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poisoning the well: election fraud
Nov. 3rd, 2008 08:57 pmAs I'm sure you've noticed, US political professionals devote a lot of attention to election fraud. For the last 20 years or so, Republican attention to voter fraud has come in the form of trying to prevent the wrong people from voting, while Democratic attention to voter fraud has involved trying to encourage the right people to vote. Accusations of election fraud can hobble the winner all the way to the next election, if they're big enough and loud enough. It's almost impossible for the Republicans to prove that they have not driven legitimate voters away from the polls in a given election, just as it's almost impossible for the Democrats to prove every one of their voters in that election was legally entitled to vote in that district.
My mother recently joined a community of wingnuts, and I'm afraid it's been good for her emotional health. (In the sense of being better than no community at all.) She's been vigorously opposed to Senator Obama for quite a while, but now she says, "it wouldn't be so bad if he won honestly, but the worst of it is that he stole the election."
Adrian: "What, already?"
Mom: "Of course. He stole the Iowa caucuses from Hillary."
Adrian: "But you hated Hillary."
Mom: "That doesn't matter. The terrible thing is that elections are supposed to mean something, and when he cheated, when he brought in all those people from out of state, that makes it fundamentally unfair."
Adrian: "Wait! Why wasn't this all over the newspapers back in January? This is the first I've heard about it."
Mom: "There was a big coverup. Mainstream Media is all in the pocket of the radical socialist wing of the Democratic Party."
Adrian: "How remarkable. You just found out about it now?"
Mom: "Don't be so sarcastic about it! Those Obama people came in from Chicago, and they outnumbered the poor people of Iowa. You can tell if you just look at the old video, there are cars with Illinois license plates wherever there's a caucus site."
Adrian: "But campaign workers have always..."
Mom: "The media didn't cover it, but the out-of-state license plates are solid evidence of election fraud. It's too late for them to hide it now."
I know the presence of out-of-state license plates are not evidence of anything untoward. But what about campaign workers setting up before the candidate speaks? Canvassers handing out flyers the day before the election? People standing just outside the line painted 500(?) feet from the polling place, waving signs? People knocking on doors and phoning locals to remind them to vote? People handing out stickers and bottles of water to the crowds waiting in line to vote? Does it cast doubt on the validity of the election when some of those people come from out of state?
I don't care. I think my mother's new community has reasons to hate and fear Obama, such that I don't really expect them to get more outraged if idealists cross state lines, or just stay where they are to work for change. I know how I'm voting tomorrow.
My mother recently joined a community of wingnuts, and I'm afraid it's been good for her emotional health. (In the sense of being better than no community at all.) She's been vigorously opposed to Senator Obama for quite a while, but now she says, "it wouldn't be so bad if he won honestly, but the worst of it is that he stole the election."
Adrian: "What, already?"
Mom: "Of course. He stole the Iowa caucuses from Hillary."
Adrian: "But you hated Hillary."
Mom: "That doesn't matter. The terrible thing is that elections are supposed to mean something, and when he cheated, when he brought in all those people from out of state, that makes it fundamentally unfair."
Adrian: "Wait! Why wasn't this all over the newspapers back in January? This is the first I've heard about it."
Mom: "There was a big coverup. Mainstream Media is all in the pocket of the radical socialist wing of the Democratic Party."
Adrian: "How remarkable. You just found out about it now?"
Mom: "Don't be so sarcastic about it! Those Obama people came in from Chicago, and they outnumbered the poor people of Iowa. You can tell if you just look at the old video, there are cars with Illinois license plates wherever there's a caucus site."
Adrian: "But campaign workers have always..."
Mom: "The media didn't cover it, but the out-of-state license plates are solid evidence of election fraud. It's too late for them to hide it now."
I know the presence of out-of-state license plates are not evidence of anything untoward. But what about campaign workers setting up before the candidate speaks? Canvassers handing out flyers the day before the election? People standing just outside the line painted 500(?) feet from the polling place, waving signs? People knocking on doors and phoning locals to remind them to vote? People handing out stickers and bottles of water to the crowds waiting in line to vote? Does it cast doubt on the validity of the election when some of those people come from out of state?
I don't care. I think my mother's new community has reasons to hate and fear Obama, such that I don't really expect them to get more outraged if idealists cross state lines, or just stay where they are to work for change. I know how I'm voting tomorrow.
