Tuesday, February 23, 2016

BOSTON GLOBE: PLEASE HELP SAVE THE REPUBLICAN PARTY FROM ITSELF!

Tonight, Rachel Maddow quoted this Boston Globe editorial, which urges "unenrolled" voters in Massachusetts -- those who aren't registered with a political party -- to avoid voting in the state's Democratic primary on March 1, because a vote in the Republican primary can be a vote against Donald Trump:
Massachusetts voters must stop Donald Trump

STOPPING DONALD J. TRUMP is imperative -- and not just for his fellow Republicans. In Massachusetts, which votes next Tuesday, unenrolled voters may also vote in the GOP presidential primary. The Globe has endorsed John Kasich, the highly qualified governor of Ohio, and urges unenrolled voters to cast a Republican ballot for him instead of voting in the Democratic primary on the same day.

... For registered Democrats, who cannot take a GOP ballot, Clinton is the better choice. But for everyone else, the GOP primary is where their vote can really make the biggest difference.

... One feature of the Massachusetts Republican primary is that it’s not a “winner-take-all” race.... the more people vote for one of Trump’s opponents, the fewer delegates he’ll receive from Massachusetts.

Trump’s campaign has revived some of the ugliest traditions in American politics, including the scapegoating of religious minorities and immigrants. He has yet to put forth a serious platform of ideas about how he would govern or what a Trump administration would seek to accomplish. Just his nomination by one of the nation’s major parties would be an international embarrassment.
Yes -- and that's why this editorial offends me so much. The Republican Party should be embarrassed. The party is a cancer on America's body politic, and would be even if Donald Trump had stuck to reality TV and never joined the presidential race -- look at the spectacle in Washington right now, as Establishment Republicans announce their unwavering refusal even to consider, even to speak with, a Supreme Court nominee chosen by President Obama.

Republican voters spend their days listening to Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage and spend their nights watching Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity. They've been in a state of total war with the rest of America for years -- if you're not white, or not heterosexual, or not Christian or Jewish, if you fear gun violence or want a rise in the minimum wage or believe that human beings cause climate change, Republicans hate you. Donald Trump has merely taken a portion of that hatred and talked about it out loud. He's the culmination of the last few decades of Republicanism -- and the Republican Party should not be saved from him. The world should see that this is what the Republican Party is. It's not up to us to save the party from the consequences of its own actions.

We're told this in the editorial:
Some Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, meanwhile, seem to be rooting strategically for Trump. According to many pundits, Trump would be the weakest candidate against Clinton or Sanders, and for that reason some Democrats hope he wins the nomination. Some may even cast a mischievous vote for him on Tuesday, seeking to help the eventual Democratic nominee.
Well, yes. That's part of the reason I'm rooting for Trump. I also believe that, in some ways, he'd be a less dangerous president than Marco Rubio or John Kasich. Unlike Rubio, Trump is not promising the elimination of the capital gains tax, which could literally allow some billionaires to pay no income tax whatsoever. And unlike Kasich, Trump is not demanding a balanced budget amendment, which if it had been in effect in 2007, would have made it impossible for Presidents Bush and Obama to stimulate the economy enough to avoid a full-blown 1930s style depression. And that's just a small portion of what we have to fear from a mainstream Republican presidency in the era of the Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson. Trump is a menace, but he's far from the only menace in his party.
... as the race turns to Massachusetts, the answer to John F. Kennedy’s question -- “ask what you can do for your country” -- has rarely been clearer: unenrolled voters should pull a Republican ballot and vote for John Kasich because it’s a vote against Donald Trump.
No. The Republican Party is an abusive drunk and deserves to wake up in a pool of its own vomit. We don't have a responsibility to clean it up and make it presentable after what it's done to us, and given what it would like to do to us in the future if given a chance. Why is the Globe so protective of the GOP? Why is it afraid to have the world see it for what it is? I say Trump should win the nomination. Let the party wallow in its own stink.

11 comments:

Jude said...

Pitch perfect post. Only thing I would do for clarification is shift stink to stank for the last word.

These people blow my mind (yes, even after all these years). They've hardly lifted a finger to bring Trump down for the last 8 months. Very powerful people own the media. Have they ebbed in their 24/7 reporting on his every belch or Tweet? Nope. Too good for ratings. "He'll never win." "We have such a deep bench" (OMG, really. Walker?). Even now, the remaining autotons only lob insults at each other instead of Trump. Where's the dirt on this guy? I know he must have some and I know rich sponsors can find access to it. Why are they holding back?

Even their reasons for hating Trump disgust me. His cardinal sin according to Erickson is Trump says Planned Parenthood is good for women's health, therefore he will never, ever, never vote for him. Really? You love life so much that women's heath is your line in the sand? Not perhaps the dehumanization of entire religions, gender, and races? Others hate Trump because he's given lip service to cutting higher income taxes. Nevermind that his tax plans are a carbon copy of Jebs! BS he was peddling. Nope. Even *saying* the rich need higher taxation is blasphemy.

All I can say is whomever the Dems nominate better be ready to win it all. I will livid if Hillary is indicted or Bernie brings a butter knife to a gun fight against Trump. This battle is a serious moment for this country.

Feud Turgidson said...

Even with Jews, they have to be among the 'good' ones who're unreservedly for killing Muslim kids or giving Rs tens to hundreds of millions in campaign cash. And they'll check on that: count on it.

I really think this 'crossover primary vote bombing' phenomenon is way OTT exaggerated. It might express itself in hundredths or tenths of a percentage point, but it's not going to decide anything beyond maybe keeping alive some hope and spin for the under-Trumps and their media tongue-bathers - which I for one see as a good thing: the more the Trumpier.

Trump's got unfavorables I'm not so sure even that nice Mister Hilter could pull.

Victor said...

I love the smell of desperation in the morning...
And in the afternoon...
And in the evening...
And at night...

It smells like... Victory!

Now, go work to achieve it by helping to GOTV later on this year!

Tom239 said...

What Jude said.

Not one of the 22 essays in NR's "Conservatives against Trump" issue last month criticized Trump for being pro-torture.

Rand Careaga said...

"The Republican Party is an abusive drunk and deserves to wake up in a pool of its own vomit."

I think perhaps it should just be turned on its back and allowed to aspirate.

Smut Clyde said...

Republicans are not Republicanning properly. Therefore it is the job of non-Republicans to intervene and make Republicans more electable.
OK.

AllieG said...

I agree with every word Steve. As an Eastern Mass. resident, this is what has been pissing me and many others off about the Globe for eons. Its editorial page is room temperature centrist mush delivered in a nanny state tone of voice.

Ten Bears said...

I will be re-register my No Party Affiliation to democrat for Oregon's May primary, not that Oregon matters one whit, in what I figure will be my only opportunity to vote Sanders. After the primary I will re-re-register back to NPA. Yeah it's gaming the system, but come November I will as I have since Reagan ratfucked Carter cast my ballot for the Green/Socialist candidate.

And as I did for Romney and the Retards last cycle, I will publically endorse Trump and the Tea Baggers as the candidates best suited to advance the cause of Cascadia. There is nothing east of The Rockies we need.

swkellogg said...

This is such a delightful comeuppance to all the media organs that turned a blind eye to (and abetted) all of this right wing crypto-fascism/neo-royalism lo these many years.

Let them piss and moan all they want.

Hurling filth at the golem only makes it more powerful.

Hahahahahahahahahahaha!

Unknown said...

Give me a break, the current governor of MA is a "centrist" republican (read one of the major consumers of the Globe output and major purchasers of advertising) so of course they are going to try to protect the "brand".

Unknown said...

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