Wow. What a freakin' day. I thought it was gonna go on forever.
I don't have much to say, other than I'm pleased to know my party still has a pulse. I also want to commend my girl Donna Brazile for cutting through the BS today in the DNC committe meeting. I know she's not an official Obama supporter, but she has been the voice of reason throughout this entire campaign and deserves our thanks. I saw the diary by David Kroning thanking the other hero of the day, Congressman Robert Wexler, but the diary devoted to Donna fell off the rec list. So, I shamelessly wrote this one (by "shameless" I mean I hope it finally makes the rec list LOL) to honor her efforts to maintain the integrity of the process. Rather than try to put the event into words, I'll let Donna speak for herself:
In case you just crawled out from under a rock. Ms Brazile has been very vocal about fairness as a political commentator on CNN. She has endured tons of hate mail from people (I won't say who they claim to support. I could but I won't in the spirit of party unity) who have been trying to intimidate her into backing down from speaking her mind. In my opinion, today's committee meeting took on a whole new complexion after her speech. I honestly believe she won over the people on the committee who may have been wavering because they were getting the same kind of pressure she has been dealing with because of her views about the 2008 primaries. Even if you don't agree with my assertion, we still need to pay her a debt of thanks for being the voice of reason. Standing up and speaking out for what's right in the face of hostility is never an easy thing to do and we should be ready to commend anyone who has the guts to do it.
Anyway, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it. I don't write diaries often because I tend to do most of my yapping in Facebook, but I just had to give some love to my boo Donna.
Allow me to close out with the song her speech reminded me of, by the legendary rapper LL Cool J:
Donna, I need love.
Peace, ya'll.
UPDATE: Big ups and thanks for pushing this to the rec list. I guess my shameless plug paid off! I also want to offer up kudos and thanks to Clinton supporter Alice Huffman for enduring the taunts and insults she suffered when she asked for unity and healing for the party. Thanks to newdem1960 (a great year, I tell ya!) for the idea.
UPDATE II: If anyone can find a video clip of Alce Huffman calling out her hecklers during the DNC Committee meeting, please post it to the thread so I can add it to this diary. I did a quick check of youtube but they only had her exchange with Congressman Wexler. As I said earlier, she's a hero of Democracy too.
UPDATE III: davidkc was kind enough to provide a link to CNN, where you can find footage of Ms. Huffman offering up the Clinton proposal for Florida. I'll let david take it from here:
CNN has a clip of Alice Huffman's great moment in the committee meeting here.
Huffman's remarks come at about 5:15 minutes into the video, although it's worth watching from the beginning to witness the set-up to her remarks.
Huffman showed a great deal of class, dignity and respect in her remarks, and she is an example for all of us that we need to put the best interests of the party ahead of any single candidate and we all need to unite behind Obama and the party starting right now. I was so embarrassed and disappointed to see those Hillary supporters heckling Huffman (a Hillary supporter herself.)
Thanks a lot, dave!
UPDATE IV:I also want to direct your attention to an excellent diary by Angry Mouse that clearly defines the difference between Clinton supporters (like AM and Ms Huffman) and Clinton "supporters" (crazy Manhattan lady yells at cloud). I just stumbled onto a youtube video that perfectly illustrates Angry Mouse's premise. As the cameraperson scans the room, you can easily see that 99% of the crowd was completely respectful as they quietly awaited the outcome. In the crowd you can also see a very small but loud group of protesters scattered throughout the back of the meeting hall:
On behalf of Angry Mouse, Alice Huffman and all the real Democrats in the Clinton camp, the defense rests.