Florida Socialist Democrats Tell DNC to Go Stuff Their Pink Northern Ass

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,297727,00.html

Florida Democrats Sticking to Early Presidential Primary

Saturday, September 22, 2007

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Florida Democratic Party will stick with a Jan. 29

presidential primary even if it means losing all its nominating convention

delegates, a party source said Saturday.

The Democratic National Committee gave the state party until Sept. 29 to

come up with an alternative delegate selection plan to stay within party

rules, such as caucuses or a vote-by-mail primary, but party leadership has

rejected that idea.

State party Chairman Karen Thurman, members of the congressional delegation

and state legislative leaders were scheduling a news conference Sunday to

announce their position. State party staff has been polling executive

committee members and determined at least 75 percent support for the early

primary, the source said. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because

executive committee members were still be notified.

"On Jan. 29, 2.5 million Floridians are going to go to the polls, and that's

more telling than any caucus in Iowa," said Miami-Dade County Democratic

Party Chairman Joe Garcia. "We'll be damned for it by some, but I think

we're doing the right thing."

Broward County state committeewoman Diane Glasser, who also serves as state

party first chair, said that she is fine with the decision as long as the

state selects delegates in the event that they can go to the convention in

Denver next summer.

"I'm not concerned with the DNC," she said.

The DNC Rules Committee voted last month to strip Florida of its 210

delegates if the state party held a primary before Feb. 5. Major Democratic

presidential candidates have signed a pledge to restrict campaigning in

Florida if it violates party rules.

That may mean candidates won't come to the state convention next month, but

Garcia points out that high-profile supporters could replace them, such as

New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's husband, former President Clinton.

"Who knows, we may get surprised and (Illinois Sen. Barack) Obama sends

Oprah (Winfrey) down here," Garcia said.

Democratic Party rules say states cannot hold their 2008 primary contests

before Feb. 5, except for Iowa on Jan. 14, Nevada on Jan. 19, New Hampshire

on Jan. 22 and South Carolina on Jan. 29. Michigan has scheduled a Jan. 15

primary.

Phone calls and e-mails to the DNC weren't immediately returned.

Florida's Republican Legislature voted last spring to set the Jan. 29

primary date, and Republican Gov. Charlie Crist signed it into law. In June,

the state Democratic Party voted to go along with the date, saying it was

the best chance to get as many people involved in the process as possible.

It reaffirmed the vote in August.

Even though Florida won't have delegates at the nominating convention, party

leaders felt that the Jan. 29 date will let the rest of the country know who

the state supports one week before an expected 25 states go to the polls,

including big prizes like California and New York.

Also, Florida will vote on a constitutional amendment during its primary

election that could significantly cut property taxes. Democratic party

leaders felt pushing their delegate selection plan past Feb. 5 would have

affected turnout in the ballot question.

Florida Republicans back a Jan. 29 primary, knowing that the national party

could strip the state of half its delegates.

Patriot Games wrote:

1. Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism. From the

prominent displays of flags and bunting to the ubiquitous lapel pins,

the fervor to show patriotic nationalism, both on the part of the regime

itself and of citizens caught up in its frenzy, was always obvious.

Catchy slogans, pride in the military, and demands for unity were common

themes in expressing this nationalism. It was usually coupled with a

suspicion of things foreign that often bordered on xenophobia.

2. Disdain for the importance of human rights. The regimes themselves

viewed human rights as of little value and a hindrance to realizing the

objectives of the ruling elite. Through clever use of propaganda, the

population was brought to accept these human rights abuses by

marginalizing, even demonizing, those being targeted. When abuse was

egregious, the tactic was to use secrecy, denial, and disinformation.

3. Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause. The most

significant common thread among these regimes was the use of

scapegoating as a means to divert the people