Posted on 03/25/2008 5:43:30 PM PDT by PJ-Comix
Normally at this stage of the campaign season there is a big lull until the conventions during the summer. The big primaries have passed and the nominees of each party have been designated. All that awaits is their coronations at their respective conventions...until this year. That pattern was SHATTERED in a dramatic fashion by one Rush Limbaugh a few weeks ago when he suggested that Republican voters in Ohio and Texas switch over to the Democrat party for the express purpose of causing chaos. Despite some initial MSM skepticism, Rush's plan worked BEAUTIFULLY. Hillary won both states and is now on track to win big in Pennsylvania in April. As a result she is NOT leaving the race without a huge fight. Some onlookers have called it the Tonya Harding strategy. She might not win the nomination but she is intent on crippling Barack Obama to the extent that he will be unable to win the general election in November. Although the MSM is still trying to downplay in public the devasting effect of Operation Chaos on the Democrat party, many on the Left give full credit to Rush Limbaugh for destroying party unity as you can see in this HUffington POst THREAD titled, "Limbaugh's Lying Voters Under Investigation." This rant is authored by Ari Melber and is reposted from The Nation where it originally appeared. Ari's angry premise is that Rush's Operation Chaos has caused so much chaos that participants must be JAILED for switching parties to vote for Hillary. Yes, stand by for prisons to be filled by voters who underwent mind melding by judges and juries to determine how they really think in order to sentence them. So let us now watch as Operation Chaos is declared an astounding success in Bolshevik Red while the commentary of your humble correspondent, hoping he won't be arrested by the Thought Police, is in the [brackets]:
Limbaugh's Lying Voters Under Investigation
[To be laughed out of court.]
"Operation Chaos," Rush Limbaugh's campaign urging Republicans to vote for Hillary Clinton in Democratic primaries, has been very effective. It doubled Republican turnout in Ohio and Texas, boosting Clinton and prolonging the Democratic race. But in Ohio, it was also almost certainly illegal.
[Will you also be arresting the Democrats who switched parties to vote for McCain?]
Ohio law requires that citizens genuinely support a political party in order to vote in its primary. To change parties for a primary, a citizen must pledge, under the penalty of election falsification, that she is affiliated with the party and "supports" its principles. Lying on the pledge is a felony, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine. The law also stipulates that poll workers have a "duty" to challenge voters who are "not a member of the political party whose ballot the person desires to vote."
[Since the Democrat party has no principles, there is nothing there support. Oh, and how many poll workers challenged voters on this? I think the number is somewhere between nil and none.]
In Cuyahoga, Ohio's largest county, 16,000 Republicans switched parties for the primary last month. Several did so in bad faith, without truly changing parties, according to newspaper interviews and Internet postings. The Cuyahoga Board of Elections recently voted to investigate the matter; a report is expected on March 31. Despite the massive crossover voting, however, prosecutions are considered unlikely. A spokesperson for Ohio's Attorney General told Alternet that it is "very hard to prosecute" crossover voting cases, since the crime depends on proving a voter's motive on Election Day.
[Poor Ari! Apparently NO prison time for Ohio Thought Crime.]
Limbaugh's motives, however, have been perfectly clear from the start. "I'm asking people to cross over, and if they can stomach it and I know it's a difficult thing to do, vote for Clinton," Limbaugh said before the Ohio primary. The goal, he explained, was to ensure Barack Obama was "bloodied up politically" and to extend the Democratic primary "soap opera."
[Mission accomplished!]
Since the Ohio investigation began, Limbaugh has revved up his special brand of self-promotional damage control. He ran several segments defending "Operation Chaos" with the disingenuous argument that politicians also ask for crossover voters. Of course, intent makes all the difference: Reagan Democrats actually supported Reagan. Limbaugh's campaign is under legal scrutiny because he asked people to crossover in bad faith -- to tamper with elections. But for $19.95, Limbaugh is still hawking shirts and caps emblazoned with "Operation Chaos," so listeners can join the program's "street team." Wear one of those shirts to the polls, though, and you just might provide enough evidence of the motive needed for prosecution. The shirts list "mission objectives" like "enjoy liberals tearing each other apart," "prolong" the Democratic primary, "drain the DNC of campaign cash," and "win in November."
[Another mission objective is to make leftwing writers go BERSERK.]
Finally, Limbaugh is lashing out at anyone who notes that he urged thousands of listeners, whether maliciously or ignorantly, to break Ohio law. He recently complained that NBC's Norah O'Donnell and the New Republic's Michael Crowley dared to discuss the issue. Then he was outraged that Fox's Julie Banderas said election law violations must be "taken seriously" and "Republican shock jocks" were possibly "anti-American" for urging people to break the law. And Limbaugh didn't like my recent criticism, either. When asked about crossover voting during an appearance on C-SPAN last week, I said that people should vote on principle -- not to undermine primary races. I also explained that "Operation Chaos" effectively urged people to break Ohio law, if they voted in bad faith, citing a Wired article. Apparently this observation upset Limbaugh, who recently played the clip while calling out "Stuff it, pal, stuff it!" Now it doesn't take much courage to talk back to a recording, and Limbaugh loves playing up partisan fights for his audience. But this is not only about politics. Limbaugh abused his listeners' trust and encouraged potentially illegal conduct. And after a Republican Justice Department spent years hyping voter fraud charges, now some of the most blatant election law violations are being stoked, repeatedly and unrepentantly, by one of the most prominent figures in Republican politics.
[Boo Hoo! Anybody here think poor Ari would be crybabying if Rush were helping his candidate, Obama? And now on to the HUffie reactions...]
live in Ohio and have three "friends", who are republicans that voted for Hillary. Should I turn them in?
[Yes. Turn them in to the Thought Police so they can discern their intentions.]
The Dem's did this too in Michigan back in January (See KoS). Truth is, it pissed me off then and it's no better now. The parties should institute rules to prevent this. Requiring a change in party affiliation prior to primary season would prevent folks from gaming the system. BOTH parties need to make changes as a result of all of this. The Dem's are no better than Rush and crew, contrary to all of the noise folks are making here.
[Uh-Oh, Rush. You might end up with KOmmie KOs as a Thought Crime cellmate.]
Nice to see Operation Chaos is having the desired effect. Hey Democrats, what goes around, comes around with regards to messing with the opposition party and their nominating process and election. Too bad you just can't handle the fact that your nominating process goes on and on, be it the "Power" of Rush or other mitigating factors. If Rush goes to jail, I guess Obama and Clinton will join him in the next jail cell because both publically enlisted the aid of "Independents" and "Republicans" to vote for them. Funny for a party whose members are always touting "Count Every Vote and Make Every Vote Count", that the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Howard Dean and his crew allowed for the disenfranchisement of the voters of Florida and Michigan as "punishment" for moving their Primary dates up. Everyone start singing... "Who's Sorry Now"... It's odd, out of all the comments I have read and heard about how President Bush "screwed up" this country and yet the democratic party can't even run a nomination process without screwing that up and you want to be in power???
[Operation Chaos is the greatest political success in years.]
Were all of you left wing bloggers complaining when the Daily Kos promoted the same crossover for Democrats to try and keep Mitt Romney in the race longer? I thought not, you only whine when it bites you in the butt.
[No cries for jail time for KOmmie KOs by the Left back then.]
Actually motive CAN be proven. It just takes a lot of work.
[It takes intensive Vulcan mind melding.
Is there a RICO case in this?
[There isn't even a PUERTO RICO case in this.]
Crossover votes for a candidate should be welcomed, but votes against our candidate should be exposed as manipulation.
[And you have the mind melding ability to determine when this happens?]
Paying Rush too much attention gives him the ammo he needs to keep himself on the air. He won't go away if ignored, but eventually he will, as his audience will fade into the woodwork, having heard all his talk and become tired of hearing the same old thing.
[Pay no attention to Rush! DAMN IT! I will just pretend not to notice that Rush is DESTROYING my beloved Democrat Party with his Operation Chaos.]
If they gather enough evidence that voters switched because they were following Rush's advice, they might have a case. It would probably be pretty difficult to bring charges against individual voters, but Rush may just have overplayed his hand. Let's hope so. This guy is only a symptom of a larger disease, but getting him off the scene goes a long way toward a cure.
[Perhaps you can locate that leprechaun who will swear under oath that his mind was numbed enough to vote the way Rush wanted.]
I hope this investigation is on a fast tract so that, if anyone has the intention of doing the same in Penna. they will think again. But of course that means these lowlifes have thinking capacity which is a stretch.
[Better put an arrest warrant out on Barack Obama because he was urging the SAME THING in Penna..]
Too late, the rethuglicans have already stacked the Pennslyvanian dem roles with Limbuagh dirty-Americans. Hillary wins the dem nomination thanks to rethuglicans. Way to go ladies.......
[Operation Chaos strikes again!]
go get him Ari!
[With a butterfly net.]
This is just one more reason for the party elders to shut down Hillary's hopeless campaign. Now, in addition to letting the Clintons make fools of them, they're letting Rush Limbaugh make fools of them.
[Hee! Hee! Operation Chaos is providing us with a lot of great laughs, including this DUFU edition.]
before ping!
PING!
I’m not sure how much of this chaos was due to Rush, but I love it!
Let the merriment commence.
Is someone keeping track of stroked out Rats?
Bwah-ha-ha!
10!!!
-bflr-
[There isn't even a PUERTO RICO case in this.]
Oooh, that's a rum pun, there, Peej.
How stupid can they get. I switched on purpose in order to find out more about these wonderful politicians. Lock me up.
The defense: The Poll Workers are Clinton fans.
Rush only mulled over the idea on the airwaves.
It was after the fact that it became successful that he claimed it as his idea.
Hope all's well with you.
It was after the fact that it became successful that he claimed it as his idea.
And making money on it too. : )
Yup L0L
That’s funny.
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