October 2, 2002
Rank Hypocrisy: OK for Republicans to Challenge Voting Deadlines, But Not for Democrats?
BuzzFlash Reader Comments | Update
It never fails to amaze BuzzFlash how the Republicans can be so ridiculous and their hypocrisies so rank. The latest issue to suffer from their small-minded rhetoric is the New Jersey Senate race:
"Republicans say Torricelli missed the deadline and that adding Lautenberg's name would allow parties to replace candidates as elections neared simply because they feared losing."
(See: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&ncid=716&e=
3&u=/ap/20021002/ap_on_el_se/torricelli)
A number of BuzzFlash Readers have chimed in to point out the glaring hypocrisies of the aptly named GHP (Grand Hypocrisy Party):
Know how the Pubbies are whining that Torricelli and the NJ Dems are cheating by trying to pull his name from the ballot after the deadline?
Guess what? The NJ GOP did the exact same thing in the 2002 GOP primary: They pulled a doomed candidate after the deadline so they could replace him with someone (Forrester) who would do better in November.
Here's the proof:
http://www.politicsnj.com/murphy043002_forrester.htm
Tamara Baker
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Why did Katherine Harris get to run for office after filing incorrectly but all of a sudden all Repugs are so concerned about the letter of the law in NJ -- once again the double standard. Why hasn't anyone brought her case up as a precedent?
Deborah Stanberry
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Dear Buzzy,
Don't we always hear from the GOP (Greedy Old Party) that "competition is good"? So why are Forrester and the Republicans so scared of having a Democratic opponent on the ticket? Why are they always trying to win by default if they like competition so much? If the New Jersey Democratic State Supreme Court rules that Lautenberg can run on the Democratic ticket instead of just letting the dictator Forrester rule by default, then the Republicans are going to go whining to the U.S. Supreme Court and you and I both know what they will do -- whatever Bush tells them to. I'd LOVE to see what would happen if a Republican quit the race. Let's see what the courts would do if the Democrats said they didn't want an opponent to replace the person. Just look at Patsy Mink's opponent in Hawaii. The jerk says he is running against a ghost. Well, my good man in Hawaii, remember Ashcroft, who lost to a dead man. You could lose the race to a dead woman, too.
Mimi
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That's the thing about Republican hypocrisy -- it always comes back to bite them in the keister.
- BuzzFlash
This is hardly the first time that a party has sought to change candidates shortly before an election. In Minnesota in 1990 the endorsed Republican candidate for governor was caught cavorting in a swimming pool with naked teenage girls. Less than two weeks before the general election, the candidate withdrew and the Republican party appointed as his replacement the guy who had lost the Republican primary. This was challenged in the Minnesota courts, and the Minnesota Supreme Court ultimately ruled that the replacement was legal. The new Republican candidate went on to win the general election. This was covered very thoroughly by the Minnesota media, and thus can be verified.
Jeff Hannig
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