Democrats started the second day of their national political convention with a surprise move, jamming through changes to the party's platform to add back a reference to God and language that recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
The move drew very vocal opposition on the convention floor, with some delegates booing loudly as the change was approved by voice vote.
Originally, the Democratic Party platform removed both the one reference to God and the Jerusalem issue as well, but that had drawn mounting criticism from more conservative talk radio and Republicans.
So when Democrats started their session on Wednesday, party leaders had decided to add both items back to the platform, allowing platform Chairman Ted Strickland the chance to give a quick explanation on the convention floor.
"Our faith and belief in God is central to the American story," said Strickland, both a former minister and Governor of Ohio.
"President Obama recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and our party's platform should as well," Strickland added.
It was obvious that the "fix was in" at that point in time, but instead of just jamming it through, the chair of the convention proceedings fumbled and made it into even more of a story.
As he put the question to delegates on the platform changes, it was painfully obvious that Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was not experienced in chairing a legislative session - as when more delegates appeared to oppose the motion, he appeared puzzled over what to do.
"In the opinion of the...let me do that again," Villaraigosa said after the first voice vote.
"I, ummmm, I guess," as Villaraigosa paused when delegates seemed to vote against the platform plan, instead of just forging ahead and reading what was on the teleprompter, which said the motion was approved.
"I'll do that one more time," Villaraigosa said, as television pictures showed delegates yelling at him and booing the proceedings.
"You got to let them do what they're going to do," a party official counseled Villaraigosa, as he put the question one final time to the delegates.
The last time, Villaraigosa figured it out and just announced that two-thirds of the delegates had voted to approve the platform changes, as more delegates booed even more.
The dustup overshadowed the start of the second day of the convention, and showed that party leaders must have been concerned that they would suffer if the platform wasn't changed back on God and Israel - as reports indicated it was President Obama who ordered that the change should be made.
Source: http://www.krmg.com/weblogs/jamie-dupree/2012/sep/05/democrats-add-back-god-jerusalem-platform/
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