By Scott Tibbs, October 17, 2011
Back in 2008, Rush Limbaugh came up with something called "Operation Chaos." The idea was to prolong the Democratic primary race by having Republicans vote for Hillary Clinton in the primary. I opposed Operation Chaos then, for two reasons.
First, primaries should be for political parties to choose their nominees. Republicans and Democrats should not be monkey-wrenching each other's primary elections. In Indiana, the law is clear that you are not supposed to vote in a primary unless you intend to support a majority of that party's candidates in the November election.
But my secondary reason is now coming to pass. I said back in 2008 that if Republicans are crossing over to extend the primary fight between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, those Republicans will have no credibility to complain when Democrats do the same thing in our primary.
Well, we're just a couple months away from the start of the 2012 primary season. President Obama will be unopposed in the Democratic primary, but the Republican field is wide open. So what is to prevent Democrats from crossing over and supporting the Republican who is either the most liberal or the easiest to defeat in November of 2012?
Absolutely nothing.
To Republicans who supported Operation Chaos: I warned you that your own monkey-wrenching in 2008 would be used against us in the future. Those of you who supported Operation Chaos now have little room to complain when the Democrats conduct a reverse Operation Chaos. If the Democrats mess up our primaries, I want you to remember these somewhat ironic five words. See, I told you so.
