Wow. I walk away from the keyboard for 18 hours, and all meta hell breaks loose. (Not that such a thing is all that unusual on DKos; I've been around long enough that I lived through the original pie fight, as well as the past two presidential campaigns, including the PUMA wars of 2008).
Yesterday, there were a couple of diaries on the nature of the upcoming GOP open primary in Michigan. And then later in the day, Markos and Chris Bowers launch Operation Hilarity in front page postings. That's about the time I was logging off for the day.
Last night, I caught the very end of Rachel Maddow where she noted the movement, and even had a graphic of Marko's original Operation Hilarity posting. I just smiled, not giving it much thought other than her plug was good publicity.
Then I log on this morning. Wow. Thousands of bits and bytes had subsequently been written condemning the idea.
Let me tell you why I support Operation Hilarity (to a point, anyway).
I live in Michigan, like a lot of other venerated DKos members. I haven't been here all that long, but one of the first things I did after I moved here was register to vote. In the past couple of years, Michigan has been a hotbed of GOP wingnuttia, perhaps second only to Wisconsin. I signed the emergency manager repeal petitions; I signed the recall Rick Snyder petitions.
What I did not expect to have was a true opportunity to take a stand against 1% Mitt Romney. Since the Iowa caucuses, I've expected Romney to seal the deal quickly, and for all intents and purposes, have the GOP nomination locked up by this point. If you would have told me back in December that Michigan would actually play a pivotal role in the GOP nominee selection process, I would have asked you for a hit of what you were smoking. My, my, what a short, strange trip it's been since that time.
I still fully expect Mitt Romney to be the eventual GOP presidential nominee. His path to Tampa might have become a bit fuzzier in the past 30 days, but I still expect he'll emerge from the Republican convention as their guy.
That being said, I loathe Mitt Romney. I loathe him personally, and loathe him for everything that he represents that's wrong with this country (and the world). My vote in the general election for President Obama, against whoever the GOP nominee will be, will not carry much weight. But in Michigan, my vote for one of the not-Romneys could make a much more significant difference in the days ahead.
In a comment yesterday morning, I said:
That's what I want to see (8+ / 0-)
Complete and utter humiliation of Rmoney.
I still think he'll be the eventual nominee, but the opportunity to vote for a non-Mitt, and have that vote actually make a difference in what is unexpectedly turning out to be an important primary, makes me almost giddy.
This is personal for me, on a whole lot of levels. I had planned to make my not-Romney vote long before this became an issue on Daily Kos, somewhere around the time when Romney stated "
I don't care about poor people". Michigan is an open primary, and I'm legally entitled to do that. What is different today than a week or two ago is that it really looks like Romney could lose Michigan. And I am more than happy to poke my thumb in Romney's eye by voting for whichever one of his opponents has the chance to beat him.
Do I want Rick Santorum or Newt Gingrich as the GOP nominee? Frankly, I don't care. Barring a true cataclysm, President Obama will be re-elected regardless of who's running against him. And again, I still expect that at the end of the day, it will be Romney. What the Michigan primary gives me the opportunity to do is truly register a protest vote, and on a micro level, potentially have that single vote make a difference.
I can't remember the last time I had that feeling.
On the downside - I do not believe that this site, or moveon.org, or any other progressive organization should be actively financially promoting a movement such as Operation Hilarity. There's enough potential for this movement to be very viral in nature, without branding the site (or progressives in general) as being agitators. I understand the ethical dilemma that others have articulated in this regard.
Again, my vote against Romney will come from a place of true passion rather than a desire to agitate. Don't get me wrong: Being an agitator has its place. My vote against Romney in the Michigan primary on Feb. 28th sends my own very personal message:
Fuck you, Mitt.