As I wrote in the previous post, I wouldn’t be surprised if WA-08 ends up in a recount. And we all know what happened the last time we had one of those.
So I’m particularly wary about allowing the conspiracy theorists to get their frame established before the rest of us realize there’s anything to theorize about. Take for example this little paranoid fantasy my new beer buddy Stefan tossed off late election night, almost as an aside:
I heard a story from an informed source that someone walked into a polling place in Bellevue and stuffed a bunch of “flood ballots” into an Accuvote. They have lawyers looking into this.
Hmm. Stefan doesn’t tell us exactly what his source is informed by, but it doesn’t seem to be reality. As KCRE spokesperson Bobbie Egan points out in Stefan’s own comment thread, a so-called “flood ballot” is merely a plain paper printout of a sample ballot on King County’s web page, and as such:
There is no way for ballot tabulation equipment to count a simple Web page. Only a ballot, properly programmed for the specific election by King County Elections could be read by the equipment.
I’d wager that a slight majority of Washingtonians still believe that Democrats likely stole the governor’s mansion from Dino Rossi, a bullshit misconception built entirely of tiny little turd pellets of untruth like this one. Left unrefuted, public opinion gets shaped by a “where there’s smoke there’s fire” mentality. Two years ago the PR war was pretty much over before most of us knew it had started, but KCRE seems to have learned its lesson — it is very heartening to see Egan proactively refuting even the stupidest rumors.
Moonbat poll: What should dems to first?
1) Lose the war.
2) Wreck the economy.
3) Destroy health care system.
MTR drops in to remind us that every winger accusation is actually a confession. Nice summary of the W years so far.
Here’s what the dems will do first back here in reality: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....33529.html
re 1: Surely you jest. After Democrats took over the Dow hit its highest EVER. That was less than one day!
It’ll take a little while… they gotta destroy incentives first through tax rate hikes.
tiny little turd pellets of untruth
An apt description of the non-contents of Wrongone’s brain.
Bet welsher @ 1
1) You have been defeated
2) PAY THE FUCKING GAMBLING DEBT YOU OWE TO GOLDY!
tiny little turd pellets of untruth
And definitely describes the nature of the bet welsher’s brain!
THE JUDY MILLER SHOW
Judy opens her door but is still facing downstairs.]
Judy: OK BUT AS SOON AS YOUR BRIDGE GAMES OVER I’M COMING DOWN STAIRS!
[Slams door. Then opens door again.]
Judy: I DIDNT MEAN TO SLAM IT!
[Slams door again. Leans agains door.]
Judy: I AM SO BORED! BECAUSE… [jumps forward] MY [jumps forward] ROOM [jumps forward and throws bag] IS [jumps forward] THE [jumps forward]BORING [jumps forward] ROOM [jumps forward] OF [jumps closer to bed] THE [jumps back on bed] WORLD!
Judy: [flings head about] this is my room and this is my house and this is my lawn and this is my lawn and my street and this is my steet and this is my town and this is my country and this is my planet earth and this is my [flings herself so her head is hanging off the side of the bed] i universe and this is my i dont know A-lalalalalala.
Judy: [gettting off bed and onto floor by stuffed animals and tea set] AND NOW ITS TIME FOR THE JUDY MILLER SHOW! [Singing] OH ITS THE SHOW OF THE WAY ITS THE SHOW OF THE DAY AND I AM IN YES I AM AND ITS THE SHOW OF YOUR LIFE ITS THE JUDY MILLER SHOW! AND NOW PRESENTING [leaps onto bed] THE STAR OF THE SHOW [jumps off bed and over to her dresser puts big white skirt on head while going “dunt dunta dunta..] THE PERSON WHO IS ALSO A BRIDE! NAMED JUDY ARLEEN MILLER! [climbs back on bed] HELLO! I AM THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PERSON IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD [she walks in circles on her bed while saying this] YES I AM THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BRIDE THE EXPESSIALLY EVERYBODY LOVES IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD [when she says world she jumps back on to her pillow]. AND HERE COMES MY HUSBAD [picks up stuffed donkey in overalls and makes him gallop towrds her]
Judy: [speaking as stuffed animal] Would you marry me? [as self] oh [giggles] yes. [as stuffed animal] OH DARLING [she kisses the toy and rolls around on the bed while kissing it][pulls self away] AND WE’LL BE RIGHT BACK AFTER THIS WORD FROM OUR SPONSER! [climbs down off bed, pulls the skirt off her head and moves over to stuffed animals with tea set] [grabs cracker] THIS IS THE FOOD THAT IS REALLY THE GOOD FOOD THAT IS REALLY DELISIOUS AND NUTRISIOS [stuffs cracker in stuffed animals mouth] AND IS SO SMOOTH AND CREAMY[eats cracker] MMM GOOD! HERES THE THING THAT IS SOO SMOOTH AND CREAMY THAT EVERYBODY LOVES AND SO YOU SHOULD GET IT! AND NOW BACK TO THE SHOW!
Judy: [jumps on bed] THIS IS A SHOW ABOUT A PERSON THAT IS JUMPING UP SO HIGH CAN SHE [cant hear what she says] CAN SHE TOUCH THE SKY! [stops jumping] AND NOW PRESENTING [jumps off bed and into closet where she ties a robe around her so it looks like a dress and going “dunt dunta dunta”. she comes out of her closet] PRESENTING… THE VERY BEAUTIFUL QUEEN OF FRANCE [speaks french gibirsh crawls over bed and over to the tea set] BUT WHAT THE QUEEN DOESNT KNOW IS THAT WHOS COMING IS THE VERY WICKED QUEEN OF GERMANY. QUEEN [german giberish] AND HERE SHE COMES [in german accent] I AM GOING TO KILL YOU RIGHT NOW! [gets up. as queen of france] NO NO NO NO DONT KILL MY FAMILY [leaps into door] AH! WE’LL HAVE TO RUN TO INDIA! [runs back into door] AH! WE’LL HAVE TO RUN TO FRACE! [runs back into door] NO WE’LL HAVE TO RUN TO BOLIVIA! [runs into door] NO! AH! [ext. she keep running into the door then jumps onto bed and jumps up and down] AHH!
Judy’s Mom: JUDY! WHAT IS GOING ON UP THERE?
Judy: [sits up] Nothing… [quietly goes over to tea set and wispers] this is the show about a person who is also a wonderful bunderful BALLET DANCER! [gets up and twirls around room] YES SHE IS A BALLET DANCER! DA DA DA DA DA DA!
Judy’s Mom: JUDY BE QUIET!
[Judy stops and leans over bed to her stuffed animals]
Judy: On the Judy Miller Show… the end.
[Judy falls down.]
Steffy is working hard to remain relevant in a world where DEMS rule.
By the way, it’s official – the racist George Allen bows out as does that freak Burns in MT.
WE CONTROL THE CONGRESS.
It’s a complete repudiation of the Bush regime, the inbred right, and dicksuckers like Mark The Cowardly Redneck. And Mark, tell your wife I’m done with her. You can have her back. She was a lousy lay.
I heard that the ballot stuffer was a homeless guy that was getting paid by the Republicans.
I think we need a “zero credibility zone.” Any time someone makes a statement of fact without sufficient detail as to allow anyone else to go verify that fact, they’ve entered the “zero credibility zone.”
Of course, there’s also the concept of a “negative credibility zone,” where someone makes a statement of fact that can’t possibly be true in light of other facts.
In fact, we can come up with a “credibilty score,” and, since this would be a rating scale, it would certainly require a name. I suggest the “Sharkansky Scale.” The larger the number, the lower the credibility.
Juast spoke to King County elections Board. They have cumulated the provisional ballots from all of the polling places, but haven’t begun to count them yet. I never received my absentee ballot, and anecdotally, I understand this happened to MANY people. So I voted provisionally, and those ballots haven’t been opened or validated yet. The election employees are saying the elction must be certified November 27th. They will not count some of these ballots ’til at least next week.
There are many votes yet to count…..
You think that is bad, you should have heard Mark Levin or however it’s spelled on KVI.
MTR, pbj, Puddybud, Janet S, Mark1, Righton, Rufus, Dan, HowCanYoubeProudtobeanAss, YO and yes even MWS!
My friends. You applauded me when I pointed to the macaca stalker with the video camera. You fought the macaca in the hotel lobby but nonetheless the Macacas have launched a withering assault on my campaign.
Even if I announce a tactical retreat in just under two hours I still need $$$$$$ to serve the cause of alerting our country to the issue of the Macacas. I cannot be the next Dear Leader without your support.
Send me $$$$$$ my friends. I’m going to be your next Dear Leader. You must obey me.
Don Joe (10:08 a.m.),
I highly recommend Glenn Greenwald’s latest. He takes on the reality-challenged approach of the president and his followers. There are some interesting parallels to (U)SP.
Why are the Democrats pushing for “all mail” voting? If this is adopted, it will enable Republicans to win close elections that would otherwise have gone to Democrats.
“All mail” voting is that it eliminates polling places and therefore makes casting a provisional ballot nearly impossible.
When you have polling places, and don’t get your ballot in the mail, you can go down to the polls on election day, and cast a provisional ballot.
If you don’t have polling places because of “all mail” voting, and don’t get your ballot in the mail, you have to travel all the way down to the county seat, pay for parking in many counties (such as downtown Seattle), and visit the county auditor’s office to cast your provisional ballot.
Not very many people will be motivated to travel to the King County Courthouse to cast a provisional ballot. It would be difficult enough for a city dweller in Ballard or the Rainier Valley. A single mom on welfare in Skykomish or Enumclaw certainly is unlikely to make the trip.
If King County had “all mail” voting in 2000, Slade Gorton would have been re-elected Senator. If King County had “all mail” voting in 2004, Dino Rossi would have be our Governor today.
This is because over 30,000 provisional ballots were cast in King County in 2004, and a similar number were cast in 2000. King County votes very heavy Democrat, and the provisional voters tend to be even more Democrat in their voting.
Stefan Sharkansky is a really clever fellow. He has been extremely obsessive in pointing out the evils of “all mail” voting. He has mobilized Republicans into opposing “all mail” voting, and made Democrats believe that “all mail” voting is something that would actually hurt the Republicans.
re 22: We can all see the spectacular results of Stefan’s cunning.
“All mail” aligns KC with most of the other counties in Washington. As I understand it, there will be multiple locations to cast a provisional ballot.
IS there any truth to the Republican meme being pushed hard out there now that “the Democrats who were elected are conservatives?” Umm, of course not, because Republicans are saying it.
A survey of the policy positions of 27 Democratic House candidates — those who, as of the morning of November 8, had defeated Republican incumbents or been elected to open seats previously held by Republicans — found that they all agree on a core set of issues, including raising the minimum wage and protecting Social Security. Further, this incoming crop of Democrats largely agrees on the most contentious social issues of the day: All but two of the 27 challengers support embryonic stem cell research and only five describe themselves as “pro-life” on the issue of abortion.
Sorry, fellas, it just ain’t true.
We’re pushing for all mail voting Dickie so your pal Steffy and his ilk can’t pull their illegal, deceitful bullshit at the polls.
I heard lots of stories of rethug agents illegally photographing people, placing GOP signs inside polling places, telling blacks and Latinos they couldn’t vote. It goes on and on. Why doesn’t that stuff concern Steffy? Oh I forgot, he was probably part of most of it.
“Moonbat” poll: What should dems [do] first?
1. Start printing up the subpoenas from Waxman’s Committee on Government Reform’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
2. Write up legislation to eliminate or mitigate the “donut hole” in the Medicare prescription drug plan and strip out the ban on the government negotiating lower prices from Big Pharma (not to be confused with Ruch Limbaugh).
3. Raise CAFE Standards.
4. Complete the Interlligence Committee’s investigation on how the administraion USED intelligence in the runup to Iraq. Pat Roberts has been sitting on this since 2004.
5. Implement the First 100 Hours agenda.
Daddy Love @ 18
If only that were true.
Snohomish County has “all mail” voting. No polling places.
The only place in Snohomish County to cast a provisional ballot is at the Auditor’s Office in the Snohomish County Courthouse. If you misplace your ballot, or don’t get a ballot in the mail at all, you had to personally travel to Everett and sign paperwork in the Auditor’s Office to get a replacement ballot or provisional ballot.
There are three major reasons why provisional ballots are cast:
1. Somebody moves and doesn’t inform the county auditor of their new address. Their voter registration is changed to inactive.
2. Somebody registers very close to the election, and their registration isn’t processed in time to be on the voter rolls in the poll books.
3. Somebody simply goes to the wrong polling place on election day for whatever reason.
In either of the first two categories, the voter wouldn’t receive a ballot in the mail under “all mail” voting. Inactive voters are not mailed ballots. If a new registration is not processed in time, it will not get a ballot mailed to it either.
If you eliminate the regular polling places, the only way for voters in these first two categories to cast provisional ballots would be to physically travel to the county auditor’s office. You will have a helluva lot fewer people bothering to do that, believe me.
As for the third category, these people will still be able to vote by mail — assuming they received their ballots. Some of them won’t, because they have moved, but aren’t yet on the inactive list for whatever reason.
Oregon is “all mail” voting. And if you need to cast a provisional ballot, you are required to personally travel to the County Elections Office and fill out the paperwork.
DL @ 19
Moreover, some plain liberal trends, particularly in the northeast, are observable. For instance, in Vermont, though both call themselves independents, Bernie Sanders is considerably to the left of James Jefford, the former Republican. Many of the Democrats in New York and New England who have taken Republican seats are true progressives–John Hall in New York is an old rocker. Even Jon Tester in Montana, who the desperate rightwing wants to characterize as conservative, breaks the mold. He may be antichoice on abortion, but he will not push that position. With regard to other positions, he is a populist of the old Democrat mold. Indeed, good old-fashioned working class populism may be the ideology that best characterizes many of our new congressional servants. Wouldn’t that be great?
What should the Dems do first?
1) Hunt down all GOP traitors (this will take some time since there are so many)
2) Investigate the criminals within the Bush regime
3) Pull back all of the unConstitutional laws enacted by the Bush regime
1
Hey Redneck — how does REPUDIATION feel?
4
It’ll take a little while… they gotta destroy incentives first through tax rate hikes. Commentby Mark The Redneck KENNEDY— 11/9/06@ 9:48 am
Taxes have been around for 230 years and funded the government that built the strongest and most prosperous country in the history of the world.
4 (continued)
The only question is WHO pays the taxes, Redneck. The majority is TIRED of whiny FREELOADERS like you stealing milk from our cow.
16
Why are the Democrats pushing for “all mail” voting? Commentby Richard Pope— 11/9/06@ 10:42 am
Because it avoids the extra expense and potential for error of running two parallel voting systems.
The only problem on Election Day I’ve heard about (besides flooding) is illegal electioneering at a north King County polling site. The McGavick people lined the walkway into the polling place with McGavick yard signs, right up to the door. That’s a gross misdemeanor punishable by a year in jail and $5,000 fine under state law.
Why can’t these fucking Republican cheaters just play fair? Or, if they can’t play fair, why can’t they at least obey the law? Why do they think they’re above the law?
@ 16
Of course the GOP is opposed to all-mail voting, after they spent all that money building hacks into the voting-machine software.
“WE CONTROL THE CONGRESS.”
Please remember this when 08 rolls around.
22-23-24 RP
King County has not yet implemented all-mail voting. When they do, according to the County Council’s enabling legislation, they will have things such as “regional voting centers” and drop boxes to mitigate the hassle of provisional ballot voting:
I think that your concerns are misplaced and your facts are in error.
33 Truth
We think about it every fucking day. We’ll be reunning in -087 against the party of the president who STILL has us stuck in Iraq. Good luck with that.
Wow, I’m sure that the minnow will post a correction of his obviously false post. Surely he believes in the truth more than being a simple propagandist.
I’m sure, if he is more than a propagndist, he will have his retraction posted before the 5pm tonight.
That would be “…running in ’08…”
Loser Yellowback:
Pay your bets!
The good news is that your mindless rants probably did more to sweep Cantwell into victory than your $100 ever could.
“We’ll be reunning in -087 against the party of the president who STILL has us stuck in Iraq. Good luck with that.”
Waiting until -087 eh? Good luck with “reunning “
Finally, we have found someone that thinks of his conqueror’s as liberators:
Now, I’m liberated from having to constantly come in here every day and try to buck up a bunch of people who don’t deserve it, to try to carry the water and make excuses for people who don’t deserve it. I just — I did not want to sit here and participate, willingly, in the victory of the libs, in the victory of the Democrat [sic] Party by sabotaging my own. But now with what has happened yesterday and today, it is an entirely liberating thing.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200611090005
With liberal traitors in charge, our enemies will know all our military secrets. Get ready for 911 version 2 with even more death and destruction. Remember liberals YOU control congress. Don’t you bastards try denying it when 08 rolls around either!
The terrorist/liberal alliance has finally succeeded. There will probably be beheadings of infidels on Fridays now.
Thinking back, wasn’t it a shame that in 1993 the Congress raised taxes on the wealthiest Americans and so destroyed their incentive that the economy grew only for the next seven years (to an all-time length of expansion), 22 million jobs were created, unemployment dropped to a mere 4%, African-American and Hispanic unemployment dropped to all-time historic lows, and the federal budget was in surplus “as far as the eye can see.”
Too bad we destroyed their incentives, though. It was a shame.
41 Truth
“With liberal traitors in charge, our enemies will know all our military secrets.”
Right. Because Republicans never put documents in Arabic containing pre-1991 Iraqi nuclear program secrets on the Internet.
39 Truth
Gee, if only I’d corrected that. Wait, I think I did!
Oliver Willis:
Republican dictionary:
“witch hunt”: Refusing to allow the administraion to rule in total secrecy and, instead, trying to find out what has really been going on in our Government.
You all remember that Republicans were talking about “permanent majority” after 2004? It’s probably why they all go so sloppy and greedy. They actually beleived that they would not be held accountable!
Heh. Heh.
Lies2006:
The terrorist/liberal alliance has finally succeeded. There will probably be beheadings of infidels on Fridays now.
Wow, how well has stupid stuff like that worked for you. Oh, that’s right, it got you totally reamed on Tuesday.
Stop listening to Talk Radio, and maybe read, something, anything. You will be a lot happier if you know the truth versus the latest slanders of the right.
Stop listening to Talk Radio, and maybe read, something, anything. You will be a lot happier if you know the truth versus the latest slanders of the right.
Or, oddly enough, listen to George Bush (okay, there aren’t many contexts in which I expected to write those words in combination). Just yesterday, the president admitted that he was just saying that stuff because there was a campaign going on, and he doesn’t really believe it. It’s quite a stunning admission, really – one that underscores how irresponsibly he has behaved over the last 6 years. He thinks that everyone sees his distinction between what you say on the campaign trail and what you believe (assuming he’s honest about said distinction). He doesn’t seem to realize that his words, though often mangled, have effects. One of those effects is to infect the thinking of crazies like our sad little friend here.
I took the training and worked a polling place this election.
1. Total dount on the “flood ballot” story. Obviously the person telling it has not taken pollworker training or worked as a poll worker since that machine was implemented.
Even if by some miniscule chance it were true, those ballots would have been caught at the end of the night and that machine’s
totals would be in contention and not in the official tally at this time. There are a number of checks run before those votes are turned in.
2. My understanding is that there will be regional voting centers that will accept provisional ballots and have AVU units after King County switches to all mail voting. This would make King County in compliance with Federal law which you can read here. Since write-in ballots are usually filled out with help when the voter is sight-impaired, they do not follow the guidelines for privacy stated in the voting act I have linked to.
make that: “total doubt” on the “flood ballot” story
My fingers are still sore from all the writing I had to do.
51 AP
And I linked in #34 to the actual legislation passed by the KC Council that authorizes both regional voting centers and drop boxes.
49 50
They don’t WANT to know “the truth.” When reality is inconvenient, exhibits its well-known liberal bias, or contradicts their ideology, they make up a new reality that fits their ideas, and then they wholeheartedly believe that this make-believe reality is the “real” one.
Hey, no fair, DL. I cited Glenn this morning (see above – 10:23). :-)
Daddy Love @ 34
Is this what you are referring to? Ordinance 15523, which was passed on a 5-4 party line vote on 06/19/2006:
http://www.metrokc.gov/MKCC/co.....y_mail.pdf
County Executive Ron Sims said on 12/20/2005: “we will look at the feasibility of creating a handful of regional voting centers spread across the county where those who wish, will still be able to vote in person on election day”.
http://www.metrokc.gov/exec/ne.....Points.htm
Thank you for supplementing my facts. But I don’t believe my concerns are misplaced.
At the present time, there are over 500 polling places, spread geographically and conveniently throughout King County. It is extremely easy for a voter to cast a provisional ballot on election day.
With “all mail” voting, there will be an increased need for provisional ballots. The same voters who are inactive or registered too recently will need these ballots. Also, provisional ballots are cast by people who misplace or don’t receive their mail ballots. With all active voters getting mail ballots, this category will increase.
Instead of having 500 polling places to cast provisional ballots, Ron Sims “will look at the feasibility of creating a handful of regional voting centers”. Maybe we will have a handful of them if they are feasible. If money is too tight, we will just have the fifth floor of the King County Administration Building.
Even if we are lucky to have a “handful” of these places, instead of over 500 of them, the number of eligible voters who have to use provisional ballot actually choosing to go through this hassle will be severely depressed.
In the November 2005 general election, there were 6,329 valid votes (or at least ballots that were tabulated, as opposed to rejected) cast by provisional ballot in King County:
http://soundpolitics.com/Provi.....rt2005.pdf
In the November 2004 general election, there were 28,010 valid votes (or at least ballots that were tabulated, as opposed to rejected) cast by provisional ballot in King County:
http://soundpolitics.com/Provi.....050118.pdf
I would estimate that only allowing provisional ballots to be cast at the King County Elections Office downtown would probably reduce their number by at least 90%. If we have “a handful of regional voting centers” — for example putting them in each of the 9 district court buildings outside of Seattle — the number of provisional ballots actually cast will still probably be reduced by at least 50%.
But let’s suppose that provisional ballots were suppressed by only 10% under whatever plan Ron Sims comes up with. If we had eliminated 2,801 provisional ballots (10% of 28,010) in November 2004, this would have resulted in a net loss to Gregoire of at least 504 voter (based on her 18% margin in King County, which was several points higher among provisional ballots).
Why are the Democrats so gung ho about adopting an elections plan that would have certainly assured Dino Rossi’s election had it been in place in November 2004 in King County?
RP
Since the plan for ACTUAL regional voting centers has not yet been presented to the KC Council, I would not be too quick to assume how many there might be. But yes, there will almost certainly be fewer than 500, because on reason to move to all-mail balloting is to save money. However, we didn’t have 500 polling places solely to make voting convenient. There was some balance struck between convenient locations and large enough and numerous enough venues to handle the expected numbers of voters (once upon a time, nearly every voter). The last time I voted in person, my polling place served something like 5 precincts. There will be a simlar balance struck between expected usage levels and convenient location.
“I would estimate that only allowing provisional ballots to be cast at the King County Elections Office downtown would probably reduce their number by at least 90%. If we have “a handful of regional voting centers” – for example putting them in each of the 9 district court buildings outside of Seattle – the number of provisional ballots actually cast will still probably be reduced by at least 50%.”
And I think you’re pulling your “estimates” out of your ass. It is the crux of your argument and yet its weakest point. If you have some statistical basis for beleiving this, you should really share it with us. Otherwise, I see lots of good reason to doubt your unsupported opinion.
BTW, it takes me 5 minutes to get to my local district court, but 15 minutes to drive to my polling place.
You wanna know what the Democrats should remember now and for 2008?
If you pursue popular policies, you win. If you pursue unpopular policies, you lose.
Period.
Daddy Love @ 57
“There will be a similar balance struck between expected usage levels and convenient location.”
We had 32,996 provisional ballots cast in November 2004, of which 28,010 were deemed to be valid. In the same election, there were about 330,000 or so poll ballots cast.
Provisional ballots presumably require a little more work per ballot than regular poll ballots do. We presently have over 500 polling places. If we use the same staffing ratios (and actually expect that provisional voting will not be suppressed by having fewer polling places), then we should have at least 50 “regional voting centers”.
Somehow I seriously wonder whether we will have ANY of them.
If Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell had implemented a similar plan, Democrats would be screaming that he was intending to suppress the provisional voting (which also favors Democrats in Ohio). And they would be correct.
But the Democrats in King County haven’t yet realized how badly provisional voting will be suppressed under their plan. Ironically, Democrats are supporting this plan and Republicans are opposing it.
DaddyLove at 19:
Actually, the Republicans who are complaining that “conservative” Democrats were elected on Tuesday are just playing a game of perspective.
You see, for years they have been setting up a Democratic “straw man”, one that is a homosexual liberal elitist trust-fund baby drug-addicted welfare cheat who loves communism and hates American troops. In doing so, they obviously make it easier to offer themselves in a favorable light by comparison. Unfortunately for them, even that didn’t work when some of their leaders turned out to have some pretty embarrasing private habits, and the rest spent the federal treasury like drunken sailors.
So either lots of former Republican voters realized that the Democrats were not the “straw men” the Republicans had portrayed them to be, or that even if they were, they were better than the status quo under the Republicans.
So I guess when stood side-by-side with the “straw man” they formed in their own minds, an actual Democrat looks pretty conservative by comparison.
RP
We will have “regional voting centers” and drop boxes. I have not seen the plan. Therefore, I can’t speak for the plan, but then, you can’t speak against it.
“Somehow I seriously wonder whether we will have ANY of them.”
Oh, come one. You read the legislation. Or did you?
“Democrats in King County haven’t yet realized how badly provisional voting will be suppressed under their plan.”
Frankly, you don’t make much of a case that it will be, so until someone presents a credible case, why should they?
60 rhp6033
I’ve said it before. They don’t even KNOW what the mainstream looks like.
Can we fially accept the fact the Karl Rove makes a LOT of mistakes?
Medicare drug legislation, a windfall for Big Pharma, backfires. Social Security privatization, seen as a risky scheme by seniors and ignored by youth, backfires. Energy policy, fails to acknowledge growing national consensus on global warming, fails to keep energy prices in check, backfires. Blocking stem cell research, to stoke small part of evangelical base at the expense of medical breakthroughs, backfires. Tax cuts, mostly targeted at ultra rich, drive up historic debt, ultimately backfire.
In 2000, Bush secures Republican nomination after smear campaign whacks McCain in South Carolina. Bush loses popular vote, gains Electoral College after widely disputed election results in Florida and a hotly-argued blessing by the Supreme Court.
In 2004, one year into the war, three years after 9/11, while the country is still healing and mobilized behind the troops, Rove launches a campaign to divide the nation. Bogus character attacks on John Kerry (“swift boat”) and wedge issues like gay marriage appeal to worst aspects of electorate. More questionable results in Ohio lead to victory.
In 2006, Rove attempts to nationalize election around terrorism and war. Public repudiates GOP on both fronts: lose House, lose Senate.
OK? Although I left out the MWS thinks he “solved global warming.” So we should give him that, huh?
Strange, the minnow still hasn’t issued a retraction. He and his BIAW masters must be too busy justifying to their members why they spent all that money for nothing.
Bush says that he and Nancy Pelosi love their country equally well.
Wingnuts brains begin to bleed.
Don’t believe the bullshit. Most of them will stay Democrat. Republicans have turned a generation against them.
rhp6033@60
Your point is well taken, although after reading and listening to neo-cons over the years I think the Democratic “straw man” looked more like this:
A homosexual, pro-tax liberal, pro-gay marriage elitist trust-fund baby, drug-addicted welfare cheat, tree-hugging, anti-business, anti-gun traitor who forces women to have abortions at gunpoint and teenagers to have heterosexual sexual relations with each other because they don’t believe in marriage or heterosexuality, love communism, hate American soldiers and are so anti-religion that they want to turn America into an islamic theocracy. Oh yeah, and … and … and … CLINTON!
I’m feeling pretty darned great today. Kept having to wake up and make sure I hadn’t dreamed the election results.
So George Bush holdd a press conference in which he uses the word “bipartisan” half a dozen times. He talks all about how he’s going to find “common ground” with the new Democratic majority. THEN he renominates John Bolton to be ambassador to the UN (for the Senate to confirm before the new majority takes office).
Mister Bipartisan? Mister Common Ground? Nope, same old snake in the grass.
The nomination’s dead anyway, but it’s nice to know some things don’t change, isn’t it?
And then the GOP will use the rejection of Bolton as “proof” that the Dems are partisan.
Sending Bolton to the UN is like sending a KKK member to represent the country at an NAACP meeting.
Bush has taken every opportunity to turn the rest of the world against us and to make us all look like war-mongering elitist bastards.
You know, when I read some of the screed from the right-wingers who post here, the image of John Bolton comes to mind. So I guess he is the perfect representative of the current Administration.
Speaking of “conspiracy theorists”…
One thing that struck me as odd in the days after 9/11 was Bush saying “We will not tolerate conspiracy theories [regarding 9/11]”. Sure enough there have been some wacky conspiracy theories surrounding the events of that day. The most far-fetched and patently ridiculous one that I’ve ever heard goes like this: Nineteen hijackers who claimed to be devout Muslims but yet were so un-Muslim as to be getting drunk all the time, doing cocaine and frequenting strip clubs decided to hijack four airliners and fly them into buildings in the northeastern U.S., the area of the country that is the most thick with fighter bases. After leaving a Koran on a barstool at a strip bar after getting shitfaced drunk on the night before, then writing a suicide note/inspirational letter that sounded like it was written by someone with next to no knowledge of Islam, they went to bed and got up the next morning hung over and carried out their devious plan. Nevermind the fact that of the four “pilots” among them there was not a one that could handle a Cessna or a Piper Cub let alone fly a jumbo jet, and the one assigned the most difficult task of all, Hani Hanjour, was so laughably incompetent that he was the worst fake “pilot” of the bunch, with someone who was there when he was attempting to fly a small airplane saying that Hanjour was so clumsy that he was unsure if he had driven a car before. Nevermind the fact that they received very rudimentary flight training at Pensacola Naval Air Station, making them more likely to have been C.I.A. assets than Islamic fundamentalist terrorists. So on to the airports after Mohammed Atta supposedly leaves two rental cars at two impossibly far-removed locations. So they hijack all four airliners and at this time passengers on United 93 start making a bunch of cell phone calls from 35,000 feet in the air to tell people what was going on. Nevermind the fact that cell phones wouldn’t work very well above 4,000 feet, and wouldn’t work at ALL above 8,000 feet. But the conspiracy theorists won’t let that fact get in the way of a good fantasy. That is one of the little things you “aren’t supposed to think about”. Nevermind that one of the callers called his mom and said his first and last name (“Hi mom, this is Mark Bingham”), more like he was reading from a list than calling his own mom. Anyway, when these airliners each deviated from their flight plan and didn’t respond to ground control, NORAD would any other time have followed standard operating procedure (and did NOT have to be told by F.A.A. that there were hijackings because they were watching the same events unfold on their own radar) which means fighter jets would be scrambled from the nearest base where they were available on standby within a few minutes, just like every other time when airliners stray off course. But of course on 9/11 this didn’t happen, not even close. Somehow these “hijackers” must have used magical powers to cause NORAD to stand down, as ridiculous as this sounds because total inaction from the most high-tech and professional Air Force in the world would be necessary to carry out their tasks. So on the most important day in its history the Air Force was totally worthless. Then they had to make one of the airliners look like a smaller plane, because unknown to them the Naudet brothers had a videocamera to capture the only known footage of the North Tower crash, and this footage shows something that is not at all like a jumbo jet, but didn’t have to bother with the South Tower jet disguising itself because that was the one we were “supposed to see”. Anyway, as for the Pentagon they had to have Hani Hanjour fly his airliner like it was a fighter plane, making a high G-force corkscrew turn that no real airliner can do, in making its descent to strike the Pentagon. But these “hijackers” wanted to make sure Rumsfeld survived so they went out of their way to hit the farthest point in the building from where Rumsfeld and the top brass are located. And this worked out rather well for the military personnel in the Pentagon, since the side that was hit was the part that was under renovation at the time with few military personnel present compared to construction workers. Still more fortuitous for the Pentagon, the side that was hit had just before 9/11 been structurally reinforced to prevent a large fire there from spreading elsewhere in the building. Awful nice of them to pick that part to hit, huh? Then the airliner vaporized itself into nothing but tiny unidentifiable pieces most no bigger than a fist, unlike the crash of a real airliner when you will be able to see at least some identifiable parts, like crumpled wings, broken tail section etc. Why, Hani Hanjour the terrible pilot flew that airliner so good that even though he hit the Pentagon on the ground floor the engines didn’t even drag the ground!! Imagine that!! Though the airliner vaporized itself on impact it only made a tiny 16 foot hole in the building. Amazing. Meanwhile, though the planes hitting the Twin Towers caused fires small enough for the firefighters to be heard on their radios saying “We just need 2 hoses and we can knock this fire down” attesting to the small size of it, somehow they must have used magical powers from beyond the grave to make this morph into a raging inferno capable of making the steel on all forty-seven main support columns (not to mention the over 100 smaller support columns) soften and buckle, then all fail at once. Hmmm. Then still more magic was used to make the building totally defy physics as well as common sense in having the uppermost floors pass through the remainder of the building as quickly, meaning as effortlessly, as falling through air, a feat that without magic could only be done with explosives. Then exactly 30 minutes later the North Tower collapses in precisely the same freefall physics-defying manner. Incredible. Not to mention the fact that both collapsed at a uniform rate too, not slowing down, which also defies physics because as the uppermost floors crash into and through each successive floor beneath them they would shed more and more energy each time, thus slowing itself down. Common sense tells you this is not possible without either the hijackers’ magical powers or explosives. To emphasize their telekinetic prowess, later in the day they made a third building, WTC # 7, collapse also at freefall rate though no plane or any major debris hit it. Amazing guys these magical hijackers. But we know it had to be “Muslim hijackers” the conspiracy theorist will tell you because (now don’t laugh) one of their passports was “found” a couple days later near Ground Zero, miraculously “surviving” the fire that we were told incinerated planes, passengers and black boxes, and also “survived” the collapse of the building it was in. When common sense tells you if that were true then they should start making buildings and airliners out of heavy paper and plastic so as to be “indestructable” like that magic passport. The hijackers even used their magical powers to bring at least seven of their number back to life, to appear at american embassies outraged at being blamed for 9/11!! BBC reported on that and it is still online. Nevertheless, they also used magical powers to make the american government look like it was covering something up in the aftermath of this, what with the hasty removal of the steel debris and having it driven to ports in trucks with GPS locators on them, to be shipped overseas to China and India to be melted down. When common sense again tells you that this is paradoxical in that if the steel was so unimportant that they didn’t bother saving some for analysis but so important as to require GPS locators on the trucks with one driver losing his job because he stopped to get lunch. Hmmmm. Further making themselves look guilty, the Bush administration steadfastly refused for over a year to allow a commission to investigate 9/11 to even be formed, only agreeing to it on the conditions that they get to dictate its scope, meaning it was based on the false pretense of the “official story” being true with no other alternatives allowed to be considered, handpicked all its members making sure the ones picked had vested interests in the truth remaining buried, and with Bush and Cheney only “testifying” together, only for an hour, behind closed doors, with their attorneys present and with their “testimonies” not being recorded by tape or even written down in notes. Yes, this whole story smacks of the utmost idiocy and fantastic far-fetched lying, but it is amazingly enough what some people believe. Even now, five years later, the provably false fairy tale of the “nineteen hijackers” is heard repeated again and again, and is accepted without question by so many Americans. Which is itself a testament to the innate psychological cowardice of the American sheeple, i mean people, and their abject willingness to believe something, ANYTHING, no matter how ridiculous in order to avoid facing a scary uncomfortable truth. Time to wake up America.
Debunking Popular Mechanics lies:
http://www.lookingglassnews.or.....oryid=6880
someone else debunking Popular Mechanics crap:
http://www.serendipity.li/wot/.....hanics.htm
still more debunking Poopular Mechanics:
http://letsroll911.org/ipw-web.....php?t=5505
and still more debunking of Popular Mechanics:
http://www.reopen911.org/ericreubt.htm
Poopular Mechanics staff replaced just before laughable “debunking†article written:
http://www.reopen911.org/hiddenhand.htm
another neo-con 9/11 hit piece explodes, is retracted:
http://www.prisonplanet.com/ar.....tpiece.htm
Professor Steven Jones debunks the N.I.S.T. “report†as well as the F.E.M.A. one and the 9/11 commission “report”:
http://www.infowars.com/articl....._jones.htm
N.I.S.T. scientist interviewed:
http://www.teamliberty.net/id235.html
F.B.I. says no hard evidence linking Osama bin Laden to 9/11 which is why his wanted poster says nothing about 9/11:
http://forum.afghansite.com/in.....topic=9349
Fire Engineering magazine says important questions about the Twin Tower “collapses†still need to be addressed:http://fe.pennnet.com/Articles.....ARTICLE_ID
Twin Towers’ construction certifiers say they should have easily withstood it:
http://www.prisonplanet.com/ar.....hstood.htm
USA Today interview with the last man out of the South Tower, pursued by a fireball:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/s.....escape.htm
Janitor who heard explosions and escaped has testimony ignored by 9/11 whitewash commission:
http://www.americanfreepress.n....._9-11.html
Janitor starts speaking out about it and his apartment is burglarized, laptop stolen:
http://kurtnimmo.blogspot.com/.....am_28.html
Firefighters tell of multiple explosions:
http://www.wnbc.com/news/1315651/detail.html
Eyewitnesses tell of explosions:
http://research.amnh.org/users.....orror.html
Interview with another firefighter telling of explosions:
http://www.nytimes.com/package.....ichard.txt
Firefighter saw “sparkles†(strobe lights on detonators?) before “collapseâ€:
http://www.nytimes.com/package.....ck_Tom.txt
Other eyewitnesses talk of seeing/hearing explosions:
http://georgewashington.blogsp.....es-to.html
Surviving eyewitnesses talk of multiple explosions there:
http://www.thememoryhole.org/911/veliz-bombs.htm
Cutter charge explosions clearly visible:
http://www.rense.com/general63/cutt.htm
The pyroclastic wave (that dust cloud that a second before was concrete) and how it wouldn’t be possible without explosives:
http://st12.startlogic.com/~xenonpup/physics/
Detailed description of the demolition of the Twin Towers:
http://gordonssite.tripod.com/id2.html
Freefall rate of “collapses†math:
http://www.911blimp.net/prf_FreeFallPhysics.shtml
More about their freefall rate “collapsesâ€:
http://www.serendipity.li/wot/second_wave.htm
Video footage of the controlled demolition of the Twin Towers:
http://www.plaguepuppy.net/pub.....20archive/
Video footage of the controlled demolition of WTC # 7 building:
http://911research.wtc7.net/talks/wtc/videos.html
More of WTC # 7 controlled demolition:
http://www.wtc7.net/
Naudet brothers’ video footage of the North Tower crash:
http://www.911blimp.net/vid_Naudet.shtml
Photos of the Pentagon’s lawn (look at these and see if you can tell me with a straight face that a jumbo jet crashed there):
http://www.911blimp.net/cached/HuntTheBoeing!.htm
More photos of this amazing lawn at the Pentagon:
http://cryptogon.com/docs/Intr.....!%20(9-11).htm
Very unconvincing fake “Osama†“confession†tape:
http://welfarestate.com/wtc/faketape/
More about the fake “Osama†tape:
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/osamatape2.html
Fake “Mohammed Atta†“suicide†letter:
http://www.welfarestate.com/wtc/fake-letters.txt
Commercial pilots disagree with “official†9/11 myth:
http://www.prisonplanet.com/se.....ccused.htm
More commercial jet pilots say “official†myth is impossible:
http://www.masternewmedia.org/.....attack.htm
Impossibility of cell phone calls from United 93:
http://www.physics911.net/cellphoneflight93.htm
More about the impossible cell phone calls:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO408B.html
Experiment proves cell phone calls were NOT possible from anywhere near the altitude the “official†myth has them at:
http://physics911.ca/org/modul.....?storyid=9
Fake Barbara Olson phone call:
http://www.vialls.com/lies911/lies.htm
Where the hell was the Air Force?
http://www.welfarestate.com/wtc/af-scramble.txt
More about the Air Force impotence question:
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0331-11.htm
Sept. 10th 2001, Pentagon announces it is “missing†$2.3 trillion (now why do you think they picked THAT day to announce it? So it could be buried the next day by 9/11 news):
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories.....5985.shtml
Unocal pipeline-through-Afghanistan plan:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/.....-wosc.html
Unocal pipeline-through-Afghanistan plan mentioned:
http://thetyee.ca/Views/2006/0.....fghanistan
More on Unocal Afghan pipeline:
http://www.newscentralasia.com.....8;sid=1031
The attack on Afghanistan was planned in the summer of 2001, months before 9/11:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1550366.stm
Pentagon deliberately misled 9/11 Commission:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/i.....cleId=2887
Evidence destruction by authorities and cover-up:
http://www.flcv.com/coverup.html/
9/11 whitewash Commission and NORAD day:
http://fromthewilderness.com/f.....raud.shtml
The incredible fish tales of the 9/11 Commission examined:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/i.....cleId=1478
Jeb Bush declares state of emergency 4 days before 9/11 for Florida, saying it will help respond to terrorism:
http://www.eionews.addr.com/ps.....ebknew.htm
Steel debris removal from Ground Zero, destruction of evidence:
http://911research.wtc7.net/wt.....eanup.html
Over two hundred incriminating bits of 9/11 evidence shown in the mainstream media:
http://thewebfairy.com/killtow.....gguns.html
Tracking the “hijackersâ€:
http://www.welfarestate.com/911/
“Hijacker†patsies:
http://911review.org/Wiki/HijackersPatsies.shtml
“Hijackers†receiving flight training at Pensacola Naval Air Station:
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0208/S00085.htm
Several accused “hijackers” still alive and well, wondering why they are accused:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1559151.stm
Yet the F.B.I. insists that the people it claims were the “hijackers” really were the “hijackers”:
http://www.prisonplanet.com/fb.....orists.htm
No Arabs on Flight 77:
http://www.sierratimes.com/03/.....le_tro.htm
Thirty experts say “official†9/11 myth impossible:
http://911fraud.blogspot.com/2.....ry-is.html
“Al Qaeda†website tracks back to Maryland:
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/alqmaryland.html
Al Qaeda videos uploaded from U.S. government website:
http://www.prisonplanet.com/ar.....ebsite.htm
Operation: Northwoods, a plan for a false-flag “terror†attack to be blamed on Castro to use it as a pretext for America to invade Cuba, thankfully not approved by Kennedy back in 1962 but was approved by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and sent to his desk:
http://www.prisonplanet.com/us.....etext.html