I have to say that I've been amused by the Democratic Party's ongoing dilemma over getting Joe Biden on the general election ballot in Ohio. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) blatantly ignored Ohio state law by scheduling the Democratic National Convention for August 22, despite Ohio's deadline to file for the general election ballot being August 7. As a result, Joe Biden won't officially be the Democratic Party nominee in time to qualify for the Ohio ballot, a predicament they brought upon themselves.
While one could argue that the legislature should have immediately stepped in and fixed the problem, did the Democrats really deserve that assist? I don't think so. Democrats have consistently shown a lack of respect for rules and traditions, often to their own detriment. After they abused the judicial filibuster to obstruct President George W. Bush’s judicial nominees, Republicans reciprocated when Obama was in office. Suddenly, the filibuster, once a favorite tool of Democrats, became evil. In 2013, Senate Democrats, led by then-Majority Leader Harry Reid, eliminated the filibuster for lower-court judicial nominees, ensuring the Republican minority couldn't use it as Democrats had done just a few years before. This nuking of the filibuster paved the way for Donald Trump to get a record number of judicial nominees confirmed.
The Democrats didn't learn from their mistakes, and, upon Joe Biden taking office with Democrat majorities in the House and Senate, sought to eliminate the legislative filibuster to stop Republicans from blocking the most radical legislation in history, including bills to overhaul and federalize our elections. It was sheer luck that Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) refused to go along with nuking the filibuster.
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This week, we learned that without a legislative fix to Ohio's deadline issue, the Democratic National Committee has now opted to "virtually nominate" Joe Biden and Kamala Harris prior to the August 7 deadline to secure a spot on the general election ballot.
"This will take a big moment away from Biden and the party -- the official nomination at convention is typically met with fanfare and celebration, but he will become the official nominee virtually, without the pomp and circumstance," reports ABC News. "The move came moments before the Ohio Senate convened on Tuesday for a special session to address Biden's ability to appear on their general election ballot in November -- which the GOP-led legislature has tied up with a separate bill related to campaign finance, something Democrats oppose."
As we've previously reported, Republicans in the Ohio state legislature are not trying to block Biden from appearing on the ballot. The problem is that Ohio Democrats oppose a legislative fix that would simultaneously ban foreign contributions for state ballot measure campaigns, and they are refusing to support it. In other words, they're hoping to protect foreign influence on local elections.
That sounds just like them, doesn't it?
The mainstream media has tried to pin the blame for this problem on Ohio Republicans, but it was the DNC that once again disregarded the laws in place, and frankly, despite Ohio Republicans' willingness to fix the situation, they shouldn't have had to in the first place.
The question is, will Democrats finally learn from their mistakes and start respecting the rules and laws on the books?
I'm not holding my breath.
