Velma Berger – 6/26/08

This page was last updated on June 26, 2008.

Politics turn off former Democrat; Velma Berger; Beaver County Times; June 26, 2008.

From February 2005 through January 2008, Ms. Berger had a series of at least 26 Bush and Iraqi-bashing letters. In one letter, Ms. Berger told us she was proud of John Murtha. In another letter, Ms. Berger actually claimed she has “a clock ticking down to Bush’s last day in office” and that she “carr[ies] it on [her] purse everywhere [she] go[es].” More often than not, the letters ended with something like “Bring our troops home now.” We’ve seen no similar letters for nearly five months.

Below is a detailed critique of the letter.

“I think that since the primary elections, especially the Democratic one, that we have become more divided than ever.

“The party elite chose their favorite before the campaign began. Also, our local delegates did not follow the will and wishes of the people in their districts.”

[RWC] Though his district went for Hillary Clinton in the primary, Jason Altmire committed his superdelegate vote to Barack Obama. In what I believe was a “weaselly” act, Mr. Altmire didn’t make the commitment until after Mr. Obama clinched the nomination.

“There is always talk of old backroom, closed-door politics. Now, they do the same thing up front and on television. The leaders take one candidate’s delegates they worked for and give them to the candidate who didn’t earn them.

“When that wasn’t enough, they took a few more, enough to win. This is democracy at work? We are supposed to be an example to the rest of the world.”

[RWC] Where has Ms. Berger been? What did she believe the purpose of superdelegates was? They were specifically instituted to give party muckety mucks more say over the nomination process than voters. The evil Republicans don’t have “superdelegates,” relying solely on election results.

“I have been a Democrat for 60 years, but I no longer like what I see and hear. I will now be a proud independent.”

[RWC] In case you haven’t figured it out, Ms. Berger is a PO’d Hillary Clinton supporter. Back in March, Ms. Berger wrote one letter declaring her support for Mrs. Clinton and another going after Barack Obama.

Though Ms. Berger asserts she “will now be a proud independent,” her body of work indicates she will continue to support the leftist candidate, whoever that is. Come November after her short-term anger has subsided, I believe it’s safe to say Ms. Berger will cast her vote for Mr. Obama.