Comments on: Match Wits With Inspector PowerLine!

By: Uncle Kvetch

Uncle Kvetch — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 19:49:46 +0000

*Republicans understand that people who live in glass houses don’t want to start stone throwing contests. That’s rich. This would be the party of the twice-divorced Newt Gingrich, who plans a primary run in 2008 built upon the catchphrase “Under God”? The party of Bill “Slots o’ Fun” Bennett, self-appointed arbiter of virtue? The party of George W. Bush, who couldn’t bring OBL to justice but still managed to win an election by convincing people that the other side wasn’t “serious” about terrorism? Please, Brett. Unmitigated chutzpah is integral to the Karl Rove playbook—it is one of the defining characteristics of the Republican Party today. You’ll see more stones thrown from glass houses in an hour of Fox News than the left could ever hope to hurl in a year.

By: Uncle Kvetch

Uncle Kvetch — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 19:46:50 +0000

By: derek

derek — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 19:19:51 +0000

The equation of “controls” with “has a slight majority” is simply evasive. There are numerous sources of power in any society, and America has several areas of power which are dominated by leftish thought. If the smear is not to be laughed out of the room by its pure absurdity, then despite the republican dominance of _everything_ (and I only left the media out so as not to be bogged down by right-wingers insisting the media is part of the librul conspiracy too), it's vital that they still project the image of the plucky underdogs. And so the previous commentator pops up on cue to explain that it's all an illusion. As someone else once said:

conservatives love being the lonely little voice in the wilderness, pitted against the evil monolithic liberal state. Just watch them be oppressed: they squat way down, they try and look underfed and pathetic, they squeak in tiny little voices. They use words like "poor me." It's like watching Arnold Schwarzenegger try to pass for Shirley Temple. Suitable for entertainment, if you're tired of watching traffic lights change.

By: derek

derek — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 19:04:47 +0000

It’s not necessarily partisan bias to think that Democrats commit more vote fraud; most of the Democrats I know who do politics think so to. I think you’re a liar who made that statistic up to sound authoritative and fair-minded, and every Republican I know thinks so too, so it’s not just a partisan opinion.

By: Matt Weiner

Matt Weiner — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 17:59:22 +0000

It’s not necessarily partisan bias to think that Democrats commit more vote fraud; most of the Democrats I know who do politics think so to. Odd. I know that after much of the GOP’s South Dakota GOTV staff resigned over a vote-fraud scandal, the Bush campaign hired many of them to run the Ohio GOTV operation. (At least three of the ones hired in Ohio were later indicted.) I also know that the BC2004 Northeast regional director was the guy who organized an illegal phone-jamming attack on New Hampshire Dem’s GOTV office in 2002 (since indicted, as Drapeto points out). He resigned from the campaign once his role became public knowledge—not when it was known within the campaign. So I’d say we don’t need any aprioristic arguments to think that the national GOP does organize and direct voter fraud. That seems significant. Perhaps your Democratic friends should wise up.

By: Brett Bellmore

Brett Bellmore — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 15:59:46 +0000

“And while it seems hard to believe that 300 people managed to vote twice without the help of some election official,” Some help? The only help I think is necessary is nonfeasance: It’s the job of the elections officials to make sure that people don’t vote twice. All they’ve got to do to ensure crooked elections is refrain from doing their job effectively, and let other people carry out the actual fraud. That way, when confronted, they can always claim to be “merely” incompetent.

By: Jane Galt

Jane Galt — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 13:29:09 +0000

It’s not necessarily partisan bias to think that Democrats commit more vote fraud; most of the Democrats I know who do politics think so to. The reason is no special virtue on the part of Republicans, but that Democrats are dominant in urban areas, where it is easier to commit fraud, because fewer people know their neighbors, and the polling places are closer together if you are looking to ship fraudsters from one to the other. Nor is it particularly weird to think that the precinct captains in Milwaukee are all democrats; given that it is a rust-belt industrial city, I’d be surprised indeed to find that any precinct had enough Republicans to elect one to the role. I think it would be very safe indeed to say that the overwhelming majority of Milwaukee’s election officials are Democrats. If one believes that fraud was committed in Milwaukee, it isn’t unreasonable to suspect that it happened with the connivance of local elected Democrats. That said, it’s not reasonable to think that the national party organises these things, any more than it’s reasonable for Democratic partisans to spew childish bile about how the “Rethuglicans” mounted some massive plot to steal the White House. Fraud, when it happens, happens locally, because national conspiracies are just too hard to keep quiet. And while it seems hard to believe that 300 people managed to vote twice without the help of some election official, we are talking about the government here, which a conservative should know is not exactly an effective organisation. Hinderaker should have given the Democratic Party the benefit of the doubt, as he would expect reasonable Democrats to give his party. Incidentally, Ted, did you know that Inspector Haledjian is being given new life?

By: Assistant Village Idiot

Assistant Village Idiot — Sun, 30 Jan 2005 01:57:44 +0000

The equation of “controls” with “has a slight majority” is simply evasive. There are numerous sources of power in any society, and America has several areas of power which are dominated by leftish thought. As for why one would believe that the Democrats are much more likely to be commiting election fraud? Because the accusations against Republicans (FL and OH) turn out to be spurious when you move beneath the superficial descriptions, while the accusations against Democrats (WA, SD, PA), later in coming to the fore, seem to hold up under inquiry.

By: Randy Paul

Randy Paul — Sat, 29 Jan 2005 23:46:02 +0000

Great post, Ted. My only complaint: You should have used all three of them and their silly-assed nicknames: Hindrocket, the Big Trunk and the Deacon. These guys are adults?

By: Brett Bellmore

Brett Bellmore — Sat, 29 Jan 2005 20:32:16 +0000

Well, given that, *There is ALSO Republican ballot fraud, and, *Republicans understand that people who live in glass houses don’t want to start stone throwing contests. I’d say the chances are pretty good. The problem is that each party tends to commit ballot fraud in areas where they predominate, and so ballot fraud tends to make incumbants more secure. So pretty much everybody who’s in office, and thus has any power to do anything about it, has something to gain from leaving this particular stone unturned. It’s the party activists and the challengers, and of course, the voters, who are harmed by ballot fraud. But all WE can do is “grumble”. Well, there’s also ballot initiatives, such as that one in Arizona requiring people to prove citizenship to register, and present ID to vote. I think ballot initiatives are the only way we really stand a chance of reforming our electoral system in ways that run contrary to the interests of incumbant office holders.

By: derek

derek — Sat, 29 Jan 2005 20:18:19 +0000

Here’s what I think. GIVEN THAT: * the Republican party controls the White House; * the Republican party controls the House of Representatives; * the Republican party controls the Senate; * the Republican party controls the Supreme Court; * the Republican party seeks to increase its power and influence at the expense of that of the Democratic Party; * the Republican party has been strongly criticised around the world for its handling of the 2000 and 2004 elections; AND: * an investigation into Democratic Party fraud would go a long way to redressing the balance of reputations; THEN: * What are the chances that if actual Democratic Party fraud existed, the Republican response would be limited to grumbling and and innuendo on little right wing blogs? * What are the chances that if actual Democratic Party fraud did not exist, the Republicans would run a whispering campaign of smear and innuendo on little right wing blogs anyway, in the interest of confusing the issue? Given the above, the existence of Republican complaints of Democratic Party fraud on little right wing blogs and nowhere else strongly predisposes me to suspect that innuendo is all they have, and no such fraud actually took place. But that’s just my logical mind. The propaganda works anyway because most people don’t think it through like that. And that, folks, is why Joseph Goebbels is laughing in Hell.

By: derek

derek — Sat, 29 Jan 2005 20:04:46 +0000

By: DaveC

DaveC — Sat, 29 Jan 2005 17:42:17 +0000

You didn’t mention the slashed tire episode: Tire slashing update On Tuesday we noted that thirty vans rented by the Republican Party in Milwaukee to drive voters to the polls had been disabled by having their tires slashed. It appears that the Milwaukee police are making some progress investigating the… Posted in Power Line on November 5, 2004 10:22 AM I think there are indictments on the way. Also check out the ballot fraud in a Kenosha county group home in 2002, I dont have cite for that.

By: John Lederer

John Lederer — Sat, 29 Jan 2005 16:58:09 +0000

“Reform is derailed every time by partisan bickering.” =============== Hmm. My recollection is that in Wisconsin Republicans have pushed reform, Democrats have resisted, last time by a Governor’s veto. I suppose one could call that “partisan bickering”…

By: GT

GT — Sat, 29 Jan 2005 14:11:59 +0000

Sorry Brett, only in your imagination. Usually there are better blogs for this tinfoil hat stuff. Freerepublic, say. Hey, even the Dkos diaries on the other side!