Althouse: "Perez came very close to winning DNC chair on the first ballot. There were 427 votes cast, making the threshold for victory 214.5 votes."

February 25, 2017

"Perez came very close to winning DNC chair on the first ballot. There were 427 votes cast, making the threshold for victory 214.5 votes."

"Perez received 213.5 votes. Ellison got 200. The crowd is stunned. A second round of balloting is about to get underway...."

UPDATE: "With 235 votes, former Labor secretary Tom Perez wins the DNC chairmanship on the second ballot. Ellison received 200 votes."

ADDED: Meade is laughing over the "Breaking News" headline at the NYT: "Democrats elected former Labor Secretary Thomas Perez as party chairman over Keith Ellison, a liberal from Minnesota." Do you see what's so funny? Why is Ellison referred to as "a liberal from Minnesota"? Yeah, where's Tom Perez from? Ah. New York. Why isn't he called "a liberal from New York"?

66 comments:

buwaya said...: Perez is more of the money/machine candidate I think. Has the billionaires and Socal machine.; 2/25/17, 2:08 PM
Quaestor said...: I'm rooting for Ellison. Socialist. Muslim. Anti-Semite. What's not to love?; 2/25/17, 2:13 PM
DavidD said...: How does one get half a vote?

Where'd the other half go?; 2/25/17, 2:14 PM
Birkel said...: As Kissinger might have asked: Can't they all lose?; 2/25/17, 2:14 PM
Marc in Eugene said...: Some constituencies have only a half vote, evidently.; 2/25/17, 2:16 PM
Quaestor said...: Natural-born Democrats; 2/25/17, 2:16 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: This is great. If Ellison wins, the brainy guys (Dershowitz) and money guys (Haim Sabin) both leave. If Perez wins, the Bernie supporters get schlonged twice in a row and bail out.

What's not to love?; 2/25/17, 2:18 PM
Quaestor said...: Some constituencies have only a half vote, evidently.

White males, naturally. They're lucky just to get real chairs to sit on.; 2/25/17, 2:20 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: Alan Dershowitz: I will leave the Party if Ellison wins .

It's my party, and I'll cry if I want to
Cry if I want to, cry if I want to
You would cry too if it happened to you

- Lesley Gore (1963); 2/25/17, 2:26 PM
traditionalguy said...: I blame Trump. He is the Screaming Eagle that has this rodent population scrambling around looking for a safe place.; 2/25/17, 2:30 PM
Original Mike said...: They both suck. Who cares?; 2/25/17, 2:32 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: Ellison got shlonged.; 2/25/17, 2:37 PM
David said...: The Dems dodged a bullet. In doing so they stumbled into the left lane where a BernieLiz 16 wheeler is bearing down on them while they congratulate themselves.; 2/25/17, 2:40 PM
sane_voter said...: This was a win-win for the GOP. Both are far lefties that will not broaden the Dem party. Maybe some black Dems will now see that their party has fully cast their lot with the Hispanic-open boarder wing that offers very little to black Americans.; 2/25/17, 2:43 PM
Sebastian said...: Ah, too bad. Ellison would have been perfect.

Of course, Sanders is not a real Dem -- independent socialist, you know, just ran under Dem flag for convenience. Are the Sanderite Ellisonites going to join him and form a new party? They should: the current Dem party as a national big-tent coalition doesn't work for them, it doesn't work anyway since it can't win enough, if it does win it doesn't win for them, and in left-Dem strongholds a split would simply devastate the traditional Dem party and lock in place the New Progressive Party [New Party + Green Party + Socialists] advantage. As Trump showed, you don't need the traditional party apparatus anymore to be a viable candidate in the presidential elections, and among Dems the apparatus is still just strong enough to stifle left impulses. They should split.; 2/25/17, 2:44 PM
DavidD said...: Jehmu Greene: 0.5 on the first ballot.

Interesting that all the other-candidate votes went to Perez on the 2nd ballot; Ellison's tally was the same.; 2/25/17, 2:45 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: Why are Dems so hostile to blacks and Muslims?; 2/25/17, 2:45 PM
gspencer said...: Obvious islamophobia.; 2/25/17, 2:47 PM
RMc said...: I was rooting for Buttigieg, just so the media would have to repeat the name "Buttigieg" over and over.; 2/25/17, 2:50 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: So the Dems look at the results of state and federal elections since 2008, and decide that they need to continue stiff-arming people who did not vote Democrat while increasing their appeal to those who already vote Democrat.
It don't seem like much of a strategy.; 2/25/17, 2:52 PM
Original Mike said...: "Jehmu Greene: 0.5 on the first ballot."

Or as we refer to her around our house, Jehmu "bow-tying white-boy" Greene.; 2/25/17, 2:52 PM
mockturtle said...: Rob says: I was rooting for Buttigieg, just so the media would have to repeat the name "Buttigieg" over and over.

Amusing, a gay man named Buttigieg.; 2/25/17, 2:56 PM
mockturtle said...: I'm a little disappointed that Ellison was passed over. That would have been frosting on the cake, as it were.; 2/25/17, 2:57 PM
Drago said...: The Dem establishment just told the Bernie wing to shut up and take it.

Again.

And they will.; 2/25/17, 3:01 PM
Drago said...: DavidD: "Jehmu Greene: 0.5 on the first ballot."

(Insert affirmative action participation trophy joke here); 2/25/17, 3:01 PM
Michael said...: Racist Islamaphobic Dems.; 2/25/17, 3:11 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: Darn - the Dems were smart, they made Ellison the Deputy Chair.

I was hoping Bernie Sanders would lose it, declare a 3rd Party run, and go full William Jennings Bryan with a "I will not be schlonged on a "cross of gold" speech.; 2/25/17, 3:12 PM
Original Mike said...: "Why isn't he called "a liberal from New York"?"

"Liberal from New York" is redundant.; 2/25/17, 3:13 PM
Original Mike said...: Of course the real answer to Meade's question is that the headline implies Perez is not a liberal, to fool the rubes.; 2/25/17, 3:14 PM
Brent said...: Sooooooo wanted the clueless Ellison to.win.
Perez, however, seems a bit there himself.
As long as Dems hold "listening tours" that result in the exact same solutions they have always been after ad museum, they will remain in the wilderness. It's not the messaging that's for Dems messed up, it's the message.

Of course, I like them clueless; 2/25/17, 3:17 PM
Original Mike said...: Thomas Perez has Kathleen Vinehout's voice.; 2/25/17, 3:21 PM
Anonymous said...: My cousin Fat Tony says he deserves the nomination, he's done more for the pipefitters 237 and the guys down at the docks than any Nation Of Islam guy ever could. Yeah they only look after their own but at least they have principles and stay clean he says

Frankie and Sven say they can't get work cause Fat Tony's muscle controls the docks. The Black Muslim bakery has crime ties.

America the bee-yoo-tee-ful.; 2/25/17, 3:22 PM
Gk1 said...: Dang. I was so hoping the DNC would choose Ellison.; 2/25/17, 3:39 PM
Anonymous said...: HRC 2020

They got that working for them; 2/25/17, 3:39 PM
Nyamujal said...: "Do you see what's so funny? Why is Ellison referred to as "a liberal from Minnesota"? Yeah, where's Tom Perez from? Ah. New York. Why isn't he called "a liberal from New York"?"

It's code for, "He's not an East Coast elite, but is from the heartland". Ellison BTW did call Trump's victory before anyone in the mainstream did...; 2/25/17, 3:45 PM
Swede said...: They elected a white Hispanic over a muslim black guy?

This reeks of racism.; 2/25/17, 3:48 PM
Nyamujal said...: "Perez is more of the money/machine candidate I think. Has the billionaires and Socal machine."

Ellison on the other hand rubs shoulders with hard working, salt of the earth types from the Midwest. Men, real men, who love nothing more than an eight hour shift of hard, back breaking work in a factory. He's like Trump. He gets it. Perez doesn't get it. Probably because he's Latino and from SoCal.; 2/25/17, 3:49 PM
Swede said...: The party of old white people plays the white privilege card again.

The joke's on them, though.

Perez identifies as a spoon.; 2/25/17, 3:56 PM
Scott said...: The Democrats woke up and smelled the coffee. They don't have a Muslim problem, they have a Latino problem. Perez makes a lot of sense in that context; and taking the nonpartisan view, I think the country is better off for this choice.; 2/25/17, 4:03 PM
Sebastian said...: The reason that they didn't call Perez a liberal from New York is that even for Dems two lies in one sentence would be a bit much. Neither guy is a "liberal."

But the Dems acted rationally, picking the sort-of-Hispanic and keeping Ellison in the fold. They have to have Hispanics. Trump began to show that identity politics can backfire for Dems if whites really start voting as whites. In that case, the party that gets almost all of the biggest group and entices a critical mass of one minority group to join has it made. Blacks may not be ready to deal; Hispanics may.; 2/25/17, 4:13 PM
Big Mike said...: I was hoping for Ellison so I could twit my Jewish friends about voting for the party with an avowed anti-Semite as its head.; 2/25/17, 4:21 PM
YoungHegelian said...: Okay, Professor, I'm calling you on a point of fact:

Thomas Perez was born in NY state, but he is a Maryland politician. He was elected to the Montgomery County (MD) Council, ran for MD attorney general, was appointed by Gov O'Malley to the MD state labor board, & then on to the Obama administration. I live in Montgomery County, so I know his history quite well.

He used to live (maybe still does) in Takoma Park, that lovely tree & azalea lined suburb of DC whose politics are Berkleyian in their leftism (TP for years had a self-identified commie, Sam Abbott, as mayor); 2/25/17, 4:28 PM
Scott said...: "Perez doesn't get it. Probably because he's Latino and from SoCal."

Perez is of Dominican heritage, born in Buffalo New York and practicing law in Maryland.; 2/25/17, 4:28 PM
exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...: mockturtle said...
I'm a little disappointed that Ellison was passed over. That would have been frosting on the cake, as it were.

2/25/17, 2:57 PM

Damn, I was rooting for Keith. Maybe that was the problem - so many conservatives were hoping for Ellison that it somehow managed to sink into even foggy Democrat brains that picking him would not be a good idea. Look at how happy they made us when they passed over a young guy from rust belt Ohio to stick with Pelosi as Minority Leader.; 2/25/17, 4:35 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: I hope the Blue Collar union leaders don't forget that Perez supported the TPP, while Trump destroyed it.; 2/25/17, 4:43 PM
YoungHegelian said...: Of course, Perez won. Remember what's the purpose of the DNC --- to raise money for Democratic candidates throughout the nation.

American Jews provide ~40% of the Democratic Party's money. After the bath that the Jewish donors took on the Hillary campaign (just where did that one billion go?), you think they're going to take having an ex-Nation of Islam, now "standard" Muslim, black guy shaking them down for money?

Have you gone completely meshuggah?; 2/25/17, 4:52 PM
Etienne said...: In other news, there's a petition in France to get Obama on the 2017 ballot election for President: http://obama2017.fr/

Oui On Peut

Poor Muslim bastards...; 2/25/17, 4:59 PM
Scott said...: Obama says he can't speak a foreign language; although I bet he can negotiate Bahasa Indonesia better than most.

Why not John Kerry? He speaks fluent French.; 2/25/17, 5:06 PM
HT said...: you think they're going to take having an ex-Nation of Islam, now "standard" Muslim, black guy shaking them down for money?

“The road to the establishment of an Islamic Republic in the United States starts slowly and subtly with the loss of the will to win,” the outline reads. “The road to this unique hell on earth is paved with the best intentions from our major institutions. This political/accommodation/appeasement approach is not simply a function of any one individual’s actions but lies at the heart of our most important cultural and political institutions.”

Bannon says the Jewish community are enablers of jihad. This would have been their chance.; 2/25/17, 5:13 PM
Lewis Wetzel said...: The weird thing is that "Tom Perez" could decide tomorrow that he is a woman ("Tina Perez"), but his ethnicity is hard wired. He can never, ever be white or Black. That would be crazy!; 2/25/17, 5:15 PM
David Begley said...: All sorts of fake news that Steve Bannon is an anti-Semite when the real news is that the Muslim Keith X. Ellison has a documented and lengthy history with the actually anti-Semitic Nation of Islam. Scott Johnson at Power Line has followed Ellison for years.

Another concrete example of why we hate and distrust the MSM.; 2/25/17, 5:19 PM
YoungHegelian said...: @HT,

Bannon says the Jewish community are enablers of jihad. This would have been their chance.

I could debate either side of the question as to the place of the liberal Jewish community as "enablers of jihad". What I will say is that Democratic donors are now really pissed off after the Hillary debacle. If Hillary had won, I think that Ellison would have had a better chance of winning. But now, no Democratic donor is in the mood for risks & long shots, & that most definitely includes an ex-Nation of Islam head of the DNC.; 2/25/17, 5:22 PM
HT said...: YH, you have more interest in the Democratic Party than I do, at this point (Sad!). My point was, according to the established fact and well-known 'treatment' of a film Bannon wanted to make, but didn't, the Jews were to be the crucial enablers of the rise of the Islamic States of America. My point was, they had their chance.; 2/25/17, 5:28 PM
Mr. Majestyk said...: Notice how the MSM never describes any of these loons as "far left wing" while they toss "far right wing" about with abandon.; 2/25/17, 5:35 PM
Ken B said...: Another loss for Truth in Labelling.; 2/25/17, 5:59 PM
Nyamujal said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/25/17, 6:19 PM
Nyamujal said...: "Perez is of Dominican heritage, born in Buffalo New York and practicing law in Maryland."

I know. I was poking fun at the initial comment. Perez's father became a US citizen after serving with the US army in WWII. His dad died when he was 12, and "He covered the cost of attending Brown with scholarships and Pell Grants and by working as a trash collector and in a warehouse." (Wikipedia).
He did a lot of good work as labor secretary too. If the Democrats hope to win back WWC support, he's someone who can really help tailor their message to appeal to them.; 2/25/17, 6:22 PM
Nyamujal said...: @HT
" the Jews were to be the crucial enablers of the rise of the Islamic States of America. My point was, they had their chance."
Where are you getting this from? What are your sources? Seems like one hell of a conspiracy theory.; 2/25/17, 6:23 PM
Billy Oblivion said...: Neither one of them (Prez, Ellison) are liberals.

One is islamic, which draws no distinction between religion and politics and the other is progressive which has politics as a religion.; 2/25/17, 6:32 PM
mockturtle said...: Right, Billy. Both are theocrats.; 2/25/17, 7:00 PM
Jupiter said...: "Congratulations to Thomas Perez, who has just been named Chairman of the DNC. I could not be happier for him, or for the Republican Party"

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)

"Perez, who was elected Saturday on the second ballot, immediately appointed Ellison to be his deputy chair during his acceptance speech."

Even better!; 2/25/17, 7:22 PM
Michael K said...: "He did a lot of good work as labor secretary too. "

Yes, I recall his statement about Romans destroying towns to establish their power. Also:

“His rewriting of U.S. labor law is probably the most fundamental attack on the free-enterprise system going on at present,” Murray says. “If he has his way, we won’t just revert to the 1930s. We’ll do things that even Franklin Roosevelt couldn’t do, like eliminate vast numbers of independent-contractor jobs and unionize those that remain.”

Murray sees Perez’s ideological vision as driven by an arrogant insistence that most workers are oblivious to their own exploitation by employers, and need the state to intervene to help them understand proper “work-life balance” or to make basic choices about work.

I look forward with relish watching him lead the Dims into the ditch.; 2/25/17, 9:48 PM
Nyamujal said...: "Yes, I recall his statement about Romans destroying towns to establish their power"

Where's that from. I did some searches, but couldn't find any references to what you're talking about.

“His rewriting of U.S. labor law is probably the most fundamental attack on the free-enterprise system going on at present,” Murray says. “If he has his way, we won’t just revert to the 1930s. We’ll do things that even Franklin Roosevelt couldn’t do, like eliminate vast numbers of independent-contractor jobs and unionize those that remain.”

Again, nothing in his record as labor secretary suggests that level of hyperbole. Is making sure that home-care workers and federal contractors receive minimum wage and overtime pay too "revolutionary" for conservatives? If you hope to improve the lot of working class voters who're really feeling the squeeze, this is the least you can do. Empty promises at rallies won't put food on the tables of the working class. Voodoo GOP economics won't do that either. The Laffer curve is so fucking laughable that it wouldn't get published in a decent peer reviewed econ journal.

"I look forward with relish watching him lead the Dims into the ditch."

Time will tell. I wager that people who voted for Trump will come running back to the dems as soon as they realize that they've been conned. The jobs and prosperity that they were promised are as real as Trump's record inauguration attendance numbers.; 2/25/17, 11:09 PM
Jon Ericson said...: and don't do that thing of putting in a lot of extra line breaks.

->NO WAGERING<-; 2/25/17, 11:41 PM
Sam L. said...: I am SOOOOOO BUMMED. I wanted Ellison.; 2/26/17, 1:24 PM
Martin said...: "Why is Ellison referred to as "a liberal from Minnesota"? Yeah, where's Tom Perez from? Ah. New York. Why isn't he called "a liberal from New York"?"

Well, Perez is merely the guy behind the campus rape and transgender bathroom letters when he was at Education's Office of Civil Rights.

Ellison is a Communist anti-Semite.

See the difference?; 2/26/17, 5:28 PM