A couple of weeks ago, Markos Moulitsas launched "Operation Hilarity" on Daily Kos, urging activists on the left to "take an active role" in the Republican presidential nominating process. As Markos explained, several upcoming primaries and caucuses -- including today's closely-watched contest in Michigan -- are open, meaning Democrats and independents can participate.
The message of "Operation Hilarity," then, was pretty simple: progressive should "head out and cast a vote for Rick Santorum." As the argument went, if Rush Limbaugh and the right can do it, so too can the left.
Santorum doesn't seem to mind the mischief. On the contrary, he's encouraging it.
Rick Santorum's presidential campaign is actively seeking the support of Democrats in Tuesday's Michigan primary, running a robocall that sounds oddly like one that would be run by an organized labor group.
"Michigan Democrats can vote in the Republican primary on Tuesday," the narrator says in a copy of the automated call to Democratic voters that was initially obtained by Talking Points Memo. "Why is it so important? (Mitt) Romney supported the bailout for his Wall Street billionaire buddies, but opposed the auto bailout. That was a slap in the face to every Michigan worker. And we're not going to let Romney get away with it."
Here's the audio, as first published by TPM:
The Santorum camp freely acknowledges its role in this push. "If we can get the Reagan Democrats in the primary, we can get them in the general," Santorum spokesperson Hogan Gidley told TPM.
Team Romney is in high dudgeon, calling Santorum's outreach to Democratic voters "outrageous." That's a predictable response, but Romney gave away the high ground on this issue quite a while ago -- Romney personally voted in a Democratic primary in 1992, and insists his vote was part of a ploy to help the GOP face the weakest possible Democratic nominee.
Santorum, in other words, is simply encouraging Michigan voters to do what Mitt Romney has already done.
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"simply encouraging Michigan voters to do what Mitt Romney has already done."
To be fair, Mitt has spent a lifetime doing. . .everything!
you mean in reality nothing ,he and Bain have taken over businesses and raped them of all their wealth,Borrowed them into bankrupsy,taken their pensionfunds, and sold what was left for junk prices,
Reagan Democrats are either Republicans or dead by now.
I live in Michigan and Rick Santorum will not be getting my Democatic vote; nor will he be getting any votes from the people I know, even if they're Republican!!
The same here. I see the strategy, but just cannot bring myself to cast that vote.
As a person who tries to have a good conscious, and be thoughtful towards others - I am on my knees saying THANK YOU!!!
I see Santorums strategy, yet I see that the current crop of candidates and that "base" they are playing to - they NEED THORAZINE not voting!!
Hubby and I are lifelong liberals, but he votes in the Republican primaries for just that reason; to see that the the person running against the conservative is the weakest choice. I still have a hard time voting for a Republican under any circumstance.
So your husband most likely thinks his candidate is not strong enough to win the elections on his merits. This is a pathetic way to exercise the great privlege to vote - basically stack the deck against the side you don't like. Of course this is not voter fraud but to me it is a bastardization of the voting process. If President Obama is one of the best men to hold that office, then why the hell is this necessary????
If you don't like the rules, don't play the game. For this one day only, Ricky is my man. This is an opportunity to prolong this hallucinogenic Marx Brothers movie and provide employment to many comedy writers across our proud land.
That's cool John - make a joke out of the voting process. Everybody has a fit when it comes to voter ID, but this move is OK. It is legal (playing by the rules) I know, but to me it is a backdoor way to stuff the ballot AND people that do it must have many doubts about Obama winning.
skip - don't pretend that MI Republicans wouldn't do this same thing if the GOP were in the White House and they thought they could beat one particular Dem over another. I don't know who in MI decides those rules, but if they can't get it right, that's not the fault of the electorate. It's about winning within the existing rules.
Personally I wouldn't bother to go vote in the GOP primary, but that's just me. I think Obama is going to be re-elected regardless of the GOP nominee.
This is what the Republican's did last Presidential election.
Ok KJ and Mary - does that make it right to keep doing it? "They started it!" Nice way to look at it. Lets get as low and stupid as them. Classy.
Oh and if the Repulicans did it last Presidential election, it worked. Wait....Obama is in office. Are you saying that Santorum will be the next President? :-)
Actually Skip if the Republicans didn't do this exact same thing, we might be talking about re-electing Hillary. So be careful what you wish for, you end up getting Little Ricky for President. Then God help us all!
My point EXACTLY Mary - STOP doing this crap! I am not wishing for anything. Neither side should be doing this. I can not believe other people think its OK to cast what is basically a fake vote and then get a laugh over it. To me it just cheapens the whole voting process no matter who does it.
Hey, in my district in Arizona if you don't vote in the Republican primary (as I will today) you might as well not show up. Since Arizona has closed primaries, that means registering as a Republican no matter what you think (much like the old South where the Democratic primary was the only election that mattered.)
I get some pretty strange robocalls on my cell phone, let me tell you.
can you register as a republican and vote all democratic?
Of course. How would they enforce anything else?
D,C.
The "Old South" still works the same way 'ceptin' now it is all Republican with closed primaries. So I do the same thing you do and am registered Republican because I want to vote in local stuff (they are all horrid choices, usually, but I go for the least worst). I switch to (home one might say) to Democrat for Primaries that matter (usually Presidential or for U.S. Senate).
I was even asked in my county to join the Republican Executive Committee. Maybe someday I will, but I need Medical Marijuana to pull it off and I cannot get that here. :)
As a Democrat, I would just offer this caution: Be careful what you wish for.
Agree wholeheartedly. It's a dangerous game to falsely inflate the voter count, making it appear that there's more interest than warranted, and I can see no democratic advantage to that strategy.
Now, if "(e) none of the above" was on the ballot, it might be worth a trip.
If Santorum doesn't believe people should get a college education where exactly did he get his three degrees from? I'm guessing on the back of a box of Fruit Loops cereal.
You've probably got the cereal box angle right, but something like shredded wheat would be more "manly" to someone like Santorum than Froot Loops. And not that sissy "frosted" stuff either.
Watching Santorum's speech about throwing up and Obama being a snob and wanting his enthusiastic audience to be able to shape people in their own image, a thought (or rather a song) kept running through my head. You'll have to imagine the tune from South Pacific, but the words go like this:
You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught.
The only issue is the local Democratic primaries. You need to vote in them.
Been hearing about Democrats should vote for one of those Republican Presidential candidates and been thinking about it. It is like OK lets make a mark on one of those bozos and in my mind I am going oh no no no I just can’t do it. Please please don’t make me do this. These guys are like I don’t what, perhaps walking morons, lack of thought, will do anything for their Money God, and serving an objective that goes totally against what our Democracy stands for. Wow never thought such a decision could be so frustrating. And just think what is happening throughout our whole country in all the states makes these Republicans all the same thing.
There are a lot of DINOS (democrats in name only) here in Kentucky that affect elections through the primary vote. Case in point, they turned out to vote for Jack Conway because they knew while he would have the support of the metro areas his opponent Dan Mongiardo would possibly take rural areas that are Republican strongholds. That backfired on them a little bit when Rand Paul received the Republican nomination instead of their preferred candidate Trey Grayson. Be careful what you wish for, since Conway won the metro areas as expected and Paul carried the state with the supporters out in the country. I don't even think Mitch McConnell was happy about that one.
Amen, Leah-- and here in Indiana, people are DELIGHTED that Santorum is now on the primary ballot. While many suggest that there is "no way" Santorum could be elected, this kind of hyperbolic pandering to conservative religious values has worked before (unless you have completely blotted out the Bush presidency from your memory). Yes, it is stupid and unfair for people to think like that. Just don't underestimate the capacity of some voters-- maybe even a majority in some states-- to be swayed by such appeals to their own background, rather than what is demonstrably good for the country.
When Santorum reaches out to Democrats, I wonder which "probe" he's using! YUK!
I'd like to see Obama dismantle him piece by piece in a debate...but I worry about the right wing nuts. I keep thinking about all the new laws passed limiting the voters and votes...
Sorry, Rick, but the Lunatic Fringe is closed to Democrats.
I wouldn't be surprised if the Repbublicans didn't have an ace in the hole (and I don't mean the transvaginal probe), being their ploy with the voter ID issue. Democrats need to really in each community to help the Democrats who need assistance getting their IDs in order . Each Democratic representative in the targeted communities should be setting up local agencies to help them, so as to eliminate this threat.
Operation Hilarity and Rick Santorum's robocalls to Democrats asking for their support - just proves what I've said all along...the ilk have NO sense of humor and wouldn't know a joke if it bit them on the arse!
Soothe, that's exactly what I've been saying all along too. Instead of just fighting the voter ID requirements, which are actually highly favored by the general public, why aren't local Democratic activists organizing to make certain as many folks as possible have state IDs and are registered and have transportation arranged for November? Volunteers could be recruited to pitch in and help. Couldn't we help defuse the righties' talking points about "voter fraud" if we actually just tried to get everyone signed up?
If Santorum were to win Super Tuesday, wouldn't it be much more likely that a much more threatening face would jump in the race? Jeb or Christie, for instance? They have to know Santorum has no chance of winning the general. Wondering about the wisdom of voting for creeps in the primaries.
Operation Hilarity makes me sick. A lot of people are arguing that we don't need voter ID's because there is no fraud in voting. That is most likely true, but to vote in a primary of the party you oppose just to make sure they have the weakest candidate is almost as pathetic as "stuffing the ballot". It is not illegal and if you really want to do it go ahead, but to me you are then making the statement that you do not have enough faith in your candidate to win the election based on his record/merits. He needs this little scamy trick for help. OBVIOUSLY Obama is not as strong a candidate as we thought.
I cannot believe anyone would promote this - including another Republican candidate. This is just gross and cheapens the whole concept of democratic elections. SAD
I will not waste my vote on either Romney or Santorum. Since I would have to declare to be a Republican to get the ballot, then for the next 22 months my mail box would be full of Republican junk mail because my declaration as a Republican will be part of the public record. I don't call that an open primary even though everyone seems to think it is.
I think it's a big mistake to vote for any republican in the primary. I don't know why Markos would encourage this. Aren't there other democratic candidates running for their congress or senate. You also know that the MSM would make it a big deal, and claim President Obama is losing support. While he is also complaining that he approved part of the Keystone Pipeline being built, although it's only crude oil that would be flowing from Oklahoma to the Gulf Coast.
Okay its all very nice being able to sit upon a moral high ground but if by doing so you leave a stronger republican party in your wake which in turn leads to the possible derailment Obama's American Jobs Act (which is vital stimulating small business and charitable institutes), investment in social as well as physical infrastructure his extension of the safety net (approaches which are vital to the well being of a large segment of vulnerable members of society and those who have lost jobs and homes because of a policies that favour staff cutbacks in order to fund tax cutbacks to the very wealthy).
In the end it boils down to which has priority the actual physical impact that a stronger republican party can have on the lives of those who are vulnerable or your own feelings of self satisfaction. I know which one I would be willing to sacrifice and trust me its not another persons wellbeing.
Nothing wrong with tactical voting. Operation Hilarity, however, distracts progressives from a much more promising application.
There is a risk that this tactic might backfire and Republicans find in Santorum a true believer they can enthusiastically support. Regardless, the outcome of giving aid and comfort to any neo-con will serve as a minor irritant or even welcome relief to the GOP establishment.
A much more serious blow can be struck against the GOP by progressives tactically voting for Ron Paul. If Ron Paul can go to the GOP convention with a plurality of votes and/or delegates, the GOP establishment will be forced to reject him and cause his followers to walk out. A rupture of this magnitude would cripple the Republicans in the general election. Paul's supporters would convince him to run a third party or write-in campaign and draw enough votes away from Romney/Santorum to give Obama a landslide victory.
Additionally, with Ron Paul in the debates, Obama can be restrained from the instinctual reaction of so many Democratic candidates to prove they are not "weak on defense" by going along with calls for steroidal increases in funds for the MIC beast. Instead, Obama would appear to be the moderate while Romney's true warmongering intentions are exposed.
Finally and perhaps most promising, Ron Paul's presence in the general election would lend support to Libertarian candidates for Senate and House which would also draw votes away from Republican candidates for congress. This could very well result in giving President Obama the 60 Senators and the re-established Democratic majority in the House he needs to get anything significantly progressive done in his second term.
Making sport of Santorum at Romney's expense may give us a thrill but greater fecundity is to be found in tactically supporting Paul in the primary.
Why this tactic is not being widely endorsed by the likes of Huffington, Moore, and Moulitsas is mind-boggling. Wasting this exceedingly rare strategic opportunity would be an epic political failure.