It's the INCOMPETENCE, Stupid!

Believe it or not, once in awhile, someone still asks, or worse yet, ASSUMES that my point of view is simply the result of a long held resentment 'because 'MY' candidate didn't win.' Well, first of all, she DID win. Yes, I know that media tried to tell us differently, but the facts, if anyone cares, are that Hillary Clinton not only won the primaries BUT had the numbers needed to win in Denver as well. Like it or not, these are the facts. I was there and I saw it. However, that ship has long since sailed under the admiralty of Howard "The Scream" Dean, vice admiral Nancy Pelosi and midshipman Donna Brazile, and this issue, for now, at least, is moot.

The idea that anyone could still even contemplate the wan concept of anger as PUMA's raison d'etre is simply astounding because the facts, i.e., that the DNC purposefully and methodically perpetrated voter fraud upon the American public by illegally installing the losing candidate, an inexperienced, unvetted and completely unqualified candidate, while not readily available on main stream media, are not really that hard to find. Having seen in-my-face, up-close-and-personally the horrors perpetrated by the DNC on the American public and the democratic system, I sometimes forget that there are still a few Americans who remain relatively uninformed about what their party has perpetrated upon them, and, worse yet, don't seem to want to know, either. As Thomas Jefferson's oft quoted wisdom states,

"All tyranny needs to flourish is that good men remain silent."

I forget that most people have not been in the trenches, on the ground and in the news in the fight to restore honesty to media and democracy to voters. And so, although it may seem like once again preaching to the choir, I offer a brilliantly succinct crosspost from American Thinker's Kyle-Anne Shiver,entitled,"Dems’ Split over Obama Not About Race and Sour Grapes" http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/dems-split-over-obama-not-about-race-and-sour-grapes/
who so well states our reasons for fighting the good fight, and our commitment to continuing this Movement until our goals are realized.

A recent Associated Press story glibly proclaimed that “deep-seated racial misgivings could cost Barack Obama the White House.” The story relied on an AP-Yahoo poll that posed questions regarding race to white Democrats.

One is left to wonder why questions regarding race were not posed to black Democrats or why the “poll” was more of a word association test, left open to completely subjective reasoning in deciphering results. But anyone who has been following the Democratic Party rifts from this season’s primaries and caucuses would not, in my opinion, be inclined to buy the it’s-all-about-race argument.

It’s quite troubling, really, that mainstream media outlets are focusing upon “racial misgivings” factors, while all but ignoring the major divides among voting constituencies that occurred during the nominating contest between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. These rifts revolved much more around exactly how Barack Obama received the Democratic nomination than any sort of racial divide or even sour grapes.
In fact, there are dozens of voter groups which claim outright that Barack Obama’s nomination was garnered illegitimately and with decidedly undemocratic methods. These are the PUMA people, the NoBama folks, the caucus-fraud investigators, and a whole lot of others who fervently believe that Barack Obama is not the legitimate nominee of the Democratic Party electorate, but the nominee of the party elite and caucus strong-arm tactics.
If Barack Obama loses a large swath of traditionally Democratic voters in November, then the party should conduct serious introspection, not point fingers at white bigots and rednecks.

Howard Dean and his minions who control the Democratic Party apparatus should examine the methods used by Obama to grab the nomination and his manipulation of the caucus system, and take a long, serious look inward to see if their party still deserves the adjective “democratic.”

In the Democratic nominating contest, some votes count more than others

When the Democratic Party changed all of its nominating rules following the convention of 1968, the goal of nominating a candidate who could win the general election was changed to a goal of nominating a candidate representative of the various special constituencies of the party and rewarding party loyalty, not electability.

At the beginning of the contest, the African-American vote was split in Clinton’s favor, especially on the gender line.

Believe it or not, we're not angry--at least, not anymore. We're in love: in love with our country and its forefathers' words of wisdom; in love with our fellow countrymen and women; in love with the Democratic ideals of Franklin Delano Roosevelt; and in love with the conviction that, like our courageous forefathers and mothers, we CAN make a difference; we CAN restore truth, honor and integrity to our country and its media; and, together, we CAN build the world of equality and prosperity we all envision. For those in doubt, click on the Democrats for Principle Before Party button on the right--it will show you the way!

Salon/Media Spin Doctors-The Ususal Suspects

It is always disheartening to watch the devolution of any publication I once respected. As a writer and researcher, I always go into a project with an open mind and a blank slate. However, once I have seen the fact pattern and deduced an opinion, I am bound to represent what I believe to be true on the basis not of what I WANT to be true, but what the FACTS INDICATE to be true.

And so it goes in the instant case. For months now I have been reading, writing and researching and what I have learned is a highly unpleasant reality: Barack Obama, the DNC and his handlers have perpetrated without a doubt THE SLICKEST, MOST DISHONEST MARKETING CAMPAIGN IN AMERICAN HISTORY, and in doing so, shamelessly duped half of America. I say half because, in spite of the constant stream of Obamapologists from main stream media, a signficant portion of Americans have still resisted drinking the virulent kool aid that transmits the Obama virus.

I have personally witnessed the intimidation tactics used by Obama camp followers on delegates at the Denver DNC convention; I have interviewed activists and bloggers who have been theatened and traumatized Texas caucus workers who witnessed firsthand the thuggery employed in the attempt to steal a caucus win from Hillary Clinton, who BEAT Obama in that day's primary only to "loose" in the caucuses???!

I have researched the pasts, track records, writings and associations of John McCain, Barack Obama, Sarah Palin and Joe Biden extensively, and what I have found is a remarkable dissimilarity between the four candidates: without question, we know as much about John McCain and what he has done with his life in the last 30 years as we DON'T know about the QUESTIONABLE pass times of Barack Obama over the last 30 years.

And yet: despite all of the facts available, main stream media continues to gloss over Obama's murky past, giving him pass after pass on such crucial issues as American citizenship, associations with known terrorists and criminals, and the absence of any real work product or writing, save his fictionalized autobiographies, which contain almost no facts at all.

Doesn't it ever occur to anyone that if media did their job, adhered to their own standards of professional ethics and actually--novel idea--REPORTED ALL THE FACTS FROM BOTH SIDES, the candidates themselves would not have to do not only their OWN job of running for office, but that of the media as well?

Until media, including but not limited to Kamiya, Conason, Traister etal. restores itself to at least a modicum of objectivity in reporting, their sleazy attacks on anyone who reports an unpleasant fact mean less than nothing to the average American who, despite media's endless attempts to fool them, remain a lot smarter than both MSM and Obama would like to believe.

What Now and What's Next?

Summer is SO not here any longer in the Northeast--cool nights, brisk days and dying plants provide the backdrop and, perhaps a metaphor for the '08 presidential election campaign, now in full swing. In an attempt to circumvent some of the mendacity that main stream media continues to hurl at us, I find solace in the vast army of brilliant bloggers who manage to integrate news, truth and the true pulse of Centrist America. Today finds me greatly moved by Petunia Politik's deeply resonant assessment, which describes my feelings, and doubtless those of most of us, to a fault:

"I sit here appalled and sickened, as I have felt through much of this fraudulent election cycle. However, this transcends and trumps every other scurrilous and despicable act of the man we MUST STOP from entering the oval office." http://www.nypost.com/seven/09152008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/obama_tried_to_stall_gis_iraq_withdrawal_129150.htm

Petunia Politik http://thepetuniapolitikposts.blogspot.com/2008/09/obama-attempts-to-conspire-with-iraqi.html

So...what are we going to do about it and what have we done so far? Well, in just just ten weeks, we formed the PUMA coalition, reperesenting over 230 groups who stood up and Just Said NO DEAL to the DNC and its hand selected nominee [you know...the one who LOST the primary race]. We blogged, conferenced, mobilized, organized and made our presence known far and wide as we lobbied for Hillary Clinton to be the Democratic nominee. We signed petitions and got her into the nomination process in Denver over strenuous objection from DNC leaders while receiving worldwide attention in the news. We championed the 88th anniversary of women's right to vote and made it clear that, like those brave suffragettes before us, we would not just be quiet and get in line. We created a vast network of unity from incredibly diverse backgrounds that far surpassed that which remained in the shreds of a Democratic party torn asunder by DNC refusal to listen to its electorate, and we continue to grow ever larger as we commit to our long term goals of media and election reform.

We are now in Phase III of our commitment to these goals: We actively continue our work, and, in addition to all of the above, dedicate ourselves to the following ongoing solutions:

Solution: Support Heidi Li Feldman and Marc Rubin in the new reform initiative, Democrats for Principle Before Party http://tdg.typepad.comdemocrats_for_principle_b/

Solution: Continue to Get The Word Out - talk, write, reply, interview

Solution: VOTE against DNC outrage by supporting a candidate other than the DNC's selected nominee AND lobby to remove Dean, Brazile and Pelosi by visiting

http://tdg.typepad.com/heidi_lis_potpourri/2008/09/want-to-fix-the-broken-democratic-party-steps-you-can-take-now.html

Go forth and prosper, all! Take Back Our Party! Follow the lead of the courageous, forward thinking and brilliant Lynn Forest de Rothschild and send a clear message that we will NOT be suppressed by the DNC--Support John McCain!

All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience is to
remain silent. --Thomas Jefferson

Suffrage is the pivotal right. --Susan B. Anthony

Res Ipsa Loquitur - The Thing Speaks For Itself, or, Read It And Weep

Today brings a such plethora of poignant, salient pieces from so many contributers that I have decided to dedicate this post to them, for their words and reportage convey far better than I the situation we now face as a result of the DNC's and Obama camp's primary perfidy. While extreme sadness at this state of affairs is inevitable, we can also take hope from the truths contained herein, and the courage of those who voice them, and I am reminded that, although lying and cheating may sometimes appear to have prevailed, a fudged result is never for real, nor for long. A timeline of sorts, formed from soldiers in the PUMA Movement, follows.

Let the record show that Senator Clinton led in the popular vote, and that there was only a separation of 47 pledged delegates, even with all the caucus fraud and manipulation. http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P08/D.phtml

Votes:

Clinton: 17,857,446

Obama: 17,584,649

Pledged delegates
Obama: 1,747
Clinton: 1,730

"Too many have worked too hard for too long to have this historic vote shoved under the rug."
--Karen Murphy, Alegre's Corner

"...there are widespread reports and investigations of fraudulent voting irregularities in several states. In the Texas caucuses there was massive voter fraud and voter intimidation. In Oregon there were dead people voting. In Los Angeles, gang members were hired to walk neighborhoods and threaten people to vote for Obama. In some southern states there is an investigation of votes being sold for $20.00, or in some cases, for drugs. These problems affect the results of voting in all states, Florida included, i.e. see website http://www.lynettelong.com/caucusfraud/

"The foregoing fraud was seen by countries all over the world. I am alarmed that a rigged roll call and nomination was allowed to happen in the USA. Our soldiers are dying all over the world for democracy and to give others the privilege to cast an honest vote. Former Pres. Jimmy Carter goes to many countries to monitor elections for fraud, yet he did nothing to stop what was going on in our own country. Jimmy Carter endorsed Obama. No Party should be above the law and as a citizen I expect you to do your job. If it is not your job, then whose job is it?
The spending of our state tax dollars to allow a private club such as the DNC to pick their own candidate in violation of even their own rules, and run that candidate on our state ballots is outrageous. . I assure you, I intend to work to amend our state laws so that from now on the DNC will not be allowed access to our state ballots without the requisite fees and petitions that the other political parties... must pay and supply, unless they return to holding fair elections based upon votes of citizens."--Lady Hawke, Fax to FL Attorney General Bill McCollum

"...throughout the nomination process, the Obama campaign did everything possible to curtail the free speech of those who opposed him. Whether it was as simple as harassing supporters at the local metro, or as brazen as intimidating delegates at state conventions and threatening members of the Black Caucus---opposition to Barack Obama put people at risk—to be taunted, insulted and harassed in a way I've never before experienced in a political campaign."
--Paulie Abeles

" Would you be suprized if Obama loses GE? NO, he never won the primary!" --M.Sabori

On the Denver Convention: "...it appeared to me that many other states were subject to this arm twisting stuff also, and I wanted to share what happened to MS...I'm leaving out the part about how I was threatened with assault by a MS Obama delegate/atty. who told me after an interview with a reporter from the the Congressional Quarterly that I was not entitled to my opinions and she wanted us to go outside so she could whip my @ss (Monday night)."

--Kelly Jacobs, MS delegate

"That we all had to work so hard and basically beg for fairness and transparency is a sad commentary on the Presidential selection process. That we were even moderately influential is some consolation, but cold comfort. As an E[lection] W[atch]er wrote: "without the EW, the DNC would not have had to work so hard to rig the results..." --Ricki Lieberman

"We EWs knew that Clinton was far more Electable than BHO, and we know it still to be true..." --Aaron Baxter

"The Democratic Party has made a fatal mistake in nominating Barack Obama to be President of the United States. Now they will do everything fair and foul to foist that mistake on the American People. They will hack voting machines in key states, they will lie cheat and steal, and they will launch the same misogynistic attacks against Palin that they did against you while Obama maintains plausible deniability. No doubt, [Hillary] will do what [she] can to prevent this but it is not in [her] hands. Rather it is in the hands of people like Axelrod who are devoid of moral scruples and in the primary we saw the lengths to which they would go to disenfranchise voters... and if they fail then they will try to make [her] a scapegoat...we are thinking Democrats—not yellow dogs. The party of Barack Obama is no place for centrist democrats. When Howard Dean calls the Republican Party the white peoples party, when the Chairman of the North Carolina Democratic Party tells black voters to not support white candidates, when Obama himself claims that people who live in small town America are bitter, cling to guns and religion, and when former Democratic Chairman Don Fowler hopes a hurricane will hit New Orleans during the Republican Convention, something is clearly amiss.. But the Obama cancer is metastasizing throughout the party." --Bill Boe

"Strategy involved G.O.P. crossover voting to take out Clinton, marketing newcomer Obama, stripping battleground delegates, threatening violence at the convention, and (if necessary) declaring martial law to prevent November's general election. Meanwhile, revelations about the Illinois senator's ties to Chicago political fixer Antoin Rezko and Iraqi war profiteers are downplayed by the press. For their part, Democratic Party leaders have circumvented the official nominating process, declaring Obama the nominee by breaking their own rules and allowing superdelegates to "vote" before the convention." http://www.thecityedition.com/Pages/Archive/Winter08/2008Election.html --Rosemary Regello

[Note: If you read only ONE link today, make it THIS one].

"On television, Obama's spectacle might have looked like The Ten Commandments, but inside the stadium it felt like Night of the Living Dead... The crowd, of course, cheered mechanically at tag lines...But its mood was sour. The air carried the acrid smell of defeat...the crowd took shallow breaths. [author's note: The three who donned Nobama tee shirts and walked determinedly around the podium when he began to speak were copiously ignored by the press despite the furor they caused in the stadium]. It is conceivable that Barack Obama, if elected, will destroy himself before he destroys the country. Hatred is a toxic diet even for someone with as strong a stomach as Obama ... Both Obama and the American public should be very careful of what they wish for. As the horrible example of Obama's father shows, there is nothing worse for an embittered outsider manipulating the system from within than to achieve his goals.By all rights, the Democrats should win this election. They will lose, I predict, because of the flawed character of their candidate." http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/JI03Aa02.html
--Spengler

"Orange is the symbolic color of the Ukrainian Revolutionaries who protested the "selection" of the President in a rigged election. There was massive corruption, voter intimidation and direct electoral fraud. In the end the Orange Revolution was successful. There was a re-vote that was watched by world observers (that's what we needed here!) and Yushchenko became the President. I guess only "rigged" elections in foreign countries get world outcry."
--Puget Sound Island Girl

And So: The conventions are over. The DNC and the Obama camp have, for the moment, gotten what they want, despite hard campaigning for the actual winner of the primaries and strenuous objection to voter and caucus fraud. However, this appears to be quite the pyrrhic victory indeed. Once again, the Democratic party has demonstrated its keen ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by insisting on the selection of an inexperienced, unqualified and, apparently, rather lawless individual who, it has recently come to light, has rather clearly violated the Logan Act on several occasions, most notably in negotiating in July with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebarito demand that they stop negotiations with the Bush Administration to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq in the hope that he can continue attacking the Bush Administration for not imposing a timetable for withdrawal.

http://partisanreport.com/blog/2008/09/16/mccain-responds-to-obama-over-possible-interference-with-iraqi-government-and-us-troop-withdrawl/

And, if voter fraud and violation of the Logan Act weren't, on their own, sufficient reason to prevent his takeover of the Oval Office, this should seal the deal, so to speak:

"Every story that surfaces concerning Senator Obama reeks with the stench of the long-corrupt Chicago political machine. Obama is part of this machine; his rise to power was due to this machine, and like the Chicago power brokers he is nothing more than a say anything, do anything candidate who once elected will break all campaign promises, act only to increase his own political power and then expect the long-term memory loss that the public has to kick-in by election day...From aggregating information contained within FEC disclosures you can begin to form a picture of where the large contributions are coming from. According to The Center For Responsive Politics, of the 20 largest sources of campaign contributions to the Obama Campaign, 11 were Investment Banks or International Law firms directly tied to the financial industry." For a comprehensive list of specific donors, click link http://politicallydrunk.blogspot.com/2008/09/obamas-sub-prime-buddies-lehman.html
One can only hope that somehow, some way, there is a power in the Universe that will prevent him from taking control of the White House, because thus far, our tattered electoral system has been unable to prevent it.

Rumors Abound, The Truth Will Out and the Main Stream Media Stumbles On

It is a Monday in Mid September and the campaign for the General Election is well under way. Try as they might, Main Stream Media has been unable to help the Obama camp seal the deal--in fact, to the contrary, all they seem to have able to accomplish thus far is to almost completely lose credibility for both Obama and themselves. Matthews and Olberman have been demoted as anchors, the weekend buzz of truth and rumor has gone viral, and the wheels of the Obama bus are rapidly teetering off their axles, about to bring it crashing down on all those he has thrown beneath it.

Rumor, purportedly from DNC insiders, claims that on or about October 5th, Biden will suddenly step down for "health reasons," and be replaced by...are you ready for this?...none other than HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON. Indeed, Biden recently stated that he thought Hillary would have been the better choice. Pollsters and analysts are getting letters from Democrats 'suddenly'[??] questioning the wisdom of DNC leadership's having forced their will by insisting that Obama be placed into waters far over his head as their presidential selectee...his polls are taking nose dives http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/polltracker/2008/09/latest-statebystate-general-el-52.html all over the country, and today's NY Daily News predicts the possiblity that McCain could win the State of NY; Rasmussen's daily tracking poll
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/daily_presidential_tracking_poll indicates that, despite former assertions that a 2008 Democratic win should be a shoe in, such is not the case with Obama at the top of the ticket.

Well...don't blame the 18 Million who clearly stated otherwise. They wanted Hillary--voted for her in record numbers-- and DNC leadership refused to listen. They even refused to respond courteously to the millions of Democrats who beseeched them to choose the winning candidate, replying to their pleas with rude, sometimes coarse language and/or threats ['Don't send me this crap'... 'call my office tomorrow and you'll see what happens to you' --Donna Brazile; 'take me off your list or I will report you to your server for spamming', --Susan Turnbull; 'we are sick and tired of you...' --Alice Germand and Don Fowler]

The Truth Will Out. And it has finally outed Barack Obama and the DNC for the hypocritical shams that they are. [To wit: It is not OK for a Republican mother to work: she should stay home with her kids. Only Democratic women are allowed to be working mothers]. It now remains to be seen whether they can still pull it out by continuing the tactics of fraud and corruption we witnessed along the primary path with the busing of school children and homeless to vote in the Indiana and Iowa primaries and the infamous Texas Caucus Fraud maneuvres. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOqe-JPLKfw As the leaves continue to turn, we watch for Truth to triumph and hope for the best.

The Continued Cry for Truth: Main Stream Media-- Business As Usual

IN March of this year, during the primaries, I became so outraged at the depths to which Main Stream Media had plunged into bias and misogyny that, in addition to campaigning for Hillary Clinton, I began to work actively on media reform. Tired of the endless stream of "babble from Babel", of the outright lies, half truths, ommissions, innuendo, lewd, sexist remarks and sometimes even violent references to and about Hillary [and thus ALL women] perpetrated by news readers of BOTH genders--note, I do not characterize these offenders as journalists--many of us began to push back at these outrages, contacting network heads, producers, perpetrators and advertisers, and boycotting same. It got to the point where FOX, the network once most maligned for Republican bias, was the only place one could hope to obtain even a scintilla of balanced reportage.

IN the months since, we have seen incremental change in response to our outcry: a few random wrist slaps for some of the most blatant offenders, coupled with an apology here and there [if they do it and apologize, does that make it all right to continue to offend??], and, finally, this week, word that BOTH Olberman and Matthews have been demoted from anchor posts to mere commentary slots for fall election coverage. A step in the right direction, to be sure, but a more complete demotion would have been more to my liking, given the frequency and outrageousness of their offenses.

AND THEN came Charlie Gibson's interview with Sarah Palin: Regardless of whether one agrees with a candidate's ideology, one cannot have an informed electorate unless media is willing to report truthfully and objectively. Call me crazy--I have always supported the view that in order to HAVE a Democracy [even if it is only a representational democracy] an informed electorate, accorded human rights, is the imperative. However, objectivity be damned, Charlie sat, leaning slightly forward, above Governor Palin, glasses perched low on nose as he peered, frowning menacingly down through them at her. It was disconcertingly clear that this was more an inquisition than an interview, but still I thought that perhaps we would get some real information from Governor Palin.

NOW mind you, I am a lifelong Democrat, [or at least I was until the DNC and the Obama camp used caucus, voter and delegate fraud and intimidation to select the candidate who LOST the primary] and, as such, disagree with much of Governor Palin's ideology. However, when I read the ENTIRE transcript http://marklevinshow.com/gibson-interview/
of that Gibson interview, including the PARTS EDITED OUT, I was once again reminded that we, the American people who are trying to learn about our candidates, continue to be deprived of the truth in reporting that our Democracy requires to function. During the primaries, as now, the American public has been denied their right not only to free speech, but their right to be informed. Countless incidents of caucus fraud, voter fraud and delegate intimidation went unreported, and, indeed, even the assassination of Arkansas State Democratic Chair Bob Gwatney went virtually unnoticed. Most people to whom I mentioned it were shocked to learn that it had happened, so unreported was that heinous crime.

AND SO IT GOES. The trauma of the Denver convention is passed, though definitely not forgotten; the DNC has rejected its most popular candidate in favor of one selected by a few of its waning leaders, one who is LEAST likely to win in November; and the Republican candidate has chosen a women to run as his VP. Never mind whether you agree with their ideology; Obama changes positions [and perhaps vp choices, if one accords any credence to rumors??!] with abandon, so we really do not know WHAT he stands for...McCain the Maverick [castigated by the Republican Far Right] has at least stepped up to the plate for equality with his choice. And all that remains now is to continue to expose media bias and try as best we can to educate the public on the facts about both candidates in the hope that they will have a vote that counts.

Hubris v. Honor Redux...and STILL No Questions from the Press

Just when it seemed like things couldn't GET either any more surreal or less credible, we start the week by learning that while Russia invades Georgia, Hillary delegates are being purged, and the news of Obama's close ties with an anti Christian, pro Taliban Kenyan leader named Odinga continues to be suppressed, http://truthisgold.blogspot.com/2008/08/obama-and-jeopardization-of-national.html we find that Mr. Obama has flown the coop for the sunny isle of Hawaii, leaving Hillary home to do his pre-convention campaigning and the DNC to do his dirty work.

So...What is Wrong With This Picture?

Well, first of all, it speaks to Hubris [his] and Honor [hers]. Apparently deciding he can't take the heat, political or otherwise, he's off to "vacation" [at least that's what he SAID] while SHE, the candidate with the hugest popular vote in primary history, is off to work, keeping her word [as usual] to campaign for him.

It speaks to the Hubris of a Democratic party who is apparently so terrified that the fast waning popularity of their selectee will result in his failure to be nominated that they have gone into panic mode, hunkered down in their bunker, purging, McCarthy style, delegate after delegate that might be so much as even rumored to support Hillary. The latest in this string of casualties [preceded by Wisconsin's Debra Bartoshevich] is Sarah Millstone of Boulder Colorado, who, after PRIVATELY acknowledging to a fellow delegate in an email that she was upset at the Obama campaign's tactics of dismissal and intimidation of Hillary delegates and was not sure that she could vote for Obama at the Convention, received a letter from Pat Waak, chair of the Colorado Democratic Party, threatening her with the loss of her delegate seat.

"I think that one of the reasons I got this...was to intimidate me," said Millstone. "It sounded... totalitarian [and]...undemocratic and I was completely shocked. Having had conversations on the pros and cons of those candidates, I don't think this is an unusual thing at all in the Democratic Party."

About Millstone, Waak stated, [giving new meaning to the phrase, 'Waak Job',]

"From our point, it's over with. She's chosen not to come in and talk with us...so, we're two weeks...from the convention and we'll continue to work with the delegates who want to be worked with."

Fear Tactics, Intimidation & Threats: Our Party at Work??

Millstone firmly believes the letter was a clear message to Clinton delegates nationwide to refrain from any comment, even those made privately, that could be construed as even slightly critical of Obama if they wish to attend the convention. "I think that it was calculated to have an impact on other delegates...this kind of communication...has a very chilling impact on other delegates because people become afraid to speak up. They become afraid to say what they think."Millstone added, "You can't get unity by telling people to shut up." http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/17163668/detail.html
Unlike those who, like Gerry Ferraro, [rare birds in a forest of parrots], have tremendous courage, conviction and power, most delegates are ordinary folk, desirous of doing their patriotic duty unhampered by threats, intimidation and fear tactics. Like the lone suffragette in the famous picture, standing alone on a sidewalk crowded with men, holding her simple sign, Gerry Ferraro stood up to the DNC Machine yesterday and stood her ground, speaking her piece in support of Hillary Clinton, the lone voice of reason.

Res ipsa loquitur, or...the thing speaks for itself...and it echoes the multitudinous pattern of threats from not only the Obama camp, but DNC and Democratic Party elected officials as well, to wit: one among many received by an Election Watch writer from none other than Donna Brazile:

"Do not send me...this crap and I promise not to send your email address to anyone.
Soon, I will have to kick some truth into the lies.
Sent wirelessly via BlackBerry from T-Mobile. Please excuse any typos or grammatical errors."

None But the Brave
Not to be outdone, the direct approach from Montana's Senator Jon Tester:
"Your message has been forwarded to the U.S. Capitol Police Force for investigation. Do not send any further messages to this address."
And, although certainly neither the last nor the least, this from http://freemenow.wordpress.com/

"Democratic Party Collapses Into Stiff Arm Politics"
TO: All Clinton Delegates
FROM: Mary Isenhour, Executive Director
DATE: August 11, 2008
RE: Nomination
If anyone approaches you about signing a petition to place Senator Clinton’s name in nomination at the Democratic National Convention, the Governor has asked me to ask you to refrain from signing such a petition until we know what Senator Clinton and Senator Obama have worked out.
As always, please feel free to let me know if you have any questions.
Rachel A. Moore, Office Director,Pennsylvania Democratic Party
300 North 2nd Street, 8th Floor,Harrisburg, PA 17101
ofc. 717.920.8470 / fax 717.901.7829

Feel the love. ClintonDems.com states:

"With the convention just around the corner, it is imperative that all Democrats everywhere understand that whether or not Hillary is nominated, we are in this for the long haul. This primary has revealed DNC "leadership" to be corrupt, mean-spirited, and devoid of respect for basic democratic principles. They have completely and effectively ceded the moral high ground to Republicans at this point." http://hillaryclintonnews.blogspot.com/2008/08/action-item.html

Brave New World

In the meantime, life goes on: we are informed that Mr. Obama, still on vacation in Hawaii, far from the madding crowd and its pesky, inquisitive reporters, will take HIS brave stand and announce his vice president via text message, thus eliminating the need for a press conference and those burdonsome concepts of Hubris, Honor, and Courage of Conviction can be dispensed with and replaced with Newspeak until further notice...by text message, of course.