Popcorn: O’Malley Hammers DNC Chair at Convention

Martin O'Malley

Former Baltimore Mayor, Maryland Governor and now progressive Democratic Presidential candidate Martin O’Malley used his speech at the Democratic National Committee to criticize Democratic Party leaders  for skirting robust debate among prospective Presidential contenders, presumably to assure a Hillary Clinton coronation rather than a fully vetted nomination.

The Washington Times reports:

A feud within the Democratic Party spilled into the open Friday at the Democratic National Committee’s summer meeting in Minneapolis, as presidential candidate and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley used his speech to the convention to publicly chide DNC leaders for limiting the number of presidential debates.

Mr. O'Malley said that DNC officials had not only silenced debate among Democratic candidates but silenced the party’s ability to respond to Republican presidential candidates, whose recent TV debate reached more than 20 million Americans.

The party of openness and tolerance apparently has closed down discussion and is not tolerating any long-term back and forth.

Some of O’Malley’s comments included the following:

“They malign our president’s record of achievement, they denigrate women and immigrant families. They doubled down, on trickle down, and they tell their false stories,” he said. “And, we respond — with crickets, tumbleweeds, a cynical move to delay and limit our own party debates.”

He questioned what was becoming of the Democratic Party and the way it selects its presidential nominee.

Instead of hostility or rejecting, the audience welcomed his comments, vocally:

Mr. O'Malley’s criticism of his party officials was greeted with applause and cheers from the crowd of state party chairman in the ballroom of the Hilton Minneapolis.

While mainstream media outlets continue reporting uproars and divisions about Republican Presidential candidates, the Democratic Party is facing opposition within its own ranks, not just on ideological fronts, but even on procedural questions, including the liberty of individual Democrats and grassroots interests to decide who will be their party’s standard bearer in 2016 consideration.