Editorial: Caucus mishap makes it clear: Time to stop the shouting

Editorial: Caucus mishap makes it clear: Time to stop the shouting

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By the Editorial Board | Posted: Tuesday, March 20, 2012 12:05 am
The Missouri Republican Party had its John McCain moment on Saturday.
In October 2008, Mr. McCain, the U.S. senator from Arizona and the Republican nominee for president, famously grabbed the microphone from an elderly woman at a town hall in Lakeville, Minn., and gently chided her for calling then-Sen. Barack Obama an Arab.
Mr. McCain was courageous and decent that day, but it's worth noting that his campaign quietly had helped stoke the "Obama is a Muslim" lies during that presidential contest. He was reaping what he sowed.
The Missouri GOP did some reaping itself on Saturday when angry, screaming partisans shut down the caucus in St. Charles County, sending the process of choosing Republican presidential delegates into further disarray.
While the biggest problems appeared to be in the caucus in St. Peters, the largest among those held Saturday, there were plenty of problems elsewhere, as rabid supporters of Republican candidates Ron Paul and Rick Santorum clashed, and folks who profess to belong to the same party couldn't even agree on the rules, let alone their candidate.
The caucus system always has been messy. It's one reason Missouri abandoned it after supporters of extremist Pat Buchanan took over the 1996 voting process in the Show-Me State.