The Absurd Report

It’s a strange feeling, but I find myself feeling sorry for the Democrats. They have chosen two clowns as the top contenders for the Democrat party’s presidential nomination. But now that the cracks are showing beneath the clown makeup, they are becoming desperate. As they near their convention, a deeply divided party wonders whether a handful of political hacks and party bosses will disenfranchise Democrat voters and decide who will be the top clown on the Democrat ticket. And most Democrats are furious with DNC Dictator Howard Dean and the Democrat elite who will decide whether their votes will count.

I recently spoke by phone to a lady in Miami on a business matter. The subject of the presidential election came up, and she volunteered that she was a life-long Democrat. “But I am so ashamed of my party that I am going to vote for McCain.”

What problems do the Democrats have that are so serious that a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat would decide to vote for a Republican? There are too many to discuss in one column, so we will focus on the most serious: the Super Delegates.”

A brief history of the system is in order here. In the early 1980’s the Democrat party bosses believed that earlier reforms to the delegate selection process had diminished the role of party leaders and elected officials. So in 1982 a commission headed by former North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt created the Super Delegate system. Hunt originally wanted 30% of the delegates to be Super Delegates! But when the plan was implemented in 1984, they were 14%. Since then the percentage increased steadily, until today they are twenty percent of all delegates.

In the 1984 election, the Democrat front runners for the Presidential nomination were Walter Mondale and Gary Hart. Each had won their share of primaries and caucuses, and both had almost the same number of delegates. Mondale had a slight lead, but neither had enough delegates to win the nomination. (That will likely be the case when Hillary and Obama get to the convention.) Not surprisingly, Mondale, the establishment candidate, had the votes of the Super Delegates and he became the Democrat nominee.

Most Democrats were unaware of the dirty backroom politics that the Democrat Super Delegate system represents until this election pushed it into the limelight. Understandably the party bosses haven’t publicized the system, because it makes it possible for them to overturn the votes of Democrat voters.

The Democrats are always the first to cry that “every vote must count.”