National Politics - 2016

SC Primary: Open … But Not That Open

YOU CAN VOTE IN EITHER PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY … BUT NOT BOTH Much to the chagrin of party purists on both sides of the aisle (a.k.a. the same side of bipartisan big government), South Carolina has an “open” primary system.  That means Democratic and “Republican” voters do not have to register…

YOU CAN VOTE IN EITHER PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY … BUT NOT BOTH

Much to the chagrin of party purists on both sides of the aisle (a.k.a. the same side of bipartisan big government), South Carolina has an “open” primary system.  That means Democratic and “Republican” voters do not have to register by their party affiliation … and can cast ballots across the aisle (again, to the extent anyone is dumb enough to believe there’s still an “aisle” to be crossed).

What are they not allowed to do, though?

Vote in both the GOP and Democratic presidential primaries – which are scheduled for February 20 and February 27, respectively.

If you cast a ballot in the GOP primary on Saturday (for Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, John Kasich or Ben Carson), you will not be able vote the following weekend for either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders.

Bummer, huh?

Frankly, we don’t get why this restriction is in place.  This isn’t a general election – in which you really do have to pick one candidate over the others.  There are two specific questions on the table:

Who do you want to be the “Republican” presidential nominee?

And …

Who do you want to be the Democratic presidential nominee?

This is a pure “preference” question – which is why the word preference is in the official title of both these upcoming elections.

No really …

The election scheduled for February 20 is called the South Carolina Republican Presidential Preference Primary, while the one on tap for the following week is called the South Carolina Democratic Presidential Preference Primary.

Preference … 

In other words it’s not about which candidate you like … or which candidate you think would do a better job.  It is about which candidate you prefer.  And last time we checked, people can have multiple preferences … and they ought to be allowed to express those preferences as they see fit in non-exclusive elections.

Obviously this website endorsed the “First in the South” presidential candidacy of Donald Trump – although our nod was more an indictment of the GOP establishment and embrace of the populist angst he’s channeling than anything else.  On the Democratic side, we selfishly want Bernie Sanders to win because we believe his candidacy would spark a more honest, substantive debate in a general election.

Seriously … Clinton versus an establishment “Republican?”  What a scripted contest that would be.  A friggin’ infomercial for crony capitalism and political correctness.  We also want Sanders in the general because we believe it’s about time the Democratic nominee was in name what he’s been in practice … a socialist.

So we’re “Trumpkins” also looking to “Feel the Bern.”

Why shouldn’t we be allowed to do that?

***

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30 comments

Bible Thumper February 18, 2016 at 6:21 pm Reply
stumpknocker February 18, 2016 at 6:22 pm

absolutely you should, a lot of my friends share your opinion. I want it to be trump v Hillary so agree on half of it, as far as we are concerned we are both batting 500.

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The Colonel (R) February 18, 2016 at 7:17 pm

Dude, you are actually admitting that you support the Trumpster (rhymes with dumpster) all the while spending a majority of your ink (electrons?) bitching about RINOs? Get a grip, can’t you see that is the greatest possible contradiction. Have you lost all sense of irony?

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pogo February 18, 2016 at 7:55 pm

Careful everyone…somebody tried to ‘hack’ me today….

Microsoft account

Verify your account

We detected something unusual about a recent sign-in for the Microsoft account ….@live.com.

To help keep you safe, we’ve blocked access to your inbox, contacts list, and calendar for that sign-in. Please review your recent activity and we’ll help you take corrective action. To regain access, you’ll need to confirm that the recent activity was yours.

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Rocky Verdad February 18, 2016 at 10:12 pm

Give it a rest Flip. If you set this stupid stunt in motion and Will’s IT folks track it back to you – then I guess he’ll have your name and a nice felony complaint.

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pogo February 18, 2016 at 11:01 pm

I had nothing to do with it.I am apparently a victim of this.Read above.Keep fucking with me Rocky.

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Flip February 18, 2016 at 11:30 pm

I think it’s funny the hackers are turning on you, after you just laughed at this website earlier. Maybe they will do you like Terry? Oh my!

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pogo February 18, 2016 at 11:36 pm

I am laughing my ASS off at this sorry blog! Do me pussy!

stumpknocker February 18, 2016 at 11:45 pm

lets translate this you are bitter and gloating because Will was done wrong

mamatiger92 February 19, 2016 at 8:37 am Reply
Flip February 18, 2016 at 11:32 pm

He taunted FITS earlier, plus all his other shenanigans I’d say is very suspicious……

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mamatiger92 February 19, 2016 at 8:31 am

zzzzzzzzzzzz

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shifty henry February 21, 2016 at 2:42 am

I just back in through Internet Explorer, and earlier this evening got in through Firefox… the occasional skipping to other articles when posting is still annoying.

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idcydm February 18, 2016 at 8:05 pm

This is too good not to pass on, I had tears running down my cheeks.

An elderly Florida lady did her shopping and, upon returning to her car,
found four males in the act of leaving with her vehicle. She dropped her shopping bags and drew her handgun, proceeding to scream at the top of her lungs, “I have a gun, and I know how to use it! Get out of the car!”.

The four men didn’t wait for a second threat. They got out and ran like mad. The lady, somewhat shaken, then proceeded to load her shopping bags into the back of the car and got into the driver’s seat. She was so shaken that she could not get her key into the ignition.

She tried and tried, and then she realized why. It was for the same reason she had wondered why there was a football, a Frisbee and two 12-packs of beer in the front seat. A few minutes later, she found her own car parked four or five spaces farther down.

She loaded her bags into the car and drove to the police station to report her mistake.

The sergeant to whom she told the story couldn’t stop laughing. He pointed to the other end of the counter, where four pale men were reporting a car jacking by a mad, elderly woman described as white, less than five feet tall, glasses, curly white hair, and carrying a large handgun.

No charges were filed.

The moral of the story?

If you’re going to have a senior moment… make it memorable.

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Barbara Carter February 21, 2016 at 12:43 am

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shifty henry February 21, 2016 at 2:36 am

LOL x100..!! I was just preparing for my nightly rest when I read this story – now I have to wait 15 minutes to calm down!

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erneba February 18, 2016 at 8:31 pm

I would like to see Rubio versus Hillary for the General Election win, because he seems to be doing the best against Hillary. I think Trump versus Sanders in the General Election would be a hoot.
For governing the country, I would like to see Trump over Hillary or Sanders. National Socialism (both Hillary and Sanders) would go a long way to destroying this country. Sanders trying to give everyone everything they ever wanted would be a disaster. Hillary’s pandering to every special interest group and that includes Wall Street would be interesting. And Hillary paying back domestic and foreign debt for the Clinton Foundation bribery would truly be interesting.
I do believe Trump would try to get accomplished certain things like border security, immigration reform, fairness in international business, and restoring our national security.
Take something from a few in column “R,” take nothing from the socialists in column “D.”

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stumpknocker February 18, 2016 at 9:24 pm

erneba, no matter how this election plays out our country will not be destroyed, after 8 years of saying Obama will destroy this country, we are all still here, yes Obama changed the country, i understand you really don’t like it but i don’t believe your life has gone to hell in a hand basket because of the changes, people of both parties have turned into ridiculous drama queens, i would like to think that any healthy republican man or woman would pull over and help my 84 year old mother if she had a flat, even with her Hillary bumpersticker. it pisses me off to be considered the enemy, i was a volunteer fireman and emt in bamberg county, if there was an emergency, i was there and now half the county calls me a piece of shit liberal and that is fucked up, nobody called me a piece of shit when i got up in the middle of the night to make a fire or ambulance run sometimes 2 or 3 times a night, i was’nt an enemy of conservatives then and i am not an enemy of conservatives now, i do not give a shit about race, color or creed, if some one in my community was in need, i volunteered.

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erneba February 18, 2016 at 10:27 pm

The people of this country will endure. They will see us through no matter what the politicians do to our country. I don’t see doom and gloom at the citizen level because the citizenry have different views of what our national leadership should be.
There was a bit of hyperbole in my statement about destroying this country. But keep in mind what type of governments that the countries in the old “eastern bloc” of European suffered under, Socialists forms of government, just as Cuba, Valenzuela, and other socialists countries have suffered under in today’s world. We may not be destroyed under socialism, but we would suffer.
And I don’t think people carry this conservative/libel concept down to a personal level. My lifetime best friend, who passed away a month ago, was a die-hard liberal and that never affected our friendship. We just never made it an issue, we knew each others views and let it go at that.
Politically, I see the election of Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders as a step in the wrong direction for this country. I do think this country has changed under eight years of Obama and not for the good.

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stumpknocker February 18, 2016 at 11:09 pm

right on right on, team first, Americans, then we battle for the positions second

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Flip February 18, 2016 at 11:25 pm

People who consider you the enemy are shallow people, don’t let it get to you.

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stumpknocker February 18, 2016 at 11:39 pm

it is the fact that they believe it, that is the problem, russia, china, iran, north korea, taliban, isis are threatening us, they pretend i am and all progressives are in the same group, this is terrible for america, hell we are dividing ourselves so our real enemies can conquer.

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CorruptionInColumbia February 19, 2016 at 11:01 am

Stumpknocker, I don’t consider you a POS. We may disagree on many points, but you come across as a decent soul.

I do feel that 0bama has done a fine job of wrecking our economy and our country, a project the Bushes and Clintons started and one which this mysterious man whose life’s history remains sealed and hidden in large part for reasons not clear, is hell-bent on finishing. I know far more people, to include myself, who his healthcare plan has impacted in a very negative way, than those who realized anything positive from it. I do believe that anyone other than Trump will guarantee the finish of this country, that is, if 0bama doesn’t complete his assignment and do it by the time he leaves office in January.

BTW, thank you for your service. More proof that you are a decent soul.

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Calvin Thompson February 21, 2016 at 5:03 am

Clinton was the one who said Republicans were her enemy.

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Flip February 18, 2016 at 11:24 pm

Neither Clinton nor Sanders are socialists, and national socialists were more like fascists that never actually did away with the capitalists. Hitler’s closest men urged him to buddy up to the wealthy.

You don’t know what you are talking about. Hillary is a neocon and Sanders a social democrat, neither wants to seize the means of production.

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not pure enough February 18, 2016 at 8:39 pm

Be warned. If you ever vote in a primary, the one you choose to vote in is recorded…they don’t know who you voted for, but will know if you vote in the Dem or Repub primary, for whatever your reason may be.
Then if you ever decide to run for office as a Repub, but voted in a Dem primary, then you are not fit to run and are a Dem simply because of your primary vote. At least that’s how it is in the SCGOP…

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Flip February 18, 2016 at 11:28 pm

Not dirty enough to run for politics. Besides I like working for my money anyways. LMAO!!!

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Flip February 18, 2016 at 11:20 pm

Do you want Democrats picking the Republican nominee? Because that’s how you get Democrats picking the Republican nominee.

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David Rowley February 19, 2016 at 9:08 pm

As a newcomer Im going off topic here, but just wanted to say it is so nice not to have to have a facebook account, or a google-discus account to comment here. Kudo’s to the Webmaster.

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Terri5453 February 20, 2016 at 3:50 pm

That wasn’t the way you people should say that the way this reads should be “We’re Trumpkins wanting to Burn seeking the heat of fire. All B S . I’m just waiting to see how this turns out ESP after your Haley backed the Lil Cuban Rubio oh He has his points but THEY all do but Cruz he’s a waste of air space never seen such a lying Bible thumper in all my life He looks crooked the plaster on phony smile the upper body shake phony laugh esp when he thinks he’s said something funny I didn’t have many ill thoughts against him till he started using God and the Bible then packed on the B S & lies flip flopping like wanting more budget for climate control but not wanting it but wait for it climate control it’s not really science it’s RELIGION now how the idiot came up with that idea only him & his wet dreams knows. I’d never expect that out of anyone. We shall see how this voting comes our today but to take it out of THE PEOPLES hands to decide on both party’s isn’t right,Just another dirty shady under handed crooked trick of our government And they wonder why people’s going for some one that’s not a politician or that in the Establishment like Bush.Well here’s just another proof Ole Bernie may have been in politic’s all his life his view’s aren’t to much and Donald Trump a man we know knows how to make money so he’s a lil crude better than missing funerals and playing with ISIS and hiding emails. k I’m done

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