State Convention Wrap-Up
The AP and the Boston Globe wrote the pre-written stories about gay marriage, the gubernatorial candidate speeches, and Dean's made-for-headlines attack on DeLay (when he said the jail sentence line, I turned to the delegate next to me and said, "That'll make the news").
The lede in the Globe actually managed to imply that the lack of debate on the platform vote had something to do with support for gay marriage, which is utter tripe.
The voice vote on the platform was pro forma. There was no debate on *any* of the platform changes on the floor.
And yes, the gubernatorial speeches were interesting.
But what were the interesting stories--the ones that actually had to do with the delegates and the nature of the MDP?
1. Progressive delegates successfully entered a plank into the platform to call for a timetable for ending the occupation of Iraq. [UPDATE: It wasn't a platform amendment that passed, but an independent resolution.]
2. The MDP pushed through charter amendments with deep implications for the party structure and governance into the future. The charter amendments represent bold action to accrue and consolidate power and reduce accountability and openness in the Democratic State Committee and the party at large.
3. The party leaders in theory understand the need for openness, grassroots participation, and comity in order to win the governorship. This was a consistent message from speakers like Dean and Kennedy. However, the only practical problems they identified were 1) making personal attacks instead of running on issues and 2) not having a competitive ground organization.
The leadership is fundamentally incapable of recognizing that the closed, exclusive, and distrustful structure of the party is the central problem. Voters recognize the sickness of the institution when they vote against the institution (and for the Republican) in the governor's race.
More discussion of the business of the convention is taking place on the PDA-MA mailing list and online at DSC.com. More discussion of the speeches is at the great Mass politics blogs .08 and Frederick Clarkson.
The lede in the Globe actually managed to imply that the lack of debate on the platform vote had something to do with support for gay marriage, which is utter tripe.
The voice vote on the platform was pro forma. There was no debate on *any* of the platform changes on the floor.
And yes, the gubernatorial speeches were interesting.
But what were the interesting stories--the ones that actually had to do with the delegates and the nature of the MDP?
1. Progressive delegates successfully entered a plank into the platform to call for a timetable for ending the occupation of Iraq. [UPDATE: It wasn't a platform amendment that passed, but an independent resolution.]
2. The MDP pushed through charter amendments with deep implications for the party structure and governance into the future. The charter amendments represent bold action to accrue and consolidate power and reduce accountability and openness in the Democratic State Committee and the party at large.
3. The party leaders in theory understand the need for openness, grassroots participation, and comity in order to win the governorship. This was a consistent message from speakers like Dean and Kennedy. However, the only practical problems they identified were 1) making personal attacks instead of running on issues and 2) not having a competitive ground organization.
The leadership is fundamentally incapable of recognizing that the closed, exclusive, and distrustful structure of the party is the central problem. Voters recognize the sickness of the institution when they vote against the institution (and for the Republican) in the governor's race.
More discussion of the business of the convention is taking place on the PDA-MA mailing list and online at DSC.com. More discussion of the speeches is at the great Mass politics blogs .08 and Frederick Clarkson.
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