Florida House Speaker Weatherford: changing the Electoral College is for sore losers

[DonViejo]

Source: Miami Herald



Republicans in five states, notably Virginia, have discussed changing the way they award Electoral College votes in presidential races by apportioning them on each congressional district, rather than the state's popular vote.

The reason: Republican Mitt Romney would have won the presidency despite losing the popular vote in states where the GOP controls the legislatures: Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Florida.

But Florida, the largest swing state, won't go along with changing the Electoral College if Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford has any say (and he has a major say).

"To me, that's like saying in a football game, 'We should have only three quarters, because we were winning after three quarters and the beat us in the fourth," Weatherford, a Republican, told the Herald/Times. "I don't think we need to change the rules of the game, I think we need to get better."



Read more: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2013/01/florida-house-speaker-weatherford-rigging-the-electoral-college-is-for-sore-losers.html#storylink=addthis#storylink=cpy

[adieu]

1. Good for him

Too bad he'll be out of the GOP in 6 months.

Can't have rational and fair thinking among the party members, you know.

[lexw]

2. If this is the GOP's strategy after the last election,

then it looks like the GOP isn't learning from its' mistakes: it appears we can expect another 4 years of "the part of no."

[mpcamb]

13. If this is the GOP's strategy after the last election,

I'd be a bit worried.
If they're reading the writing on the wall and realize they'd have to go to these length to win nationally AND are willing to do it, I think it's important not to underestimate them.
Let's face it.
They're better at stealing elections, gerrymandering and underhandedness than we are.
I think we can only safe guard the next election by getting rid of the Electoral College in favor of the popular vote.

[Grins]

3. So, he's going to tell Rethuglicans in Virginia...

...TO BACK OFF?

[cyclezealot]

6. I think RNC Chair Priebus

has more say than the Fla Speaker. National GOP Chair, Reince Priebus might well have the Fla Speaker removed for his insolence

[frylock]

11. GOP Sen. Smith opposes bill to allocate presidential electoral votes by congressional district

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014380686

[okwmember]

4. He only said that because he knows FL is not in a position to try to implement such a plan.

In 2010 FL voters passed a constitutional amendment requiring districts be drawn in a fairer, non-partisan manner.

Believe me, with the new amendment in place and knowing that Florida's demographics over the next 10 years are leaning more democratic, this is the last thing Repugs want to try here. But they certainly would if they thought it would help.

[cyclezealot]

7. Constitutional laws are meaningless

Should you have a packed Court of partisan hacks. Whose to say a court filled with Rick Scott's appointees won't violate the spirit of Fla's new constitutional amendment. ?

[okwmember]

12. Luckily the court at the moment is more liberal.

In fact the court sent the initial districts drawn back a couple of times before approval.

[Ian Iam]

5. Hear hear!

And DURec

[adieu]

8. A better analogy

is the GOP is losing a football game because they have a bunch fat, slow players, so they decide that a touchdown is worth the weight of the team times the time it takes for the team to run 40 yards.

[cynzke]

9. Same With Term Limits.

We already have a mechanism in place for limiting terms. Its called an election. At the end of each term, your senator or congressman becomes eligible to run for re-election and someone is eligible to run against him/her. The voters decide their fate. Imposing a term limit is giving in to the "sore losers" who want to stop a candidate from being re-elected by the majority. Replacing elections with term limits gives the sore losers precedent over the rest of the voters.

[tk2kewl]

10. a DUer used trhe same gfootball analogy a couple of days ago

whoever wins the most quarters wins... even if you lose one by 40

[Coyotl]

14. Tell it like it is FCS!! Targeted changing the Electoral College is for racists!!

This is about defeating the constituencies that vote 95% Dem by bundling them into gerrymandered districts so they have on about 3/5th the vote of a regular white citizen elsewhere. It is the slave voting formula redux, part of stealing the black vote by any means possible.