Dirty tricks tricking voters

[DaRizzle]

In the hours before Election Day, as inevitable as winter, comes an onslaught of dirty tricks — confusing e-mails, disturbing phone calls and insinuating fliers left on doorsteps during the night.

The intent, almost always, is to keep folks from voting or to confuse them, usually through intimidation or misinformation. But in this presidential race, in which a black man leads most polls, some of the deceit has a decidedly racist bent.

Complaints have surfaced in predominantly African-American neighborhoods of Philadelphia where fliers have circulated, warning voters they could be arrested at the polls if they had unpaid parking tickets or if they had criminal convictions.

Over the weekend in Virginia, bogus fliers with an authentic-looking commonwealth seal said fears of high voter turnout had prompted election officials to hold two elections — one on Tuesday for Republicans and another on Wednesday for Democrats.

In New Mexico, two Hispanic women filed a lawsuit last week claiming they were harassed by a private investigator working for a Republican lawyer who came to their homes and threatened to call immigration authorities, even though they are U.S. citizens.

"He was questioning her status, saying that he needed to see her papers and documents to show that she was a U.S. citizen and was a legitimate voter," said Guadalupe Bojorquez, speaking on behalf of her mother, Dora Escobedo, a 67-year-old Albuquerque resident who speaks only Spanish. "He totally, totally scared the heck out of her."

In Pennsylvania, e-mails appeared linking Democrat Barack Obama to the Holocaust. "Jewish Americans cannot afford to make the wrong decision on Tuesday, Nov. 4," said the electronic message, paid for by an entity calling itself the Republican Federal Committee. "Many of our ancestors ignored the warning signs in the 1930s and 1940s and made a tragic mistake."

Laughlin McDonald, who leads the ACLU's Voting Rights Project, said he has never seen "an election where there was more interest and more voter turnout, and more efforts to suppress registration and turnout. And that has a real impact on minorities."

The Obama campaign and civil rights advocacy groups have signed up millions of new voters for this presidential race. In Ohio alone, some 600,000 have submitted new voter registration cards.

Across the country, many of these first-time voters are young and strong Obama supporters. Many are also black and Hispanic.

Activist groups say it is this fresh crop of ballot-minded citizens that makes some Republicans very nervous. And they say they expect the dirty tricks to get dirtier in final hours before Tuesday.

"Oh, there's plenty of time for things to get ugly," said Zachary Stalberg, president of The Committee of Seventy, a Philadelphia-based government watchdog group that is nonpartisan.

LINK

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

Is it me, or does this stuff seem to get worse over the last 10 years or so?

 

[DaRizzle]

I would be willing to bet this has been the most ever since it isnt two old white guys this year.

...and yes my sig is ironic

 

[maxiep]

I'm amazed at how dumb people have to be to fall for this stuff.

 

[MickZagger]

Dumb people get to vote too.

I'm amazed at how desperate the McCain campaign has got. If you can't win a fair election on the issues and by persuading the voters, manipulating and scaring voters out of not voting so you can win is about as slimy as it gets. With the Republican party it never ceases to amaze me though.

 

[maxiep]

Dumb people get to vote too.

I'm amazed at how desperate the McCain campaign has got. If you can't win a fair election on the issues and by persuading the voters, manipulating and scaring voters out of not voting so you can win is about as slimy as it gets. With the Republican party it never ceases to amaze me though.

I'm glad you admit a significant voting bloc for Obama is represented by "dumb people". I agree. It will be interesting to see after he's elected when he doesn't live up to the promises people have imprinted on him, what happens. There really are people out there who think he's going to make everything terrible in their life glorious. I heard a quote about a woman who claimed he was going to help her fill her gas tank and pay her mortgage. Now, that is what you call a sucker.

 

[MickZagger]

I'm glad you admit a significant voting bloc for Obama is represented by "dumb people". I agree. It will be interesting to see after he's elected when he doesn't live up to the promises people have imprinted on him, what happens. There really are people out there who think he's going to make everything terrible in their life glorious. I heard a quote about a woman who claimed he was going to help her fill her gas tank and pay her mortgage. Now, that is what you call a sucker.

I'd say its evenly proportionate.

I'd say anybody who can claim that Obama is a terrorist, Arab, Communist and Marxist is even more dumb than somebody who thinks Obama will help the country out. People who buy into that schtick the neo-con talking heads are spewing are equally suckers.

 

[maxiep]

I'd say its evenly proportionate.

I'd say anybody who can claim that Obama is a terrorist, Arab, Communist and Marxist is even more dumb than somebody who thinks Obama will help the country out. People who buy into that schtick the neo-con talking heads are spewing are equally suckers.

Agreed. I'm actually quite impressed that you didn't use the typical line of "Democrats are smart, Republicans are dumb". There's far too much stupidity in this country, and that's why we need to completely overhaul our education system.

 

[TradeNurkicNow]

Agreed. I'm actually quite impressed that you didn't use the typical line of "Democrats are smart, Republicans are dumb". There's far too much stupidity in this country, and that's why we need to completely overhaul our education system.

My dad always told me it was "Republicans are evil, Democrats are stupid."

Either way, these are typical Rovian tactics which have been employed in the last 8 years, trying to dupe people into not voting. Democracy at its best.

I've gone on the record in another thread that these are total dick moves.

 

[BlazerWookee]

Dumb people get to vote too.

I'm amazed at how desperate the McCain campaign has got. If you can't win a fair election on the issues and by persuading the voters, manipulating and scaring voters out of not voting so you can win is about as slimy as it gets. With the Republican party it never ceases to amaze me though.

First of all, what makes you think that the McCain campaign is behind any of this stuff?

Second of all, you don't believe for a minute that there's none of this kind of thing going on in the other direction, do you?

I don't have a third of all, lol...

 

[MickZagger]

First of all, what makes you think that the McCain campaign is behind any of this stuff?

Second of all, you don't believe for a minute that there's none of this kind of thing going on in the other direction, do you?

I don't have a third of all, lol...

The McCain campaign itself doesn't have to bring these things up. They can paint the tone of the campaign without straight forwardly calling him a socialist or insinuating that he has radical beliefs because he was on a board with Ayers. They have surrogates like Bachman from Minnesota to do that for him. They also have a whole network of cable news to do that for him. Watch 10 minutes of any Fox Noise show and you'll be bombarded with it.

McCain himself hasn't shied away from insinuating that Obama is a socialist without flat out saying it:

WALLACE: But you did it indirectly, so let me ask you for some straight talk. Do you think that Senator Obama is a socialist? Do you think that his plans are socialism?

MCCAIN: I think his plans are redistribution of the wealth. He said it himself, "We need to spread the wealth around." Now, that's one of...

WALLACE: Is that socialism?

MCCAIN: That's one of the tenets of socialism. But it's more the liberal left, which he's always been on. He's always been in the left lane of American politics.

WALLACE: But, Senator, when we talk...

MCCAIN: So is one of the tenets of socialism redistribution of the wealth? Not just socialism — a lot of other liberal and left wing philosophies — redistribution of the wealth? I don't believe in it. I believe in wealth creation by Joe the Plumber.

I haven't seen any kind of claims of character directed towards McCain by the Obama campaign and there is plenty to run with as well. Keating 5 or his affair are just a few that can be exploited.

This is a big election that the McCain campaign is trying to win based on small issues. That style of politics is not effective anymore. As the American people are going to show tomorrow when Obama is elected President overwhelmingly.

 

[MARIS61]

I'm amazed at how dumb people have to be to fall for this stuff.

They fell for Bush twice, so I'm amazed that you're amazed.

 

[MARIS61]

Agreed. I'm actually quite impressed that you didn't use the typical line of "Democrats are smart, Republicans are dumb".

Well, Democrats are smart enough to realize that, and Republicans are too dumb to know they are.

 

[MARIS61]

There's far too much stupidity in this country, and that's why we need to completely overhaul our education system.

Make "The Pet Goat" required reading?

 

[maxiep]

My dad always told me it was "Republicans are evil, Democrats are stupid."

Did your dad also tell you that Jews are cheap, blacks like fried chicken and watermelon, that Orientals are bad drivers and Mexicans are lazy?

 

[MARIS61]

Did your dad also tell you that Jews are cheap, blacks like fried chicken and watermelon, that Orientals are bad drivers and Mexicans are lazy?

Or as maxiep likes to say, that Germans are addicted to the economic stimulus our bases provide.

 

[TradeNurkicNow]

Did your dad also tell you that Jews are cheap, blacks like fried chicken and watermelon, that Orientals are bad drivers and Mexicans are lazy?

Yeah, but he forgot to mention that the Swedes are inferior.