PRINT ADS

Did you happen to watch the fight on TV last Saturday? I’m not talking about EliteXC, the beat-your-brains-in mixed-martial-arts fights that aired on CBS. I don’t recall any significant fights in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup finals.

No, the fight I watched didn’t lead to wild fisticuffs within the arena, but an ideological street fight aired on C-SPAN. Clinton and Obama (more so Clinton) vs. the Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws Committee (DNC-RBC).

In case you’re wondering, yes, I watched the majority of the meeting on C-SPAN Saturday afternoon. The event was complete with raucous crowd and all. The only thing missing was an announcer bellowing into the microphone, “Let’s get ready to rumble!”

Recall how Michigan and Florida were stripped of their convention delegates because each state’s Democratic Party leaders decided to hold their respective presidential primaries before Feb. 5 — Super Tuesday.

It was agreed by both Clinton and Obama that neither of them would campaign in those states and the results would not be counted toward the number of delegates needed at the DNC convention in August to win the party nomination for president.

That was last August when the media was throwing around the idea of the primary season serving as Hilary Clinton’s coronation to the highest office in the land. It’s no wonder Harold Ickes, DNC-RBC member and Clinton-ista, voted to fully strip Florida and Michigan of their convention delegates. I wonder if he recalls casting that vote.

Fast forward to last Saturday. Obviously circumstances have changed since last August. The race is much tighter than the Hilary camp expected and she’s behind in the delegate count. Thus the unbridled push on Hilary’s part “to make every vote count,” and to make known “the will of the people.” Sound familiar? Except this is for the party nomination, not the general election.

The only real sideshow of the ordeal was Ickes’ garrulous rant before the vote was taken to allow Michigan to seat all the delegates with half a vote each with Clinton receiving 69 (34.5) and Obama 59 (29.5). Ickes maintained Clinton should have received 73 delegates and the DNC-RBC “hijacked” those four votes.

The proverbial gloves were off now. Ickes went ballistic with a three-fold “You bet your (backside)” to blow over straw man arguments of the election system being flawed. That reminded me of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck in the boxing ring with Daffy missing Bugs and knocking himself silly.

Oh well, Ickes probably won’t recall what he said by the time you read this. He’ll probably come up with something more intellectually dishonest with which to pick a fight.

Columnist Tim Gray, a West Salem resident, can be reached at tim.gray.matter@gmail.com.