Thread: Politics 2012: Overreaching bites back

Politics 2012: Overreaching bites back

upi.com
Published: Nov. 13, 2011 at 4:00 AM
By NICOLE DEBEVEC, United Press International

Memo to political candidates, ballot issue backers and others involved in the 2012 U.S. general election: Don't mistake overreaching for a political mandate. Those voters will get ya every time.

The hard-line Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce, a Republican, fell to a recall given impetus by his fervent position against illegal immigration and his sponsorship of the state's tough immigration law, parts of which were stayed as challenges move through the courts.

Trying to capitalize on the legislative antipathy toward collective bargaining for public employees, Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich saw his bill that severely restricted collective bargaining repealed by voters.

Just as Colorado voters in 2010 defeated a constitutional amendment that would have defined "personhood" as beginning at fertilization and would have banned all abortions, even those to save the mother's life, voters rejected a "personhood" amendment in Mississippi.

A referendum in Maine that would have restricted voter registration laws also got the thumbs-down.

"One lesson from [Tuesday] night is that Republicans must not overreach in trying to appease the more extreme elements in their political base," said political commentator Steven Schier, political science professor at Carleton College in Minnesota.

The reach of Ohio's law restricting collective bargaining by public employees extended to local police and firefighters.

"That broad scope helped to ensure its repeal," Schier said.

Arizona Senate leader Pearce took a militant stand on illegal immigration and "was defeated in a recall election," he said.

The "personhood" amendment in Mississippi sought "to roll back abortion rights and was defeated in a popular referendum," Schier said.

"The message from Mississippi is clear," Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said in a statement. "An amendment that allows politicians to further interfere in our personal, private medical decisions, including a woman's right to choose safe, legal abortion, is unacceptable."

Taken together, Tuesday's results could inject new life into President Obama's re-election bid a year from now, The New York Times said.

But Democrats can't claim wholesale victory. Even as Ohioans rejected Kasich's attempt to constrict collective bargaining for public employees, they approved a symbolic measure that exempts state residents from the individual mandate required in Obama's healthcare law.

And while voters in Mississippi voted down the measure that would have criminalized all abortions and many forms of contraception, Mississippi tightened its voting laws to require some form of government-approved identification. (Democrats opposed the requirement, saying it was a veiled attempt to intimidate voters of color.)

Democrat Steve Beshear won re-election as Kentucky's governor while Phil Bryant was elected to succeed Gov. Haley Barbour, keeping the governor's office in the GOP fold.

When two Democratic incumbent senators conceded Thursday, Republicans picked up a 20-20 party split and effectively gained control of the Virginia Senate, to add to their control of the House of Delegates and governor's office, The Roanoke Times reported. Bill Bolling, the Republican lieutenant-governor, casts tie-breaking votes in the upper chamber.

The mixed bag of result also could reflect an electorate that lacks any clear preference -- or enthusiasm -- for either major party right now, StateLine.org reported. When considering President Obama's approval rating has been below 50 percent for months and voters disapproval of both parties in Congress, it's not too surprising they didn't give either party clear victories.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/11/ ... 321174800/

If there were truth in reporting this article's opening statement would read like this:

Memo to political candidates: They powers that be have stumbled upon a new method of removing from office any politician that doesn't toe the line. After failing to win in a general election but disliking the actual winner the will of the people can now be circumvented simply by having a recall election.

In such an election the losing party concedes the position to the winning party then gets behind a more moderate candidate to run against the original winner. (In this case a RINO.) As the defeated party now hasn't an actual candidate of it's own it's support added to the members of the opposing party who hadn't supported the original winner can change the original outcome.

This seems to relate well, apparently the author noticed how well it worked in AZ:

Call for recall

fredericknewspost.com
Opinion > Editorial
Originally published November 13, 2011

We can't remember a time in at least the last decade where up to 100 people rallied downtown specifically protesting measures by the Board of County Commissioners.

We've had tea party rallies, sure, even one inspired by Occupy Wall Street. People have gathered to rail against issues in general, such as illegal immigration. But this? This was something new.

Don't underestimate this groundswell of opposition. Let's use the example of letters to the editor here at The Frederick News-Post -- for every person who writes in, you can bet at least two dozen or more feel the same way but stay silent.

One year from when this present board was sworn in, the Rally to Remember What We Have Lost on the Square Corner downtown brought protesters worried that the county commissioners are dismantling county government. Those present cited efforts toward privatization, largesse for the development industry, cuts to the Head Start program, cuts to nonprofits, weakening of the county's growth control ordinance and streamlining of senior services, among much else. It was a worthy display of First Amendment rights.

Members of the crowd even urged the enactment of a recall provision.

This is a compelling idea, in this case driven by buyers' remorse. Nevertheless, it is something citizens should have at hand as a check and balance should the candidates they voted for turn out not to be the ones they wanted. Nineteen states, the District of Columbia and 29 local jurisdictions have recall provisions, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Of course, the argument against recall is its potential to dilute the democratic process because of a knee-jerk reaction from a disappointed electorate. But we feel as long as strong provisions are in place to make any recall a high bar, there is a place for it in our local political system. We hope those writing the proposed charter to move us into a county executive government will include this in their deliberations.

For now, though, the county has no such law on the books and is unlikely to get one with the foxes guarding the so-called henhouse. Rally to Remember protesters will have to wait until 2014 for their shot at a new Board of County Commissioners.

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sectio ... Opinion%29

Illegal voting is condoned and encouraged by the Left. Harry Reid is a prime example of a person in power due entirely to voter fraud.

Let's see, his son, as a county commissioner awarded the contract for the voting machines to SEIU techs. People tesified that old Harry's name popped up before they even touched the screen of the voting machine in many instances .

Then, the casinos bused their illegals to the polls nd at many polls there were separate lines for Spanish speakers to vote. Neat trick when you have to have a useable knowledge of the English language before you can become a citizen and it is illegal for non citizens to vote in Federal elections.

Then the topper for Harry was that the first bill he tried to push through was an internet gambling law that allowed only established gaming houses to have internet gambling sites.

I absolutely believe that Pearce was recalled by the country of Mexico, not the state of Arizona.

Reid and Pearce were just dry runs for voting machine corruption and voter fraud leading to 2012. All of the debates and wrangling of candidates mean nothing if the election is already rigged. If we allow this to continue we will deserve what we get.

I did hear that there has been final verification that Osam Bin Laden is dead. He registered to vote last week in Chicago.