Electoral College Rejects Trump AND Clinton — Selects John Kasich for President

Nah.  But that nightmare scenario — and some that are even sicker and scarier — could actually happen.

If  the Electoral College rejects Trump:

“The election goes to Congress. They can only choose from the top three in the electoral race, so who the electors vote for matters a great deal. If Kasich or Pence is in the top three it could take several ballots to determine a winner.”

With all the fear and dread over what the Electoral College might or might not do, why don't we  get rid of this albatross once and for all, and just go with the popular vote?  Almost six weeks after the most polarizing contentious emotionally-draining election in decades, we're still freaking ourselves out with all these bizarre “Oh My God, what if ______” speculations.

If we went only by the popular vote, White House candidates would have to suck up to everybody, not just swing state voters.  Under our current system, residents of a few large Battleground states get slathered with all the attention.  If you live in a small state and/or a state that's solidly red or blue, your vote is taken for granted.

Supposedly, tens of millions of newly registered Hispanic voters were going to guarantee the White House for the Democrats this year.  Trouble is, most of these newly registered voters were in California (blue no matter what), Texas and Arizona (both red come hell or high water).

Best of all:  If we didn't have the Electoral College, Republican strategists at the state level would no longer have any incentive to tilt the allocation of Electoral votes into a Heads the Republican wins, Tails the Democrat loses fiasco.

So far eleven states (including Washington) have signed the National Popular Vote compact to switch to a popular vote.  This would have to be signed by enough states to add up to a majority of electoral votes, in order for this law to take effect.  Think the public will go for it?

For whatever it's worth, an online poll (admittedly un-scientific) in our local newspaper shows a majority being in favor of switching to the popular vote:

Electoral College  43.83%  (263 votes)  
 

Popular vote  50%  (300 votes)  
 

Undecided  6.17%  (37 votes)  
 

 

Total Votes: 600

Scott Walker and his Plutocrats were Running Like Rabbits

I don’t necessarily believe this, but it’s a counterpoint to the steady drumbeat of “Democrats are doomed,” “the final nail in the coffin for Big Labor,” yada yada.

Last November, when Ohio voters overturned Governor John Kasich’s union-castrating law — similar to Scott Walker’s power grab — direct-mail has-been Richard Viguerie wrote a column titled “In Ohio, Union Bosses Were Rabbits Running For Their Lives.”  He wrote:

“Every day, there are millions of races between foxes and rabbits.  Sometimes a fox will win, otherwise there would be no foxes, but most of the time the rabbit wins because, while the fox is running for his dinner, the rabbit is running for his life.  So it was in the vote on Ohio’s ballot Issue 2, to keep or reject the new state law restricting collective bargaining rights for more than 300,000 unionized public employees.”

“While the mainstream media has presented the vote on Issue 2 as a key test of electoral strength in the coming presidential election, the 4 to 1 spending differential shows the Ohio vote was really a desperate race for life on the part of the public sector unions…”

“The union rabbits, with money and manpower brought in from across the nation, have won this race, but taxpayers will regroup and continue the chase in all 50 states next year.”

Substitute Ohio’s vote on Issue 2 with Scott Walker’s recall victory, and change the “4 to 1 spending differential” to “7 to 1” — the ratio by which Walker’s owners outspent the Democrats — and Richard Viguerie’s column makes just as much sense.

Personally I didn’t think last year’s Ohio vote was a grand omen for future national elections, and I don’t think the June 5th vote in Wisconsin was either.

Oh, and there’s one tiny item from Tuesday’s Wisconsin vote that’s been totally lost in all the swooning over Scott Walker.  State Senator John Lehman (D) defeated Republican Van Wanggaard, thereby giving Democrats control of the Wisconsin senate.

Just thought it might be worth a mention.

Thoughts on the 2011 Election Results

Mostly it was encouraging.  Ohio voters kidney-punched Governor John Kasich, trouncing his Koch-ordered union-crippling law in a statewide referendum.  The 99 percenters have got some momentum now.  Next stop — Wisconsin.  And Michigan, Florida..

And you’ve gotta love John Kasich’s concession speech after his signature law got repealed:

“It's clear that the people have spoken. My view is when people speak in a campaign like this, in a referendum, you have to listen.  I've heard their voices. I understand their decision. And frankly I respect what people have to say in an effort like this. As a result of that, it requires me to take a deep breath and spend some time reflecting on what happened.”

Gee, ya think?  How magnanimous of the pompous little prick.

Maine voters showed they can’t be purchased by a jillion-dollar anonymous bribe.  Maine’s legislature and teajob governor passed a voter-restriction law — basically eliminating a decades-long tradition of allowing voters to register on Election Day.  Voters put a referendum on the ballot to overturn the voter-restriction law.  Just a few days before the election, an anonymous conservative donor contributed $250,000 to the rightwing campaign to keep the disenfranchise-the-voters law in place.  Didn’t work.  Once again, Maine residents can register to vote on Election Day.

Arizona voters have recalled state Senator Russell Pearce (R—Ku Klux Klan), the architect of Arizona’s infamous “he looks swarthy, let’s stop and frisk him” law.

And thank you Jesus, Mississippi voters trounced the state’s “personhood” amendment.  This was an attempt to define life as beginning at fertilization.  This would ban all abortions — no exceptions! — and some forms of contraception as well.  Even though this abortional idea (pun intended) got squelched by the voters, the Salem Witch-hunters who are promoting it might keep putting this question on other state ballots.  This could be the “gay marriage” of the 2012 election — a scheme for getting every snake-handling fetus-humping Biblewipe to crawl out from under their rock and into the voting booth.

On the downside, Mississippi voters did approve a law requiring all voters to present a government-issued I.D. in order to vote.  (I thought conservatives didn’t trust them government bureaucrats.)  And in Washington State, Costco has discovered that if you keep doing the same thing over and over, you CAN get a different result.  (More on that in a later post.)

Rightwing Radio Host Condemns John Kasich’s Union-Busting Law

On November 8th Ohio voters will get a chance to overturn Governor John Kasich’s Cripple-Labor-Unions law.  Opinion polls show the union-busting law to be unpopular and likely to be voted down.

And now, of all people, rightwing radio host Bill Cunningham has blasted John Kasich for refusing to meet with labor unions before he pushed for his anti-worker law, Senate Bill 5.  Bill Cunningham said:

“From my perspective, those affected by governmental decisions need to have a place at the bargaining table to determine the outcome of what’s being discussed.  The best Americans I know are cops, firefighters, and teachers. They’re reasonable and they’re good people.”

And then he went on to urge Ohio voters to vote No on the anti-worker law (Issue 2.)

I’d never heard of Bill Cunningham before, but whatever his views are on other issues, he’s got this one dialed.

Bulletin: Terrorist Alert!

Don’t worry, these terrorists aren’t Muslims or furriners, so Homeland Security can keep looking the other way.

Pam Geller’s racist organization, American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), has called for the murder of American politicians (both parties), college professors and media talking heads.

The call is from John Joseph Jay, a founding member of AFDI.  His post is titled “Start The Revolution.”  Among other things, this inbred neckdrooler is urging his drones to:

Take out the talking head media; and burn the Washington Post, New York Times and L.A. Times to the ground.  Take out the incumbent leaders of both parties in Congress.  Eliminate the faculty of Harvard, Yale, NYU, Columbia and the University of California at Santa Barbara.  (What, not Berkeley?)  Bill Ayers, Angeles Davis and Bernie Dohrn are to be boiled in canola oil.

He also wants the governors of New York, California, Ohio, Illinois, Washington, Florida and Massachusetts to be “thrown into the fiery pits… from which there is no escape.”  And he isn’t finished yet:  “I’ll think of something suitable for Hilary Clinton.”

I have no idea what the rightwing governors of Ohio and Florida could’ve possibly done to offend their fellow wacktard.  But [ahem] in an ideal scenario, John Joseph Jay could start his jihad with Rick Scott and John Kasich — and THEN get nabbed by Homeland Security.

(Just Kidding!)

 

Governor John Kasich: Creating Jobs in Ohio

The liberal media has been portraying John Kasich as a braindead errand boy for the Oligarchy, with absolutely no specific plans other than crippling unions and going down on the Koch brothers.

Nothing could be further from the truth. As the teatards keep reminding us, “the government can’t create jobs.” And John Kasich is proving this talking point by creating a private entity — JobsOhio — which will urge businesses to relocate to Ohio. “No unions! Rock bottom wages! None of them commie safety regulations!”

When you hear that giant sucking sound, it’ll be from thousands of companies moving out of those Nanny Blue States and into Freedom-loving Ohio. (Of course it’ll also include the sound of John Kasich’s above-mentioned threesome with the Koch brothers.)

Being the shrewd free-enterpriser that he is, John Kasich will be the chairman of JobsOhio. Liberals will probably whine about “conflict of interest” or “corporate welfare” or whatever…

Kasich has a foolproof plan for financing JobsOhio. He’ll be leasing the state’s liquor stores to JobsOhio, and the booze revenue will finance their operations. This economic plan is foolproof for two reasons:

1. Buyer’s Remorse. People who are in the throes of buyer’s remorse tend to drink more. And Ohio voters are going through a major big time lollapalooza case of buyer’s remorse.

2. John Boehner.

Now is that teamwork or what? If Boehner satisfies his jones exclusively through Ohio’s liquor stores, Ohio will soon have the lowest unemployment rate in the world.