My Twitter Storm with Richard Painter

[brooklynite]

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[MLAA]

1. Good for you, way to go!

[FreepFryer]

2. Why didn't you post his final reply, in which he called out your attitude?

He was right, by the way. Condescension isn’t effective voter outreach towards independents.

https://mobile.twitter.com/RWPUSA/status/1073393761756028928

[brooklynite]

3. Because I was in the subway?

[FreepFryer]

4. I was sure there was a facile excuse. Maybe wait to tweet at actual notables till u get home. (n/t)

[MrGrieves]

9. Something about condescension....

Something about condescension.....

[pnwmom]

5. Condescension is a restrained response to Painter's insulting Democrats.

And the rest of us who do not join parties (over a third of voters) are supposed to pick between the —usually awful — candidates in November?

If independents want a voice in a party primary, then join a party -- at least for that election.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

7. or build one

That's the offensive part, to me. Painter wants to choose candidates in organizations in which he does not participate.

Russians shouldn't be allowed to vote in either Republican or Democratic primaries, either. Would Painter like to advocate to change that?

[Leith]

8. Why the hell would he think that nonmembers should vote for candidates?

rethugs do this thing where they get together and vote for the worst Democratic candidate possible for the nominee.

If one wants to vote in a party's primary, join the party. Period. End of story. How is this even a thing?

[WhiskeyGrinder]

10. He can fuck right off.

[pecosbob]

11. We live in scary times

Just between you and me you've shared more personal information here today than is wise. Be careful.

[scarletwoman]

12. Fuck that shit. I'm a Minnesotan and I'm with Painter on this crap law.

I've always loved and appreciated the fact that we Minnesotans have never had to register to vote by party. It's worked fine all these years.

This whole business sounds like it's only about the parties being able to collect statistics - it has nothing to do with my ability to vote. They want our names so they can send out more fundraising solicitations.

I'm going to write to Steve Simon, our Secretary of State, and let him know I support his efforts to fight or do a end run around this shitty new law.

SIMON: KEEP IT PRIVATE — AND VOTE BY MAIL?

Simon, a Democrat who was re-elected to secretary of state in November, said he thinks the public requirement should simply be deleted, and he’s shopping the idea around with lawmakers.

<snip>

Simon is also shopping around the idea of conducting the entire presidential primary by mail. No polling places. Just get a ballot of all the parties’ candidates and decide in the privacy of your own home which party you’ll vote for. Return the ballot either by mail or possibly drop it off at local election offices, he said. It would save taxpayers money and insulate local and county governments from having to navigate the logistics of a third full-on election every four years.

Simon said the mail-in idea, which has been undertaken by a number of western states, was brought to him by those local governments.

I have never voted for anyone but Democrats in my entire voting life, and I find it insulting to be told I now have to swear a loyalty oath before I can do so next time.

[brooklynite]

13. A "loyalty oath"?

Either you think you're a Democrat, or you don't. If you're a Democrat, you can vote for, support, or even run as, any candidate you choose in the Primary. If you can't bring yourself to declare as a Democrat, feel free to wait until November to see what your choices are.

[scarletwoman]

16. I VOTE for Democrats. That's declaration enough.

From the article:

Some objected to it in court, as well as another portion that requires voters to take the following oath in order to get a ballot: “I am in general agreement with the principles of the party for whose candidate I intend to vote, and I understand that my choice of a party’s ballot will be public information.”

I do not wish for how I vote to be public information. Especially since it's only for the parties' convenience, not for mine. And that's not to mention the possibility that some folks could be harassed or hurt by having their voting preference made available publicly. People could lose jobs, women in abusive relationships would no longer have the protection of anonymity in the voting booth.

And as I said, I'm in agreement with our DFL Secretary of State:

“We’ve never had party registration in this state, and this looks like a back-door system of party registration,” Secretary of State Steve Simon said Wednesday as he amped up his push to change the state law.

As part of that effort, Simon, Minnesota’s top election official, is pitching the idea of conducting the 2020 presidential primary almost entirely by mail. That would also be new.

I'm truly grateful to have a Sec. of State who's willing to fight against this crap law.

[brooklynite]

14. Just to be clear...

Richard Painter chose to run as a Democrat in the Democratic Primary for Tina Smith's Senate seat. One might like to think he actually stood for the principle that the DFL espoused, and was willing to publicly proclaim that.

[MurrayDelph]

15. I'm reminded that until very recently

Painter was a Republican who kept calling for The True Republicans to overthrow the crazies that had been welcomed into the Party until they took it over. Then he declared himself a Democrat so he could challenge the incumbent Democratic Senator.

And now he's an Independent who still wants to control who gets to be a party's candidate.

I'm with you; if you want to pick a party's representative, you should be a member of the party. Otherwise, you're just inviting shenanigans, where party A picks for party B's candidate the person so terrible you're sure would lose.

And then he doesn't.

[rownesheck]

17. As Colbert used to say...

pick a side! I've never understood "independents". For instance, can you really believe in a woman's right to choose AND also believe climate change is a hoax? Again, pick a side!