My Day With The Democrats

On May 31st, I was watching the DNC Rules & Bylaws Committee Meeting on CSPAN. (I know, what else is there to do on a Saturday afternoon, right?) Anyway, I was watching because, as you know, I am a political junkie and I was interested to see how they were going to work out the whole Michigan/Florida problem when it came time for the DNC convention.

While watching the proceedings, I noticed that people on Twitter were talking about an IRC chat room set up for people to chat during the event. I started up X-Chat and stopped in for a bit.

I was shocked at what I was reading. Here are some of the excerpts from the chat room, just in the time I was there.

<gabew> is wexler a VP candidate – white guy from florida would help a lot

I don't get it. If it doesn't matter that Barack Obama is black, why would having a "white guy from Florida" on the ticket help a lot?

<mobile> I'm also fascinated to watch the radicalization of some Obama supporters.
<amyloo> it's black panther infiltration no doubt ;-)

Say what? Barack Obama supporters seem to get all pissy when anyone brings up race, religion or anything else. What makes it okay for them to joke about something like "black panther infiltration"? They were joking weren't they?

At this point I had to double check and make sure I was actually in a chat room for the DNC Rules & Bylaws Committee Meeting. I wondered if I had, by chance, wandered into a GOP "response" room or something. It didn't take long for the members of the chat to re-assure me that I was in the right place.

<mobile> The reason we are here today is because the Republicans were successful in creating chaos in the Dem Party by the state level manipulation of primary dates.
<mkelley> mobile, its the DNC's fault for lying down and accepting that without making an agreement on the national level
<mobile> Those Republicans inserted an ammendment into a bill on paper trails for FL voting machines.

Wow. Do people actually think that Republicans in Florida decided when to hold the Democratic Primary? The state Democrats decided when to hold their primary, as far as I know, Republicans had no say so in that, did they? I may be mistaken though.

As I followed the conversation in the chat, I couldn't help but think about how extreme people were beginning to sound. It seemed like most of those participating in the conversation were from the fringe left of the Democratic party. Surely, not everyone in the channel was that extreme, were they?

<davewiner> when ickes dies they should put him in lenin's tomb in red square in moscow

Oh, wow. Isn't it funny? Just because Harold Ickes disagreed with their position, he's suddenly a Communist? Oh, puhleaze. Of course, that's not all that Dave Winer, famous for inventing RSS, had to say.

<davewiner> ickes is the definition of lawyerly sleeze
<davewiner> the clintons are lawyers
<mobile> Obama is a lawyer
<davewiner> yeah but he's a harvard lawyer
<davewiner> the good guys
<davewiner> not yale
<davewiner> p.u.
<davewiner> some of the elite arrogance rubbed off on me

I don't think elite arrogance rubbed off on Dave Winer from anywhere. He had plenty of that, along with the bullshit, in his system from day one. Think I am wrong? Here's something else he had to say.

<davewiner> i was tempted to say hillary could get assassinated
<davewiner> but i decided not to

All I could think, was oh, my God. Did he just say that? Once again, members of the Democratic party have no problem mentioning the assassination, or possible assassination, of one of their own. Can you imagine if a Republican had said that? You've got to love the party loyalty and dedication they have. If it served his needs, I bet Dave Winer would throw his own mother under the bus.

The conversation moved along for a bit, and a few people actually started making sense. But, just as they started to make sense, others in the chat decided it was time to make crack shots at a particular group of people in the United States with no reason for doing so.

<mobile> if she is Obama's VP all the tenacity she's shown in the primary is put into motion for the Gen Election.
<mobile> Obama wins.
<mobile> She has 49% of the primary vote.
<frank_paynter> mobile: unless she lays back and/or appeals to the inner-Appalachian in her base

Her "inner-Appalachian" base? WTF is that about? Do you have to be a hillbilly, act like one, or secretly want to be one, in order to support Hillary Clinton? I don't get it. That has to be one of the most racist things I have heard this election cycle.

The attention then turned to New Hampshire. Did you know it's all New Hampshire's fault?

<redmonk> davewiner: not watching – what's th gist
<davewiner> redmonk, sorry it's impossible to summarize in a few words
<davewiner> wait
<davewiner> here's a summary
<davewiner> new hampshire is a bunch of motherfuckers
<raphajl> "New Hampshire is evil, we should be able to go early, F the process, F the rules."
<mobile> That IA/NH monoply makes the Gen Election more difficult for the Dem Party

It's all their fault that the Democratic Party has a difficult time in the general election. Yeah, some people actually believe that. Of course, like true Democrats they don't look at the real issue, or try to solve the real problem. Instead, they focus on a target and shoot to kill. Sorry, maybe that is a bit too harsh a statement, given the topic of conversation a few paragraphs up. Democrats are great at shifting the focus of the conversation, and making it appear that conversation took place somewhere else, with different people involved. They also have a great track record of throwing the race card when it suits them best.

vmkelley> damn, why throw race in?
<mobile> mkelley Why throw race in? Have you noticed that a black man is the nominee of the Dem Party? There's no way that race isn't going to be part of this.
<mkelley> mobile, I might be from the South, but I only see a man there
vmkelley> it's an issue race for me.
<mobile> mkelley I hear you, but you aren't his opponent.
<mobile> And mkelley, America isn't post racial, yet.
<mkelley> oh god no, we have a way to go. I know my mom is for Hillary because she's white. and honestly, that sickens me
<mobile> mkelley It doesn't serve us well to be in denial about race in America.
<amyloo> my mom is worried that obama's cronies will loot the white house… :-(
<mkelley> I'm not in denial, but I know how *I* look at this race

As most of you know, I am an Independent Conservative, I am not a Republican nor a Democrat. While I identify more closely with conservative Republicans, I am undecided in this race. There is no truly conservative candidate in this race. I haven't committed to voting for anyone, and I won't, not yet anyway. I am not happy with any of the choices that will appear on the ballot in November. There is one thing I do know though. The only people I have seen mention race in this campaign are Democrats. I have yet to see or hear one Republican bring up Barack Obama's race. Some Democrats seem to be obsessed with it.

While race was heavy on their minds, it didn't take long for the conversation to revert back to "stupid people".

<mkelley> Well, even when 11% still think Obama is muslim…..it's more than race too.
<mobile> mkelley That's a lovely trap. If we want Obama to win, and we do, then we can't ignore what it takes to get him there.
<raphajl> mkelley: why do they think he's muslim? because he's black.
<mkelley> raphajl, it's religion too. in applalachia you're dealing with wasp, not many jews, muslims, hindus, etc….not a varied, or highly educated, or wealthy group of people.
<mobile> raphajl Republicans have successfully used race in Presidential elections for decades.
<raphajl> i guess what i'm saying though, is to appalachia, i can understand the ability to conflate black with muslim
<raphajl> mkelley: and then use that conflation as a political tactic
<mkelley> also understand that Appalachian's aren't a trusting people. why believe the news?
<pa ^2> Cloistered ignorance is still ignorance.. no excuse to say that because my daddy made mistakes I have to make the same ones.

Did they actually say that people in Appalachia are nothing but uneducated, poor, untrusting, stupid people? Wow. I imagine you could apply those titles to certain people all over the country. Why do they keep bringing up Appalachia?

Are they saying people from Apalachia are more racist than people in other parts of the country? Oh sure, they have Sen. Robert Byrd, a former member of the KKK, but he's a Democrat. He's one of their own. I don't get it. There has to be an underlying reason for them to keep referring to people from Appalachia that way.

When all was said and done, the DNC solved the whole Michigan/Florida issue by awarding 1/2 votes to the delegates from those states. The result had no impact on the primary race, and all of the Barack Obama supporters went to bed with visions of a hopeful future in their dreams.

One person in the chat said it best though, when he said,

<mobile> Seriously folks if the best the Dem Party has to offer is hatred of their party members who disagree with them, this party isn't capable of governing America.

What more is there to say?

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