How Limbaugh’s “Operation Chaos” Failed

An excerpt from the May 2008 issue of the Texas Observer:

 “In the aftermath of the Democrats’ huge primary, which broke a 36-year-old turnout record, the media was full of speculation about whether the results had been tainted by Republicans encouraged by Rush Limbaugh to vote in the Democratic primary for the candidate they hoped would be weakest in the general election, (Hillary Clinton)…McCain supporters, our poll revealed, made up 9.4 percent of the total vote in the Texas Democratic primary.  Clinton’s margin of victory was only 3.5 percent.  (The poll has a margin of error of 2.7 percent.)  We can’t say that the McCain ringers in the Democratic primary changed the outcome, because we don’t know for whom they actually voted in March.  But it is clearly possible…About a third of the crossover Republicans said they will vote for the GOP presidential nominee, and four out of five of those said they supported McCain at the time of their vote in the Democratic primary.”

I was one of the many whiners about the caucus process at my precinct and then senate district convention.  Now I would say, thank God for caucuses!  What wasn’t brought out in the Texas Observer poll was how many Republicans returned to vote in the Democratic caucuses.  I’m going to guess that very few did.  How else could Hillary win the popular vote and yet lose in the caucus on the same day? 

While the caucus system was created to give insiders more power in determining the outcomes of elections, this time I’d say it gave the real voters a chance to take back control of their primary.  Party insiders felt that the typical voter would not return in the evening to vote again in a caucus and, therefore, would leave the insiders in control.  This held true of the Republican saboteurs who clearly felt they had done their "Ditto-Head" duty by voting once.  Rush failed to tell them to go back at night and vote in the caucus.

Criminal Behavior?

Still, I can’t help but feel violated.  America was violated.  How much disdain for the democratic system does one have to have to try to sabotage the election process by encouraging one party’s members to pose as members of the other party and purposely try to get the weaker candidate elected.  Incredibly, this is not the first time this has happened.  Texas State Legislator Garnet Coleman of Houston once told me the Republicans tried to get one of their own nominated as the Democratic candidate in the same way.  He would then purposely lose to their real candidate in the general election.  That attempt failed as well. 

No offense intended, Garnett, but this seems much worse.  This seems treasonous.  This was the Presidential election.  The winner of which becomes the most powerful man (or woman) in the world.  It seems there should be criminal charges filed of some kind.  Doesn’t this qualify as voter fraud or election tampering?

What punishment would be appropriate for Rush Limbaugh’s crime against the values that America holds most dear, the right to free and fair elections?  Perhaps he could be confined in a chair while John Edwards’ $400 hair stylist coifs his hair all the while sitting directly in front of him is a cackling Hillary Clinton.  Naw…just declare him the terrorist that he is so he has no habeas corpus rights when he is thrown into a Guantanamo Bay prison cell with no access to prescription drugs.