Since the neighborhood neocons are trying to spin this into a partisan issue and lambasting the Democrats for creating this horrible primary election debacle, here's a little history....if not to set the record straight, then to hopefully clarify the situation for anyone who is rightfully confused by this mess.
The national political parties have adopted rules specifying when state primaries can be held. Whether or not these rules are all fair and equal can be debated, but they are nonetheless the current rules. With the exception of Iowa and New Hampshire and a few other states, the earliest date that any state can hold their primary is the first Tuesday in February, or "Super Tuesday" as it is more commonly known.
Florida's primary has been scheduled for the second Tuesday in March for longer than most of us have been alive. For the most part, both party nominations have all but been decided by this date, therefore making Florida's primary vote ostensibly irrelevant. This is evident even this election year as the Republicans have already assured their nominee. Since Florida has played a prominent role in national elections and has a very diverse electoral demographic, the state legislature introduced a bill which included moving the primary date up to the last Tuesday in January, with the intent of dramatically increasing Florida's influence on the primary races. The bill had strong bipartisan support and overwhelmingly passed in both the House and the Senate, and was signed into law by the Republican governor. Unfortunately, this was in blatant violation of the national party rules.
The DNC offered the state alternatives and warned of consequences if this legislation went through, but Tallahassee ignored it and passed the resolution anyway. Shortly afterwards, the DNC's Rules Committee met and voted to deny Florida of the right to seat it's delegates at the national convention. The Republican party also penalized the state, cutting the delegate count in half. Since McCain has already become the party's presumptive nominee, this is now a non-issue for the Republicans. But unfortunately, on the Democrat side, the race is too close to call and the Florida delegation has become very relevant, in a way I am sure the 2007 Florida Legislature never intended.
The debate now centers on whether the first Florida primary vote should count or another one should be held that falls within party guidelines, and the mud-slinging has begun from the right. But this is not a partisan issue, as easy as it might be to spin it into one. It just so happens that the nomination for the Democrats is still very undecided, and not so with the Republicans. If the situation was the other way around, the debate would be raging on the other side of the aisle.
Likewise, the Florida Legislature passed the bill with the good albeit arrogant intent of making Florida's votes more "important" on the national stage. So we are now where we are. Instead of narrow-minded partisan bickering and mud-slinging, we all ought to direct our angst at both our state and US senators and representatives, both Republican and Democrat, as well as the national party committees, and demand election reform that makes the primary election process fair and equitable for everyone, and not leave it to the states to take it upon themselves to try and level the playing field on their own. As we can all see now, that leads to nothing but chaos and consternation.
Sources:
The Tampa Tribune
www.flsenate.gov
Economists have been predicting for weeks that gasoline could hit $3.50 a gallon by the summer, and $4 by the end of the year. Futures trading on Wall Street have confirmed this, hence the recent spike in prices. The reasons for this are varied, which I will not go into here.
Today during a press conference, dubya was asked what he would say to Americans who are concerned about their already tight budgets, if gas hits $4 a gallon. The fearless leader was taken aback, asking the reporter to clarify that he was predicting $4 gas. The reporter responded that was what numerous economic analysts have been saying. Dubya breaks into one of his smug grins and surprisingly responds, "that's interesting, I ain't heard that!"
Oh, and we're not facing a recession, either.
This is either the most disconnected or most dishonest president this country has ever seen. Oh, things are good for alot of us right now, but the full effects of the ineptmess and corruption of this administration will not be fully known for years.
I'm not real happy with Congress either, but it continues to boggle my mind every day how this president was ever elected in the first place. Oh wait, he wasn't.......
Fire away , neocons.
It's been a rough season for my hockey team, the Tampa Bay Lightning. The team is entering a new chapter without the services of one of the building blocks that made it a Stanley Cup champion, and yet another goaltender to try and fill some big shoes that have yet to be.
This team has seen worse times, and at times it is hard to stick with the team. But it's times like these that separate the true, die-hard fans from the bandwagoners. So with this being my first post to this blog, I offer these words of wisdom to any suffering BOLTS fan out there:
" It takes neither courage nor intelligence
To cheer for a team only when that team wins.
The true test of a fan's mettle is the same as it is for a player:
Were you there when you were needed?"
--- Ian Wilson
