DNC Rules Committee Showdown: Picturing The End

Let's see.  What words came to mind in describing the behavior of Harold Ickes during the DNC Rules Committee meeting?  Vituperative?  Pernicious? Mercenary?  His foul-mouthed rant preceding the committee's Michigan vote was aimed to demean likely the most important and publicly-viewed Democratic hearing in years.

In shot 1, fellow Clinton backer, South Carolina's Donald Fowler -- sitting directly across from Ickes -- informs Harold he's parting ways on the Michigan vote.  The poignancy in the expression was that a larger instinct for unity had broken down Clinton's committee support.

Shot 2: Ickes unleashing his poison.  (Here it is on YouTube.  Hold your nose.)

Image 3 captures Harold's seat mate and attack partner, Hartina Flournay, in a chilling reaction to a rebuttal (#4) by Obama supporter Thomas Hynes.

In shot #5, Everett Ward fires back, condemning Ickes for demeaning the process while offering him an eloquent history lesson about voting rights.  (The audio and video are slightly out of sync, but the video is still well worth watching.)

I have to also say, it was a rare and total pleasure witnessing the democratic process play out on C-SPAN, completely unmediated by the talking heads.  I flipped over to MSNBC just one time, long enough to hear the universally-pompous Chris Matthews describe to the committee, and its protracted process, in terms of a "sausage factory."

Democrats Approve Deal on Michigan and Florida (NYT)

(screen shots: C-SPAN)

Comments

[Italian Revolutionary]

Feh.

If the Dems can f**k it up they'll get together and figure out how to do it. Not enough estrogen OR testosterone.

The GOP would have taken him out back and made sure he didn't crawl back in.

[Books Alive]

Ickes' casual shirt stood out in contrast to the business attire worn by almost every other male on the committee. Co-chair James Roosevelt reined him in on a few occasions, but showed his even-handedness by ruling Don Fowler out-of-order regarding one of his late questions.

I switched to MSNBC a few times, usually finding a split-screen, as the talking heads had to have their say. The long "lunch" session taken by the committee was fortuitously filled by each channel covering the launch of the shuttle, Discovery. How convenient was that timing?

[catfood]

I couldn't make it through the Ickes rant. Occasionally I experience a slight welling of sympathy for Hillary and then I hear Ickes or McAuliffe spewing their BS and fuzzy math and I again start wishing the earth would open up and swallow her campaign whole.

To put it simply, if she had a legitimate claim to the nomination it would not be necessary for her advocates to lie.

[Donut]

Here here on the CSPAN vs. MSNBC comment. I turned the proceedings on during Jim Blanchard's presentation and had it on MSNBC at first. They showed it uninterrupted for awhile and then cut away to Matthews and the panel, which I could stomach for about 2 minutes. The one salient / interesting comment Matthews made was very brief, concerning the lineage of participants named Ickes and Roosevelt...then I thought, "man, CSPAN will be showing this unfiltered," and that was it for me.

There were some great shots of Donna Brazile's eyes boring in on Jim Blanchard and him looking away, drinking his water, laughing uncomfortably at her "let me tell you about my mama," comment, and doing just about anything but meeting her eyes at first, then forced to meet her gaze. Pretty amazing stuff, great snack food for political junkies.

[itwasntme]

I also took my viewing to CSPAN, the talking heads elsewhere are a distraction to what is actually going on, and my interpretation of it. It was a good, OPEN airing of grievances, not likely to be seen in Republican quarters, or Repub governance in general. So although all the kerfuffle was a good thing, in my opinion. These pics are a good representation of how it went down. Thanks.

[The BAG]

Been thinking about Book's comment about the Ickes shirt. Till I read it, I didn't really realize that everybody else on the panel was dressed for work.

[Chris D dot ca]

This is a great post. Nice blog you have here too!

[Joe in SF]

I'm an occassional visitor here. I enjoy seeing how people interpret the same images in very different ways, each of which is so real to the beholder. After being warned to hold my nose and then watch Levin's brilliant response, I was surprised to find that in my view Ickes was making sense and Levin was unconvincing.

Interesting how different people can perceive the same thing so differently.

[karmax]

I remember the "George Bush worship" media and the idiots that worshipped him....now it is the Obama worship.....ain't NOBODY this great!!! I am a Democrat and would celebrate an Obama loss and if he wins, in six to eight months...this "hero worship" will be gone. Either way, I await and hope for his fall!!!! Yes, I dislike him so much I will cut off my nose to spite my face.

[Emily L. Ferguson]

I've been a liberal for 60 years and generally followed the Democratic party where it went since I could vote in 1960. This meeting was the most embarassing, ugly, childish and disrespectful event I have had the good fortune to observe since I got high-speed internet access. Before that, I suppose I was fortunate to miss most of it, having given up television back in the early '60s.

The rage and incivility turned my stomach, and I don't know what we can do to help those filled with such anger to let go of it. Anger makes you physically sick, has made our society cruel, self-absorbed, thoughtless, self-righteous, bigoted.

That people at that level of our government could not restrain themselves in public reflects the depth of the sickness our society is suffering from. That they refused to restrain the bystanders showed a lack of self-respect on their part, as well as on the bystanders' parts.

[Montague]

I watched Ickes the other day. Now, reading this, I'm stunned. Your description of him is just about 180 degrees from mine. In its usual fashion, the Democratic Party has gone nuts and is going to lose the White House yet again.

[Chill]

I'm surprised that I haven't seen any pitctures or video of Rep. Wexler's smack down of Ickes. Brilliant! Ickes was so frustrated that he got up and took a slow, lumbering stroll to the coffee pot.