NY Times article.
Apparently a Republican political operative has gotten several homeless or street people to run on the Green Party line in hopes of them pulling off Democratic votes. He freely admits to doing this but claims that it is OK because hey, he can’t control them.
The depth of slimy political tactics never ceases to amaze me. And this is the party that the electorate wants to put back in power.
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These antics seem to be pretty widespread this year. Up in Michigan a Democratic party official was doing this to set up bogus Tea Party candidates. He didn’t bother recruiting people, though - he just put their names on nomination forms and then notarized them. They became candidates without their knowledge.
He had to leave his party post - which ought to be expected, but I don’t expect much anymore.
No surprise – when Ralph Nader ran for POTUS as a Green in 2004, GOP volunteers were out there gathering ballot-petition signatures for him.
Yep, this stuff goes on, and when it doesn’t go on, parties accuse other parties of it going on.
Yay for politics.
Isn’t that how Willie Stark got his start?
Look, you can whine about the player, or you can change the rules of the game. With preference voting, this tactic will be less powerful. But if the tactic works & is legal, then the responsible thing is to use it, not to whine about someone else not living up to your “ethics.” Politics is war by non-violent means. The nice ethical idealists will lose every time.
Yeah this stuff goes on and to me it is an inexcusable manipulation of our electoral system.
While both parties seem to play these games I think a stark difference should be pointed out. When Democrats get caught doing that type of thing they are fired by their own party. When Republicans get caught they are applauded for their efforts.
Inexcusable? No. Electoral politics is the continuation of war by non-violent means. He who is willing to gerrymander, to steal votes by addition or subtraction, to lie his way into office, to split the opposition by nefarious ruse–wins. You can whine about it, but you’re just another tired old chivalrous knight sitting on his horse whining about the dominance of aerial warfare.
Politics is not a game with rules. It’s much more serious than that. Fail to realize that & you will lose most future elections.