September 21, 2010

State Republicans, Tea Party groups planning 'voter suppression' during fall elections, liberal group says

One Wisconsin Now, a liberal advocacy group in Madison, said Monday it uncovered a conspiracy by conservative parties in the state to suppress minority and college student turnout during the Nov. 2 general election.

The group says they have recordings of a leader of the Tea Party movement laying out plans to reduce the number of traditionally Democratic voters who can cast ballots on Nov. 2. Tea Party groups, the Republican Party of Wisconsin and Americans for Prosperity-Wisconsin are allegedly working together on a "voter caging" effort.

The non-partisan Brennan Center for Justice outlines the process of voter caging:
Voter caging is the practice of sending mail to addresses on the voter rolls, compiling a list of the mail that is returned undelivered, and using that list to purge or challenge voters registrations on the grounds that the voters on the list do not legally reside at their registered addresses. Supporters of voter caging defend the practice as a means of preventing votes cast by ineligible voters. Voter caging, however, is notoriously unreliable. If it is treated (unjustifiably) as the sole basis for determining that a voter is ineligible or does not live at the address at which he or she registered, it can lead to the unwarranted purge or challenge of eligible voters. …Moreover, the practice has often been targeted at minority voters, making the effects even more pernicious. [Brennan Center, “A Guide to Voter Caging,” 6/29/07]
One Wisconsin Now said Monday it obtained an audio recording it has verified as authentic from a June 16, 2010 meeting between the leaders of the state’s Tea Party movement, led by Tim Dake, head of the GrandSons of Liberty. Dake serves as a regular spokesperson for Wisconsin’s Tea Party organizations and is widely viewed as the movement’s Wisconsin leader. The full audio, available at One Wisconsin Now’s voter protection website, www.SaveWisconsinsVote2010.org, details the plans.

According to the statements made on the recordings, Dake lays out the plans, detailing contact between himself and Reince Preibus, the Republican Party of Wisconsin Chair and Mark Block, state director of Americans for Prosperity-Wisconsin:

The Republican Party of Wisconsin will use its “Voter Vault” state-wide voter file to compile a list of minority and student voters in targeted Wisconsin communities.

Americans for Prosperity will use this list to send mail to these voters indicating the voter must call and confirm their registration information, and telling them if they do not call the number provided they could be removed from the voter lists. 

The Tea Party organizations will recruit and place individuals as official poll workers in selected municipalities in order to be able to make the challenges as official poll workers.

On Election Day, these organizations will then “make use” of any postcards that are returned as undeliverable to challenge voters at the polls, utilizing law enforcement, as well as attorneys trained and provided by the RPW, to support their challenges.

According to the recordings, Dake told the assembled Tea Party members he leads:
So, what we’re hoping is that the various groups in the coalition plus Americans for Prosperity and Mark Block, who has been in on this, and the Republican Party, and this is coming all the way from the top: Reince Priebus has said, “We’re in.” And there’s a reason why these guys are volunteering to work with us. They have access to what they call Voter Vault, you know the records of voting. They can go in there and look for lapsed voters. They can go in and compare lists of voters and say, “Oh look at this. This person is registered in this county, this county, this county, and this county.” And do something about this. So we’re talking about a broad based support behind this idea. What they’re offering is training.
Dake continues in the recording to outline the plan:
[RPW is] offering to do the training; it’s not going to cost anything, but what we’re looking at is statewide getting our groups involved, getting people, like my group has a 2,700 person email list. We want to hit that and see how many of these people we can get involved in this one project. The idea being at some point to go in on September 14 and November 2 and have these people involved and doing poll watching and checking. There are some consultants that have offered to step up, “We’re Watching” is stepping up; attorneys from the Republican Party.
Later in his presentation, Dake adds:
Okay, poll watchers what you can do is you can call in a lawyer. The Republican Party, this is one of the things they’re offering, they’re saying they’ll have their lawyers standing by so that if you call, let’s say you’re poll watching in say Hales Corners and you see something really fraudulent, they will send a lawyer out right away and be able to say, “Here’s the deal, here’s the law, this is what we expect.” Bring the police in and make your complaint that sort of thing. So, we’ve got that. You can challenge voters through the precinct captains. This is one of the things they will teach you how to do and anybody can challenge a voter. And since the voter law did not get passed this year that could hit you with $100,000 and three years for unsuccessfully challenging a voter, we can still do this.
Dake is interrupted at this point by an unidentified coalition member who shouts, “Hallelujah.” Dake adds, “Yes, everybody gets to take credit for that.” He goes on to outline Americans for Prosperity-Wisconsin’s role and how to target law enforcement:
So we’re talking about AFP is willing to fund doing a mass mailing to registered voters on this, about getting them involved with this, making sure that their information is current, because people periodically need to go back and check. I found, before we bought the house we lived in. Four years ago I lived in a brand new condo, the first people to live in it. I went to vote and found twelve people registered at my address. My wife and I are the only people to have lived there. Yet, there were twelve people registered to vote. I couldn’t believe it. They said, “Wow, you must have a big family.” And I’m looking at names and going, “No, there’s nobody named ‘Nguyen’ and ‘Din’ and that sort of thing in my family.” So that’s the kind of thing we need to clean up and people need to be aware of. Go in and check who else is registered at your place and ask to have them tossed off. Work with the media on this and district attorneys. Try to get them involved early and fired up about this and say look, “We know you’re shorthanded, we’re hands, we’re boots on the ground. We will help you, just bring the weight of the law behind us.” One of the things we’re going to do is take these addresses that people give and we want to send out a postcard that says, “You need to call and confirm this. And if you haven’t called, well then it could get tossed out.” We’re also looking for when you send these cards out is they’ll come back if it is an undeliverable address.
Other quotes from One Wisconsin Now's recordings:
"[Y]ou run into the racial thing. You have people screaming, ‘Oh, you’re denying the minorities the right to vote.’ No., we’re denying their right to vote multiple times." [Tim Dake, GrandSons of Liberty]
"Work with the media on this and the district attorneys. Try to get them involved early and fired up about this and say look, ‘We know you’re shorthanded, we’re hands, we’re boots on the ground. We will help you, just bring the weight of the law behind us."[Tim Dake, GrandSons of Liberty]
"I was a poll watcher from 2000 to 2006 and if you’ve got a university in your county, or your city, students will come down in droves and then they will all vouch for each other. I had this one kid come in five times with five separate groups of people and this person brings in students, they’re usually from Minnesota or wherever up by Eau Claire, and you go, ‘Do you live here?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Well do you have anything that shows your address?’ ‘No.’ Then that one student says, ‘I vouch for her, I vouch for him.’ And they all vote." [Shane McVey, Eau Claire Tea Party]
"This is apparently a very effective deterrent, just having people standing there. Poll watching tends to discourage people when they know someone is looking." [Tim Dake, GrandSons of Liberty]
"It’s just having people who have the courage and conviction because in our society we have been ‘wussified’.... [T]hey try to claim intimidation and they'll bring a whole bunch of people. If you do challenge a vote like three people will surround you and they’ll all start getting in your face and threatening you with legal action and all that stuff. You just have to be strong willed and be able to take that stuff.” [Shane McVey, Eau Claire Tea Party]
The full recordings, as well as a transcript and other information, are available at One Wisconsin Now’s voter protection website: http://www.SaveWisconsinsVote2010.org.

59 comments:

  1. And if you think MoveOn.org, One Wisconsin Now and the reminants of ACORN are not doing the same damn thing your nuts.

    ReplyDelete
  2. And if you think this is legal, read the National Voting Rights Act of 1993.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The clause in the National Voting Rights Act of 1993 (NVRA) which has been interpreted to prohibit voter caging is:

    "Pursuant to the NVRA, a voter may not be removed from the voters list unless (1) the voter has requested removal; (2) state law requires removal by reason of criminal conviction or mental capacity; (3) the voter has confirmed in writing that he has moved outside the jurisdiction maintaining the specific voter list, or (4) the voter both (a) has failed to respond to a cancellation notice issued pursuant to the NVRA and (b) has not voted or appeared to vote in the two federal general elections following the date of notice."


    Under this clause voter caging may be legal if the primary purpose is to identify those who are not properly registered to vote and prevent them from voting illegally, but not if the purpose is to disenfranchise legitimately registered voters on the basis of a technicality.

    In other words... "it depends"

    ReplyDelete
  4. Basically if the Republican Party sent out fliers and took note of every one that came back, then it still doesn't have standing under the NVRA and is guilty of voter caging.

    If the Republican Party sent NVRA cancellation notices, it's guilty of fraud and voter caging because it doesn't have the authority to send out NVRA cancellation notices.

    If the Republican Party sent out notices mimicking NVRA cancellation notices, it's guilty of fraud and voter caging because it tried to pass a non-official document off as an official one. In all three cases, they're guilty of voter caging, and in two of them they're also guilty of fraud.

    There is no way this is legal by any means, it wasn't legal in 2004 when this first came up in suppression of Milwaukee's minorities, there is no way this is legal now.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Given this country's shameful history of suppressing the votes of African-Americans none of this is a surprise. Groups like the Tea Party, AFP as well as the GOP have whipped up fear and allegations about rampant voter fraud where it doesn't exist. The stories about hoards of black people going from poll to poll are lies. Independent organizations have investigated voter fraud and found that in Wisconsin, for example, the instance of fraud in the entire State is 0.0025% and in Milwaukee it is 0.002%.

    http://www.truthaboutfraud.org/case_studies_by_state/wisconsin_2004.html#more

    Everyone knows they do this because the groups they are targeting with these bogus claims do not generally support their candidates. They don't bother with registration activities either because their base is already registered. Under the veil of "protecting the vote" they stage massive operations to place poll watchers in polling places - particularly in the inner-city to be prepared to challenge voters. They only have to do this a few times to throw waiting lines completely out of whack. Poll workers are forced to engage in challenges and pretty soon the lines slow. People with young children or returning to work tend to give up and leave. Mission accomplished.

    Tea Party groups in Racine have passed along info to sign up for the trainings described above. The 912 group is just one. Their announcement went out with the caveat that more information would only be provided to people who sent a response email, supposedly to prevent others from finding out what they are up to. Their email states in black and white that it is sponsored by the "Republican Party of Wisconsin" 'cause you know they are non-partisan and all.

    Driving people to the polls and registration drives may piss off GOP/Tea Party groups (mostly 'cause they're still mad about outlawing poll taxes and literacy tests) but it is legal and brings more people into the system. Except, to them, they are the wrong people. This is why they do everything they can to suppress the vote.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The sky is falling the sky is falling

    ReplyDelete
  7. Good luck Wisconsin in having a fair election were everyone gets to vote.

    This kind of behavior is shameful and I hope these people join the other GOP'ers who have been fined or jailed for their activities.

    How come the Dem's never get convicted of anything like this? Maybe they don't do it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Seeing as how in Wisconsin you can register to vote the same day as the election, I'm not sure how this would prevent anyone from voting. If your name got removed in error, just re-register and vote.

    A person's vote is a valuable thing, and anything valuable is worth protecting. My house has never been robbed, but I take the time to lock the door when I go out. My vote has never been stolen, but I'd still like to see some basic protections in place, just in case.

    ReplyDelete
  9. There have been dozens of incidents around the State, (mostly Milwaukee and Racine), of fraud. Gov. Doyle vetoed Legislation which would require ID to vote, and he did it intentionally to keep Fraud on the side of the Dem's! Is the fraud 1/10th of a percent or is it as high as 3% it's hard to tell. but in a state as closely divided as ours..to not require a voter to show ID is just ridiculous! The campaign organized is focused on a Fair vote, not on a Fraud Vote, and they are acting within the guidelines of the Law. They have made it a point to consult on every issue with the State voting authority.

    If you think it's wrong call the Gov an ask for an emergency session declared and change the State Constitution to require Photo ID.

    ReplyDelete
  10. The minority party will always go to extremes to try to cut down the vote of the majority party, hoping for brief tactical advantage. Of course by permanently alienating more potential voters, it's a lousy long-term strategy for the party.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Shame on you Racine Post! You have edited this false story to make it look as something other than it is. If you read the ENTIRE TRANSCRIPT, you will see that nobody is being targeted or singled out to have their votes suppressed. They were talking of trained poll watching and legal cleaning of the rolls. There are poll watchers on both sides!!!

    Brennan Center is funded by George Soros, as is One Wisconsin Now. These attempts to discredit the TEA Parties and conservative are going on around the country in various states.

    ReplyDelete
  12. There is nothing illegal about poll watching or weeding out bad address (non-existent) or fake names prior to the elections.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Randy - read the entire transcript. You and the rest of your liberal friends days are almost over and you'll do or say anything because you are so desperate.

    Yes We Can - throw the Democrats out of office!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Soros?! Get real. Your go-to boogieman only wishes he had the money the Koch brothers have who are proud to fund AFP, Freedom Works (ie. the Tea Party) and their stable of Republican politicians.

    The GOP has been running this game for years and claiming a mass conspiracy of voter fraud where it doesn't exist. Dozens of cases? Wow that's concerning since there's only about 3.5 million registered voters in Wisconsin.

    Whether it's sending out fake census mailings or caging traps to throw people off the rolls, the GOP feels more than justified in prohibiting the freedom to vote entitled to citizens. The tea party are just the newest zombies they send can send out to create chaos on elections day, and they do it for free!

    ReplyDelete
  15. They send these folks to the wrong polling place in the wrong community and they will certainly need legal support from the police or they will get their racist butts kicked.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Just because to you're black or brown or go to college or have an accent, the teabaggers are coming to your neighborhood and to your polling place to make sure you are supposed to be there. They will lean in and listen while you say your name and address and check it against their list. If you don't look right, they will challenge your right to vote, because they can. And maybe 30 or 45 minutes later, you'll get to vote.

    Why? because they're freedom fighters that's why.

    ReplyDelete
  17. No - Today voting is very quick. It's about the only thing in life you can do without proper identification - What a great country!

    ReplyDelete
  18. It's a great country because you can walk into your polling place and say your name and not have to prove you are an American. It's one of the last vestiges of true freedom that is left.

    I don't have to show my "papers", my word is good enough.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Ahhh Newsflash!

    Anon 1:58PM if you read the transcripts you will realize that what you just posted is false.

    ReplyDelete
  20. it's a great country because I can walk into a polling place and say my name and not have to prove that I'm american. and then I can walk in to a different polling place and vote for my uncle and my cousin and my friends because they weren't able to make it to the polls, and I know how they wanted to vote anyhow.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Interesting, no one - not the JT, not the Milw JS, and certainly not the RacinePost, has bothered to publish the information about the Union Lobbiest in Milwaukee who has been recorded as saying that the Milw TV Stations, and multiple newspapers are in the bag for the Democrats and are "piling on" against Walker, Johnson, and Ryan.
    Apparetnly it's onl;y cheeting if Repiblicans do it.
    I guess the fact tht most newpaper workers including reporters are union members and therefore are above reproach.
    With the RacinePost, it's just leftist garbage as usual. Cory Mason's new child is more important than the fact that the Dems are bleeding us dry.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Yeah, except that doesn't happen. Voter fraud in Wisconsin is 0.0025%- it's a made up phenomenon and where they do find instances of fraud, ID's would not have made a difference.

    Teabag poll watchers wouldn't prevent that from happening even if it were true either.

    It's a great plan to slow things down and hope people give up and amazingly they do it in minority areas because there it NOTHING racist about it.

    Sending out fake voter registration mailings paid for by the GOP is just a coincidence.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Hey anonymous 2:52, a real news flash. Those transcripts are so full of code words that you really have to read between the lines, ie. the GrandSons of Liberty in and of itself can be read as racist. They plainly say to me -- we think black and brown people are committing voter fraud and must be stopped. There are very few confirmations (independent and believable) of all this voter fraud taking place. These mf's and you are on some type of mushrooms or acid.

    ReplyDelete
  24. 2:50 - I would not trust anyone who thinks like you.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Sir, gun advocates firmly believe they should be able to openly carry deadly weapons and not have to show proof of licensing. When police intervene they are hailed as protectors of the second amendment rights. Heroes to the NRA.

    That so many of these same people hypocritically demand laws to make people (and by people they mean colored people)show ID's at the polling place show exactly how racist they are. Voter fraud is a myth, but voter suppression is alive and well - and apparently well organized.

    You wouldn't trust anyone who thinks like me because you don't trust anyone to begin with. I'd much rather trust people at the polls than some redneck carrying a gun.

    But that's just me.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Shame on you for running with the ridiculously liberal crap from OWN.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Wow if we could only use our ID to prove who we are when we vote... like when we buy beer, cough medicine, cash a check, pick a kid from school, rent a movie, get a fishing license...

    Voter ID, one person, one vote.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Well, then make it the law and stop trying to keep minorities from voting. I don't see the GOP/Tea Party stationing too many of their people in Mequon.

    It must just be a coincidence they only come to the city, 'cause only minorities attempt voter fraud?

    Nope, no racism here.

    ReplyDelete
  29. The 912ers circulate classes on poll observers from AFP and the GOP?

    Tea Party = Republicans

    ReplyDelete
  30. Why didn't the Post have a linked story to Dan Bice's article in Sunday's JS about the SEIU lobbyist who bragged about coordinated efforts with the Barrett campaign. How about a little balance? JS online also has the audio and transcripts from the conversation.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Yes, and the SEIU fired him and it turned out he wasn't a lobbyist. But let's not forget how Walker's Deputy Communications Director misrepresented himself, lied and secretly taped a guy that turned out to be a basically a temp worker. The GOP is classy like that.

    RedState, Badger Blogger, Sodahead etc. did very well getting the story out.

    Caging is illegal and voter suppression is real and the GOP are experts at it. Anyone who has worked a poll in the city has seen these guys just waiting to challenge minorities casting votes.

    ReplyDelete
  32. 9/21/2010 5:02 PM
    You used the term 'Red Neck" and I bet you have NO idea what a red neck is or where the word came from. Now as far as voter fraud, it is not being a racist to target criminal activity at it's source. In the 08 election of obozo, voter fraud was committed by blacks in large numbers. They had no idea why they were voting for obozo except for the fact he was black. Lets face it most of the uneducated blacks voted for a black president, period.

    ReplyDelete
  33. People are making quite a few assumptions here based on what? Did they all read the transcripts? No and that is exactly what OWN knew. They could throw out a label and allegation and it would stick for precisely that reason.

    Just because one wants to become a legally trained Poll Watcher, does not mean that they are out to stop minorities only. Kudos for those who want to clean up WI voting process. Do your research and see how pathetic we are compared to MOST other states nationally!!!

    ReplyDelete
  34. 9/21/2010 1:33 PM
    I am a gun toting red neck. PLEASE try to kick my ass.

    ReplyDelete
  35. Interesting that this only hypes the right's voter games. How about all the left games including one planned against Walker until it was exposed in the Journal Sentinel. That one indicated even the TV news folks were willing to participate. Time to be objective here Racine Post. It is just as ugly or uglier on teh left this year.

    ReplyDelete
  36. 7:52 Voter fraud is a myth hyped by the GOP. What you describe is a lie, it did not happen. That you characterize African Americans as so criminal and dumb is just flat out racist.

    The tales of hordes of black people going from poll to poll is a lie. If you disagree then prove it and name the cases in Wisconsin.

    ReplyDelete
  37. 11:26 - Of the voter fraud in the last election, what % were black?

    ReplyDelete
  38. MORE LIBERAL CRAP TRYING TO USE SCARE TACTICS!!!
    I HOPE OUR VOTERS ARE MORE INTELLIGENT THAN TO LISTEN TO THIS GARBAGE. I HAVE VOTED FOR THE LAST 38 YEARS AND I HAVE NEVER SEEN THIS MUCH USE OF LIBERAL SCARE TACTICS AS I AM SEEING THIS YEAR. SHAME ON THE LIBERAL SOCIALISTS.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Driving people to the polls and registration drives may piss off GOP/Tea Party groups (mostly 'cause they're still mad about outlawing poll taxes and literacy tests) but it is legal and brings more people into the system. Except, to them, they are the wrong people. This is why they do everything they can to suppress the vote.
    9/21/2010 10:37 AM
    NOPE your wrong. It was the Republicans that outlawed the poll tax and literacy tests. It was the Black slave owning Democrats that wanted to keep that alive. What a bunch of vile liars.

    ReplyDelete
  40. There is so much disinformation and so many lies in this particular blog that it makes the whole thing worthless. The left is scared and making all kinds of stuff up and the right is anticipating winning to the point of being overly confident. Anyone who thinks there is no voter fraud these days, needs a check-up from the neck-up. Fearmongering before an election is old stuff. Noticed how the left has once again draged out the 'republicans are going to take away your SS' scare tactics for senior citizens? It's the same old game every voting period. Ho - hum.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Who is talking about black people going from polls to polls? Nobody in those transcripts, so that is your own assumption. Fraud is akin to everyone, including whites.

    Driving people to the polls is one thing. Driving groups of mentally challenged people and telling them WHO to vote for is an issue. Get your facts straight.

    Quit saying there is no vote fraud in WI. Just google it and you will get nearly 2,000,000 results!

    ReplyDelete
  42. It's pretty clear through history that keeping people away from the polls ultimately is a losing strategy. The winning strategy is trying to win their votes, not keeping them out.

    ReplyDelete
  43. All you Tea partiers and social conservatives want to win on your social agenda? Stop beating up on Hispanics, especially about immigration. You'll find no more socially conservative, family oriented, anti-abortion profile among any group of voters in the whole country. But, no, your xenophobia will drive this fastest-growing block of voters right into the Democratic Party for generations. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  44. De nada! (You're welcome!)

    ReplyDelete
  45. Randy - I agree in that the Hispanic families I know are hard working loving familes with good morales. That however does not exempt them from the law. Anyone coming into America needs to abide by its lawas and that includes immigration. And this holds true for any person coming in from any country. We cannot pick and choose what laws we want to follow or enforce.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Sir says, "We cannot pick and choose what laws we want to follow or enforce."

    Perhaps not, but we can certainly change them; passing the Dream Act the Pentagon wants for future military recruitment, for example.

    ReplyDelete
  47. The GOP/Tea Party is truly pissed that their game has been exposed. They've been doing this stuff for years, but now they have their own zombies to carry out suppression for free.

    They'll have these thugs placed in polling place with their postcards all ready to challenge voters. It's a new twist on calling people in the inner-city to tell them that anyone with a warrant will be arrested, sending out cards with the wrong election date and on and on.

    There is no evidence that people purposely misrepresent themselves in order to vote.

    Voter fraud is lie.

    ReplyDelete
  48. Hey 11:12pm - you are very misdirected. You need to get your information from other places than far left wing hate sites. The TEA 'party' is made up of voters from all sides of politics. There are no 'games' being played here. This is a serious movement to bring this Country back in line with it's true original design. The only people I saw outside the polls were black panthers with night sticks and public employee union thugs. And yes, there is plenty of evidenc of voter frauds. Where have you been hiding?

    ReplyDelete
  49. RACINE POST, change your title! The recording does NOT contain anyone speaking about vote caging. Stop the spin! They are clearly talking about POLL WATCHING and and helping to clear off the THOUSANDS of bad names/addresses on the rolls. ALL DONE IN LEGAL WAYS

    ReplyDelete
  50. and the tea baggers still claim to be non partisan and independant

    ReplyDelete
  51. There are Republicans conservatives libertarians democrats liberals (not many)independents and some that don't fit any of the above in the TEA party ralleys. They are simply the American people. They are driven by the great American values that madr this Country the greatest nation ever. The left knows they are correct and are scared of them, therefore they try to smear them saying they will comit voter fraud and they cast them as Nazis and loons and idiots and all the other names thrown at them. When in reality they are just everyday citizens who are going to vote the current bunch of scoialists right out of office in Nov.

    ReplyDelete
  52. > RACINE POST, change your title! The recording does NOT contain anyone speaking about vote caging. Stop the spin! They are clearly talking about POLL WATCHING and and helping to clear off the THOUSANDS of bad names/addresses on the rolls. ALL DONE IN LEGAL WAYS

    Are you saying someone should be questioned where they live if they write down on their registration "123 Derp Avenue" and instead have on their drivers license "123 Derp Ave."? Because this is what they do, they nitpick at the little facts. I'm sure from time to time you write down "dr." and "drive" but chances are many won't be harassed for it unless they're being discriminated against - aka voter caged. Like the many minorities have been in Wisconsin for years.

    > When in reality they are just everyday citizens who are going to vote the current bunch of scoialists right out of office in Nov.

    Sorry, but they are not socialists. Honestly, if they were? I think more things would be getting done.

    ReplyDelete
  53. 4:28 - you are right. They are more like fascists than socialists.

    ReplyDelete
  54. >Bing said...

    4:28 - you are right. They are more like fascists than socialists.


    Don't toss that term around, I don't call the far right that. Fascism was first used as a term for the totalitarian right-winged nationalist regime of Mussolini. The Nazis in Germany and of course Franco in Spain as well were fascist.

    As far as I'm concerned, the Tea Party is not completely terrible - just the people the people behind it. Many of the individuals and common men, women, and many others alike who support it are doing it in believing what they are doing is right thing. The problem is the issue that it's the Koch brothers who's combined worth is behind the Tea Party itself. Their combine worth makes them behind Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. This in itself is disturbing. They are just puppets to these big organizations that they will never see and that is what is terrible about this. I don't feel any hate for the Tea Party but rather feel sorry for the people because they're being duped into massive media that just keeps spending.

    I don't believe that people in the Tea Party are racist, greedy, terrible or anything nor do I believe all Republicans are the same way. Genuinely, most of them are probably thinking what they're doing is the right thing just like you and I. But I must wonder, what happened to Racine which was once the very place that fought for a man's freedom before the Civil War to become so hateful?

    The people who were in power, the Conservative Republicans - are the very same people who denied coverage for 9/11 victims. And still keep denying them. Many are dying slow and painful deaths from breathing in the asbestos.

    How do you find this right? I personally wish there was a party that wasn't just a sock puppet of the Grand Old Party. I wish the GOP would go back to what it used to be - with Abraham Lincoln, La Follette, Teddy Roosevelt. And think about the interest of the people and not the corporate interests wants.

    ReplyDelete
  55. I will 'toss around' any term I want to thank you. Fascist is anything but right wing in intent. Check wikipedia. The history of the movement is unimportant. What it is today counts.

    ReplyDelete
  56. Then you're choosing to remain in your ignorance then to see the disgusting actions from all sides. I have my certain disagreements with Obama such as the healthcare fiasco where all of the representatives acted like children, but he is much better than George W. Bush and old Ronald Reagan who rank as both the first and second worst presidents of our time.

    I don't have to look at Wikipedia, in fact you should look at it yourself.

    > Fascism (pronounced /ˈfæʃɪzəm/) is a radical and authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to organize a nation according to corporatist perspectives, values, and systems, including the political system and the economy. (Sounds more like Prosperity for America. Once again, I feel sorry for the Tea Party. Nothing but pity. )

    Fascism was originally founded by Italian national syndicalists in World War I who combined left-wing and right-wing political views, but it gravitated to the political right in the early 1920s. Scholars generally consider fascism to be on the far right of the conventional left-right political spectrum


    Fascism isn't right winged in intent, but it grows right wing the longer it exists and the more power it grows. While yes, Communism can be fascist in practice - it is because the movement grows right winged itself. It goes so far left that it rolls back into place of those of Cuba under Fidel Castro and Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh.

    (Also other examples that moved to the political right, Romania, the Soviet Union, and many others.)

    I am person who worked in the media Bing, but eventually grew sick and disgusting of the marketing manipulation I've seen in this propaganda and those expensive commercials from both sides of the political party is ridiculous. I am sick of getting the pieces in the mail when I know how much they're worth, how much money is spent on this campaigning over actual issues when our state is flooding out west. I get bombarded with Ron Johnson phone calls four times a goddamn day combine that with Scott Walker's war chest and see their commercials on television I swear during the same break and yes once even back to back. I look all over on the web and sees them plastered everywhere and I get it on my cellphone and it makes me so disgusted because I know the money that works behind this.

    Because I worked in this industry.

    All I can think during this, is how much money is being spent for their benefit when there is a fucking flood in Wisconsin and many are left without power and are homeless.

    It almost makes me want to run myself.

    ReplyDelete
  57. Um...this is just helping to suppress voter fraud. It has nothing to do with trying to suppress legitimate votes.

    ReplyDelete
  58. @ 1:45 AM

    It really doesn't help voter fraud honestly, I've been one of the people who were harassed for being 'Mexican' for having ambiguously dark skin and had people breathing over my shoulder as I voted the first time.

    Listen carefully to what he said about it though, he said 8% of the Wisconsin Vote is fraud. Let this sink in for a moment, 8% doesn't sound like much but do that multiplied by Wisconsin's population.

    5,654,774 x 0.08 = 452,381

    That is that is bigger than the whole population of the metropolitan area of Green Bay the third biggest city in the state. It's better than the City of Madison. Are you suggesting that many votes actually don't count? If it is true, I think Van Hollen is doing a shitty job catching all these fraud voters and all these people who are voting twice.

    Here is a more realistic number.

    5,654,774 x 0.0002 = 1,131

    While still a lot, they'd be easier to pick out now huh? I won't lie, I know people on both sides of the party who voted twice.

    To be honest would be all for voter ID, if it weren't for the small print there that it isn't funny that you have to look through. I've gone to vote, showed my ID one time and still got questioned because I wrote 'dr.' instead of 'drive' like on my license when my face was clearly on it and had some respective mail from the bank with me. This? Is not cool.

    It should be proof enough if you bring your ID and papers where you live, and you shouldn't be harassed about it. You should be forced into long lines questioned about it in great detail and interrogated and force all citizens to just stand and wait, being a major hassle. This is what the problem is going on and you can't defend it.

    Some people need because they have to work that day or those who live out in rural areas that have a hard time getting to the nearest place to vote at times.

    Frankly, I don't expect anything to be done about this from the any party - the Democrats won't say a word, One Wisconsin Now is trying it's best but people don't seem to get exactly why it's wrong and illegal by law ... And well, the GOP of Wisconsin , Tea Party, or Americans for Prosperity to responsibility for this until after the election so I have been traveling for everyone to bring their proper ID and their papers because they're going to get harassed. A lot. Exactly like my family and I were when we were all born citizens in America. Just Native American.

    ReplyDelete
  59. Anon 7:01 Calm down. Your code word "papers" is meant to incite fear at the nazi association.

    Instead learn to see things as they really are. Democrats commit voter fraud because it's the only way to stay in power with such destructive policies as they have. Courts are liberal and allow it. If the Republicans and others did not step up and do something to stop it (which they're also trying to make illegal) then their plan would work.

    Now you don't think we're going to let that happen, do you?

    Huh?

    ReplyDelete