The Texas State Democratic Convention is on June 6.
Here's one email from the Clinton campaign:
We need at least 160 volunteers to work as Convention Credentials Monitors!
These volunteer staffers will play an important role in making sure that the sign-in process at the Texas Democratic Convention is on the up and up as well as making sure that all of our delegates are getting in and that we are filling seats with alternate delegates.
Well, gee, that sounds harmless, right? and this one, too:
... where they say
Let's have a rally outside the Austin Convention Center!
Texans for Hillary will let 'em know who we want
by showing our support for Hillary outside of the
Texas Democratic Convention beginning Friday June 6 at 7 am!
Background:
In its inexplicably wasteful process, the TX Democratic Party takes these steps to convert caucus votes into delegates:
- Hold a caucus and count the votes. Elect some thousands of "precinct delegates" statewide.
- From each precinct, send precinct delegates to a district convention. From the thousands of precinct delegates, choose hundreds of "state delegates" in the same percentages.
- From each district, send state delegates to the state convention. From the hundreds of state delegates, choose 67 national delegates in the same percentages.
- Send the 67 to the national convention.
So, in the end, if Obama gets 55% of the caucus vote or whatever the count was - - he gets 55% of the 67 delegates. Steps 2. and 3. are just a big waste of energy.
/Background
Unless, of course, there is some way to sabotage the process at step 2 or 3.
Those emails both sound pretty harmless. Make sure the sign-ins are fair, and demonstrate outside the convention.
Unless you remember that they threw up hundreds of groundless credentials challenges at step (2) above, trying to unseat Obama delegates anywhere they could.
Unless you remember that they hoped to sway the RBC by heckling inside and marching outside.
Unless you overlook the Early Warning Signs, like the challenge to Collin County's delegation last week.
Then you might think that
Convention Credentials Monitors
is a delicate way of saying
people willing to raise idiotic complaints until the Credentials Committee crumbles from fatigue
or even that
making sure that the sign-in process at the Texas Democratic Convention is on the up and up
is a delicate way of saying
try every pretense no matter how flimsy to block Obama delegates
I certainly would not think anything like that, if I hadn't seen Clinton supporters at my local precinct people lie their faces off claiming that the precinct caucus had been manipulated, or watched one of them yap on to the local Credentials Committee about how he
felt disenfranchised
.
I still would not expect anything like that, if I hadn't seen the same thing happening in the neighboring precinct, and read here about how it happened at hundreds of other precincts.
I suppose the response is the same as it was in March, and the same as at the RBC. Make sure the Obama campaign is notified, and watch as campaign staff and delegates waste time and energy responding to all this shin-kicking, just as time and energy was wasted on the RBC.