Beneath Rick Santorum’s stunning three-state sweep on Tuesday stands another stubborn sign of dissatisfaction with the status quo: Republican turnout is down. I’m talking embarrassingly, disturbingly, hey-don’t-you-know-it’s-an-election-year bad. It is a sign of a serious enthusiasm gap among the rank and file, and a particularly bad omen for Mitt Romney and the GOP in the general election.
Here’s the tale of the tape, state by state, beginning with Tuesday night: Minnesota had just more than 47,000 people turn out for its caucuses this year — four years ago it was nearly 63,000 — and Romney came in first, not a distant third as he did Tuesday night. In Colorado, more than 70,000 people turned out for its caucus in 2008 — but in 2012 it was 65,000. And Missouri — even making a generous discount for the fact that this was an entirely symbolic contest — had 232,000 people turn out, less than half the number who did four years ago…
You reap what you sow, and part of the reason turnout is down is directly related to the problem of polarization. The Republican Party is more ideologically polarized than at any time in recent history. Therefore, it put up more purely right-wing candidates than it did four years before, when center-right leaders such as McCain and Rudy Giuliani were also in the race. A bigger tent inspired bigger turnout…
The bottom line is that voter turnout matters. And what should be most troubling for Republicans is that this enthusiasm gap among the conservative base is accompanied by a lack of candidates who might appeal to independents and centrist swing voters in the general election. It is a double barrel of bad news for the Republican Party. The numbers can be spun and rationalized by professional partisan operatives all day long, but the fact remains — voters just aren’t turning out to cast their votes for this crop of conservative candidates in 2012.
Good grief. Could CNN be onto something?
My theory is people on both sides are fed up with the criminals who have gotten us into this mess. They want an alternative.
It’s time for a 3rd party…it’s time for a 3rd party, yep it’s time.
Now I’ll step aside and let bobbo take the helm.
Party schmarty…
If we want a representative government, we’ll have to RE-create it. (There were no parties in 1776.)
If we want smaller government, we’ll have to take out the incentives for its growth too.
The error of (y)our ways is that, despite the evidence of hundreds of years of history, you keep on electing self-selected, self-anointed members of the milionaires club, people who have no understanding of what the lives of the citizens of this country are like.
That fits in with Einstein‘s definition of insanity: “Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
Lets examine how the situation has really devolved since the founding of this country.
We’ve become a government
• OF the thousandaires (the 99%, that would be me and thee,)
• BY the millionaires (the 1%, that would be the extremely insular privileged overlords and bosses,)
• FOR the billionaires (the 12,400 individuals identified by the IRS as the people who count (though they don’t really count as they hire some thousandaires to run machines to do that.)
How is this different than the political situation that led to the founding of the United States?
It ISN’T really.
One system had privilege being a condition of one’s birth.
The situation in the United States is the (cess)pool of nobles has expanded to people that the corporations like and are willing to fund.
The first thing we do is change from an ELECTED to a SELECTED form of government.
Pick names at random out an eligible citizen pool and they’re stuck with doing the job for one, and only one, four year term.
There could/should/would be no such thing as a career in politics. (The only thing worse than getting stuck with somebody who didn’t want the job is getting stuck with some idiot who did, figuring it was going to lift him a few rungs up the social/economic ladder.)
And don’t give me that bullshit about average citizens don’t know enough about politics.
Average citizens know right from wrong and are likely to at least read a bill before they sign and pass it on.
Average citizens know enough to be suspicious and not so venial and blinded by the lure of undeserved re-election.
Two problems
One define eligibility in a non-discriminatory way.
Two “Average citizens know right from wrong and are likely to at least read a bill before they sign and pass it on.” Any day reading a common internet message board, reading a newspaper, or watching the evening news shows this to be a false and misleading statement.
“If we want a representative government, we’ll have to RE-create it. (There were no parties in 1776.)”
Torries Whigs.
We had parties.
Or are you being Palinesque about the colonists not being British before there was a USA?
And then after that there were the Federalists and Anti-Federalists.
We’ve always had parties. Never been a time without them.
Cursor_
Primary participation is by those who are members of and/or identify with one of the two parties. I suspect those numbers are on the decline. They should be anyway.
The quick answer is that the GOP has fielded a bunch of hypocritical flip flopping schmucks.
The reality is that the GOP candidates are pitching a social and financial ideology that the majority of americans (even republicans) don’t agree with.
The GOP has had control of the House (through votes) and the senate (through filibuster) since the last election and they have not straightened out wall street or the banks and have not created jobs, so everybody knows that these guys are full of crap.
The “Pack” is a Confederacy of DUNCES !!! Nothing to see here !!! A choice between This 1%er or That 1%er !!! None of whom really has a JOBS PROGRAM FOR AMERICANS – other than the TIRED ***TAX CUTS FOR THE RICH AND CORPORATIONS*** – NONE OF WHICH ARE DOING ANYTHING TO GENERATE EMPLOYMENT IN AMERICA !!! So, no, the Electorate is tired of all the SIDE-SHOW BOBS VYING TO THE TOP OFFICE – NONE OF WHOM ARE QUALIFIED !!! So it looks like Obama will COAST TO A SECOND TERM !!!
A choice between This 1%er or That 1%er
What if they held an election and nobody voted. I’m saying that they couldn’t even raise enough people for quorum.
If we want a representative government, we’ll have to RE-create it. (There were no parties in 1776.)
If we want smaller government, we’ll have to take out the incentives for its growth too.
The error of (y)our ways is that, despite the evidence of hundreds of years of history, you keep on electing self-selected, self-anointed members of the milionaires club, people who have no understanding of what the lives of the citizens of this country are like.
That fits Einstein‘s definition of insanity: “Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
We’ve become a government
• OF the thousandaires (the 99%, that would be me and thee,)
• BY the millionaires (the 1%, that would be the extremely insular privileged overlords and bosses,)
• FOR the billionaires (the 12,400 individuals identified by the IRS as the people who count (though they don’t really count as they hire some thousandaires to run machines to do that.)
The first thing we do is change from an ELECTED to a SELECTED form of government.
Pick names at random out an eligible citizen pool and they’re stuck with doing the job for one, and only one, four year term.
There could/should/would be no such thing as a career in politics. (The only thing worse than getting stuck with somebody who didn’t want the job is getting stuck with some idiot who did, figuring it was going to lift him a few rungs up the social/economic ladder.)
And don’t give me that bullshit about average citizens don’t know enough about politics.
Average citizens know right from wrong and are likely to at least read a bill before they sign and pass it on.
Average citizens know enough to be suspicious and not so venial and blinded by the lure of undeserved re-election.
pod your record is skipping.
There are no true conservatives in the republican field, Romney is Obama light, Gingrich is an old time Washington insider , Santorum is a politician who suddenly found conservatism when it suited his run , Ron Paul is as close to a true conservative as there is but his foreign policy is just nuts.
We just cant go totally isolationist in this world at this time.
This is the problem. “No true
Scottsman” conservative” is tearing your party apart.The solution to every issue is more dogma, stricter ideology, pushing ever rightward. To that point were your parties heroes would never pass todays purity tests.
Push back from the brink and bring some ideas that America can get behind. A conservative counterpoint is valuable, but only if its sane.
The only people who are going to turn-out are the dedicated fans of a particular candidate.
All the other Republicans can just stay home and vote for the party’s eventual nominee… because only the “anyone but Obama, but -preferably- someone other than Romney” crowd has any real concern with the primaries, this year.
YT, Tivo, etc. are eating TV’s lunch.There’s only so many people over 70 for Fox to tell what to think.
I thought that was a brilliant political cartoon. It says it all.
Agreed, CNN is on to something, as crazy as it sounds. The Republican party is divided, fracturing, dissatisfied, polarized, plagued with the lack of unity. The best, sadly, the party has come up with is supporting bottom of the barrel candidates. Honestly, Obama is their greatest hope as a political conservative, he is the middle of the road president looking whether they like him or not. The neo-cons are not all that unhappy with him. It boils down to Neo-cons vs. Old cons. In this case, the old guard I think will lose, and Obama will get a second term.
What started out as a flush of enthusiasm for the “beat Obama” folks — a bad economy, pundits talking up how no incumbent has won in this situation, Obama’s weaknesses — met with a fresh bucket of ice cold Reality Water: Real candidates are flawed, the economy maybe is getting better, pundits talking about (and polls showing) Obama is probably going to win.
They are just as unhappy as they were before, but the wind is out of their sails. Looking like they are going to be disappointed again, they are beat down. They keep waiting for some message of leadership, some “magic bullet” solutions they can believe in and there aren’t any. Just more turd tossing.
Now if the Democrats can use this do just the opposite with their base — re-kindle the fire for Obama, a belief he can win and actually finish making the changes he promised — they can ride all the way to victory in November.
A turnaround like that would just drain more from the Repubs — and you will start to see desperate flailing about and policy insanity that will swing the independents firmly behind Obama, leaving the GOP pawing through the ashes looking for someone to blame for “squandering the opportunity”.
It’s gonna be fun to watch…..
Why?
Could it be that all the players with one possible exception are despicable scumbags?
They are all “Despicable Scumbags” the exception is a consistant scumbag and the current office holder is a known scumbag.
It would be fitting if our choice was the scumbag we know or the consistant scumbag…..lesser of 2 evils and all that.
But we all know that is not going to happen.
I think it is time for the No Agenda Action Party or at least the No Agenda Super Political Action Committee.
The GOP base is loyal to FOX news not the Republican party. FOX’s ratings have been slipping so the GOP is slipping. No different than American idol.
Now it’s about defending their turf, which is about making money off Republican voters and government handouts.
I am all in favor of a 3rd political party.
When do we get started?
Make the same mistake a third time, sure…
And when I get a headache I hit it with a mallet.
How ’bout no party.
I mean, If we want a representative government, we’ll have to RE-create it. (There were no parties in 1776.)
If we want smaller government, we’ll have to take out the incentives for its growth too.
The error of (y)our ways is that, despite the evidence of hundreds of years of history, you keep on electing self-selected, self-anointed members of the milionaires club, people who have no understanding of what the lives of the citizens of this country are like.
That fits Einstein‘s definition of insanity: “Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
Lets examine how the situation has really devolved since the founding of this country.
We’ve become a government
• OF the thousandaires (the 99%, that would be me and thee,)
• BY the millionaires (the 1%, that would be the extremely insular privileged overlords and bosses,)
• FOR the billionaires (the 12,400 individuals identified by the IRS as the people who count (though they don’t really count as they hire some thousandaires to run machines to do that.)
How is this different than the political situation that led to the founding of the United States?
It ISN’T really.
One system had privilege being a condition of one’s birth.
The situation in the United States is the (cess)pool of nobles has expanded to people that the corporations like and are willing to fund.
The first thing we do is change from an ELECTED to a SELECTED form of government.
Pick names at random out an eligible citizen pool and they’re stuck with doing the job for one, and only one, four year term.
There could/should/would be no such thing as a career in politics. (The only thing worse than getting stuck with somebody who didn’t want the job is getting stuck with some idiot who did, figuring it was going to lift him a few rungs up the social/economic ladder.)
And don’t give me that bullshit about average citizens don’t know enough about politics.
Average citizens know right from wrong and are likely to at least read a bill before they sign and pass it on.
Average citizens know enough to be suspicious and not so venial and blinded by the lure of undeserved re-election.
Interesting contrast, when Obama vs. Clinton went on and on in 08 the later races were having to keep polling paces open after hours just to give all the people who came a chance to vote.
The Nation’s issues are complex and the GOP primary candidates are only tossing out 30 second sound bites of red meat. You can only chew on that for so long before you see its nothing but gristle’Or in the case of Rick nothing but santorum.
People aren’t thrilled with the choices, but they intend to vote whoever is the GOP nominee is.
There’s no need to show up when people only care about “anyone but Obama”.
Romney is not very likeable & prefers to remain a cypher. Ron Paul is treated as marginal & too radical.
Santorum is an evangelist. Gack! Makes reasonable want to run the other way. But then he wins three in a row. That’s why the GOP is in deep doodoo. They got nuthin’
All of them spectacularly great choices when compared to a president who can’t run on his own record and whose main rhetoric is “You’ve got to look at where we started.” as he shirks any responsibility for inheriting a bonfire of a problem while he throws gas on it.
Ron Paul could have rallied the people, but the Republican party would rather see Mr. Obama in the White House than Dr. Paul.
I love Ron Paul but you know he doesn’t stand a chance under the glare FOX/CNN/MSNBC “Entertainment Tonight as News” spotlight?
I disagree. He could have rallied the people because he doesn’t sound like a politician.
He does however sound like everybody’s favorite crazy uncle.
Mawwwwwww! PeaPod is taking up all the space and there is no room left for my normal 9 posts in a row!
In an alternate universe, when turn out goes below 50% while the country has unemployment above 8 percent and the National Debt exceeds annual tax revenue the rule is that anyone who voted in the last election is not allowed to vote in the next one.
The first proposal along these lines was that in such circumstances none of the incumbent politicians were allow to run for re-election, but that was filibustered and wasn’t passed.
Obama did say it best: we aren’t going back to the same rules/policies that got us into this mess in the first place? Santorectum took this message to heart and leap frogged every viable political position and went back 50 years to find his fantasy religious dogma.
You look, you wipe your eyes, but its still there! You shake your head in disbelief, hope its only a bad dream, but you wake up- – – and its still there.
The insane f*cking rich want everything you’ve got and they’ve got the insane f*cking religious to front them.
NOT the same as it ever was. The tension and desire is always there, but “usually” the insane f*cking rich recognize at the extremity that actually being seen to have it all gets it all taken away from them. Combining their greed with the dogma of the religious has blinded them both. While people can be fooled into hoping, dreaming, and having faith that cutting their own throats will bring salvation to them in the future, its burying their kiddies that finally brings reality home.
“Everything I believed……was a lie.” Ha, ha. Its unfortunate that bad ideas don’t cause headaches? Migraines!!
Yeah, but they don’t. So, suck it up. The idiots need more leash.
The GOP beauty pageant really brought in some ugly ducklings this season.
Barring a kiss of death endorsement from Alphie, I see Romney as the pick of the litter against President Obama.
The Dems are probably hoping it’s going to be Romney because they’ve probably dug up the most dirt on him.
Who needs to dig? These guys are covered with dirt, for all to see.
It could be worse. They could be spending millions of dollars trying to keep their past a secret like the President has.
My guess is the Democrats can’t figure out who to vote for in Operation Chaos style. In 2000, they switched registrations to vote for McCain, with some big unions promoting the effort. In 2008, they went for Ron Paul. Paul is still getting some support, but it appears lots of Democrats would prefer Romney as the opponent.
I figure that after you look at the last few elections, and SEE who they are backing to run…
I would start shooting IDIOTS…but after a point, there would be a problem with the endangered species act… and WHO would you have left?? those that DONT WANT the job..
http://tinyurl.com/6naukjx
http://tinyurl.com/7rgcfwv
I’m still hoping there’s a brokered convention where Republicans finally come to their senses and draft Donald Trump. America deserves a businessman that can get us back on tried-and-true path of capitalism. Anything less is just madness.
Everyone knows that Jesus blesses capitalism and its faithful practitioners.
I would go for NJ Gov Chris Cristie. He is not afraid to cut the big, popular program, he loudly speaks his mind, and actually uses his mind when studying problems (as opposed to regurgitating the drivel).
Which means he has absolutely no f***ing chance to be selected by the special-interest run convention.
I hope this is sarcasm. Trump’s name is on a casino that went bankrupt. Seriously. You land a casino license and you still run it in to the ground. How in competent is that man?
I sense a VERY nervous Republican party and rightfully so.
Too bad. A viable, fiscally disciplined party is what was needed. Instead, the Christian Taliban attached itself like a parasite. Sadly, the parasite controls the host.
The conservative sheeple just can’t seem to shake that religious deer tick that is determined to infest government. Sad but true
Republicans have found their ultimate Republican in Obama.
He killed Bin Hiden, has Hillary terrorizing Syria and Iran as a “weapon of mass destruction”, orders to kill “pirates”, isn’t messing with gun rights and pays lip service to the national debt as good as any Republican.
Hey, it got Clinton re-elected.
And Obama has had less affairs than Hermit McCain and Newt.
And has stuck with only 1 marriage, unlike Romney.
So he’s the family values president too.
prolly their potential caucus voters are two busy working two or three low paying jobs to come out and vote.
nothing like an economy so bad that you dont have the time to vote..
Missouri primary didn’t even select any delegates. Only had the primary because the two parties couldn’t agree on a deal to cancel it.
Isn’t the Democratic turnout down even more? Where’s the enthusiasm to vote for Obama?