Someone told me the other day that the GOP platform reflects on Mitt Romney, that even if he says he disagrees with a part of it, he controls the platform's contents so he really must actually agree with it.
I pointed out, no, that is not how the platform works. You get delegates from around the country to write it and then vote on it, and the President cannot force that process, unless the delegates choose to go along with it. The rules don't allow it. It's a democratic process, not a top-down decision. You cannot assume that the candidate agrees with the platform, because the candidate doesn't control the platform.
Apparently, that is how it works for the Republicans, but not the Democrats. Obama wanted changes to his platform -- reverting changes that removed mentions of "God" and Jerusalem as the capital of Israel -- and convention chair Antonio Villaraigosa violated rules by pushing through those changes against the clearly expressed will of the voting delegates: he needed a 2/3 vote to approve the changes, but he could not have even reasonably concluded to have a majority.
Cross-posted on <pudge/*>.
Posted by pudge at September 06, 2012 03:24 PM | Email ThisVillaraigosa was prepared to motor along with the teleprompter script and approve it after the first vote, but the overwhelming No caught him off guard. After teh third "vote" he was back on script.
It was a great example of Democrats voting and/or counting as many times as it takes to produce a predetermined outcome.
Posted by: SouthernRoots on September 6, 2012 03:36 PM
We suspected they felt this way about Israel and God himself, but to hear it play out that vociferously was startling, I must say. May the rest of us not fall into similar confusion.
Last night it was Villaraigosa himself who did the 'counting' after three failed attempts to promote a 'yes' vote, and by his Orwellian math, the 'nays' were disenfranchised - though their voices were at least as lusty as the 'yeas' who 'won'.
The video of that cynical, antidemocratic power play will be used against the Democrat party for decades, as a real-world example of the autocratic methods they intend to employ against US citizens overall.
Posted by: Insufficiently Sensitive on September 6, 2012 04:54 PMWell.....until I remembered that that is exactly what Boehner did at the GOP convention last week when dealing with rule changes.
Both parties were an embarrassment to democracy at their conventions.
Posted by: doug on September 6, 2012 08:16 PMWhat doesn't happen often is what Villaraigosa did: clearly violating the rules by lying and saying there was a two-thirds vote when it was not even clear if there was a simple majority.
Will Rogers
Posted by: Roger in Republic on September 8, 2012 07:17 PM