What better way to follow-up a long and serious post on Halloween than to share a video with beer as its focal point? Thanks to Cyn and John B for spreading the word about this one.
I hope that Joe the Plumber truly understands that the only people who aren’t laughing AT him are delusional. That, and following the election, neither McCain nor Palin are going to give a rat’s ass who he is or what he’s doing.
It has become a familiar theme in U.S. elections. Democrats get blamed for attempted voter fraud due to efforts (and ties to groups that make efforts) to register as many eligible voters as possible, regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation or income bracket. Meanwhile, Republicans work very hard each and every election to ensure that, come Election Day, the smallest number of people possible are eligible to vote. Just look at Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004. This is how Republicans win elections.
What is going on? How is it possible that all of these machines can’t correctly record a small amount of data and spit out a paper receipt clearly showing which choices a voter made?
It’s not as if this is new technology.
Tens of thousands of ATMs have touchscreens. Millions of cell phones have touchscreens. I’m willing to bet that, in a single hour in the U.S. alone, the combined usage of these two types of touchscreen devices far exceeds that of the total usage of all electronic voting machines during an election. I’m also willing to bet that the total number of errors produced on ATMs and cell phones is less than those produced on electronic voting machines. If anyone can prove me wrong, please do so in the comments below. Imagine if, on every ATM and cell phone, every time you pressed the “2″ on the on-screen number pad a “7″ was displayed on the screen. The outcry would be tremendous and the fixes would come swiftly. Apparently, the same priority is not placed on deciding issues and electing officials in this country.
Faulty touchscreens made by companies with extreme partisan loyalties are, unfortunately, only one of the problems with elections in our country. Much larger than the ridiculous electronic issues we face, are the efforts by the Republicans to suppress the vote.
Jumping all over this issue, Greg Palast and Robert Kennedy Jr. have teamed up to bring us the incredible, Steal Back Your Vote. This in-depth investigation into the voter suppression and irregularities that have occurred so far this year, as well as in past elections, is both eye-opening and extremely frightening.
Their co-authored article, Block the Vote, published yesterday in Rolling Stone, details many of the things they uncovered during their investigations. The video available at the Steal Back Your Vote site, as well as the free comic book (PDF) pictured here, document the various means of voter suppression with which the Republican Party is attempting to steal yet another election.
Now, before I hear outbursts or accusations that I’m making blanket statements, you need to understand that this is not something the Republican Party denies or is even really all that quiet about. As Palast and Kennedy wrote in their article (emphasis added):
Suppressing the vote has long been a cornerstone of the GOP’s electoral strategy. Shortly before the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, Paul Weyrich — a principal architect of today’s Republican Party — scolded evangelicals who believed in democracy. “Many of our Christians have what I call the ‘goo goo’ syndrome — good government,” said Weyrich, who co-founded Moral Majority with Jerry Falwell. “They want everybody to vote. I don’t want everybody to vote. . . . As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”
Today, Weyrich’s vision has become a national reality. Since 2003, according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, at least 2.7 million new voters have had their applications to register rejected. In addition, at least 1.6 million votes were never counted in the 2004 election — and the commission’s own data suggests that the real number could be twice as high. To purge registration rolls and discard ballots, partisan election officials used a wide range of pretexts, from “unreadability” to changes in a voter’s signature. And this year, thanks to new provisions of the Help America Vote Act, the number of discounted votes could surge even higher.
For more excellent examples and detailed examples of ridiculous Republican attempts at suppressing the vote, please see TPM’s, Republican Voter Suppression: A Guide. And for several other videos involving voting problems and voter suppression, be sure to check out the Video the Vote channel on YouTube.
So does this mean we should panic? Absolutely not. That doesn’t mean, however, that we should let our guard down either. The courts are jumping all over efforts to suppress the vote this year. The Supreme Court recently blocked a GOP effort to purge voter rolls in Ohio and, just this week in an effort to reduce lines and wait times, a federal judge ordered Pennsylvania to provide paper ballots to voters when half of the voting machines at any polling station are not working. For many precincts, that could mean having to provide paper ballots when as few as one machine breaks. Why, you ask? Because…
In Philadelphia, for example, more than 90 percent of precincts have no more than two voting machines.
This, in a city over 1.5 million people. Unbelievable.
Thankfully, there are thousands of dedicated, hard-working people putting in countless hours to help protect the voting rights of millions of Americans. They’ve put together some of the best resources and tools I’ve ever seen to help voters cast their ballots and report problems this year.
If you do experience difficulties or irregularities at the polls, please also report them. Where’s My Vote? (thanks to David V!) is attempting to log as many issues as possible in order to alert elections officials when patterns are identified. There’s even an iPhone app created by the Twitter Vote Report (follow the effort on Twitter here), an innovative effort to provide real-time updates on polling place conditions:
Vote Report lets you send a quick report about the conditions at your polling place and thereby alert the media, officials, and watchdog groups of any irregularities which might need attention. Likewise, this will show all the places where things are going smoothly.
10 Tips To Make Sure Your Vote Will Count is another excellent resource, put together by Wholesum.org, containing dozens of links to other voting issue-related sites and resources. Probably the most important advice to remember from their site, should you run into issues while voting:
Supervisor couldn’t help you? Do not leave your polling station. Call 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683). This hotline will be staffed with legal experts who can help you determine your voting rights. The Election Protection group running the hotline will also have legal experts in the field monitoring the polls. If you don’t have a legal question and just want to report a problem you’ve encountered, call a separate hotline, 866-MYVOTE1 (866-698-6831), and leave a message. Please be sure to leave your name and phone number on the message if you want someone to investigate your problem and get back to you.
Please share the phone numbers above with as many people as possible. It’s very important that everyone, regardless of which way they are voting, is allowed a fair chance to participate in our democracy.
And, remember, it is up to each and every one of us to DOUBLE-CHECK OUR BALLOTS (electronic or otherwise) before we cast our votes. If you experience any problems, or are unsure that you completed the process correctly, check with a poll worker. That’s what they are there for.
Only 5 days left. We need to make sure every vote is counted.
If it were real, my eyes (and ears) would be bleeding. It’s actually one of the many great pieces of content from 23/6, the same people who brought us the Ashley Todd Halloween mask (PDF).
Probably the best part about the whole thing was that Fox News and John McCain thought the whole thing was real. Even better than best, John McCain considers this to be “new technology.”
The three women, all actors and/or musicians, in the video - Barbara Baskin, Ellen Nira Cade and Jamie Robin - then “switched allegiances” (the Obama video disappeared, but I found this one) and followed it up with this little ditty:
Oh, but wait…there’s more! This one comes from the hilarious comics over at Barely Political.
Thanks to Mickey passing a couple of these along…it’s going to be a while before that first video stops haunting me.
In probably the best example of John McCain’s desperation today, his campaign mascot, Joe the Plumber, was nowhere to be found. I could say I think this is the best example because Joe wasn’t in the audience and McCain looked like a complete fool aimlessly searching the crowd for him before eventually coming up with what has to be one of the lamest recovery attempts ever. I could say that, but it wouldn’t be true. No, while that was definitely the funniest (saddest?) part of the rally, the best example of desperation was the fact that more than 4,000 of the estimated 6,000 people in attendance where (not yet of voting age) school kids who were bused in from the surrounding school districts! I kid you not.
A local school district official confirmed after the event that of the 6,000 people estimated by the fire marshal to be in attendance this morning, more than 4,000 were bused in from schools in the area. The entire 2,500-student Defiance School District was in attendance, the official said, in addition to at least three other schools from neighboring districts, one of which sent 14 buses.
Obama has pulled in crowds of 75,000+ several times during the campaign. Twice, the crowds exceeded 100,000 people at rallies in traditionally red states. In contrast, McCain pulls less than 2,000 (supposedly) eligible voters to a rally 5 days before Election Day. Just look at all the kids in the background of this video. Joe or no Joe, that’s just plain sad.
I’m just wondering how badly McCain lit up the adviser/aide who neglected to tell him ahead of time that Joe was a no-show.
I doubt there’s anyone here that hasn’t already seen this, but here it is again just in case. This roughly 30-minute paid spot that aired tonight for Barack Obama was powerful stuff. The thing that struck me most was the lack of any negativity toward, or mention of, John McCain. Obama simply laid out his detailed plans and made the case for why he is the best candidate. I also don’t have any problem admitting that some of the stories shown in this video had me pretty choked up a couple of times. In a word: Wow.
You can also download a high-quality MP4 version by clicking here.
Ok, so maybe the “fame and fortune” thing is a bit of an exaggeration. (Right now, anyway)
Nonetheless, I’ve received a few inquiries from people asking to write for Repooplicans.com. Besides, being beyond flattered that anyone else would want to be involved in my humble effort, I’m very excited that there is interest because this thing is definitely bigger than just me. That, and sooner or later, everyone is inevitably going to grow tired of my rants and less-than-stellar grammar and punctuation.
My plans for this blog extend well beyond next Tuesday, so if you’re interested in becoming a regular contributor, please drop me a note with your contact info. While I am open to having people post every now and then as well, I would really like to develop a regular and consistent voice for the blog and that is most effectively done through the participation of a regular cast.
This being the fledgling operation that it is, the positions are unpaid and do not come with any benefits other than the warm, fuzzy feeling you’ll get from contributing to a just and noble cause.
Just came across this video of a woman calling Obama a n***** at a Palin rally in Iowa. A sad example of the state of the McCain/Palin campaign, as well as our country.
If the wheels haven’t come completely off McCain’s Straight Talk Express, then a couple of them are flat at the very least. Oh, and the “check engine” light just came on. It’s only Monday of the week before Election Day and John McCain’s week is already in the crapper:
Sarah Palin was described as “going rogue” by some of his own advisers, who say she is now looking out for herself more than the McCain campaign. Today, in a move that seemed to confirm this, Palin disregarded McCain adviser-approved talking points, stating that the clothes making up the now infamous $150,000 wardrobe aren’t even her property.
Appearing on Meet the Press on Sunday, when responding to Tom Brokaw’s point regarding Colin Powell’s endorsement of Obama, McCain forgot the name of the fifth former Secretary of State who has endorsed him. After repeating the list of four names he did remember in an attempt to jog his memory, he gave up with a big sigh, only to interrupt Brokaw a full 30 seconds later by bluttering out his name (George Shultz) and then referring to him as “one of the greatest Secretaries of State in history.
Dozens of telemarketers walked off the job in Indiana, rather than read a McCain campaign script describing Obama as being against “protecting children from danger.”
Ted Stevens (R-AK) was indicted on all corruption charges (7) that had been filed against him. Sarah Palin, the maverick reformer and fighter of corruption, failed to call on Stevens to resign following the announcement of the verdict, saying only, “I’m confident Senator Stevens will do what’s right for the people of Alaska.” It was just earlier this year that Palin was singing his praises in a joint press conference.
Joe Liberman keeps talking and talking and talking. (Seriously, people pick on Biden, but this a-hole is truly the Chief of Gaffe)
But probably worst of all for McCain, according to Karl Rove’s own electoral map, McCain is going to be absolutely destroyed next Tuesday. As of yesterday, he has Obama leading McCain 306-157 with 75 electoral votes in the toss-up column. For those of you who have chosen to lead a life sans-math, this means you could give McCain all 75 toss-ups and he’s still 38 votes shy of the magic 270 needed to win.
Adding insult to injury, McCain is showing a mere 8% lead in his home state of Arizona on Rove’s map (Rasmussen’s latest has it at only 5%), a state which has also dropped from the red “strong” category to the less than optimistic pink “lean” category over at Pollster.com. To put this into perspective, Obama enjoys an insurmountable 25% lead in Illinois. One small change the wrong way in points for McCain and Arizona becomes a battleground state! I’m by no means an expert on presidential elections, but I’m pretty damn sure you should have a double-digit lead in your home state, at a minimum.
Disclaimer: Click the link above to visit Karl’s site at your own peril. Who knows what kind of list you’ll get added to for visiting. I cannot be held responsible if you somehow end up becoming a card-carrying member of the Republican Party.
Again, no elections expert here, but this seems like a pretty craptastic way to close out a presidential campaign.
