RTD: Important, Interesting (Surprising?) Editorial on VA's Republicans

By: cycle12
Published On: 12/17/2006 10:15:11 AM

Please go to this link to read the Richmond Times Dispatch's Sunday, December 17 editorial entitled "Open and Shut" in which the RTD's editorial staff certainly pulls no punches in criticizing the state GOP's efforts to eliminate open primaries:

http://www.richmondt...

...and/or view excerpts of the text below:
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"Open and Shut"

Richmond Times-Dispatch Dec 17, 2006

"Staunchly conservative Virginia Republicans make a pretty good case for their opposition to the state's open-primary law. It just isn't good enough.
"The law permits anyone to vote in a party primary, regardless of party affiliation. Conservative Republicans long have griped about the statute -- former state chairman Pat McSweeney and Delegate Bob Marshall filed suit against it a decade ago, and lost -- because, they say, political parties are private associations that ought to be able to set their own rules.
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"Well, yes. And no.
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"Virginia Republicans might have a stronger case for judicial redress if they did not have a majority in the legislature -- i.e., the better venue for changing the law.
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"Even more to the point, the GOP would have a stronger case if it had behaved with integrity, instead of like Democrats. Republicans should have done what they demanded, for decades, that Democrats do: They should have drawn legislative districts to make them competitive, instead of packing voters into districts designed to protect the majority party and incumbents.
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"If the state abandons open primaries, then only the handful of elections that occur statewide will remain genuinely democratic, in the small-d, participatory-democracy sense.
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"That, of course, is an entirely pragmatic argument. We'll entertain arguments based on highfalutin' principles when the state GOP shows it has some."
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There you have what I consider to be the meat of the editorial from the RTD.

Now, let's hope that no one says I haven't given the "whole story".

However, we rookies certainly appreciate all help and suggestions.

Thanks!

Steve

Comments



this diary is copyright violation (teacherken - 12/18/2006 11:44:36 AM)
because you hae posted the entire text.  You also do not indicate that it is a quotation because you have not put it into block quote format

you need to fix this, or someone with the appropriate power will have to delete the diary - it exposes the site to possible legal and financial repercussions

quote only 1-3 paragraphs, summarize the rest, offer some commentary to your own.  That is the appropriate way to deal with something like this.



Thanks, TK... (cycle12 - 12/18/2006 12:21:25 PM)
...thought I had made it very obvious that it is a direct excerpt from the RTD's editorial page by referencing the date, publication, etc. and running the dotted lines above and below the quoted article, but I have no problem whatsoever with this diary being pulled immediately if it could cause any problems here.

For future reference, is it O.K. just to give the link?  I can certainly use some advice.

Would whomever can pull this diary please do so right away?

Thanks again!

Steve



You may edit your diary (Andrea Chamblee - 12/19/2006 4:29:42 PM)
You can leave in the link, and a paragraph or two, and another paragraph of your own thoughts.

Regardless, I think it's a low risk.



Thanks, Andrea; all advice appreciated! (cycle12 - 12/19/2006 4:35:17 PM)
And it never seemed to be too much of a risk to me, either...

But I do want to do it correctly.

Thanks again!

Steve