The Fly on the Pillowcase
By Growltiger*
Growltiger's favorite film director, Richard Lester, once was asked how he came up with such quirky films as "The Knack" and the Beatles "Hard Day's Night." Said Mr. Lester, "I always look for the fly on the pillowcase in the love scene."
Growltiger is an avid follower of Sundance whose website The Conservative Treehouse she recommends to all readers. (Conservative Treehouse). Months ago, Sundance wrote a series of articles on how the Republican Establishment already had decided Jeb Bush would be the Republican nominee, and expertly laid out how this would be accomplished, especially after Governor Bush's famous comment that he did not need "the Republican base" in order to win the nomination. As a tease, Growltiger includes the first paragraph of Sundance's original essay: "Most of you are familiar with our earlier prediction. In essense, based on historical and current GOP establishment events and action, we predicated the GOP establishment leadership, along with Wall Street and Tom Donahue, would devise a roadmap for Jeb Bush to win the 2016 Presidential nomination."
Those significantly intrigued by this first paragraph can find the rest of the analysis here: How It Will Be Done.
In this article and others, Sundance pointed to certain "tripwires" which would indicate the plan/plot he saw the establishment politicians following was being carried out as he predicted. Today, he posted another predicted "tripwire" had gone off with North Carolina's 2016 ballot (see below).
Growltiger doesn't generally wander into the weeds of politics. She tries to keep a jaundiced eye on the political arena with a catty remark here and there about the players. But there is nothing amusing about what is happening if Sundance is correct, so she is willing to run the risk of boring her readers.
Virginia 2013:
In 2008, Lt. Governor Bill Bolling made a deal with then-Attorney General Bob McDonnell whereby the following year, (2009) McDonnell would run for the governorship of Virginia and Bolling would run for e-election for Lt. Governor. In return, Bolling would then receive McDonnell's support for his own candidacy for governor in 2013. (Wikipedia).
See how simple it is. Establishment politicians get to decide for whom you get to vote.
But the best laid schemes of mice and men go oft astray, and Virginia's Attorney General, Ken Cuccinelli, decided he might like to be governor. His candidacy caught fire with the nascent Tea Party which gave the Republicans the House of Representatives in 2010 only to be dismissed and marginalized afterwards. (Note, Growltiger is not nor has ever been a member of the Tea Party).
After Bolling caught wind of Cuccinelli's rebellion, he issued a statement accusing Cuccinelli of putting "his own personal ambition ahead of the best interests of the commonwealth and the Republican Party."
Huh? And Bolling was not putting "his own personal ambition" to the forefront?
The arrogance of Bolling's statement cannot help but astound. But then haven't privileged men and women throughout history accepted the notion of that they have a "divine right" to rule? So why not now when the American representative Republic is over 200 years old and struggling.
In June, 2012, the (Republican) party's State Central Committee, which had new members since the committee previously voted to hold a primary, reversed course and voted 47-31 to select a nominee via convention in 2013, igniting controversy among party members. The switch was a major blow to Bolling's candidacy, as Cuccinelli supporters were more ardent and involved in the party and thus more willing to travel to a day-long convention. (Wikipedia)
As an aside, think of the tens of thousands of people who attend Donald Trump's rallies compared to the relatively few who show up for Bush, Rubio, Kasich, Christie and other "establishment" candidates.
There are arguments to be made for both convention and primaries, the obvious being the opposition party cannot meddle with the results of a convention whereas in an open primary, as Virginia has, the opposition party can try to get nominated the candidate they believe can be more easily defeated.
Bolling, who was polling poorly against Cuccinelli, withdrew from the race. He cited the Republican Party's decision to move to a nominating convention rather than hold a primary. He ruled out running for another term as Lieutenant Governor and refused to endorse Cuccinelli. (Wikipedia). Those who believe that was that don't know how determined entrenched politicians are not to be dragged out of the trenches they have so carefully dug over the years.
The Washington Post reported-"...Bolling had tried to help persuade an influential business PAC to support Democrat Terry McAuliffe over Republican Ken Cuccinelli II." (1)
Note: How many Republican "establishmentarians" have admitted he or she will support Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump should Mr. Trump win the Republican nomination?
McAuliff won the governorsbip with 47.75% to Cuccinelli's 45.23 with Libertarian Sarvis taking 6.25%.
While Growltiger accuses no one of anything, the following is a true account of her voting a touch screen in Virginia Beach in the Cuccinelli-McAuliff election.
Growltiger settled in front of her machine and started the process, touching the box for Cuccinelli. But as she was about to scroll to the next voting page, she noticed the checkmark had appeared next to McAuliff's name. Thinking she must have inadvertently touched an area between the two boxes, she backed out of that page and repeated her vote.
This time she made absolute certain her finger touched the box next to Cuccinelli's name.
Once again, the checkmark went to McAuliff.
She repeated the process, and for the second time (for certain) and probably the third time (in actuality) touched the square for Cuccinelli. Again, the checkmark went to McAuliff.
That's when she yowled. Announcing in a stage voice that, "This machine has been rigged" brought poll watchers on the run. Standing some apart for her so as not to be accused of seeing for whom the cool cat voted, the poll worker instructed Growl to do exactly what Growl already had done (back out and revote). This time the checkmark did appear next to Cuccinelli's name.
Growltiger has no explanation for why this method only worked when the poll worker instructed her, but when she left, she refused the "I voted" sticker because, as she told the poll watcher, "I'm not sure that I did." She still is not, but the next time she voted in her precinct did note there were no more touch screen voting machines.
In 2012, Republican candidates Newt Gingrich, John Huntsmen, Rick Perry and Rick Santorum did not "make" the primary ballot in Virginia, leaving only the establishment candidate, Mitt Romney, and libertarian leaning, Ron Paul (2). The explanation given was that these four did not get their "paperwork" in in time.
Apparently, having watched what happened to Gingrich, Huntsman, Perry and Santorum, Trump et al did get their paperwork in "in time". So a few weeks ago, the Virginia Republican Party announced it would ask the voters to sign a loyalty oath in order to vote in the Republican primary (3). Until this year, the Virginia primary has always been open.
North Carolina:
Not to be outdone by it's northern neighbor, North Carolina's Republican Party just came out with the following ballot:
Huckabee
Kasich
Paul
Rubio
Santorum
Trump
Bush
Carson
Christie
Cruz
Fiorina
Gilmore
No Preference
Note that the candidates are not listed in alphabetic order or by their standing in the polls at the time the ballot was printed. Also note that Donald Trump, Jeb Bush and Ben Carson are in sequence, then remember Growltiger's experience with the voting machine in Virginia in 2013. Also be aware that for the first time, "No Preference" is on the ballot, and that if Mr/Ms No Preference gets enough votes, his/her delegates are allotted to the candidate the establishment chooses. This in effect puts the establishment candidate on the NC ballot twice.
Growltiger doesn't see just a fly on the pillowcase, she sees maggots in the feathers.
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(1) Bolling
(2)Four Candidates don't make the ballot
(3) Loyalty Oath
