California Republican Party are idiots

In a moderate, centrist state, where independents are the fastest growing segment of voters, the California Republican Party has been lurching rightward over the past few years. In an idiotic move that will only strengthen Democrats, the executive board voted narrowly to exclude independent voters from the February Presidential Primary:

The motion, by two hyperpartisan bloggers now playing high elected roles in the state party, Jon Fleischman and Tom Del Beccaro, carried narrowly on an 11-9 vote. Among those in favor were the Republican leaders of the state Senate and Assembly, Dick Ackerman and Mike Villines. Among those opposed were Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, represented by a proxy, and former state Republican chairman Duf Sundheim. Democrats, of course, allow independents, by far the fastest growing voter group in the state, to participate in their primary.

Way to go idiots. Keep moving rightward in an overly moderate state where independents make up a sizable chunk of the electorate and you will continue to lose elections and cede control to the Democrats.