WorldNetDaily’s Bob Unruh complained in a Jan. 24 article:
A lot of Republicans had seen this coming already: The Democrats using any weapon available to push for a Joe Biden victory in November, including voting for GOP opponents of President Donald Trump.
It’s now documented on video, posted online by Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA.
In New Hampshire, a voter, a Democrat, voted in the Republican primary for Nikki Haley.
Asked, “Why did you vote for Nikki Haley?” he said. “To vote against Trump.”
He then confirmed he would vote for Joe Biden in the general election.
The campaign is an attempt to make it appear Trump has less support than he actually has, an improbable task given that he’s tens of points ahead of Haley and just about as far ahead of any Democrat just now.
[…]On Tuesday, at the New Hampshire primary, the Daily Caller News Foundation confirmed some 70% of voters who backed Haley were not Republicans.
That was from a CNN exit poll.
Unruh is being hypocritical, because his employer endorsed this tactic when it was used against Democrats. Rush Limbaugh called it “Operation Chaos,” designed to prolong Democratic primaries. Joe Kovacs hyped Limbaugh’s plan in an April 2008 WND article: “Radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh says neither Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton can become the Democratic presidential nominee by means of getting enough votes, and claims it’s because of his ‘Operation Chaos’ to have Republican voters switch parties and disturb the primary process.” He then quoted Limbaugh saying that “Were it not for Operation Chaos, Obama could win this by winning the primary process.” Kovacs touted the scheme again in a June 2008 article:
Even though Barack Obama is claiming the Democratic nomination for the presidency, radio host Rush Limbaugh is urging people to contact Hillary Clinton about staying in the race.
Limbaugh has been running his “Operation Chaos,” an effort designed to cause havoc among Democrats by suggesting Republicans temporarily register as Democrats to vote for Clinton and prolong the process.
During today’s analysis of the primary season’s conclusion, the broadcaster urged listeners to go to Hillary’s website and offer their personal advice, after Clinton herself requested such during her own speech last night.
“Now, I want you to be polite,” said Limbaugh. “I don’t want any snide comments, and I know that people have already done that, but I want those of you who are part of this audience to say whatever is in your heart to Mrs. Clinton about her effort to continue here, within the spirit of Operation Chaos, keeping chaos alive. Mrs. Clinton did everything last night but thank me for helping to make this current situation possible.”
Joseph Farah gushed about it in a May 2016 column and pushed for it to be revived against Democrats that year:
Remember when Rush Limbaugh threw a monkey-wrench into the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries by urging Republicans to vote for Hillary Clinton to prolong a campaign in which Barack Obama had stolen her political thunder and beaten her in 11 straight states?
Hillary went on to win Ohio and Texas shortly after the king of talk radio began promoting the idea. Then she won Pennsylvania. and Rush declared an “operational pause” in what he called “Operation Chaos.” This coincided with stories about Obama’s spiritual guru, Jeremiah Wright, that seemed to present a major stumbling block for him.
[…]I don’t have quite the megaphone Rush does, but I would like to suggest Republicans can still make their votes count this primary season – especially in California – by crossing over and voting for Bernie Sanders.
I know it sounds distasteful. I know it sounds repugnant. But it could produce tremendous results – and deny that witch the delegates she needs to win.
For me, a long-time California voter, it would be the next best thing to an indictment of Hillary.
[…]I’m sending this column to my old buddy Rush, but maybe some of you who catch the importance of this project can call in to his radio show this week and see if he’ll join the fun.
I have no doubts that his campaign was successful at taking some states away from Obama in 2008 and causing the Democrats some agonizing moments of anguish. But this year, the campaign could actually deny Hillary the nomination and stick the Democrat Party [sic] with an avowed socialist at the top of the ticket.
Would that be amazing?
Get the word out now, California Republicans. Time is short. Hillary is counting on California.
Let’s give her a surprise!
A few days later, Kovacs tried to give his boss credit for Limbuagh mulling the idea anew:
Just two days after WND Editor Joseph Farah called for an Operation Chaos II to help Bernie Sanders become the Democratic Party presidential nominee instead of Hillary Clinton, radio titan Rush Limbaugh is wondering if the phenomenon is already happening, even without anyone changing their registration.
Limbaugh said on his national broadcast Wednesday: “I got people saying, ‘You gotta do Operation Chaos 2.0. You gotta do it again. You gotta do it for Crazy Bernie.’ I think it’s actually already happening. I think Operation Chaos is actually the new name here for the Clinton campaign.”
The original Operation Chaos was Limbaugh’s effort in 2008 for Republicans to temporarily switch their party affiliation to Democrat so they could vote for Hillary Clinton to keep her campaign viable against the juggernaut of Barack Obama that year.
But now, with the continued success of Sanders, including his decisive win in West Virginia on Tuesday, some are hoping to see the self-avowed socialist senator from Vermont snatch the nomination away from Mrs. Clinton.
Unruh was silent on how, exactly, the scheme he wrote about is any different from Operation Chaos, a plan his employer enthusiastically approved.