GOP begins closing doorsPosted Thursday, July 14, 2011, at 8:08 AM
There's no reason to panic or even be upset -- yet -- over having to register a party affiliation in order to vote in next May's primary election.
As a practical matter, it won't have much effect, other than adding some extra paperwork for voters and additional headaches for poll workers, although it might reduce the turnout for the election a little. The party affiliation requirement was pushed through the legislature this year by GOP leaders who were concerned that people who weren't Republicans were voting in their primary, possibly skewing the results from what "true" Republicans wanted. There isn't any evidence that "crossover" voting ever had any real impact on the elections, but the concern was there so the GOP-dominated legislature "closed" the primary. In many cases, the Republican primary in Idaho, arguable the "reddest" state in the nation, was more important than the general election. The state's Democratic Party is so incompetent it can't get anybody elected, so whoever won the GOP primary in May was almost certainly going to get elected in November. It's easy to vote in the GOP primary. Just fill out the card, in advance or at the polls, to register as a Republican. Come November, you can vote any way you want, and you can always change your affiliation. The real danger lies in the next step. Rod Beck, the GOP party leader who pushed for the closed primary, now has a second arrow readied in his quiver to "purify" the party. At a Republican leadership meeting later this year, Beck will propose that the party go even further and allow the party leadership, at the state and county central committee level, to "vet" candidates, deciding who can and cannot appear on the GOP ballot. That's a change from the more open nominating petition system currently used. But what it will almost certainly mean is a radical shift of candidates to the far right, away from the more moderate conservatives that we believe form the bulk of the Republican Party in Idaho. The reason is simple. Most people would just as soon politics went away, that they could ignore how the sausage is made as much as possible. As a result, the average citizen doesn't run for precinct committeeman positions. Instead, and both parties suffer from this, you get the guys who are all fired up, far too often the radicals of both parties, running for the positions. Central committees are typically much further from the center than the average voter in their parties. In Utah, a three-term Republican incumbent lost his chance to even appear on the ballot because of a similar rule adopted there, ousted by Tea Party Republicans. In Elmore County, the central committee detests, as "too liberal," state Sen. Tim Corder. By no stretch of the imagination is Corder, arguably our best legislator from this area, a liberal. He's clearly a conservative, just not as right wing as the central committee. There's no question that right now he'd be ruled ineligible to run on the Republican ballot if the central committee had its druthers. Given a choice, they'd back a Tea Party candidate. And this central committee isn't all that unusual. At the last state GOP convention you had entire county central committees voting to eliminate public education in Idaho and to return the state to a gold standard. Those measures didn't pass, but they got far more votes than they should have. There was even an effort in the legislature this year to try and repeal the Constitutional Amendment allowing direct election of federal senators, returning to the system where the legislature decided who would represent the state in Congress (our own Pete Nielsen advocated for that bill). That's because some members of the legislature think Sen. Mike Crapo isn't "pure" enough. Mike is probably our state's best representative to Congress, and is in a position by the next election to move into the rarified heights of the national power structure, giving Idaho a voice at the table of power. But he's a moderate conservative who doesn't always slavishly follow the party line. He actually thinks before he votes. Closing the primary isn't a big deal. But if the GOP takes the next step, and starts vetting its candidates for "ideological purity," two things are going to happen. First, the party will not be able to grow and change with the times. Second, they'll start making moderate to slightly conservative Democrats an attractive alternative to increasingly radical Republican candidates. The first step was OK. The second step would be a disaster to the Idaho GOP in the long run. Comments Showing comments in chronological order [Show most recent comments first] |
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First of all......Corder IS a liberal. No conservative backs the illegals where benefits are concerned. No conservative is "pro-tax", and EVERY true conservative is Pro-2nd Amendment, and Corder has only changed his views on that since it became politically IMPERATIVE to do so. I remember his run against Alexander and the NRA's rating.
He was a registered Democrat at one time, and only "changed parties" to "up" his chances in a "red state."
Crapo ISN'T "pure enough." If he WAS, he'd push to get us OUT of the U.N.
I AGREE on thst "2nd step" Beck is WRONG on that one. But closing our primaries is most DEFINITELY the right thig to do...........and crossover voting HAS been a detrement.
Crossover voting has allowed two things, if you're "the OTHER guy".......
1. It allows you to support the guy who is likely to work with YOUR side after he gets in
2. It can also allow you to help SELECT who your party's OPPONENT might be in the fall-------and isn't THAT handy!!
Finally......our party should NEVER "change with the times." That's why America's in trouble now, we've gotten AWAY from God, the Constitution, our principles and have "compromised" with "POLITICAL CORRECTNESS!"
The "left" has always been corrupt.....WE don't need to swing over there WITH them!.....and if you actually LOOKED at the mid-terms last year......the RIGHT has even started sifting out its OWN worthless incumbents.......replacing them with "fresh blood."
Even the most CORRUPT Democrats have to literally DIE in office before THEIR voters will do anything about it.
NO..................closing OUR prmaries IS the right thing to do.
And it's more than fair...............last I recall.....WE don't get to "stack the deck" by voting in THEIR "caucuses", do we?
Our founders had it right th FIRST time!
A little music that sums it up nicely:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DohRa9lsx...
Pretty cool video, Geoff............looks like what's going on in D.C. right now!
Wife & I just got back from the courthouse a little while ago, proudly registering OUR affiliation.
The RINO's in this state are gonna have to do it on their own from now on, and can't rely on assistance from the Beatles anymore............
.....you remember THAT song....."I get by with a little "help from my friends,"
Dont allow the genral puclic to vote in the primaries. Ha Ha whats next. You are so wrapped up in red you've lost common sense. Dont forget it was the repubs who got us into this mess. To big a government-lets deregulate and let them good ole boys have at the piggy bank. Worked well didnt it. Bail out,Bail out, started by George jr. who also raised the debt ceiling 7 times in 8 years. Take SOME responsibilty for YOUR party.
Hey dude.........The Dems don't allow it either!.....we're just now levelling out the playing field......now, all of sudden, it's "unfair" & "mean-spirited."
"Common Sense?" who else but a band of idiots would continue to want to SPEND their way out of DEBT?
Bush ran it to just over 5 trillion, took EIGHT years to do it INCLUDING a friggin' WAR dropped into his lap.
In just TWO years, these meatballs of YOURS have TRIPLED it, and want nearly THREE TRILLION MORE without having to cut-back anywhere.
Oh we DO......we DO take a "little" responsibility for the first FIVE-T.......but not even all of THAT, since YOUR side controlled the Congress (AND the CHECKBOOK) for Bush's last two years.
So only a PART of that 5-trillion was "inherited" from Bush. TODAY it is 14.3, and the last NINE (over the past two years-----where you libs have controlled it ALL)------the last NINE TRILLION of that belongs to OBAMA
And even THAT isn't enough-------he now wants nearly 3 trillion MORE!
His "stimulous" has cost $278,000 per EACH JOB "created", and he's made it known he'd like to create ANOTHER "stimulous" if he can!
No Outlaw.......set the glass of raspberry down.........it's the repubs who are trying to STOP this "mess."
You BET we take responsibility for our party, and most of this fed-up country is WITH us.....(See 2010 Mid-terms).
It isn't "Bush's fault" anymore, no matter how desperately you guys want it to be.
Suddenly finding itself with full complete power over all three branches......the Dems got ARROGANT, shut the other side out as it pushed bill after bill down the public's throat.
Fine.............you guys can explain it all to the voters next year.
"Yes it IS........Doctor Savage............"
YES IT IS!
Homer......they see NOTHING except what they've been TRAINED to see....either through decades of family trees, or through their pinko college professors.
They do NOT realize that the party they worship TODAY, is NOT the party of their grandparents, or even their PARENTS in some cases.
The "party of the poor, the down-trodden, the needy", has become the party of OPPORTUNITY for their politicians.
By continually giving tax money so widely and freely, they have made it a way of life for many out there. They continue to TAKE from the working and giving to so many of the scammers, it has become EASIER to take welfare/food stamps and everything else.....thsn it is to get a job!
Democrat politicians know that if you keep "those freebies" going out.....those "grateful votes" will keep coming in. An Amnesty alone, would represent a potential 13 million votes, which would MORE than off-set any "hanging chads" in a tight race.
This lawsuit against Arizona has NOTHING TO DO with "Pedro being profiled" as he's out there trying to provide for his family back in Mexico.....
But the Dems have been known as the "party of the people" for so long now, they are still trying to RIDE on those coat-tails. But this ain't about Pedro's struggles................this is totally about votes in 2012 for a President who will have his back to the wall. Anyone who thinks otherwise needs to be drug-tested.
They bow to, and serve a party that USED to "represent them. Today, Democratic voters are being robbed and sold out right along with the rest of us....yet in their minds, it is somehow "different" because most or all of the signatures are followed by a (D).
Not everyone knows this, but Ronald Reagan, was once a Democrat HIMSELF. When asked by a reporter why he left the Democratic Party, "Uncle Ronnie was right to the point...............
"I never left the Democratic Party........
......the Democratic Party left ME!"
MEANING:.....they are no longer the "darlings of the people" our mommies and daddies fell in love with.
And Reagan had LIVED through many administrations and SAW the "desertion" in favor of personal gains.
And we KNOW about Conservative support and what affects it.........McCain did NOT have his conservative base. Sarah Palin brought him more votes than he could have gotten without her. It wasn't enough, but dedicated voters DO make a difference.
It's important that we don't end up with Romney, Gingrich or someone like that...........not that THEY couldn't beat Obama....but they aren't the best we can do.
You know, it's sad to see that more people don't read or study history, and even fewer remember. (Didn't someone once mention that those who fail to learn from history are bound to repeat history - or something similiar). Thinking back to the bad old days of the Cold War, seems to me that many of the Communist counties claimed to hold (free) elections after the Central Party chose the candidates and told the people to vote. Seems there are a few countries still doing that.....
Kinda sounds like what Rod Beck is pushing.
Beck is correct on closing the primaries, but trying to decide who gets to RUN IS communistic as far as I'm concerned.
Registered Republicans are generally smart enough to nominate the right people (except for McCain in 2010).
So Beck is WRONG about that, and I have no hangups about chastizing "one of our own" when one of them screws up.
(Something you'll RARELY ever see a Dem do........"MY knucklehead, right or wrong!)
I think Labrador was a bad selection as well.
That's because they were harnessed together and being CONTROLLED. Not because they WANTED to.
And the knuckleheads we elect, come from the KNUCKLEHEADS who vote (D) or (R), just because "grandma & grandpa" always did. The ones who cannot or WILL not think for thmselves.
Did you hear what the "Annointed One" just said, Homer?.........."80% of the American people favor "tax hikes!"
EIGHTY PERCENT! He was supposed to have quit smoking, but if he has started again, he's smoking something "funny" if he actually believes that 4 out of 5 people want their TAXES raised some more!
Revenue-wise..........we don't need more taxes------we need more tax-PAYERS.
That means we need more jobs.
And THAT means we need to STOP THREATENING the people who HIRE...................so that they WILL!
People who make money....spend it in the economy.
And the economy GROWS.
Liberals are historically too stupid to see that. The only tune THEY know is "TAX THE RICH"....."TAX THE RICH"....."TAX THE RICH."
THEN, when the "rich" no longer hire, cut BACK, or move their operations overseas, (due to increased taxes, MORE regulations and increasing UNION demands)............the libs take to the streets crying "Where's the jobs?"
And as I write this, our National Debt has now gone from 14.3 to 14.5......a week or so ago, unemployment across the nation rose from 9.1 to 9.2
We need to keep going after the rich, don't we?
And they still don't want to cut.
The "saddle's on" and "Paul" is tightening the cinch.
Homer, that list you just posted is TOTAL PROOF that these idiots don't know where to cut!
And that isn't even TOUCHING "Foreugn Aid!"
They immdiately turn on AMERICAN "entitlements", but naturally do NOTHING to impair their "FUTURE ILLEGAL VOTERS!"
Saturday morning.........time to shower & dress, walk around Railroad Park & see if there's anybody down there I know this morning.
Mike- referring back up several posts, you and I have something upon which we agree- that requiring the central committee to vet our candidates before they can even be on the ballot is a very bad idea. Turns out, though, that it wasn't just Rod Beck's idea, though he did present it to the Ada committee. According to Betsy Russell's Eye on Boise article, it was our very own Elmore County Chair, Barry Peterson, who proposed it. It is these kinds of back-door, out-of-the-view-of-the-voters shenanigans that motivated me to stick my arm into the sausage making meat grinder that is county central committee politics. While you and I will never agree on a great many things, I think we do agree that sunshine is the best disinfectant, and that trying to take away the voters' right to choose our candidates under the guise of ideological purity is the very model of totalitarianism we have spent 200 years trying to prevent.
Here's the article:
http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/boise/201...
I think Labrador was a bad selection as well.
-- Posted by bazookaman on Fri, Jul 15, 2011, at 7:04 PM
That's why you voted (oops) supported Minnick right?
Well acording to your Sheriff Jo....
"Congress needs a conservative Republican who understands immigration law. Raul Labrador will help America solve the problem of illegal immigration,"
http://www.examiner.com/ada-county-elect...
If Joe said that, HE was wrong, and everybody IS from time to time.
I've said this before and I don't mind repeating it.............I'm a hardcore rightwinger, but I will NOT just automatically stand behind everybody that has an (R) after his name. I always put COUNTRY ahead of "party." I've even been known to vote for DEMOCRATS occasionally, on those rare occasions when a decent one is on the ballot.
What has ALWAYS bothered me about Labrador, was his campaign funding from the East Coast. What do THEY have to do with Idaho?.....and what do they expect in RETURN from HIM? I don't trust it.
Joe Arpaio IS a great sheriff, though, and whoever replaces Obama next year would be well-served to fire Holder and make JOE the new Attorney General, because we KNOW whose side HE would take!