Ignorant outrage over Colorado caucus vote

[Redfish]

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.

They changed the rules in Colorado because in the last primary for President Santorum beat Romney.

That's what the RNC does. They change rules to make sure THEIR candidate wins.

SOB aka standard operational bullshit.

and the dems do the same thing via their super delegates. Neither party gives a shit about the votes of the people. The party elites and money brokers pick the candidates.

 

[Freewill]

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.

It comes down to this.

Was there a vote by the Republicans in the state? Yes/No?

Yes. At the caucus. Like in every other caucus state

Seriously, we need a viable third party.

 

[Avatar4321]

Trump has never lost a state yet that he didn't holler "cheat," "I'm suing" or "not fair." It's what he does; gets his supporters all riled up. If the people of Colorado didn't like the rule change, it was up to them to protest it. As has been pointed out, Trump could have competed just as aggressively to get delegates as Cruz, but he didn't. So tough beans, boys. Nothing corrupt about it. President is not elected by popular vote. If Coloradans are too stoned to care if they vote in a primary, it is not our place to change it.

I suppose you think the Dems have a fair system too. Legal and corrupt are different words conveying different meanings. Just because it's legal doesn't mean it can't be corrupt. And no, Trump couldn't have won them, they made the rules specifically for him. There's nothing "fair" about it.

.they didn't make the rules for him. Where are you getting this nonsense???

 

[tinydancer]

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.

They changed the rules in Colorado because in the last primary for President Santorum beat Romney.

That's what the RNC does. They change rules to make sure THEIR candidate wins.

SOB aka standard operational bullshit.

and the dems do the same thing via their super delegates. Neither party gives a shit about the votes of the people. The party elites and money brokers pick the candidates.

I'm going to put up a thread to explain the dirties that DID happen in Colorado and the why of it. It all goes back to Washington insiders.

It's unreal how the RNC bastards flew under the radar with this. I am not excusing anyone in the Trump camp. They better realize that they are totally at war with the party insiders and get sharp damn quick.

The sooner they realize that all knives are out for their backs the better. Cruz is now running with the establishment and has to be taken out by any means possible.

Untouchables. Everyone on Trump's team should study it.

You wanna know how to get Cruz? His team pulls a knife, you pull a gun. Cruz sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. *That's* the *Chicago* way! And that's how you get Cruz. "

Oh and btw I've been really studying Cruz's backers. Stay tuned.

The Untouchables (1987) - Quotes - IMDb

 

[Avatar4321]

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.

No they didn't. the rule change simply eliminated the non binding straw poll. The choice was made through caucuses electing those from among them to go to the next level and choose delegates at the convention, the same way it always has been.

Trump lost because he failed to organize at the caucus and convention levels.

The rules were changed so they can pick the candidate instead of the people. What's wrong with you?

I like being accurate.

 

[Iceweasel]

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.

No they didn't. the rule change simply eliminated the non binding straw poll. The choice was made through caucuses electing those from among them to go to the next level and choose delegates at the convention, the same way it always has been.

Trump lost because he failed to organize at the caucus and convention levels.

The rules were changed so they can pick the candidate instead of the people. What's wrong with you?

I like being accurate.

No, you like deflecting.

 

[Iceweasel]

Trump has never lost a state yet that he didn't holler "cheat," "I'm suing" or "not fair." It's what he does; gets his supporters all riled up. If the people of Colorado didn't like the rule change, it was up to them to protest it. As has been pointed out, Trump could have competed just as aggressively to get delegates as Cruz, but he didn't. So tough beans, boys. Nothing corrupt about it. President is not elected by popular vote. If Coloradans are too stoned to care if they vote in a primary, it is not our place to change it.

I suppose you think the Dems have a fair system too. Legal and corrupt are different words conveying different meanings. Just because it's legal doesn't mean it can't be corrupt. And no, Trump couldn't have won them, they made the rules specifically for him. There's nothing "fair" about it.

.they didn't make the rules for him. Where are you getting this nonsense???

It's common sense. The establishment wants to hand pick the candidate, who would they be opposed to?

 

[JoeB131]

Obviously, you're nuts.
You're still operating off of the false assumption that Trump was never serious about being president. That's like saying that a First Lady would never, ever, be a serious presidential candidate.

Trump isn't doing anything a serious presidential candidate does. His entire operation is amateurish.

 

[Redfish]

Trump has never lost a state yet that he didn't holler "cheat," "I'm suing" or "not fair." It's what he does; gets his supporters all riled up. If the people of Colorado didn't like the rule change, it was up to them to protest it. As has been pointed out, Trump could have competed just as aggressively to get delegates as Cruz, but he didn't. So tough beans, boys. Nothing corrupt about it. President is not elected by popular vote. If Coloradans are too stoned to care if they vote in a primary, it is not our place to change it.

I suppose you think the Dems have a fair system too. Legal and corrupt are different words conveying different meanings. Just because it's legal doesn't mean it can't be corrupt. And no, Trump couldn't have won them, they made the rules specifically for him. There's nothing "fair" about it.

.they didn't make the rules for him. Where are you getting this nonsense???

It's common sense. The establishment wants to hand pick the candidate, who would they be opposed to?

they are opposed to anyone who threatens their power and control, but you knew that.

 

[bendog]

There's a certain irony in complaining a process is corrupt, when the process is designed to allow for grass roots support at 3000 locations to vote for delegates to county and the state caucus, where the actual natl delegates are elected. The entire process is designed to reward the candidate with the most boots on the ground LOCAL support.

It's probably true that Trump would do better in an open primary whereby every registered voter, dem and gop, would have a shot to vote for him. The Trump supporters apparently view that as the most fair way to select national delegates. But, state parties aren't just about presidential elections. It takes lots of people willing to work for free on their own time to run a state party. There's a fairness to letting state party insiders have more influence since they are the folks doing the actual work, as opposed to taking 30 minutes out of a day to vote.

Moreover, the whole process is done in a way to insure that Colo's 37 delegates go to the NATIONAL convention unpledged, SO they can vote for the strongest candidate. So, it's a bit amateurish for Trump to be bashing these folks, because they're the ones he needs.

 

[Weatherman2020]

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.

CO delegates are ranchers, house moms, car mechanics etc who got chosen by their neighborhood caucus. Trump shows his total ignorance by calling the system rigged.