People United Means Action

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PUMA ("People United Means Action") is a political action committee in the United States that opposed the Democratic Party leadership and the nomination of Sen. Barack Obama as the Democratic candidate for President in the 2008 presidential election.^[1] PUMA began as an effort of supporters of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton who believed that Clinton should have been the Democratic nominee.^[2][3] According to PUMA, "We [were] protesting the 2008 Presidential election because we refuse to support a nominee who was selected by the leadership rather than elected by the voters."^[4]

Pumapac.org

Contents 1 Organization 1.1 Origin 1.2 Political Action 2 Organizers/co-founders and associated movements 3 Criticism 4 References 5 See also 6 External links

[edit] Organization

[edit] Origin

The PUMA PAC is registered as a non-affiliated political action committee (PAC) with the Federal Election Commission and organized as a 527 Organization with the IRS in June, 2008.^[5] PUMA originated out of online comments of a group of Clinton supporters on a pro-Clinton blog, The Confluence.^{[3][6] [7]}

PUMA is also part of a coalition of online activists with similar goals, the JustSayNoDeal coalition.^[8] The PUMA acronym as originally coined stood for "Party Unity My Ass"; however, the official PAC was registered as "People United Means Action," a backronym.^[9] Executive Director Darragh Murphy estimates that PUMA PAC proper had gathered over 10,000 members and the organization's official site had received more than a million hits between its founding in June through August 2008.^[10] Dianne Mantouvalos, founder of the larger JustSayNoDeal coalition, estimates the coalition comprises over 100 groups, and was more than ten percent of the eighteen million votes Clinton received in the primaries.^[8]

Will Bower, a media spokesperson for PUMA and JustSayNoDeal, had summarized many of PUMA's objections to the actions of the Democratic Party during the 2008 presidential primaries. PUMA believes that Obama was selected undemocratically by the party leadership rather than through respect for Democratic voters' wishes.^[11] Further, PUMA argues that Obama was unfairly advantaged by the ruling by the Rules and Bylaws Committee on seating Florida and Michigan delegates.^[8].

Finally, PUMA members point to charges of media sexism and misogyny directed at Clinton during the primary campaign and express anger at the failure of Democratic Party leaders to speak out against them or otherwise respond appropriately.^[12][13][14] Post-primaries, while focusing none of his comments on Obama, DNC Chairman Howard Dean did criticize the media saying, "The media took a very sexist approach to Senator Clinton's campaign" in response to hearing objections from what he described as a "cross-section of women, from individual voters to powerful politicians and chief executives."^[15]

Some media and online commentators used the term PUMA to describe any Clinton primary voter who did not support Obama's nomination or the Democratic Party leadership, regardless of PAC affiliation.^[16]

[edit] Political Action

PUMA's protest actions take several forms, including encouraging a Clinton write-in campaign for the general election, voting for no presidential candidate, or supporting other candidates such as U.S. Senator John McCain (R–AZ).^{[17] [18] [19]} Some hoped that enough superdelegates would change their minds to give the nomination to Clinton at the Democratic National Convention in August.^[20] Another expressed desire was to help defeat Obama in the general election by electing McCain president in order to set up another run for Clinton in 2012. Finally, some have also suggested that Clinton run as an Independent candidate in the election.^[21] Some have noted that the internet had fostered the organization. Many PUMA advocates are part of the blogosphere and use it for organization, advocacy and viral communication.^[8]

PUMA advocated for an open convention in which Clinton's name would be placed in nomination and her delegates allowed to vote for her at the convention.^[2] The group was supporting a petition by delegates to the convention to put Clinton's name into nomination.^[22][23] Allied organization The Denver Group had spearheaded an ad-based media campaign advocating for an open nomination convention including placing Clinton's name in nomination, allowing speeches in support and a roll call vote. ^[24][25][26] The ad campaign emphasizes a connection between historical events and the 2008 convention, calling on DNC Chairman Howard Dean and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to "follow fair and honest application of the democratic process and according to democratic principles" and resist turning "the convention into a coronation."^[27]

PAC members were also one of several groups protesting the 2008 Democratic National Convention.^[28] PUMA's protests and events of the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries are the subject of the 2009 documentary The Audacity of Democracy, by Los Angeles filmmaker Brad Mays.^{[29] [30]}

[edit] Organizers/co-founders and associated movements

Darragh Murphy, Executive Director of PUMA PAC, created the organization in June 2008.^[8] She says that the immediate goal of her website is "to let the party know, let the leadership know that millions and millions of us are not going to support [Obama]. That we believe the nomination process was flawed beyond belief, that was unfair and biased."^[3] According to one reporter who interviewed her, "Murphy ... believes that the only way to save the Democratic Party at this point was to destroy it. Mr. Obama must lose, and his supporters must be purged."^[31] Murphy had characterized PUMA PAC's goals, however, as "not an organized effort to leave the Democratic Party, but to get it back, to bring real unity to the party. Millions of voters are still very unhappy. We're going to still be here on November 5."^[8]

Diane Mantouvalos, who also founded HireHeels.com, a website trying to get women involved in politics^[8] founded “Just Say No Deal.com” along with Peter Boykin (creater of the slogan for the domain name), Will Bower, Cristi Adkins, and Thuc Ngyuen after Hillary Clinton announced her suspension of her campaign. Just Say No Deal was a coalition of groups, including PUMA, advocating against the selection of Barack Obama as the 2008 Democratic presidential nominee.^[8][32]

Christi Adkins, along with Anne Franklin, Peter Boykin and other Clinton supporters, created Clintons4McCain.com.^[8] Adkins’ organization was composed of volunteers who donated time, effort and energy to elect Clinton, and now feel Hillary was subjected to unfair attacks during the campaign by "sexism, misogyny, reverse racism and ridicule."^[33] Clintons4McCain.com was "opposed to the DNC, the media and Hollywood's influence in the Democratic nomination process."^[33] The group’s membership intend to vote for Republican John McCain in November, and believe that John McCain would be tolerable.^[33] Adkins had been interviewed on Fox News on multiple occasions about the mission of the PUMA organization.^[34] Adkins was interviewed by Chris Matthews of MSNBC outside the Democratic National Convention in Denver. [1]

[edit] Criticism

PUMA has been criticized for their support of Republican candidates John McCain and Sarah Palin, especially considering the sharp policy differences between the Republican ticket and Hillary Clinton; this has left the organization open to charges that it supported the McCain campaign solely out of spite, with no concern as to whether a McCain victory would actually advance Hillary's policy agenda.

Some Democrats argue that the organization's goals contradict Hillary Clinton's stated views, and PUMA's lack of support from Clinton herself has undermined the PUMA position. ^[35] On CNN's Situation Room, Clinton herself had been quoted as saying, "I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that anyone who supported me... understands what a grave error it would be not to vote for Sen. Obama." ^[36] PUMA itself suggests that Hillary is not sincere in her endorsement of Obama, but is simply trying to avoid damage to her position in the party by not openly criticising the candidate. One Democratic state committeewoman who says she supported Clinton, and whose attitude was "Enough with this PUMA stuff," said: "It's not like it's 'Rah rah Obama'. No. But he was our candidate...."^[37]

PUMA was also charged with hypocrisy for claiming that Obama was selected by the party leadership rather than elected by Democratic voters, while at the same time seeking to have the primary results overturned by unelected superdelegates.^{[citation needed]}

Patti Higgins, the Chair of the Alaska Democratic Party, wrote to a PUMA supporter: "Having Senator Clinton’s name on a roll call without having the votes would just embarrass her, waste time, and make people agonize over nothing. I find it difficult to believe that this organization was not an undercover McCain operation."^[38] On August 14, 2008, Senators Clinton and Obama issued a joint news release stating that Senator Clinton's name would be put into nomination and a roll-call vote held at the convention, in response to calls from Clinton supporters.^{[39] [40]} Clinton previously stated at a fundraiser: "[I] believe that we will come out stronger if people feel that their voices were heard and their views were respected. I think that was a very big part of how we actually come out unified."^[39]

Amanda Marcotte of Pandagon had accused PUMA of being a front for McCain advocacy, pointing to founder Darragh Murphy's financial support of McCain in February 2000.^{[41] [42]} Murphy admits donating to McCain, stating that the donation was to help defeat George W. Bush in the primary. She says she voted for Al Gore in the general election, although she did not donate to his campaign. She says she was "devastated when Bush stole the election". ^[43] According to the Huffington Post's Fundrace 2008, Murphy had donated $850 to Clinton's presidential campaign through Q3 2008.^[44] Marcotte's accusation omits Murphy's campaign contributions to Clinton. The donations to Clinton have not yet appeared on the official FEC site as of July 29. ^[45] Bower rejects the claims of Marcotte and others: "People have been trying to paint this as a Trojan horse, you know, as though I'm a Republican, that this was a Republican strategy... No, that's not it at all. From dog-catcher to president, I've voted Democrat."^[46]

Clinton-supporter Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) had argued that while she sees why many have subscribed to the "Puma attitude", she argues that for women "reproductive rights, the economy and a range other issues, the only choice was Obama." She believes that voting for McCain, or letting him win by default, was worse than not having Clinton as the nominee.^[8] Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi had stated that PUMAs and other Clinton supporters "have been less than gracious" for their continuing refusal to support Senator Obama.^[47]

DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee co-chairman James Roosevelt disputes the claim that the Michigan–Florida delegate decision was in any way pre-ordained to favor Obama. He argues that Party rules and regulations were "followed and interpreted fairly". He continues that there were allegations of impropriety in the Texas caucuses, but only one complaint was filed with a delegate.^[8].

[edit] References

[edit] See also

McCain Democrat

[edit] External links

• PUMA08 Website
• PUMA PAC blog
• The Confluence Originating PUMA site
• DailyPUMA PUMA Internet Newspaper
• Stupid Pumas! opinion blog