"I am stunned, stunned, that this committee has the gall, the chutzpah, that this body of 30 individuals has decided that they are going to substitute their judgment for 600,000 voters." – Harold Ickes, May 31
"Harold Ickes was the individual, who, on this committee, voted to penalize these states for having what Jim Roosevelt called a "non-event." – David Bonior on CNN Sunday at 11:30ish a.m. EDT
"We make our case to the Superdelegates that she is more electable." – Harold Ickes, MTP, June 1
So, let’s just review....
Harold Ickes voted to strip Florida and Michigan of all delegates in August 2007 because they moved their primary date in violation of DNC rules.
"We started to invoke a full stripping of the delegates from those two states to send a very strong signal to other states that if they broke the window (before Feb. 5), there would be very severe consequences," Ickes said of his vote.
And even as late as March, he was saying those rulings were correct:
"There’s been no change," Ickes said, adding that he was then acting as a member of the Rules and Bylaws Committee "not acting as an agent of Sen. Clinton. We had promulgated rules — if Florida and Michigan violated those rules" they’d be stripped of their delegates.
So, is the argument now that Florid and Michigan didn’t violate the rules?
No, apparently, the reasoning now is, well, things change.
"Now, he said, "Lessons were learned and now it is time for us to turn our attention to the general election and to make sure that these states, that we do everything to try to assure that these states are in the Democratic column."
"Circumstances do change" – on MTP, June 1.
So here we are on June 1, with the last 2 primaries less than 48 hours away, and HRC needs 90% of the superdelegates to support her to secure the nomination. Obama needs about 25. So, it would take a wave of more than 180 superdelegates to support Clinton, even though she is more than 130 pledged delegates behind Obama. We count every vote, right? Surely, the will of the people, as expressed in all those primaries and caucuses, will finally convince Ickes it’s over, right?
"We make our case to the Superdelegates that she is more electable." – Harold Ickes, MTP, June 1
I guess not.
So, to review – the 4 delegate shift in Michigan does VIOLENCE to our democracy, yet 200 DNC types overruling the 32+ million votes cast in these primaries and caucuses is just fine.
That’s some serious cognitive dissonance he’s got goin’ on in that noggin of his.