Geographers have long noted that the Florida peninsula hangs off the East Coast of the United States like a small, limp penis. The metaphorical significance was made manifest Friday morning when what I’ve come to regard as “The Evil State” announced that it was moving its primary to Jan. 31, prompting a memorable reaction from Iowa GOP Chairman Matt Strawn:
“The arrogance shown by Florida’s elected leadership is disappointing, but not surprising. Equally troubling is to see this petulant behavior rewarded with our national convention. The consequences of Florida’s intransigence must be swift and severe, including the refusal by the RNC to credential or seat any member of Florida’s presidential primary date commission at the 2012 RNC convention in Tampa.
“Regarding the timing of the First in the Nation Iowa Caucuses, Iowa will remain first. Consistent with tradition, the final Iowa Caucus date will be announced once New Hampshire sets the date of its First in the Nation Primary.”
As I said in my Friday American Spectator column, the RNC-approved schedule — with the Iowa caucuses Feb. 6 — was reasonable and humane. What Florida has done is cruel and insane. Manchester (N.H.) Union Leader columnist John DiStaso has reaction from the Granite State:
The Republican National Committee this afternoon made clear that Republican parties in any state, including New Hampshire, that violate the national party’s primary/caucus calendar by moving their primaries or caucuses earlier than the schedule set out in an RNC rule will lose half its delegates to the national convention next summer.
A senior RNC official said there will be “no discretion, no waivers. Those penalties are in place in our rules. They were enforced in 2008 and they will be enforced in 2012.”
A Florida commission today voted to jump up its primary to Jan. 31 in violation of the RNC rule. It means that New Hampshire, Iowa, South Carolina and Nevada will also violate the rule and move their events into January, and possibly, in New Hampshire’s case, into December of this year . . .
[New Hampshire’s Republican National Committeeman Steve] Duprey, a member of the RNC rules committee who was among those who worked since 2008 on the new rule, said of Florida, “I thought they’d be smarter than this.
“This (Florida jump to January) effectively precludes Sarah Palin and anyone else from getting into the race, and it’s unfortunate for the Republican Party and for democracy. It also makes it much more daunting for any candidate who doesn’t have huge cash reserves to be able to compete and capitalize on an early state win.”
Duprey predicted the New Hampshire Primary will probably be held “right after the first of the year again, and could be even earlier than that,” meaning perhaps even in December.
Of course, if New Hampshire moves to December, Iowa’s law will require them to move to December, too. And all of this — all of it — is the fault of the Florida Republican Party leadership. The Hill notes:
The front-loading of the calendar also means presidential candidates will likely have to campaign through Christmas and New Year’s Day.
Isn’t that sweet? “The Florida Republicans Who Stole Christmas”!
By the way: Don’t believe a word those Florida Grinches say about their reasons for doing this. They’re lying through their teeth if they say this has anything to do with trying to make Florida votes count for more in the primary process. What they are doing — and everybody knows this is the real reason — is trying to force an early end to the fight for the GOP nomination.
So far the only candidate in the field who’s said a word about this crooked Florida deal is Rick Santorum. Everybody knows that Florida’s state House Speaker Dean Cannon has endorsed Rick Perry, and many people suspect Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos is a Mitt Romney supporter. By front-loading the primaries, Florida now is in effect trying to stop Herman Cain (or anyone else but Perry or Romney) from having a fair chance to compete with the big-money front-runners.
The Underground Conservative predicts “a front-loaded presidential primary system guaranteed to pick an establishment GOP candidate. Mitt Romney = John McCain 2.0,” and adds:
That’s the end result: the Cocktail Party GOP showing the Tea Party who’s boss.
You may have noticed that the sudden announcement of Florida’s Jan. 31 date swiftly followed Cain’s upset win in the Florida straw poll — a result that had caused some people to urge New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to get in. But there won’t be time now for Christie to organize a campaign in time to compete in Iowa or New Hamphire.
Bonus for the old-boy Establishment? By making this move, the Florida GOP makes it all but certain that Sarah Palin can’t run in 2012.
What would really shake things up — and it would be just like her — is if Palin decided to pay back the Establishment by messing up their little insider game and endorsing Herman Cain.
UPDATE: This is incredible! In a Facebook message to “Sunshine State Sarah,” Speaker Cannon admits what the Florida GOP is doing:
I’ll describe what happened in 2008 as the best proof that the threats of calamity in [Florida RNC member Paul] Paul’s letter are unfounded. In 2008, Iowa went Jan 3, NH went Jan 8, MI on Jan 15, NV and SC on Jan19, Florida went Jan 29, and FL had huge, arguably decisive influence. Twenty six states then held their primaries the next week on Feb 5–the “super Tuesday”–and it was over.
That is to say, Cannon and the Florida GOP are trying to guarantee a repeat of the preposterously early decision in 2008! And this disaster (which gave the nomination to John McCain) Cannon cites as proof that a front-loaded primary calendar in 2012 won’t produce a “calamity”!
Read the rest of Sarah’s post. Like many Floridians, Sarah doesn’t seem to understand how evil this Crist/Greer-style trick really is. Go back to the story I wrote on Election Night 2008:
Perhaps the most important statistic for conservatives to keep in mind today — as pundits pore over and pour out exit-poll data to tell us What It Means — is this: 53 percent of Republican primary voters did not vote for John McCain.
And how did that happen? Florida Republicans led by the corrupt Jim Greer moved up their primary, forcing the front-loaded 2008 calendar described by Cannon. Then Florida’s RINO Gov. Charlie Crist (after promising to endorse Rudy Giuliani) gave his endorsement to John McCain. Just as Cannon said, “Florida went Jan 29, and FL had huge, arguably decisive influence” — McCain won with 36% to Romney’s 31%, and then Super Tuesday sealed the deal.
Yet the Florida GOP’s attempt to repeat that rigged process — which produced a Republican nominee who didn’t get a majority of Republican votes — is claimed by Cannon as proof that 2012 won’t be a “calamity”!
Once Tea Party activists figure out what the Florida GOP bosses are up to, I guarantee you there will be hell to pay.
PREVIOUSLY:
- Sept. 30: Florida: The Evil State
- Sept. 29: At Least One Florida Republican Party Official Who Is Not Batsh*t Crazy
- Sept. 28: Insert Obscene Epithets Here
The Stupid Party rides again…and trips.
Memo to the Cocktail Party GOP Establishment: Here we are. Rock you like a Herman Cain!
[…] What Florida Hath Wrought: Will Christmas Be in Iowa or New Hampshire? : The Other McCain. LD_AddCustomAttr("AdOpt", "1"); LD_AddCustomAttr("Origin", "other"); […]
Not just yeah, but Hell, yeah!
This is transparently an attempt to prop up Romney and Perry, and to cripple Cain. Like I said, Palin could get some sweet payback on the Establishment if she endorsed Cain. But if she did, I think she’d wait until after another debate or two.
A #FLgop Jan31 primary makes #TeaParty wonder what faves .@MarcoRubio & .@AllenWest think abt Christmas-time campaigning? #tcot #gop #fl22
I don’t understand WHY Iowa is the tail wagging the dog. Why do they have to retain precedence?
Was it some political payoff in the past? Or is it one in the future?
Why do Iowans somehow deserve to be first? Other than their refusal to play by any rules but their own and force everyone else to follow.
I realize that FL isn’t innocent in this but I’m wondering that maybe they just got tired of being bullied by a bunch a state by dint of their egos.
Hold the primaries whenever and let the chips fall where they may. Until someone can show me how having a particular state go first or by having a primary at a certain time BENEFITS THE PEOPLE then let them do what they will and take the consequences.
The primary system is a joke (regardless of when Florida votes). We should be able to do better.
I just mentioned that on Twitter with a H/T to you.
If the national GOP desires to control the primary schedule they can do that. As far as Florida and the present rules that the Florida state GOP agreed to originally the national GOP should enforce them. As this is a wanton flaunting of the rules, the national convention should be moved out of Florida and no Florida delegates to the National convention seated.
Agreed. The convention is what, nine months away? I should think it could still be moved. If Florida wants to screw with the schedule, they shouldn’t get the convention.
But, Stacy, I don’t think it’s too late for Palin to get in this…
BTW, when do Cannon and Haridopolos face re-election? Because I’m thinking they’re ripe for being primaried. Let’s TEA them back to the private sector!
John, you are absolutely right. Politicos are screwing with the American election process, and it is scary. Why should ANY ONE STATE be able to set the trend? This is not right.
Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by stupidity.
Besides, the idea that Romney and Perry forces, bitter rivals who are the two candidates with the biggest fundraising networks established and thereby most likely to survive a long contest, suddenly decide to cooperation and roll the dice on their future for a quick decision because Cain’s had a good week borders on the paranoid.
Once people break out the calculators on the idiotic “999” plan, Cain will be done anyway. It doesn’t add up, not even close, and he has no backup plan if his promised record-setting economic boom doesn’t materialize on schedule.
The real danger of moving the contest up is that taking our time and making a reasoned choice is very important this cycle, since we know Obama’s ONLY path to reelection lies in destroying our nominee and turning them into something so toxic people will run back to Comrade Barry.
Never ascribe to malice that which can be explained by stupidity.
Why can’t it be both? The two things aren’t mutually exclusive.
Politics is full of situations where sworn enemies set aside their
differences in the short term to work together against a common
opponent. Heck, history’s also full of that kind of thing. So why
wouldn’t a Perry supporter and a Romney supporter in Florida work
together to keep their guys the top dogs in the race? Why does
suggesting that seem paranoid to you?
Further, it’s pretty clear that they’re trying to solidify and narrow the field. Keep anyone who’s currently on the sidelines out; keep those who are in and lagging weak and unable to successfully raise adequate funds. After all, they’ve just shortened the race calendar down by a month, at least. Anyone sitting on the sidelines now has one month less to raise money and put an organization into place. Anyone who’s currently in and struggling to raise money has just had the rug pulled out from under them. If they aren’t in the upper tier now, they’re never going to be…
What this really means is that the party operatives in Florida want to determine who the two top dogs in the race are, not the voters of the state. This is the height of arrogance. The sooner these people get swept out of the seats of power, the better for us all. Because it’s these old boy networks which have been our undoing. And now they’re doing it again.
This came up some time ago when wind of this nefarious plot first came to light. Alas contracts have been signed arrangements that can not lightly be gotten out of etc.
Sorry To Hear Your Candidate’s Chances Died
Did your candidate quit the race?
Well you needn’t feel bereft
She was about to be nailed
For fraud, deceit, and theft.
She wasn’t really in it anyway
That was just her claim
All she wanted was some money
And a dose of name and fame.
What to do with all her pictures
And her mega selling books
That you bought for all that money
Not knowing he was a kook.
You thought her Crazy Wisdom
Would get you over the hump
But instead you’ve come up empty
And are now back in the dump.
It ain’t over til it’s over
And frankly there’s still hope
Only when you pick another candidate
Don’t be such a dope.
~Allmark Cards. For The Politically Inclined~
–Anamika
Stacy explained this in a previous post. Do your homework. Iowa and NH are training grounds not decision makers.
Maybe its time to seriously think about a third party. The Republican Party can settle this real quickly, simply by telling the Florida people their primary won’t count for jack shit, that none of their delegates will be counted or applied until the convention. Straight up, if these kinds of antics result in a candidate I don’t really like, they can kiss my ass, I won’t vote.
Unfortunately, I think we’d all better come to grips with what seems to be the reality that she’s not running.
One of the potential candidates did say that this would be an unconventional campaign season. I suspect there are more surprises waiting for us down the road.
It’s gonna fuck up Christmas.
FTFY.
Stace, your complaints about what the Florida GOP is doing are fine, but your highlighting of the following fact as if it was significant is ridiculous:
“Perhaps the most important statistic for conservatives to keep in mind today —as pundits pore over and pour out exit-poll data to tell us What It Means —is this: 53 percent of Republican primary voters did not vote for John McCain.”
There were several candidates for the GOP nomination, not just two, so it would be unreasonable to expect any candidate to win a majority of the vote. All anyone has to do is click on the link you provide to see that John McCain won an overwhelming plurality of the total GOP vote.
2012 won’t be different in that sense: even if Herman Cain wins the GOP nomination, he will do so with a plurality, not a majority.
I live in New York, our primaries aren’t until the September before the election. In 2000, the ONLY candidate we were allowed to vote for in the GOP presidential primary was George W Bush, that isn’t right! My primary vote counts for pretty much NOTHING in national elections because by the time the primary election is held, most of the Republican candidates are already out of the race. Why should those early primary states get to decide who I am allowed to vote for? All of this hullabaloo could be shut down if all primaries in all states were held around the same time, then, and only then, will everyone’s vote mean a damned thing. I am so sick of being denied the right to have MY voice heard as to who should be at the top of the GOP ticket and I am sure that I am not alone.
Furthermore, if you define both McCain and Romney as RINOs, then the RINO vote was the majority in 2008.
Of course, in 2008 many in the conservative blogosphere were calling Romney the conservative alternative to McCain. That Romney is now considered a RINO shows how much progress the conservative wing of the GOP has made.
In 2008, the rank and file GOP members chose ( or settled for) McCain because they sensed the trouble the GOP was in that year. 2012 is shaping up to be quite different.
Tsk tsk, Anamika, tsk tsk!
A self-appointed intellectual such as yourself should have some scansion in your verses. That you do not is a reflection upon your vocabulary and creativity.
And your intellectual limits.
Tsk tsk, Anamika, tsk tsk!
The wet dream ticket of the Cocktail Party GOP is Mittens and T-Paw. Florida has just pretty much guaranteed that will be the crap sandwich we get as an alternative to Obama.
Can’t you just feel the excitement? Yawn … Zzzzzzzzzzzz.
It’s got no beat and the only one dancing is the twitching zombie in the corner. The author has no talent and no redeeming qualities whatsoever. I give it a 93.
…out of a possible 14,000,000,000,000.
Yes, that’s the claim. It doesn’t mean the rest of us have to agree.
I think every state that isn’t already one of the “lucky” early states would like to move up so that their primary means something more than a rubber stamp of the survivors. I don’t dismiss entirely ulterior motives by officials who favor or endorse particular candidates, but I also don’t think that’s the only motive.
The wrench in this sort of plan, and one that I think is probably good, is the move away from winner take all. So while one candidate may win the vote in an early state, having 30% of the delegates from that state, while another has 25% (or whatever) makes this much more likely to be a longer fight, and especially helpful to those not at the forefront of the polls.
Not this again. “That trick never works, Bullwinkle!”
And it is all a conspiracy to screw up Stacy’s Christmas. Damn them!
I am not convinced this is being done to hurt Cain. They assume the Herminator will not gain real traction (they are still underestimating him). This decision has been in the works for a while in Florida, long before Herman’s ascent.
We have to go Occam’s Razor on this: While there are great people there too, Florida (unfortunately) has too many self indulgent c*** suckers.
Dungbat.
If Romney and/or Perry are behind this, they better hope that Gov. Christie doesn’t come out on Monday and say he’s decided not to run because of this change in the primary calendar. That will get the Christie fans (Bill Kristol, Ann Coulter and others) screaming to high heaven next week. This could be the very thing that causes the TP activists to rally behind someone like Herman Cain or Sarah Palin.
Does anybody else suspect Jeb Bush may have a hand in this? Anything done to diminish Florida’s importance by limiting its delegates diminishes the chances for West or Rubio to be on the Republican ticket, and helps the RINO contingent.
Why exactly should IA and NH get to annoint the candidate every season? Lets not forget that Cain won the FL straw poll and Romney is ahead by double digits in NH.
[…] What Florida Hath Wrought: Will Christmas Be in Iowa or New Hampshire? : The Other McCain That is to say, Cannon and the Florida GOP are trying to guarantee a repeat of the preposterously early decision in 2008! And this disaster (which gave the nomination to John McCain) Cannon cites as proof that a front-loaded primary calendar in 2012 won’t produce a “calamity”! […]
Which is why I think Gov. Palin has sat on the sidelines as all this unfolds…she warned the GOP machine in her June
….she warned GOP machine in her June 2011 interview on the Hannity show.
I should never post in the morning before at least two cups of coffee.
I wouldn’t be surprised. Hey, what do you think about a Romney/Bush or a Perry/Bush ticket? Yeah, me too.
How about EFF em ALL and serve up a nice plate full of THIRD PARTY pie, effin establishment jackholes.
This is a very thin attempt by the Florida GOP establishment to help their preferred candidates (Romney & Perry). By moving their primaries, they risk Fla losing 1/2 of their delegates to the National Convention. Mr. Cain’s victory in the straw poll last week came after he gave several speeches and talks to delegates there…
Neither Romney or Perry could be bothered to attend…
So, by losing 1/2 the Florida delegation, Cain, if he does win Florida will only receive half the delegates he would have.
GOP will, in the end, snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Rich Vail
Pikesville, Maryland (formerly of Panama City Fla–30 resident there)
The Vail Spot dot Blogspot dot Com
The Florida Establican Party needs what the Joker thought Gotham City needed.
Disqus generic email templateDamn them all to Hell!!!
—– Original Message —–
From: Disqus
To: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, October 01, 2011 11:19 AM
Subject: [theothermccain] Re: What Florida Hath Wrought: Will Christmas Be in Iowa or New Hampshire?
Joe (unregistered) wrote, in response to Bob Belvedere:
And it is all a conspiracy to screw up Stacy’s Christmas. Damn them!
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[…] addthis_product = 'wpp-261'; var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true,"ui_language":"en"};Thanks to Florida (“the Evil State”) we may be just three months from the Iowa caucuses, and Rick […]
Vote Third Party…I hear the Constitutionalist Party is really good. Evidently the RINOs did not learn their lesson in 2008. Maybe I ought to vote for Obama just to make the situation completely clear to the Old Boys Club….What part of ‘no’ don’t you understand?
Not really.
Romney is yes, more conservative than McCain, but no he was never considered a conservative by most.
In 2008, from what I hear, we had Dems voting in open primaries, and the Old Boy Network in full force, and front-loaded primaries in liberal states (why can’t teh first state be….TN ….we went Crimson when the rest of the nation went Blue. Or South Carolina, or Texas?)
I’m not sure he could even win 1/2 the delegates. If the dates are moved up…are the delegates awarded still on a “winner take all” basis or is it then % of vote? So, I’m wondering if Mr. Cain would only get a % of the 1/2 delegates?
I’m disappointed in this Florida, but I do not see how it has any effect on Sarah Palin’s chances. She has over 97% name recognition. She has been making policy speeches and statements for over a year. She was very active in the last two election cycles voters know her, and she knows how to campaign.
Romney has been running since 2006 and he still in 20s.
With regard to Cain by January of 2012 he will have been running for a year. Either he makes the sale or he does not.
McCain did not win because of the calendar he won, because voters preferred him to Romney, Huckabee and Thompson et al.
So far only the early states are moving. If after March 6 stays the same most of the delegates will not be chosen early.
Who cares when Michigan, Iowa, and South Carolina vote Palin will be formidable.