gruehls Wrote:it's an article of faith amongst you dems (who like to toss around expressions like "all you have left are vague assertions") that bush stole the election in florida, these articles of faith are equally inaccurate.
I am not asserting this. But if you would prefer to assign positions to me and then attack them (rather than attacking the positions I actually put forward) ... be my guest.
I do think it is worth pointing out that nothing in that long-winded article you posted rebuts Greg Palast's assertion: That thousands of people with names resembling that of felons were wrongly stripped from the Florida rolls in 2000.
Quote:just as it is now an article of faith that the poor old dems only want to get more people to the polls (the "give 'em crack cocaine to sign up democrats in defiance county" idea gets bonus points for creativity; he'd registered over 100 fictitious voters).
I suppose now we are getting to the core of it.
This is the Republican line of thinking:
1. Democrats are engaging in massive voter fraud.
2. As evidence, Republicans point to to the fact that some of the people that have been registered as part of all of these Democratic-leaning outreach efforts are turning out to be ficticious.
3. This "fraud" is far more vile and reprehensible than anything Republicans have done or (such as shredding Democratic voter registration forms in multiple states.)
That line of thinking doesn't pass the laugh test.
Nothing Democrats have done remotely compares to the morally repugnant decision by
Nathan Sproul, a former head of Arizona's Republican Party and the state's Christian Coalition branch, operating as an RNC-paid consultant, to shred Democratic voter registrations in multiple states.
All we need to do is look closely at the archtype of this supposed Democratic conspiracy -- this crackhead from Defiance, Ohio so often cited on right-wing radio.
I'm not sure why Chad Staton has become the poster child for the Republican woe-is-me spin about a supposed Democratic conspiracy. I can only guess that Republicans enjoy a good laugh about a crackhead now and again -- and that connecting a crackhead with Democrats makes Republicans feel better about themselves.
Fine. Jesus hung out with prostitutes. I'm proud to say we have some crackheads in my party. Crackheads are God's children, too.
But let's examine the archetype more closely:
It appears Mr. Staton "registered" Mary Poppins, Brett Farve, Michael Jordan, Jeffrey Dahmer and others in exchange for crack cocaine by another low-level activist in the organization.
*This*, we are supposed to believe, is one of many beachheads in a massive effort to steal the election from George W. Bush. This, we are supposed to believe, is far more vile than than the RNC-funded shreding of Democratic registration cards.
Hardly.
This poor crackhead in Defiance obviously didn't care whether George Bush wins or John Kerry won nearly as much as he cared about getting crack. That's why he filled out the cards. For crack .
A lot of good-minded people have spent the past year pouring their time and their treasure into getting more people registered to vote. As part of that effort, they are paying people to knock on doors and beat the streets in search of new people to register. Some of the work is hourly. Some of it is by the piece. In both cases, the pay sucks.
As a result, many of the people being drawn into these efforts are, to be blunt, low lifes with few other employment options -- people like Mr. Staton. And some of them cut corners.
The same thing happens every time some rich guy wants to put a ballot proposition before voters in Ohio. They pay for signatures and some of the signatures turn out to be bogus. It happens -- because the pay sucks, and the lowlifes who work on these things sometimes cut corners.
But to go from a crackhead like Mr. Staton cutting corners to a conspiracy to improperly influence the 2004 election, you Republicans need to go much further.
You need to point to evidence that Democratic efforts are not only putting "people" like Mary Poppins, Michael Jordan and Jeffrey Dahmer on the ballot -- but that there is a plan for "people" like Mary, Michael and Jeffrey to actually come out and vote next week.
There is no evidence of this.
None. The fact is, Mary Poppins, Michael Jordan and Jeffrey Dahmers are not voting next week.
They are simply the byproduct of corner-cutting by lowlifes like Mr. Staton. It isn't right. But it happens all the time in statewide petition drives. And now -- with people offering money for voter registrations -- it has happened in a voter registration drive, too.
Isn't it enough to prosecute Mr. Staton and people like him -- and move on, without shouting about a conspracy and how you are being victimized?
After all, any harm Mr. Staton may have done pales in comparison to the threat to this election posed by a scumbag like Nathan Sproul. His organization approached people in Arizona, Oregon and other states and offered to register them to vote.
Then, if his organization discovered it had accidentally registered a Democrat, it quietly shreded the registration card. It is accused of shredding thousands of Democratic registrations.
People are going to be *hurt* by this. There are people in several states will show up at the polls next Tuesday, believing they are registered to vote only to told no, they can't vote -- because Nathan Sproul's organization shreded their registration card.
Mr. Sproul should go to prison. His vile actions could influence the outcome of this election. Mr. Staton's actions will not.
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Yep, there's voter intimidation, all right
