Referring to the announcement that the Republican platform will have specific language expressly opposing a lame-duck vote on TPP, Hightower stated Trump "is going to hammer Hillary mercilessly on the wimpy language in her platform." "It's humiliating and suicidal," he continued, "for your stand to be weaker than the Republicans'." Referring to the TPP as "2,000 pages of unadulterated chicken manure," paraphrasing politely a famous line of Lyndon Baines Johnson that you cannot make chicken salad out of it, he effectively called out the Democrats for having a "chicken sh*t" platform. In response he offered his amendment as a form of "political Viagra," to "stiffen the spine" of the Democratic Party.
[click here to see video]
After presenting his case to the Committee, audience laughter and all, his frustration with the Party was only reinforced. Proponents of his amendment brought out several file boxes filled, they declared with over 700,000 petitions signed in just the past few weeks. They then theatrically paraded them throughout the hall in a scene reminiscent of the bags of letters supporting Santa Claus in the courtroom in Miracle on 34th Street. Laughter and theatrics aside the amendment was among the many Sanders proposals rejected over the weekend by an intra-party party line vote.
Wendy Sherman, playing the role of the stern prosecutor rejecting the evidence and arguments in the 34th Street courthouse, dutifully wielded her thumb signaling to the obedient Hillary members their duty to vote down the proposed amendment. The vote formally rejected language stating the Party officially objected to a policy that Clinton has now publicly stated that she too opposes -- and thus only reinforcing the idea among non-Hillary aligned Democrats that she is not to be trusted. They loyally voted once again in the only consistent display of unity in the two days' proceedings: the unity of the Hillary delegation to stand firmly in opposition to nearly anything raised by the Sanders camp.
The Marijuana Mistake
But to truly get a sense of the deepening divide within the Democratic Party one should not look to the obvious votes: the Democrats' rejection of cost of living increases for seniors, the expansion of social security, the opposition to the TPP, the rejection of fracking, or the advocacy of single payer health care. While they may tell the same story they do not portray it in as stark a light as the fate of two completely unexpected and obscure amendments that would otherwise be overlooked.
The first of these came around 5 p.m. on the second day, about the time originally scheduled for the meeting to have concluded, and shows just how important the authoritarian role of Sherman's imperious thumb was in keeping the Hillary delegates in line. Her roll as Party Under-Boss ensuring they voted the intra-party Clinton line even when doing so was an act contrary to their own reasoned conclusions having heard the debate and often their own self-recognized interests and policy preferences.
Sherman directs the votes of the Hillary delegation with the Imperial Thumbs Down
(Image by Charles Grapski) Details DMCA
In a moment of free-will, due to the momentary absence of Wendy Sherman and her thumb from the room, an amendment removing marijuana from its irrational Schedule II status in federal law, declaring it as dangerous as heroine, actually passed by the thinnest margin of one single vote. This was definitely not part of the "unity script" to which the Party officials and Clinton camp had previously agreed and sought to orchestrate before the C-SPAN cameras.
After a few minutes of confusion due to the deals struck by the representatives of what one Hillary speaker in opposition referred to as the two "parties" within the Party on what amendments would be given a hearing and a vote, the Committee voted on an amendment to remove marijuana from its federal Schedule II status.
The confusion began after initial opposition to the amendment led to it being withdrawn and a separate amendment removing marijuana instead from the federal controlled substance act was substituted in its place. This too received objections that it went too far, as the Hillary camp wanted to keep the extremely weak language of merely supporting further research into potential harms of marijuana and watching the experiments of the states as they were allowed to deal with the issue without federal government interference -- usually the line given by the Republicans when they wanted to avoid an issue.
This led to the re-submission of the schedule removal amendment after the initial debate on the second amendment removing it from the federal statute. At this point long-time Clinton surrogate Mark Pryor, former Attorney General and later U.S. Senator from Arkansas, stepped in as the Party Under-Boss in control of the floor. Over his objections the Committee leaders, deeming it unlikely to pass, allowed it to be considered as part of the earlier arrangement between the two campaigns.
After several minutes of off-record discussion by the presiding officers Malloy stepped in over then presiding Shirley Franklin, the former mayor of Atlanta who Wasserman-Schultz appointed along with Malloy as co-chair of the Platform Committee. He stated that it would be accepted as offered as one of the five amendments agreed to by the prior agreement between the two camps and at that time indicated he believed in all the confusion the Sanders camp had likely made a mistake. "Whether they're happy they did that or not, I can't tell you," he declared. Soon it would be clear that in the confusion it was the Hillary camp that had made the mistake.
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