I was at radio row at the RNC when I came across Bettyjean Kling and Robin Robinson. Their story is remarkable.
Bettyjean Kling of Pennsylvania and her friend Robin Robinson of Wilmington, Delaware, are PUMAs for Palin.
Staunch Hillary supporters with a long history of activism, they headed to Denver. Bettyjean purchased a 27′ RV and drove to Denver with her friend Robin Robinson as part of the “300” to get Hillary a nomination and roll call at the Democratic National Convention last week.
They had worked on the Hillary campaign for months, Bettyjean in Pennsylvania and Robin in Delaware, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.
But once they got to Denver they found delegates who told them that they were bein pressured to vote for Obama, and who were being told that they would never have a future in politics if they didn’t. “Their arms were twisted”, said Betty Jean.
During the primaries, the delegates told them, their uncommitted votes were changed for Obama.
Once in the convention, there was a legitimate roll call after the delegates had been made to change their votes.
“This was a fixed convention,” Bettyjean asserted to Roger Hedgecock during this afternoon’s radio show.
Robin Robinson started by saying that “This was the demise of democracy… The Democrat party forced their delegates to vote against the will of the people.” Robin and Bettyjean were bitterly disappointed. When they heard that Sarah Palin was going to be the Vice-Presidential candidate, “our spirits rose and we headed to St. Paul.”
Robin continued, “We were heartbroken that [the Democrats] were going to do this to a woman.” Bettyjean pointed out that, “they turned against Hillary and then they attacked Geraldine Ferraro.”
Robin and Bettyjean said that “the MSM is hiding us, they won’t cover us.”
“Governor Palin will be able to be Vice President and we’re going to support her,” adding, “when we heard the Democrats’ personal attacks against Palin’s family we decided that this is not a ‘Democratic’ party after all.”
“Women’s issues are human rights issues, and without human rights there is no democracy at all.”
They exhorted Hillary supporters to step in now: “If Palin doesn’t become Vice President, no other woman will feel that she’s going to be able to run again…. look at the candidate, and look at the person. Palin’s real.”
They both ended by saying, “If you want change, vote for Sarah Palin.”
Thanks for sharing Fausta. I love seeing everything through your eyes.
I’d love to hear more from these people, Fausta. You should get them on your podcast for an extended segment. 🙂
And their stories reinforced something I’ve been thinking for a while: there’s a scary anti-democratic tendency growing in the Democratic Party.
As I said on rightpundits.com..
(1) these women weren’t delegates.
(2) No Democrat would ever refer to the “Democrat party” rather than the “Democratic party”. That’s a right-wing construction and something she’s gonna have to work on if she’s going to pretend to be one of us.
(3) If these women REALLY were Hillary supporters, you’d think they’d know something about her positions and how Palin is working to undermine the things Hillary believes in.
(4) Or they might listen to Hillary herself:
“To slightly amend my comments from Denver,” the former first lady said in a statement as soon as the Republican nominee finished his speech.
“No way, No How, No McCain-Palin,” Clinton said, reprising her top applause line from last week’s Democratic convention.
Hi, I’m sorry if this open question to the group misses the point in this conversations, however I would like to ask what about Governor Sarah Palin is so apealing after working for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton? I also worked in the primary.
=)
The Republican Party has been high-jacked by the religious right as McCain’s selection of Palin proves. I thought McCain might bring some sanity to back to the party but it turns out experience does count and he is following the George Bush/Carl Rove play book of appealing to the “Gun tottin, God fearin” mob with his choice of Sarah Palin. The least you can say for George Bush is that he picked Cheney, whatever you may think of him, he is no light weight. Another trait about McCain that makes me very uncomfortable is his quick shoot from the hip decision making process. His selection of Palin seems to be a perfect example of this. This seems very similar to George W. Bush’s decision making methodology which landed us in $3 Trillion and counting war without end. And I’m not a democrat. I voted for Bush the first go around. But McCain just doesn’t seem to have the necessary personality traits to be an effective executive. He lost my potential vote for good with his selection of Palin.
Yeah, I had forgotten about that unseemly rush to war against Iraq that took almost three years to implement. Plus a Congressional resolution authorizing the attack two months before the war began. I mean we just went to sleep and then the next thing you know we are in Baghdad.
The double standard of the whole thing is grating. When the Republicans begin talking as populists then it’s because the reactionary Bible thumpers have taken over. You know the ones that want to bring back the Salem Witch Trials.
But when the Democrats take on that tinge of populism the only people that get mentioned are the salt of the earth types, Stahkhonvites, as depicted on a Norman Rockwell painting. But not too populist as that would mean all those manual labor types interfering with the ethereal rightness of the vanguard of the proletariat.
I think Sarah Palin is great and the voice so many women need. Sarah Palin is courageous in her convictions. I am through with the Dems. Go McCain/Palin 08
I find it really bizarre that somebody can so easily switch to support a candidate who is such an ideological opposite, based on gender. It implies that the shape of someone’s genitals is somehow a criterion for judging their capacity as a world leader. Talk about “un-Democratic!” That may be a reasonable criterion when selecting a male stripper or a Hooter’s waitress, but I fail to see the connection to anything the least bit related to leading a country. These PUMA people scare me a bit – they seem literally insane.
I say this as a general idea, not driven from a strongly partisan point of view. To be honest, I’m not so impressed by either candidate choice this time.
So, ladies….
How’s that working out for you?