Clinton's punishment (can any Las Vegas DUers confirm this?)

[berni_mccoy]

I have a friend who works in Las Vegas and the word on the street is that this law suit by the Teacher's Union has seriously damaged Clinton's standing with the workers there. They don't view the law suit being initiated by the union as much as Clinton's campaign. After all the Teacher's Union does not endorse candidates, but top officials of the union are staunch Clinton supporters. This connection is quite obvious to everyone there. Even if it isn't that way, as the Clinton supporters here would persistently argue, that isn't how it is being perceived in Vegas. Given that, people who were open to voting for Clinton are definitely not now. I think this could be a disastrous move for her campaign, even if the law suit wasn't officially part of it.

[MethuenProgressive]

1. “The lady told all of us: Nobody can go to the caucus unless you’re voting for Obama,”

http://www.lasvegassun.com/blogs/early-line/2008/jan/16/incident-paris-las-vegas/

On top of that, Angers and DeFalco said, the reps handed Antuna an Obama pledge card, telling her she had to sign it to participate in the caucus and that today was the deadline.

“The lady told all of us: Nobody can go to the caucus unless you’re voting for Obama,” Angers said. “They have no right to do what they did. This is America. You should be able to vote for who you feel like. It doesn’t matter who the union is endorsing. They can try to persuade us but it doesn’t mean people have to vote for them.”

Obama's camp quickly trotted out the Union Head who endorsed him who blamed the intimidation on "broken English". I'm sure certian DU members will call the excuse given by the Obama surrogate as "debunking" what Angers reported. Blaming voter intimidation of a Union member on language skills isn't "debunking," it's disgusting.

[JTFrog]

3. Much worse than trying to take away their vote completely? Do I have that right?

So you can't believe there was a little misinterpretation, but you can believe that the parties that wrote the caucus rules conveniently didn't realize what they wrote until two days after it turned out not to be in Clinton's favor?


C O G N I T I V E
D I S S O N A N C E

Not just for republican's anymore.


Oh and even better... to quote the article:

The Clinton campaign quickly tried to paint the incident as part of a broader pattern, though introduced no other evidence.

After the Sun worked the story for two hours, this much is clear: What exactly happened this afternoon at Paris Las Vegas depends on whom you talk to. To hear Clinton’s campaign and her supporters tell it, the union intimidated a member into caucusing for Obama, demanding that she sign a pledge card — or face exile from the caucus.

To hear the alleged victim tell it, it was much more of a misunderstanding.

Updated 8:30 p.m.:

The Culinary Union has investigated and says the source of the drama seemed to be about how one changes one’s party registration three days before the caucus.

Antuna was a registered independent, and the union reps were talking to her about how she had to be a Democrat to participate on Saturday, Weiss said.

Hardly scandalous and certainly not intimidation, she added.

Weiss said she suspects the whole incident was drummed up by the enthusiastic Clinton supporters, who got heated when the union reps started pitching Obama.

[MethuenProgressive]

7. "The Culinary Union has investigated" the Culinary Union and said "We're not guilty!"

"the union intimidated a member into caucusing for Obama, demanding that she sign a pledge card — or face exile from the caucus."
Obama supporters endorsing voter intimidation shows a deep ignorance of history.

[JTFrog]

8. From the article that YOU quoted:

Not from the Culinary Union... straight out of your article:

To hear the alleged victim tell it, it was much more of a misunderstanding.

You just want to believe the Clinton campaign spin because you know she blew it trying to keep them all from voting to begin with. Whatever floats your boat. But there's no getting out of it. And her husband blowing up about it surely won't paint it in any better light will it?

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

4. That's Disgraceful.

This whole thing sounds like a clusterfuck, and though I don't truly understand the issue as it related to the lawsuit, I can't help feeling that it was a legitimate one and that there should be concern as it relates to the results of LV.

[JTFrog]

5. Did you even read it? JFC. n/t

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

9. Yes, I Did. Your Point?

I believe it was intimidation, and don't believe the explanation for a second.

[JTFrog]

10. Even tho the "alleged" victim says that it wasn't herself?

Just like I said above, I guess I can understand wanting to believe the Clinton camp spin after what she tried to do to those same voters.

[AX10]

6. Who's the dirty trickster now?

It's the culinary union bosses! :puke:

[MH1]

2. I guess we'll see when the votes are in. nt

[MagsDem]

11. I think the teacher's union was right....

It's not fair to other caucus voters for the casinos to be the only place of employment to hold caucuses. Gives those people an louder voice and basically skews the results. In my state, caucuses are held at the precinct meeting / voting places, and you have to go to your neighborhood. If all the workers at Microsoft of Boeing were allowed to caucus at work then they would effectively be picking the state nominee instead of the state as a whole. That would be bullshit and would piss me off no matter who they picked.

[blondeatlast]

12. Sigh... CWU is made up of shift workers, overwhelmingly minority, who made a deal with the NV party

MONTHS ago to do this and no one objected. This was about ENFRANCHISING a group who has too often been disenfranchised. If the deal was so "unfair," why didn't the teacher's union speak up back in MARCH? Furthermore, many rank and file teachers supported the CWU caucuses and have publicly stated so.

In addition, traffic on the LV Strip is a clusterfuck tidied up in a nightmare 24/7.

Free you mind, your heart will follow. FWIW, I've no dog in this fight--I'm uncommitted leaning to Edwards.

[MagsDem]

13. Well if I lived in NV I sure as hell would have objected

Now NV gets a nominee choosen by the culinary workers instead of by the state as a whole. Complete BS, no matter when it was decided, announced or made public, or who else supports it. Worse yet, these folks votes count more than the neighborhood precinct votes.

Like I said, if they did that in Washington state in the Seattle area for Microsoft and Boeing, it wouldn't matter who else voted; their votes wouldn't count for squat. It would drown out all other voices by giving only those folks easier access to the system. The whole purpose of the caucus system is you have to care enough to get out their an argue a case for your opponent, and try to convince your neighbors in your precinct that your candidate is the best choice. If they aren't going to do it fairly they should just have a statewide primary.

I suppose this came about because the CWU has a stranglehold on the state party system and the DNC just went along in order not to piss them off. This is a perfect example of why the DNC never gets a dime from me anymore.

I hope, on the news, they just report that the CWU chose X as the state's candidate because that is reality here.

[berni_mccoy]

14. Agree to the rules and then complain about it when suddenly they aren't in your favor

That's how it is for the Clinton campaign, like it or not. And it's not just the CWU, it's ALL casino workers. The CWU is just the one that has endorsed Obama.