Posted on 01/21/2008 5:35:56 AM PST by SE Mom
Just whose primary elections have we been following so closely? If you think they were Republican affairs, think again. Iowa, New Hampshire, Michigan and South Carolina all allow crossover voters -- independents and Democrats -- to vote in the Republican primaries. In Florida, only registered Republicans can vote in the Republican primary. Though Florida isn’t a typical Red state, it will be the first real barometer of Republican voters’ thinking.
There’s a reason no clear leader has emerged from the crowd: so far, only a tiny minority of Republicans have actually voted, and the results do not reflect any Republican consensus. Why? In Michigan, for example, the Kos Kidz were very active pushing hard for Dems to vote in the Republican primary to cause whatever mischief they could manage. We are left to wonder how the crossover voters have skewed the result. Were they decisive or did they just affect at the margins?
...
Any Republican voters who aren’t disgusted with the primary process to date haven’t paid enough attention to it. It’s bad enough that McCain and Huckabee have signed on to the global warming nonsense. But it’s worse that candidates who sign on to liberal positions aren’t taken to task for it.
The Republican Party has allowed its opponents to capture the primary process. If Republicans are going to choose a nominee they can rally around, they have to compel the candidates to take stands on the issues that matter to them most. Unless a candidate does that, he can’t possibly win in November.
(Excerpt) Read more at humanevents.com ...
Great article SE Mom. This republican primary selection process needs to be fixed by the next election. I never knew how screwed up it was till now.
That’s pretty bad, and childish too. The media will one day bring about the death of this country, unless they return to doing their job the way its supposed to be done.
Oh I sure did witness it- and immediately turned to CNN.
I was never one who viewed FOX as the conservative channel- but I DID believe they attempted to provide a more balanced view. To lose respect for Brit Hume has been almost personal- I depended on him to be a straight shooter and now realize I can’t trust him anymore.
In trying to figure this all out- it appears there’s a struggle between the RNC and state GOP leaders. Look here and note how many of the early states (including mine- florida) have been penalized for early primaries.
http://politics.nytimes.com/election-guide/2008/primaries/republicanprimaries/index.html
The states are trying to push up the season so they/we have more say in the outcome- the RNC pushes back with penalities...it’s a MESS.
IIRC, a foreign entity recently made a significant investment in Fox. Could that have affected the manner in which they have been reporting the primaries?
They're ignorant.
BUMP for a great article.
I actually prefer the system they have in Europe. In most big cities they have two main newspapers, the known left wing one and the known right wing one. It works out well. You know what you are getting, and you are free to read both and hear both sides to make your own conclusions. I wish Fox News could advertise as “Centrist to Left” instead of “Fair and Balanced.”
The problem with that notion is that many states, Texas for example, you don't register Republican, Democrat, Liberatrian or Wobbly, everyone gets the same registration card which has no indication for party affiliation. In Texas they stamp your voter registration card "Voted in the XXXX" Primary, to prevent you from voting in more than one primary. The state has no record of which party any individual may be associated with.
Depends on the state. They do in Texas, because there is no "registration by party" you just register, the state doesn't know which party you belong to. You can vote in any primary, but since they stamp your registration card with "Voted in the XXXX Primary" you can't vote in more than one.
bump it up!
:)
I think to protect the integrity of the primary system, states like Texas should consider registration by party. Texas isn’t as big a problem, of course, as states like NH and SC, because their primaries are early and the winners assume frontrunner status, whether warranted or not.
Unless we want to end up with nominees like McCain from here on out, Republicans need to do something about the early primaries.
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