It was the ugliest moment of the Democratic National Convention, a rare chance to actually catch a glimpse on TV of its chairman, Antonio Villaraigosa, the self-styled radical centrist mayor of Los Angeles.
Republicans were howling over the Democrats’ decision to remove from their platform any mention of respect for the divine by deleting “God-given” from a phrase about their commitment to help people reach their “God-given potential.”
And worse, they enraged millions of Jewish voters, most of them Democrats, by dropping the phrase “Jerusalem is and will remain the capital of Israel” from their foreign policy statement on the Middle East.
The storm of criticism was more intense than the hurricane that didn’t hit Tampa last week, forcing President Obama to personally intervene and order God and Jerusalem reinstated to “maintain consistency with the personal views expressed by the president and in the Democratic Party platform in 2008,” as the ubiquitous Congresswoman and DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz put it.
It was left then to Antonio to call for a voice vote of the half-filled convention hall to make the problem go away.
“All those delegates in favor say, ‘Aye.’
“All those delegates opposed say, ‘No.’
“In the opinion of the … Let me do that again,” our mayor stammered over what seemed like a draw when a two-thirds vote was needed to amend the platform.
Repeating the same words with a forceful emphasis on each and every word as if commanding the delegates to obey his will, Antonio ran through a second vote with the same equivocal result.
With the audience yelling, the man who would be President or at least Governor broke out his famous smile which seemed frozen on his face as he tried to think on his feet and started looking around in something of a panic for the aides and benefactors who look after him.
His head spinning in all directions, he stammered, “I guess … ” and then a woman appeared at his side to advise him to try a third time to get the result he wanted.
“I’ll do that one more time,” he said, glaring at the crowd as if looks could kill as he bit his words one by one.
Same result.
“In the opinion of the chair, two-thirds have voted in the affirmative. The motion is adopted and the platform has been amended as shown on the screen,” he said, arms outstretched to quell the angry shouts from the delegates.
So much for the pretense of democracy among the Democrats.
You can watch the video here or tune in any time of the day to Fox News to see it again and again. Or just wait for the barrage of Republican ads that will be running in communities with large Jewish population.
Ron, God helps those who help themselves.
The Dem’s convention is filled with errors. What about blaming GW Bush for the legislation passed by the US Senate and Copngress (Democrat)? No use vetoing.
They had the vote to overturn his vetoes.
Again over his head. Don`t forget he failed the bar exam FOUR times. He is Mayor, Chair of the DNC Convention etc because he is Mexican. No brains, accomplishments, hard work, college degrees, Just a phony smile and a lot of b s
Nice $5,000 suit. Who paid for it?
Who’s going to pay for his hair transplant? Earlier in the evening when exiting stage left, the stage lighting exposed lots of shiny scalp through sparce locks of greased up hair.
So today Debbie Wasserman-Schultz is having to spend a lot of time backtracking and ass-covering for the mayor. Well, Doug McIntyre tried his best to warn her, but she kept insisting A.V. is brilliant and a statesman of the first magnitude.
How well did choosing him work out for you, Deb? Maybe next time you should do a little vetting before opting for an 11-percent mayor whose city is on the verge of bankruptcy. Ask the locals and don’t believe what you read in the New York Times which did a hatchet job on the city by painting the mayor in the glorious light.
It would be ironic if she/they knew before hand what a dim bulb he is, and decided to put him in the chairmanship where she/they thought he could do no harm. And they’re still letting him speak tonight instead of giving him a good case of laryngitis.
Remember the game show Queen for a Day? It was audience applause that determined which woman would win. There was an appluase meter that measured the intensity of the clapping. Thank God, AV did not host that show – it would have been shut down by the FCC for fraud.
OMG I even felt embarrassed for him. He looked lost, confused and like a clown. Leave it to the 2nd largest City in the Nation Mayor Villar to screw up things. Now the Republicans have posted that video and sent it via Twitter and its over the internet. I saw a schedule of speakers for last night and he was suppose to speak 7p-8pm hour. I never saw him. I wonder if they pulled him because of the fiasco he caused for Democrats. We warned the DNC not to have him.
don’t laugh too much..
just remember El Villaraigosa
can do a lot more damage
before he is officially retired…
by the way, any estimates what his
combined pension will be…?
also reminds me of that line from Brecht…
they who are still laughing..
haven’t heard the bad news yet..
A good commentary on the Jerusalem part of booing
http://pjmedia.com/rogerlsimon/2012/09/06/jerusalem-debacle-at-the-dnc/
We needed national exposure to confirm that the emperor has no clothes. Will the media finally give up on reviving a man who should fade into the sunset.
There were clearly more NOs than Ayes (especially the 3rd try) but Villar was told how to set the vote. Shows how the dem party would do the elections if they could get away with. This should make Chavez and Putin smile.
Actually the nos were correct – the State Department does not recognize that Jerusalem is the capitol of Israel. From todays briefing.
Scroll to the later part.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2012/09/197438.htm
You never know with Antonio. He may be covering his bets in case Romney wins……..He delivered a few hundred thousand votes in critical States to Romney last nite.
He can be the Democrat in a Republican Administration.
DNC is ANTI ISRAEL AND ANTI-GOD! Where’s the Berman and Sherman response to this SELL OUT? It took L.A.’s BOUGHT AND SOLD-OUT MAYOR to put the finishing touches on this REALITY! You heard the vote—voice vote—it was MAJORITY NO-ISRAEL AND FUCK GOD! 3 VOTES LATER AND IT WAS HEARD! But the Chihuahua Dog Mayor of L.A. had to say “the ayes have it.” NO THEY DID NOT!
All the Jews saw this and now they may wish to deny it, but THEY OVERWHELMINGLY SUPPORT AN ANTI-SEMITE PARTY!
Like Leo “the Lion” Terrell and so many others, that’s why I became AN INDEPENDENT VOTER as I fired the Republican Party and Leo fired the Democratic Party. These two parties HAVE HAD THEIR DAY! They represent the 10% of the Unions, crooks, banks, corporations, and overseas interests while the rest of us 90% HAVE NO PARTY AND NO REPRESENTATION OF OUR OWN!
I got an email from CARMEN GAGA DUMBTANICH’S REELECTION BID FOR CITY ATTORNEY! The choices are so HORRID for that seat that he has a chance of winning! In his message, Dumbtanich claims (more like his paid campaign handlers) claims HE NOW KNOWS WHERE HE BELONGS…
YES, HE KNOWS WHERE HE BELONGS—HE BELONGS BEING THE PAPER SHUFFLER FOR AEG AND THE CITY HALL GANG.
I might actually vote for the Con Artist as Mike Feuer belongs to the Dumbo-crat party–the party that WANTS TO END JERUSALEM AS THE CAPITAL OF ISRAEL. I don’t support NO ONE WHO CAN’T POINT TO A MAP AND TELL ME JERUSALEM IS THE CAPITAL OF ISRAEL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Political reality in the United States is that campaign platforms may have a modest connection to elections, but like elections themselves, they have no bearing on U.S. foreign policy, especially in the Middle East. For example, from 1948 to date all U.S. administrations, whether Democratic or Republican, have placed the US Embassy to Israeli in Tel Aviv, not Jerusalem. Likewise, since 1967 all Administrations and all Congresses have consistently presented Israel $3 billion per year in unconditional military aid, plus several billion more in loan guarantees. They have also been Israel’s teflon shield at the UN, using their veto power 42 times at the Security Council, usually in defense of Israel’s occupation and settlement of the West Bank. These policies and actions, like enormous military budgets, or support for authoritarian governments like Yemen and Saudi Arabia, or wars or drone missile attacks in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen, are not decided through elections. Furthermore, these policies continue, with only the most subtle changes, from one administration to another.
Conclusion: Villaraigosa represents the Democratic Party’s thin strata of hawkish elected officials, DC think tanks, and funders, not its generally progressive political base.
Sorry, Mr Plotkin, but you are misinformed. President intervened to change the party platform. See the platform does have some bearing on the election.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/06/us/politics/pushed-by-obama-democrats-alter-platform-over-jerusalem.html?_r=1
Apologies – correction
Mr Platkin
Mr. Platkin, who do you think you are with a cogent, unemotional, rationale post?
My God man, no f bombs or LOUD CAPITAL LETTERS?
You are ruining this blog!!!!
http://phinvv.wordpress.com/2012/09/06/schumer-wasserman-schultz-villaraigosa-jerusalem-and-god/
There is a deeper lesson here; obvious to those who have worked at or frequented City Hall in Los Angeles (or most other cities). Elections are a political empowerment process, not very different from giving testimony at a public hearing on a land use case. You feel like you are part of the decision making process, but, in fact, the decisions are made behind closed doors. The public meetings and hearings fulfill a ceremonial role of giving the public the subjective feeling they are making political decisions. This is why most serious challenges to legislative actions go through the courts (Framework Monitoring, Farmers Field, Hollywood Community Plan, Chinatown Walmart), or occasionally (such as the case the USC Specific Plan or Home Depot in Sunland-Tujunga) can be stalled through enormous community organizing. This is why the last scene in the Wizard of Oz is so popular. Toto, the little dog, pulled away the curtain, and entire political edifice was exposed as a charade. If that great movie is ever remade, it would be elections and public hearings behind the curtain. Any nominations on termed out politicians who could play the Wizard?
Richard,
We need more “Toto’s”
My first thought: he wants it to be Mayor Villaraigosa:
The Mayor gave us a taste of politics, LA-style. The deal was made and it is rammed through.
Ron is taking leave from the blog today to reflect on how HIS party can be so damn EVIL and REPREHENSIBLE as to work to destroy GOD and his favorite nation-state Israel! I’ve seen the crummy excuse for the DEVIL-CRATS: “Tel-Aviv has been the site of the US embassy since…” Why isn’t Field Marshall KORETZ making one of his famous “ban it” motions towards BANNING THE DNC from doing business in L.A. for this anti-Jew THING? Where are the heroes of the SFV who make their rounds at every Temple and Bat Mitzvah to procure liberal votes? You know the Bermans, Shermans, Waxpeople, and the Feinstupids and Boxers?
Where is the Paul Simon-WeiselDumb Center on this majority vote of the DNC’s elite wanting to rid the world of Israel?
WHERE YOU SAY? THEY’RE ALL HIDING IN THEIR TAX-EXEMPT RAT HOLES to wait out the storm! If a single SWASTIGA gets painted on a toilet seat in an abandoned gas station in Alaska—the entire Super-Jew GANG is all up in arms telling all of the World how BAD it is to be anti-Semitic! But when a few thousand DNC DELEGATES DO IT TO THEIR GANG—I hear silence of the Lambs!
The VILLAR-LED DNC vote in my opinion was the largest and most viewed public gathering against Jews SINCE HITLER HOSTED THE OLYMPICS!
So if you attend Temple, read the Torah, or know anyone who does, YOU KNOW THE TRUTH—OBAMA DOESN’T WANT JERUSALEM TO FLY THE STAR OF DAVID! MITT ROMNEY DOES!
Now you all can VOTE BLINDLEY THEN COMPLAIN like the blogger says out here.
BARACK ASSIGNED ” A MINDER” TO SHADOW ANTONIO WHEREVER HE WENT
IN CHARLOTTE TO AVOID ANTONIO CAUSING EMBARRASSMENT TO HIS ADMINISTRATION OR THE PARTY.
BETWEEN THE SECOND AND THIRD VOTE, ANTONIO LOOKS AROUND , SEARCHING FOR HIS MINDER. SHE THEN APPEARS : THE MIDDLE-AGED MYSTERY LADY. YOU HEAR HER TELL ANTONIO TO “DO WHAT THEY’RE GONNA DO.” IN OTHER WORDS, STAY THE COURSE AND READ OFF THE TELEPROMPTER. SHE STANDS NEXT TO ANTONIO UNTIL HE DOES WHAT THE MINDER TELLS HIM TO DO. AND THEN THE MINDER LEAVES THE STAGE.
OUR WEBSITE IS TRYING TO ASCERTAIN THE IDENTITY OF THE MINDER.
INCIDENTALLY, THAT DAZED LOOK ON HIS FACE ALL THROUGHOUT THIS CRINGE-WORTHY CONVENTION EPISODE IS THE EXACT SAME LOOK HE HAD ON HIS FACE THE TIME I WOKE HIM UP BY RAISING MY VOICE DURING PUBLIC COMMENT AFTER HE HAD NODDED OFF AT AN MTA BOARD MEETING!
The Dems had their platform drawn up weeks and even months ago. Surprise? No. Only surprise was how deep is the sentiment for Israel AND Jerusalem by most Americans. The Dems revealed much by booing. Clearly, the Dems are not really pro-Israel.