The amazing conclusion to yesterday’s snafu involving the Democratic platform’s language on Israel. After an evening of bad press they decided to reinsert the language about Jerusalem being the capital of Israel, along with some language about God after people noticed that the phrase “God-given” in the 2008 platform had been dropped in the new one. Simple process, in theory: Have someone from the floor propose adding the new language, then let the delegates approve it via a voice vote. The result? A trainwreck so awful that even Paul Begala didn’t try to spin it.

As you’ll see, Villaraigosa’s astonishment that there are so many nays is palpable, and pure gold. Reporters were taken aback too:

wow RT @ByronTau: Talk about bad optics. RT @Timodc: Widespread boos for Jerusalem and God in the convention hall

— Jon Ward (@jonward11) September 5, 2012

As were some delegates:

A California delegate just told me she screamed “yes” on the platform vote and found the loud no votes on Israel “disturbing”

— Ben Smith (@benyt) September 5, 2012

To my ear it’s hard to tell which side had the better of it, but a few people on the scene said there was little doubt:

"It seemed pretty clear to me that the 'No's' had it." – CNN's Dana Bash

— Matt Lewis (@mattklewis) September 5, 2012

@BuzzFeedAndrew from NY delegation it sounded more than 2/3 opposed

— Alex Yudelson (@AlexYudelson) September 5, 2012

Mollie Hemingway’s right that the boos at the end are ambiguous. Some people might be booing the language added to the platform, others are likely booing the procedural sham by which Villaraigosa railroaded this through even though there obviously wasn’t two-thirds support for the amendment. (John Boehner and the RNC railroaded their own delegates just last week.) The takeaway, though, for attack-ad purposes isn’t the boos but the degree of opposition to adding the language in the first place. In a few years, they’ll quietly omit it without a second thought. Be who you are, guys.

Update: Let the damage control begin:

A Democratic source emails: " The President personally interveaned to strengthen the language. "

— Ben Smith (@benyt) September 5, 2012

That’s the second time in 24 hours that Obama’s been forced to disclaim responsibility for some terribly counterproductive messaging at the convention. Weird how the rank-and-file have these crazy ideas that he in no way shares, isn’t it?

Update: Noah Pollak asks a good question:

https://twitter.com/NoahPollak/status/243475933372223488

July 2012:

Update: Via DrewM, I’m amazed to see that the left’s biggest site apparently is going all-in on the side of the nays. The banner headline at HuffPo tonight:

Update: Politico’s Dylan Byers is watching the cable nets for reaction. As of 7:05 ET:

In today’s edition of “choose your own adventure” news, the amount of times the word “Jerusalem” was mentioned on each channel between 12 p.m. and 7 p.m. today:

Fox News: 33 times

CNN: 16 times

MSNBC: 0 times

Update: Byers updates to say that MSNBC finally got around to mentioning the Jerusalem language in the Democrats’ platform in the 7 p.m. hour tonight.