Watching the Democratic primaries go through their meltdown has really been fun and it's not over yet.  But something has been bothering me about conservatives switching parties to vote for Hillary in the Democratic primaries.  Even if they're registered as an Independent, voting for someone you don't want to win is a bad idea.

I understand the strategic reasons for doing it and certainly can't dispute the results.  This has been as divisive a campaign season as I've ever seen, especially for the Democrats.  Keeping Hillary in has helped keep focus on the major flaws of the entire progressive movement.  This is fine as far as it goes... the more scrutiny the better.  I don't think Obama would have been hit nearly as hard on the Rezko connection, his wife's blunders, or his "spiritual adviser" if Hillary wasn't there to stoke the flames of identity politics.

I'm also going to avoid the, "Be careful what you wish for, you might get it" reasoning.  You've probably also heard, "We need to be better than they are" speeches, "They do it too" excuses, "Ends justifies the means" platitudes, and the always-ready standby "That's politics" rationalization.  All of those have a measure of truth to them and are worthy of consideration.  None are very convincing to me however.

This is the biggest reason it is a mistake to cross-over and meddle in the Democratic primary.  One of the early statistics that so disheartened Republicans and convinced many that they had no chance in November was the sheer number of Democratic voters.  This trend has continued throughout the primary season... Democratic turnout has been pretty  consistently twice the Republicans, or higher.  That is unlikely to change because the Republican nomination is clinched and the Democrats' is still being fiercely contested.

The media and the nutroots see this huge turnout as validation of the progressive movement and are emboldened.  It makes the moonbats look more mainstream than they really are.  With "Rush Democrats" adding to these numbers, it's going to be difficult to advance a conservative agenda.  The progressives will feel stronger than they actually are and be less likely to give up an inch on any issue.  With the encouragement of the MSM at every step, the meme will be, "We're the majority, look at the numbers we turned out in support of our agenda."

With the Republican Party already abandoning conservative principles, why would we conservatives make things harder on ourselves?

Posted by: Stashiu3 at 03:19:48 | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 414 words, total size 3 kb.

1 That Democratic turnout may be a fata morgana.  A lot of it is the Obamaniks.  If he's not nominated, then those people aren't going to vote for Hillary.  Blacks won't be able to forgive her, and the rest won't be motivated to vote for her.  If he is nominated, then at least some of his magic will be gone by November, so he won't get that turnout either--but probably more than Hillary

How any conservative could get themselves to vote for Hillary is beyond me.  Don't they realize they're making it easier for her to get to the White House?  I can understand Ann Coulter's statement--if you have a choice between a fake Democrat and a real Democrat, you may as well vote for the real one--but not this latest thing.  It will be the height of irony is Hillary wins in November,  because of the help she is now receiving from the VRWC^TM

Posted by: kishnevi at 16 March 2008@11:24:18 (456EJ)

2 Yep, I think the "be careful what you wish for" caution is certainly valid and believe that most political machinations backfire to one degree or another... "Law of Unintended Consequences" and all that.

Beyond that, if conservatives are going to claim the moral high ground (which we do by pointing to the practical results of conservative policy), then behaving dishonestly undermines that. Vote for what you believe, not what is popular. Vote for who you believe in, not who you think is electable. Vote your conscience, not a strategy. Let the chips fall and deal with the reality.

That Democratic turnout may be a fata morgana.

Ok, I admit I had to google that, heh... nice.

Posted by: Stashiu3 at 16 March 2008@12:41:44 (Q5ggV)

Hide Comments | Add Comment