Lyndon LaRouche on the ballot was quite a shock!

[wuushew]

How is he still a Democrat?



luckily I remembered to vote DK

[eyesroll]

1. He decided to run as a Democrat this year

I think anyone can declare themselves anything they want, so long as they jump through the rest of the hoops.

I guess he qualified by getting signatures. (I saw a LaRouchie outside Discount Liquor in Waukesha, getting signatures, a couple months ago. I refused to sign.)

Not only that -- he drew the first slot on the ballot! (Expect a small bump from that alone.)

[Freddie Stubbs]

4. He has been running as a Democrat since 1980

[diamondsoul]

13. And been running for election

period since 1976, thus has organization and an inside knowledge of ballot access requirements in all 50 states.

[maxanne]

2. He says he is a Democrat

:shrug:

LaRouche qualified this year for public funds, yet he was denied a seat at the debates. I think that's wrong.

[MilDem]

7. He would have made a mockery of the debates

The man is insane, and the only thing that keeps him going is his cult-like following. Also, as a convicted felon, he's not eligible to be the Democratic nominee.

For some more on LaRouche visit This Site

[maxanne]

8. that's not the point

either this is a democracy, or not. LaRouche qualified for public funds, and was denied the rights that accompany that qualification. That is flat out wrong.

[Freddie Stubbs]

11. Being convicted as a felon would not legally disqualify him to serve

as President. The really funny thing is that he barred from voting in his home state, as they do not permit felons to vote.

[Jackpine Radical]

22. He wouldn't be able to vote for himself (or anyone else) in WI

either, for the same reason.

[jean]

3. Tell us some stories about going to vote today! Pretty please?

[wuushew]

6. I was voter number 15 for my district (mostly student apartments)

so for 10:30 in the morning on a Tuesday Primary I would say turnout is looking good. Thank God there was a paper trail. No BBV voting for me.

[bobthedrummer]

5. I'm glad you voted for Dennis Kucinich

today! So did I.
:hi:

[Cheesehead]

10. Me too!

Go D.K. He got a ton of support on WPR "caucus simulation" yesterday afternoon.


:toast:

[jean]

19. Fighting Bob looks a little like Charlie Sheen!

[dmkinsey]

9. Here in Michigan

I was a manager at one of our caucus sites. The state party told us there were two groups absolutely NOT allowed in our caucus locations- Ward Connerly's people (circulating anti-affirmative action petitions) and the LaRouche people.
Further, any vote for LaRouche would not be counted. We were not counting write-ins by name anyway- only counting the total number of "write-in"
I guess you can't slam the door on 'em in a primary.

[maxanne]

12. so a candidate

who managed to qualify for public funding was not allowed to have his people present. A legitimate candidate's votes were not counted.

I'm stunned that this is being tacitly accepted - because it's LaRouche and he's a whacko.

This is a travesty. If I were LaRouche - I'd sue the shit out of your state and raise all kinds of hell.

[diamondsoul]

15. Just futher evidence

that any assertion we live in a Democracy is a sham.

[dmkinsey]

26. According to Open Secrets.org

LaRouche has not received any Federal matching funds for 2004.
According to Michigan Democratic Party he is not a Democrat.
Michigan caucus is a Democratic Party organized and funded event not an open primary.
I guess my only real issue is with your assertion that he's a legitimate candidate.
Just because a nut-job wants to be president doesn't mean we have to play along.

http://www.opensecrets.org/presidential/summary.asp?ID=N00002047

[maxanne]

27. the nut job did qualify

http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/local/2003/11/26larouchefilesto.html

and deserves equal treatment under the law.

[dmkinsey]

37. In Delaware

doesn't mean he's qualified in Michigan. Like I said, this is a caucus,a party function. The state party makes the rules as long as we comply with those set by the DNC.

[trackfan]

14. I don't understand where he gets so much money -

We hear about legitimate candidates having to drop out because they've run out of money all the time. Yet, on the way to work this morning I heard a Lyndon Larouche ad on the radio. I'm in Los Angeles, CA - one of the biggest, most expensive media advertising markets, and this is the ONLY ad (for President) I have heard so far in the campaign.

[ShaneGR]

17. Honestly, it's like a cult

Basically they find kids, most of them out on the streets, and pay them to do work for them. The catch is that in exchange for the work the employees are asked to contribute back to the organization and collect money on their behalf (Mostly on streetcorners, especially in Europe). The workers are given a steady stream of bizarre booklets advertising LaRouche including material on his "crusade" against government corruption. I passed one in DC, the guy was preaching about how LaRouche was responsible for getting all of these investigations started on Cheney. It was a wacky tale about European prostitutes and the Cheney family. But then he said all of the Democrats were pwns in this huge game of chess.

Literally the guy was following me down the street asking me to buy this book.

[maxanne]

18. does this justify

the failure to treat this man equally, under the law?

[curse10]

20. A LaRouche table was out at campus every day

in August, September and October of last year. Same crazy guy, day in and day out.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

23. Did it have arm and leg straps on it?

And, wheels?

"Same crazy guy, day in and day out."

Are there any other kind of LaRoucheites?

[maxanne]

24. does that justify

the illegal discrimination against a qualified candidate?

I'm amazed by the level of response on this thread. LaRouche is crazy, well yeah, no shit. But Crazy Lyndon managed to raise enough money to qualify for matching funds - he is a legitimate candidate, in that sense - and still was not allowed to speak at the debates, and in Michigan his supporters were not allowed in the caucuses, and votes for him were discarded.

No one has issues with this??

[beyurslf]

16. Anyone can register as anything.

Fred Phelps is registered as a Democrat in KS and even ran for Gov one year when he didn't think he would have an opponent in the primary. (He did was beaten soundly.)

I have heard George Tiller (a very well known doctor who performs abortions in KS) is registered as a Republican just to piss them off. Don't know if it is true.

[diamondsoul]

25. *snicker* Now that sounds like something Tiller

would do! The man has brass ones, even after being shot by a rabid PLer.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

21. He's the voice of those on heavy meds or wearing tightly fitting jackets.

Or, your ballot got dropped in a cowpie.

[anti-NAFTA]

28. Is he that bad?

I went to his website after reading your post and it seems to me he's a protectionist who speaks like a pompous asshole. He says he's the only candidate that wants to continue what FDR started. I don't really know much about him, but is it possible that he's gotten a bad rap because of maybe his controversial views?

[maxanne]

29. yep

he's really crazy. He thinks the Queen of England and George Soros are international drug cartel leaders. He's completely whacked.

However - he qualified as a legitimate candidate, and has not been treated fairly.

[anti-NAFTA]

30. But he sounds really erudite.

Look at his articles. They're gigantic and seem to be well researched. Is it possible that they're true? I mean, if you told an average American that the war in Iraq was the product of two factions of Bush's administration - oil interests (Bush, Cheney) and neoconservatives (Wolfowitz, Perle) - they would think you were crazy.

I agree about the second point. Even if he's nuttier than Nutella, there's no excuse to just marginalize him like that. Al Sharpton has had his moments of embarrassing our party (the idiotic response to the debate question about the Federal Reserve); I don't see why Larouche should be excluded. But then again I don't know a lot about him.

[maxanne]

32. nuttiness

and eloquence often go hand in hand!

[genius]

33. A lot of Democrats are paranoid and superstitious and he's the boogie

man. It's almost impossible to get a rational response about him from most Democrats. The objections are mostly like a programmed response. He is strongly anti-Bush. Someone I know who looked at his literature said his only concern about LaRouche was that he was for nuclear power. That's a major reason not to vote for the guy but I'm thinking that it would be great if we could get his people to support our liberal candidates.

[fiorello]

36. He really is that bad

I first came across LaRouche in the 1970's. LaRouche's newsletter was full of stories about "known child molesters" in government about the "Wall Street/Jewish conspiracy" to take over the world. Being so long ago, I don't remember the details - other than that it was sadistic and revolting. It really was Nazi-style. Accusations like "Nazi" and "fascist" are cheap nowadays - but this was the real thing. No exaggeration.

[genius]

38. The big corporations have taken over the world and made war .

Others who have read their literature say it makes sense and is mostly anti-corporate. We have a Nazi-style government and these people oppose it.

[genius]

31. At one DK rally, DK told the crowd to show repect for a LaRouche rep

and let him ask his question. I like that DK is open minded. I cannot understand the paranoia. People here treat LaRouche like the boogie man and with a little more diplomacy we could get his people to vote for someone like DK.

[Rich Hunt]

34. they were deliberately disruptive

...at gatherings for Dean & Kerry.

I am sure that their purpose IS to be disruptive.

http://www.rickross.com/groups/larouche.html

http://www.publiceye.org/larouche/nclcmain.html

[genius]

35. But they are on our side. We could use their support

Perhaps they are disruptive because of being dismissed. They were nice at the DK rally but he's respectful of other groups.

[Rich Hunt]

39. no, they showed up with intent to disrupt

http://www.rickross.com/groups/larouche.html

They are NOT 'on our side'.