Facing withering national ridicule for their botched Party-wide effort to spy on Democrats with super-secret spy glasses and create “gotcha!” moments in the campaign, the Michigan Republican Party released a video showing the Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Schauer advising people not to cross over to vote in GOP primaries after he himself voted in the 2012 GOP primary.
The Detroit News appears to be the only major news outlet to have taken the bait. [CORRECTION: Politico also also took the bait. But then, well, it’s Politico…]
It’s obvious why nobody else is paying any attention to this. President Obama ran unopposed in 2012, giving Democrats the opportunity to vote in their opponents’ primary.
Many, many Democrats did just that. Political strategist Joe DiSano urged Democrats to vote for Rick Santorum in the GOP primary. Daily Kos owner Markos Moulitsas did, too, dubbing it Operation Hilarity. I personally know of dozens and dozens of Michigan Democrats who voted in the GOP primary in 2012 for that very reason.
Schauer advised against crossing over to vote because, in the 11th District where he was speaking, there was a contested Democratic primary. He urged Dems not to do it “when there are things at stake on our side of the ballot”.
In fact, rather than the “gotchya!” moment that Republicans were hoping for, Schauer’s vote in that primary is more of a badge of honor for many Michigan Dems than it is some sort of negative thing.
Nice try, Michigan GOP. If that’s the best you can do with Operation Super-Secret Spy Glasses, you wasted your time, effort, and money. Pretty much like your caucus is doing nearly every single day in Lansing.
Whatta buncha maroons…
P.S., Let’s not forget how Republican leader Rush Limbaugh promoted Operation Chaos, an attempt to get Hillary Clinton on the ballot in 2008.
Got hypocrisy?
