Apparently, the Virginia Republican Party has been getting nostalgic for the good old days at the end of the Cold War. You remember those days, right? Ronald Reagan was saying things like, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall" and "we begin bombing in five minutes" . Ollie North was sitting in front of Congress and claiming to have the memory of a repeatedly concussed goldfish. And the Republicans looked likely to hold onto the White House forever. Given present circumstances, it's easy to see why the Virginia GOP might be getting a wee bit nostalgic. Unfortunately, in their enthusiasm to channel some of that good old Cold War mojo, they seem to have somehow forgotten just which side they're supposed to be on:
The State Board of Elections on Monday approved a state Republican Party request to require all who apply for a GOP primary ballot first vow in writing that they'll vote for the party's presidential nominee next fall.
That's right folks, from the party that claims to have won the Cold War for us, we now get Party Loyalty Oaths!!! Let's hear it for good old un-American nonsense!!!
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While clearly it's an outrageous proposal, do note the following excerpt as well:
"There's no practical way to enforce the oath. Virginia doesn't require voters to register by party, and for years the state's Republicans have fretted that Democrats might meddle in their open primaries."
Thank goodness some bad ideas cannot be enforced.
The Republican Party is getting more and more Soviet. The stupid thing is that they're partly right -- independents may well have pushed Warner over the top in the 1996 primary. But they're absolutely wrong if they think that those independents didn't also support him in the regular election. So what they're saying is that they'd rather lose with party purity than win with independents. Otherwise, they would have at least restricted the oath to an affirmation of intent to support all candidates for whom you vote in the primary in the general election as well. What it tells me is that the Virginia Republicans aren't interested in the votes of thinking people -- they are only interested in the votes of sheep. Their message: they neither want nor need any Reagan Democrats. They might just find the feeling is mutual.
Looks like they dropped this bit of insanity.
As a Virginia Republican I can honestly say that I think we have now officially jumped the shark. This is about the worst idea I can think of...thank god they dropped this $#!T.