A “puma” is a cougar (Puma concolor). PUMA also stands for “Party Unity My Ass,” an organization formed June 1, 2008 of supporters of New York Senator Hillary Clinton in her unsuccessful bid for the Democrat presidential nomination against Barack Obama. Obama’s supporters encouraged Clinton’s supporters to unite behind Obama, but the PUMAs initially held out. “PUMA” was first used on April 1, 2008, on the blog The Confluence by blogger “riverdaughter.”
 
The PUMA name was changed to “People United Means Action” and a PUMA PAC (political action committee) was formed. The original meaning of PUMA (“party unity my ass”) is still used as a political term in both Democrat and Republican parties.
   
 
Wikipedia: People United Means Action
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. PUMA began as an effort of supporters of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton who believed that Clinton should have been the Democratic nominee. 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.”
 
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. PUMA originated out of online comments of a group of Clinton supporters on a pro-Clinton blog, The Confluence.
 
PUMA is also part of a coalition of online activists with similar goals, the JustSayNoDeal coalition. 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. 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. 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.
 
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. Further, PUMA argues that Obama was unfairly advantaged by the ruling by the Rules and Bylaws Committee on seating Florida and Michigan delegates..
 
Finally, PUMA members point to charges that the media directed sexism and misogyny 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. 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.”

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.
 
Urban Dictionary
PUMA
Party Unity, My Ass
McCain and Palin are going PUMA hunting
by bearmico Aug 29, 2008
 
PUMA
PUMA is the name of a political action committee (and the supporters thereof) formed to protest the selection of Barack Obama for the Democratic Party’s 2008 presidential nomination, preferring Hillary Clinton as a candidate. PUMA stands alternatively for “People United Means Action” and “Party Unity My Ass!”
“Angry PUMAs on the prowl in Denver” (headline from Salon magazine, 8/26/08)
by JoyMama Aug 26, 2008
   
Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary
Main Entry: pu·ma
Pronunciation: \ˈpü-mə, ˈpyü-\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural pumas also puma
Etymology: Spanish, from Quechua
Date: 1774
: cougar; also : the fur or pelt of a cougar
   
The Confluence
Ok, Let’s Nip This Meme in the Bud Right Now
Posted on April 1, 2008 by riverdaughter
Damn, Hillary Clinton!  The race is virtually tied (and with MI and FL *actually* tied) and she has the unmitigated gall to want to continue to let people vote.  She wants to drag this out to the convention.  And now Kos, doing his best Natalie Imbruglia impersonation,  is blaming Hillary for ripping the Democratic party asunder.  Oh, woe is me!
 
HI, Will!  I don’t even know you yet but I am inventing PUMA, right this every second.  Party Unity My Ass.  See?  It’s like Back to the Future. Isn’t this cool?
   
The Confluence
The PUMA un-Party is born
Posted on June 1, 2008 by riverdaughter
So, the so-called “Old Coalition” is just so five minutes ago, eh?
 
Not so fast, guys. We are forming our own party. We are the PUMAs. Meaning Party Unity My Ass. (h/t SM for the title)
 
Oh, and Chris Van Hollen should stop expecting Hillary Clinton to do all of Obama’s heavy lifting for him. It is not her job to unify the party for him. It’s time he did his own work for a change.
 
She can urge, cajole and campaign for him. We will follow our consciences. And as voters no longer affiliated with the Democratic Party, we feel no obligation to support it’s nominee. So, don’t even bother with the Unity shtick, DNC members. Frankly, we don’t give a damn.
     
The Confluence
Monday: PUMA Power
Posted on June 2, 2008 by riverdaughter
The Party Unity My Ass un-Party (PUMA) was born yesterday. We already have many new members. But, some of you may ask, what does it mean? How can we make a difference? Before I get to that, I’d like to refer you to one of Anglachel’s latest posts, The Idea of Obama.
   
Progressive Independent
slimbox 
Fri Jul-04-08 08:43 AM
Reply #58: They are PUMAs (Party Unity My Ass!!! Great name.)
 
http://www.hillaryclintonforum.net/discussion/show…
http://WWW.PUMAPACUSA.ORG/
http://www.pumaparty.com/forum/
These people are as bad as the Obama sycophants…
   
The Confluence
Tuesday: What is PUMA?
Posted on January 6, 2009 by riverdaughter
The NY Times asked this question yesterday, or so I’ve heard.
 
I’ll tell you what we’re not.  We are not the kind of people who are concerned with whether our vaginas are as fresh and sweet as a Massengill douche.
 
Oddly enough, our ability to make noise and vote appear to be independent of our vaginal status.  Some of us don’t even HAVE vaginas.  {{gasp!}}