Examining hypocritical cheerleading.

So I got forwarded a political .... notification...thing, warning about Republicans running as fake Democrats in Wisconsin the upcoming recall election for Governor Jackass.  I was immediately annoyed.  Outraged, even.

Then I remembered how, within the last forty-eight hours, I'd been laughing and cheering this dude, possibly a satirist (cannot find a citation confirming he's a satirist, but that's how I saw it initially reported) who was running as a Republican to make Governor Jackass face a primary, and possibly prevent him from even reaching the ballot.  Hmm.

So now I'm torn.  Do I think that this is election fraud, and decry it universally?  Or do I shrug, note that what's good for the goose is good for the gander, and trust voters to be smart enough to handle things on their own, reasonably and thoughtfully?  (No, really, that's a serious question.  A lot of people who are very serious about the democratic process in general have an astounding disdain for the brainpower of Random Voter On The Street.  I am not one of those dudes.)

Or is there some more substantial difference between the two tactics that I'm not seeing, that would let me cheer the one and condemn they other without being a ragingly hypocritical asshat?

Politics are tough.


A couple extra links.