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There seems to be dramatically increased anger among Republicans this year about Democrat vote fraud. In the past, the Republican grassroots have usually treated such fraud as unavoidable, mostly wrote off urban areas and other Democrat strongholds and concentrated on their own get-out-the-vote efforts. But this year, perhaps in response to unjustified Democrat fraud claims that have grown so feeble they've become absurd, Republicans are suddenly very, very interested in ending Democrat vote fraud, once and for all.
Vote fraud in the United States is overwhelmingly the provenance of the Democrat Party. No serious student of electoral politics disputes this. The great American demagogues and political machine bosses of the twentieth century were all Democrats: Talmadge in Georgia, Hague in Jersey City, Daley in Chicago, Fitzgerald and then Curley in Boston, Pendergast in Missouri, the Longs in Louisiana, et cetera, et cetera. Each of these regimes practiced widespread vote fraud as one among many tools to seize and retain power.
But despite the weakening of the machines, Democrat fraud tricks are hardly a thing of the past. On Election Day 2000, a prominent Gore fundraiser was captured on video by a Wisconsin news crew buying indigents' votes with cigarettes. Gore won Wisconsin by 5,700 votes, out of about 2.5 million cast - that's 11 electoral votes, fraud caught on videotape, and hardly any coverage from the national media, despite a 0.2% margin.
So this year, Republicans are angry. The pot called the kettle black, and the kettle is ready to set the record straight.
Michelle Malkin has been all over this issue, tracking the most egregious instances of vote fraud prep to come to light thus far. One incident in Cleveland is particularly noteworthy - the "non-partisan" NAACP was involved in a plot to register 1000 fake voters. Deroy Murdock of National Review has been similarly thorough.
Sterling,
How could you miss Tammany Hall? You're just anti-New York aren't you.
Gherm
Posted by: Gherimiah on September 30, 2004 09:45 PMUhm. The Democrats hardly have the monopoly on this one. See, for instance, http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml%3Fi=20041011&s=pollitt
The Dems are of course more famous for it, but that could support either side of the argument (either the Repub's aren't doing it, which is obviously false, since various types of fraud are the hammers and screws of government, or they are just better at not getting caught, which is really scary).
Posted by: Michael on October 1, 2004 08:40 PMSorry, it looks to me like that's an article that expresses a sympathetic point of view for Democrat vote fraud, not an expose of Republican vote fraud. The subcontext of the Nation article is that these students can register in their home state and in Arizona and vote in both places, and not go to jail.
It's encouraging vote fraud on behalf of Democrats.
Posted by: Sterling on October 1, 2004 09:00 PMRegarding vote fraud: There are plenty of historical examples of both parties being involved in vote fraud, especially if you go down to the level of local elections.
This in no way justifies the Republicans' repeated and laughably transparent attempts in 2000 and again this year to suppress the votes of poor people, blacks, and others that might tend not to vote their way. It's just another example of how Republicans fear real democracy.
That said, it's also hard to take your comments seriously when you can't even get the name of the opposing party right.
It's the Democratic party, not the "Democrat" party.
Pretty much everyone in the known universe realizes that this particular little linguistic tick you've employed is part of the standard RNC/Faux News spin.
By using it, you might as well hang a flashing neon sign around your neck that says "I am a mindless partisan shill who will do whatever Karl Rove wants me to do." Of course, citing a featherweight like Michelle Malkin as an authority on anything isn't real good for your credibility either.
This blog is sometimes interesting, but your political posts are getting shriller and more desparate by the day, Sterling. As Satchel Paige once said, "Don't look back, something may be gaining on you."
Kerry beat Bush like a rented mule in the first debate, and he's going to win in November, too.
Posted by: Dean on October 2, 2004 06:10 AMYou go 'head and list some historical references of the Republicans even trying anything like what went on FOR DECADES in places like the Counties of Hudson (NJ), Telfair (GA) and Cook (IL). Republican vote fraud is massively overshadowed by Democrat vote fraud.
Republicans are obviously not trying to suppress black voter turnout, or any other turnout. If for no other reason than the risk of getting caught is too great. Can you imagine the wailing and screaming that would ensue? Good God.
"Democrat Party" is a conservative construction, that's true. It is considered a response to Democrats advancing their agenda undemocratically, through judicial fiat instead of the ballot box. Additionally, a lot of conservatives started using it after Hillary Clinton and Ira Magaziner tried to sneak socialized medicine into law without letting anyone know what they were doing. Since you're not terribly small-d democratic anymore, we don't call you the big-D "Democratic Party" anymore. You're the party of so-called Democrats, not democratic ideals. As a compromise, I could call you the Jackass Party. Is that preferable?
Kerry can flail about all he likes. Bush is going to win by at least 10 points in November.
Posted by: Sterling on October 3, 2004 02:35 AM"Republicans are suddenly very, very interested in ending Democrat vote fraud, once and for all."
Their solution: Diebold
Posted by: Sly on October 4, 2004 07:27 PMThe Democratic party in the 20th century was the CONSERVATIVE party. Let's not forget this. The Republicans, who then were the ones backed by blacks and minorities (just like today's democrats) were the liberals.
in conclusion, Vote fraud is a right-wing thing.