Posted on 01/20/2008 12:04:00 AM PST by bruinbirdman
Bill Clinton today accused the union backing Barack Obama of illegally blocking its workers from backing his wife in an orchestrated campaign of "voter suppression" in Nevada's Democratic caucuses.
Mr Clinton, who spent 90 minutes at the Mirage Casino in Las Vegas today shaking voters' hands, was told by several workers that their union, which has backed Mr Obama, has told them they could not register to vote unless they supported the Illinois senator.
Mr Obama was endorsed by the Culinary Workers' Union, the biggest and most powerful trade organisation in Nevada. It carries particular clout in the casinos along the Las Vegas Strip.
Mr Clinton said: "They [the workers in the union] were told to sign up by Wednesday, and told it had to be for Obama, and if they had not signed up, that they had to wait until November to wait for Hillary." He told The Times: "It's really interesting that on the eve of Martin Luther King day we are seeing voter suppression.
He added: "There is a lot of voter suppression going on. Are you getting this?"
The Clintons maintain that caucus sites opened in nine casinos so that employees did not have to leave work to vote gave Mr Obama an unfair advantage because most cleaners, kitchen staff and bell-hops belong to the Culinary Union.
In recent days there have been allegations of the unions intimidating its largely Hispanic membership to back Mr Obama. Mrs Clinton's victory came with large Hispanic support and after many of the union's members broke with their leadership to back the former First Lady.
Outside the Mirage's caucus site, a vast ballroom near the casino floor, Mr Clinton met two dozen culinary union members who said that they were refusing to bow to pressure and were supporting his wife. Several told the former President that they did not think they could vote because they were not voting for Mr Obama.
Francesca Santiago, a casino porter at the Mirage, and a Puerto Rican, told The Times: "The union told everyone that they had to vote for Obama. They didn't tell us we could vote for Clinton. They told us if we registered, we had to go for Obama. The unions said we had to registering advance for Obama."
A spokesman for the Culinary Workers' Union told The Times: "We made it very clear to all the members that they could caucus for any candidate they wanted to, but that the leadership supported Obama."
But inside the caucus site, there were chaotic scenes, with Mr Obama's union supporters facing off against Mrs Clinton's backers. Many of the former First Lady's supporters had defied their union to back her.
As voters entered the caucus site, having registered, they were being physically pushed and pulled in both directions by Clinton and Obama supporters to join their camps. The noise was deafening as both sides aggressively screamed their candidate's name. One union member supporting Mr Obama said of the workers who had defected to Mrs Clinton: "We are going to deal with them when we get back to our respective hotels." Mr Clinton told a group of workers that it was illegal to stop members voting for his wife.
"They've been telling me that if they didn't sign up for Obama they couldn't caucus," he told the workers. "They can't do that", he added, and urged them to vote.
Mr Clinton's comments came before news of his wife's victory, and would clearly have been part of the campaign's post-vote spin if the former First Lady has been defeated.
I love watching Democrats self-destruct.
Al gore really started something.
This is what Democrats obviously do from 2000 on when they lose.
So they’re both cry-babies then?
spider vs. scorpion
What’s the point in President Clinton doing this, I wonder? - Nevada is over and she won. They want this union in the general.
Iraq Hussein Osama - 13 delegates. The Toon - 12 delegates. Why does the MSM insist The Toon won?
yitbos
The Clintons have a fondess for accusing others of the very things they themselves are doing.
>>Iraq Hussein Osama - 13 delegates. The Toon - 12 delegates. Why does the MSM insist The Toon won?<<
Really? I had no idea -
Bill’s doing it because it gets him more spotlight time. He just can’t resist the cameras.
Yep, and Pelosi, and Reid and all the Rats have the same MO.
Regards
Boy, that really smacks of “it takes one to know one.”
Wah! Wah! Wah
OK, who here believes any of this stuff?
I don’t.
it could all be (plauseable sounding) made up BS.
Clinton’s claims are being presented as facts.
Really? I had no idea -"
Yeah. And Billy Toon was complaining about the disproportionate delegate representation because Mrs. Bill Clinton got more votes. (I think the MSM doesn't want to remind anyone that Al Gorbyschev got more votes but fewer electoral college delegates than GW).
yitbos
After reading some of the threads today I’m beginning to believe I slipped into an alternate universe. A very surreal one which is on the brink of chaos.
So better to disenfranchise them because the union endorsed Hussein. What gall these Clintons have.
If these workers were really told that, why not take it to the Clintons’ adoring press? It’s clear that the great prevaricator is becoming less-and-less relevant by the day. Who believes a word from his lying mouth, anyway?
Mr Pot, meet Mr Kettle.
It’s called inoculation. Accuse your opponent of the dirty tricks you are doing to minimize the damage when you get caught.
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