GOP Stiff Arms Democracy

The more I read about the GOP tactics in the Washington state primary on Saturday the farther my jaw drops. How can something like this be happening in this day and age? We all know the GOP has a pretty good track record of voter suppression but that’s usually aimed at competing parties and not at one of their own. Let’s see if I can make this make sense.

After the Republican nominee John McCain had already had his butt whipped twice by Bible thumping Mike Huckabee just a few hours earlier in Kansas and Louisiana-- extremely embarrassing for the nominee and Party I’m sure-- and trailing for most of the vote count in Washington state, McCain begins to barely pull ahead as the voting draws to a close. And then, with no legal justification, and with McCain ahead of Huckabee by only 242 votes the chairman of the Washington GOP, Luke Esser, orders the counting to stop and declares McCain the winner. The difference between McCain and Huckabee was 242 votes or 1.8% with over 1,500 votes remaining and they aren’t even saying what precincts remain and which have been counted. The official word from the GOP is, McCain has enough votes, it’s over. I would write a treatise on how illegal this is even though I know full well that primaries are controlled by the parties, but right now I’m still in shock that it even happened.

All this begs the question why stop the counting? Why not just find out who really won? GOP Chairman Esser explains,

“Maybe it would have been safer if I hadn't said anything. But it was an exciting and historic day for the state and I thought if I was confident about what the outcome would be I should share that with the people who had gone out to their caucuses.”

So it would have been safer not to tell people that they aren’t going to bother counting the votes. That we already know who’s going to win so why bother? Interesting take on democracy there Mr. Esser.

Needless to say Mike Huckabee isn’t too happy about the whole thing. He’s already compared it to the Soviet Union and refused to concede the race.

"That is not what we do in American elections... Maybe that's how they used to conduct it in the old Soviet Union, but you don't just throw people's votes out and say, 'well, we're not going to bother counting them because we kind of think we know where this was going.'"

As unbelievable as all this sounds, I can’t figure out why the GOP would do this. Worst case scenario for the GOP is that the all but sealed-up nominee, McCain, loses three times in one day, which by itself is rather hilarious but it’s not like Huckabee could pull off any kind of upset. He trails too far in delegate count and it’s not like he’s the prized poster boy of conservatism that Rush Limbaugh is choosing as his next president. If I recall correctly Limbaugh said that if either McCain or Huckabee is the nominee it would destroy the Republican Party. So what’s the big deal if Huck does win three times in one day? He could win from here till April and I still don’t think he could catch McCain in the delegate count. The only reason I can think of is that the GOP doesn’t want to even flirt with the idea that the Republican establishment is very unhappy with their nominee. And if stopping an election in mid-count quells some of the uprising that may arise, then something as simple as fixing elections is what they’ll do to ward off the mobs. All the while trying their hardest to demonstrate that the GOP is very strong and united and McCain is so popular amongst party members that even on non-Super Tuesday weekend voting he’s still winning.

I’m telling ya, this is crazy stuff. As a history person I don't think I've ever heard of this before. Sure during Reconstruction some very messed up stuff happened in both the North and the South, but in modern day Party politics this is very unique. There might a good chance the GOP will call off the rest of the primaries and just declare McCain the nominee. Why waste all that money on elections when they aren't even going to count the votes. Save the money for the General Election because they are really going to need it.

*Update:

Huck writes Chairman Esser, with grammatical errors and everything.



Tags: John McCain, Ron Paul, Huckabee, Washington state primary

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Big Love Quits, Leaves Open Possibility of Plural Presidency (Update)

Much to my demise, Big Love Mitt Romney has called it quits. As a blogger I have to come clean and state I'm ashamed I staked my reputation on his nomination.

As Mitt said today, "This is not an easy decision for me. I hate to lose. My family, my friends and our supporters [readers]… many of you right here in this room [blog page]… have given a great deal to get me where I have a shot at becoming President [a reputable blogger]." In that same spirit, I also concede that I was wrong about Big Love. I was wrong to think that someone could commit monumental flipflops without the public paying much attention. I was also wrong to stake my blogginess on the fate of someone who believes the Garden of Eden is in Missouri and when Jesus returns he'll return to Jackson County, Missouri to setup his new Celestial Kingdom. I honestly thought that people were past the sort of politics where values mattered and where people were taken at their word, even if they changed their word nearly every time they spoke. I was wrong and I've learned a lesson.

As Mitt spoke today defining his decision to quit his bid for the presidency, he gave noticeable nods to McCain for a possible plural presidency where Mitt can focus on the economy and McCain gets to be the tough foreign policy president.

I disagree with Senator McCain on a number of issues, as you know. But I agree with him on doing whatever it takes to be successful in Iraq, on finding and executing Usama bin Laden, and on eliminating Al Qaeda and terror. If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror.

Yes in a time of war it would be terrible to let a candidate who believes Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 win the presidency. Because we are at war, a war in which Romney doesn't want any of his five sons fighting in, he will quit the race for president to keep the enemy liberal insurgent terrorists from winning. Such a noble cause.

Since Republicans/neoconservatives are so against McCain's nomination, there is the possibility they would be open to a plural presidency, such as McCain as 1st wife 1st president for his hawkish, lunatic expansion of the war in Iraq to wherever we see fit, with Romney as 2nd wife 2nd president in charge of economic issues-- we could call it Mittnomics, and with Huckabee as 3rd wife 3rd president in charge of all social issues like amending the Constitution to fit God's standards as he prophesies them to Huck. The plural presidency is the answer for the neocons. This I'll stick my reputation on!

*Update:

A reader over at TPM has picked up on an interesting point about Mitt's sons, who have so gloriously fought in the front lines of their dad's campaign, but now that the campaign is over are they going to go serve their country in Iraq now? After all, Romney himself called the war the most important feature as to why he was quitting the race:

And finally, let’s consider the greatest challenge facing America–and facing the entire civilized world: the threat of violent, radical Jihad...

...To battle this threat, we have sent the most courageous and brave soldiers in the world. But their numbers have been depleted by the Clinton years when troops were reduced by 500,000, when 80 ships were retired from the Navy, and when our human intelligence was slashed by 25%...

...If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror.

There you have it. The war on terror is so important Romney is willing to quit his campaign to ensure a victory. Five sons, all draft age, such an important battle for our future, what will they do? Will they aid a surrender or will they go fight?

Tags: Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, McCain, "space shuttle"

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Shut the Huck Up!

I'm not sure there's a more subtle summary of what the Republican Party has become than to watch Mike Huckabee explain his belief that the Constitution of the United States of America be amended to meet God's standards. In doing so, Huckabee selects two issues that he deems God believes to be important, abortion and gay marriage. That’s it. Those two things are “God’s standards” according to Huckabee, the right wing, the Christian right and the millions of other Republican activists who think God’s on their side.



By selecting only those two issues, Huckabee intentionally leaves out the hundreds of other standards God set out in the word. Such as sympathy for the poor; turning the other cheek; not having idols; women not speaking unless their husbands tell them they can; etc., etc. Huckabee limits God to two random issues, which to me is worse than leaving God out all together. Who are any of us to limit God? God is not bound by human words or human deeds; and neither is God limited or bound by the Constitution. This is religious fanaticism.

These people are religious extremists. No different than the ones Fox News loves to rant about all day long. This is the very reason why a separation of church and state is so necessary and why the Founding Fathers, who were afraid of Puritan influence on the public and any state run religion, insisted religion be separate from the government.

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