Now that civil rights icon John Lewis, the media, and even some Republicans are starting to notice the violent hate vomiting forth from McCain supporters, and suggesting that McCain and Palin’s silence is tacit approval, the campaign is predictably deploying the few-bad-apples defense and the all-purpose POW card.
Hey, it’s not McCain’s fault if a few rogue audience members get carried away when he and Palin equate Obama with terrorists, right? Besides, John McCain was a POW when George Wallace was spreading hatred, so he can’t possibly be accused of that now. (Um, and where was Obama when Ayers was blowing shit up? Oh right: Third grade.)
But if it’s really just a few bad apples that the McCain campaign has nothing to do with, then how do they explain this?
[VA GOP chairman Jamie Frederick] climbed atop a folding chair to give 30 campaign volunteers who were about to go canvassing door to door their talking points — for instance, the connection between Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden: "Both have friends that bombed the Pentagon," he said. "That is scary."… "And he won’t salute the flag," one woman added, repeating another myth about Obama. She was quickly topped by a man who called out, "We don’t even know where Senator Obama was really born."
This is the VA GOP chair, training McCain volunteers to incite fear and hate in everyone they talk to. And before that, the McCain campaign’s Buchanan County, VA chair wrote a breathtakingly racist and homophobic anti-Obama column in his local right-wing paper (what is in the water in VA?). The shouts of "Terrorist!" and "Traitor!" aren’t arising spontaneously, the McCain campaign and the GOP are deliberately fueling them while weakly pretending to deplore them.
In addition to being despicable and dangerous, I just don’t see how this strategy translates into anything but resounding defeat for McCain and the Republican Party. Yes, it will probably energize the lizard-brained Limbaugh/Coulter/Savage base, but it will utterly repulse everyone else. How can they maintain their pose as the salt-of-the-earth family values party after everyone gets a good long look at the fear and hate gibbering behind the mask?
Related posts:
Spotlight
Support this site!
Subscribe to the newsletter
Advertise on Firedoglake
Send
us your tips
Make us your homepage
About Firedoglake
Advanced search
I understand that Bill Ayers has had to leave the country because of all the death threats against him.
hi Eli,you here?
got some creepy photographic journalism for you,sorry for the drive by OT
Todd Palin, Creepy “First Stalker”
by Kagro X
Mon Oct 13, 2008 at 07:35:13 AM PDT
Yes, we already knew that Todd Palin might be so creepily obsessed with Mike Wooten that questioning his mental stability might be fair game. After all, in his frenzied vendetta aimed at destroying the life of the man who dared to cross Sarahcuda, he inexplicably inserted himself into Wooten’s worker’s compensation claims, trying to deny him payment for an injury sustained on the job, even going so far as to stalk Wooten and photograph him riding a snow machine, hoping that would disprove his injury claims and cost him his compensation.
The Branchflower report (PDF) adds a new detail or two that show just how warped Palin’s crusade was. For instance, it turns out that Todd followed Wooten 100 miles off the road in order to secretly photograph him during the snow machine trip that supposedly disproved his worker’s comp claims. (It didn’t. The trip was actually pre-approved by Wooten’s doctor.)
from Kos…..this is a BADUDE
Awesome graphic.
Mornin’ Eli,
and yet, Our Good Friend can’t bring himself to repudiate Frederick when given the chance
Looks like John-boy is gonna keep up the smear stuff himself, so the “few bad apples” excuse won’t work much:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v1i8PbU_9M
The McInsane campaign has been so erratic, that I’m guessing there’ll be some other shocking development out of his campaign yet. The “win percentage” at 538 is now O-94% M-6% with EVs O-351 M-187. One last ditch Hail Mary to come I’m thinking.
cbl2, do you have a link for the Dean Smith quote from downstairs?
Watching Palin. Cindy’s thin-lipped smirk in the background as she nods to Sarah’s bs. So far she’s mentioned voter fraud and something about abuse of power (no kidding).
So there really is a POW card! Great graphic.
here ya go
c’mon Pat Summitt !
Now invoking the great Ronald Reagan. Cindy’s smile is frozen. But Sarah’s smiles seem to suggest “I can’t believe they’re buying this bull”
Don’t the Marines have the recruiting slogan “A few good men”? When they say this they mean that all Marines are good men but not all good men are Marines. I think the same logic is at work here. All Republicans are bad apples but not all bad apples are Republicans.
Smith has supported Obama since at least earlier this month.
But he sent out this email to a fairly extensive list of contacts and associates in NC Basketball and to those in Sports media.
Nothing But Net!
1,794 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…
Citizen Eli and the Firepup Freedom Fighters:
“…I just don’t see how this strategy translates into anything but resounding defeat for McCain and the Republican Party.”
Ah, it’s a lot more’n that Brother Eli…the fascists don’t wanna win the election, they want a Democratic president and a Democratic Congress to take the fall for the collapse of the economy. Beyond that they are tryin’ ta delegitimize Obama and advance the narrative of “alien”, “radical”, “elitist” and (of course) incompetent because he’s Black. The entire voter suppression and “voter fraud” effort is part of the alternative narrative for when economy doesn’t get better…not only was Obama “alien”, “radical” and an incompetent Black man but he stole the election the first time too.
Further more by goin’ “scorched earth” with the racism, they purify the Republican Party of the moderate and the middle class leavin’ a party composed of right wing fascist shock troops and led by the American fascist oligarchy…this is the end of the Republican Party as we know it and if Obama and the Democrats don’t send a whole bunch a people ta jail and to trial at the Hague then the fascists will be back in force and the strategy will succeed.
KEEP THE FAITH AND PASS THE AMMUNITION AND REMEMBER, FASCISM WON’T GO AWAY BY ITSELF, OUR HISTORY IS CALLIN US OUT!!
Still watching the rally…McCain’s up. Huge, enthusiastic crowd. Sometimes chanting “Nobama”.
Even Piper Palin knows how to express her true feelings about the election
Every day that the McBush campaign has to spend on DEFENSE is another day that they lose ground- they must attack on every one of the 21 days left to them if they are to have a chance. Remember too, that much of the voting will happen BEFORE election day- is in fact happening NOW!
McScum is losing the independent/undecided voters. Some of it is surely disgust, as you say, Eli, but I think more is just the economic issue (and McScum’s inability to address it).
Excellent, Eli.
Thanks.
Firelake folks, DIGG here.
Thanks! Being an NC State grad, it hurts to see Dean Smith talking sense :)
Thanks, Eli. I was just mentioning to my wife last night that this “strategy” by McCain might result in something like a reverse Bradley effect. By playing to the blatant racists (who now will gleefully cast their McCain votes), I’m wondering if the racism might result in many otherwise loyal but reasonable (there really are some of these; they’ve just been drowned out for a long time) Republicans withholding their votes in the presidential race. They may not vote for Obama, but I think McCain is flirting with actively scaring off a number of the votes he otherwise could have counted on.
Is this a winning strategy? “The next pres won’t have time to study up on the issues before he acts. He’ll have to act immediately”. Ummm, please, study up first.
Thanks, all! I can’t take credit for the graphic – it’s Julia’s.
It would be in EPU land if I left it in the last thread. I heard a report on the radio and then checked the Fed site to verify it. The Fed had increased currency swaps with other central banks around the world to $620 billion. Today it announced that it was taking off all limits on them for the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, and the Swiss National Bank.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/…..81013a.htm
I would respectfully like to disagree with you Norske…
…I would like to, but I can’t. I’m afraid you’re right on the money.
McCain and Palin and eight years of Bush garbage have turned my conservative husband into a die hard, who is going to vote mostly Democratic in November. He views Dino Rossi as the same as Bush. Thinks Joel Kretz is a wacko. As a logger, we actually get to see these folks at functions, so it isn’t just what is reported in the news.
I think the Republicans who consider themselves decent people rather than “my team is teh r0×0rz and your team is teh sux0rz” trolls are going to be very turned off by this.
There may not be a lot of them left in politics, but I think there are still a lot of them in the citizenry.
“On Sunday McCain visited his campaign headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, near Washington, at the end of an intense week of campaigning that has seen his support slip in nearly every major national and local poll.
McCain later returned to his nearby home in Arlington to ready himself for the third and final presidential debate with Obama on Wednesday at Hofstra University in New York state.”
McCain made one campaign appearance on saturday and tried to look as if he made one on sunday by going to his home office. Apparently he will not campaign again until thursday….
Signs that the old guy just isn’t up to the pace.
got link ?
I wonder if he talked to the VA-GOP chair while he was there…
I saw somewhere that claimed that photo was doctored and the little Palin spawn was holding up two fingers, but whether or not that’s true, it’s a funny image to spread around!
And Sayrah’s had a lot of egg on her face recently, but that jacket is crazy. Looks like she has eggs all over her body now. Like her jacket, I think McInsane’s campaign will be “Over” and “Easy.”
We may already be at the point where the battle has shifted from “who will win the war?” to- “will there be a mandate and how large will it be?”
If Obama gets well over 300 electoral votes and dems take an additional seven or eight senate seats plus a significant gain in house seats, that’s a mandate to govern that the goopers will not want to screw with for the first year at least.
No- I was just going by the statement that he was going to be in Arlington preparing for the debate- maybe he will also campaign at the same time.
Well, you’re probably half right…
Let’s remain optimistic, but let’s not count our chickens before they hatch. Republicans control the voting machines and there are Republican secretaries of state in many important states who aren’t constrained by any moral qualms about rigging an election.
Obama may very well need to be up 20 points in the polls on election day just to eek out a very small victory in the “official” tally.
bom dia pups
*spit* this campaign has left a really bad taste in my mouth. To call it disgraceful would be the understatement of the decade
I was wondering if anyone has heard even a mention about the solvency or lack thereof of Credit Suisse? As I remember, they were involved in the Real Estate market in a fairly big way, but I haven’t so much as heard a mention of them since this crisis began. Just wondering…
Who are you kidding? There will be articles of impeachment drafted as soon as Obama takes his oath of office, no matter how large the win. They will not give up.
sitting down to fill out my ballot today and will drop it off tomorrow (all county offices closed today)
This stuff might actually be amusing,if it weren’t so damn serious!
I would like to see the Obama campaign or, better yet, the media, throw that Rick Davis memo back in McCain’s face. The one from March where he tells McCain’s campaign staff that they’re going to run a respectful, honorable campaign about the issues and McCain’s character.
Having lived thru the 60’s with George Wallace and his group of lunatics it sure seems these guys are trying REAL hard to be like them..
John Lewis (Rep. from GA.) was CORRECT when he criticized them last week for trying to emulate those folks…
Why can’t they just come clean and admit they’re racist?? Seems to obvious…
They’ll simply say, “Obama started it, so there! WAHHHHH!! Mommy?”..or something to that effect.
Do you really think they’ll wait until he takes the oath? They probably have a draft already drawn up.
Wow, the doc I work for just came in my office to let me know he had decided on Obama. He is a Republican & just declared he will be voting a straight democratic ticket. The two main reasons he cites are the sleaziness of the McCain campaign and the acknowledgment of what the McCain health care policy means to docs.
I have been funneling op-eds and info to his desk for months now, victory is ours!
The Southern Strategy depends on signalling the racists that you’re one of them while maintaining plausible deniability to everyone else. The McCain strategy has pretty much blown the second part. Even if they can deny the racism, they’ve gone too far to deny the inflammatory hatemongering.
I don’t know that the look in the kids eyes could be doctored
Obama Bin Lyin poster at MCpig fest in VA.
Beautiful work Eli.
If goopers are going to lose, and it appears that they will, then it may be better for their own long term health to lose BIG….
1) The dems will bear sole responsibility for the next two years- and they are not shaping up to be winners.
2) Goopers will have a VERY good chance of rebounding in the midterms- coming from a low point.
3) (And perhaps most importantly) goopers will have to admit to themselves that their coalition can no longer control the vote and they will be forced to take steps to broaden it….the old moderate gooper positions could be winners in the current environment– the “cut taxes and rely on the radical base” may not cut it going forward..
Look for gooperism in drag next time aroud in all the sane states.
Thanks, man!
I was trying to give them a little undeserved benefit of the doubt :)
Time to go grease the cogs!!
Catch y’all later!!
I think #1 may very well be their plan. If the Democrats have the White House *and* a filibuster-proof Senate majority, then they OWN everything that happens in the first two years of Obama’s term. And most of that will be bad.
How well the Democrats do in 2010 and ‘12 will depend on whether they can effectively remind the nation which party actually got us into this mess.
Good for you and good for your doc. There are many decent Rs and I think we have a lot of them this time.
It is because Obama didn’t do a series of townhalls with McShame
Which kinda looks like a mistake now…
Sweet! Good on ya for fighting the good war one vote at a time……and straight Dem, to boot. :-)
McCain is not just destroying himself, he’s destroying all the downticket Republicans as well. It’s so very, very sad…
Or, perhaps, “He hit me back first!”
O come on people!
You know their very favorite political tactic is:
“I know you are but what am I?”
Agreed, I believe there are a lot of R’s out there who are pragmatic rather than ideological. I just said to a couple of drug reps (usually very R folks due to the money that lands in their pockets when drug companies can run amok)”how is all that peace & prosperity working out for ya?” seems to be the argument no one can counter.
I suspect that McCain knew that he would be at a financial disadvantage and wanted the “town halls” to get free exposure- equalizing the game- Obama wanted to hold onto his funding advantage and wanted no part of giving McCain’s ugly mug free press…
What we don’t know yet is how much benefit Obama will get from his advantage in the last month- if he is able to bury McCain in ads that are effective- then he made the right decision.
Obama’s people won’t say what they raised in Sept. other than “It was a LOT!”
McCain is increasingly dependent on the RNC to make up the gap but the RNC may prefer to spend the money on “winnable” races. There is the possibility for this to turn into a laugher
Hopefully you live in Ohio.
Although if Obama kicked his ass all over the town halls that were supposedly McCain’s specialty, that probably wouldn’t be the best kind of free exposure.
My wife just discovered over the weekend we have a new channel on our Dish Network — The Obama Channel (paid for by the Obama campaign).
24/7 pro-Obama documentaries and campaign media.
I’ve set it as one of my “favorites.”
That’s kinda clever at least. Repubs are pretty good a childish taunts. I’ll give ‘em that.
Yep- and it would have been bold to win on McCain’s turf. So far McCain has been the “bold” (but stupid) one- wheras Obama has been “conservative” and smart.
As Aristotle said “Courage is a mean between the extremes of cowardice and rashness”
(or something to that effect)
Nope, I’m a PA Scranton native living in NC
I totally agree.
Salome Palin calls for audience to “turn their anger into action….” as she introduces John Smearmerchant McCain.
Anger into action…
And she just left that “out there”…
Yesterday, I noticed a home made McCain/Palin sign in a Minneapolis neighborhood a couple of doors down from where my son lives. I had to get a photo of this sign, it reeked of a Fox fan household.
MACCAIN
PALEN
Not long after I took the photo, the lady of the house who looked to be retirement age came out & changed the E in Palin to an I. She didn’t fix the McCain spelling so I guess she hadn’t caught on to that yet.
In NE Minn, an Obama sign by the Minorca mine was defaced with orange spray paint, the N word written over it…misspelled.
This is now what is left of the GOP base. Great job, Republicans!
Very nice card —soigné!
I believe “A few good men” is the Army (did that come before or after the short-lived “Army of one”?). The marines go with “The few, the proud, the Marines”.
The Air Force simply has, “Bomb the shit out of everyone!”
I think we’ve almost certainly said similar things on our side. But not with a backdrop of people shouting “Terrorist!”, “Kill him!”, and “Off with his head!”…
You got THAT right. I e-mailed Rep. Lewis to tell him I agreed with him (grew up in Alabama and REMEMBER George Wallace’s tactics).
Julia made it. But it was my idea!
(I have *no* skillz…)
This is becoming a problem with the “intellectual goopers”. They have always been embarassed to be seen in the same frame as the “ignorant base” Palin and everything she represents highlights this division.
Assuming they lose- they will eat each other.
Rick Davis memo is inoperative. Only Steve Schmidt memos are operative at this point in time.
Judging from the polling, McCain’s circling the drain. His campaign strategy at this point appears to be the spaghetti test — throw it at the wall and see what sticks.
Thus far, nothing has stuck. And the folks who own the kitchen (the independents and moderates of both parties) appear to be pretty offended by McCain’s messing up their kitchen. There’s half-cooked spaghetti all over the place, and the goddam cockroaches are invading.
Only eleetists expect peeple to spell rite.
That’s okay, we’ll take NC’s electoral votes too.
I just watched a Law and Order: Criminal Intent episode. Given the show and the unsubtle meaning of “whatever it takes” or “take action”, the likely desired outcome is similar to what it produced in the show.
My point exactly. There was a time when McCain wanted to do the right thing and run an honorable campaign, but as soon as he ran into some adversity, POW! Er, so to speak.
HuffPo
yep, the Cadaverick’s got ‘im right where he wants ‘im *g*
Perhaps he’s been desperately waiting (and expecting) Bush to pull off an “October Surprise” upon which to build his “comeback”. Problem is, there isn’t much of a surprise, at this point, that can do anything but push him faster down the drain.
Sorry, Praedor.
The jarheads have owned a “A few good men…” for a long time. It’s been a long time since the Army had a really memorable recruiting slogan. “An Army of One” is just stoopid [sic]… so stupid it burns. “Army Strong”, well … that just sounds retarded.
Obama draws crowds of 20K McSame 600 -700 That says something that wouldn’t be said at townhalls.
And there’s a difference between seguing into specific suggestions of action like talk to your neighbor or register to vote
or… Palin’s open-ended “turn your anger into action….”
Incitement, mayhaps?
Good point, that. Funny how McCain has no drawing power of his own.
Yeah Army was “Be All That You Can Be…” prior to the “Army Of One”
Also a good point…
DOW up 550. The “story” is that investors like the “new” Paulson better than the “old” Paulson- at any rate- the market saw blood in the water below 8,000 and moved to eat a big lunch.
you betcha! Can’t wait to see Liddy Dole voted out of office.
rwcole@79:
The “intellectual” R’s all of a sudden fretting over the suggestible ignorants is pretty funny. They didn’t mind R operatives exploiting the gullibles as long as they stayed in their place.
The Piper Palin pic, even if it is a photoshop, has me in hysterics.
At the very least, in the current climate of McPalin events, Palin leaving that urging open-ended was a marked demonstration of carelessness. Negligence? Or worse?
And let’s be blunt…this isn’t just on Palin’s shoulders. This is on the shoulders of McCain and the merchants of hate he chose to hire.
I think you’re right.
What sort of October Surprise could the Dim Son come up with? Bomb Iran … that ain’t polling well. The economic meltdown? Everything Incurious George’s minions have tried has (at best) had no effect. Declare martial law and suspend the elections? That won’t fly even with Roberts and his buddies at the SCOTUS sandbox.
BC
*g* Shows what a big impression their ad campaigns made on me.
Yeah Brooks is actually quite open about his distate for the gooper ignorati headed by Ms. Palin.
I think bin Laden is their best hope; either a “Vote for Obama or you’ll all die!” tape, or an actual attack, or his capture and/or death.
The kind reading is negligence.
I believe McPalin’s handlers know precisely what they’re doing. And we know that the Sarahcuda isn’t too good when she’s off notes/teleprompter. Urging them to take whatever action they deem appropriate was deliberate.
Agree, and we have noticed missle attacks into the Pakistan side of the Afghan/Pakistan border. Dim Son is TRYIN!
It’s hard work, though – ‘cuz bin Laden is hiding.
Yeah- they know exactly what they are doing—losing the fucking election- that’s what they are doing.
Bin Laden- devil- is fiendishly clever- he doesn’t sit out on his front porch swing waiting fer the bomb to fall on his head—evil bastard!
How about a new Osama tape
Maybe.
I think the general electorate’s response ObL’s capture/death would be something close to, “It’s about fucking time. We’ve got more important shit to worry about.”
I think it would weaken McPalin, by removing the lie, “I know how to catch ObL, and I’ll do it” from their arsenal.
BC
Although, I’m seeing that quoted as something like “Let McCain turn that anger into action”, which is not nearly as bad.
Perhaps the Army should try, “Go to Iraq! And then Afghanistan before going back to Iraq!”
The Air Force with ALWAYS be, “Blow the shit out of everyone! Then make for the club for a round of drinks!.”
That would require ObL’s cooperation. Would he do it? Who knows?
What effect on the electorate? Again, who knows.
They may be desperately hoping that they will get a kill on Bin Laden or Mullah Omar.
I didn’t say it would be enough, just that it’s the best hope they’ve got. I really can’t think of anything else. At least nothing serious.
McLame seems ill-suited to play the “Mod” card.
OBL wants Republicans to stay in power forever, they’re great for business.
I originally thought this “bailout” bidness and sudden economic turmoil talk that required IMMEDIATE action (despite years of downward spiral where something should’ve been done) was an attempt to help Repubs in general, including McInsane. An October surprise if you will.
It has backfired if my hunch is right. I don’t understand this theory that the economic collapse and bailout were one of the main reasons Obama has gotten a bump. I’d think that chaos would favor the familiar names (McCain) over the new names (Obama). Historically, it works that way and that’s why McInsane has attempted language in this regard (”You want a steady hand at the rudder”).
Obama was rising before this stuff happened, and he has skyrocketed recently because of his smarts and skills. I’m not sure another “terrorist” attack or other surprise would even help McInsane anymore. Obama has neutered all those perceived advantages with his fantastic campaign strategies. I know Brokaw is still pushing that McInsane still has the “terrorism” advantage, but I disagree with that.
masaccio up with a post about what we can still do about the bailout.
I think a lot of it *is* due to the economic collapse. Everyone knows that Bush is primarily responsible, and most of them also know that McCain has been way more pro-Bush than Obama has. Some of them even know who Phil Gramm is.
Actually, Eli, the one thing on your list that does worry me is #9, Diebold Madness.
That’s why I want a HUGE turnout. You can’t steal a landslide.
without apparent irony:
Wednesday night is going to be definitive. If McShame loses that one too it is all over.
Same here, although I think there are limits to just how many votes can be stolen before it becomes too obvious for the media and congressional Democrats to dismiss or ignore.
OBL is sitting in a cave laughing his ass off.
Hey gang, perhaps stolen votes won’t affect the prez election, but what about the other races here there and everywhere? That would have a big effect on the political landscape Obama has to work in.
Or furiously revising his recruiting strategy.
I’m still waiting for McInsane to [Mod: no.] a la Mike Tyson. I’m hopeful.
This is entirely possible, unfortunately. The Democrats will still gain a lot of ground, but perhaps not as much as they should.
Eli -
Not that Lewis wasn’t absolutely right to say it, but his response was what McCain was hoping for. They want to resuscitate race in the mainstream media by getting someone respectable to raise the issue and thereby amplify it. It’s gravy if that someone is a black civil rights leader. It won’t work, but they don’t have a lot of cards to play.
We use optical scanners here in New Mexico. I really want a hand-count audit done on 2% of the machines, and more if there are errors found.
Again though, it might’ve worked in Obama’s favor because of the campaign and messaging Obama has run, not the economic turmoil in and of itself. I want to make sure Obama’s success isn’t painted as something that just happened to him through dumb luck, but rather Obama’s smarts is why he’s rising.
I doubt he could reach it
oops, not that I want any harm to come to anyone except metaphorically…but in actuality, i would have a stockpile of schaudenfreude to replace my 401k for years if McInsane loses it publicly.
To me it looks like a lot of it is Republican chickens coming home to roost. Maybe Obama would have won anyway, but reality’s total repudiation of Republican ideology is a big factor.
I dunno, it seems to me that if you’re trying to make the case that your candidate is not just like George Wallace, you’re probably not in a really great position…
This is true and it’s also what will soothe McCain as he rocks in his rocking chair.
“Laces Out!”
I am heartened by the fact that there are fewer paperless touchscreen machines this time around. Yeah, there could still be shenanigans with the tallying, but at least there’s potential to catch them if recounts are called for. But they still have to be called for.
That is the most interesting aspect of this election- and something that probably won’t be talked about much until it’s all over..
The first response is likely to be emotional- “McCain screwed it all up by not doin A,B, or C- but then they may have to face the fact that the only goopers who can win in statewide races using the “tried and true” gooper formula are in the VERY deep south or Mormon states (Utah, Wyoming, Ideeho).
Everywhere else- the old Coke is dead- long live the new Coke—-Oh- they forgot to MAKE a new Coke.
Palin and McCain represent two directions in which the gooper party can go- Pro defense/military industrial complex- or religious populism. Unfortunately, McBush didn’t really try to graft em- he just sewed em together like a two headed horse. I don’t really see how they CAN fit together…that’s the problem.
“It’s all that Dan Marino’s fault, everyone knows that…”
What exactly do Palin and McBush have in common?
They’re both in love with power and don’t give a shit about anything else.
Rethug tactics
You can’t recount a paperless system — the vote goes straight into the storage device in accordance with the voting program.
You can reread the chip, but that’s not a recount.
To cast the words of St Ronnie of Raygun back at the Rethuglicans, “Trust, but verify.”
If it’s optical scan, you have the original cards. If it’s paper-trail touchscreen, you have the list tape – assuming it reflects the vote cast as opposed to the vote recorded, which I’m not 100% sold on.
Vacuous spouses? Make-up artist?
We used diebold machines here in California during the 04 election. They HAVE a paper trail- a ribbon of paper inside the machine in which the votes are recorded- they are at least in theory auditable- but I’d sure hate to have the job- also- voters were often not told about the little window on the machine where they could check to make sure that their vote was properly recorded on the tape. I don’t think many bothered anyway.
I worked that election primarily because of my concerns about the system (as a poll worker) and was generally impressed by what I saw-
Didn’t matter anyway in the national race of course.
Exactly.
If I were trying to rig an election using paper-trail touchscreens, I’d have the program write the vote recorded to the tape rather than the vote cast. You’d have to rely on human sloth and stupidity to get away with it, but there’s plenty of those to go around.
Optical scan, on the other hand. That’s tougher, by several orders of magnitude, because the voter marks her own ballot. Not only that, the ballot goes into a secure holding area. It’s always vulnerable to a hand recount.
Basically, you can scam it if the machine’s doing it, but if the machine isn’t you’re vulnerable to a hand count.
I should add that there were no complaints in the precincts (two) where I was working that the vote recorded on the tape didn’t match what was shown on the screen- if there was tomfoolery going on with that- you would think that at least one voter would have noticed.
What’s the format? Any info on that?
See my comment about human sloth and stupid, above.
Paper is best for sure- although you do end up with some potentially “spoiled ballots” similar to what you have with punch cards- if there are two spots of ink in two “bubbles” (even if one was tiny and accidental), you have ambiguity. If the mark was small and partially outside the bubble you have another ambiguity.
It’s still the best system goin though,
Not necessarily. You don’t need to steal many votes in a close race under a first-to-the-post system. In fact, you don’t even want to steal many votes. One percent will do it. Use the system clock and the vote status to determine if this is a vote to be stolen. If it is, steal it.
I don’t know about ballot designs elsewhere, but here in NM we vote on letter-sized paper. There’s always been plenty of room around the bubbles — a voter would have to be very physically impaired to create an ambiguous ballot. For those voters, we have machines at each polling place to fill in their ballots.
Aside from being nervous about the counting software (which is why I want a hand audit of some randomly selected machines), I’m very happy with the scanning system we use.
I can’t say that it couldn’t happen or even that it didn’t happen- I can only report what I saw. Doesn’t matter here anymore as we went back to paper. There’s one Diebold machine per precinct set up for handicapped voters- which was never used in the primary- zero votes recorded.
Here is the link – they will be seated at a table otherwise like first but on domestic issues
http://www.youdecide2008.com/2…..lin-biden/
Our ballots are very large- and so are the bubbles- but some voters will make a check mark rather than coloring in the bubble- and part of the check mark will go outside the bubble- and they may rest their pen in another bubble while reading- leaving a small dab of ink…I don’t know how the readers are programmed to deal with those cases- but in the event of a recount- humans would decide what was what.
Mail in ballots leave a paper trail
A seated debate may end up being better for McCain- when he is able to walk around, he limps and moves nervously- lookin like a geriatric patient in search of a toilet.
Provided they make it to the counting table.
According to BlackBoxVoting.org, the optical scanners are as easy or easier to manipulate than the touchscreens. They have extremely detailed studies on how all this is done by the thieves. Great resource:
http://blackboxvoting.org/
Blue Texan up at the Mothership:“Right-Wing Blogosphere Conflates Official McCain Events And McCain Supporters With Random Shit They Find On Google”
Palin is the one pushing the hatred, as far as I can see. She is a small minded person getting her 15mins of fame, nothing more and not worth acknowledging what so ever.
Even though, after the 1st debate when JM would not look at Mr. Obama, it made me wonder if there ‘hidden’ reason why he didn’t?
Then in the 2nd debate when he walked off and did not shake hands, I believe that he truely hated Obama for running against him. But is there another reason, only JM knows that.