Four GOP candidates fail to make Virginia primary ballot, judge rules

[Lasher]

Source: CNN

(CNN) -- A federal judge on Friday ruled against four Republican presidential candidates seeking a spot on Virginia's March 6 primary ballot, saying they waited too long to file their claims.

Left off the ballot are Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former U.S Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman.

The four candidates had challenged the state's residency requirements for those seeking to circulate ballot petitions, but Judge John Gibney ruled against the challenge.

The four candidates "knew the rules in Virginia many months ago," the judge wrote in his ruling. "In essence, they played the game, lost, and then complained that the rules were unfair."

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/13/politics/virginia-gop-primary-ballot/index.html

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These dickheads can't handle these simple requirements but they want us to let them run the country.

[No Elephants]

1. I guess the chances of Romney and Paul in the Virginia primary are pretty good.

[Lasher]

2. I think both of them are dumb as a bag of hammers.

But it looks like they know how to fill out a form. That leaves the rest of the GOP candidates even lower than they on the evolutionary scale.

[No Elephants]

3. Both of them have run before and both have enough money to hire staff who know the ropes.

Gingrich, much as I cannot abide him, is smarter than both of them put together, but apparently hired the wrong folks.

[Lasher]

4. Well there was that thing back in June when all of Newt's staff resigned.

Maybe he hired the right folks who quit, then hired the wrong folks.

:shrug:

[No Elephants]

5. Which indicates to me that the he hired the wrong batch twice.

Seems to me that you would look for two kinds of things in a campaign crew, one of them being knowledge of "the ropes" and experience, and the other being trustworthiness and loyalty.

I don't believe for five minutes that the first crowd quit for high reasons. And, if I were a Republican running for any office, I would not hire a one of the bunch that quit. So, if they got paid to abandon Newt in mid-stream, I hope they factored that in when they calculated the amount for which they were willing to abandon him.

Of course, it could not have happened to anyone who deserved it more, but that is beside the point.

And, Newt himself, with all his years in politics, should know that Step 1 after deciding to run is making sure your name will be on all the applicable ballots and so directed his staff, even if more moneyed candidates had gobbled up every experienced campaign staffer.

[Lasher]

6. I bow to your superior logic.

All the GOP can put up for the Presidency is dumbasses, just like in 2000. This must be by design, so that they will be puppets like Saint Ronnie and Junior.

Edit: So whatca gonna do when DU2 goes dark? I've been active at DU3 and I'm a host there but I still like it better here. I'll probably continue at DU3 but probably won't devote as much time to it as I have at DU2.

[No Elephants]

7. Geez. No need to bow.

Cash will do fine!

As far as what I will do when DU 2 goes dark, I don't know. I don't even know if I will still be here when DU2 goes dark.

I may leave this "unsupported, but moderated" place before that, or I may get banned without intending to get bannede.

[Lasher]

8. I have been thinking for awhile now that I need to spend more time on an actual life, sans internet.

This is being fueled partly by a growing belief that I really can't do anything at all to effect meaningful political change.

[Rhiannon12866]

9. You can make a difference by working for local candidates.

What I've learned from DU actually inspired me to get out there and try to make a difference. I worked for my congressman (NY-20) on his last two campaigns, just showed up at headquarters and asked what I could do. I made GOTV calls, stuffed envelopes and went door-to-door. I honestly do believe that I did persuade folks to vote for him, just by presenting them with the facts. :)

And it can make a difference, since my congressman, in his first election, won by the smallest margin in Congress. (Democratic candidate, red district *sigh*) Meanwhile, DU is an incomparable resource, so there's no reason why you can't do both. We need more informed people out there, so I sure hope that you stick around... :hi:

[Lasher]

10. All my representatives are Democrats.

County Commissioners, the county Sheriff, both members of the state legislature, my Governor, my US House rep, both US Senators, my President. All there is to do is ensure Democrats get re-elected.

I helped vote in my newest US member of Congress, Senator Manchin. He is the worst DINO in the Senate. I supported him only because his Republican opponent is worse. There is no chance that he would be defeated in the Primary when he runs for re-election. Same thing with Obama. The Republicans are worse, that's about the best reason I can come up with to vote for him.

My point is, today's elected Democrats are not that much better than Republicans and I don't see anybody better waiting in the wings. And so I have engaged in this self reflection - which does not go to say that this is a GBCW post. It's nothing like that. I've had a lot of fun at DU and I've learned a lot but I'm thinking I've wasted a lot of time too.

Thanks for the kind words of encouragement all the same.

[No Elephants]

11. To quote Bubba, "I feel your pain."

I do not feel that posting impacts the political process very much. However, I began posting at DU in 2008 and have seen posters post about changing their minds as a result of things they read on the board. Not many, but some.

And if you look at something like Romney's winning Iowa (allegedly) by eight votes, maybe even a few changed minds do matter. And they matter more so if they, in turn, change a few other minds, either in real life or on other boards.

On the other hand, I have learned a lot posting at DU. Sadly, a lot of the posters from whom I learned most no longer post at DU, but, it is an ever-changing bunch and other posters will come along, presumably. And, as long as the climate fosters discussion, there is opportunity to learn.

So, I think we MAY be able to impact the political process by posting and we ourselves may be impacted politically by posting.


However, I, too, have been struggling with the amount of time I spend posting. I think it can be a way of feeling that you are doing something meaningful and important, while it may be an excuse to keep sitting at your keyboard in your comfy home, or an excuse to divert from work at your office (or home office).

Are we able to impact the political process at all? Maybe, but probably not in the same ways that we used to--i.e., by making our wishes known to our elected officials.

That used to work, when they thought that the way to get elected or re-elected votes was by keeping a majority of voters happy. Now, IMO,k they think--and with reason--that the way to get elected is to buy--or have a PAC buy-- expensive TV and radio ads. And they think that because it seems to work.

As long as that is the case, we can "sign" online petitions and call their offices until we are numb and it won't matter all that much unless we can donate or raise ad-buying kind of money, or we can deliver as many votes as TV ads deliver.

Bottom line, I do think those of us who cannot donate hundreds of thousands or, more like it, millions may still be able to impact the political process. But we have to find other ways to do it than the ways that used to work for constitutents in 1945. Our paradigms have to shift along with the changing times, just like the paradigm of the elected officials has changed from voters to donors.

Do I know how? Not yet, but, for me, that discussion is worth having with intelligent and people who want from elected officials the same kinds of things that I want (at least the same ballpark).

[No Elephants]

12. You can make a bigger difference if you choose the local candidates or run yourself.