"If I Can't Be There In My Body, I Don't Count"

comment on Katharine Q. Seelye NYT
Clinton’s persistence

The so-called Math will be re-understood when The Greatest Story Ever Untold finally gets seriously reported by some smart reporter who loves actual democracy.

Suppose you and the non-lemming among the superdelegates knew that 15% of Hillary's voters in Caucus States had been cheated of their rightful share of pledged delegates & popular votes?

Every 8th volunteer phone call I made into Caucus State after Caucus State got me a Hillary voter who said, "Oh, no, honey, I don't dare caucus, I'm off-balance." No ride would help these folk who do not go out. The will of the people? The will of (healthy) people, apparently.

In Texas, Hillary was +4 in the primary and -12 in the caucus on the same day! A 16% swing! Suppose we had only seen the caucus results as in Iowa etc? It's the Absentee Ballot, Dumbish Folks!

Why do you think that 28% of Hillary's voters say they'll sit out November? Not because they aren’t fiercely loyal lifelong Democrats. Because they have been silenced, disappeared. THEY know that this pledged delegate & popular vote count is malarkey. THEY weren't counted. The Caucus Debacle is an appalling anti-democracy scandal. It is exactly the kind of injustice that the non-lemming superdelegates were designed to account for.

If you’d heard person after person lament, “If I can’t be there in my body, I don’t count,” you’d demand & plead that they have a say in the superdelegates’ thinking. Where are their pledged delegates and popular vote? Why does no one speak up for them?

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Dismayed by Speaker Pelosi

in Comment on Carl Hulse NYT On the Hill, Nancy Pelosi, Mystery Delegate 04.02.08

As a longtime follower of Speaker Pelosi, I am dismayed that she does not speak out for all the older women disenfranchised by the deplorable anti-democratic Caucus States. Older women are the backbone of the Democratic Party and it may be novel & thrilling to have a lot of new voters -- but you applaud them at your peril if you're willing -- in ignorance or in cowardice -- to allow your most faithful supporters to be silenced.

15% of Hillary's voters were cheated of their share of the pledged delegates because the antiquated caucus system prevents them from having an Absentee Ballot no matter how infirm they are. There is an epidemic in America of older women who have a deep dread of falling. They do not go out. They can't use a ride. They need an Absentee Ballot. (In Texas, Hillary was +4 in the primary & -12 in the caucus the same day. An Absentee Ballot, an Absentee Ballot, my democracy for an Absentee Ballot!)

I'm ashamed of Speaker Pelosi for not being a champion of these older Democrats. Only the will of (healthy) people counts in the Halls of Power, it seems. Don’t we expect superdelegates to think, to look, to account for? Do we really want superlemmings? Or superduperlemmings?

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Weekend Warrior . 03.30.08

I put all these lengths and versions in because the point of this blog is to show all the tweaks, facets, and angles of this The Math is NOT the Math argument. To give you angles and fuel for your own thinking & conversations or -- more 'n better -- your own LTEs (Letters to the Editor) or Comments & Blogs Out There in the Ether. I've highlighted some of the new phrasings.

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profile on digg it, I think
The deplorable Caucus system has robbed Hillary's voters of 15% of their voice, of their share of pledged delegates and of popular vote. Without an Absentee Ballot, voters with a terrible fear of falling can not participate. A ride doesn't help. This Caucus Skew must be noted by the thoughtful fairness of the superdelegates and taken into account.

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on wapo(Washington Post Comment)

aeparsons is utterly right that if Mr. Obama were being required to *quit* -- the press would be Orcs from Mordor in their slavering and howling for the evisceration of those possibly suggesting such an undemocratic action. There really are Obama Rules & Hillary Rules.

I used to scoff when the *Right* complained about a liberal media bias. Piffle, I thought. Whew, now that I've seen the relentless jackal ferocity against Hillary, I am dumbfounded. We've come further re race than we have re misogyny. Snideness against a woman doesn't hardly cause a ripple of complaint. Hillary is a champion for a lot of us similarly lambasted by probably unconscious but deeprooted prejudice. ["deeprooted prejudice" was BO's rather nasty slur at G.Ferraro]
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3-30-08 6:36:04 pm on washington post blog r
It is to be hoped that the superdelegates will take note that Hillary's voters were robbed of their voice by 15% in all those Caucus States. People infirm of body but keen of mind are prevented from participating because they have no Absentee Ballot. These are folks too off-balance to dare use a ride to the polls. Note that in Texas, Hillary's voters gave her +4 in the primary, but -12 in the caucus on the same day.

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on aol strawpoll 3-31-08 5:52:53 pm (8:56 p [edt] on aol ;
Note that in Texas, Hillary was +4 in the primary & -12 in the caucus on the same day. A 16% swing! (I found this shocking percentage in all my volunteer phoning in caucus states. 2400 calls is a good sample.)

Caucuses don't allow Absentee Ballots -- especially silencing older women who have a terrible fear of falling & do not dare go out to a caucus. "If I can't be there in my body, I don't count." The pledged delegates & popular vote that is stolen from these passionate Hillary supporters must be accounted for by the superdelegates in their thinking. Balancing out this kind of grotesque injustice is why they exist. Or maybe we mean only the will of the (healthy) people in America?

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Et tu, Sen. Dodd; Fie! Sen. Leahy

Et tu, Sen. Dodd
When I taught at Westminster School in Simsbury in the early '70s, I never thought I would feel such shame to be a Democrat.

As the first female faculty member paid half as much as my husband for identical duties (tho I was a much better teacher), I thought we had GOTTEN SOMEWHERE by now in my beloved America.

To hear you try to get our first woman candidate for president of the United States to quit -- I am enraged and dismayed.

I didn't hear you crying out for fairness for older women in the Iowa Caucuses when they were forbidden the Absentee Ballot, their only way to participate because they are deathly afraid to slip and fall if they go out to a caucus.

I used to be such a fan of yours as a sensible national figure for Democrats. I am ashamed of you for the deplorable disrespect you show to the aspirations of so many women in this country crushed by bad health and an unfair economy. Hillary is our champion.
[email Sen. Dodd ]
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3-29-08 2:34:57 pm
Fie! The Caucuses are The Big Lie .. Sen. Leahy
JFK was murdered on my 19th birthday. I have been a fervent Democrat ever since. Now I am so sad and ashamed for us.

Senator Leahy, I think of all the years I spent in Hardwick in the remote Northeast Kingdom of Vermont teaching middle school. I am ashamed that you would callously suggest that our first woman candidate in history just quit. What gall and narrowsightedness.

Why didn't you step up to insist on absentee ballots in the Caucus States if you really meant "the will of the people." Every 8th volunteer phone call of several thousand I made got me "Oh, no, honey, I can't caucus. I'm a cripple. If I can't get my body there, I don't count."

No ride can help an older woman who doesn't dare go out to caucus because of her terrible fear of falling. Fie. As a superdelegate you should cry out against this deplorable anti-democratic Caucus Skew.
[email Sen. Leahy ]
contact caucusdebacle@gmail.com
first posted 03.29.08

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Sen. Kerry a Quisling?

Dear Senator Kerry,

On my 19th birthday I was at Mount Holyoke when JFK was murdered. I have been a passionate Democrat ever since. I have never felt such shame in all these years -- but when I see the way you and others are bullying Hillary to get out of the race, you seem like a quisling to all the democracy means.

I haven't heard you crying out against the appalling anti-democratic Caucus Skew which has disappeared 15% of Hillary's pledged delegates & popular vote in all those caucus states. Infirm voters need an absentee ballot they can get by mail. Their terrible fear of falling prevents them from using 'a ride.'

The will of the voters? Which voters? Only the will of healthy voters -- is that what you really mean? I expected finer from you. I phoned my heart out for you in 2004. I couldn't have imagined that you would turn on Hillary, the champion for so many of us. Fie! For Shame.
[webmail Sen. Kerry ]
ps. a quisling is a traitor, from Quisling, a Norweigan who betrayed Norway in WW2.
contact: caucusdebacle@gmail
first posted 03.30.08

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The Will of the (Healthy) People

3-29-08 10:46:03 am to Howard Dean;

I am 63 years old. I have been an active and loyal Democrat since JFK was murdered on my 19th birthday. I am ashamed of Mr. Dodd, Mr. Leahy, & others trying to push Hillary, the best-prepared candidate in my life, out of the supposedly democratic process.

15% of Hillary's vote (therefore pledged delegates & popular vote) was robbed from her in all those caucus states. (In Texas Hillary was +4 in the primary & -12 in the caucus on the same day! You call this democracy? The will of the (healthy) people! That our first woman candidate would be given so little respect is sickening.

(email Mr. Dean .. http://www.democrats.org/page/petition/chairman)
contact caucusdebacle@gmail.com
first post 03.29.08

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Wonderfull Prayers for Silenced Elders

The following are wonderfull prayers by Lorie & Diana when they heard the plight of our beloved older kinfolk in our American family and planet family. These prayers dwell in my heart as seeds dreaming of flowers, soon & plentyfull.

Prayer: Namaste Beloved Father, Beloved Mother, Beloved Swami, I pray today for those elders in Texas, Nevada and other caucus states to have their voices heard. I pray for a way that their political votes be counted, and respected. I fervently pray that those who have difficulty with balance and fear of falling are assisted in all of their needs. May their bodies receive the nutrition needed. May they find ways of strengthening their bodies, and learning new ways to balance themselves for safety ALWAYS!

Heart of the Universe, Love I join with Lorie and Wendy in prayers for our precious people of age. May their voices be heard and regarded politically. Bless their bodies with the best health possible, especially assisting those in need of better balance, to avoid falls. May their lives be lived in peace and comfort and may they always have what they need for their health and their joy. Goddess bless all people of age, Many they know that they are loved. So Mote it Be! (In the will of the Gods/Goddesses.)

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contact caucusdebacle@gmail.com

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