While Republicans around the country are trying relentlessly to kill democracy and instill new ways that could have actually lead to a Romney/Ryan victory last fall, despite Obama getting 5 million more votes, one man who would have been winner isn't so keen on the idea:
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has come out against altering the way his state allocates its Electoral College votes, even though the proposed change could have meant that he and GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney would have won the 2012 election.
Currently, nearly every state awards its Electoral College votes to the presidential candidate who captures a majority of the popular vote across the entire state. Only Maine and Nebraska allocate an electoral vote to the winner of each congressional district, with the final two votes going to the person who wins the popular vote statewide.
But Republicans in some swing states now want to be more like Maine and Nebraska.
The electoral college system is old and out-dated. In a democracy the people vote. Each vote should count the same, and not be weighted by living in a red or blue area. Moving to a strict popular vote is the best way to do this. It would also level the playing field, giving other states a bigger advantage in presidential elections.
It would be nice to just get rid of the electoral college, but instead Republicans want to make the unfair system more powerful. Kudos to Paul Ryan for standing up against such failed thinking.
Since Newt's win in South Carolina this weekend and Florida only a week away the civil war in the GOP is really heating up. The battle is establishment verses base and it's really becoming fun to watch.
Veteran Republican leadership aide Ron Bonjean said on the record what most of his colleagues would only tell CNN privately.
"Most people on Capitol Hill and in Washington are very nervous about a Gingrich candidacy," he said. "It sends a shiver down a lot of Republican spines."
"You can actually feel the nervousness from Republicans around town that Gingrich could actually bring the craziness back of his speakership from the 1990s. It's everywhere."
The establishment remembers what it was actually like having Newt Gingrich in charge. They hated it and don't want to see it return. That explains this from another establishment person, Bill Kristol:
I’ve got to think Monday night’s debate further swelled the groundswell of support for Mitch Daniels. The liveliest part of the debate was at the beginning, when Mitt went after Newt—and Republicans all over America watched with fascinated horror at the thought that these are the two GOP frontrunners. The only spectacle in American politics more off-putting than Newt Gingrich in self-righteous defense mode is Mitt Romney in self-righteous attack mode. I thought Mitt’s attacks were somewhat more dishonest than Newt’s defenses were disingenuous, but it was good to move on to the rest of the debate, where little further damage was done.
