The day the petition died

It’s just a shame to see that Thad McCotter’s run for president has left him in the lurch. For the newly redistricted 11th, however, the door opens for another of the MIGOP to take his place.

After a quick blip in the presidential GOP primary, one should wonder why Thad didn’t do his homework.  In a state that houses fake TEA, fake Democrats, and now duplicate signature incumbents, you’d think Michigan would learn its lesson on gathering and signing documents.

Instead, an unforced error for the MIGOP, who also unseated two of their own just a couple weeks ago.  For my two cents, it was a big deal when Saul Anuzis lost.  Even Saul thinks so.  He’s in an interesting situation where his influence for so long has been undercut by a groundswell of discontent, of theory rather practice.  Will it win elections?  Or like most insurgent campaigns, dry up when the money does too?

And just like Democrats who are dug in with President Obama, what’s a conservative to do when their own party is cutting off moderates in a desperate attempt to remain pure, and now indiscriminately lobbing “RINO” labels just to further their ideology.

It doesn’t even matter if the person in question is a RINO, it’s basically a witch hunt now.  For most MIGOPers, I’m sure you’re not too upset with the recent elections in-house, because all the MIGOP does is show its face when necessary to keep the spirit.

But also remember this shift to the right isn’t a soft curve, but more of a Meijer-truck-explosion-on-9-mile turn.  It’s not for the faint-of-heart, and while a hard right shift can damage a general election, it solidifies a base that has long awaited a break from the neoconservative outfits that ruined the GOP.  It’s a long game, not a short game for the concerned voters who feel they’ve lost their conservative ideology, and are cleaning house without pause.

So for all intents and purposes, it looks like a race between Kerry Bentivolio and Dr. Syed Taj for the 11th, and a real question of how voters will look at a race that has no incumbent.   The makeup of the newly drawn 11th was created for McCotter, but Bentivolio is already drawing heat for being unable to win the district even with the marked advantage.  I’m sure he’s just as surprised that McCotter blew it, and Dems are champing at the bit to sell the Doc to the I-275 corridor.

So while the Michigan Board of Canvassers holds McCotter’s political life in their hands, we can draw a couple lessons from all of this.

One, McCotter swung for the fences.  That’s the kind of attitude you need to have in any race for the highest office.  Of course, I would’ve advised he save some money to get those qualification signatures on the ballot, or be a maverick and run as a third party.

Two, the MIGOP is quickly setting into a concrete block that may not have the best effect in a general election.  The shift forces fair weather conservatives away from their own party, and the money will go with it. And when that money dries up, the gap is filled by outside corporations and secret donors via Citizens United, and whatever local party control is left will be sold to outside interests.

Three, there are no more local politics.  They’re all franchisees of the national corporation.   All the clamor for local control, for state control, and we’re headed in the opposite direction.  It’s not enough that insurgent politics can wreak havoc on the party, you also have to handle epic fails of McCotter on top of it.

And as for the mistake that started all of this havoc…

Duplicate signatures?  Really?

The incumbent representative in Congress, paid a six-figure salary and has a seven-figure paid staff, can’t get 1,000 signatures that don’t duplicate.  They submitted 2,000 signatures, and makes you wonder what exactly is going on in our political system, where signatures on both sides never match up.

In a district that swirls around all the Democrat towns, adds probably 20,000 GOP voters to the 11th as-is, and (was) a lock for McCotter, all he needed was 1,000 signatures within 180 days of the petition filing.  That’s 5.5 signatures a day.

Is it that hard to do?  Did someone send the wrong papers?  Or did we just see the oil spill of politics, where the machine breaks down and the curtain falls away?  

In this IT world, the data-driven experience of a sitting Congressman fails, and these guys are supposed to advise our legislation on CISPA, SOPA, etc.?  Are you kidding me?

To have so many signatures thrown out begs a greater question as well.  In a district filing, you can submit up to 2,000 signatures, of which 1,000 need to make the cut.  That McCotter couldn’t get half of his signatures verified (or that enough signatures were thrown out as duplicates) is worse than incompetent volunteers.

But while this is a horror for the MIGOP, think about this.  If you ran by yourself, as an independent candidate, you’d have to collect 3,000 signatures (or up to 6,000) to run against McCotter or Dr. Syed Taj or Kerry Bentivolio.  Seems strange, since McCotter and others only needed 1,000 to qualify.

Why does an independent candidate have to collect more signatures than a Dem or a Rep or other party?  Why does a Dem or Rep or any party affiliated nominee get a discount on signatures just because they have a brand name and money?  Isn’t stacking the deck on ballot placement, straight-ticket voting, and blanket media coverage isn’t enough?

It imperils my Waffle Party hopes.

But to send off Thad in good form, and since it’s Memorial Day Weekend, a little McLean sounds good right now.

Mako out.