Doug Wilder warns of "chaos" at Democratic Convention...

[Virginia Dare]

Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder warns there will be chaos at the Democratic National Convention if superdelegates anoint a nominee who did not win the most popular votes.

If that happens, the scene at the Democrats' August convention in Denver could be worse than the unrest at the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago, Wilder said today on the CBS program "Face the Nation."

"You know what a mess that was," Wilder, an Obama supporter, told host Bob Schieffer.

"If the majority of the American people" voting in the Democratic primaries and caucuses back either Obama or Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton "and if the superdelegates intervene to get in the way of it and say, 'Oh no, we're going to determine what's best,' there will be chaos at the convention," Wilder said.

"It does nothing to help the Democrats -- and if you think 1968 was bad, you watch 2008," Wilder said. If that happens, "it will be worse."

http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-02-17-0302.html

[Recursion]

1. Wilder was the first post-Reconstruction African American governor

And one of Virginia's finest politicians, ever (and that's counting Henry, Washington, and Jefferson).

I've been willing to go to the mat for Wilder since the Photoshop scandal.

[gateley]

2. Hate to be cynical, but the demonstrations in '68 didn't accomplish a whole lot. nt

[Virginia Dare]

3. Nixon would probably disagree...n/t

[Mme. Defarge]

4. No kidding!

[Diane R]

5. You don't have a clue.

[gateley]

8. Apparently you're right. Instead of just pointing that out, why don't you

enlighten me? I have no problem admitting I'm wrong, and I always want to understand better.

Thanks for any help.

[JVS]

9. Just ask president Humphreys

[TexasObserver]

12. Yes, they did. They caused the entire nomination process in the party to be changed.

They didn't change the nomination in 1968, but they did effect change in the Democratic party, and 1968 is the reason we have a delegate selection process that ensures some degree of real, proportional representation.

1968 is the reason we have a role in the nomination process. The superdelegates are the last vestige of the old, smoke filled rooms with our candidates decided there.

[gateley]

16. I guess I was just saying that the Dems didn't get the WH, and the war just

kept on rolling.

[TexasObserver]

28. You're right about that. But the new rules we used in '72 meant blacks in the South got a voice.

I know, because I fought the Wallacites all over Texas, organized blacks all over Texas, and took their appeals based upon exclusions by Wallacites to County and State conventions, where we prevailed based upon those new rules. When the convention sided with us, and turned out the Wallacites to seat hundreds of black delegates for the first time, some in their 70s who had never seen the inside of a convention, who had lived under Jim Crow their entire lives, it mattered.

We have rules about inclusion because 1968 made it happen.

[gateley]

34. Okay -- NOW I understand why you guys were telling me I didn't get it --

thanks for the education! :hi:

[TexasObserver]

45. Sorry if I was a little grumpy.

I'm dealing with constant pain and don't like to medicate. Meds cloak symptoms, so I don't like to use them. Reading, typing and watching news and CSPAN help me keep my mind otherwise occupied, but dealing with the pain does make me testy at times. Sorry if I snapped at you.

[Virginia Dare]

42. Thank you TO...

it's good to hear from somebody who was there. I'm so afraid this will fracture our party, much like it did back in '68.

[TexasObserver]

46. I missed the whole show in 1968, being otherwise occupied with some work Uncle Sam had for me.

But I got out of the military a couple years later, and came back to the world with a passion to end the war and do something about the injustices of the Jim Crow atmosphere.

I didn't get to hear or read about the '68 convention until at least a month after it happened, and didn't get to see TV of it until close to a year later.

[kennetha]

6. Obama camp campaigning by threats

THey threaten chaos if the superdelegates don't take him over the top. They threaten chaos if Florida and MI are seated. They want to disenfranchise both the voters of those two states and the superdelegates. It's pretty ugly, brass knuckle politics they are now playing. But they are getting away with it partly because the media refuses to call Obama on anything and basically is buying their spin hook, line, and sinker.

[TexasObserver]

14. No threat. Learn the difference. A prediction is that it would split the party in two.

A prediction is that there would be demonstrations against the Democratic party leaderships in every major Democratic stronghold in America. A prediction is that such an action will take the Democratic party down in November to certain defeat. A prediction is that all those young and middle aged people who are inspired by Obama would sit on their hands rather than help Hillary steal the White House.

Isn't it amazing that people in our party who have been reviled at the way Bush got the nomination in 2000, and stole the elections of 2000 and 2004 are now using the same methods and rationales as Bush did?

If Obama continues to win as he has been, and if Clinton were able by hook or crook to finagle the nomination, it WILL break the party in half, and we will lose the House and the Senate, as well as the presidency.

That is not something I want to see. The superdelegates have always been a bad idea, and if they do anything other than confirm the will of the duly pledged rank and file delegates, they are not serving the party and not serving democracy. They will have become the pigs at the farmer's table in Animal Farm.

I don't want to see my party fractured. I don't want to see us kill HOPE. I do not want to see us ensure ourselves permanent status as the minority party, unable to ever win the presidency or gain majorities, and that WILL happen if the party superdelegates stomp on all these voters we have brought into the party this year.

[kennetha]

18. Obama is fomenting Division and IS making THREATS

Obama and his surrogates are making division more probable by always talking about chaos. They are trying to bully the superdelegates into voting en masse for Obama and also trying to bully them into not seating the Florida and MI delegations. They are self-centered opportunists who care only about winning. Their true colors are about to be shown. Obama is an old-fashioned Chicago Pol in new age clothing. A very good and asute one. But there is nothing really "new" about the way he is playing politics now.

[JVS]

19. Don't you want a nominee with some fight in him? If Gore had been so aggressive in 2000, he might..

be president now.

[kennetha]

23. Yes I do want fight!

That's why I'm 100% for Hillary Clinton. Obama is disingeneous. He pretends that somehow the force of his personality and oratory will magically transform politics in America from a street brawl among difficulty to reconcile competing and entrenched interests into some sort of Kumbaya group grope. But it's all empty rhetoric, since I don' t think he really believes it himself.

His own campaign is engaged in a pretty cynical and determined brawl to disenfranchise both the super delegates and FLA and MI voters. Plus they purposely seized on some inconsequential remarks by each of the Clintons to inflame racial tensions and mobilze black voters.

[anamandujano]

25. A fair fight!

[JVS]

26. Hillary sure fought the IWR, oh wait no, she folded as usual. Just like she keeps folding in...

states that are too small and "don't matter"

[Zhade]

36. Clinton's the one trying to seat delegates she agreed not to seat at first.

Talk about disingenuous!

[Tarheel_Dem]

38. talk about disingenuous....

Clinton thought she would glide to the nomination on name recognition and nostalgia alone.

"Plus they purposely seized on some inconsequential remarks by each of the Clintons to inflame racial tensions and mobilze black voters"

Are you serious? The Clinton campaign made a serious miscalculation in trying to paint Obama as the "black" candidate. And as recently as last week, Ed Rendell is still playing that game. Her own pollster told the media that latinos won't vote for a black candidate. And as an AA, and someone who has admired the Clintons since '92, I find these tactics appalling. Obama's campaign didn't start this, but it sure has been costly to the Clintons. Do I think the Clintons are racist? Probably not. Do I think they're above using race as a campaign tactic? Hell no.

[kennetha]

40. Check this out

Obama Camp's Memo on Clintons' Politicizing Race

Seems pretty obvious, the Obama folks wanted to play this up in the media. They got their wish, despite Obama's later protestations.

[Tarheel_Dem]

41. I maintain that Obama did not start this. The Big Dog did, which is why he's

now chained to the porch. Revisionist history is not my cup o' soup.

[anamandujano]

24. All the while calling himself the great uniter, disgusting.

Haven't we been threatened enough by the Bush thugs?

[TexasObserver]

29. Utter nonsense. Lighten up, Francis. They're speaking the truth.

You can't handle the truth.

[Zhade]

35. BullfuckingSHIT. Clinton's the one trying to change the rules mid-contest.

Her followers are all too often just as hypocritical as her, as is your post.

[anamandujano]

22. It stinks! They've got people threatening if popular vote doesn't call the contest;

they've got people threatening if pledged delegates don't call the contest, they've got people threatening if FAUX BIG MO doesn't call the contest.

Basically, they've got all the bases covered.

They are threatening violence if Obama is not installed as the nominee.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

33. If Hillary can't win, she can at least destroy the 50 State Strategy

we wouldn't want to have democrats in the majority in congress, now would we?

Gotta stick with that good old smart old Clinton plan of BIG STATES ONLY.

[Zhade]

37. Just like her "I'll pick my powers" moment, this shows Clinton is only out for herself.

NT!

[niyad]

7. we've got dems playing the fear card now?

[TexasObserver]

15. The fear card is all Hillary plays. Or haven't you been listening?

Hillary, Al Qaeda looms. Vote Hillary. That nonsense.

[niyad]

17. that's the crap I hear from bushco, thank you very much.

[TexasObserver]

30. No, it's the crap you hear from Camp Hillary, the crap you repeat ad nauseam.

[niyad]

39. excuse me, but you have me confused with someone else.

kindly link to what "crap" you say I have been repeating.

I want actual links to any posts from me to which you refer. should be easy, since you imply that you know so many of them. otherwise, you owe me an apology.

[juajen]

10. Stop with the bullying! The party could use a dustup, and

I hope Hillary wins. Threats are not gonna cut it. It makes us madder. Remember we can riot if they are not seated, as well as you can riot if they are.

What would you be saying right now if the positions were reversed?

[JVS]

20. bring it on!

[rucky]

21. It's not a threat. It's an anticipated reaction.

That would be the same if the positions were reversed.

[anamandujano]

27. They have been trying to create that mind set for weeks.

It's a threat.

Your contention that it would be the same is torpedoed by the fact that we have heard nothing of the sort from the Hillary camp.

[rateyes]

11. I'm ready for an anti-war demonstration in Minneapolis

at the Republican Convention to match what happened at the DNC in '68.

[Frances]

13. Does anyone else remember how Doug Wilder did

everything he could to sabotage the Senate career of Charles (Chuck) Robb, who was a very good Democratic senator from Virginia?

I am really proud of Doug Wilder for being the first African American to be Virginia's governor.

But Wilder can be a very disruptive fellow if his ego is not massaged.

Edited to remind DUers that it was George (Macaca) Allen who defeated Robb. Allen came in on a Republican tide, but Wilder certainly hurt Robb.

[Ivote]

32. Just Look At The Chaos Right Here On DU GD-P

I really don't want to see that

[gaspee]

31. Sounds more like a threat than a warning

I'm kind of resigned to an Obama victory in the primaries and McCain in the Whitehouse.

I'm kind of sick of all the thuggery coming from the Obama camp in the form of "warnings"

If the Delegates of FL and MI are seated there will be consequences they shout!

If the superdelegates don't vote for us there will be riots!

If Obama doesn't get the nomination his supporters won't vote for Clinton!

Ever freaking day it's another "warning" from his camp. Nice.

[eridani]

43. Sounds more like "democracy" to me. n/t

[Major Hogwash]

44. We need to beat her in Texas and drive a stake through the campaign's heart in Ohio!

End it now before it tries to stay alive any longer.

No one wants a zombie campaign.