This is complicated, even for woodchucks, so if you wanted a sound-bite answer go back to whatever you were doing before
you started reading.
Bernie
Sanders personally asked his delegates not to do this but many of them did it
anyway. There was no grand plan but there were many little plans. Some
delegates told other they would walk out and suggested that we should all walk
out. Other delegates reminded them that Bernie Sanders has asked us not to.
I personally
expected that some delegates would walk out and that they would hardly be noticed;
that people watching them go would think that they were going to the restroom, visiting
a charging station, stretching their legs or getting something to eat. This is
what we were told would be the effect of a walk out … that our absence not even
be noticed … that our seats would be quickly filled by others who were on
standby for just such a moment.
When it
happened it caught me off guard. I noticed the departure of a few delegates who
I expected to walk out but my attention was not on the delegates it was on the
convention speaker. Then it hit me how many empty seats there were in front of
me, behind me and everywhere.
Suddenly there
was a reporter asking me if I was a Bernie delegate. I asked, “Why, are you
having a hard time finding one?” She and I laughed.
I carpooled
to the convention so I was quite concerned by the absence of my fellow
delegates from the carpool. I wondered if I would be walking home.
I spotted one
of my carpool delegates returning to her seat and that gave me a little
comfort. Then another returned. He told me later that he had gone to the
restroom and didn’t know there was a walk out until he came out of the restroom
and saw the delegates crowding their way to the doors.
Two other
delegates had gone off the floor to distribute some material about election
integrity but they never intended to leave the convention in protest. My
carpool delegates are still here and getting home isn’t going to be a problem.
Not all of
the delegates that left were Bernie delegates. The nomination of Hillary
Clinton was the key moment that many Clinton delegates were there to see. Once
she was nominated, many of them left their seats to do other things as well.
That all
being said, well over half of the Bernie delegation did in fact walk out and I
believe most of them had not made the decision to do so until that very moment
when they saw others who had predetermined to walk out leaving their seats.
None of this
answers the question, “Why did Sanders’ delegates walk out after the nomination
of Hillary Clinton?”
Sanders
promised us a roll call vote and the Clinton delegation cooperated with the
Sanders delegation in making sure that every delegate had an opportunity to
have their vote counted and placed on the record. Having your vote counted is very important.
It doesn’t make loosing easier but it eliminates one objection to defeat and
moves a person closer to acceptance.
While many
of the caucuses and primaries were well managed, many more were not. Hundreds
of thousands, perhaps even millions, of voters did NOT get to have their vote
counted in mismanaged caucuses and primaries. Many delegates feel that if not
for these election irregularities Bernie Sanders would have brought more
delegates to the convention; maybe even enough to have won the nomination.
Let’s not
imagine every Sanders delegate feels the same way about these “irregularities”. Some
are convinced that the better word would be “fraud”. Some are looking for
answers through courtroom challenges and others through statutory reform. But
nearly every Sanders delegate agrees that clean, fair and transparent
elections are important AND that there were MANY irregularities in the management
of 2016 caucuses and primaries.
I did NOT
walk out but I refuse to say that those who did were wrong. They are
desperately calling attention to issues that are very important. And
even though we may be taking different paths to get there, our goal of making
sure that every vote is counted is the same. I cannot for the life of me
understand why every Democrat is not in some way supportive of the goal.
This
woodchuck whistles.
