Hey Senator McCain—Do My Jewish In-Laws Favor Surrender To Terrorists? Or How About My Dad Who Fought In Korea?
In dropping out of the race for President, Mitt Romney said voting for Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton would be akin to surrendering to terrorists.
Campaigning last week Senator John McCain said advocates of a timed-withdrawal in Iraq are in favor of surrender.
Do my Jewish in-laws favor surrendering to Islamic terrorists?
Does my father who fought in Korea favor surrendering to terrorists?
Does any American favor surrendering to terrorists?
Is this going to be the Republican theme in 2008?
If so, I will never view Senator McCain, if elected, as my President. His campaign will have been based on the premise that myself and people who believe as I do are disloyal.
February 7, 2008 Posted by Neil Aquino | Campaign 2008, Politics | Campaign 2008, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Politics, Terrorism | 2 Comments
History Of The Superdelegate
What is a Superdelegate in the fight for the Democratic presidential nomination? What is the history behind the awarding of these delegates?
A “superdelegate” is a party leader, an elected official or otherwise, who is made an automatic delegate at the party nominating convention. This person is not required to win his or her place in a primary or in a caucus. They have a spot at the convention no matter what.
The so-called superdelegate was created as a “reform” within the Democratic nominating process for the 1984 elections. Party leaders felt that the process had gotten away from them and was overly geared to primary voters and caucus-goers.
According to Congressional Quarterly’s Guide To U.S. Elections—
“This reform had two main goals. First Democratic leaders would participate in the nomination decision at the convention. Second, they wanted to ensure that these uncommitted party leaders could play a major role in selecting the presidential nominees if no candidate was a clear front-runner.”
Isn’t is great that Democratic party leaders had to be given a free pass instead of earning a place to take an active part in the nominating process?
The superdelegate idea was in in many ways a roundabout response to a process set in motion by liberal party activists who felt shut out at the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago. Vice President Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota in 1968 was the last major party nominee to win the nomination without entering most of the primaries.
A commission was set up led by Senator George McGovern of South Dakota that led to an opening of the process and to more primaries. This openness was the trend in the 1972 and 1976 nominating races for the Democrats and Senator McGovern benefited from these new rules in his own successful 1972 nomination bid.
For 1984, the party leadership reasserted some authority with superdelegates. It was a “reform” that was really a step backwards.
Superdelegates in 2008 are Democratic members of the House and Senate, Democratic Governors, and members of the Democratic National Committee. Al Gore and Bill Clinton are also superdelegates.
There are approximately 800 superdelegates of the 2125 delegates needed to win the nomination.
In 1984, four of five superdelegates supported Walter Mondale of Minnesota (photo below) over Senator Gary Hart of Colorado. This despite the fact Vice President Mondale won 37.8% of all primary votes in 1984 against the 36.1% won by Senator Hart. The party establishment was beyond Mr. Mondale regardless of how people were voting in the primaries.
Since 1984, the percentage of superdelegates has increased. It was 14% of all delegates in 1984 and is nearly 20% today.
As I write this in February, more superdelegates are pledged to Senator Hillary Clinton of New York than to Senator Barack Obama of Illinois.
Superdelegates can change their minds if they wish. They can do anything they want.
It’s like some sort of House of Lords. ( Illustration below.)
This process is undemocratic. Delegates should be elected by rank-and-file members of the party. If a sitting Governor or Senator can’t win a spot in a primary or a caucus, what type of legitimacy as a popular leader does such a person have?
I hope that at the least, superdelgates will reflect the wishes of the district or state they represent, or, for those not currently holding any political office, the state or local area they come from.
2008 Democratic Convention Watch is a blog doing a good job tracking who superdelegates are supporting.
Texas Liberal is leading the way in politcal history blogging in 2008.
February 7, 2008 Posted by Neil Aquino | Books, Campaign 2008, Political History, Politics | Al Gore, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Books, Campaign 2008, George McGovern, Hillary Clinton, House Of Lords, Hubert Humphrey, Political History, Politics, Walter Mondale | 20 Comments
Will “Latest News” On Texas Democratic Party Home Page Ever Be Updated Past January 3?
Will the “GOP Watch” ever be updated past December 19?
Will the “Features” section ever be updated past November 8?
All of these sections are under the broad heading of “Latest News” on the Texas Democratic Party home page on the web.
Yes—Some things are updated. There is an updated calender of events and a fund-raising pitch for Texas House of Represenatives candidates.
But what about the rest of the web page?
Below is a picture of a town crier.
“Hear ye, Hear ye”
Since more modern technology is not fully working out for the TDP , maybe a town crier could be employed to keep party faithful up to date.
February 7, 2008 Posted by Neil Aquino | Politics, Texas | Politics, Texas, Texas Democratic Party | 1 Comment
Welcome To Texas Liberal
Texas Liberal is a blog of politics and political history.
My name is Neil Aquino. Here is my profile.
I can be reached at naa618@att.net.
Additional focuses of the blog are books, art, poetry, personal relationships and, also, sea life and marine mammals.
( The picture above is of the Houston Ship Channel. A narrow channel can lead to a wide sea.)
The signature post of this blog is the Martin Luther King Reading & Reference List. This list is the best of it’s kind on the web.
Another good post is my reciting the words to the Shaker hymn Simple Gifts on Galveston Island, Texas as a ship passes behind.
I live in Houston, Texas and I do sometimes write about political issues in Houston and in Texas.
I also often write about my former hometown of Cincinnati, and about the great beach city of Galveston, Texas.
I define liberalism as a role for government in the economy to help make life more fair, and a broad acceptance of people regardless of who they are.
This is why it says “All People Matter” at the top of the blog.
A blog grows one reader at a time. If you like what you read here, please consider forwarding the link.
Texas Liberal began regular posting on July 25, 2006.
I also blog at the Houston Chronicle as one of eight featured political bloggers, and on Where’s The Outrage? which posts out of North Carolina.
Thanks for reading Texas Liberal.
Blog Stats
- 2,425,137 hits
Blogroll
- 1000 Petals
- A Normal Life
- A Striped Armchair
- A Wide Angle View Of India
- Adventures Of Systems Boy
- Al Franken For U.S. Senate/Minnesota
- alicublog
- All Other Persons
- Ana Verse
- angrystan
- B and B
- Bay Area Houston
- Bay of Fundy Blog
- Be Nice
- Bean and Bee
- Beginning To Wonder
- Best Seat In The House
- Blazing Indiscretions
- Blog Houston
- Bloggin’ All Things Brownsville
- Blogging Elsewhere
- BlogNetNews/Texas
- BlueBloggin
- Brains & Eggs
- Burnt Orange Report
- CamposCommunications Blog
- Castle Hills Democrats
- Cinematronica
- City Mayors
- Clean Draws
- Coffee Nomad
- Collin County Observer
- CQ Politics
- Crooks and Liars
- Culture, Music And Language
- Cvstos Fidei
- Daily Muse
- Dallas South
- Democracy For America
- Democrat Dave’s Weblog
- Dig Deeper Texas
- Dos Centavos
- East Of Houston
- From My Brown Eyed View
- Galveston County Democrats Club
- Galveston Daily News
- Gimcrack Hospital
- Girl In A Cage
- Global Voices
- Globe Of Blogs
- Governmental Case
- Green Party Of Texas
- GregsOpinion
- GulfBase
- Harris County Green Party
- History Of American Women
- Houston Chronicle
- Houston Democrats
- Houston’s Clear Thinkers
- Jen.Bor.3D
- Jobsanger
- Jockey Club—Newport, Kentucky
- Joe Reads The News
- Jos 76
- Kill Bigotry
- Last Exit Before Toll
- Last Person Left
- Last Row
- Latinos For Texas
- Lazy Circles
- Left Edge North
- Left Of College Station
- LeftyBlogs
- Lesbians In My Soup
- Let Us Talk
- Letters From Texas
- Liberal Values
- Life On Some Planet
- Linda Hillin
- Loomis News
- Lose An Eye, It's A Sport
- Lubbock Left
- Make Wealth History
- McBlogger
- McBlogger
- McCombover
- Mean Rachel
- Middle Border Sun
- Militant Ginger In New York
- Miss Welby
- Mole’s Progessive Democrat
- MOMocrats
- My E-Shoe Box
- National Hurricane Center
- New Black Woman
- Non-Toxic Kids
- Noriega Blog
- North Dallas Gazette
- Off The Grid
- Off the Kuff
- Ohio River, Left Bank, MP606
- One Hump Or Two?
- Op-Edna
- Opit’s Linkfest
- P B & J
- Pambazuka News
- Panhandle Truth Squad
- Para Justica y Libertad
- Pearl Of Carol
- Pennsylvania For Change
- Pho’s Akron Pages
- Plucky Punk’s Happy Land
- PoliSci@UST
- Prairie Fire Journal
- Progressive Blog Digest
- Protein Deficient
- Purple State Pundit
- Queen City Survey
- Queer Cincinnati
- Racy Mind
- Rakoto’s Rants–The Malagasy Dwarf Hippo
- Rebecca’s Pocket
- Rhode Island’s Future
- Rick Noriega For U.S Senate/Texas
- Robert Angelo Writes
- Sandusky History
- Skeptical Brotha
- Skippy the bush kangaroo
- Slashing Tongue
- Smith On Politics
- Smoke And Mirrors
- South Texas Chisme
- Spinny Liberal
- Sweat Free Houston
- Tales Of A Modern Muslimah
- Texas Education
- Texas Kaos
- Texas Vox
- The Anti-Nannier
- The Brazosport News
- The Bruce Blog
- The Cincinnati Beacon
- The Doghouse
- The Field Negro
- The Francis L. Holland Blog
- The Know-All
- The Largest Minority
- The Llama Ate My Flip Flops
- The New Black Woman
- The Old Eighteen
- The Outskirts
- The Poverty Diet
- The San Franciscan
- The Texas Cloverleaf
- The Texas Observer
- The Texas Parlor
- The Truth About Texas Republicans
- The Twitching Line
- The Wawg Blog
- The Yellow Doggerel Democrat
- There…Already
- Utica Progressive
- virgotext
- Wake Up Wal-Mart
- Wandering Off
- Watergate Summer
- Wellstone Action!
- What An African Woman Thinks
- What Would LBJ Do?
- Where The Hell Am I?
- Where’s The Outrage?
- Who’s Playin?
- woodgatesview
- WordPress.com
- WordPress.org
- Work Of The Poet
- Working In Bare Feet
- World 5.0
- World Elections
- YesterYear Once More
- Z-2012 News
Recent Comments
Tim Murphy on Mel Gibson & Siouxsie… Sof on Mel Gibson & Siouxsie… Bill Shirley (@bshir… on “Houston” Sculptur… JD on Black Man Drives Car With Conf… Blessthismess on Mel Gibson & Siouxsie… Pages
Meta
Global Voices
- Venezuela's Oscar Entry Speaks an Indigenous Language
- Moroccan Royal Motorcade Runs Down By-Stander
- Unlivable Conditions in Macedonian Student Dorms Worsen
- Why the Start-Up Pitch in Zimbabwe Is a ‘Waste of Time’
- Could Using a Cell Phone in Iran Put You in Business with “Terrorists”?
- Minority Women Communicators Conference Looks To ‘Occupy the Media and Internet’ in Mexico
- Predictions for an Opposition Party Win in Trinidad & Tobago's General Elections
- How Do You Say ‘Bro’ in Latin America?
-
Annise Parker Art Barack Obama Baseball Bill Clinton Bill White Blogging Blogs Books Boston Campaign 2008 Campaign 2012 Chicago China Christmas Cincinnati Climate Change Colonial America Communication Death Democracy Economy Forced Sonogram Law Franklin Roosevelt Freedom Galveston Gay Marriage George W Bush Global Warming Government Gulf Of Mexico Harris County Texas Health Care Reform Hillary Clinton History Houston Houston Ship Channel Hurricane Ike Immigration Jimmy Carter John McCain Life Marine Mammals Martin Luther King Mitt Romney Music My Wife Is The Best Person Ever Occupy Galveston Occupy Houston Occupy Wall Street Ohio River People Poetry Political History Political Science Politics Poverty Punk Rock Race Relationships Religion Rhode Island Rick Perry Ronald Reagan Sarah Palin Sea Life Socialism Taxes---Yes! Tea Party Texas Texas Legislature Texas Primary '08 Thanksgiving Voting Work
Archives
- September 2013
- August 2013
- June 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006