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A lot of people are linking to this Taylor Marsh freak out over the RBC results for Michigan yesterday, where Taylor unloads with some frosty rhetoric:

Could you be more out of touch? Seriously. Have you not talked to any Hillary Clinton supporters, read their emails in your inbox?

For 4 lousy delegates? How small are you people? Could you not understand what was swirling enough to allow Clinton her due in Michigan? Four lousy delegates?

You have no idea what you’ve done. The fury you have unleashed. Your arrogance is topped only by your ignorance and the sheer stupidity of this “compromise,” which sends a message that you just don’t get it. Oh, and by the way, you’ve also likely just thrown the 2008 election.

Look, it is not my job to walk Taylor Marsh and the rest of the Hillary supporters back from the brink, and I am glad, because it wasn’t me whipping them into a froth for the last few months when it was clear to anyone with more than a 6th grade education that the math simply was not there for Clinton. I can, however, take a moment to ask Taylor and others why they think things played out the way they did:

Was it because the RBC was stacked with Clinton haters?

No, in fact Clinton loyalists outnumbered Obama supporters on the committee.

Was it because the RBC wanted to sabotage the Democratic chances in November?

No, I find that highly implausible.

Was it because they are all insane?

After watching the way Democrats run elections, I am open to discussion on this count.

Regardless, the reason the Michigan compromise was agreed to by 19 of RBC was because of how god damned outrageous the original Clinton proposal was. Taylor and others think that four delegates were “stolen” or that they were “hijacked” because they are operating from the completely flawed premise that the election counted. It didn’t. In fact, Sen. Levin had to point that out to Ickes partially through the hearings (“You are calling for full recognition of a flawed primary,” etc.).

The election did not count. There were no legitimate delegates to “steal.” And I am not just trying to throw Hillary’s words back in her face when she herself said it would not count, that was the consensus opinion of the DNC (who agreed to hear to the dispute yesterday- had they felt it did count they would have seated the delegates as is), the Michigan Democratic party, which worked for months to arrange a “real” election or caucus, and all the candidates, who took their names off the ballot. There was, according to all parties except for the Clinton campaign, no election (and even then, the Clinton position “evolved.” It was only after they needed the delegates from Michigan did they decide the contest was somehow legit and “counted.”).

Once you realize the consensus view on the Michigan beauty contest, that it was not a legitimate election and did not provide a fair reflection of voters intent, you realize how truly brazen the Clinton proposal was- they went in demanding that they receive every delegate that Hillary “received” in the beauty contest, and that none should go to Obama:

Clinton’s camp insisted Obama shouldn’t get any pledged delegates in Michigan since he chose not to put his name on the ballot, and she should get 73 pledged delegates with 55 uncommitted. Obama’s team insisted the only fair solution was to split the pledged delegates in half between the two campaigns, with 64 each.

Seriously. That was their position.

They were asserting that not one person in the great state of Michigan would vote for Obama, and all the delegates were for Hillary. Despite all the talk about heavy African-American turnout for Obama in this election, the Clinton position before the RBC was that not one single precinct in Detroit would have gone for Sen. Obama. Not one vote in all the big Michigan university towns.

That was honestly their position.

It was absurd, it was outrageous, and to try to pretend that “fair reflection” somehow required that this was truly the intent of the Michigan electorate is the height of Clintonian bullshit. Of all the things they have asserted this campaign, this was the tops. This was, by a wide margin, the most absurd thing they have claimed.

What the Clinton campaign wanted was more net delegates than they would have had from 3-4 Pennsylvania and Ohio’s combined. That is why the committee had enough votes to seat it 50-50. That is why they instead they voted to seat the delegates they way they did- to reflect what they felt was a fair assessment, and they felt it was a compromise with the Clinton campaign. That is why the Michigan Democratic party was the one who offered the compromise- they knew the Clinton offer was bullshit, and the Michigan Democratic party would be held accountable to their voters if they let the Clinton “plan” pass.

And in return, they were accused of “vote-stealing,” and “hijacking” votes by the Clinton surrogates. What happened yesterday was not that the Clinton campaign was robbed of 4 delegates by the DNC, but what happened was an attempt to steal dozens of delegates by the Clinton campaign was stopped.

So please cut the crap. Clinton didn’t get screwed- what happened is that the RBC and the Michigan Democratic Party stopped the Clinton campaign from screwing Michigan voters by stealing every delegate and pretending it was a “fair reflection” of the voters. The Obama campaign won’t mention this because they are trying to be magnanimous and trying to win the support of irate Clinton voters. I have no such obligation.

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