Arizona should cancel its GOP Presidential Preference Primary and save the money

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Tea-Publicans had wanted a primary season more drawn-out than in previous years. They even changed their primary rules for proportional allotting of delegates so that the primary season would take longer, the idea being that a contest would draw media attention and create momentum going into the general election. Not anymore. Now, the GOP establishment wants the primary over with, and they are using the South Carolina Primary to declare a winner. GOPers Suddenly Want To Wrap The Nomination Up… Fast:

If there was one clear message from the Republican establishment this weekend, it was this: If Mitt Romney wins in South Carolina, he will be the nominee.

On Sunday, less than a week from the January 21 primary in South Carolina, Republicans were explicit in framing Saturday’s primary in the Palmetto State as the last chance for the other candidates to stop Romney’s momentum or concede defeat. They were also clear about one other thing: they want Romney to wrap up the nomination ASAP.

“If Romney wins South Carolina, I think the game’s over,” Rep. Tim Scott (R-SC) said on Meet the Press Sunday. “This is the last stand for many candidates.”

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, appearing with Scott on the show, echoed this sentiment: If “Mitt Romney wins South Carolina, no one’s ever won all three, I think it should be over. That would be quite a testament to his ability as a candidate and a campaigner, and I’d hope the party would rally around him if he did in fact win South Carolina.”

On other networks, the message was the same. “It`s kind of a last stand for a lot of the candidates,” South Carolina’s other Senator, Jim DeMint, said on Face the Nation.

This is the GOP herd mentality being enforced by the GOP establishment and reinforced by its conservative media noise machine. If Romney wins South Carolina they say "it's game over, everyone else needs to drop out. We have our nominee."

This is the same Willard "Mittens" Romney who could not break a ceiling of more than 25% support among GOP voters for over a year. Three out of four Tea-Publicans were desperately seeking a "Not-the-Romney" candidate. Now the GOP establishment is preparing for the coronation of Willard "Mittens" Romney despite what the rank-and-file Tea-Publicans wanted. The Tea Party was intended to prevent the nomination of Romney; they failed miserably.

Just how rigid is the GOP herd mentality? Romney "won" 13 delegates in the Iowa Caucus (no delegates are actually committed until a caucus in May), and Romney won 7 of New Hampshire’s 12 delegates last Tuesday. That is just 20 potential delegates out of the 1,144 delegates needed to win the Republican nomination. That's like forfeiting the game after the first batter gets a hit off your pitcher. Play the nine innings!

The GOP establishment and its conservative media noise machine are enforcing the GOP herd mentality by saying "it's game over, everyone else needs to drop out. We have our nominee."

In that case, Arizona should cancel its GOP Presidential Preference Primary on February 28 and save the money. If Romney has already been declared the winner, why even bother with this farce? The same goes for every other primary state.

The several dozen billionaires of the one-percent who fund the GOP and its operations have met in a smoke-filled room and determined that one of their own, Willard "Mittens" Romney, shall be their nominee. No need for the voters to decide. Democracy is messy and unpredictable, we can't risk it. Send out the shepherds to round 'em up and have our conservative noise machine reinforce the herd mentality of Tea-Publicans by telling them they had "better get with the program" (h/t photobucket.com).