As bad as they say in MS?

[Stetto, man...]

There's a lot of chat going on about Thad Chochran's democrat victory in a republican-only primary runoff, complete with full support and encouragement by the rnc. I wasn't following the race especially close, but I was aware that Chochran is one of those who, like any dem out there, has no lower threshold to sink under.

Considering the total lack of legal ethic in politics and the judicial system (see how Franken was "elected"), what are the odds that this cheat will stand? HiTemp, you're close, and I imagine you're also getting your ears stuffed with this?

[HiTemp]

Well no big secret here. Mississippi is an open primary state where any voter, declared or not, can cast votes in the primary so long as they only vote for one party. I think the practice is called "raiding," where members of one party will go vote the opposite party ballot just to vote for the weaker guy in order to increase the odds in the general election. In this case, the Dems were getting out the Chochran vote, Bloomberg was spreading money around, the RNC was backing Cochran (they sure aren't going to support the Tea Party candidate), and it was still a close election. It's a very slimy process but remember it takes willingness at the state legislative level to change it, and that isn't on the agenda in MS.

Only something like 12 or 13 states have closed primaries as I recall. FL has closed primaries.

So it's easy to rig the game there and all the participants know it. That is why both candidates for the R ticket spent time going around campaigning to Dems. The Dem candidate in the general election doesn't have a prayer of a chance, so it didn't hurt anyone to go cross-party voting in the primary. Greasy system, but it is what they have to work with.

MS is a weird place for politics. You'll find it's primarily divided up into parties based on racial demographics. I think only 6% of white voters are registered D, and 3% of blacks are registered R. No R is going to get a large turnout of D's in a primary without a lot of money and a lot of help. It appears Chochran had plenty of both.

The one great thing about primary season down here is it brings to public view the names of some otherwise unknown candidates. For example, over in AL just the other side of the state line there is a candidate for Sheriff named "Hoss Mac." Is that a manly name or what? Something's going down here, call Sheriff Hoss! Another candidate for treasurer is Stanley Biekerstein. Now that's a guy who sounds like he's looked over a spreadsheet or two. Yet if their names were reversed for those offices, they wouldn't sound like guys for the job.

[Stetto, man...]

Well, I'm seeing that a lot of the entrenched gop sleaze are winning their primaries, even with heavies like Cruz & Palin endorsing and campaigning for Tea candidates. I'm more and more convinced now that 2010 will NOT be repeating, and have doubts that republicans will hold the house and keep the close minority in the senate. Franken will keep his seat here, I have no doubt. The vote will again split between the usual gop slob and the conservative guy, independent party candidate Kevin Terrill, who I'm not only voting for but actively pushing to anyone who'll listen. Collin Peterson, Monsanto's pocket doll, is a shoe in with the corporate farm welfare monkeys.

2016 won't even matter by 2016.

[HiTemp]

A lot of the entrenched ones were never in any danger; if they were, things would change a bit. When they believe they have it locked up, there is no incentive for them to do anything else but whatever serves their own power interest. The people of those states are voting for them, for whatever reasons they have. Lot of times they don't follow politics at all except what CNN or NBC tells them and they believe it because they saw it on TV. With a populace that dumbed down, you can't expect much action to follow.

Maybe people are just like I'm getting to be - completely cynical of the whole process. Doesn't matter who you vote for, you get someone who promises the world and has absolutely no problem ignoring those promises once their ass is in the seat. There is no way to really hold them accountable and now the Executive has figured that out as well but they are acting whereas our entrenched representatives are NOT acting other than to hold hearings and put on public sparring matches that only make them look stupid.

There are ways they can hold the WH accountable but they simply choose not to. They control the purse of government but won't use that power because of "tradition," meanwhile Reid is over in the Senate refusing to take up bills and using the nuclear option that McCain told us can't be used because it would violate the tradition of the Senate. If a boxer had the strategery of going in the ring and take as many blows as the other guy could hand out but not punch back, they might get the fight but no one would ever consider them a serious contender. That's the problem facing the R's right now. They can't deliver what they promised and they refuse to try.

[Grug - American Neanderthal]

I also thought I read that Mississippi topped the list of most politically corrupt state recently. Which would explain how a loser can win a run off.

[Stetto, man...]

Wow.

news.yahoo.com/gop-runoff-shows-angle-minority-voting-082837713--election.html

Swallowing my tongue is not a habit I want to get into, just found that out reading this. With the obvious slapping them in the face, these people actually believe that these "minority" voters cast in the republican primary runoff to support Chochran? It was an Operation Chaos-style ambush, and from the fact that voter rolls are illegally being restricted from the challengers view I can say without a lick of doubt that the democrat-ization of the gop is complete.

Many are urging McDaniels to run a write-in campaign. I really hope he does. Right now he's simply trying to exercise his legal right to ferret out a criminal (felonious) scheme to defraud the electorate, by the flippin' gop, no less!

[HiTemp]

What happened in MS is basically the establishment R guy took the position that is normally taken by Dems... that the Tea Party candidate was out to stop blacks from voting. They even produced a pamphlet that made the claim. The Dems were happy to help. MS is not exactly known for its educated black populace, so the results were predictable. Just simple dirty politics.. tell a big lie and stick to it.

The establishment R's seem to be celebrating this as a novel move, one to keep in the arsenal but I believe it's about as useful as the NYT "advising" the R's to select McCain as their best candidate for president. Works in a primary, but will blow up in their faces when the Dems pull it on them in the general elections.

In a related story in Politico today about Iowa state politics, the Rand Paul crowd has been purged at the state level and replaced with establishment R types friendly to Sen. Grassley. There was a quote from the new GOP chairman Kaufman, who said this about himself: “But Kaufmann denied that he’s anything but a conservative Republican who has occasionally made some moderate votes.”

A conservative Republican who has occasionally made some moderate votes. Is that like an honest person who has occasionally robbed some banks? A virgin who has occasionally performed sexual acts?

A while back I said that when truth doesn't matter anymore, you essentially have no core in a society, then all rules and laws become meaningless. Truth sure seems to be hard to come by nowadays, and take a look around at society. People in positions of power do and say whatever they want and not only do people not demand their heads on a pike (unless they say something racist, anti-gay, or disbelieve in global warming), but rush to support those same lying bastages.

The GOP is has been relying on people believing they will act in a certain way, against what they see as bad or disproven policies of Dems. They will NOT act; they are afraid, so they just want to be friends with the press and do what they can to stay in power. They aren't worth supporting anymore because they are just moving the scale toward eventual dictatorship.

[zrct02]

Anyone still think I'm wrong when I say we're hosed?

[Grug - American Neanderthal]

The GOP is just as stupid ad democrat voters apparently thinking they have turned the page and have found a new base to appeal to. All they have to do is become democrats and they can beat a republican by gaming the primary. These people are not going to vote for Cochran in the general, the dems will trot out word for word what he used against McDanial, and now he has lost the teaparty vote who might have held their nose for him as well, that seat just went to the dems, wait and see.

Then we have Jesse Jackson portraying this as a watershed moment for blacks? "You cannot win in the new South or win in national elections with all-white primaries. This is a new America today." Were primaries restricted down there to white folks only? No, this was fear mongering that someone may get elected that is not going to promise to send wheel barrels of money back to the po' folk, even though they get very little and are permanently kept dependent just for this reason.

Anyone still think I'm wrong when I say we're hosed?

Nope, except back when you 1st said it, we had several opportunities to turn around, but we are headed for full on tyranny and eventual civil war.

I know a lot of Prius liberals roll their eyes thinking any insurrection will be over in a week with a Stryker parked on the local Teaparty guy with them cheering on waving Obama flags, but they are about to embark on living the things they only glimpse in the news. And its not going to start in DC, its going to start in the local or maybe state level with people fed up with corruption in the supposed representation that leaves them little choice when they can no longer even function a semblance of ordinary life, giving up the 1st world amenities to afford the govt mandated healthcare insurance and wealth confiscation on top of that.