Dem Platform Committee Meeting in Cleveland

By Jeralyn, Section Democratic National Convention 2008
Posted on Fri Aug 01, 2008 at 04:00:49 PM EST
Tags: Democratic National Convention, death penalty (all tags)

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The DNC Platform Committee is meeting this weekend in Cleveland.

The sessions begin Friday afternoon when policy experts suggest planks for the Democratic platform. On Saturday party leaders will hear comments from the public and then will turn their attention to writing a draft platform.

The draft goes before the full platform committee Aug. 9 in Pittsburgh....The platform is expected to closely reflect Obama's views.

In 2004,John Kerry insisted on removing support for the death penalty from the platform. It was the first time since the 1980's that the Democratic platform did not contain an endorsement of the death penalty. Will Obama keep it out or put it back in?

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Dem Platform Committee Meeting in Cleveland | 12 comments (12 topical)

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Listening to the people and (5.00 / 2) (#5)
by nycstray on Fri Aug 01, 2008 at 04:19:23 PM EST

a platform reflecting Obama's views could end up being a contradiction

Considering his recent position on (5.00 / 1) (#12)
by JavaCityPal on Fri Aug 01, 2008 at 06:26:05 PM EST

the death penalty for child rape, how can he possibly keep it out?

If he thinks child rapists should be able to (5.00 / 1) (#13)
by Anne on Fri Aug 01, 2008 at 06:57:51 PM EST

be put to death, how does he explain leaving it out of the platform?

With all the nuancing Obama has done on so many issues, they might as well call it "The Hokey-Pokey, Okey-Dokey Platform: you put the death penalty in, you put the death penalty out, you put the death penalty in and you shake it all about. You do the hokey-pokey and you turn yourself around; that's what it's all about!" (substitute policies, as needed)

Save the death penalty! (4.20 / 5) (#4)
by Steve M on Fri Aug 01, 2008 at 04:12:01 PM EST

We need to adopt the Republican position on the death penalty, in order to take that issue off the table.

Eventually, once we have all the issues off the table, we will win every time.

As for the party leaders, they will listen, but (none / 0) (#3)
by PssttCmere08 on Fri Aug 01, 2008 at 04:11:24 PM EST

will they really HEAR the will of the people?

comments with nothing but (none / 0) (#6)
by Jeralyn on Fri Aug 01, 2008 at 04:41:08 PM EST

insults to Obama have been deleted.

The topic is his position on the death penalty.

: Sorry (none / 0) (#10)
by lentinel on Fri Aug 01, 2008 at 06:05:59 PM EST

I replied to a post about Obama's shift on oil drilling.
About the death penalty, he appears to think that it is not a deterrent. But he does think that the state should have the right to impose it.
He also recently said that he thought that a trial of Bin Laden should be able to result in the imposition of the death penalty.
So, while he doesn't think the death penalty will deter anybody from killing, he does think it is justifiable as a form of retribution that can be administered by the state.
What does this mean for the democratic party platform? It depends on how much attention it gathers. The only way an anti-death penalty plank would be inserted is if nobody is watching or listening.

Hold your breath on this one: (none / 0) (#7)
by oculus on Fri Aug 01, 2008 at 05:28:43 PM EST

LAT

Proposed platform plank condemning sexism during the primary campaign.

Democratic platform writers reach out to Clinton (none / 0) (#8)
by nycstray on Fri Aug 01, 2008 at 05:36:39 PM EST

and it looks like Obama may be shifting on Drilling

Unbelievable.. (none / 0) (#9)
by lentinel on Fri Aug 01, 2008 at 05:55:42 PM EST

"Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Friday he would be willing to support limited additional offshore oil drilling if that's what it takes to enact a comprehensive policy to foster fuel-efficient autos and develop alternate energy sources."
From RawStory.
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/_Obama_shifts_says_he_may_0801.html

What B.S.
Let's drill oil so that we can develop alternate energy sources?
Drilling for oil will spur the production of cars that run on compressed air?

How about just working on developing alternate energy sources?

There is no way to prove anything, but I would be interested to know if the Obama campaign just got an infusion of money from the petroleum industry.


: It's called "reaching across the (none / 0) (#11)
by oculus on Fri Aug 01, 2008 at 06:23:24 PM EST

aisle."

: Gosh, I thought we just needed to inflate our (none / 0) (#14)
by MarkL on Fri Aug 01, 2008 at 08:54:40 PM EST

tires properly.