{"id":11845,"date":"2008-01-21T19:13:56","date_gmt":"2008-01-22T02:13:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2008\/01\/21\/bravo-dennis.html"},"modified":"2008-01-21T19:13:56","modified_gmt":"2008-01-22T02:13:56","slug":"bravo_dennis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/01\/21\/bravo_dennis.html","title":{"rendered":"Bravo, Dennis"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"img-shadow-right\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"Vote!\" height=\"144\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/voting-butterfly.jpg\" width=\"96\" \/><\/div>\n<p>On the one hand, political parties are (for most intents and purposes) private organizations, and have the right to handle their internal affairs as they choose.&nbsp; So if the Texas Democratic Party requires candidates to sign a &#8220;loyalty oath&#8221; to support the eventual nominee, or else not get their name on the ballot, the quite arguably have that right.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, it&#8217;s darned goofy, and <a href=\"http:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/s\/ap\/20080118\/ap_on_el_pr\/scotus_kucinich_texas;_ylt=AhVPmnd57O7IeiwOu_PCc72yFz4D\" target=\"_blank\">kudos to Dennis Kucinich for refusing to do so<\/a>.&nbsp; Not that it does him that much harm, but it&#8217;s the principle of the thing.&nbsp; I disagree it&#8217;s a &#8220;free speech&#8221; thing, but I applaud him for making a stand on it.<\/p>\n<p><small><\/p>\n<p>(via <a href=\"http:\/\/j-walkblog.com\/index.php?\/weblog\/posts\/wont_sign_loyalty_oath\/\" target=\"_blank\">J-Walk<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On the one hand, political parties are (for most intents and purposes) private organizations, and have the right to handle their internal affairs as they choose.&nbsp; So if the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-elections-2008"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6373,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/09\/14\/peter_david_bru.html","url_meta":{"origin":11845,"position":0},"title":"Peter David Bruce Banner","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 14-Sep-04 9:34am","format":false,"excerpt":"Peter David is back -- for the moment, at least -- as writer on The Incredible Hulk. Bottom line is this: The combination of the positive fan response to the...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Comics &amp; Comic Books&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Comics &amp; Comic Books","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/media-comics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29035,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/08\/07\/they-prefer-a-muddy-line-thank-you-very-much.html","url_meta":{"origin":11845,"position":1},"title":"They prefer a muddy line, thank you very much","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 7-Aug-12 10:50am","format":false,"excerpt":"GOP lawmakers are concerned the IRS might actually set for some rules on how much money \"social welfare\" organizations (501(c)(4)) can plow instead into political campaigns, with their donors retaining anonymity.Of course, setting rules and enforcing them are two different things, sadly.Reshared post from +Talking Points MemoThe battle over super\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8913,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/03\/24\/perhaps_this_is.html","url_meta":{"origin":11845,"position":2},"title":"Perhaps this is insensitive of me, but &#8230;","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 24-Mar-06 7:26am","format":false,"excerpt":"... I don't feel any particular ethical or moral obligation to pay for a sex change operation for a prison inmate so that he can be housed in a women's...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Crime &amp; Punishment&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Crime &amp; Punishment","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/crime-punishment"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":137798,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/02\/12\/the-lobbying-organization-who-must-not-be-named.html","url_meta":{"origin":11845,"position":3},"title":"The Lobbying Organization Who Must Not Be Named","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 12-Feb-19 12:10am","format":false,"excerpt":"Politicians on the left and the right have no problems pointing out how lobbying money corrupts the political process, how lobbying groups gather influence over legislators and government officials through campaign donations, campaign-supportive events, \"fact finding\" junkets, etc. \"He's bought and sold by the NRA!\" \"She's in the pocket of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/aipac.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":128502,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/11\/04\/men-women-boys-girls-killing-nurturing-just-like-god-intended.html","url_meta":{"origin":11845,"position":4},"title":"Men! Women! Boys! Girls! Killing! Nurturing! Just like God intended!","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 4-Nov-15 12:39am","format":false,"excerpt":"Sorry, Dennis, a lot of points in your article -- which seems to boil down to \"gender-neutral toys spell the end of civilization\" -- just don't hold water. Or testosterone.1. It would be nice if you actually linked to the NYT article in question, rather than just asserting what it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24888,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/12\/27\/the-more-things-change-in-politics-the-more-they-stay-the-same.html","url_meta":{"origin":11845,"position":5},"title":"The more things change in politics, the more they stay the same","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 27-Dec-11 8:28am","format":false,"excerpt":"Teddy below could be speaking of modern-day Washington politics (esp. since there are some there who would like to see the political clock turned back to before Roosevelt's Progressive Era). \"Political parties exist to secure responsible government and to execute the will of the people. From these great tasks both\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11845\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}