If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal. I’ll vote, but only because it gives me the right to complain about the outcome.
May 5, 2016 at 9:40 pm
Chris Muir
I hear ya.
May 5, 2016 at 10:44 pm
H_B
You’ll note: they did try, several times, to remove the vote or make it not count – because it was changing things…
Doing so Did Not Save Them.
Be of good cheer. Much to fight for, but a non-zero chance to Win.
May 5, 2016 at 10:57 pm
pyrodice
I’m with George Carlin. I ONLY have the right to complain because I don’t agree to the stupid damn rules.
I *do* show up because here in AZ we get to vote “remove” on all the judges, and not suggest that someone else have BS authority over us… But I’m just not picking who I hand the whip to, while I’m still on the plantation. Just put the dang whip DOWN!
May 6, 2016 at 3:11 am
Subotai Bahadur
More like it gives you the ability to say, “I tried” when things get kinetic.
May 6, 2016 at 7:22 am
MasterDiver
Every ballot needs to include “None of the above is acceptable” for each contest. And if NOTA wins, that position stays vacant for the full term of office.
Zar Belk!
May 6, 2016 at 11:03 am
Old Codger
I agree with NOTA but with the following provisions:
1. NOTA “wins” with a simple plurality.
2. The current office holder would be forced to step down at the end of their elected term
3. No one can be appointed to fill the vacancy
4. The office remains until some one is elected via a majority of votes cast
5. (and most important) All candidates who failed to defeat NOTA would barred from standing for that office for a minimum of 10 years. They would be free to stand for any other office but that office would be forbidden them for 10 years,
6. Primaries to be held every 6 weeks and elections every 12 weeks until the office is filled.
Yes. I know this is almost as likely as the Grand Mufti of Mecca converting to Evangelical Christianity but perhaps such a scheme can be written into the constitution of the next republic.
May 6, 2016 at 7:45 am
NotYetInACamp
Voting is less expensive than expending ammo.
In Oh so many ways.
Try everything.
Our Repub overseers did try to say that our vote never counted when enough of us went out and used it. Let’s see if the convention rules committee decides to eliminate the effect of our votes before the delegates vote on how we did vote.
Fight them at every blade of grass, or else surrender your soul and become a Ryan or Pelosi.
May 6, 2016 at 1:14 pm
interventor
Trump needs to complete the state primaries to ensure a majority.
May 5, 2016 at 10:43 pm
eon
DT’s “record as a Republican”, or lack of same, concerns me less than the track record of Republicans I’ve voted for who then did the opposite of what they said they were going to do.
One Congressman listened to my concerns over the Clinton AWB, swore he opposed it, then voted for it anyway, telling me he was offered a deal on other things he wanted by the GOP leadership that was “just too good to pass up”. I told him I would never vote for him again, and I held to that. I voted for his opponent in every primary, and when the SOB ran in the general, I left that one blank every time.
He finally retired when the state committee told him that he didn’t have a snowball’s chance in Hell of winning the primary. I guess I wasn’t the only one he’d screwed over in his sojourn on Capitol Hill.
If that’s what it takes to be a “good Republican officeholder” these days, there’s not enough difference between the two parties to matter anymore.
Today, I only retain my GOP registration so I can vote in the primary. And I will not vote for a Democrat under any circumstances. The Democratic party, which doesn’t even know me, has told me how much it hates me (because of my gender, my ethnicity, my religion, my belief in my Constitutional rights, etc.) so many times, that I’d no more vote for a Democrat than I would for Charles Manson. (Indeed, I can’t see very much functional difference between the two.)
Which means that on my general election ballot, there are always slots left blank. And it will stay that way until I’m sure I can trust the GOP again.
I’m not holding my breath.
clear ether
eon
May 5, 2016 at 10:58 pm
pyrodice
There was a recent bill passed somewhere about “top two” contenders, and it was pointed out that it could conceivably allow “only two democrats” as a allot outcome. Of course it was designed to get the libertarians and greens to stay home, but we’re seeing a practical outcome to it this year, since we apparently DO get two democrats to choose between, just one’s a boorish billionaire, and the other’s a crime boss.
May 5, 2016 at 11:02 pm
pyrodice
allot=ballot. Sorry, started my Cinco de Drinko early.
That doesn’t include ’88, but he was actually at the 1988 Republican Convention; and has attended several others.
You can say he’s “not a Republican”, but he is in no way a “Democrat in sheep’s clothing”. That’s just silly.
May 5, 2016 at 11:24 pm
H_B
“Oh God, he’s going to run as Reagan” -A Campaign staffer while listening to one of Reagan’s early 1980 campaign speeches.
I’ve heard a lot of people say “Trump isn’t a Republican”. Well, I’d say that’s true, but that doesn’t mean he’s a Democrat either.
He’s a Trump.
Now, we could only know what that will actually mean once he has the power to enact policy. But I think there is excellent probability that he means to do exactly what he has said.
With the way he has campaigned (refusing to take money from the usual cadre of suspects, putting his thumb in the eye of every Establishment aparatchik who crossed his path, et cetera) who, other than perhaps Melania*, could influence what he’s going to do? And the whole reason people clutch their pearls at him is that he’s willing to say outrageous things. What nefarious policy plot could he be hiding that would be more off-putting than what he’s said publicly? Finally, he’s made repeated statements that the policies that he has advocated are exactly what he intends to do. Were he to renege on that, he would lose the credibility that he has built up. A normal politician just floats a policy and then “evolves” to a different position or ignores what was said before as irrelevant and never accentuates what they have said with a pledge that what they’ve said is what they are going to do.
So I expect Trump not to be a Republican, but to be Trump. And that’s a good thing. We’re already seeing an effect in the larger Party with Paul Ryan’s private-businessman Primary challenger Paul Nehlen.
In two years, we may see many more such non-politicians stepping forward. I think that’s a very healthy, if painfully wrenching for the Party Elite, eventuality.
( *- Melaina is Slovenian. So she grew up living the reality of Communism. Slovenia split off from Yugoslavia in 1991, before all the other statelets, and fought a ten-day war for their own Independence. Civilian gun ownership is encouraged and relatively widespread. Melania’s father was a Party member, but not of any rank and her parents were at best “middle class” in job placement and prosperity. As soon as she was able, she left for the West. She ended up marrying a wealthy Capitalist who did not advocate for any of the common Elite Apologia (he mocks global warming, doesn’t argue for the well-being of “the masses” in foreign countries, et cetera). I don’t see any ideological Red Flags in that which would make her an Entitled, Elitist, or Leftist influence in his ear.)
May 6, 2016 at 11:05 am
Nome de Plume
H_B
Request permission to cross-post your comment at powerlineblog.
I have been told Trumps Costa Mesa rally speech is a must-listen.
Demonstrators with picture-signs of their murdered loved ones and the date they were killed were there. They were invited inside and on the stage and spoke. The father of that young black that was murdered several years ago in Los Angeles was very eloquent I am told.
Same source tells me that Trump’s recent West Virginia rally speech is also worth listening to.
Nome de Plume
May 6, 2016 at 2:32 pm
H_B
If you feel like it. I haven’t read Powerline in years. Just label it “from H_B at Chris Muir’s daybydaycartoon.com comments thread 5/6/16” – or words to that effect. Drive him a tiny bit of traffic.
P.S., something I forgot when writing that is that according to archived interviews on youtube, Trump has been saying the exact same things for years. He’s saying what he believes.
May 5, 2016 at 11:47 pm
Delilah T.
Where I live, the primary ballot carries both parties. I guess I’m more fortunate that way. Maybe my ‘district’ is ‘special’ in some way. Don’t know. But – vote early, vote often, and vote on behalf of dead people.
May 6, 2016 at 1:17 pm
interventor
Conservatives consider a society to be a contract between the living and the deceased. However, we don’t expect the dead to vote.
May 6, 2016 at 9:43 am
RooftopVoter
Eon and HB, great posts.
For all of those who freak out over Trump, who could more effectively change the atmosphere?
Do you enjoy voting for “conservatives” who say the right thing then wizz in your Cheerios?
Yea, Trump is no bible thumping Evangelical, but supporting those types for all these years has got us where?
If you replaced the US military with today’s GOP legislators the US would have lost every single war.
Including to American Indians, Barbary Pirates, and Spain in 1898. What wankers.
May 5, 2016 at 11:00 pm
pyrodice
Ironically, if we hadn’t had democratic victories in several key elections, we wouldn’t have BEEN in most of the wars…
May 5, 2016 at 11:51 pm
Delilah T.
I always thought Nixon was behind JFK’s assassination, because JFK had more personal charisma than Tricky Dick. Then I changed my mind after realizing what an egocentric asshole LBJ was. But we’ll never know, will we? All the key players in that mess are dead.
May 6, 2016 at 12:24 am
interventor
If Nixon had held fast for a recount, he probably would have won.
May 6, 2016 at 11:29 am
Old Codger
So we could have had Watergate back in the 60s instead of the 70s? Well, at least I wouldn’t have been one of the ones to have given him his “Four More Years!” (those of us who are old enough will remember that chant; you younglings can google it 😉 ). But I console myself that George McGovern would have just been “The Bern” 4 decades sooner.
May 6, 2016 at 4:57 pm
Delilah T.
Might not have happened if Nixon had won. He was supposed to be the one who followed Eisenhower, remember? If the debates had only been broadcast on radio, instead of the final debate being on TV, when Tricky Dick was ill, he might have won.
Remember: only Nixon can go to China.
May 6, 2016 at 11:36 am
Old Codger
Delilah wrote: “I changed my mind after realizing what an egocentric asshole LBJ was.
I broke with my family’s long standing (I grew up in Texas) tradition of voting democrat after reading A Texan Looks At Lyndon in the 7th grade. Little did I know it was actually an understatement.
I dunno, Sam, let’s explore Schultze’s metaphor…while our votes are the ball, right now I’m feeling like we’re holding it ourselves and the gope’s main man Ryano (far from an innocent Charlie) is running up to have it snatched away and slam down on his back, because there’s another kicker lining up the goal…
Can the Trumpster punch it through? We’ll see, but for sure the gopes had their chances and came up goose eggs, maybe even threw the game; time to give a walk-on a shot, and if he scores we’ll pick a whole new team.
No. If the game is rigged that’s cheating, therefore cheating the game is justified. There is win-win, there is win-lose, but there is no no-win.
May 6, 2016 at 11:53 am
Old Codger
Except peed-ons like us can’t get in to reprogram the machinery. For the likes of us it’s not only a no-win scenario (and, JTC, the “Kobayashi Maru” exercise was rigged so as not to allow the student any chance to win so it was “cheating” by your lights) but it’s a no-vaseline scenario as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqNMjZpSbnU
May 5, 2016 at 11:45 pm
LifeofTheMind
There is one reason to be registered in one of the two main parties I’d like people to consider. When you walk into the polling site is it a pleasant experience? Are the Poll Workers, either titled Inspectors or Judges of Election, rude partisan lazy or senile? They often work a 16 hour day for near or below minimum wage. Those people are the ones willing to show up. At tens or hundreds of thousands of sites there are no Republicans present, even though the law says that both parties must be represented. There are often only Democrats some of whom are assigned to wear the GOP button for the day. Often the irregularities that turn into fraud happen not by intent, at most sites the results are a foregone conclusion, but due to incompetence with no sane sober competent person present to see that things are done properly. If even 5% of the Republicans, or sane law abiding Democrats, not otherwise engaged called up their Board of Elections this month and asked to work come November the results for all the voters would be dramatic. That would not change the results in the election but it would change how people see our Democracy.
May 6, 2016 at 12:12 pm
Old Codger
LifeofTheMind wrote: “That would not change the results in the election but it would change how people see our Democracy.”
First off, we do not live in a “Democracy” but a republic. In fact the proper name for the country of which I am a citizen is “The Republic Of The United States Of America”. Democracy is merely mob rule writ large.
Second, if your proposal would – in your own words – “not change the results in the election”, why bother? So we can “feel good” about being under tyranny? Is that a worthwhile goal? What benefit does one derive from feeling good about “our Democracy”?
FYI, around here the party out of power is able to play no part save for being an observer in the general elections. And even then the only channel for lodging a complaint is through elected officials of the party in power. See any potential problem in that? Oh, the observers can call designated representatives of the party not in power but even those worthies can do nothing but complain to people of the other party.
Stalin said it best, “It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.”
Borrowing from Rumsfeld, “You go to the Election with the Candidate you have, not the Candidate you wish you had.” The Primary is over, so we have to stop playing the might-have-been game and get on with the next stage of the election.
All that matters is that Hillary must not be allowed to set foot in the White House, and if we have to suffer through one term of a Trump Presidency to do that, so be it.
Maybe the GOP will learn their lesson too.
Anything less will result in Hillary. and Hillary has a PLAN for us.
Anything less will result in Hillary. and Hillary has a PLAN for us.
THAT is a fact.
May 5, 2016 at 11:59 pm
Delilah T.
It’s a genuine shame that electoral votes are the least concentrated in areas where the population density is least represented by the electoral college.
It would be a far more interesting election if the E.C. were sent packing back into history with the 13 original colonies, and the popular vote had more weight.
But even then, the democrapweasels would still find a way to corrupt the process, wouldn’t they?
I can dream, can’t I?
May 6, 2016 at 12:21 am
Tom Z
Delilah, there has only been one or two presidential elections that the electoral college vote results were different from those of the popular vote.
May 6, 2016 at 12:16 pm
Old Codger
“the weasels would still find a way to corrupt the process”
Fixed it for ya.
May 6, 2016 at 1:37 am
jackdeth72
Vote… And earn the right to bitch!
Or refuse. And become a Subject!
It’s as easy as that.
May 6, 2016 at 12:32 pm
Old Codger
Ah, Jack? I can bitch whether I vote or not. You gonna try and stop me? Bitching is one of those rights covered under the 10th amendment.
If, as so may (including myself) assert, there is no difference in result between voting and not voting, then voting is pointless and any attempt to declare a distinction between voting and non-voting is a logical fallacy. A distinction without a difference in invalid.
I am the only one who can make me a “subject”. The results of a refusal to be a subject (or a slave or a serf) may – almost certainly WILL – be unpleasant but submission is my choice and mine alone. I hope I can stand proudly and echo Patrick Henry. After all, everyone dies. Is it not better to die free than to live in chains?
May 6, 2016 at 1:51 am
nadadhimmi
If even the absolute WORST case Trump scenario comes true, it can STILL be no worse than the status quo with these rino’s giving everything Obama demands. What’s the downside? Paul Nehlen needs to pull an Eric Cantor on Ryan.
May 6, 2016 at 5:17 am
Bill G
We’ve still got a long, hot summer between now and November.
I’m wondering what surprises Obola and his Injustice Department have waiting for us.
He really does not believe in the other side having a chance, does he?
May 6, 2016 at 6:14 am
DASTARDLY DAN
I have been proposing the ‘None of the Above’ option in every ballot in every election for some time now.
If ‘None of the Above’ wins, the office remains unfilled. Within 60 days, there will be a new election. No one who was on the general or primary election ballot is eligible.
The primary opposition I receive is ‘But the office can’t remain empty!’ Yes, it can, and it will open people’s eyes to just how much less government we could live with.
May 6, 2016 at 7:28 am
MasterDiver
Amen, Brother. See L. Neil Smith’s North American Confederacy novels, or his novel “Hope”.
Zar Belk!
May 6, 2016 at 9:38 am
SteveInCO
I could see little harm to the Republic if a huge swath of congressional seats were vacant; Congress could still pass needful laws (if they ever decided to do so rather than passing shitty ones) and a budget (see previous parenthetical). Similarly at the state and local levels.
Would you really want the presidency vacant if we were invaded? And I don’t mean migrated on en masse, slowly (that being a law enforcement issue that I agree we’re negligent on, but it’s a law enforcement issue), I mean literally *invaded* with soldiers, tanks, and air support. Come up with a provision for an acting-commander-in-chief-should-someone-war-upon-us-while-we-re-hold-the-election, however, and I might reconsider. (He wouldn’t need to have any other powers of the POTUS than those necessary to prosecute an actual war.)
May 6, 2016 at 5:01 pm
Delilah T.
But you forget, Dan, that if the office is not filled, the Speaker of the House fills it, and after him, Secretary of State.
May 6, 2016 at 6:47 am
Grape
Let the games begin!
It’s not always the score at the end of the game that means the most, but who won the fight after…..and the one after that….and the one….
May 6, 2016 at 7:04 am
Pamela
The only winner in the games is the person with the long shot bet on the outcome. And the most ammo.
May 6, 2016 at 7:45 am
Kent
I have voted Republican since Nixon in ’72. Trump is no Reagan, however he is not Hillary or Bernie either. I was pissed when the GHWB did not pick a stronger VP rather than Dan Quail. I was pissed when the republicans ran Dole/Kemp rather than Kemp/Dole. I was pissed when McCain was the nominee rather than a stronger conservative that really wanted to win. I was pissed when Romney gave up in the debate. I was pissed when I heard 2M people stayed home and Obama was re-elected. This election is the first election I will vote in that, if Trump is the nominee, the people have really had a say in who the republican candidate will be. Vote Trump early and often.
And we can’t score, sure as hell can’t win, unless and until we field a team that is in it to win it. Say what you will about Trump, but he definitely plays to win. Now, what “winning” actually means to him in this case, and what it entails for the rest of us, remains to be seen. I pray his intentions are pure.
May 6, 2016 at 10:36 am
Spin Drift
“It’s not who votes that counts, it’s who counts the votes that counts.” Joe Stalin. The GOPe candidate has to win past the margin of fraud. As they say in Chicago “vote early and often.”
I said that yesterday. Now it’s gonna be Trump leading at the convention. Call your state party chair and let him know that any shenanigans won’t be tolerated. Then get involved in counting the votes. The only way Cankles beats Trump is by massive voter fraud.
I am really pissed at the GOPe for being a bunch of cheese eating surrender monkeys but Cankles and crew will put the final nails in the coffin. We are subject to a creeping police state now, imagine what happens when Cankles appoints O’bozo to the SCOTUS.
This is the Rubicon, our toes are in the water and though I backed Ted, Trump is miles different from the rest of the GOP pack. Just think about this, if not for the Donald we would be whining about having Jeb as the presumptive nominee. And one more thing, The Donald hates to lose and never surrenders. Also, try this mind experiment, Trump is President and two riverine craft are captured by the Iranians. How much glass is created in Tehran?
Spin
Molon Labe
War Damn Eagle
May 6, 2016 at 5:25 pm
B Woodman
Spin,
Q: How much glass is created in Tehran?
A: All of it.
May 6, 2016 at 2:43 pm
Spin Drift
By the way, yesterday was Chinko de Meow so we had General Tso’s chicken.
Spin
No happy ending for you!
May 6, 2016 at 5:24 pm
B Woodman
Spin,
Thanks for the chuckle. I know I shouldn’t encourage a (fellow) punster, but. . . .
May 6, 2016 at 3:36 pm
Pamela
Hmm will there be a new voter added to the Owens family from their recent off-field scoring?
May 6, 2016 at 5:03 pm
Delilah T.
If nothing else, this election will have a high turnout. Higher than usual, in fact.
May 6, 2016 at 6:34 pm
Bill M
If Trump is the nominee (and that looks quite likely right now), then the question to ask is “Who would you rather have in the White House: Shillary! or The Donald?” A third party candidate is not going to win. Not voting is not going to help. If Shillary! is elected, you pretty much know what you are going to see. Her nominee to the Supreme Court will pretty much kill the 2nd Amendment, not to mention result in a number of 5-4 decisions impacting numerous other important issues, turning them into liberal interpretations of the Constitution. Is that what you want? The Donald may do the same thing, who knows? The fact is that we don’t know; it’s a gamble. But with Shillary!, we DO know. It’s a hell of a way to run a railroad, but I’ll take the gamble over the sure thing in this case.
Remember when the gopes and the media forced DT to say he would support the pub nominee? They never would have dreamed that it would be him and that they would be the ones reneging on that promise. Yesterday it was Ryano. Today it’s the Bush league and that little weasel from Carolina, what’s his name again? So who next among the staid and steady establishment (read self-serving ass-kissing traitors) will say he won’t vote for Trump? Make them say who they will vote for; just go ahead and say they are Shills for Shrillary, because that’s what they prefer to not getting their own way, their continued gravy train, and their end goal of the destruction of the Republic, just like the rest of the “progs”.
The media is already calling it the Republican Civil War…well if it’s war they want it’s war they shall have, and I fervently hope that DT gets the support he deserves for having taken the battle to them and that we have the sense to help him deliver a scorched earth attack on the grand old party once he gets in, and turn what’s left into the New Republic Party, later to be the organizational structure of the New Republic which is now almost sure to be the result of the actual Civil War that is coming closer every day.
May 6, 2016 at 8:19 pm
RooftopVoter
Hey Chris, check this guy out. There may be something we all can do to help him get his work out, perhaps you can give him some pointers?
Anyway, this is an outrage, and I would really appreciate anyone reading this to check it out and spread the word.
For the GOPe it’s true colors and skunks show their stripes time. Ted’s gone to ground. I wonder what is possibly planned for the convention. Will the idiots really burn it to the ground rather than see The Donald as the nominee? I don’t fear Cankles and Company as much as I fear my own party.
No SD, it will be burned to the ground with them still inside. Good riddance; “Conservative” is not a party, it’s a state of mind, and heart, and soul.
Oh, and don’t count Cruz out yet; he’s a true conservative and a true patriot. I believe he will get past this influence of politics and crazy and rise again to prominence and leadership in the New Republic.
63 Comments
If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal. I’ll vote, but only because it gives me the right to complain about the outcome.
I hear ya.
You’ll note: they did try, several times, to remove the vote or make it not count – because it was changing things…
Doing so Did Not Save Them.
Be of good cheer. Much to fight for, but a non-zero chance to Win.
I’m with George Carlin. I ONLY have the right to complain because I don’t agree to the stupid damn rules.
I *do* show up because here in AZ we get to vote “remove” on all the judges, and not suggest that someone else have BS authority over us… But I’m just not picking who I hand the whip to, while I’m still on the plantation. Just put the dang whip DOWN!
More like it gives you the ability to say, “I tried” when things get kinetic.
Every ballot needs to include “None of the above is acceptable” for each contest. And if NOTA wins, that position stays vacant for the full term of office.
Zar Belk!
I agree with NOTA but with the following provisions:
1. NOTA “wins” with a simple plurality.
2. The current office holder would be forced to step down at the end of their elected term
3. No one can be appointed to fill the vacancy
4. The office remains until some one is elected via a majority of votes cast
5. (and most important) All candidates who failed to defeat NOTA would barred from standing for that office for a minimum of 10 years. They would be free to stand for any other office but that office would be forbidden them for 10 years,
6. Primaries to be held every 6 weeks and elections every 12 weeks until the office is filled.
Yes. I know this is almost as likely as the Grand Mufti of Mecca converting to Evangelical Christianity but perhaps such a scheme can be written into the constitution of the next republic.
Voting is less expensive than expending ammo.
In Oh so many ways.
Try everything.
Our Repub overseers did try to say that our vote never counted when enough of us went out and used it. Let’s see if the convention rules committee decides to eliminate the effect of our votes before the delegates vote on how we did vote.
Fight them at every blade of grass, or else surrender your soul and become a Ryan or Pelosi.
Trump needs to complete the state primaries to ensure a majority.
DT’s “record as a Republican”, or lack of same, concerns me less than the track record of Republicans I’ve voted for who then did the opposite of what they said they were going to do.
One Congressman listened to my concerns over the Clinton AWB, swore he opposed it, then voted for it anyway, telling me he was offered a deal on other things he wanted by the GOP leadership that was “just too good to pass up”. I told him I would never vote for him again, and I held to that. I voted for his opponent in every primary, and when the SOB ran in the general, I left that one blank every time.
He finally retired when the state committee told him that he didn’t have a snowball’s chance in Hell of winning the primary. I guess I wasn’t the only one he’d screwed over in his sojourn on Capitol Hill.
If that’s what it takes to be a “good Republican officeholder” these days, there’s not enough difference between the two parties to matter anymore.
Today, I only retain my GOP registration so I can vote in the primary. And I will not vote for a Democrat under any circumstances. The Democratic party, which doesn’t even know me, has told me how much it hates me (because of my gender, my ethnicity, my religion, my belief in my Constitutional rights, etc.) so many times, that I’d no more vote for a Democrat than I would for Charles Manson. (Indeed, I can’t see very much functional difference between the two.)
Which means that on my general election ballot, there are always slots left blank. And it will stay that way until I’m sure I can trust the GOP again.
I’m not holding my breath.
clear ether
eon
There was a recent bill passed somewhere about “top two” contenders, and it was pointed out that it could conceivably allow “only two democrats” as a allot outcome. Of course it was designed to get the libertarians and greens to stay home, but we’re seeing a practical outcome to it this year, since we apparently DO get two democrats to choose between, just one’s a boorish billionaire, and the other’s a crime boss.
allot=ballot. Sorry, started my Cinco de Drinko early.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CeP-rkSUYAAwR9T.jpg
That doesn’t include ’88, but he was actually at the 1988 Republican Convention; and has attended several others.
You can say he’s “not a Republican”, but he is in no way a “Democrat in sheep’s clothing”. That’s just silly.
“Oh God, he’s going to run as Reagan” -A Campaign staffer while listening to one of Reagan’s early 1980 campaign speeches.
I’ve heard a lot of people say “Trump isn’t a Republican”. Well, I’d say that’s true, but that doesn’t mean he’s a Democrat either.
He’s a Trump.
Now, we could only know what that will actually mean once he has the power to enact policy. But I think there is excellent probability that he means to do exactly what he has said.
With the way he has campaigned (refusing to take money from the usual cadre of suspects, putting his thumb in the eye of every Establishment aparatchik who crossed his path, et cetera) who, other than perhaps Melania*, could influence what he’s going to do? And the whole reason people clutch their pearls at him is that he’s willing to say outrageous things. What nefarious policy plot could he be hiding that would be more off-putting than what he’s said publicly? Finally, he’s made repeated statements that the policies that he has advocated are exactly what he intends to do. Were he to renege on that, he would lose the credibility that he has built up. A normal politician just floats a policy and then “evolves” to a different position or ignores what was said before as irrelevant and never accentuates what they have said with a pledge that what they’ve said is what they are going to do.
So I expect Trump not to be a Republican, but to be Trump. And that’s a good thing. We’re already seeing an effect in the larger Party with Paul Ryan’s private-businessman Primary challenger Paul Nehlen.
In two years, we may see many more such non-politicians stepping forward. I think that’s a very healthy, if painfully wrenching for the Party Elite, eventuality.
( *- Melaina is Slovenian. So she grew up living the reality of Communism. Slovenia split off from Yugoslavia in 1991, before all the other statelets, and fought a ten-day war for their own Independence. Civilian gun ownership is encouraged and relatively widespread. Melania’s father was a Party member, but not of any rank and her parents were at best “middle class” in job placement and prosperity. As soon as she was able, she left for the West. She ended up marrying a wealthy Capitalist who did not advocate for any of the common Elite Apologia (he mocks global warming, doesn’t argue for the well-being of “the masses” in foreign countries, et cetera). I don’t see any ideological Red Flags in that which would make her an Entitled, Elitist, or Leftist influence in his ear.)
H_B
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I have been told Trumps Costa Mesa rally speech is a must-listen.
Demonstrators with picture-signs of their murdered loved ones and the date they were killed were there. They were invited inside and on the stage and spoke. The father of that young black that was murdered several years ago in Los Angeles was very eloquent I am told.
Same source tells me that Trump’s recent West Virginia rally speech is also worth listening to.
Nome de Plume
If you feel like it. I haven’t read Powerline in years. Just label it “from H_B at Chris Muir’s daybydaycartoon.com comments thread 5/6/16” – or words to that effect. Drive him a tiny bit of traffic.
P.S., something I forgot when writing that is that according to archived interviews on youtube, Trump has been saying the exact same things for years. He’s saying what he believes.
Where I live, the primary ballot carries both parties. I guess I’m more fortunate that way. Maybe my ‘district’ is ‘special’ in some way. Don’t know. But – vote early, vote often, and vote on behalf of dead people.
Conservatives consider a society to be a contract between the living and the deceased. However, we don’t expect the dead to vote.
Eon and HB, great posts.
For all of those who freak out over Trump, who could more effectively change the atmosphere?
Do you enjoy voting for “conservatives” who say the right thing then wizz in your Cheerios?
Yea, Trump is no bible thumping Evangelical, but supporting those types for all these years has got us where?
If you replaced the US military with today’s GOP legislators the US would have lost every single war.
Including to American Indians, Barbary Pirates, and Spain in 1898. What wankers.
Ironically, if we hadn’t had democratic victories in several key elections, we wouldn’t have BEEN in most of the wars…
I always thought Nixon was behind JFK’s assassination, because JFK had more personal charisma than Tricky Dick. Then I changed my mind after realizing what an egocentric asshole LBJ was. But we’ll never know, will we? All the key players in that mess are dead.
If Nixon had held fast for a recount, he probably would have won.
So we could have had Watergate back in the 60s instead of the 70s? Well, at least I wouldn’t have been one of the ones to have given him his “Four More Years!” (those of us who are old enough will remember that chant; you younglings can google it 😉 ). But I console myself that George McGovern would have just been “The Bern” 4 decades sooner.
Might not have happened if Nixon had won. He was supposed to be the one who followed Eisenhower, remember? If the debates had only been broadcast on radio, instead of the final debate being on TV, when Tricky Dick was ill, he might have won.
Remember: only Nixon can go to China.
Delilah wrote: “I changed my mind after realizing what an egocentric asshole LBJ was.
I broke with my family’s long standing (I grew up in Texas) tradition of voting democrat after reading A Texan Looks At Lyndon in the 7th grade. Little did I know it was actually an understatement.
I dunno, Sam, let’s explore Schultze’s metaphor…while our votes are the ball, right now I’m feeling like we’re holding it ourselves and the gope’s main man Ryano (far from an innocent Charlie) is running up to have it snatched away and slam down on his back, because there’s another kicker lining up the goal…
Can the Trumpster punch it through? We’ll see, but for sure the gopes had their chances and came up goose eggs, maybe even threw the game; time to give a walk-on a shot, and if he scores we’ll pick a whole new team.
Geez, reading that back, instead of “let’s explore Schultz’s metaphor” I shoulda said “let’s torture…”
Still…
Does this mean voting is a kind of Kobayashi Maru exercise?
No. If the game is rigged that’s cheating, therefore cheating the game is justified. There is win-win, there is win-lose, but there is no no-win.
Except peed-ons like us can’t get in to reprogram the machinery. For the likes of us it’s not only a no-win scenario (and, JTC, the “Kobayashi Maru” exercise was rigged so as not to allow the student any chance to win so it was “cheating” by your lights) but it’s a no-vaseline scenario as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqNMjZpSbnU
There is one reason to be registered in one of the two main parties I’d like people to consider. When you walk into the polling site is it a pleasant experience? Are the Poll Workers, either titled Inspectors or Judges of Election, rude partisan lazy or senile? They often work a 16 hour day for near or below minimum wage. Those people are the ones willing to show up. At tens or hundreds of thousands of sites there are no Republicans present, even though the law says that both parties must be represented. There are often only Democrats some of whom are assigned to wear the GOP button for the day. Often the irregularities that turn into fraud happen not by intent, at most sites the results are a foregone conclusion, but due to incompetence with no sane sober competent person present to see that things are done properly. If even 5% of the Republicans, or sane law abiding Democrats, not otherwise engaged called up their Board of Elections this month and asked to work come November the results for all the voters would be dramatic. That would not change the results in the election but it would change how people see our Democracy.
LifeofTheMind wrote: “That would not change the results in the election but it would change how people see our Democracy.”
First off, we do not live in a “Democracy” but a republic. In fact the proper name for the country of which I am a citizen is “The Republic Of The United States Of America”. Democracy is merely mob rule writ large.
Second, if your proposal would – in your own words – “not change the results in the election”, why bother? So we can “feel good” about being under tyranny? Is that a worthwhile goal? What benefit does one derive from feeling good about “our Democracy”?
FYI, around here the party out of power is able to play no part save for being an observer in the general elections. And even then the only channel for lodging a complaint is through elected officials of the party in power. See any potential problem in that? Oh, the observers can call designated representatives of the party not in power but even those worthies can do nothing but complain to people of the other party.
Stalin said it best, “It is enough that the people know there was an election. The people who cast the votes decide nothing. The people who count the votes decide everything.”
Borrowing from Rumsfeld, “You go to the Election with the Candidate you have, not the Candidate you wish you had.” The Primary is over, so we have to stop playing the might-have-been game and get on with the next stage of the election.
All that matters is that Hillary must not be allowed to set foot in the White House, and if we have to suffer through one term of a Trump Presidency to do that, so be it.
Maybe the GOP will learn their lesson too.
Anything less will result in Hillary. and Hillary has a PLAN for us.
THAT is a fact.
It’s a genuine shame that electoral votes are the least concentrated in areas where the population density is least represented by the electoral college.
It would be a far more interesting election if the E.C. were sent packing back into history with the 13 original colonies, and the popular vote had more weight.
But even then, the democrapweasels would still find a way to corrupt the process, wouldn’t they?
I can dream, can’t I?
Delilah, there has only been one or two presidential elections that the electoral college vote results were different from those of the popular vote.
“the weasels would still find a way to corrupt the process”
Fixed it for ya.
Vote… And earn the right to bitch!
Or refuse. And become a Subject!
It’s as easy as that.
Ah, Jack? I can bitch whether I vote or not. You gonna try and stop me? Bitching is one of those rights covered under the 10th amendment.
If, as so may (including myself) assert, there is no difference in result between voting and not voting, then voting is pointless and any attempt to declare a distinction between voting and non-voting is a logical fallacy. A distinction without a difference in invalid.
I am the only one who can make me a “subject”. The results of a refusal to be a subject (or a slave or a serf) may – almost certainly WILL – be unpleasant but submission is my choice and mine alone. I hope I can stand proudly and echo Patrick Henry. After all, everyone dies. Is it not better to die free than to live in chains?
If even the absolute WORST case Trump scenario comes true, it can STILL be no worse than the status quo with these rino’s giving everything Obama demands. What’s the downside? Paul Nehlen needs to pull an Eric Cantor on Ryan.
We’ve still got a long, hot summer between now and November.
I’m wondering what surprises Obola and his Injustice Department have waiting for us.
He really does not believe in the other side having a chance, does he?
I have been proposing the ‘None of the Above’ option in every ballot in every election for some time now.
If ‘None of the Above’ wins, the office remains unfilled. Within 60 days, there will be a new election. No one who was on the general or primary election ballot is eligible.
The primary opposition I receive is ‘But the office can’t remain empty!’ Yes, it can, and it will open people’s eyes to just how much less government we could live with.
Amen, Brother. See L. Neil Smith’s North American Confederacy novels, or his novel “Hope”.
Zar Belk!
I could see little harm to the Republic if a huge swath of congressional seats were vacant; Congress could still pass needful laws (if they ever decided to do so rather than passing shitty ones) and a budget (see previous parenthetical). Similarly at the state and local levels.
Would you really want the presidency vacant if we were invaded? And I don’t mean migrated on en masse, slowly (that being a law enforcement issue that I agree we’re negligent on, but it’s a law enforcement issue), I mean literally *invaded* with soldiers, tanks, and air support. Come up with a provision for an acting-commander-in-chief-should-someone-war-upon-us-while-we-re-hold-the-election, however, and I might reconsider. (He wouldn’t need to have any other powers of the POTUS than those necessary to prosecute an actual war.)
But you forget, Dan, that if the office is not filled, the Speaker of the House fills it, and after him, Secretary of State.
Let the games begin!
It’s not always the score at the end of the game that means the most, but who won the fight after…..and the one after that….and the one….
The only winner in the games is the person with the long shot bet on the outcome. And the most ammo.
I have voted Republican since Nixon in ’72. Trump is no Reagan, however he is not Hillary or Bernie either. I was pissed when the GHWB did not pick a stronger VP rather than Dan Quail. I was pissed when the republicans ran Dole/Kemp rather than Kemp/Dole. I was pissed when McCain was the nominee rather than a stronger conservative that really wanted to win. I was pissed when Romney gave up in the debate. I was pissed when I heard 2M people stayed home and Obama was re-elected. This election is the first election I will vote in that, if Trump is the nominee, the people have really had a say in who the republican candidate will be. Vote Trump early and often.
Let’s keep scoring in all of the important ways.
And we can’t score, sure as hell can’t win, unless and until we field a team that is in it to win it. Say what you will about Trump, but he definitely plays to win. Now, what “winning” actually means to him in this case, and what it entails for the rest of us, remains to be seen. I pray his intentions are pure.
“It’s not who votes that counts, it’s who counts the votes that counts.” Joe Stalin. The GOPe candidate has to win past the margin of fraud. As they say in Chicago “vote early and often.”
I said that yesterday. Now it’s gonna be Trump leading at the convention. Call your state party chair and let him know that any shenanigans won’t be tolerated. Then get involved in counting the votes. The only way Cankles beats Trump is by massive voter fraud.
I am really pissed at the GOPe for being a bunch of cheese eating surrender monkeys but Cankles and crew will put the final nails in the coffin. We are subject to a creeping police state now, imagine what happens when Cankles appoints O’bozo to the SCOTUS.
This is the Rubicon, our toes are in the water and though I backed Ted, Trump is miles different from the rest of the GOP pack. Just think about this, if not for the Donald we would be whining about having Jeb as the presumptive nominee. And one more thing, The Donald hates to lose and never surrenders. Also, try this mind experiment, Trump is President and two riverine craft are captured by the Iranians. How much glass is created in Tehran?
Spin
Molon Labe
War Damn Eagle
Spin,
Q: How much glass is created in Tehran?
A: All of it.
By the way, yesterday was Chinko de Meow so we had General Tso’s chicken.
Spin
No happy ending for you!
Spin,
Thanks for the chuckle. I know I shouldn’t encourage a (fellow) punster, but. . . .
Hmm will there be a new voter added to the Owens family from their recent off-field scoring?
If nothing else, this election will have a high turnout. Higher than usual, in fact.
If Trump is the nominee (and that looks quite likely right now), then the question to ask is “Who would you rather have in the White House: Shillary! or The Donald?” A third party candidate is not going to win. Not voting is not going to help. If Shillary! is elected, you pretty much know what you are going to see. Her nominee to the Supreme Court will pretty much kill the 2nd Amendment, not to mention result in a number of 5-4 decisions impacting numerous other important issues, turning them into liberal interpretations of the Constitution. Is that what you want? The Donald may do the same thing, who knows? The fact is that we don’t know; it’s a gamble. But with Shillary!, we DO know. It’s a hell of a way to run a railroad, but I’ll take the gamble over the sure thing in this case.
Remember when the gopes and the media forced DT to say he would support the pub nominee? They never would have dreamed that it would be him and that they would be the ones reneging on that promise. Yesterday it was Ryano. Today it’s the Bush league and that little weasel from Carolina, what’s his name again? So who next among the staid and steady establishment (read self-serving ass-kissing traitors) will say he won’t vote for Trump? Make them say who they will vote for; just go ahead and say they are Shills for Shrillary, because that’s what they prefer to not getting their own way, their continued gravy train, and their end goal of the destruction of the Republic, just like the rest of the “progs”.
The media is already calling it the Republican Civil War…well if it’s war they want it’s war they shall have, and I fervently hope that DT gets the support he deserves for having taken the battle to them and that we have the sense to help him deliver a scorched earth attack on the grand old party once he gets in, and turn what’s left into the New Republic Party, later to be the organizational structure of the New Republic which is now almost sure to be the result of the actual Civil War that is coming closer every day.
Hey Chris, check this guy out. There may be something we all can do to help him get his work out, perhaps you can give him some pointers?
Anyway, this is an outrage, and I would really appreciate anyone reading this to check it out and spread the word.
http://www.naturalblaze.com/2016/05/the-truth-cartoon-that-got-this-farmer-fired-his-epic-response.html
For the GOPe it’s true colors and skunks show their stripes time. Ted’s gone to ground. I wonder what is possibly planned for the convention. Will the idiots really burn it to the ground rather than see The Donald as the nominee? I don’t fear Cankles and Company as much as I fear my own party.
Spin
Where traitors swing freely
War Damn Eagle
No SD, it will be burned to the ground with them still inside. Good riddance; “Conservative” is not a party, it’s a state of mind, and heart, and soul.
Oh, and don’t count Cruz out yet; he’s a true conservative and a true patriot. I believe he will get past this influence of politics and crazy and rise again to prominence and leadership in the New Republic.