yay NC for making the news . . . . . oh wait

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/03/early-voting-north-carolina_n_2069171.html

Quote :

"If Election Day goes anything like the past 17 days of early voting in North Carolina, here's what you can expect at your local precincts on Tuesday: •Belligerent citizens demanding the right to personally inspect the voting process and yelling "shut up" at the top of their lungs when election officials tell them that only official poll observers can do that. •Official poll observers who have been improperly trained by the groups they represent and think it's their job to interrogate voters rather than just watch. •Long lines, which means that a lot of people end up waiting outside the designated no-electioneering zones, getting harangued by campaign workers. •Shouting matches between Republican and Democratic campaign workers -- and sometimes voters standing in line -- that can involve name-calling, threatening gestures, and the summoning of law enforcement. •A guy driving a tractor-trailer bed filled with effigies of Democratic officials, including President Barack Obama, with nooses around their neck. (Federal officials are looking into that one, which took place at an early voting center in Eastern North Carolina on Thursday.) "

11/4/2012 1:51:46 PM

Quote :

"McDanger wrapping up a PhD?"

piled higher and deeper indeed

11/4/2012 5:02:22 PM

Quote :

"^^^ that's a lovely hypothetical, but what will you do when Obama wins?"

he'll spew racial epithets in private, obviously

11/4/2012 5:03:32 PM

Listen, I TOTALLY get conservatives that don't want to be labeled a racist just because they are voting for Mitt. It is like every liberal that doesn't want to be judged as somebody "that hates the rich" just because they are voting for Obama. You would like to think that one's actions have more purpose.

But, what looks really bad for Mitt is that many of his surrogates have come out and said things such as:

- "Send Obama back to Kenya"

- "Colin Powell likes him solely because he is black"

- "If I could I would have just hit him" (said by his own son)


And he has done NOTHING to separate himself from it.

It was only a couple of years ago that McCain was grabbing mics from people that were racists and ignorant and defended the president as an American with family values. But the fact that Romney just chooses to let this go is very disturbing.

11/4/2012 5:58:07 PM

Quote :

"And he has done NOTHING to separate himself from it. "

Would involve blasting his base.

11/4/2012 7:03:34 PM

McCain finessed it by throwing some poor sap under the bus.

Romney could and should do the exact same thing.

11/4/2012 7:10:21 PM

Quote :

"Romney could and should do the exact same thing."

"Should" based on what? Based on wanting to win? Their strategy is already explicitly "gun for the white vote, fuck everybody else". Did you expect him to change that game last minute, or?

This is a big-name Republican running for national office, you can't honestly be surprised or shocked at "dog whistle" (bullhorn) racism

11/4/2012 7:11:48 PM

Based on common human decency. But Romney has shown a dire lack of character issues and I don't expect him to start now.

11/4/2012 9:14:36 PM

http://bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-01/running-the-data-on-a-romney-presidency.html

[Edited on November 4, 2012 at 9:56 PM. Reason : Interesting perspective on the amorphous Romney]

11/4/2012 9:55:15 PM

What, mccain is not a blue chipper? Dont be rediculous. He isnt doing bc he believes it.

11/4/2012 10:15:55 PM

I believe that article to be total bullshit.

11/4/2012 10:18:17 PM

Can anyone explain how thw long lines off voter supression get started and is there anythi.g that u can do to stop it on election day?

11/4/2012 10:28:37 PM

11/4/2012 11:51:53 PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gsa4uLmTw0M

11/5/2012 1:52:56 AM

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/04/florida-early-voting_n_2073119.html

Quote :

"WASHINGTON -- Once again, Florida and its problems at the polls are at the center of an election. Early voting is supposed to make it easier for people to carry out their constitutional right. Tuesdays are notoriously inconvenient to take off work, so many states have given voters the option of turning out on weekends or other weekdays in the run-up to Election Day. But in Florida this year, it has been a nightmare for voters, who have faced record wait times, long lines in the sun and a Republican governor, Rick Scott, who has refused to budge and extend early voting hours. "People are getting out to vote. That's what's very good," said Scott. People are getting out to vote -- but many of them are having to wait in line for three or four hours to do so. One contributor to DailyKos claimed it took 9 hours to vote. In Miami-Dade on Saturday, people who had gotten in line by 7:00 p.m. were allowed to vote; the last person wasn't checked in until 1 a.m., meaning it took some individuals six hours to cast a ballot. "We're looking at an election meltdown that is eerily similar to 2000, minus the hanging chads," said Dan Smith, a political science professor at the University of Florida."

Quote :

"On Twitter, former Republican governor Charlie Crist -- who is now an independent -- responded to news of the office's closing, writing on Twitter, "Let the people vote!" “We had the best of intentions to provide this service today,” said department spokeswoman Christina White. “We just can’t accommodate it to the degree that we would like to.”"

Quote :

"President Barack Obama's campaign and some of its supporters were attempting to keep people's spirits up -- and discourage them from abandoning the lines -- by bringing in food, water and even local musicians and DJs as entertainment."

Quote :

"Scott has refused to extend early voting hours, essentially arguing that there is no problem, despite calls from Democrats, independent groups and even a Republican elections supervisor. "

Quote :

"As Florida Democrats have pointed out, the state's previous two Republican governors -- Jeb Bush and Crist -- both extended the hours. A spokesman for Bush didn't return a request for comment."

11/5/2012 8:36:08 AM

What is True the Vote?

And is it really legal in 46 states for any random citizen to challenge the voting rights of another? What are the repercussions of false accusations?

11/5/2012 8:41:51 AM

^ in NC the challenger must live in the same precinct as the person they are challenging.

11/5/2012 8:51:05 AM

11/5/2012 8:56:02 AM

^^ I never knew that. Interesting. I mean, I'm white, so no one would ever challenge me obviously but it's interesting still.

11/5/2012 9:00:08 AM

Quote :

"Listen, I TOTALLY get conservatives that don't want to be labeled a racist just because they are voting for Mitt. It is like every liberal that doesn't want to be judged as somebody "that hates the rich" just because they are voting for Obama. You would like to think that one's actions have more purpose. But, what looks really bad for Mitt is that many of his surrogates have come out and said things such as: - "Send Obama back to Kenya" - "Colin Powell likes him solely because he is black" - "If I could I would have just hit him" (said by his own son) And he has done NOTHING to separate himself from it. It was only a couple of years ago that McCain was grabbing mics from people that were racists and ignorant and defended the president as an American with family values. But the fact that Romney just chooses to let this go is very disturbing."

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2012/11/03/breaking_naacp_takes_over_polling_station_advocates_for_president_obama_at_houston_polling_location

Do you think BO will say anything about this? How about the Black Panthers standing outside the PA voting booth last election with bats?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neGbKHyGuHU

11/5/2012 10:45:09 AM

Electioneering is a criminal offense in Texas. If

Quote :

"At this point, NAACP members were instructed to turn their clothing inside out, which they refused to do and said they weren’t going to stop their actions inside the polling place. Their behavior and actions to move people to the front of the line continued for the rest of the evening."

actually happened as described, people would have went to jail. Given the source and lack of corroboration, I'm skeptical that it even happened, but I welcome further evidence. Did "Eve Rockford" think to take a picture?

It's kind of silly to equivocate The New Black Panther Party's actions with what Romney surrogates say. The New Black Panther Party doesn't represent Obama or Obama's agenda in any fashion.

11/5/2012 11:18:57 AM

So, when black and latino districts are specifically targeted for voter suppression to the point where people are standing in line 6-8 hours that the NCAAP shows up to give people water and morale that this is somehow bad?

Nor did they say anything, they are just standing up against modern day jim crow laws

[Edited on November 5, 2012 at 11:21 AM. Reason : bh]

[Edited on November 5, 2012 at 11:22 AM. Reason : a]

11/5/2012 11:20:21 AM

Quote :

"How about the Black Panthers standing outside the PA voting booth last election with bats?"

First, they were not the Black Panthers, but he New Black Panther Party, which is a splinter group with "a few thousand" members by their own grossly inflated estimate that has been denounced by multiple former BP members. Fox and the others who hyped the story don't mention that, because then people might catch on that they're reporting on a few fringe wackos.

Secondly, there was not a single report filed, not one, of voter intimidation. What most likely happened was this: Some conservative activist decided to go to the blackest polling station he could, find the scariest black man he could, and videotape him for the express purpose of riling up conservatives with racial fears. How can I assume this? Because if the guy filming was actually a registered voter for that precinct, he could have easily filed an intimidation report, but to date there are, again, exactly zero such reports from voters in that precinct.

Third, for all the whining about the DoJ not prosecuting the NBPP members, that's a bit hard to do when no formal complaint has come in from any of the precinct voters. Besides, after Bush neglected to prosecute Minute Men in Arizona who were patrolling a polling station bearing loaded pistols, I don't recall a single conservative raising a stink about that. So either these principled vote-protectors who filmed the NBPP member were born in 2007, or they're just partisan shills trying to gin up racial scaremongering for their benefit and shedding nothing but crocodile tears.

[Edited on November 5, 2012 at 12:56 PM. Reason : .]

11/5/2012 12:56:18 PM

ofn

[Edited on November 5, 2012 at 1:07 PM. Reason : ofn]

11/5/2012 1:07:14 PM

^^it wasnt just a Fox news scare tactic, as I know this is popular to say to discount things.

Did you actually watch the video? They had weapons IN THEIR HANDS outside of a voting location. If you are trying to rationalize that then its pointless to counter. This isnt about political parties. If there were two scary white guys in Hells Angels gear holding bats outside of voting booth I would feel the same way. What the BP did was wrong, and I think any sensible person can see that.

My whole point was that some are basing MR for not speaking out about voter intimidation, but BO not only was silent about this incident, but his justice dept saw to it that the charges were dropped.

And re: there were no complaints, the cops were called on them. So obviously it bothered some people.

11/5/2012 1:49:24 PM

Quote :

"My whole point was that some are basing MR for not speaking out about voter intimidation"

Who said this?

From here it looks like you equivocated "Romney isn't distancing himself from shitty comments his surrogates make" with "Obama isn't denouncing criminal acts of people that don't represent him in any way."

11/5/2012 1:52:00 PM

at Gallup

Gotta regress to the mean to keep up that rep. Obama now definitive favorite even in the aggregate of national tracking polls.

11/5/2012 2:01:58 PM

I think that I share NyM's fascination for this voting process. I would love to be a nonpartisan analyst because for the most part you can let the data speak for itself.

I feel horrible for anchors like Ed shultz, maddow and even hannity that don't seem to have the freedom to portray accurate pictures of candidates but must instead paint either a polarizable good or bad view point. SMH, that would make me want to jump off a building.

[Edited on November 5, 2012 at 2:16 PM. Reason : Are they just a modern day minister of propaganda?]

11/5/2012 2:16:06 PM

^^ is anyone surprised by that? Ever since Gallup went off the rails it was clear they'd come back in the days before election day so they could claim to have called things properly.

Isn't that what Rasmussen already does every four years?

^ Maddow hasn't ever seemed to have a problem calling out Democrats when they're acting like fools.

[Edited on November 5, 2012 at 2:38 PM. Reason : .]

11/5/2012 2:37:34 PM

word. In fact, didn't all of MSNBC's panel heckle Obama after his 1st debate performance?

11/5/2012 2:41:58 PM

Chris Matthews vociferously berated him

11/5/2012 3:06:17 PM

my point is about their rhetoric regarding Mitt. It is very similar to conservative rhetoric about Obama: Everything is made to make the other party look bad.

11/5/2012 3:08:32 PM

Lol Romney is in full desperation mode. His campaign leaked internal polls for swing states. Barely up in most battleground states and Nate Silver tweeted that on average, internal polls, are biased six points.

11/5/2012 4:02:11 PM

^^Provide example. Difficulty: Calling a liar a liar isn't rhetoric.

[Edited on November 5, 2012 at 4:02 PM. Reason : .]

11/5/2012 4:02:18 PM

Romney is in fact more of A liar: http://www.politifact.com/personalities/mitt-romney/

11/5/2012 4:06:29 PM

Quote :

"First, they were not the Black Panthers, but he New Black Panther Party, which is a splinter group with "a few thousand" members by their own grossly inflated estimate that has been denounced by multiple former BP members. Fox and the others who hyped the story don't mention that, because then people might catch on that they're reporting on a few fringe wackos."

To be fair, and on-topic to the question... this detail should make it all that much easier for Obama to "distance" himself from them. The reason he has not done so is because no one has asked.

Quote :

"Secondly, there was not a single report filed, not one, of voter intimidation. What most likely happened was this: Some conservative activist decided to go to the blackest polling station he could, find the scariest black man he could, and videotape him for the express purpose of riling up conservatives with racial fears."

Sure, but that would be irrelevant. It seems that no one is disputing the presence of that person there, holding a weapon, intending to intimidate.

Ultimately, we can't fully evaluate the concept of proportionality. This could have been the only case of a black person intimidating voters at a poll in history. That wouldn't change the validity of the point, which is, as I understand it, that this shouldn't have been allowed. As I understand the facts, I agree with the point.

Even if the guy wasn't a voter there, I fail to believe there wasn't something he could have done. Whether or not he wanted it to be addressed is a different question, but an irrelevant one.

11/5/2012 4:24:11 PM

Obama 91% on 538 now.

State polls today again big for Obama but that's even higher than I thought the probability would be.

For hilarity, search @fivethirtyeight on twitter for some serious right hate.

[Edited on November 5, 2012 at 9:17 PM. Reason : X]

11/5/2012 9:16:30 PM

^ 92.2% now, lol - what the hell kind of polls are just getting input

11/5/2012 10:22:19 PM

http://www.technicianonline.com/news/clinton-campaigns-in-raleigh-1.2788628#.UJiJt8XA-w1

11/5/2012 10:55:03 PM

What if this is just a giant hate silver troll? Like a "ha ha that's what you get for trusting 1 source"

But, Obama has passed his high point after the 47%, that's pretty phenomenal. The popular vote is still neck and neck though.

Fl just flipped to lean left. If only nc drifted that way, the new norm map would be very interesting.

[Edited on November 5, 2012 at 11:25 PM. Reason : ]

11/5/2012 11:22:36 PM

Nate was on Colbert tonight. If he's wrong, he will never, never hear the end of it.

11/6/2012 12:02:55 AM

Quote :

"A large majority of the polls over-sample Democrats. The media is desperate to make this look like a close election when it's not. They're just trying to get more Democrats to show up at the polls by making Obama look like he has a chance. Romney is positively going to win. I don't care what Nate Silver's little program says, he's going to look like a clown after Tuesday. I will stay out of the soapbox for 1 full year if I'm wrong, you can hold me to it. That's my word."

Oh don't you worry prep-e, we will hold you to that.

Quote :

"most likely scenario is Senate - Democrats House - Republicans President - Obama"

Thanks for the derp. The only one of those even in question is the last, and it's barely at that.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/signal/
http://election.princeton.edu/
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/2012_elections_electoral_college_map.html

11/6/2012 12:26:38 AM

The percentage is so high now because the maximum amount of polling data has been collected. Even a small margin would result in a high probability that one candidate would win as long as the data was consistent and reliable.

11/6/2012 1:32:14 AM

Indeed: Unless the race were expected to be super 2000-level close, the probability of one candidate winning should diverge toward 100% as election day approaches.

(BTW expect long recounts in Florida that almost nobody will be watching.)

Quote :

"What is True the Vote?"

a Rethug front group for voter-suppression

11/6/2012 6:13:24 AM

A friend of mine from London posted this on my facebook wall this morning:

Quote :

"UK 75% popularity in favour of Obama! Romney seems like an asshole."

Made me laugh.

11/6/2012 6:40:27 AM

Briefly watched CNN before voting at 6:30 and saw the following awful headline:

- Election is a dead heat.
- Polling details show tied race that leans neither direction
- GOP confident in Ohio leading in to Election Day

Now I'm not one to blast news generally but this is just lazy.

The first two points are in blatant contradiction to all data that has been collected. That doesn't mean Romney can't win. Far from that; but it's not true to say each has the same probability.

The third point is just meaningless drivel. Uh, what is the GOP going to say? "Yeah may as well not show up guys. We are getting our asses fucked and have no chance." I bet Mondale's people were confident heading in to Election Day too.

Step up your game CNN. I refuse to watch Fox or MSNBC.

[Edited on November 6, 2012 at 7:33 AM. Reason : X]

11/6/2012 7:32:38 AM

I wouldn't call it lazy, I'd call it trying to convince people there's a reason to keep watching for updates.

It's a ratings game, my friend. Those who want to hear that their preferred party is doing better and will win will watch their preferred biased channel.

11/6/2012 8:10:25 AM

Republicans should have won. The economy was having more trouble starting than my dad’s Pinto back in ‘70s, and Barack Obama had gone from the black Kennedy to the black Jimmy Carter. People blamed the president for Republican obstruction. Fate was practically holding the door to the White House open for Republicans.

How the heck did Mitt Romney blow it?

By Halloween, Republican insiders were starting the blame game. It was Hurricane Sandy and that turncoat Chris Christie who did in Mitt Romney, and he didn’t do himself any favors by running TV ads in Ohio that drew rebukes from Chrysler and GM. And the rank & file never thought Romney was as severely conservative as he claimed.

Nonsense. Losing to Obama was a statistical anomaly, a disturbance in the Force, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. The fundamentals of Romney’s theory of this race were sound, and Republicans would be smart to avoid taking the following advice:

Don’t worry about nominating an unlikable plutocrat. Picking the personification of Scrooge McDuck and Montgomery Burns didn’t make him look out of touch. He looked successful! This is why they don’t hire ugly models, people. So what if his cufflinks cost more than my car? Rich guys caused our recession. It was smart to pick a rich guy to get us out of the recession.

Republicans should also ignore the old rule that a candidate can never be his own manager. Sure, Romney personally asked Clint Eastwood to speak at the Republican convention and personally approved his campaign’s Libya statement on 9/11, but that just means he’s decisive. And it doesn’t matter that Romney personally rewrote his disastrous convention speech. That wasn’t meddling. That was just a rough draft. Next time, it’s bound to work!

Forget all the talk about reclaiming the Party of Lincoln that is bound to come up. Yes, the voters are getting more diverse. In fact, if everyone who voted in 2008 had voted in 1998, Michael Dukakis would have been president. And by 2020, non-white voters will grow from a quarter to a third of the electorate, leading some to say that focusing on white men will make the Republican Party irrelevant in national elections. But think about it: The Democrats are only too happy to hang out with blacks, gays, secular scientists, college students, and the kind of women who actually use birth control, if you know what I mean. Are these the sorts you want on your side? The Republican Party isn’t some open-bar faculty mixer. They say “irrelevant”. I say “exclusive.”

Reduce...
Ignore those who say the Republican Party hurt Mitt. So what if he had to treat Republicans like a drunk uncle who will ruin your dinner party if he’s let out of the basement? You’ve got something to say about the hierarchy of rape? Let it out. If Dirty Harry didn’t let that chair interrupt him, then you shouldn’t let your mothers, wives or daughters stop you. Just because women are raped more often than men doesn’t mean they’re better qualified to speak about it. For that matter, lady parts don’t make women experts on birth control, abortion or equal pay. Having man parts just means you don’t have a conflict of interest. Bang.

Finally, don’t let the fact that the Great Recession discredited your economic theories stop you from proposing tax cuts for rich dudes to solve everything from slow job growth to erectile dysfunction. Turning Medicare into Groupon for Grandmas was a good start, but promising to take healthcare money from old people and to give it to guys like A-Rod, Donald Trump and, well, Mitt Romney took real guts. Who cares if a large majority of Americans hates this idea? Who cares if cutting taxes doesn’t grow the economy? You believe it does, and your sincere conviction of things not seen combines two political attributes: the authenticity voters say they crave, and the wildly optimistic crazy talk that voters usually respond to.

Ignore the critics, your conscience, and the election results. What you did in 2012 is bound to work in 2016. Keep at it, and good luck.

http://www.politico.com/arena/?hp=ar

11/6/2012 8:39:57 AM

Quote :

"And re: there were no complaints, the cops were called on them. So obviously it bothered some people."

Anybody from anywhere can call the police. Only voters from the precinct in question can file intimidation reports. Exactly zero reports came in. And please, spare me. I'm sure if he had been a white guy with a CCW you'd be defending his right to self defense blah blah blah. A black man holding a weapon in and of itself is not voter intimidation.

11/6/2012 9:06:48 AM

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/11/black-panthers-in-back-at-their-posts-in-philadelphia-on-election-day/

Theyre back. Wonder if BO will speak out against this

11/6/2012 10:04:08 AM