Fisking the Locals.
I guess one way to make my blog more worthwhile would be to add a litle local flavor to the content. Bloggers are notorious for "Fisking" people and op-ed pieces. To "Fisk" someone is to intercut their original post or article with commentary that serves to undermine and/or destroy their arguement. The word comes from Robert Fisk the journalist who was beaten by a mob in Pakistan and then declared that he deserved it and he felt their pain. As an anti-idiotarian (another blogsphere term) the News Journal is fertile ground from which cull fiskable articles. Let's start with this one:
Third-party candidates offer little
By RON WILLIAMS
...And News Journal columnists offer less...
09/27/2002
The Delaware attorney general's race this year is producing more sparks and legitimate issue disagreements than any on the ticket. Watch for it to turn negative. It'll have to if Democrat Carl Schnee has any hope of overcoming two-term incumbent Republican Jane Brady and Green Party spoiler Vivian Houghton.
Like most third-party challengers, Houghton is out there blaring into the wind while her zealous ideologues play to the crowds with their anti-establishment blather.
Ah, 5 whole sentences before the sneering and name calling starts. Here the Green Party is referred to as zealous ideologues. No mention of why other than they are simply "anti-establishment". Notice also that she doesn't give speeches, she blares into the wind.
A lot of what they say about the two major parties being Tweedledee and Tweedledum is correct.
So she's a ideolgogue and a zealout who blares into the wind but is also largely correct.
You can see it from the top of the ticket to the bottom in every state. That the old-line major party machines are losing their effectiveness is one of the major reasons we have chump parties such as Green, Libertarian, Natural Law, Citizens and other amalgamations of disgruntled former Republicans and Democrats.
Chump parties? If ever there were a party of chumps is the Democrats. They poll on what to order for lunch before making a decision. His continued efforts to marginalize swing voters with name calling is notable. Williams seems to lump any non Dem or GOPer into one whole group called either loons, disgruntled, or zealots. Where is the evidence that these people are disgruntled? Even if they are does that make their concerns any less valid? I am a libertarian but was once a republican. Am I disgruntled? No. I was at first but now I've come to see the logic in minarchy.
Which is precisely why it will be decades, if ever, before these third-party rip-offs govern something. All of their members older than 30 used to be Democrats or Republicans. Somewhere along the line, they didn't get what they expected or hoped from their committee person or county chairman. They bolted on the pretext that their new party was the only one on the planet to favor this, that or the other thing.
Here we go again. "Rip-offs"? Please. If ever there were a bigger rip-off it's voting for the two major parties. Bush claims to be Reaganite republican and then puts tarrifs on British steel to buy votes in the Rust Belt. It was wrong, stupid and will not work. The Democrats care for nothing besides buying votes by removing as many voters from the tax roles as possible and grabbing their ankles for Big Labor. He makes the 3rd party crowd sound like political hacks and wannabees who didn't get their way so they left for more power in a smaller party. Nothing could be further from the truth. Libertarians realize that both parties are most interested in re-election and backscratching. Greens realize that Democrats are not serious about the environment as they are. They pay lip service for the Green vote but will not institute the radical anti-business/anti-globo/Earth worshipping agenda that they want.
What happens if we win?
Voters in search of nirvana hear a word from a Greenie or Larouchie that strikes them and they assume the role of single- issue neurotic. They're mavericks in search of the brass ring and it would be terrifying to them if they actually won a major office.
Bullshit. Ask any one of these 3rd party candidates and they might be shocked and thrilled that they won but certainly not terrified. It's not as if 3rd party candidates don't win elections. They do. Those people take office and frequently run for re-election and win. Does that sound like the mark of a terrified person?
What would happen, for instance, if Houghton won the attorney general's race. Her first problem would be filling her office with Green Party supporters. Of course, there aren't that many Green Party lawyers in the state. So she would continue to employ mostly Democratic and Republican lawyers as her deputies. She might find a enough Greenies to fill her administrative staff, but who would she depend on in the General Assembly to pass the bills to meet her campaign obligations? Democrats and Republicans alike would make it impossible to pursue an agenda that didn't include them.
This is just assinine. Does this moron really think she'd be unable to hire enough people for a staff? Please. Anyone running for office that shows a modicum of hope of winning is like magnet for people who want to get on board for the ride. Even if she were not able to fill every last position with a green party member she could certainly find people with similar political leanings or apolitical people. In either case, she is ultimately the boss and those who work for her are required to perform their jobs as she directs. How difficult is that to understand? Of course Dems and Repubs. wouldn't allow her to pursue an agenda that doesn't include them. Nor should they. That is the point of democracy. They would have to work together and compromise. This would soften the more radical elements that the Greens attract and also help move the debate in their favor as they occupy a politically powerful position.
And forget assistance from the governor's office or the congressional delegation.
I dislike third parties because they lead to dead ends. I offer Gov. Jesse Ventura.
Could you pick a worse example of a dead end? The guy WON and would have been re-elected again had he run again.
I also offer the 1976 U.S. Senate campaign of Joseph F. McInerney, the first independent statewide candidate in Delaware. He started out as a Democrat from Rehoboth Beach hoping for his party's nomination. The late Democratic Wilmington mayor Tom Maloney got the endorsement to run against incumbent Bill Roth. McInerney became the Senate candidate for the original Delaware Party. I, not being of sound mind, was the McInerney campaign manager.
Here is is. The key to the whole piece. "I, not being of sound mind was the McInerney campaign manager". It's a classic case of projection. HE was the disgruntled Democrat that left his party for a better opportunity and it failed. He takes his own personal failings and experience and projects them onto the others who didn't quit like he did and go back to the Dems with his tail between his legs. Beaten and cowed.
Roth soundly beat Maloney and McInerney came in behind George Wallace's American Party candidate in Delaware and ahead only of the Prohibition Party. Votes of the three minor party combined didn't make a ding in Roth's 27,000 majority.
It was a waste of money, effort and the voters' time. There was ego involved, especially the candidate's. There was some difference of ideas- but not a lot - between Maloney and McInerney. Yet the Maloney campaign was intimidated enough by McInerney to spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of manhours in Washington to find negative background material on a candidate who came in behind the American Party.
Minor parties are part of our heritage. They have the same rights to field candidates as the Ds and Rs. They just can't win.
This is about ego alright. His. He not only lost but was humiliated. He ran a shitty campaign and was pummeled and in order to assuage his bitterness he points the finger at 3rd parties rather than his inability to orchastrate a campaign that can make a difference. I would remind Mr. Williams that the Green Party not only fielded a candidate in the last election, he was invited to debate the two major candidates. Furthermore, his vote tallies were so significant they turned what would have been a landslide for Algore into a razor thin loss. Note also that for him, the "Delaware Party" is exactly the same as every other 3rd party. If one is like that, they all are. None may succeed where he has failed. To do so would shame him further.
I guess one way to make my blog more worthwhile would be to add a litle local flavor to the content. Bloggers are notorious for "Fisking" people and op-ed pieces. To "Fisk" someone is to intercut their original post or article with commentary that serves to undermine and/or destroy their arguement. The word comes from Robert Fisk the journalist who was beaten by a mob in Pakistan and then declared that he deserved it and he felt their pain. As an anti-idiotarian (another blogsphere term) the News Journal is fertile ground from which cull fiskable articles. Let's start with this one:
Third-party candidates offer little
By RON WILLIAMS
...And News Journal columnists offer less...
09/27/2002
The Delaware attorney general's race this year is producing more sparks and legitimate issue disagreements than any on the ticket. Watch for it to turn negative. It'll have to if Democrat Carl Schnee has any hope of overcoming two-term incumbent Republican Jane Brady and Green Party spoiler Vivian Houghton.
Like most third-party challengers, Houghton is out there blaring into the wind while her zealous ideologues play to the crowds with their anti-establishment blather.
Ah, 5 whole sentences before the sneering and name calling starts. Here the Green Party is referred to as zealous ideologues. No mention of why other than they are simply "anti-establishment". Notice also that she doesn't give speeches, she blares into the wind.
A lot of what they say about the two major parties being Tweedledee and Tweedledum is correct.
So she's a ideolgogue and a zealout who blares into the wind but is also largely correct.
You can see it from the top of the ticket to the bottom in every state. That the old-line major party machines are losing their effectiveness is one of the major reasons we have chump parties such as Green, Libertarian, Natural Law, Citizens and other amalgamations of disgruntled former Republicans and Democrats.
Chump parties? If ever there were a party of chumps is the Democrats. They poll on what to order for lunch before making a decision. His continued efforts to marginalize swing voters with name calling is notable. Williams seems to lump any non Dem or GOPer into one whole group called either loons, disgruntled, or zealots. Where is the evidence that these people are disgruntled? Even if they are does that make their concerns any less valid? I am a libertarian but was once a republican. Am I disgruntled? No. I was at first but now I've come to see the logic in minarchy.
Which is precisely why it will be decades, if ever, before these third-party rip-offs govern something. All of their members older than 30 used to be Democrats or Republicans. Somewhere along the line, they didn't get what they expected or hoped from their committee person or county chairman. They bolted on the pretext that their new party was the only one on the planet to favor this, that or the other thing.
Here we go again. "Rip-offs"? Please. If ever there were a bigger rip-off it's voting for the two major parties. Bush claims to be Reaganite republican and then puts tarrifs on British steel to buy votes in the Rust Belt. It was wrong, stupid and will not work. The Democrats care for nothing besides buying votes by removing as many voters from the tax roles as possible and grabbing their ankles for Big Labor. He makes the 3rd party crowd sound like political hacks and wannabees who didn't get their way so they left for more power in a smaller party. Nothing could be further from the truth. Libertarians realize that both parties are most interested in re-election and backscratching. Greens realize that Democrats are not serious about the environment as they are. They pay lip service for the Green vote but will not institute the radical anti-business/anti-globo/Earth worshipping agenda that they want.
What happens if we win?
Voters in search of nirvana hear a word from a Greenie or Larouchie that strikes them and they assume the role of single- issue neurotic. They're mavericks in search of the brass ring and it would be terrifying to them if they actually won a major office.
Bullshit. Ask any one of these 3rd party candidates and they might be shocked and thrilled that they won but certainly not terrified. It's not as if 3rd party candidates don't win elections. They do. Those people take office and frequently run for re-election and win. Does that sound like the mark of a terrified person?
What would happen, for instance, if Houghton won the attorney general's race. Her first problem would be filling her office with Green Party supporters. Of course, there aren't that many Green Party lawyers in the state. So she would continue to employ mostly Democratic and Republican lawyers as her deputies. She might find a enough Greenies to fill her administrative staff, but who would she depend on in the General Assembly to pass the bills to meet her campaign obligations? Democrats and Republicans alike would make it impossible to pursue an agenda that didn't include them.
This is just assinine. Does this moron really think she'd be unable to hire enough people for a staff? Please. Anyone running for office that shows a modicum of hope of winning is like magnet for people who want to get on board for the ride. Even if she were not able to fill every last position with a green party member she could certainly find people with similar political leanings or apolitical people. In either case, she is ultimately the boss and those who work for her are required to perform their jobs as she directs. How difficult is that to understand? Of course Dems and Repubs. wouldn't allow her to pursue an agenda that doesn't include them. Nor should they. That is the point of democracy. They would have to work together and compromise. This would soften the more radical elements that the Greens attract and also help move the debate in their favor as they occupy a politically powerful position.
And forget assistance from the governor's office or the congressional delegation.
I dislike third parties because they lead to dead ends. I offer Gov. Jesse Ventura.
Could you pick a worse example of a dead end? The guy WON and would have been re-elected again had he run again.
I also offer the 1976 U.S. Senate campaign of Joseph F. McInerney, the first independent statewide candidate in Delaware. He started out as a Democrat from Rehoboth Beach hoping for his party's nomination. The late Democratic Wilmington mayor Tom Maloney got the endorsement to run against incumbent Bill Roth. McInerney became the Senate candidate for the original Delaware Party. I, not being of sound mind, was the McInerney campaign manager.
Here is is. The key to the whole piece. "I, not being of sound mind was the McInerney campaign manager". It's a classic case of projection. HE was the disgruntled Democrat that left his party for a better opportunity and it failed. He takes his own personal failings and experience and projects them onto the others who didn't quit like he did and go back to the Dems with his tail between his legs. Beaten and cowed.
Roth soundly beat Maloney and McInerney came in behind George Wallace's American Party candidate in Delaware and ahead only of the Prohibition Party. Votes of the three minor party combined didn't make a ding in Roth's 27,000 majority.
It was a waste of money, effort and the voters' time. There was ego involved, especially the candidate's. There was some difference of ideas- but not a lot - between Maloney and McInerney. Yet the Maloney campaign was intimidated enough by McInerney to spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of manhours in Washington to find negative background material on a candidate who came in behind the American Party.
Minor parties are part of our heritage. They have the same rights to field candidates as the Ds and Rs. They just can't win.
This is about ego alright. His. He not only lost but was humiliated. He ran a shitty campaign and was pummeled and in order to assuage his bitterness he points the finger at 3rd parties rather than his inability to orchastrate a campaign that can make a difference. I would remind Mr. Williams that the Green Party not only fielded a candidate in the last election, he was invited to debate the two major candidates. Furthermore, his vote tallies were so significant they turned what would have been a landslide for Algore into a razor thin loss. Note also that for him, the "Delaware Party" is exactly the same as every other 3rd party. If one is like that, they all are. None may succeed where he has failed. To do so would shame him further.
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