Finally, Texans have a true choice
Scalia rejects plea to get DeLay off ballot
Don'cha just love it? Texas Repubicans, who have had their way for the past decade because of their hold on the "morality" base, are now struggling to keep their power base. Why? Because their morality stance is finally being questioned on the moral and ethical means they use to maintain this base.
A last-ditch effort to have Tom DeLay's name struck from the ballot - because he withdrew amidst pressure about his ethical behavior - in order to throw another name on the Republican ballot for the mindless straight-party voters to cast their votes in the upcoming mid-term elections, has been denied by the U.S. Supreme Court, which recognizes it as an attempt to cirrcumvent Constitutional law in an effort to garner the straight-party vote.
I've always stressed that voters should look at the candidates' history and background before they vote. This stance bit me in the nether regions when, in the last election, it was apparent that straight-party voters won the day, even though the voters knew nothing about the candidates they voted for. People of limited intellegence voted their party, and when questioned about them, knew virtually nothing about who they voted for what they stood for.
Fool me once, it's my fault.
But you're not going to fool me twice. Ignorance may be bliss, but it's hurting our country. The Texas GOP wants a new name on the ballot under the Republican listing; but if they get it there, mindless lemmings will vote for that person just because he's a Republican - even though primary voters did not choose that candidate.
What happened is this: primary voters chose Tom DeLay as their candidate of choice for the upcoming election. DeLay, seeing a firestorm coming about his ethical behavior, chose to resign from Congress in order to avoid the scrutiny involved in his upcoming criminal trials. The Texas Republican party wants to replace him on the ballot in order to avoid the bad press and to place someone on the ballot so that mindless straight-party voters will have someone to vote for without thinking about it, and so that they don't have to think about how the person they voted for last time ended up the target of a criminal investigation.
The Texas Democratic party objected, and so far the courts (including Justices put in place by both Bushes) have agreed. Now the Texas GOP is appealing to the Supreme Court for a favorable ruling. We'll see how this plays out, but it appears that the premise is sound - just because DeLay resigned and is claiming to have moved out of state (what does this say to the people he claimed to call his own while he was in office), he still owns property in Texas, it's possible he may still reside there on election day, and is therefore still eligible to run for office.
The defense of the ruling is that the courts are denying Texans a choice on election day. This is not even close to the truth. First of all, Texans have plenty of choices on election day. There are at least two candidates running in the 22nd Congressional District on the ballot. Second, the courts didn't deny Republicans the choice, DeLay did by resigning from Congress. He won the primary, then withdrew. By doing so, he removed himself from the ballot, not the courts, and if they want someone to replace him, they should ask the voters who should replace him. Instead, they want to replace him with their candidate, and the voters have no voice in who they replace him with.
So now Texas voters have a true choice, if they're up to the challenge. I know, it's require some thinking, and some research. But if we truly want someone who will represent us in Congress, it's worth the effort to find out what our candidates stand for, and cast our vote based on how those candidates will stand up for the things we think are important.
You finally have a true choice, Texans. Use it wisely.
Don'cha just love it? Texas Repubicans, who have had their way for the past decade because of their hold on the "morality" base, are now struggling to keep their power base. Why? Because their morality stance is finally being questioned on the moral and ethical means they use to maintain this base.
A last-ditch effort to have Tom DeLay's name struck from the ballot - because he withdrew amidst pressure about his ethical behavior - in order to throw another name on the Republican ballot for the mindless straight-party voters to cast their votes in the upcoming mid-term elections, has been denied by the U.S. Supreme Court, which recognizes it as an attempt to cirrcumvent Constitutional law in an effort to garner the straight-party vote.
I've always stressed that voters should look at the candidates' history and background before they vote. This stance bit me in the nether regions when, in the last election, it was apparent that straight-party voters won the day, even though the voters knew nothing about the candidates they voted for. People of limited intellegence voted their party, and when questioned about them, knew virtually nothing about who they voted for what they stood for.
Fool me once, it's my fault.
But you're not going to fool me twice. Ignorance may be bliss, but it's hurting our country. The Texas GOP wants a new name on the ballot under the Republican listing; but if they get it there, mindless lemmings will vote for that person just because he's a Republican - even though primary voters did not choose that candidate.
What happened is this: primary voters chose Tom DeLay as their candidate of choice for the upcoming election. DeLay, seeing a firestorm coming about his ethical behavior, chose to resign from Congress in order to avoid the scrutiny involved in his upcoming criminal trials. The Texas Republican party wants to replace him on the ballot in order to avoid the bad press and to place someone on the ballot so that mindless straight-party voters will have someone to vote for without thinking about it, and so that they don't have to think about how the person they voted for last time ended up the target of a criminal investigation.
The Texas Democratic party objected, and so far the courts (including Justices put in place by both Bushes) have agreed. Now the Texas GOP is appealing to the Supreme Court for a favorable ruling. We'll see how this plays out, but it appears that the premise is sound - just because DeLay resigned and is claiming to have moved out of state (what does this say to the people he claimed to call his own while he was in office), he still owns property in Texas, it's possible he may still reside there on election day, and is therefore still eligible to run for office.
The defense of the ruling is that the courts are denying Texans a choice on election day. This is not even close to the truth. First of all, Texans have plenty of choices on election day. There are at least two candidates running in the 22nd Congressional District on the ballot. Second, the courts didn't deny Republicans the choice, DeLay did by resigning from Congress. He won the primary, then withdrew. By doing so, he removed himself from the ballot, not the courts, and if they want someone to replace him, they should ask the voters who should replace him. Instead, they want to replace him with their candidate, and the voters have no voice in who they replace him with.
So now Texas voters have a true choice, if they're up to the challenge. I know, it's require some thinking, and some research. But if we truly want someone who will represent us in Congress, it's worth the effort to find out what our candidates stand for, and cast our vote based on how those candidates will stand up for the things we think are important.
You finally have a true choice, Texans. Use it wisely.
posted by Wyld Card at
8:12 PM
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