I certainly understand the desire to support the party candidate (“Hey, s/he is still better than [Dem incumbent]!”), but surely GOP leaders like Brown and Cellucci know that some of these candidates are simply too extreme and/or unqualified for the office. Cellucci himself admits that when the GOP took many state-level seats in 1990 (another “throw the bums out” year), “some of the state Senate candidates who won…weren’t very good candidates.” Matt Amorello was in the Class of ’90, but even he wouldn’t be overheard warning parents to move their kids into Smurf-free schools, less they start chanting and brewing!
My point here, besides defending the honor and good name of Harry Potter and Smurfs worldwide, is to start a discussion on political parties and how far the Big Tent can/should stretch. The article discusses Republicans, but the same could happen on the other side of the spectrum. For argument’s sake, what if a LaRouche-ite won a state Dem primary and was carrying around Cheney-as-Hitler signs? Would party leaders issue endorsements or help in any way? Probably not, but what about a Dem candidate with histories/views like Hudak and Martinez on the left? Where is the line? At what point do you ignore the (D) and say, “Sorry, my tent doesn’t reach that far.”
Guess that’s what primaries are for, eh? If only more people showed up…
Let’s talk after the election when you can de-snarkify it.
…I just couldn’t get over the quote in the story – I haven’t seen the source show, maybe it was taken out of context – it has happened before to many political candidates for office.
<
p>More seriously, I just feel like the parties (and really, voters) have a responsibility to encourage, promote and support qualified candidates for office. Easier said than done obviously. Of course, it can be hard to figure out who is really qualified underneath all of the campaign literature, ads, etc. The temptation of holding a seat and helping form a majority or solid minority can be strong to parties, and it seems like it may overcome the urge to denounce clearly- or likely-unqualified candidates.
<
p>Ultimately it is up to the voters, especially primary voters. Turnout is not great in general elections, but I think it’s generally a decent reflection of the electorate (at least the best we can realistically hope for).
<
p>Primaries are a different story entirely, especially at the local/state level, even more in off-years. Candidates picked by a miniscule number of voters – it doesn’t do representative democracy justice. Sigh…
<
p>I spent my teen years in a dissonant equivocation between paganist funk and Roman imperialism… Because why? Because the calendar destigmatized Norse religion with Odins day (Wednesday), Thors Day (Thursday) and Freitag day (Friday) and Saturnalia (Saturday) as well as those two evil months named for Julius (July) and Augustus (August) Ceasar. I spent the winter months practicing my Ernest Borgnine laugh and jumping into a pit of wild dogs. I still can’t resist the urge to were a toga in July… And do you have any idea how laurel leaves itch so abominably??
<
p>Finally somebody’s calling attention to the insidious destigmatization that goes on… maybe it’s too late for me, but for some poor innocent as yet uncorrupted, thanks are due to Odin for the bravery of Sandi Martinez.
<
p>… Now, that’s snark.
<
p>
<
p>Please, join us after the election and desnarkification – because he’s on to something.
<
p>Loki thanks you.
<
p>Translation: Let’s wait til after the election to get the real important stuff like starting a discussion about how the elections never go ezzackly as planned…
<
p>… Honestly, you’re more entertaining than teevee…
No need to wait for a LaRouchite. If Guy Glodis had won the Auditor primary, I sure wouldn’t be supporting hime in the general.
<
p>I think think this is a matter of “extreme” on a left-right spectrum. I can support good candidates whose political positions range from centrist to pretty far left, and I’d expect conservatives to have similar ranges.
<
p>What makes some candidates different is that they’re just ridiculous, or criminally corrupt, or totally clueless, or not really sane, or misogynistic, or completely unqualified, or other things that compel us to object to them regardless of where they stand on the ideological spectra.
I don’t think this is a matter of “extreme” on a left-right spectrum.
<
p>And I wish I could edit comments.