Friday, February 12, 2016

Tully Mad At Democrats For Challenging Young's Petitions

Well, the boys in Langley sent out their local mouthpiece masquerading as a legitimate political columnist for the local Gannett paper to attack the Indiana Democratic Party for doing what opposing parties are supposed to do: defeat a candidate of the opposing party by any means legal. Matthew Tully can't stomach the fact that Democrats are filing a challenge to Todd Young's Senate candidacy because he may have lacked the required number of valid signatures needed to make the May primary ballot.

Tully couldn't have been more happy when the Democrats went to court to try to block Charlie White from taking office as secretary of state after the voters elected him by a landslide in 2010, even if it meant overturning the will of the voters. He danced on White's political grave after prosecutors twisted and warped interpretation of long-standing laws to criminalize White's decision to temporarily register to vote at his ex-wife's home while he was in between marriages and homes, forcing White from office. Vop Osili, a Nigerian-American, was Indiana's answer to Illinois' Kenyan-American, Barack Obama, and that damn Charlie White messed it all up. White had to go by hook or crook as his punishment. But let a member of the anointed class like Young find himself in a perilous situation and he's the first to rush their defense and use his column to unleash his wrath on whomever is standing in their way:
. . . This scuffle over whether Young collected the 500 petition signatures needed from each of Indiana’s nine congressional districts, or whether he fell three signatures short in one of them, has once again exposed just how little the Indiana Democratic Party has to offer.
Seriously, this is your grand strategy to win a U.S. Senate seat? To go around desperately looking for ways to avoid a faceoff with a candidate who scares you? To look for little missteps at a time when voters have made clear they are desperate for big leadership?
Yes, folks, that is your Indiana Democratic Party.
They might win a battle here and there with this strategy. But when it comes to the big picture, all the intellectually bankrupt party is doing is reminding of us how much it has lacked in big ideas, or any ideas, for years . . . 
But, my goodness, if anything could do more to show just how vacant and scared the Indiana Democratic Party is, and how it lacks any true identity or vision, it’s a soap opera like this. One in which it has inserted itself into a Republican primary because its knees are so shaky nine months before Election Day.
Of course, Democratic Chairman John Zody has insisted the challenge is based on a deep concern about candidate eligibility rules. Baloney . . .
A final point: I’ve said all this as someone who leans left on a majority of issues, who has never voted for a Republican presidential candidate, who has repeatedly criticized Republican Gov. Mike Pence, and who generally thinks Democratic policies offer a better path forward for the country.
Plenty of Democrats in Indiana are doing good work, and many Democratic candidates are worth supporting. Problem is, their state party sure makes it hard to root for them.
At least a column in defense of Todd Young finally got Tully to admit what we've all suspected---he's never voted for a Republican presidential candidate.

8 comments:

Pete Boggs said...

If it's to be opposition; it should be loyal. The establishment has a crippling loyalty & principle problem.

Anonymous said...

I rarely agree with Tully. But, as a Democrat I think he makes a great point with concern to the Party's pettiness and lack of ideas. I support the ballot access challenge to Todd Young's U.S. Senate candidacy. However, I do think Democrats fear a match up between Young and Baron Hill. Hill is a perennial, stale candidate who lack vision or ideas (not that Young brings any of those things to the table). The only thing an opposition party has to its advantage in a political campaign is vision, principles, and policies.

Gary R. Welsh said...

It's fair game to attack the party in general on those issues, but he's using the context of this particular challenge to level those charges. The two major political parties make these rules for getting on the ballot. They are used like a hammer to keep candidates off their respective primary ballots with some frequency with the approval of the opposing party. Jim Wallace's 2012 gubernatorial campaign is a perfect example. If they're going to be applied to keep a Jim Wallace off the ballot, then fairness dictates they be used to keep off the ballot a candidate favored by the leaders of the political party. Taxpayers pay for these primary elections. The ballot access laws, which are arguably unfair, should be applied uniformly to all candidates. I would get rid of the petition requirement altogether, or at least eliminate the requirement that a certain number must be obtained from each congressional district, which creates a trap for the unwary. If you have to have blank number of signatures of registered voters to get on the ballot, why should it matter if they all come from Marion County or the northern or southern part of the state?

Flogger said...

Tully is right about one thing the Democratic Party in this state is a big Zero. John Gregg and Baron Hill what stirring ideas do either one of them have. The best they can muster is look I am not a Republican.

Tully has flushed himself out, a rule was not satisfied, but let's just ignore the rule. Todd Young did not finish his "Homework" when it was time to hand it in, but in the Tully world, not to worry. Tully grades on the curve.

Anonymous said...

More power to those who can stomach any part of Tully. My rule is that he kills brain cells but just about anything the Star has, including Abdul, the WAPO, the dense editorial board, will kill brain cells. Varvel is an exception most of the time. So, I don't generally read Tully or that brainless twit hired in to replace the other brainless twit. Still, there is amusement in the following where a would be Senator is remarking about reliable media, "“If Todd has more than 500 signatures he should be on the ballot, but if reliable Indiana media sources are correct and he has failed to meet the minimum number of signatures required to be a candidate for the United States Senate, then the rule of law must be followed.”
Howe, IN- In an official statement today, Congressman Marlin Stutzman addressed the challenges facing Todd Young’s candidacy. “15 other Republican and Democrat candidates fulfilled the requirement of Indiana law for the 2016 election. Todd Young must accept responsibility for his own campaign and drop the accusations of partisan politics. If Todd has more than 500 signatures he should be on the ballot, but if reliable Indiana media sources are correct and he has failed to meet the minimum number of signatures required to be a candidate for the United States Senate, then the rule of law must be followed.”

Anonymous said...

So Young is out. No big loss. What did he have to offer the Sanders presidency? A new order is coming. Witness the number of people who say they think either Trump or Sanders would be ok, but nobody else. They don't care about your gross, traditional parties of lies. Any outsider or non traditionalist will do. We need new blood on Indiana ballots.

Anonymous said...

Why even bother referring to it as the "rule of law?"

Anonymous said...

Bernie Sanders will never become president. HRC will have the CIA give Bernie the RFK.