Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

“A king is only a king if we bow down.” – Rev. William Barber

Stay strong, because they are weak.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

The unpunished coup was a training exercise.

A fool as well as an oath-breaker.

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2012 / View from the Street

View from the Street

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We did some canvassing today, working a list of 2008 Obama voters who hadn’t voted yet to encourage them to go to the polls on Tuesday. We met these lovely Sandhill cranes along the way:

It was pretty warm and sunny today in my part of FL — in the mid-80s. I stupidly neglected to put on sunblock, so now my nose is fried and will surely peel. I’m not sure if our efforts made much of a difference. Most people didn’t answer their doors, so we left flyers with local voting information. A few people we talked to weren’t sure where they were supposed to vote, so we were able to help them out with that and answer questions about ID requirements.

Getting people to turn out is particularly important given that beady-eyed crook Rick Scott has thrown the voting process statewide into chaos by cutting the early voting period almost in half. People had to stand in line for more than six hours at some polling places yesterday, which effectively disenfranchised many, just as Scott intended.

The Miami-Dade elections department tried to address the overwhelming demand for opportunities to vote by allowing in-person absentee voting today (early voting ended yesterday to make sure there would be no repeat of the “Souls to the Polls” phenomenon in 2008, in which tens of thousands of Obama supporters voted after Sunday services at African American churches). The office was quickly swamped and shut down temporarily:

Shortly before the temporary shutdown an hour earlier, the department had said it would not be able to accommodate more than the around 180 voters who were in line by 2 p.m. Then the office shut its doors, and people in line started shouting, “Let us vote!”

Some voters who had parked in a lot across the street saw their cars getting towed.

“This is America, not a third-world country,” said Myrna Peralta, who waited in line with her 4-year-old grandson for nearly two hours before being turned away. “They should have been prepared.”

“My beautiful Sunshine State,” she lamented. “They’re not letting people vote.”

When it opened its doors, the department had only one ballot-printing machine, five voting booths and two staffers to assist voters. The office said it was overwhelmed by voters.

“We had the best of intentions to provide this service today,” [department spokeswoman Christina] White had said. “We just can’t accommodate it to the degree that we would like to.”

The Tea Party assholes who voted in Scott and a Republican super-majority in the state legislature yammer incessantly about the US Constitution and how much they honor the sacrifice of the troops. They are liars who are pissing all over our most fundamental right. This is a deeply shameful situation. People should go to fucking jail over it.

Reader Interactions

166Comments

  2. 2.

    dr. bloor

    “This is America, not a third-world country,”

    As far as the rules and regulations for federal elections go, we are the very definition of a third-world country. The proximate issue is local shenanigans by state/local officials; the larger issue is that our basic voting paradigm is straight out of the eighteenth century.

  4. 4.

    Yutsano

    Pretty birds!!

    At this point we might as well cut off Florida and give it back to Spain. Or Cuba.

  5. 5.

    GregB

    I took two Harvard students around the backwoods hills of my NH town today. They got quite a few affirmatives, quite a few not home and one terse: You are not welcome here.

    There were about 40 plus that came up from Massachusetts to canvass.

    NH is going to be a win for the good guys, I am convinced.

    With the electoral hijinx going on in some other states we may need it more than ever.

  6. 6.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @dr. bloor:

    Putting aside whether something could happen politically, I wondering if federalizing the process would cause problems of scale. I wouldn’t be opposed to it on principle, just wondering.

    My unicorn in the voting issue is a push to make voting more important and easier. Stuff like making it a federal holiday, perhaps municipalities governments with the public transportation capabilities having special election-day shuttles to polling places, more polling places, so that people don’t have to wait in line for hours. Just some ideas. Since this is America, maybe people would respond if the government offered a small tax break for people who vote.

  9. 9.

    freelancer

    The Tea Party assholes who voted in Scott and a Republican super-majority in the state legislature yammer incessantly about the US Constitution and how much they honor the sacrifice of the troops. They are liars who are pissing all over our most fundamental right. This is a deeply shameful situation. People should go to fucking jail over it.

    For starters.

  11. 11.

    arguingwithsignposts

    “This is America, not a third-world country,”

    I keep telling myself that every fucking time FYWP’s comments function for this blog grinds to a halt or vomits up multiplcates of comments.

  12. 12.

    greennotGreen

    I’m from Nashville where Scott oversaw the defrauding of the federal government of millions of dollars. What did the people of Florida expect when they elected him governor? Someone who felt compelled to follow the rule of law?

    People should go to fucking jail? Scott should have already been in jail!

  13. 13.

    mclaren

    The Tea Party assholes who voted in Scott and a Republican super-majority in the state legislature yammer incessantly about the US Constitution and how much they honor the sacrifice of the troops. They are liars who are pissing all over our most fundamental right. This is a deeply shameful situation. People should go to fucking jail over it.

    Let’s try that again, shall we?

    The Tea Party fanatical pro-Obama assholes who voted in Scott Obama and a Republican super-majority in the state legislature psycho named Joe Biden who wrote the original USA Patriot Act yammer incessantly about the US Constitution and how much they honor the sacrifice of the troops. They are liars who are pissing all over our most fundamental right [not to be murdered by the president of the United States without being charged with a crime]. This is a deeply shameful situation. People should go to fucking jail over it.

    There. Fixed that for ya. In fact, both the Tea Party and the fanatical pro-Obama zealots should go to jail, where they can kill each other and clean the sludge out of the gene pool.

  14. 14.

    PeakVT

    Peggy’s story.

    “government intrusion stripped me of my established legal right to vote in 2012 unless I complied with new restriction laws…. I will vote in person on Nov. 6 but my spirit is broken. Trust in the government of my adopted state is shattered, a cruel joke.”

  15. 15.

    Betty Cracker

    @greennotGreen: True. It’s inexcusable that the ambulatory dildo was ever elected, but the good news is he’ll be gone in 2014, even if the Dems nominate a mangy skunk. Scott is less popular that chlamydia.

  21. 21.

    Patricia Kayden

    Really hoping that all this voter suppression nonsense backfires (as it appears to be doing) and President Obama is re-elected comfortably.

  22. 22.

    Southern Beale

    Wow seems like just last week that the RW mouthbreathers were getting all fauxtraged about “UN election monitors” or some such. So glad that ended up not being true!

    /eyeroll

  23. 23.

    momnotgrandma

    ot–nice to see sandhill cranes enjoying some warm weather.
    I see them in Alaska in the summer and always wondered where they go…

  25. 25.

    Baud

    The people willing and able to vote despite the long lines are true heroes (and I hate the overuse of that term).

  26. 26.

    lamh35

    @Patricia Kayden: I think it will backfire. People are pissed about this from what I can tell.

    Plus only the stronger supporters are gonna stay in line for over 6 hours to vote and IMHO, Obama supporters are more firmly in his pocket. I see Romney voters as more likely to just stay F*ck it and it Mitt ain’t worth this shhh…

  28. 28.

    Ohio Mom

    Waiting in line with a four year old for almost two hours? That’s heroic. Having had a four year old, it was mighty difficult to get him to wait in line for 15 minutes.

  29. 29.

    PaulW

    I get those birds in my neighborhood too! Noisy guys at that…

    As for Rick Scott, I hope to God people file charges on him and his fellow GOP vote suppressors for violating their voting rights as per the VRA of 1965.

  30. 30.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @lamh35:

    Well, that’s why the shenanigans are occuring in, shall we say, “urban” locales. Maybe I’m just cynical, but I gotta think that if there were long lines out in the suburbs, they’d find a way to get those votes counted.

  31. 31.

    Three Dots

    Tonight I had a long phone conversation with my 75-year-old parents in Jupiter, Fla. At the start of the conversation, my father said, “We just need a change, put a businessman in charge. When you’re losing the game, you change the quarterback.”

    For 45 minutes I spoke with them about Bain Capital, layoffs, Sensata shipping jobs to China, Ampad, how Romney and Ryan want to move Social Security to Wall Street and privatize FEMA, how Romney wanted General Motors to go bankrupt, how he wanted the foreclosure process to “run its course.” I said that government is not a business, and that Romney and Ryan have economic policies that are cruel and inhumane.

    OK, so far so good, but what got to him was this: I said that when he gets into the election booth, he has four choices: 1) vote for Obama, 2) vote for Romney, 3) leave the top line blank and just vote the down-ticket races, and 4) vote for a special-interest candidate for president.

    He said, “I never thought of it that way, that I have more than two choices.” See, he’s not sold on Obama. And he’s not really sold on Romney either. And it never occurred to him to leave the top line blank. If he does that, I will consider this a major victory.

    If you’re having a last-minute conversation with your parents, you may want to try this.

  33. 33.

    Roger Moore

    @Spaghetti Lee:

    Since this is America, maybe people would respond if the government offered a small tax break for people who vote.

    Or maybe your employer could demand proof that you voted if you want the holiday time off; if you don’t they could charge you a vacation day or dock your pay instead.

  34. 34.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    The question should be, will the DOJ will go after the states that tried to supress the vote? When Rick Scott or Jon Husted are thrown in prison with a bar of slippery soap,then I will believe it.

  36. 36.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @Three Dots:

    My parents have both been sold on Obama forever. They voted for him in the ’04 Senate primary. I think I did convince her to vote for the Dem in the State House race, though. She thinks the Dem candidate’s a jerk and knows the Repub personally, and I said “Well, you’re either voting for someone who supports you keeping your pension or someone who doesn’t.” She said she’ll think about it.

  37. 37.

    aimai

    @Three Dots:

    Good point. But I guess I would have said “What makes you think we are losing the game?” And if Romney isn’t proposing to achieve anything (and he’s not) in four years but in eight to ten why wouldn’t you give Obama eight years too?

    aimai

  38. 38.

    Elie

    @freelancer:

    But you see — these people only got elected cause a lot of folks who support rights STAYED HOME. No matter what system you put in, you have to participate in and monitor it — it doesnt run or fairness and equality by itself — YOU HAVE TO MAKE IT WOrk.

    Now — no more whining about rick perry. Next step — ONLY meaningful step is to vote him out and make sure other jerks don’t get in. ONLY way.

  39. 39.

    tam

    OT but Steve Schmidt is so full of it. Also, too: there’s a new episode of Rachel Maddow’s show on right now.

  40. 40.

    PaulW

    @Mr Stagger Lee:

    The question should be, will the DOJ will go after the states that tried to supress the vote? When Rick Scott or Jon Husted are thrown in prison with a bar of slippery soap,then I will believe it.

    If Romney wins, this will clearly never happen. Work hard getting the vote out for Obama, people! It’s the best way to be sure…

  42. 42.

    Roger Moore

    @Southern Beale:
    See, that’s one of the reasons chlamydia is more popular than Rick Scott; it takes less than four years to get rid of chlamydia. And how do you know that chlamydia is more popular than Rick Scott? Because people are a lot more likely to get chlamydia a second and third time.

  43. 43.

    Geoduck

    @Mr Stagger Lee:

    When Rick Scott or Jon Husted are thrown in prison with a bar of slippery soap,then I will believe it.

    Could we please not start with the prison rape jokes? Nobody, not even Rick Scott, deserves to get raped.

  45. 45.

    rikyrah

    The Tea Party assholes who voted in Scott and a Republican super-majority in the state legislature yammer incessantly about the US Constitution and how much they honor the sacrifice of the troops. They are liars who are pissing all over our most fundamental right. This is a deeply shameful situation. People should go to fucking jail over it.

    TELL IT!!!

  48. 48.

    lacp

    @Betty Cracker: Betty, I’ve been looking forward for 2 years to move to FL – now you’re telling me Chlamydia’s not going to be on the ballot?
    Jeez, I might as well stay here in Philadelphia.

  49. 49.

    jibeaux

    Saw the weirdest stat today from Gallup polling. People believe, 52% of them, that Obama will win. But only 19% of Republicans believe it! Sheesh, if Facebook had a “relationship to reality” status, theirs would have to be “separated” or maybe “it’s complicated.”

  51. 51.

    suzanne

    So this happened today:

    My husband and I were standing out in the front yard this morning, ad we noticed a plane skywriting a smiley face up above our neighborhood. Other friends of ours in the Phoenix East Valley area saw skywriting, too. So one of my friends posts a picture of a plane writing a word, and he thought it was funny, because it looked like it said “BONER”. However, it turned out that it actually said “ROMNEY” and the wind blew the stuff around before the plane even finished the word. I realized that this incident was the entire election season, in microcosm.

    Heh heh. BONER.

  52. 52.

    Fwiffo

    Obama volunteer knocked on my door today, let her know I voted early already, thanked her for volunteering her time.

    Was that you?

  54. 54.

    Roger Moore

    @jibeaux:

    Sheesh, if Facebook had a “relationship to reality” status, theirs would have to be “separated” or maybe “it’s complicated.”

    I think it would have to be “divorced”.

  57. 57.

    redshirt

    There ain’t going to be any EV/Popular vote shenanigans, folks. Obama’s got this.

    But GOTV till the last minute! Throat stepping is the call of the day.

  59. 59.

    FuriousPhil

    @Spaghetti Lee:

    I get this sentiment. I’ve personally met both candidates running for congress in MI-10, and I don’t personally like the Dem candidate – I supported the other Dem in the primary. This guy running now is really sort of a disaster. I either hold my nose and vote the straight ticket, vote the Libertarian candidate for shits and giggles, or I just mark off everybody else and leave it blank. I’m not voting for morons, regardless of party affiliation.

    Other than that, I’ve got all the rest committed to memory if I do decide to ‘connect the lines’, from the university regents, supreme court, and all 6 ballot proposals. Michigan might have had it pretty light on the presidential stuff this time around (discounting the big 4 super PAC pro-Rmoney ads) but we’ve been swamped with proposal ads. Like everybody else, be glad when the TV blitz is over.

  60. 60.

    Spaghetti Lee

    Apparently Obama and Romney are getting interviewed during halftime of Monday Night Football tomorrow. Is there a better opportunity for RomneyFail than talking about football in front of a national audience?

    “Oh yes, I’m a big supporter of the local football team-the Patriots, right? The Patriots. I was at Robert Kraft’s summer home and he said he’d keep pushing for replacement referees because fans were too stupid to notice the difference. Now how’s that for honesty?”

  61. 61.

    DPS

    I had a dream with Mitt in it last night. We talked in my office for a while. Seemed pretty nice.

    I am now wondering whether the Romney campaign is purchasing ads in people’s brains.

  63. 63.

    gex

    OT(somewhat): This makes me want to vomit.

    Dear White People,

    If you make a “political” sign that uses a noose in the imagery, we all know what your real issue with Obama is. We are not all as stupid and credulous as you.

    You are the 5 year old standing in the kitchen with cookie jar shards on the floor, cookie in hand, insisting you didn’t do it. No amount of saying you aren’t being racist will convince any thinking person.

    You know, Paul Weyrich, Lee Atwater, Ken Mehlman, and Michael Steel have all publicly said the GOP trades in racist policies. Their base, however, is too fucking stupid to ever find out what the leadership actually says. That pisses me off. Credulous people led by con-men leaders who never bother to question their leaders.

    I feel absolute rage towards those people.

  64. 64.

    Three Dots

    @ Spaghetti Lee, @ Aimai

    I’m with both of you on this. Sometimes you just have to get what you can. My dear folks were just never, never going to vote for Obama, and their weak support for Romney was just a default position. So I offered two other alternatives, and they seemed intrigued.

  65. 65.

    David Koch

    PPP is on fire

    twitter.com/ppppolls

    Obama

    OH +5

    IA +2

    NH +2

    VA +4

    Tim Kaine +6

    Sherrod Brown +10

    NC, FL, CO, NV, and National tracker to come over next 3 hours.

    New Dolchstoßlegende: the trolls are busy accusing PPP of running fake polls.

  66. 66.

    meander

    @Roger Moore: I seem to recall hearing that Australia paid people to vote, and upon further research, I got to an Australian website that explains that you don’t get paid to vote, but pay a small fine if you don’t (kind of like a “voting mandate”), what they call “compulsory voting” (but probably have some great Aussie lingo to shorten it, maybe “compie”?). Here’s some kludged blockquoting (FYWP) from the FAQ from the Australian Election Commission:

    –begin quote–

    Is voting compulsory?

    Yes, voting is compulsory for every Australian citizen aged 18 years or older. If you do not vote and do not have a valid and sufficient reason for failing to vote, a penalty is imposed. For further information see Compulsory Voting.

    What happens if I do not vote?

    Initially the Australian Electoral Commission will write to all apparent non-voters requesting that they either provide a reason for their failure to vote or pay a $20 penalty.

    If, within 21 days, the apparent non-voter fails to reply, cannot provide a valid and sufficient reason or declines to pay the penalty, then prosecution proceedings may be instigated. If the matter is dealt with in court and the person is found guilty, he or she may be fined up to $50 plus court costs.

    –end quote–

  67. 67.

    Davis X. Machina

    @gex: Just started in on Eric Foner’s Reconstruction….can only read it in short bursts between angry. This country is boned until the Civil War is finally over.

  68. 68.

    The prophet Nostradumbass

    @Baud: it’s a bunch of crap hand wronging about the Senate, with poor, put-upon “moderates” Olympia Snowe, Evan Bayh and Tom Coburn bemoaning the lack of “bipartisanship”. Then, Mitch McConnell saying the equivalent of “neener neener”, and Harry Reid pointing out where the obstruction came from, and being ignored. Steve Kroft is a fucking tool.

  70. 70.

    David Koch

    @Spaghetti Lee:

    Apparently Obama and Romney are getting interviewed during halftime of Monday Night Football tomorrow. Is there a better opportunity for RomneyFail than talking about football in front of a national audience?

    “Well Boomer, I don’t follow football as closely as some of the more intense fans, but some of my friends own NFL teams. Moreover, isn’t wonderful there’s a place where literally binders full of blacks have opportunity.”

  72. 72.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @dr. bloor:

    The proximate issue is local shenanigans by state/local officials; the larger issue is that our basic voting paradigm is straight out of the eighteenth century.

    B-b-but USA! USA! USA!

    Seriously: you think any of the young democracies that the US sets up around the world (having dropped Freedom Bombs on them) devolve that level of power down to partisan local election officials? The US is sort of like a democracy tribute band: it knows the chords and the lyrics, but it’s just a bar band in wigs.

    I was also thinking earlier today, having read Gail Collins’ op-ed in the NYT, that any state where over 90% of the population doesn’t know the name of their state legislators should lose its right to self-government.

  78. 78.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @The prophet Nostradumbass:

    This first 60 Minutes segment is absolutely unreal. Bloody dreadful.

    The 60 Minutes political format is best described as “the cop-out”. They did exactly the same with their report on child poverty, ending with how the kids living out of vans still had dreams and hopes, instead of finding the state/local officials and shaking them by the throat. Same here: one side has jammed up the Senate via the filibuster a record number of times, therefore both sides are bad.

  79. 79.

    pseudonymous in nc

    People should go to fucking jail over it.

    “Treason doth never prosper, what’s the reason?
    For if it prosper, none dare call it treason.”

  81. 81.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    So, how do we get all of the people who voted Democrat to turn out again in 2012? We have to find a way to get them out then, not only for Congress, but for states like Texas where the governor is picked between presidential elections.

  82. 82.

    The prophet Nostradumbass

    @pseudonymous in nc:

    Same here: one side has jammed up the Senate via the filibuster a record number of times, therefore both sides are bad.

    that’s exactly what happened. Harry Reid pointed out exactly that, and it was ignored.

  83. 83.

    Roger Moore

    @pseudonymous in nc:

    The US is sort of like a democracy tribute band: it knows the chords and the lyrics, but it’s just a bar band in wigs.

    No, the USA is more like the 2012 version of the Rolling Stones. We used to be on the cutting edge of democracy, and we’re still able to creak around and pretend we’re as good as we used to be, but we aren’t where the action is anymore.

  84. 84.

    freelancer

    This is OT and a 2 week old quote, so if it was covered here, forgive me, but this just boggles the mind (via Boston Globe via paulftompkins’ tumblr)

    “There are no secrets. We’ll win Ohio,” said Romney’s top strategist Stuart Stevens.
    __
    And what if they don’t win Ohio?
    __
    “It’s a silly question . . . we’re going to win Ohio,” he said. “This is like conscientious objection: if you’re going over the cliff and you have to throw your mother, or your sister, or your father out, which one would you? We’ll win Ohio.”

    My emphasis. Top Strategist. Crimeny.

    Also, as the OP where I saw it said, bonus points for comparing your campaign to a car driving off a cliff.

  85. 85.

    trollhattan

    @freelancer:
    It occurs to me that Willard is like griftpaper–grifters come out of the woodwork to attach themselves to his campaign, because that’s where the money is. Butter him up (eww) by telling him how brilliant he is (“Dude, you’re stinking rich, of course you’re smart. How could you not be smart?”) and maybe you can ride the Griftopia Express all the way to November.

    Talent optional.

  88. 88.

    James E. Powell

    @The prophet Nostradumbass:

    that’s exactly what happened. Harry Reid pointed out exactly that, and it was ignored.

    The only way to keep it from happening again is to get rid of the filibuster. If things shake out as we expect them to, then Reid and the Democratic majority in the senate have the ability to get rid of it.

  89. 89.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    If there were cosmic justice, Scott and Romney and Ryan (and many others) would get a visit from Lockjaw (4:01, SFW).

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  90. 90.

    Three Dots

    @ grandpajohn

    You’re right, of course. But for my old man, who admits he is a low-information voter, Bush is still a touchy subject. He harbors vague regrets about voting twice for Bush, and if I challenged him on it, he would have dug in.

    I told him, “Government is not a business,” and that seemed to make an impression. And I used the example of Herbert Hoover.

    Baby steps. As I said, if he simply does not cast a vote for Romney, that would be a huge victory.

  91. 91.

    David Koch

    Hilarious.

    After spending the whooooooooooooooooooole year saying Obama would lose, Gallup issued a poll today with Obama winning 50-46. Just 6 days ago, Gallup had Mittens winning by 5.

    smooth move, Gallup, smooth move. Now they can spend the next 4 years concern trolling Dems, while maintaining they’re a legitimate organization because they got it right in the end.

  92. 92.

    Roger Moore

    @trollhattan:

    Talent optional.

    Political talent optional. I think talent as a sycophant and grifter is probably mandatory.

    Also, this gave me an interesting thought about Karl Rove and the core of his grift. He’s trying to set himself up as a political kingmaker for profit. Because he has a well-funded SuperPAC, he’s attractive as a political adviser, since there’s an assumption that he can steer some of that sweet UNLIMITED CORPORATE CASH to his clients. And being a big shot political adviser makes it attractive to donate to his SuperPAC, since there’s an assumption that you’ll be buying influence with his clients. He’s taking a percentage both ways. The only question is how long he can keep the operation going if he can’t deliver victory.

  93. 93.

    Hill Dweller

    Romney imprisoning his supporters at their Pennsylvania rally is spreading like wildfire on the twitter machine.

    Let’s see if the MSM touches it.

  94. 94.

    Linda Featheringill

    @Hill Dweller:

    Held hostage in PA:

    I read about that. The account I read [forget where] blamed security for the incident. Be that as it may, it seems that the Romney staff weren’t very solicitous of their supporters and weren’t very tactful.

    From a PR standpoint, the whole thing was a big mess. And if twitter is still buzzing about it, after several hours, then it probably won’t go away easily.

    Dummies.

    ETA:
    twitchy.com/2012/11/04/liberals-accuse-romney-campaign-of-imprisoning-its-supporters-at-pa-rally/

    This is the Republican source that I read.

  95. 95.

    BGinCHI

    Oh holy shit, this has to be DougJ:

    Josh, the fact that you are implying that some votes are better than others is disgusting – beyond cynical, actually quite racist, classist, oligarchist, shameless… I could go on, but why ask for pears from a peach tree? It’s with complete dissapointment that I type this missive, though I should have known… to be completely honest with myself, in a way I did, there was a certain je ne sais quoi that transpired through some of your brief pieces, that I was unable to circumlocate. You should ponder why academia and those with higher education and women join the “mongrels” to defeat the rest of the country, whatever you choose to call them… but I’m sure you already know why, and the sooner we stop measuring differences by the changes in tone of skin colour, since nobody’s skin is either truly black or white, not the darkest African nor the lightest albino, the faster the mixing will occur and forgiveness for the lynchings will hopefully follow, and maybe we will all be able to say to each other, “what’s up ni—er?”

    talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/11/sometimes_reader_emails_are_so_fun.php?ref=fpblg

  99. 99.

    Another Halocene Human

    @suzanne: he thought it was funny, because it looked like it said “BONER”. However, it turned out that it actually said “ROMNEY” and the wind blew the stuff around before the plane even finished the word. I realized that this incident was the entire election season

    Classic. :)

  100. 100.

    Roger Moore

    @David Koch:

    He’s probably gonna send them to China to work in his slave labor factory.

    Nah, he’s just worried about the bad publicity of having a mostly empty campaign event because his supporters were unwilling to hang around for extra time in the cold. That he thinks the correct solution is to trap them there so they have to stay out in the cold should tell you all you need to know about the man.

  101. 101.

    dollared

    @David Koch: But I’m grateful for that. Because my biggest fear is Ohio changing the score in the middle of the night, and a massive wave of MSM “who cares?” because Mittens was ahead in the national popular polling going in….

  106. 106.

    Dee Loralei

    @Roger Moore: He tormented a gay kid in high school by holding him down and cutting his hair. He tormented a beautiful loving dog by pinning him onto the roof rack of a car going 600+ miles. He fired many people from good paying jobs with retirement security. He put women in binders and allowed them to leave “early” to feed their families. His wife has MS and is recovering from breast cancer and he’s dragged her around the country campaigning for 7 years. And he makes his 5 sons and their families show up at the family vacation every 4th of July for an entire week, regardless of their work or home life. And then they all sit around and judge each son and his wife and their choices and lives from the previous year. And then he changes the rules in “the family games to make himself win. There is nothing good or new or respectful or kind in that man’s repertoire. He’s a horrible human being. He’s a bad husband, father and father-in-aw. He was a bad Governor. He will be an awful President.

  107. 107.

    Dee Loralei

    @Dee Loralei: OH, I wasn’t ragging on you. Your’re one of the good guys! I was just going off on you stating that Romney was covering the bad publicity at the PA event. I was trying to remind us all that tormenting his voters and not allowing them to leave when their kids were freezing is something he has done all of his life. He’s an ugly, vicious, petty man.

  108. 108.

    J R in WVa

    @Joel:

    I once watched an eagle rising on an updraft above Beckley, W Va with binoculars with my (late) Dad – it rose until it was no longer visible with 15×70 binoculars!

    We watched it circle for over an hour.

    In Arizona we have a winter place, where sandhill cranes go iaround the valley in big V’s for practise. Then one day one flock will head north, circling around and ’round until they are barely visible. I’m pretty sure the eagle was at least 30K feet. We were standing at 2,600 feet watching him glide higher and higher in the thermal. I think the Sandhill Cranes fly pretty high too.

  109. 109.

    guachi

    The Gallup poll mentioned above with Obama leading 50-46 is registered voters. Anyone know what the likely voter results of that poll were?

  110. 110.

    scav

    @freelancer:

    “There are no secrets. We’ll win Ohio,” said Romney’s top strategist Stuart Stevens.
    __
    And what if they don’t win Ohio?
    __
    “It’s a silly question . . . we’re going to win Ohio,” he said. “This is like conscientious objection: if you’re going over the cliff and you have to throw your mother, or your sister, or your father out, which one would you? We’ll win Ohio.”

    Over and beyond comparing one’s campaign to a header off a cliff, just how exactly is game planning alternative outcomes like a conscientious objection and why are conscientious objectors in a car or something similar throwing out parents anyway? The vast majority of cliff-falling objects aren’t exactly like balloons, they ain’t never gonna float if one tosses the ballest.

  111. 111.

    freelancer

    Phoenix’s NBC affiliate stating that registered Democrats received robocalls from Jeff Flake’s (Repub for Senate)office wrongly advising them of their polling place. The stated polling place was not the actual voter’s correct polling place. I’m searching for the story on their website, but it blows.

  112. 112.

    Redshift

    When I was out canvassing this weekend, I encountered various incidents of wildlife entertainment. There were the catbirds who really didn’t want to abandon their bush next to the door I was knocking on (but finally, grumpily gave up and flew away.) And for the first time ever, I think I saw a squirrel territorial war. I’ve never hears squirrels squeak before, and when I turned around, there were several squirrels in an around a big tree, and one running away from it. Then another approached across the street, and was driven away.

    Strange times. To quote Ghostbusters, “Cats and dogs living together…”

  113. 113.

    MikeJ

    @freelancer:

    Democrats received robocalls from Jeff Flake’s (Repub for Senate)office wrongly advising them of their polling place. The stated polling place was not the actual voter’s correct polling place.

    They do this every time, and they’ll keep doing it until they start going to jail for it.

  115. 115.

    eemom

    The suckitude of NPR this election season has truly been wondrous to behold. I do believe it has done MORE to pimp the horserace through disingenuous or outright misleading headlines than its commercial emmessemm cousins.

    This evening’s piece de resistance: Obama Leads In Last Pew Poll, But Romney Supporters More Committed To Voting.

    WTF does that even mean?

  116. 116.

    suzanne

    @freelancer: UGHHHHH.
    Last week, my daughter had a piano recital, and the recital hall happened to be in the same plaza as one of Flake’s offices (in Mesa). I walked by the office. It was deserted. Not surprised that they’re resorting to nasty tactics.

  117. 117.

    gwangung

    This evening’s piece de resistance: Obama Leads In Last Pew Poll, But Romney Supporters More Committed To Voting.
    __
    WTF does that even mean?

    How did they determine THAT???

  120. 120.

    FlipYrWhig

    @gwangung: It’s a funny way to put it, but it makes some sense: the difference between registered voters and likely voters does tend to be steeper for Democrats than Republicans, so Republicans get a better yield of a smaller number.

  123. 123.

    FlipYrWhig

    @redshirt: it’s the same impulse that drives sportscasters to keep coming up with hypotheticals for how the losing team can get back in the game. “If they get a TD here, it’s just a two-score game, so they’ll be right back in it!” Why talk that way? To keep people from turning off the TV.

  124. 124.

    RaflW

    There’s been ridiculous noise that because Clinton and Ryan have visited MN and both campaigns are spending money here, that “must mean MN is in play.”

    Uhh, sorry, no.

  126. 126.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Phil Perspective: And from my perspective, being an investment dude isn’t the same thing as being a “businessman.” It’s not like Romney ever had to sell a product. He just borrowed money, siphoned off fees and sold assets, and then moved on like a vampire. Even drug dealers have to keep their clients alive to stay in business. Not Romney.

  127. 127.

    FlipYrWhig

    @redshirt: yup. _Because_ anything can happen, you’d best keep your dial on CNN so you know every twist and turn. You’ve seen how pathetic it gets when the Super Bowl is, like, 35-3. That’s the way it’d feel 24 hours a day if CNN had to cover a 55%-45% election.

  128. 128.

    Redshift

    @RaflW: Some Romney drone was pushing the same line about PA yesterday. “It’s tightening, and we’re spending money on ads there, and the Dems are spending money too, so that must mean they think it’s in play!”

    It’s pretty transparent which campaign is flailing. It’s the one that keeps throwing out different scenarios of how they might win if thing turn their way. It’s not the one that says “we’re winning the states we need to, right now.”

  130. 130.

    WaterGirl

    @Violet: On Friday, I told my sister about romney and sesamus on the roof of the car. She told me she thought maybe it was wrong of her, but it bothered her more that Romney would do that to his dog than some of the other stuff I told her about Romney. Like women being forced to bear their rapists offspring, if Romney and Ryan get their way.

    She wrote me a note later that day to say that she had told her husbad the seamus story and that he said it couldn’t be true. If that was true, animal rights people would be up in arms and they would have heard about it before this.

    I told her I googled “romney seamus” and got 168,000 hits. I sent her the original story from the boston globe and follow up stories from the washington post, etc. I sent her the article from april of this year where mitt and ann were interviewed and they were definding their choice to have him on the roof.

    There are times when having a sister who is a low-information voter can be quite challenging.

  131. 131.

    RaflW

    @Redshift:
    Just dug deeper, and even in MN CD8, which elected a (lame) Republican to Congress two years ago, Obama is up 49-44.

    Some encouraging news for Dems that Cravaak looks vulnerable. Not counting on that flipping back, but sure would be nice to have the MN delegation turn a bit more blue.

  135. 135.

    WaterGirl

    @Dee Loralei: thanks for that rant! I am going to copy that and send it to my low information voter sister. I had forgotten about a few of those when I was going for the emotional appeal on Friday before going with the more logic based information on saturday.

  138. 138.

    WaterGirl

    @MikeJ: i love that! I am on the iPad tonight, and when I clicked the link to open the puzzle, it was kind enough to import it into the “crosswords” program on my iPad.

    I will definitely send that to my sister in the morning when I’m on my compuer.

    In fact, I may do that crossword puzzle myself on tuesday night.

  139. 139.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @RaflW:

    Cravaak’s the first Republican to represent that district since 1946. I should hope the Dems have designs on flipping it.

  141. 141.

    Mnemosyne

    @Three Dots:

    Given the shenanigans we’ve been hearing about Republican poll workers “helpfully” filling in the ovals if they’re left blank, you might be better off encouraging the Aged Parent to vote for Gary Johnson or another third-party candidate rather than Romney if he can’t bring himself to vote for Obama. Obviously, an Obama vote is best, but a third-party vote is just as good if it’s from someone who otherwise would have voted for Romney.

  142. 142.

    James E. Powell

    @WaterGirl:

    There are times when having a sister who is a low-information voter can be quite challenging.

    A lot of us, maybe most of us, have relatives or friends like this.

    Not every person who believes Obama is a Muslim is a racist. Some of them just don’t pay any attention to any news other than local sports and weather. They pick up a certain amount of “facts” from the background noise, workplace chatter, and places they don’t remember.

  143. 143.

    DPS

    Well, I have to say that I’m up in the air about this whole thing. On the one hand, it seems like the poll counters are giving a slight edge to Obama. On the other, I’m hearing a lot of buzz out there about last-minute momentum for Mitt. Plus you can’t deny the historical trends and so forth. Average all that out and it smells like a toss-up to me.

  144. 144.

    Hill Dweller

    @DPS: The “last-minute momentum” is bullshit fed to the press, who are happy to parrot it, from Willard’s campaign.

  146. 146.

    gwangung

    On the other, I’m hearing a lot of buzz out there about last-minute momentum for Mitt.

    That’s EXACTLY opposite of the movement in the polls for the last week? Um, no.

    And the historical trends aren’t quite as historical as you think….

    Smells like BS to me.

  149. 149.

    eemom

    Nate’s latest update has Romentum down to 13.7%.

    Keep fucking that chicken, emmessemmbots. It will totally still respect you on Wednesday morning.

  150. 150.

    The prophet Nostradumbass

    @James E. Powell:

    Not every person who believes Obama is a Muslim is a racist.Some of them just don’t pay any attention to any news other than local sports and weather. They pick up a certain amount of “facts” from the background noise, workplace chatter, and places they don’t remember.

    Those “facts” rely upon ingrained prejudices to gain traction.

  151. 151.

    Anne Laurie

    @Redshift:

    When I was out canvassing this weekend, I encountered various incidents of wildlife entertainment. There were the catbirds who really didn’t want to abandon their bush next to the door I was knocking on (but finally, grumpily gave up and flew away.) And for the first time ever, I think I saw a squirrel territorial war. I’ve never hears squirrels squeak before, and when I turned around, there were several squirrels in an around a big tree, and one running away from it. Then another approached across the street, and was driven away.

    Obviously, this neverending election session is making even the suburban parasites small wildlife cranky & defensive.

    If I could draw, I’d draw a cartoon with Karl Rove as a squirrel starting a war with catbird Erick ‘Etch-A-Sketch’ Fehrstrom in the Romney office.

  153. 153.

    trollhattan

    @MikeJ:
    Jeez, Peterson gets what, 190 yards but they back it up with 63 yards passing? I understand that works in high school.

  154. 154.

    DPS

    @Hill Dweller:

    Well, of course it comes through the press. But do you think those people in the press would be in the important positions they are in if they couldn’t distinguish between hot air and solid inside info?

  157. 157.

    Shaun Appleby

    @meander: Yes, and consequently we have a vernacular for the inevitable percentage who walk into the polling place and just scribble something on the ballot, the “donkey vote.”

  159. 159.

    Matt McIrvin

    @lamh35: Reminds me a little of the slogan Scott Brown started using in the past several days: “Vote The Person, Not The Party.” Which sounds like desperation if I ever heard it.

  163. 163.

    1badbaba3

    @DPS: Smells like teen spirit, or (guns and) roses, ooh-ooh that smell, napalm in the morning, VICTORY! ! ! It’s a trap!

    Frak the horserace lovin’ fraks.

  166. 166.

    Judas Escargot, Bringer of Loaves and Fish Sandwiches

    @Three Dots:

    We just need a change, put a businessman in charge

    So. Tired. Of hearing this. Imprinted, like baby ducks they are.

    That said, I’ve been trying to point out to folks all year that Mitt Romney is NOT a ‘businessman’ in the sense they think. A better description would be ‘equity harvester’ (others built up the business, he just came and harvested the value from what others built).

    Mitt Romney literally did not build that.

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