A Florida Democrat At The Crossroads
Yvonne Gates, a member of the committee, explained that she views this behavior as an exercise in fairness: “My definition is a 50-50 split is something that is fair,” said Ms. Gates. “It cannot be a situation where you give one candidate more votes than the other.”
It takes a certain amount of cynicism, or insulation from reality, or just plain hubris for a powerful committee member to tell me that I shouldn’t mind if my vote is not counted, or if only half of it gets counted, or if the vote I cast for Hillary Clinton will be voided and replaced with “half” a vote for Clinton and “half” a vote for Obama.
This is pretty astonishing talk from the same committee that decided to strip 2.5 million citizens of their right to have their votes counted because of a rules infraction – an infraction imposed in Florida by the Republican Party, not Democratic voters.
The bottom line is one way or the other: either go with the sanction and don’t seat ANY delegates, or else seat them and apportion delegates accordingly. What’s the deal about dicking around with the results? Either our votes count, or they don’t.
Sure it’s unfair that the Republican legislature engineered this (especially since their delegates are being seated), but plenty of Dems voted for the date change too. They can’t lay it in the ‘Pub’s lap. To their credit, they’ve only given it a half-hearted try. The facts are too well-known: Florida thought it could steal the show. Well, it certainly did, but not in the way expected. Florida tried to call the Party’s bluff. Guess what, guys — it wasn’t a bluff. Now we’ll see if the National Committee stands on its decision, or if they’re willing to admit that it really is just wheeling and dealing.
Withholding the delegates would actually benefit my candidate, at least on paper. But it has to be one way or the other…not because of what’s “fair,” but because to do otherwise casts the integrity — not to mention the common sense — of the national committee into deep shadow.
The fact is, Hillary can’t win the nomination even with all the Florida delegates seated; it still comes down to the Supers. Seating the others simply levels the field.
One way or the other, guys. Forget the deals.
