In Which The DP Misses The Point

Hell hath no fury like an Obama-intoxicated editorial board scorned.

The Dominion Post is upset - angry, even - regarding the significant number of votes cast for Keith Judd, a Texas inmate, on Democratic primary ballots.  They are wagging their finger and flinging the usual scolds employed by the press when they disapprove of election results:  informed electorate, responsible, lax ballot laws, red flags, etc.  Note the contrast with media-approved results, when we see terms like democracy, direct participation, the people have spoken, groundswell, popular support, etc.

They are upset that the AP, which costs them money, didn't provide the full story on Keith Judd.  In this they get to share our opinion of the terminally feckless AP, at least for a day.

But nowhere in their huffy editorial will you find the word 'protest' - which is unfortunate for the DP because that's exactly what this vote was.  To anyone paying attention (and not still in the tank for Obama), those who voted for Judd did so not because they want a Texas inmate to appear on the ballot in a general election or because they want him to serve as president, but because they don't want Barack Obama to appear on the ballot again.  These are lifelong registered Democrats - the 'working families' of union agitprop - who want to maintain their party affiliation but who also want to express their disdain for the current occupant of the White House.  Like Ronald Reagan, they see their party leaving them.

The DP also ignores the clever humor of fellow West Virginians.  Many cast their vote for Keith Judd with a twinkle in the eye.  They knew that a significant number of anybody-but-Obama votes would draw attention in this once-reliable blue state, and that a significant number of votes for a felon would draw even more attention to their disapproval of Obama's policies and performance.

The DP demands that people 'vote intelligently' - in this case, establishment candidates.  But what is more intelligent - and creative - than individuals subverting a rigged and/or flawed system while adhering to the rules of that system?  And what is more democratic (small d) or Democratic (big D) than expressing their displeasure via an election?

Does this make West Virginians a laughingstock?  Quite the contrary.  It gives West Virginians the opportunity to make a loud and clear statement about the candidates and to disrupt, at least temporarily, the lazy lockstep coverage of this president and this election - the same coverage willingly reprinted by the Dominion Post.