THESIS: Democratic Party voters crossed-over and voted in South Carolina’s GOP primary, with the intention of voting for the candidate they perceived as the weakest opponent Barack Obama could face in November. I believe that this effort was quietly organized well in advance by Democratic Party chieftains.
The Hell, you say!
The Hell, I do say. As indicated in the QUOTE below, Romney suffered a 32% reversal of fortune – within the space of a week. He had led by 20%, only to lose by 12%. Of course, pollsters only asked registered Republican voters about their preferences, not tapping into stealth “Democratic” Republicans.
Polls are notoriously accurate, though of course there are occasional surprises. But a 32-percentage-point shift within a week is hard to explain. However, Dennis Byrne, writing in the Jan. 24 issue of the Chicago Tribune tries to explain it this way:
QUOTE:
Overnight – literally – [Newt Gingrich] surged. The Washington Post-ABC News poll had former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney ahead of Gingrich by 20 percentage points just a little more than a week before the balloting. On Saturday, Gingrich creamed Romney by more than 12 points. It might have been the most dramatic and quick turnaround in modern American political history.
:QUOTE.
In this very same article, Byrne tries to credit Gingrich’s tongue-lashing of debate moderator John King of CNN during the Jan. 19 GOP debate. After giving a brief background, King asked:
“As you know, your ex-wife gave an interview to ABC News…in it she says that you came to her in 1999 at a time when you were having an affair. She says, you asked her, sir, to enter into an open-marriage. Would you like to take some time to respond to that?”
Gingrich lost no time in blasting the media for focusing on this story. Personally, I found this bit from the ex-Speaker of the House to be most interesting:
“The story is false. Every personal friend I have who knew us in that period says the story is false. We offered several of them to ABC to prove it was false. They weren’t interested.”
How could “every personal friend” know whether that story is false; that Gingrich had (allegedly) asked his wife for an open-marriage arrangement? I doubt any of these friends were in the room when this topic came up, so how could they possibly know? Frankly, I would like either Gingrich or ABC to cough up that list of names and let these “personal friends” speak for themselves.
I urge you to look up the YouTube clips of this exchange between King and Gingrich, which is brief but speaks volumes.
Back to my Thesis
Why is it so hard to believe that Democrats put Gingrich over the top in South Carolina? This primary saw a record turnout for the GOP, which raises an immediate red flag: Where did all those extra voters come from? Back in 2008, 431,000 votes were cast in SC’s GOP primary; this year, 600,000 were cast. That’s a 40% increase. So, again, where did all those extra GOP voters come from – if not from the ranks of the Democrats?
Looking at the 2008 figures, it turns out that Democrats who voted in their SC primary outnumbered Republicans who voted in theirs – by 20%. So, given the fact that Obama is running unopposed this time, a lot of Democratic voters, with nothing better to do, might have figured, “Let’s help our party by voting in the GOP contest for the easiest candidate [hands down, that would be Newt Gingrich] for Obama to beat in November.” It could have gone down like that, though I suspect Dem Party officials had a hand in motivating their flock.
Conclusion
I have promoted such acts of sabotage against the party primaries for over four years – starting when I was a candidate for President in the 2008 election. I still think it’s a powerful weapon of destabilization, which can pave the way for the election of independents.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Steven Searle for US President in 2012
Founder of The Independent Contractors’ Party
“Spread the word about this tactic; nothing happens by itself – you’ve got to make it happen” – Steve.
Contact me at bpa_cinc@yahoo.com
most likely that is what happened. I don't belive Romney moves down 30 points in a matter of minutes. I think dems should stay out of this becase it will hurt them if it gets out to the media.
ReplyDeleteGabba gabba,
DeleteI don’t think the dems would have to worry, even if they got caught. They would have plausible deniability on their side. If the GOP could produce witnesses, the Dems could always claim, “Hey, he’s not our guy. He’s a GOP stooge trying to make us look bad.” The Dems could even claim that Ron Paul supporters or even independents were trying to muddy the waters. Besides, how could the GOP even try to cry foul? The Democrats could counter with, “If you can’t even run your own primary (to prevent infiltration), how could you run the country?” I think all the plusses argue in favor of attacking the other party’s primary.
– Steve