Is this guy a set up?

[Eastoff]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/ns/msnbc_tv-countdown_with_keith_olbermann#37627925

He seems a little... weird. Maybe he's just nervous.

 

[barfo]

That's highly amusing.

barfo

 

[BrianFromWA]

Um, if he was a plant, and the Republicans paid 10k for him to be a plant, why did the majority of Democrats vote for him?

 

[barfo]

Um, if he was a plant, and the Republicans paid 10k for him to be a plant, why did the majority of Democrats vote for him?

South Carolina apparently has an open primary. Non-democrats (of which there are quite a few in SC) are free to vote for him.

barfo

 

[BrianFromWA]

Did anyone do any polling? Did the "establishment" Democrat challenge him to a debate? Are we opening up investigations now into anyone who the Democratic party believes shouldn't have the nomination?

As an aside, I can't find any coverage on if Ms. D'Ippolito in Indiana won the Dem Primary for Sen. Bayh's seat. Didn't the Democrats want to force her to withdraw as well?

 

[BrianFromWA]

South Carolina apparently has an open primary. Non-democrats (of which there are quite a few in SC) are free to vote for him.

barfo

I see. I don't understand why that would be, but I see how it could be used for shadiness.

 

[barfo]

As an aside, I can't find any coverage on if Ms. D'Ippolito in Indiana won the Dem Primary for Sen. Bayh's seat. Didn't the Democrats want to force her to withdraw as well?

Hmm, I forgot that story altogether. D'Ippolito apparently failed to submit the necessary paperwork in time. There was no primary, due to Bayh's resignation, the party chose the nominee, Brad Ellsworth.

barfo

 

[Eastoff]

I see. I don't understand why that would be, but I see how it could be used for shadiness.

agreed. It could understand a completely open election with no primaries.

 

[SlyPokerDog]

I'm confused, is Dudley or Kitzhaber the plant?

 

[crandc]

I have no idea whether he is a plant, but something is sure odd. I saw the interview on Keith Olbermann. Olbermann's questions were hardly rocket science: Did you hold campaign meetings? Rallies? Fund raisers? Did you go door to door? How did people in the state learn about you? I mean, Olbermann was not asking tough policy questions, but this dude could not answer. He really seemed to be mentally challenged. Nor could he explain where the money for his $10,000 filing fee came from (outrageous that states have filing fees that guarantee only the well to do can run, but that's another story), he said he paid it himself but he's unemployed. No one in the Democratic Party had heard of him. It's very weird.

 

[jlprk]

•Camille McCoy, 19, the University of South Carolina student who was shown pornographic photos by now-U.S. Senate candidate Alvin Greene thinks he should step out of the race. McCoy said she was in an on-campus computer lab in October when Greene, 32, asked her to look at his screen, which had pornographic pics on it. McCoy said she told him that was “not funny” and he asked to go to her dorm room with her. McCoy reported the incident several days later and Greene was arrested; he faces five years if convicted

http://www.thefrisky.com/post/246-todays-lady-news-061110/

Crandc, you're the law and order member of the board for the legal system's sex laws (such as all the anti-gay laws in the South), so I need a cultural right-winger like you to help me understand why this is illegal, not to mention being a 5-year felony.

 

[jlprk]

SC is an Open Primaries state. Republicans can vote for Democrats. And who knows who counts the votes. Greene was in the Army 13 years, including intelligence work, but apparently got kicked out. When asked the reason 2 days ago, he said, "It didnt work out." Then he was unemployed for a year and lived with his father in a black, rural area. He borrowed $500 for bail money. He got into the mood to run for the US Senate in a state where the Democrat has no chance against the Republican incumbent DeMint. So he magically whipped out $10,445 to file and with zero campaigning won 60% of the vote. He didn't start a web site because, you see, he can't afford a computer at home. Who knows, maybe he can't even figure computers out. Nothing fishy so far. Let's keep thinking about this.

Tuesday night, he won his party's nomination, because the media hadn't known of his arrest. But suddenly on election night, with lightning speed never seen before in the course of investigative journalism, reporters discovered the allegation, got a copy of the police report, hunted down the accuser, interviewed the poor victim and her angry mother, and obtained outraged quotes. I haven't seen such fast reporting since Monica was arrested and the next day, TV networks were showing tapes of her greeting Bill at an event months earlier. Nothing fishy so far. Let's actually see this intellectual talking. Here are videos of interviews of Greene in the last 2 days.

http://www.fitsnews.com/2010/06/11/who-paid-alvin-greene/

I did some more reading. South Carolina is the home of Republicans putting up false candidates. A Republican was convicted for falsely paying a fake black candidate's fee in 1992. Obviously, the intent was to divide and conquer Democratic voters. Then about 5 years ago, in walk 3 poor black candidates to put up their filing fees to run in an outlying county. They present consecutively-numbered cashier's checks. They have just stepped out of a rich man's car which waits outside.

More South Carolina. The County Council passes a full 1.0% sales tax increase (like, from 8.4% to 9.4%, that's a lot) to fund the local Chamber of Commerce (yes, all the money goes to that lobbying group), after the Chamber has paid a third of a million dollars in "contributions" to the County Council members who then vote for it.

http://www.fitsnews.com/2010/03/03/coastal-campaign-finance-scam-whos-investigating-this/

 

[bodyman5001]

The whole damn thing is a setup. We would be better off with people with brain damage in office. At least they might not sit around trying to think of ways to rob our tax money.

10 grand to run for office, nice. What a joke.

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

South Carolina apparently has an open primary. Non-democrats (of which there are quite a few in SC) are free to vote for him.

barfo

This is why I don't like open primaries.

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

SC is an Open Primaries state. Republicans can vote for Democrats. And who knows who counts the votes. Greene was in the Army 13 years, including intelligence work, but apparently got kicked out. When asked the reason 2 days ago, he said, "It didnt work out." Then he was unemployed for a year and lived with his father in a black, rural area. He borrowed $500 for bail money. He got into the mood to run for the US Senate in a state where the Democrat has no chance against the Republican incumbent DeMint. So he magically whipped out $10,445 to file and with zero campaigning won 60% of the vote. He didn't start a web site because, you see, he can't afford a computer at home. Who knows, maybe he can't even figure computers out. Nothing fishy so far. Let's keep thinking about this.

Tuesday night, he won his party's nomination, because the media hadn't known of his arrest. But suddenly on election night, with lightning speed never seen before in the course of investigative journalism, reporters discovered the allegation, got a copy of the police report, hunted down the accuser, interviewed the poor victim and her angry mother, and obtained outraged quotes. I haven't seen such fast reporting since Monica was arrested and the next day, TV networks were showing tapes of her greeting Bill at an event months earlier. Nothing fishy so far. Let's actually see this intellectual talking. Here are videos of interviews of Greene in the last 2 days.

http://www.fitsnews.com/2010/06/11/who-paid-alvin-greene/

I did some more reading. South Carolina is the home of Republicans putting up false candidates. A Republican was convicted for falsely paying a fake black candidate's fee in 1992. Obviously, the intent was to divide and conquer Democratic voters. Then about 5 years ago, in walk 3 poor black candidates to put up their filing fees to run in an outlying county. They present consecutively-numbered cashier's checks. They have just stepped out of a rich man's car which waits outside.

More South Carolina. The County Council passes a full 1.0% sales tax increase (like, from 8.4% to 9.4%, that's a lot) to fund the local Chamber of Commerce (yes, all the money goes to that lobbying group), after the Chamber has paid a third of a million dollars in "contributions" to the County Council members who then vote for it.

http://www.fitsnews.com/2010/03/03/coastal-campaign-finance-scam-whos-investigating-this/

It certainly smells like a set-up.

 

[crandc]

http://www.thefrisky.com/post/246-todays-lady-news-061110/

Crandc, you're the law and order member of the board for the legal system's sex laws (such as all the anti-gay laws in the South), so I need a cultural right-winger like you to help me understand why this is illegal, not to mention being a 5-year felony.

I am not a law and order member and I am not a cultural right winger. If you ask a rational question I wil try to supply a rational answer.

As to Greene, there is new evidence that in 25 precincts he was credited with more votes than were actually cast, so this is, as Alice so righty if ungrammatically put it, "curiouser and curiouser".

 

[Denny Crane]

A guy from Politico was on MSNBC this morning and he said that it's looking like the people really did vote for Greene.

He gave a couple of reasons why Greene likely won. His name was first on the ballot, which is a big advantage where people don't know the candidates. That his name is spelled with an E on the end is a clue to black voters that he is (indeed) black and they voted for him in big numbers. That white people didn't figure this out and thought he was white and voted for him.

 

[crandc]

That does not really explain it, Denny Crane. Ballot order can influence votes where neither candidate is well known, but the influence is small, about 2.5%. Greene won by 18%. Also, there are a lot of white people, including white politicians, named Greene, with an e. And the votes did not follow racial demographics; if African-American voters favored Greene because his name "looked black" you'd expect to see a stronger Greene majority in those districts; instead, it was random. Moreover, the difference between absentee ballots and votes cast on election day was huge. That is totally statistically unlikely; and was not found in any other election in any state. There is also still no explanation for how a man who got a public defender, who therefore had to be indigent and apparently was, came up with $10,400. Nor can Greene come up with any explanation of why he ran in the first place; most candidates, especially first time candidates, will have some issue or issues about which they are passionate, but he has none. Nada. And of course, the vote discrepancy.

To quote again, something is rotten in the State of Denmark, I mean South Carolina.

 

[Denny Crane]

^^^ I'm just reporting what the guy from Politico said on MSNBC.

 

[crandc]

^^^ I'm just reporting what the guy from Politico said on MSNBC.

I understand. And I am reporting from those who say that does not explain what happened.

 

[BlazerWookee]

I'm confused, is Dudley or Kitzhaber the plant?

Olberman is the plant. He has the brains of a rutabaga.

 

[crandc]

Olberman is the plant. He has the brains of a rutabaga.

Do you mean Olbermann? If you want to slam someone else's brains, try spelling his/her name correctly.

Did you listen to the interview? What did he say that was stupid?

It is now being reported there are numerous complaints that voters tried to vote for the other candidate and the machines repeatedly switched their votes. These machines had had numerous problems in past elections and have no paper trail.

 

[BlazerWookee]

Do you mean Olbermann? If you want to slam someone else's brains, try spelling his/her name correctly.

Did you listen to the interview? What did he say that was stupid?

It is now being reported there are numerous complaints that voters tried to vote for the other candidate and the machines repeatedly switched their votes. These machines had had numerous problems in past elections and have no paper trail.

I don't have enough respect for him to bother with spelling his name correctly. I know he's not stupid, but he's not very intellectually honest. My post was more a play on BrianfromWA's use of the word "plant" than anything else. Plus, "rutabega" is one of my all-time favorite words.

 

[crandc]

I don't have enough respect for him to bother with spelling his name correctly. I know he's not stupid, but he's not very intellectually honest. My post was more a play on BrianfromWA's use of the word "plant" than anything else. Plus, "rutabega" is one of my all-time favorite words.

What in Olbermann's interview was intellectually dishonest? He asked the man if he'd had campaign rallies, meetings, fund-raisers, did he go door to door, etc.

Personally I like the word salamander. Very onomatopoetic.

 

[maxiep]

Seriously, this entire situation is silly. No one knew who the "winner" was supposed to be, because the District is overwhelmingly Republican and DeMint is going to win going away, nor did it matter much. They picked the first guy on the ballot. It's like getting in an uproar over who's going to be the Republican to face Nancy Pelosi. It just doesn't matter.

The Democrats nominated an idiot. Republicans do it all the time. They want to find blame elsewhere, but they have no one to blame but themselves. Tough shit. If you don't devote resources to a Congressional district, this is what happens. Take your lumps without crying.

 

[crandc]

Well, actually, the person who devoted no resources got the nomination. So, maxie, you see nothing odd?

It is true that DeMint was and is the favored candidate, but recent polls just before the primary showed his lead slipping. He was considered by those who consider such things to be a possible, if unlikely, loss. It's also irrelevant, the dispute is not about an idiot, which I grant you is no rarity in politics, but about the integrity of elections as a whole.

 

[maxiep]

Well, actually, the person who devoted no resources got the nomination. So, maxie, you see nothing odd?

It is true that DeMint was and is the favored candidate, but recent polls just before the primary showed his lead slipping. He was considered by those who consider such things to be a possible, if unlikely, loss. It's also irrelevant, the dispute is not about an idiot, which I grant you is no rarity in politics, but about the integrity of elections as a whole.

Who devoted resources for the nomination? The guy who the Party wanted to win didn't spend a dime, to save his money to fight DeMint. The Democrats didn't even bother to spend a few grand to help promote the person they wanted. As for DeMint's lead slipping, it would have to go a LONG WAY down for the race to be even the smallest bit in doubt.

Having seen morons win their party's nominations in uncompetitive races, it doesn't surprise me in the least.

 

[BlazerWookee]

What in Olbermann's interview was intellectually dishonest? He asked the man if he'd had campaign rallies, meetings, fund-raisers, did he go door to door, etc.

Personally I like the word salamander. Very onomatopoetic.

I don't know, I didn't watch the interview. I just took a cheap shot at him in an obviously vain attempt to get a chuckle out of someone.

Salamander is up there on my list, but not above rutabaga.

How funny is it that I misspelled "rutabaga" while describing it as one of my favorite words?

 

[crandc]

Sometimes I think Olbermann's ego gets in the way. Sometimes he is too sarcastic. And his show at times is an echo chamber. Compare him to Rachel Maddow, who has hosted everyone from Rand Paul, to evangelical homophobes, to the PR firm that says high fructose corn syrup and tanning booths are really healthy.

But at least he is capable of laughing at himself. And I didn't find his interview with this cat dishonest. He was asking reasonable and relevant questions and was not rude at all. If a candidate can't describe his own campaign, something is really odd.

 

[Denny Crane]

When the governator won the special election in California, a whole slew of candidates ran. If there were the kind of sentiment here then, maybe some unknown would have won.