Arkansas Blog

My wife and I voted yesterday. I voted Green in several races, including Gov, and she voted Green in every race where they ran a candidate. All our other votes were for Dems, of course.

"For the first time since before Watergate, the New York Whore Times endorsed no Republicans for election to Congress this year."

-- Ben Smith, New York Daily News

What? Asa isn't having his little Defeat Party at Corkey's?

I am all about Arkansas being a multi party state but I can't vote green just because it is an alternative, for example the guy running for Land Commissioner has said that he did not want to be Land Commissioner because it didn't pay enough. why vote for the guy who doesn't want the job?

"For the first time since before Watergate, the New York Whore Times endorsed no Republicans for election to Congress this year."

And Cato, that would be because Bushgate is far worse and more corrosive of the democarcy than Nixon and his cohorts ever were. Another example just today is the removal, secretly, by the Rebublicans in Congress, of the monies funding the special IG who has turned up BILLIONS of dollars of misspent, unbid contracts money used to line the pockets of Halliburton [Cheney], Parsons [Bush/Chaney] and Bechtel [the old line republican money crowd.] You may like your tax dollars to be stolen, most of the rest of us don't. And now these crooks will have no one looking over thier shoulders. That's just one of thousands of reasons not to endorse a Republican. And anyone voting for one should have his head examined or is on the gravy train.

It's funny, I thought this title referred to the fact that voting for Lendall was essentially a vote for Asa.

Interesting. I thought the title said that there were basically two choices: Green or some version of Republican (Republican lite or Crazy Republican).

Don't vote Green in the Gov or Lt. Gov race. Vote green in every other race where the field a candidate. They can stay on the ballot with 3% in any race. Dems need your vote. Don't allow us to be nadered.

Jim got the endorsement in our Lovely County Citizen last week. Saving my decision for that vote until the last minute insuring my vote against Asa wont be needed.

What position on guns do Greens have?

"Don't vote Green in the Gov or Lt. Gov race. Don't allow us to be nadered."

Nadered? Excuse me while I try to stop laughing. You obviously have no recollection of our past elections. In the presidential race in '00, Al Gore agreed with W over a dozen times during debates. Don't you find that facinating and repulsive? Even when the outcome of that race was somewhat undetermined, Gore didn't fight it - he gave in, accepted the lie. I'm soooo glad I voted for Nader that year.

John Kerry was smarter and smoother than W in debates in '04 - hell, my 3-yr-old could win debates against Bush. However, after 4 years of W's insanity, I was petrified of 4 more. Instead of voting for who I thought would make the best president (Ralph Nader) I voted for the candidate I thought would knock Bush out of the white house -- like so, so many other Americans.

Our efforts didn't help a damn thing. Bush is still terrorizing the world and America voted him in with a rather sweeping "red state" election.

Don't needle me or other readers with your version of fear factor. If you want Mike Beebe to win, great, vote for the guy. But spare the rest of us your boogie man scenario.

I voted for Rod Bryan today and a slew of greens. Sure, Dems need my vote. So do Repubs. So what? If a candidate can demonstrate to me within his campaign that he deserves the job, the position, then he (or she) is who receives my vote. Simple as that.

Your candidate, Tax Payer, demonstrated only that deception, back door deals, intolerance, and nonprogressive ideas comprised his campaign and would also comprise his stint as governor.

No thanks.

What "Tax Payer" said above is false. State law specifically says that the 3% has to be achieved in the Governor's race. That is why each party has agonized at times over finding a possible nominee for Governor.

R4G, if you can't see the difference between Dubya and what should have been President Gore, then you're an idiot.

I see the difference between W and Gore NOW, mr. dinobird, but in 2000 i certainly could not - neither could most people. Are you not incensed at the pathetic behavior/lack of resolve Gore showed in '00? What's wrong with you? Gore regained his spine and common sense when he made "inconvenient truth" - Sure wish he would have shown such backbone when he was a candidate.

Vote. Rod. Period.

Check this out. Looks like a major party vote may be a wasted vote.

http://www.thetraveleronline.com/poll/index.cfm?event=displayPollResults

Run, Rod, Run!

thearts (threats?):
You may notice that the Traveler Online Poll you cite is an internet poll that allows people to vote as many times as they can log on. I'm sure that Rod has developed carpal tunnel syndrome while cranking up his "poll" numbers. Let's try to keep at least part of this campaign honest.

McLaughin Report participants say
it will be a Demo House and Senate.
I think about an even split in the Senate is likely. This means Darth Cheney will cast deciding votes. Let the fighting begin.

That's hogwash R4G. At the time, I, and everybody else who bothered to listen, could see there was a great deal of difference between Gore and Bush. You're confusing Gore's actual personality and behavior with the way the repubs painted him. And may I point out that at the time people understood that a vote for Nader was a vote for Bush. Michael Moore begged Nader to drop out, to keep us from the disaster that is George W. Bush. You can pretend that Nader voters didn't put Bush in the White House, but to do so is to be purposefully ignorant of the way the system works.

Jim-
Someone sent this poll to me. You of all people should appreciate the fact someone is asking peoples opinion of third party candidates at all. I have a feeling that Rod is not sitting at home driving up poll numbers on this site. I love how you call this dirty politics. Give me a break.

If Rod hadn't gotten his 10,000 signature and got on the ballot as an Independent, you would not have had a chance on getting the rules changed for party establishment. I don't think you need to make comments about Rod. You owe him.

" carpal tunnel syndrome"

I can think of many responses to this comment. But I will bite my tounge.

-Not enough difference, A. The debates were in real time - I watched Gore agree again and again with Bush. So I aligned myself with Nader - his campaign, his issues, his actions showed more integrity than anything I'd seen come from Al.

Your view is that Nader voters put Bush in the White House, but my view is that Al Gore didn't do much to keep him out.

Stop whining because everyone's not voting for your candidate. I don't believe Mike Beebe and I don't think his proposed policies are progressive or even on the right track at all. Why would I vote for him?

I deserve - like you - to have representation when I enter the voting booth. I have that this election year. Take your begging, your misunderstandings, your either/or mentality and go educate yourself.

You may not like the system--there are lots of things about it to not like--but if you have a shred of intellectual honesty, you have to understand that, in a close race, a vote for a third-party or independent candidate is a vote for Asa. Just as you have to have known that a vote for Nader was a vote for Bush.

You certainly have every right to use your vote to "send a message." The message you're claiming to send is that the Democrats and Republicans are the same. Beebe is the same as Asa. Gore is the same as Bush. If you took the time to do a tiny bit of research, you'd see that neither of these is true. For instance, the difference between Bush and Gore is a hundred thousand dead Iraqis and three thousand dead Americans, not to mention the hundreds of billions of dollars the war has cost us. The difference between Asa and Beebe will be the gutting of our educational system. Is it worth risking that to "send a message?" Again, it's your right to decide whether it's worth it or not. But don't pretend that your actions don't have consequences.

As with Gore, the race is Beebe's to lose.

You can blame third parties, but if Democrats can't win going away after 4 or 6 years of Republican insanity, then they deserve to lose.

Beebe started out firmly with my vote as a Dem. He lost that vote by pandering to the Republicans. A school platform of no more consolidation is not educational leadership.

When Beebe adopts true Dem values, and grows a spine, then he'll deserve my vote. Until then, he can dance with the same good old boy club that brought both he and Asa, professional politicians both, to the dance. One's a republican, the other's a republican-lite.

If Asa wins, it won't be because of the Green party. It will be because Beebe, like Gore and Kerry, is a loser who couldn't win even with all the advantages the Republicans gave him.

I'm not a particularly good chess player, but I used to enjoy playing every once in a while. One of the guys I used to play with refused to castle. He thought it was a stupid rule, inconsistent with the rest of the rules of chess. He didn't think it was aesthetically pleasing. So, even though it was clearly within the rules, he refused to do it. And he lost games because of it. But he stuck by his principles. When he did win, he could say he'd done it his way.

That's what you third party guys are doing. You vote for your guy, even though you know he has no chance whatsoever of winning. You say, "He more closely represents my views." That may well be true, but I'd guess that he doesn't represent your views exactly. Is there anyone who does? Of course not. When you pick your guy, in a very real way, you're just picking the lesser of four evils, rather than the lesser of two, like most everybody else. The difference is, one of the two is going to win.

Of course I don't agree with Beebe on every issue. For instance, he made that crack about teaching intelligent design in the schools. I teach evolution for a living--think it didn't hurt my feelings to press the screen next to Beebe's name? But here's the deal--come next Tuesday night, either Beebe or Asa is going to be the new governor. No matter how much you like what Bryan or Lendall have to say--they're not going to be governor. It's not fair the way things work, but they are what they are. And if you vote for someone besides the Democrat, you're playing right into the hands of the Republicans. It's no coincidence that many of the third party candidates in this country had their filing fees paid by Republicans.

If Asa wins by one vote, and you didn't vote for Beebe, then you put Asa there. When he signs the Right To Life Bill, or the Creation Science Bill, or the Screw All the Poor People by Giving Tax Rebates to Sam Walton's Kids Bill, you bear that in mind. Think it won't happen? I remember after 2000 the Naderites saying that it didn't matter--that Gore and Bush were the same. Would you say that with a straight face, now? You say, "Gore agreed with Bush during the debates on too many issues." Do you actually think there's no issue on which Bryan or Lendall would agree with Hutchinson? You say, "Gore should have done a better job," but in reality, he did the best job among those candidates who actually had a chance of winning. And that's the point.

You stick by your principles. You go ahead and lose. At least you won't have castled.

Thearts: Chill - I should have put a after the carpal phrase. I forgot that everyone is getting too serious at this point in the campaigns. Rod's getting 10,000 signatures had little to do with the Greens winning the case, except making it slightly more difficult. Simply, based on 3 decades of case law, the statutes were unconstitutional. FYI, Without previous rulings, Rod would have needed more than 130,000 signatures.

Archaeopteryx (DINOsaur): I realize that in the last days of the campaign, it is traditional to scare the voters into voting for your candidate - thus the Nader ogre. There are many differences between the Nader situation and the Arkansas Greens vote. Primary is that, even if the Green "loses," everyone wins. A 3% vote for the Green Candidate for Governor will win ballot access for the party for the next 4 years. A vote for the Green candidate appears to be the best bargain on the ballot- you get to vote your conscience AND guarantee yourself a choice in the next elections through 2010.

As one voter told me, "If you vote for the lesser of 2 evils, you are still voting for evil." We should have better choices, but we can't when ballot access is limited.

Is our current political system the democracy our brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, neighbors should be ... dying ... to export to other countries?

If this is the political system we are trying to impose on other countries, it might be interpreted as an act of war.

In the first line of my 11:12pm response ... I thought I had used a G in arrow brackets, to designate "Grin," as used in emails to indicate levity. I have discovered that the blog apparently does not allow arrow brackets, but it may allow levity, probably after the election, that is. (G)