Mike Luckovich for February 05, 2020

Yes indeed, the people who designed the Democratic donkey for the Iowa caucuses literally got their back-asswards.

Iowa in particular has proven it is incapable of being allowed to be the first electoral contest. In the 2012 Republican caucus, Mitt R-money was declared the winner and got the bounce going into the New Hampshire primary, just across the state line from Massachusetts where he had been governor. Only later was it corrected to show that Rick Santorum had actually won, but by that time the boost had gone to R-money and Santorum had already fallen too far behind to catch up.

And now in 2020 the Democratic caucus is a complete debacle. It took almost a full day to count fewer than 200,000 votes from 1,700 precinct sites and we still have only partial results.

While I understand that the problem that would be posed with a national primary — that small, unknown candidates or those without money would be frozen out — it is time to create a system where multiple diverse states all go on the same day, maybe one each from the west, northeast, midwest and south, so one state doesn’t hog all the attention and power, and then base continued advantage on successful outcomes or possibly rotate a different mix of states each cycle.

I’d have to say that a more accurate ’toon would show the donkey still madly trying to get his software released after the deadline.

There’s a LOT to be said for going back to paper and maybe even couriers in this age of hackers.

Is there such a thing as an app that WON’T crash at some time, like the most inconenient?

This morning on RTL4 (Dutch tv) the Washington correspondent (yes, a Dutchman) addressed the elephant in the room. When asked if the current front runner, Pete Buttigieg would be able to win against Trump, he said that the problem is that Buttigieg is openly homosexual, and that this would hurt his chances in America. My wonderful Dutch wife, who comes from Amsterdam where the people are quick witted and gloriously ad rem, said,”They’d rather have a pu**y grabber, someone they can identify with!” Sad commentary, sad but probably true.

The company responsible for the cyberclusterfuck has direct financial ties to Hillary Clinton…can you say “petty revenge from a petty excuse for a failed politician?”

This certainly breeds confidence in another fair and accurate election, doesn’t it!?

Think more boldly, my friends. Why do we need caucuses and primary elections at all? They appeal not to the general populace (you know, the “demos” who are supposedly the people who run a “democracy”) but to the activists and ideologs in the major parties, who determinedly drive their people away from the middle of the road, leading to the national splintering we’re seeing today. And the worst threat a party leader can impose on some elected official who’s showing disturbing sign of independence is “You don’t wanna get primaried, do you?”

Primary elections — which never have a very high turnout anyway — have been weaponized. Better to do away with them altogether and just have a general election where anybody with sufficient signatures on a nominating petition can get on the ballot, and we sort them all out with rank-order voting. Also, ’twould save about millions of dollars in election expenses for every primary we eliminate.

Wow, I like a flexible party.

Still standing. Huh.

I hate to say it, but the Ds are going to lose and deserve to lose. They are an inept, squabbling bunch of school children.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Mint is etching plates for money featuring faces with the likes of Charles Lindbergh and Nathan B. Forrest

Beginning to sound like a “Trumpism”.

SECRET BALLOT SECRET BALLOT SECRET dang bleedin’ BALLOT! (Rinse and repeat).

It’s hard to believe that this Iowa snafu is getting more attention than the appalling acquittal of Trump. When I read about it, I was sick!

Please be kind to Iowa. That’s a real small gene pool, if you know what I mean.