Lanny Davis Loses His Cool On DNC Member

A brief but spittle-filled shouting match broke out in the halls of the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee hearing on Saturday between a committee member and a surrogate for Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign.

Lanny Davis, the colorful, committed, and sometimes unrestrained Clinton supporter deliberately interrupted a small gathering of press who had come to hear Jon Ausman, a DNC member, explain the basis of his proposed Florida delegation compromise.

"I'll tell you what," Davis chimed in, "the Clinton campaign's position has been misrepresented by this wonderful love-fest, and the lady who testified for us was saying that the Obama campaign and your proposal is not generous. But it is in fact unfair. If you want to hear, now that the love-fest is over, why don't you come over and hear the counterpoint to this completely disingenuous argument."

A befuddled Ausman who had earlier proposed that Florida's 185 pledged delegates be subject to a 50 percent penalty, asked who exactly Lanny Davis was. By then, however, Davis had herded a slew of reporters around Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, another Clinton supporter, who was standing feet away and insisting that Ausman's deal was far from a "generous" token by the Obama campaign. Then, in the midst of the hastily gathered question and answer session, Ausman reemerged to defend himself.

What proceeded was a heated and, at times, unintentionally hilarious exchange, with the two standing inches apart from each other and the occasional finger pointed in the other's face.

Ausman: [My proposal] is very generous, because Obama was initially fighting for a situation where Clinton would net 6 delegates, now it's 19.

Davis: Don't say you're being generous.

Ausman: I can say we're being generous.

Davis: But you're allowed to and I'm allowed to disagree...

Ausman: But I'm the one who's on the petition...

Reporter: Ok ok, why don't we --

Ausman: Are you a representative of Clinton?

Davis: No, I'm actually just a person...

Ausman: Are you a designated representative of Clinton?

Davis: I am not a designated representative.

Ausman: Then why don't we have a designated representative speak for Clinton and you be silent?

After the fracas ended, Tubbs Jones fielded several additional questions. Arguing that the only "fair" outcome in Florida would be for the full seating of the delegation and not for those delegates to be halved, she deflected questions as to whether the Clinton campaign's proposals were, themselves, uncompromising.

"My name is Stephanie Tubbs Jones and I am the congresswoman from the great state of Ohio, and on behalf of the Clinton campaign, we don't expect that the Obama campaign could be so generous to us to give us these 19 delegates. It is in fact more generous, and more appropriate, that all the votes be counted as they were cast. And if the votes are counted as they were cast, Senator Clinton will get much more than the Obama campaign is saying will be generous."

Within minutes the congresswoman and the press had dispersed. But a heated Davis was still strolling the halls of the Marriot Hotel. Talking to a separate reporter, he acknowledged that even if Clinton were to get everything she wanted, the likelihood remained that she would still lose the nomination.

"They can give us the full 38 delegates [the net gain of counting 100 percent of the vote] and still win," he said. "So why won't they."

Asked about the exchange with Ausman, he said: "I'm f-ing angry."

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Eating A Reuben Amidst A Crowd Of Protesting Clintonites

Updated below with video of angry Clinton supporter being escorted from the building.

When is a Reuben sandwich not just a Reuben sandwich? When one eats it amidst a denizen of rabidly committed, frequently vitriolic, and unapologetically devoted Hillary Clinton supporters.

The scene at Harry's Pub in the Marriott Hotel, downstairs from the site of the Rules and Bylaws Committee hearing, was emblematic of the double-edged sword that has become the Democratic primary. One the one hand was the political passion: the willingness to stand in solidarity over the idea of counting the votes in Michigan and Florida, even if such a protest was scheduled on a Saturday under torrential rain.

On the other hand were the battered emotions: the ardent vows to not support Sen. Barack Obama under any circumstances, the insistence that every insidious rumor concerning the Illinois Democrat was grounded in fact, the belief that the party itself had conspired in an effort to tear down the Clintons.

With half a dozen flat screen televisions turned to CNN, it was not difficult to ascertain just where the political and emotional center of the crowd stood. A table of three women did not deal in discretion. A sampling of their punditry:

"[Obama] is a cult. His campaign is an anti-woman cult."

"I will actively campaign against him."

"You know who is backing him is George Soros. It'll be George Soros, not Obama, who is running the country."

"South Dakota is totally rigged for Obama because of Tom Daschle. Obama's going to win South Dakota because he's buying it and rigging it."

"[Obama] is a socialist! You know what the Nazi Party was before it was the Nazi Party? It was the Socialist Party."

It was not all that different from the mood outside, where signs read, "At least slaves were counted as 3/5ths a Citizen," and some pamphlets detailed Obama's supposed dealings in drugs and gay sex. The latter being handed out by Larry Sinclair, the youtube opportunist who has claimed to have had an affair with the Senator.

"Would you rather have a president who had an affair [Bill Clinton] or one who was a murderer [Obama]?" Eve Fairbanks, a reporter with The New Republic, was asked by one protester.

Back in Harry's, passions did not ebb. Amidst the chatter came raucous cheers for any Clinton surrogate whose face popped up on the television screen. They were countered by derisive boos when CNN cut to a clip of DNC Chairman Howard Dean. It didn't matter what he said. You couldn't hear it over the crowd's hissing.

I approached a group of Clinton supporters sitting at the bar to pinpoint, exactly, the foundation of their emotions. Almost unanimously they agreed that if Florida and Michigan weren't seated in their entirety, they would never vote for Obama.

As women, were they comfortable with a candidate like John McCain who could potentially overturn Roe v. Wade?

"Oh don't pull that argument," said Valerie Duhaime of Florida. "Obama did not support a filibuster of [Supreme Court Justice Samuel] Alito and he was for [Chief Justice] John Roberts before he was against him."

Within the pub's confines, Obama was not the only persona non grata. The media, too, occupied a dark place in the crowd's heart. The group at the bar went through a litany of websites that they no longer read -- including the Huffington Post. "I only watch the BBC," said Duhaime. "We are outsourcing the fourth estate."

Shortly after revealing my publication, I was turned away. No worries, my lunch, a Reuben sandwich, had arrived. I pulled up my chair to the table and sat down to eat. Minutes later a chant began around me.

"HuffPost sucks! HuffPost sucks!" and later, "Fox News, fair and balanced! Fox News, fair and balanced!"

Update: As caught by Firedoglake, late in the day an angry Clinton supporter was escorted from the building after she went on a tirade blasting Barack Obama, a racial double standard, and the Democratic Party. "I'm no second class citizen," she declares, "and god damn the Democrats."

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Crawford: Obama Has Replaced Clintons As Boss Of Party

Make no mistake about it. The decision rendered today by the Democratic National Committee's rules panel showed that Barack Obama has displaced Hillary Rodham Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, as boss of the party.

The DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee gave Obama exactly what he wanted - a firm decision on seating Florida and Michigan delegates. Even though Clinton wins a small net gain in nominating delegates, it is not enough to seriously boost her chances for the nomination.

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