Perry Heartache In VA: Just A Bit Outside

Posted on | December 23, 2011 | 31 Comments

by Smitty

Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry failed to submit enough valid signatures to qualify for the Virginia primary ballot, state GOP officials said Friday evening.
Perry’s campaign told state election officials it had submitted 11,911 signatures, but a Republican source familiar with the situation said that the Texas governor did not submit the required 10,000.
Earlier Friday, the Republican Party of Virginia certified former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) to appear on the March ballot.

One other amplifying bit of information:

How pathetic will it be if Virginia Republicans’ primary ballot choices are only Mitt Romney and Ron Paul? (Write-ins are NOT allowed in primaries.)

While the situation is not quite as freakish as being doused in gas and having my ear cut off for a Tarentino flick, there is a noticeable “clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right” feel to it all.

For all I think Ron Paul has excellent ideas on monetary policy, the handwriting is on the newsletter for his campaign. His foreign policy ideas are simply unrealistic, and disqualify him from consideration, even before the fringe ideas come into play.

I thought that the Herman Cain ejection from the race was grossly out to lunch. Yet those supporting Ron Paul need to review that and note that this is just the primary. In the hypothetical case that Ron Paul held the GOP nomination, or even show up as VP somehow, we’d have a new tidbit every hour on the hour from the nomination to the election. The Obama campaign would distort Ron Paul’s corpus to the point where BHO would be saving the country from electing Adolf Mao Stalin. Ron Paul supporters need a good night’s sleep, a cup of coffee, and some reflection.

Irrespective of anyones regard for the fellow (and I don’t personally care about any of the candidates) there is a time for idealism, and a time for pragmatism. The Constitution itself has already been substantially corrupted. There isn’t much need for idealistic defense of any virginity there, since the molestation has already occurred before most of our lives began. Thus, I really hope that the 1992 debacle of Perot does not recur. You can argue that Mitt is as big a Ruling Class knob as Bush41, and I won’t defend either gentleman, but BHO is far more diabolical than Billy Jeff. There is no idealistic argument for splitting the conservative vote, only foolish ones.

Given his high mileage, is Gingrich some kind of a compromise between the silly and RomneyCharybdis^*? From the WaPo:

State party officials are spending Friday certifying the signatures. They have not examined Gingrich’s signatures yet, but expected to do so by late Friday night. His campaign said it submitted 11,050 signatures .

Gingrich is actually a Virginia resident. If he can’t figure out the Newtonian mechanics of getting on the primary ballot in his own state, can he be relied upon to Win The Future?

I can’t resist the thought that, if Sarah Palin was actually running, she could have mustered a cool 20k signatures without excessive effort.

*For a bit of late-night, overly literary snark, compounded through the use of a cutesy little footnote.

Category: Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Sarah Palin, Virginia

Comments

31 Responses to “Perry Heartache In VA: Just A Bit Outside”

just a conservative girl
December 23rd, 2011 @ 10:39 pm

I read somewhere that Perry has a good shot at winning if he contests it. Some of the disqualified signatures were because people signed where it said print and vice versa. That seems a little to nit picky to me.
smitty
December 23rd, 2011 @ 10:56 pm

The Fairfax GOP meets on 10Jan12. Promises to be lively.
Zak Klemmer
December 23rd, 2011 @ 11:41 pm

Unless you have graduated from an Ivy League Collage or associate with the “right” kind of folks you will be attacked and called a “kook”.

I like Mrs. Palin, however she will be unfairly attacked as she already has. The Eastern Progressive Establishment is still in control of both political parties. It would be a miracle for someone like Palin to win the nomination. Since Reagan has America run out of miracles?
Adjoran
December 23rd, 2011 @ 11:42 pm

Virginia has always been strict on the signature requirement. I worked on an independent campaign trying to qualify for the ballot over 30 years ago, and the warnings were the same: get twice the number you need because people mess up and ANY mistake found in a signature, as well as the unregistered people who sign, WILL be disqualified. I’ve never heard of a candidate with insufficient signatures being allowed on a Virginia ballot.
Adjoran
December 23rd, 2011 @ 11:53 pm

Obama would hardly have to “distort” any of Paul’s writings, just reproduce them as they are, photo images of the pages.

Paul is on video from 1995 saying, “You should read the newsletter I write.” And later, when challenged in the ’90s and early ’00s about the offensive stuff, he NEVER denied authorship. Instead he argued they were “being taken out of context” unless you “read the whole article.” He was selling a 8-page newsletter and raising money from whoever would send it in, a small operation which made him millions over the years, not the publisher of a newsweekly who may not read every snippet that goes out in every 96-page issue.

It is only within the last several years he has oddly claimed the writings don’t “represent his thinking” or that they were written by some other unidentified person (presumably Lew Rockwell, who worked with him in those years and was not a medical records specialist).

He’s lying. Use some damned common sense. This isn’t a courtroom and he isn’t charged with a criminal offense. You are entitled to look at the evidence and draw a reasonable conclusion. Believe me, the average voter will be able to figure out he hates blacks, Joos, and gays, and is such a great physician that he thinks AIDS is transmitted by saliva.
Perry Bachmann Huntsman Santorum NOT On Virginia Ballot – Awaiting Newt News | Maggie's Notebook
December 24th, 2011 @ 12:48 am

[…] Smitty at The Other McCain has thoughts. Bachmann, Santorum, Huntsman details here. […]
Joe
December 24th, 2011 @ 12:57 am

I feel bad for Perry. He has enough problems.
Anonymous
December 24th, 2011 @ 1:15 am

“BHO is far more diabolical than Billy Jeff. There is no idealistic argument for splitting the conservative vote, only foolish ones.”

Don’t you ever calm down? It’s not very likely to matter whether or not the conservative vote is split. The minority is the minority whether it’s in one chunk or 50.
Adjoran
December 24th, 2011 @ 4:53 am

If Gingrich only turned in 11,050 then it is almost certain his will fall short, too. If he and Perry had been as smart as Obama and Romney, both of whom had petitions outside polls at Virginia’s legislative elections last month, maybe that many would pass because the pool of signers who just voted are all registered voters.

They weren’t.
Anonymous
December 24th, 2011 @ 6:47 am

No argument with your excellent post, except this:

“The Obama campaign would distort Ron Paul’s corpus to the point where BHO would be saving the country from electing Adolf Mao Stalin.”

The Obama operation would not need to do any distorting in the unlikely case that it came up against Ron Paul, because a guy who hangs with Alex Jones & the 9/11 Truthers, who praises Bradley Manning, who thinks the Iranian bomb is no biggie, etc. is a stone cold freak. Obama & Co. would only need to tell the truth.
Anonymous
December 24th, 2011 @ 6:55 am

I should have just read what you wrote. Below, I made basically the same point that you made about there not being a need to distort, but you said it better.

On another topic, the VA Republican Party is not a government entity, but a private one, so there’s no problem with retroactive rules. After the Perry & (likely) Gingrich fiascoes, I wonder if there might be a rule change. It’s not much of a primary when you exclude the #1 and #4 candidates.
Mortimer Snerd
December 24th, 2011 @ 7:22 am

Sadly, you are correct.
higgins1990
December 24th, 2011 @ 8:46 am

So our only hope for our country is a brokered convention?
just a conservative girl
December 24th, 2011 @ 9:10 am

Newt had people out. I signed for him while i was working the polls that day. But you are correct, the only people collecting signatures that day were Romney, Newt, and Obama.
just a conservative girl
December 24th, 2011 @ 9:14 am

The requirements are state requirements for both parties. Even Obama had to have 10K signatures turned in or he wouldn’t have been on the ballot in Nov. The GOP certifies them but it is state law not party rules.
just a conservative girl
December 24th, 2011 @ 9:16 am

Well,, I guess I will see you there.
aconservativeteacher
December 24th, 2011 @ 9:25 am

This election CAN NOT be about the Republican candidate, whomever it is- it has to be about Barack Obama. Obama is hoping the GOP nominates someone wild and crazy with a bunch of controversial ideas, so he can hold himself up (with the MSM’s help) as some sort of ‘savior’ of something worse than even him. The GOP MUST go with generic Republican (who always beats Obama in the polls).
Gingrich Misses Virginia Ballot, Too : The Other McCain
December 24th, 2011 @ 9:28 am

[…] addthis_share = [];}This was pending late last night, but now has been confirmed: Like Rick Perry — and Jon Huntsman, Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum — Newt Gingrich failed to submit […]
Pathfinder's wife
December 24th, 2011 @ 9:56 am

While an important one, this is only one primary — cause for concern (and I think this should be a wake up call to the GOP; don’t blame the canidates that are on the ballot — blame yourselves for having such sloppy canidates and sloppy campaigns).

Ron Paul won’t get the nomination, but this is a sign that the GOP needs to do some soul searching and realize that the establishment status quo just isn’t working anymore. These fringe canidates (and that includes Santorum, Bachman, and Huntsman) are perhaps not so fringe-y to the people — maybe its time to listen to some (emphasis on “some”) of their ideas because they resonate with the people.
Dave
December 24th, 2011 @ 10:14 am

Well if it’s either Paul or Romney that would be an easy choice for me. And if you think about it, Paul is the Anti-Romney
richard mcenroe
December 24th, 2011 @ 10:17 am

I think you’re missing then point here, Stacy. As “JumpTheVote” has twitted, Romney has a standing commitment for support this year from the RNC in exchange for his pull out in 08.

NO ONE but Mitt was supposed to get on the VA ballot. Right now VaGOP is not wringing their hands over so many voters being effectively disenfranchised; they’re pissed the Paulies managed to play by their rules and beat them.

There’s no point in talking about splitting the con vote when the leadership of both parties is determined to maintain the DC status quo at the expense of the American people.
Anonymous
December 24th, 2011 @ 10:19 am

As Johnny Carson used to say: I did not know that.
Anonymous
December 24th, 2011 @ 10:36 am

Here’s the Virginia election law to which you refer:
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+24.2-545

And here’s a pretty good argument from a private attorney for scrapping this law:
http://www.ashby-law.com/better-things-to-do/
John Galt
December 24th, 2011 @ 10:47 am

Good article and good points. Been trying to make the pragmatic point over at Ace’s site, but the Perry-krishnas are in full on denial mode. There is pragmatism, then there’s full on crazy Quixote-ism.

Neither Perry nor Gingrich stand a chance in the general, never mind Crazy Uncle Ron. The other tier 2 candidates are simply waiting this out to audition for a job in the repub admin. Their support to the nominee for a cushy cabinet post.

We have very few viable choices. Lets not blow our chances on a candidate who can’t even get on a freaking primary. Or blow our chances on a candidate who is a hard core conspiracy theorist (among a long list of other painful faults).

The mission is simply to retire the current administration, and their fellow travelers in Congress. Anything that does not further this mission hinders it. If you can’t sign up to the mission, then you are opposing it.

And yes, had Sarah run, she would have easily had VA locked down. And she would have had my vote. And the votes of lots of my family. But that is mere wishful thinking on our part. We have to work with what we have. So lets band together behind the one most likely to retire the current administration.
richard mcenroe
December 24th, 2011 @ 11:42 am

The problem is, JG, with the exception of SOME of the freshmen the Tea Party installed in ’10, the vast majority of BOTH parties’ incumbents ARE fellow travelers in this Administration. Ask Mitch McConnell.
richard mcenroe
December 24th, 2011 @ 11:44 am

It’s also a mistake to think that the old GOP incumbents WANT to be a majority party. Way too much responsibility, when they can keep their rice bowls filled as part of the “loyal opposition.”
richard mcenroe
December 24th, 2011 @ 12:40 pm

Render unto them hell.
Markg8
December 24th, 2011 @ 1:57 pm

Romney bought up the county chairs. That’s the only way to explain why the others couldn’t find a measly 100 volunteers to knock on doors over a couple weekends and collect 100 valid signatures each.
Daily scoreboard « Don Surber
December 24th, 2011 @ 5:02 pm

[…] From Robert Stacy McCain: Rick Perry failed to qualify for the Virginia […]
ThePaganTemple
December 26th, 2011 @ 6:31 am

Wow, if that’s right that’s all the more reason to support a Paul victory in Virginia.
ThePaganTemple
December 26th, 2011 @ 6:34 am

Exactly. They’d rather have the backroom deals, the generous porkulus, the targeted tax breaks, etc. With real power comes real responsibility.