Ignorant outrage over Colorado caucus vote

[Avatar4321]

Ignorant Outrage Over the Colorado GOP Caucus Vote

As a Colorado Republican who had caucused in prior years’ elections, I was a bit disappointed back in August when I learned that the state’s GOP executive committee was cancelling this year’s presidential preference poll.

As a matter of curiosity, it would have been nice to find out which candidate my state was leaning toward on March 1. As a matter of pride, it would have been pleasant to hear the results reported on the national news, and discussed by national pundits. As a matter of practicality, however, it wouldn’t have served any meaningful purpose to either the voters or the candidates — something that’s been true for many years in this state.

You see, contrary to the impression that many people have been left with over the past couple of days, Colorado’s traditional caucus-night poll had never been a binding, primary-like election. That’s not how it worked. It was a simple straw-poll — nothing more, nothing less. It wasn’t the process used to distribute delegates to the candidates.

The nomination procedure in this state has been driven by the election of representatives for over a hundred years (except for from 1992 to 2002). It starts with grassroots caucus attendees from local precincts voting on congressional-district delegates (their neighbors) to represent them, and ends at the state convention a few weeks later when the representatives finish selecting national delegates to back a candidate at the national convention.

People have only ever voted by participating in caucuses, which they did.

Lots of Trump supporters and even several in the media have signed on to the deceptive narrative. The Drudge Report was perhaps the worst culprit, running a series of breathtakingly misleading, customized headlines:
Headline: “SHOCK: Republicans cancel presidential election in CO…”
Reality: It was hardly a shock, being that the rules were first reported eight months ago. It also wasn’t an “election” that was cancelled. It was a non-binding straw-poll.

Headline: “1 MILLION REPUBLICANS SIDELINED…”
Reality: The only people “sidelined” were those who didn’t (or couldn’t) show up on caucus night (which has been the case for several years). Those in attendance got to vote for people who shared their voting preference. And if they didn’t find such people, they had the option of running themselves.

Main Headline: “FURY AS COLORADO HAS NO PRIMARY OR CAUCUS; CRUZ CELEBRATES VOTERLESS VICTORY”
Reality: Colorado state law doesn’t allow for a primary. Colorado absolutely didhave a caucus this year. And no, Ted Cruz’s victory was not “voterless.” It came from Colorado voters who were elected by other Colorado voters to represent them.

Now, I don’t expect facts and rational explanations to pacify a lot of the people who are upset with the results of Colorado’s delegate distribution. Like I said, I’m not a fan of the process either. But rules do matter, and they must be followed.

Trump supporters in Colorado had the same opportunities as the other candidates’ supporters to make their voices heard in the nomination process. As best I can tell, they largely chose not to pursue them.

When I showed up at the state convention last Saturday in Colorado Springs, I was surprised by the lack of identifiable support for Trump. Every now and then, I’d see someone walk by wearing one of those red “Make America Great Again” trucker hats, but the overwhelming majority of attendees were proudly displaying “Ted Cruz” stickers on their shirts. From the conversations I had with a number of other delegates that day (from different parts of the state), I began to understand why the GOP front-runner was fairing so poorly.

Each of them relayed the same story: Last month, shockingly few Trump supporters showed up on caucus night to vote for district delegates. And of those who did show up, hardly any of them offered to run as delegates to make their voices count at the state convention. They just weren’t interested in the job. Cruz and Rubio supporters, on the other hand, were very engaged.

Taking that into account with Trump’s embarrassingly disorganized (and seemingly clueless) ground-game in the state, a big Cruz victory made perfect sense. It almost seemed as if Trump were less interested in winning Colorado than his supporters were

Stop spreading lies. Cruz won because hisn supporters showed up to caucus and then stuck around to be Colorado convention delegates. Trump lost because he didn't care about organizing in Colorado.

No faux outrage will change that. Nor should it.

 

[Compost]

Ignorant Outrage Over the Colorado GOP Caucus Vote

As a Colorado Republican who had caucused in prior years’ elections, I was a bit disappointed back in August when I learned that the state’s GOP executive committee was cancelling this year’s presidential preference poll.

As a matter of curiosity, it would have been nice to find out which candidate my state was leaning toward on March 1. As a matter of pride, it would have been pleasant to hear the results reported on the national news, and discussed by national pundits. As a matter of practicality, however, it wouldn’t have served any meaningful purpose to either the voters or the candidates — something that’s been true for many years in this state.

You see, contrary to the impression that many people have been left with over the past couple of days, Colorado’s traditional caucus-night poll had never been a binding, primary-like election. That’s not how it worked. It was a simple straw-poll — nothing more, nothing less. It wasn’t the process used to distribute delegates to the candidates.

The nomination procedure in this state has been driven by the election of representatives for over a hundred years (except for from 1992 to 2002). It starts with grassroots caucus attendees from local precincts voting on congressional-district delegates (their neighbors) to represent them, and ends at the state convention a few weeks later when the representatives finish selecting national delegates to back a candidate at the national convention.

People have only ever voted by participating in caucuses, which they did.

Lots of Trump supporters and even several in the media have signed on to the deceptive narrative. The Drudge Report was perhaps the worst culprit, running a series of breathtakingly misleading, customized headlines:
Headline: “SHOCK: Republicans cancel presidential election in CO…”
Reality: It was hardly a shock, being that the rules were first reported eight months ago. It also wasn’t an “election” that was cancelled. It was a non-binding straw-poll.

Headline: “1 MILLION REPUBLICANS SIDELINED…”
Reality: The only people “sidelined” were those who didn’t (or couldn’t) show up on caucus night (which has been the case for several years). Those in attendance got to vote for people who shared their voting preference. And if they didn’t find such people, they had the option of running themselves.

Main Headline: “FURY AS COLORADO HAS NO PRIMARY OR CAUCUS; CRUZ CELEBRATES VOTERLESS VICTORY”
Reality: Colorado state law doesn’t allow for a primary. Colorado absolutely didhave a caucus this year. And no, Ted Cruz’s victory was not “voterless.” It came from Colorado voters who were elected by other Colorado voters to represent them.

Now, I don’t expect facts and rational explanations to pacify a lot of the people who are upset with the results of Colorado’s delegate distribution. Like I said, I’m not a fan of the process either. But rules do matter, and they must be followed.

Trump supporters in Colorado had the same opportunities as the other candidates’ supporters to make their voices heard in the nomination process. As best I can tell, they largely chose not to pursue them.

When I showed up at the state convention last Saturday in Colorado Springs, I was surprised by the lack of identifiable support for Trump. Every now and then, I’d see someone walk by wearing one of those red “Make America Great Again” trucker hats, but the overwhelming majority of attendees were proudly displaying “Ted Cruz” stickers on their shirts. From the conversations I had with a number of other delegates that day (from different parts of the state), I began to understand why the GOP front-runner was fairing so poorly.

Each of them relayed the same story: Last month, shockingly few Trump supporters showed up on caucus night to vote for district delegates. And of those who did show up, hardly any of them offered to run as delegates to make their voices count at the state convention. They just weren’t interested in the job. Cruz and Rubio supporters, on the other hand, were very engaged.

Taking that into account with Trump’s embarrassingly disorganized (and seemingly clueless) ground-game in the state, a big Cruz victory made perfect sense. It almost seemed as if Trump were less interested in winning Colorado than his supporters were

Stop spreading lies. Cruz won because hisn supporters showed up to caucus and then stuck around to be Colorado convention delegates. Trump lost because he didn't care about organizing in Colorado.

No faux outrage will change that. Nor should it.

Indeed. The state of CO has it's rules. Cruz made the effort to learn the rules and play by them. Trump apparently did not.

 

[Iceweasel]

So if the rules are corrupt it's OK? No, people didn't get to vote for a candidate, CO was different. Should have Trump's team knew how corrupt it was? Sure. But that doesn't make it smell any better.

 

[Compost]

So if the rules are corrupt it's OK? No, people didn't get to vote for a candidate, CO was different. Should have Trump's team knew how corrupt it was? Sure. But that doesn't make it smell any better.

Are the rules corrupt?

 

[Iceweasel]

So if the rules are corrupt it's OK? No, people didn't get to vote for a candidate, CO was different. Should have Trump's team knew how corrupt it was? Sure. But that doesn't make it smell any better.

Are the rules corrupt?

Try reading slower.

 

[Compost]

So if the rules are corrupt it's OK? No, people didn't get to vote for a candidate, CO was different. Should have Trump's team knew how corrupt it was? Sure. But that doesn't make it smell any better.

Are the rules corrupt?

Try reading slower.

You aren't making your case. You are just sounding like a petulant child.

 

[Iceweasel]

So if the rules are corrupt it's OK? No, people didn't get to vote for a candidate, CO was different. Should have Trump's team knew how corrupt it was? Sure. But that doesn't make it smell any better.

Are the rules corrupt?

Try reading slower.

You aren't making your case. You are just sounding like a petulant child.

I did and you have no answer obviously. The words are still there, try reading them slower or have someone walk you through it.

 

[Compost]

So if the rules are corrupt it's OK? No, people didn't get to vote for a candidate, CO was different. Should have Trump's team knew how corrupt it was? Sure. But that doesn't make it smell any better.

Are the rules corrupt?

Try reading slower.

You aren't making your case. You are just sounding like a petulant child.

I did and you have no answer obviously. The words are still there, try reading them slower or have someone walk you through it.

CO does not have a standard primary like many other states do. How does that make it corrupt? So far, neither you nor Donald Trump has explained that. You boys have only managed to get snippy.

 

[whitehall]

The outrage is certainly not based on ignorance. It's based on a pretty astute knowledge of the current political climate. It's no secret that Trump probably would have won the Colorado delegates if the citizens were allowed to vote instead of the elites. That having been said, Judge Napolitano said it best, political parties do not represent the government, they are more like a club. They may use the same devices as are used in real elections but primaries are not real elections. If you are going to complain you need to know the rules. It should be noted also that if you don't like the rules you need to get involved in grass roots politics and change them.

 

[LoneLaugher]

My dreams are coming true.

Some nutbags are realizing that many of their fellow nutbags are prone to exhibiting
Ignorant outrage.

I thought this might never happen.

 

[Iceweasel]

So if the rules are corrupt it's OK? No, people didn't get to vote for a candidate, CO was different. Should have Trump's team knew how corrupt it was? Sure. But that doesn't make it smell any better.

Are the rules corrupt?

Try reading slower.

You aren't making your case. You are just sounding like a petulant child.

I did and you have no answer obviously. The words are still there, try reading them slower or have someone walk you through it.

CO does not have a standard primary like many other states do. How does that make it corrupt? So far, neither you nor Donald Trump has explained that. You boys have only managed to get snippy.

They changed the rules in August so the party heads could make the pick. I said the people didn't have a say so how did I not explain it? You stupidly complaining about it makes no sense. Don't try to make your stupidity my fault.

You Cruz c*nts are smarmy assholes, if that's the way you want to play the game.

 

[tyroneweaver]

My dreams are coming true.

Some nutbags are realizing that many of their fellow nutbags are prone to exhibiting
Ignorant outrage.

I thought this might never happen.

I find it amazing that you fit right in.

 

[tyroneweaver]

Ignorant Outrage Over the Colorado GOP Caucus Vote

As a Colorado Republican who had caucused in prior years’ elections, I was a bit disappointed back in August when I learned that the state’s GOP executive committee was cancelling this year’s presidential preference poll.

As a matter of curiosity, it would have been nice to find out which candidate my state was leaning toward on March 1. As a matter of pride, it would have been pleasant to hear the results reported on the national news, and discussed by national pundits. As a matter of practicality, however, it wouldn’t have served any meaningful purpose to either the voters or the candidates — something that’s been true for many years in this state.

You see, contrary to the impression that many people have been left with over the past couple of days, Colorado’s traditional caucus-night poll had never been a binding, primary-like election. That’s not how it worked. It was a simple straw-poll — nothing more, nothing less. It wasn’t the process used to distribute delegates to the candidates.

The nomination procedure in this state has been driven by the election of representatives for over a hundred years (except for from 1992 to 2002). It starts with grassroots caucus attendees from local precincts voting on congressional-district delegates (their neighbors) to represent them, and ends at the state convention a few weeks later when the representatives finish selecting national delegates to back a candidate at the national convention.

People have only ever voted by participating in caucuses, which they did.

Lots of Trump supporters and even several in the media have signed on to the deceptive narrative. The Drudge Report was perhaps the worst culprit, running a series of breathtakingly misleading, customized headlines:
Headline: “SHOCK: Republicans cancel presidential election in CO…”
Reality: It was hardly a shock, being that the rules were first reported eight months ago. It also wasn’t an “election” that was cancelled. It was a non-binding straw-poll.

Headline: “1 MILLION REPUBLICANS SIDELINED…”
Reality: The only people “sidelined” were those who didn’t (or couldn’t) show up on caucus night (which has been the case for several years). Those in attendance got to vote for people who shared their voting preference. And if they didn’t find such people, they had the option of running themselves.

Main Headline: “FURY AS COLORADO HAS NO PRIMARY OR CAUCUS; CRUZ CELEBRATES VOTERLESS VICTORY”
Reality: Colorado state law doesn’t allow for a primary. Colorado absolutely didhave a caucus this year. And no, Ted Cruz’s victory was not “voterless.” It came from Colorado voters who were elected by other Colorado voters to represent them.

Now, I don’t expect facts and rational explanations to pacify a lot of the people who are upset with the results of Colorado’s delegate distribution. Like I said, I’m not a fan of the process either. But rules do matter, and they must be followed.

Trump supporters in Colorado had the same opportunities as the other candidates’ supporters to make their voices heard in the nomination process. As best I can tell, they largely chose not to pursue them.

When I showed up at the state convention last Saturday in Colorado Springs, I was surprised by the lack of identifiable support for Trump. Every now and then, I’d see someone walk by wearing one of those red “Make America Great Again” trucker hats, but the overwhelming majority of attendees were proudly displaying “Ted Cruz” stickers on their shirts. From the conversations I had with a number of other delegates that day (from different parts of the state), I began to understand why the GOP front-runner was fairing so poorly.

Each of them relayed the same story: Last month, shockingly few Trump supporters showed up on caucus night to vote for district delegates. And of those who did show up, hardly any of them offered to run as delegates to make their voices count at the state convention. They just weren’t interested in the job. Cruz and Rubio supporters, on the other hand, were very engaged.

Taking that into account with Trump’s embarrassingly disorganized (and seemingly clueless) ground-game in the state, a big Cruz victory made perfect sense. It almost seemed as if Trump were less interested in winning Colorado than his supporters were

Stop spreading lies. Cruz won because hisn supporters showed up to caucus and then stuck around to be Colorado convention delegates. Trump lost because he didn't care about organizing in Colorado.

No faux outrage will change that. Nor should it.

mene mene tekel upharsin

 

[guno]

My dreams are coming true.

Some nutbags are realizing that many of their fellow nutbags are prone to exhibiting
Ignorant outrage.

I thought this might never happen.

The convention will be great entertainment!!!

 

[JoeB131]

Stop spreading lies. Cruz won because hisn supporters showed up to caucus and then stuck around to be Colorado convention delegates. Trump lost because he didn't care about organizing in Colorado.

No faux outrage will change that. Nor should it.

It's amazing. It's like you guys didn't learn a fucking thing from 2012.

you remember 2012. It's when the Establishment foisted a Weird Mormon Robot on the GOP Electorate that the Rank and File didn't really want through various tricks and sandbagging other candidates. (like when Virginia eliminated every other candidate on the ballot except Ron Paul.)

And then you were all shocked, just shocked when Romney lost and lost badly.

Now, I'm no fan of Trump. I think he's a Nazi and a Clown and he has NO BUSINESS being the nominee. Damn the GOP for not taking him a lot more seriously early on, and damn them for not getting behind one of the sensible candidates they had.

But if he gets MORE VOTES than Cruz, he should be the nominee. Period.

If Cruz surpasses Trump in votes and delegates, then HE should be the nominee. Period.

Hillary will easily beat either one of them, and frankly, it will be an unforced error on your part.

 

[Compost]

Are the rules corrupt?

Try reading slower.

You aren't making your case. You are just sounding like a petulant child.

I did and you have no answer obviously. The words are still there, try reading them slower or have someone walk you through it.

CO does not have a standard primary like many other states do. How does that make it corrupt? So far, neither you nor Donald Trump has explained that. You boys have only managed to get snippy.

They changed the rules in August so the party heads could make the pick. I said the people didn't have a say so how did I not explain it? You stupidly complaining about it makes no sense. Don't try to make your stupidity my fault.

You Cruz c*nts are smarmy assholes, if that's the way you want to play the game.

I simply asked a question. No need to call me names.

 

[dannyboys]

News from The Associated Press
Note the person in charge says CO stopped having Primaries in 2002 but the party will reinstitute the Primary next year.
Cruz is an oily little rat. And his 'people' are fucking dirty little rats too.
None the less I put 100% of the blame for this fuck-up on the Trump campaign.
They had better wise up quick.

 

[Iceweasel]

Try reading slower.

You aren't making your case. You are just sounding like a petulant child.

I did and you have no answer obviously. The words are still there, try reading them slower or have someone walk you through it.

CO does not have a standard primary like many other states do. How does that make it corrupt? So far, neither you nor Donald Trump has explained that. You boys have only managed to get snippy.

They changed the rules in August so the party heads could make the pick. I said the people didn't have a say so how did I not explain it? You stupidly complaining about it makes no sense. Don't try to make your stupidity my fault.

You Cruz c*nts are smarmy assholes, if that's the way you want to play the game.

I simply asked a question. No need to call me names.

No, you didn't simply do that. And don't call names if you don't want to go there.

 

[Compost]

You aren't making your case. You are just sounding like a petulant child.

I did and you have no answer obviously. The words are still there, try reading them slower or have someone walk you through it.

CO does not have a standard primary like many other states do. How does that make it corrupt? So far, neither you nor Donald Trump has explained that. You boys have only managed to get snippy.

They changed the rules in August so the party heads could make the pick. I said the people didn't have a say so how did I not explain it? You stupidly complaining about it makes no sense. Don't try to make your stupidity my fault.

You Cruz c*nts are smarmy assholes, if that's the way you want to play the game.

I simply asked a question. No need to call me names.

No, you didn't simply do that. And don't call names if you don't want to go there.

OK, tough guy.

 

[mudwhistle]

Ignorant Outrage Over the Colorado GOP Caucus Vote

As a Colorado Republican who had caucused in prior years’ elections, I was a bit disappointed back in August when I learned that the state’s GOP executive committee was cancelling this year’s presidential preference poll.

As a matter of curiosity, it would have been nice to find out which candidate my state was leaning toward on March 1. As a matter of pride, it would have been pleasant to hear the results reported on the national news, and discussed by national pundits. As a matter of practicality, however, it wouldn’t have served any meaningful purpose to either the voters or the candidates — something that’s been true for many years in this state.

You see, contrary to the impression that many people have been left with over the past couple of days, Colorado’s traditional caucus-night poll had never been a binding, primary-like election. That’s not how it worked. It was a simple straw-poll — nothing more, nothing less. It wasn’t the process used to distribute delegates to the candidates.

The nomination procedure in this state has been driven by the election of representatives for over a hundred years (except for from 1992 to 2002). It starts with grassroots caucus attendees from local precincts voting on congressional-district delegates (their neighbors) to represent them, and ends at the state convention a few weeks later when the representatives finish selecting national delegates to back a candidate at the national convention.

People have only ever voted by participating in caucuses, which they did.

Lots of Trump supporters and even several in the media have signed on to the deceptive narrative. The Drudge Report was perhaps the worst culprit, running a series of breathtakingly misleading, customized headlines:
Headline: “SHOCK: Republicans cancel presidential election in CO…”
Reality: It was hardly a shock, being that the rules were first reported eight months ago. It also wasn’t an “election” that was cancelled. It was a non-binding straw-poll.

Headline: “1 MILLION REPUBLICANS SIDELINED…”
Reality: The only people “sidelined” were those who didn’t (or couldn’t) show up on caucus night (which has been the case for several years). Those in attendance got to vote for people who shared their voting preference. And if they didn’t find such people, they had the option of running themselves.

Main Headline: “FURY AS COLORADO HAS NO PRIMARY OR CAUCUS; CRUZ CELEBRATES VOTERLESS VICTORY”
Reality: Colorado state law doesn’t allow for a primary. Colorado absolutely didhave a caucus this year. And no, Ted Cruz’s victory was not “voterless.” It came from Colorado voters who were elected by other Colorado voters to represent them.

Now, I don’t expect facts and rational explanations to pacify a lot of the people who are upset with the results of Colorado’s delegate distribution. Like I said, I’m not a fan of the process either. But rules do matter, and they must be followed.

Trump supporters in Colorado had the same opportunities as the other candidates’ supporters to make their voices heard in the nomination process. As best I can tell, they largely chose not to pursue them.

When I showed up at the state convention last Saturday in Colorado Springs, I was surprised by the lack of identifiable support for Trump. Every now and then, I’d see someone walk by wearing one of those red “Make America Great Again” trucker hats, but the overwhelming majority of attendees were proudly displaying “Ted Cruz” stickers on their shirts. From the conversations I had with a number of other delegates that day (from different parts of the state), I began to understand why the GOP front-runner was fairing so poorly.

Each of them relayed the same story: Last month, shockingly few Trump supporters showed up on caucus night to vote for district delegates. And of those who did show up, hardly any of them offered to run as delegates to make their voices count at the state convention. They just weren’t interested in the job. Cruz and Rubio supporters, on the other hand, were very engaged.

Taking that into account with Trump’s embarrassingly disorganized (and seemingly clueless) ground-game in the state, a big Cruz victory made perfect sense. It almost seemed as if Trump were less interested in winning Colorado than his supporters were

Stop spreading lies. Cruz won because hisn supporters showed up to caucus and then stuck around to be Colorado convention delegates. Trump lost because he didn't care about organizing in Colorado.

No faux outrage will change that. Nor should it.

Actually, you're the one who's ignorant.
After all of these years of lying and corruption in Washington, a state decides to ace the voters completely out of the process......it sends the wrong message. The optics are really bad, especially at this time. Another year, nobody would care. This is not the election to be trying stunts like this.

It doesn't matter if they can make up any rules they want. They should be smart enough not to. These rules were made up last August when they discovered that Trump was going to be a viable candidate. They eliminated the voters just to ace out an outsider.