Mitt #@$% Romney has called me

[Paddy]

no less than 12 times in the last 3 days.  AAAARRRRGGGGH!  I'm no longer a freaking Republican, so I couldn't vote for him if I wanted to.  As  unaffiliated, I voted the Dem ballot.  I should be able to vote for anybody I want, regardless of my political affiliation.  But the Republican party doesn't think so.

Anyway, his automated calls are a PITA.  A recorded McCain also called once, claiming to be a Reagan conservative.  He sounded absolutely psychotic.

[Perd Hapley]

  I should be able to vote for anybody I want, regardless of my political affiliation. 

If you aren't a member of the organization, why should you have a say in who they run for office?  Wanna pick the Republican candidate?  Register Repub and do so.  Same for the Dem side. 

[Jamisjockey]

  I should be able to vote for anybody I want, regardless of my political affiliation. 

If you aren't a member of the organization, why should you have a say in who they run for office?  Wanna pick the Republican candidate?  Register Repub and do so.  Same for the Dem side. 

Amen.

Oh, and Mccain is psychotic.  He sounds like Hillary, just with a larger pair of nuts.

[Paddy]

  I should be able to vote for anybody I want, regardless of my political affiliation. 

If you aren't a member of the organization, why should you have a say in who they run for office?  Wanna pick the Republican candidate?  Register Repub and do so.  Same for the Dem side. 

UH, no.  It's supposed to be 'government of, for and by the PEOPLE'.  Not 'government of, for and by the PARTY'.   I'm a PEOPLE.  Why does the party manipulate the PEOPLE'S electoral process?  The Dems let me vote in their primary if I'm unaffiliated. 

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Political parties are private organizations.  They determine their own rules and procedures.  If they choose to exclude folks who aren't members, that's their prerogative.

Don't like the rules of the Republican Party?  Quit whining and form a better party. 

Or just quit whining.

[Paddy]

Well, the political reality is that a number of us former Republicans have re-registered as Independent or no affiliation. That reality will become painfully apparent to the RNC when we stay home in November.  Now I would have easily voted for Romney over McCain, but apparently the GOP tent isn't big enough to accomodate us.   It's their loss, not ours. 

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

You'd vote for the private sector big business type, over a populist and a liberal and a frothing libertarian? 

Somehow I find that hard to believe.

You love to strut and shout about how you aren't part of this corrupt two-party system, about how the system has been bought and paid for by eeevil rich people.  You claim that those of us in the system have been conned, but you've seen the truth.  Now you're whining because the system you decry didn't welcome you with open arms. 

Really, why should that system take you seriously? 

Why should we?

[Perd Hapley]

Political parties are private organizations.  They determine their own rules and procedures.  If they choose to exclude folks who aren't members, that's their prerogative.

Pretty much.  You wouldn't be voting for a president.  You'd be voting to decide who the party will choose.  Why should you do this, if you're not in the party?  Ya know?   

[Perd Hapley]

Why does the party manipulate the PEOPLE'S electoral process?   

The party is made up of peoples.  Parties were formed because they make it easier for like-minded people to gain and keep political power. 

[seeker_two]

  I should be able to vote for anybody I want, regardless of my political affiliation. 

If you aren't a member of the organization, why should you have a say in who they run for office?  Wanna pick the Republican candidate?  Register Repub and do so.  Same for the Dem side. 

Amen.

Oh, and Mccain is psychotic.  He sounds like Hillary, just with a larger pair of nuts.

Don't you have that backwards?.....

[Dannyboy]

It's their loss, not ours. 

Then why all the whining?

[Paddy]

Really, why should that system take you seriously?

Why should we?

I don't care what you do.  You're about the reap the harvest of your own arrogance and I can guarantee, be it McCain, or Clinton, or Obama, you won't like it.  Maybe you'll learn (but probably not) that it's expensive to alienate lifelong Republicans like me.

[Perd Hapley]

Now, just how did HTG alienate life-long Republicans like Riley? 

[Paddy]

Well, Josh, he presumes to speak for the Republican party

Really, why should that system take you seriously?

Why should we?

in the plural, even. 

That's how.

Anyway, Romney's automated telephone nagging apparently didn't help him much, given the results. 

[Fly320s]

I think the "Why should we" part meant, "why should the members of APS take you seriously."

[nico]

I think the "Why should we" part meant, "why should the members of APS take you seriously."

:shrug: that's how I interpreted it too.  It's been said, but political parties are private organizations that hold primaries to decide who will represent their party in the general election.  Should the NRA be forced to give Sarah Brady a say on who they pick for their leadership?

[cordex]

Riley,

Whether or not you have any political affiliation, you can usually still vote for any Republican presidential candidate - even the ones that are not chosen in the primaries via a write-in ballot.

What's the beef again?

[Paddy]

The 'beef' is that there isn't a candidate representing Republican values. Anybody who votes for McCain deserves what they get.  George Bush only (and barely) won re-election in 2004 because we were otherwise threatened with a Kerry presidency. Still the Republican party hasn't gotten the message.  Apparently they still think the politics of blackmail will work one more time.  I don't think it will.  During the 2004 election, the chairman of the Republican party arrogantly mocked my criticism of the big spending big goverment ways of the Bush administration.  He said "what are you going to do, vote for Kerry?  You have nowhere else to go".  Well, people who don't have anywhere to go just stay home, don't they?   And without us so-called 'disaffected' (I prefer to call us abandoned) former Republicans, the GOP has little hope of retaining the Whitehouse.

So, if they want to run McCain, go ahead. After 8 years of Bush, we can survive anything, even a Hillary/Obama presidency.

[brer]

Back on topic.  Both Mccain and Romney may have violated election laws concerning their phone calls.

[Jamisjockey]

Back on topic.  Both Mccain and Romney may have violated election laws concerning their phone calls.

How so?

[seeker_two]

Back on topic.  Both Mccain and Romney may have violated election laws concerning their phone calls.

How so?

Fraud by wire......they both claim to be conservatives.....

[Paddy]

Political parties are private organizations.  They determine their own rules and procedures.  If they choose to exclude folks who aren't members, that's their prerogative.

Don't like the rules of the Republican Party?  Quit whining and form a better party. 

Or just quit whining.

No.  Exactly wrong (as usual for you).  Political parties can have any kind of exclusive, elitist, private organization they want.  When they enter into the public electoral process, however, they shouldn't get to impose their rules on the electorate.  Elitism and exclusivity are anathemas to democratic, free and fair elections.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

You amuse me, Riley.  You're like the playground kid who storms off in a huff because he doesn't get his way, then gets even huffier when he realizes that the rest of the kids don't care he's leaving.

[CAnnoneer]

I'd be far more concerned that among the registered Republicans, a liberal liar like McShame actually gets so much electoral success. Maybe Ann Coulter is right in stating that the Repubs are shell-shocked by the success of the Bush Derangement Syndrome, so they think nominating a pinko will somehow help them.

If McStain wins the nomination, I am voting for whomever the Dems nominate. The Repub party is in for a nice sharp kick in the backside. This idea that there can be a compromise with sanfran socialist types must be expunged from the system once and for all, even if it takes the enema of four years of Hillbama. Bush won more decisively in 2004 than in 2000 exactly because he ran harder to the right. Somehow the Repub strategists have not got the message, or am I missing something??

[cordex]

The 'beef' is that there isn't a candidate representing Republican values.

I totally agree.  I have zero love for McCain and will not vote for him.

That wasn't at issue.  You were upset that you couldn't vote in the Republican primary despite not being Republican.  This was, you claimed, somehow unjust because it prevented you from participating in the election to the extent you desired.

However, as I made mention, you can still vote for any candidate - or even non-candidate - you wish regardless of who wins the Republican nomination.  You are in no way required to only vote for the Republican, Democratic, Libertarian or Green party nominee.  You can vote for your crazy Uncle Mitch if you want.  Yet you are complaining that you can't participate in the selection amongst Republicans of a Republican candidate for the office of President because you are not registered as a Republican.  I still don't see your beef.

FWIW, I am not registered as being a member of any political party.