Letters to the Editor
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Apart from being creepy, frightening and ridiculous...
...is this constitutional?
First we have administration officials claiming they took an oath to support George Bush, not the constitution or the people, and now the Republican Party is actually requiring party allegiance before conscience or the national good.
I think we all know what kind of regimes require loyalty oaths.
Somebody pinch me. Soon.
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Oh please, will the GOP adopt this nationally
It is absolutely, suicidally, barking mad.
What it does is guarantee that the only voters in the primary are those so "dyed in the wool" hardline Republican base "wingnuts" that they will inevitably nominate an unelectable right-wing whack-job -- and then lose the general election.
This is really a great idea, don't criticize it, spread a rumour that the Dems thinks it is such a good idea they may adopt it too -- anything to get the Republicans to bring it in nationwide. Spread rumours that dems are voting in Republican primaries to try to shift the party left.
Oh please, please, please, Republicans in other states copy this one, please, please, please. It's a great idea, fabulous, proper, decent, must have.
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Seig Heil!
Long live the Reich of the Right!
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Par for the Course
Why is anyone surprised? This is just another, if extreme, example of Republicans wanting to make sure that they only appear in front of "safe" audiences and serves an an excellent reason why states should de-fund primary elections.
The parties are private organizations and their primaries are not required to be open to the public, as this little bit of lunacy illustrates, and shouldn't be funded by the public. I'd also like to see elections publicly funded and the Electoral College dissolved. All of which I expect to happen the day after Junior says he's sorry that he screwed up and he should never have invaded Iraq and that he'll start pulling the troops out. In short, somewhere around the 12th of never.
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After watching the last 7 years...
...and reading shit like this...who in their right mind would continue to be a registered republican? Seriously.
I know there are nuts in the world but how is the republican party a mainstream entity at this point?
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OOOPS!
Instead of saying that I'd like elections to be publicly funded, I meant to say that campaigns should be publicly funded.
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But to be fair, America's 'undecided voters'
Are probably too dimwitted to be anything but a danger to themselves. If someone tells me they don't know if they vote one party vs another come next year I hope they don't shove the ballot sharpie up their nose and hurt themself.
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It's worse than you put it, Tim
Virginia has an open primary, so that independents, and even Democrats, can choose to vote in the Republican primary if they so choose.
I guess the Virginian Republican party really resents that. God forbid that a moderate Republican gets elected instead of one of their rabid dinosaur right-wing types.
It should be the death knell of the GOP in Virginia.
What I can't get over is the state elections committee agreeing to this coercive tripe.
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Need More Data On This
Granted, I don't know how elections work in VA, but here in PA (another commonwealth) we aren't allowed to have any party activists inside the polling place (other than Poll Watchers but I don't think that they are allowed to communicate with voters).
So how is this going to work? Are they going to have GOP staffers blocking access to the booth unless you sign the pledge?
On the face of this, it seems crazy; but I wonder if below the surface there isn't some voter intimidation tactic in play.
Maybe the last seven years have just left serious scars.
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Their honor is loyalty?
"We hope, too, that they put candidates' ideas, character and experience ahead of party affiliation. Honest, responsible voters therefore can only skip the primary."
Which would mean that dishonest, irresponsible voters would be the ones showing up and signing that loyalty oath, right? The Brimstone Base goose-steps its way to the polls, the only reliable constituency the GOP has left.
Seems like a ploy to drive away undecideds, independents, and moderates from the GOP primary process in Virginia, leaving only the brimstoners to flock to the polls, to support a "fair and balanced" Republican candidate to emerge from the process.
Line forms to the hard right.
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so why even bother with a primary?
The Republicans are becoming increasingly desperate, well, crazy. Watching Karl Rove tell Charlie Rose that the Bush administration was forced to invade Iraq against their wishes by congress was one of the most bizarre moments imaginable. Now this? They really are appealing to only the most dim-wittedly loyal. In the not too distant future the Republican Party will have to recreate its self from the ground up...or real, true Republicans will have to start their own party and leave this one to the snake handlers and End of Timers.
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Virginia is for ...?
The Republicans appear to be losing ground in Virginia lately.
Virginia has had two successive Democratic governors.
Jim Webb beat George Allen for the Senate seat in 2006.
Mark Warner (D) is favored to take John Warner's Senate seat in 2008 after Warner retires.
In the 2007 elections, the Democrats took control of the State Senate, and made a gain of four seats in the House of Delegates (the Democrats have picked up seats in the House of Delegates in each of the past four elections).
My dad, who is a Virginia resident, thinks that there's a decent chance that the state will go Democratic in the next presidential election.
Maybe that's the reason the Republican Party thinks they need to start requiring loyalty oaths...
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A Bad Move for Virginia Republican Party Health
Slackie Onassis writes: Seems like a ploy to drive away undecideds, independents, and moderates from the GOP primary process in Virginia, leaving only the brimstoners to flock to the polls, to support a "fair and balanced" Republican candidate to emerge from the process.
Exactly. Primary voters already tend to favor more "extreme" voters who will vote for more "extreme" candidates. This loyalty oath could drive away moderates from the primaries altogether. Which, incidentally, is damaging to the long-term health of the Virginia Republican Party. Red State Virginia is currently swinging towards becoming a Blue State. The state overall won't vote for an extreme nominee if he/she wins the Republican primary. If the Republican Party tries to push more right-wing candidates now, they'll definitely lose the state.