Posted on 11/03/2010 10:41:10 AM PDT by WebFocus
And Taft lost?
"Jim, it sounds like you're suffering from Republican Entitlement Syndrome (RES).
This is a common condition afflicting Republicans, making them believe they're entitled to independent conservative/libertarian votes by virtue of being "less bad" than the Democrat.
The only known cure is therapy to throw off the delusion that you live in a binary world, followed by the realization you have to actually compete for the votes of these people."
As long as a vote for a Republican is a vote for continued non-constitutional government, such a vote won't be cast by me.
The author doesn't get the point. Conservative third-party candidates siphoning off votes from Republicans isn't a sign of support for progressive Democrats, it's a sign of digust with a Republican party that has forsaken conservatism and constitutionalism. For most of my life Republicans have been merely a progressive-lite party, which is entirely unacceptable. If the Republicans would have taken principled stands all along, they may have been soundly rejected for a while (nb: Goldwater), but I assume everyone here knows that progressive policies are guaranteed to fail. Early failure of progressive policies would have been far preferable than waiting until 2010, when the guaranteed failures are now far more expensive to fix.
Carter, Clinton, and Obama are all great examples of the intolerance the electorate has for progressive governance. They have the advantage of having the media on their side and the electorate having a short memory and being gullible. Republicans who value media approval (as if they'll ever get it) more than electorate approval, and who value ego satisfaction more than constitutional principles are not worthy of anyone's vote.
Any so-called conservative who casts a vote for a progressive Republican is merely enabling progressivism and helping to undermine our constitution.
“Theodore Roosevelt sabotage William Howard Taft”
well sort of yes
he splie the R vote with his BUll Moose party although Taft probably would have lost in a two man race anyway
had Teddy been patient he could have backed Taft and campaigned for him then after Taft lost he could have run against Wilson in 1916 and probably won
Libertarians who want to make a difference should copy Rand Paul, not Ron Paul.
Yep, it's just that simple.
Don’t give me that cr@p about “thanks for electing a democrat” - Republicans need to put up a decent candidate, then there won’t be any 3rd parties. If I have the choice between lesser of two evils, and a decent candidate - I’m picking the decent candidate, and if the liberal fre@k gets elected, then the only difference is driving into the abyss faster with a D behind the wheel than an R.
In presidential elections, maybe it wouldn't be a bad thing to go back to the days when three or more candidates got enough public support to win electoral votes. The 1824 election was a thing of beauty (in some respects) and a testament to how our system should work. Four different candidates won states in the Electoral College, and the candidate with the most popular votes and the most electoral votes (Andrew Jackson) didn't win the election.
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I noticed in VA nearly every House race had an “Independent” running. I am damn SURE they were placed there by incumbents to pull votes away from the challengers.
They force centrist and center-left Republicans to be more Conservative.
Conservatism, when honestly and competently argued, can still win a national majority in America.
Libertarians certainly take votes from the GOP, but who would disagree that culturally and spiritually they have nothing in common with Conservatives.
"Less than ideal" is fine.
"All-but-a-dem" is not.
The republicans need to understand that there ARE minimum qualifications with respect to conservatism.
But the sentiment behind the above sentence is merely a reiteration of the "conservatives must stay on the plantation" meme.
“What has happened to the National Review?”
William F. Buckley died, that’s what happened.
“Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost.”
— John Quincy Adams —
Go to hell to anyone to suggests that one must vote GOP or stay home.
Screw the “All your votes are belong to us” mentality.
Third parties do not siphon off votes as much as they give disaffected voters an outlet for their frustrations. There is a measure of third party voters that will never vote for the D or the R.
Those who think that third party votes are really Republican-owned votes are so narrow in thinking as to be no different than the union thugs who think every union member owes his vote to the party boss.
Although I voted straight R ticket this time, at least I respect those who stick with their principles and vote their conscience. I’ll not vote for an individual before I vote for someone I don’t want in office. Voting for Palin in 2008 ws one of the toughest things I had to do because I had to vote for traitor McCain in the process. Without Sarah McCain would NOT have had my vote, I would have voted third party.
Giving in to the ‘vote GOP or else’ mentality has brought us the weak slate of Presidential candidates that we’ve seen since Eisnehower, AND those like Carter, Clinton, and Obama.
When the GOP fields strong candidates they don’t have to whine about third party votes AND they win elections!
Weak candidates don’t attract voters and then they blame the voters for being too stupid to vote for them.
The only thing more arrogant and stupid than weak candidates blaming voters is commentators blaming the voters which is total BS.
Indiana used to have multimember districts ~ about 25 different people represented Indianapolis/Marion County ~ and an organized and dedicated group could push through a candidate who had 2.5% popularity.
The courts changed that (the one man one vote thing) and then the legislature changed it permanently.
It was fun ~ HUGE ballots!
This sort of thing was actually quite popular with the Germans and Danes who settled there in the 1850s ~ shame to see that tradition disappear.
That being said, the MA GOP candidate for governor (Chazz Baker) sucked and I didn't vote for him, but this is now 2 elections in a row where mini-Obama, Deval Patrick, wins by having a straw candidate beat up the Republican and winning with less than 50% of the vote.
Bet the farm the Rats will have a 3rd party candidate running for POTUS, backed by Soros money in 2012. Time to start fighting fire with more fire.
libertarians war on conservatives is counter-productive!
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