...but won big in states that he isn't going to carry.
So that would explain the alphabetical theory
I heard they floated the idea (no link, sorry) of starting the roll call and then calling it off, early in the alphabet.
See how that would work? CA,
FL, MA, OH, MI, NJ,PA...[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
stop at New York...
The roll call is usually alphabetical, IIRC. The plan I heard was to call the roll up through New York -- and once Hillary's home state had been heard from, she'd announce for nomination by acclamation.
I think that last night showed how dumb it is to try and impose artificial "unity" on the party. Unless a boatload of Clinton ringers were brought onto the convention floor (and Obama supporters banished), last night was evidence that Team Obama did what they had to do to honor Clinton -- and Clinton's supporters would respond in kind when it came time to announce the results of the roll call vote.
Oopsie!
Damn, another paranoid theory shot to shit.
And I think you're right. Smile and cheer for the cameras, that's the game, and then get on with it. The Clintons have shown they'll do that.
[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
Much to my dismay, I agree with Paul. The Clinton supporters
have been sufficiently brow beaten and strong armed into what would be a win for Obama. I doubt that Hillary would win or even come close if it came to a floor vote. But, as said earlier upthread, all this finagling is calling more attention to the fact that they are worried about the situation. Kind of like "whatever you do don't look over there, DON'T LOOK OVER THERE!"
I love this job!
i don't know what the big deal is. it's always and only been
a show, a carnival of fakery, etc. since the whole MI/FL thing fell out, all this "voting" and primary foolishness has been so obviously a sham. the fix has been in for a long time, isn't that what we've been documenting over all these long months?
seriously, i expected nothing less than more fakery at the convention, and i don't know why any of you are surprised that you're getting it.
Everything old is new again
It's like sex, right? The mechanics are the same each time, but each time there's also a little detail to surprise and thrill. Unless the fakery is so complete that only the mechanical remains. Oh, wait..
[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.