Saturday, October 23, 2004

Republicans Plan to Disrupt the Voting Process

When you can't win fair and square, you flummox the system. News out this a.m. in the NYTimes, says the Ohio GOP has recruited 3,600 poll "observers" at $100 a pop to stand in mainly urban polling places in that state and "challenge" voters they don't think are eligible. Sounds like a plan. When "challenging" them doesn't work, maybe they can try knee-capping.

There are four main grounds on which a voter in Ohio can be challenged: whether the voter is a citizen, is at least 18, is a resident of the county and has lived in Ohio for the previous 30 days. All of it perfectly manifest in a person's mere appearance. A good Republican can spot an "outsider" at a thousand yards.

The real goal of these tactics is not knocking legitimate people out of voting. It's to DELAY the process so that pansy Democrats will get discouraged and go on home to their brie and crack cocaine. Republicans have that basic view of anyone who would actively choose NOT to vote for El Presidente ... easily broken, those little bleeding hearts.

Bottom line: Republicans, like the leaders in Ohio who organized this obstructionism, are basically uncomfortable with democracy. They don't like seeing a whole bunch of people not exactly like themselves swarming into polls to exercise their right to throw the bums out.

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