# Democratic Thugs Intimidate Voters **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 24, 2004, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-thugs-intimidate-voters/270879 "2004-10-24T10:29:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-thugs-intimidate-voters/270879/1 "2004-10-24T10:29:23Z")
Proof that partisan excess is not unique to the pit. [http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-pglitch23oct23,0,3825651,print.story?coll=sfla-news-palm](http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-pglitch23oct23,0,3825651,print.story?coll=sfla-news-palm) ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-thugs-intimidate-voters/270879/2 "2004-10-24T10:35:28Z")
This couldn’t go in the other thread? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-thugs-intimidate-voters/270879/3 "2004-10-24T10:41:17Z")
Yeah. Please put everything about the election bullshit into threads with titles like “Republicans are idiots” and “Republicans rape females who vote by absentee ballot”. Also, if you have anything to say about college football, please put it in a thread titled, “Carolina sucks”. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-thugs-intimidate-voters/270879/4 "2004-10-24T11:25:54Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > “Republicans rape females who vote by absentee ballot”. Yeah, but what was she doing in a Republican neighborhood at that time of night? And did you see what she was wearing? You can’t tell me she wasn’t looking for it. Huh? ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-thugs-intimidate-voters/270879/5 "2004-10-24T14:49:49Z")
> [@](#): > > One woman who voted early in Boca Raton, at the Southwest County Regional Library, complained that as she stood in line, two men behind her were “trashing our president,” I wonder how she reacts to moslem musicians on airplanes? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-thugs-intimidate-voters/270879/6 "2004-10-24T15:07:40Z")
I almost voted at that place yesterday, but the line was long and I decided screw it. I could have given a first-hand report of what really happened. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-thugs-intimidate-voters/270879/7 "2004-10-24T15:09:25Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > I wonder how she reacts to moslem musicians on airplanes? Relevance? Are you defending the conduct she was subjected to on the grounds that she’s a potential bigot? ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-thugs-intimidate-voters/270879/8 "2004-10-24T15:14:49Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > …the conduct she was subjected to… Certainly no one should be permitted to criticize The Leader, especially not in the midst of a hotly-contested election. It’s simply outrageous that the poor dear had to listen to this. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-thugs-intimidate-voters/270879/9 "2004-10-24T15:15:44Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Relevance? Are you defending the conduct she was subjected to on the grounds that she’s a potential bigot? Nope, I’m saying that she sounds as flaky as the airplane gal. All the terror she felt was probably synthesized within the confines of her own paranoid cranium. Do you feel that it should be illegal to talk about the president while standing in line? ---
**Author:** ![pantom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/34f0e0/32.png) [@pantom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pantom)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-thugs-intimidate-voters/270879/10 "2004-10-24T15:36:21Z")
Bad stuff, if it’s true. The idea is to be free to vote without harrasment. I can easily understand the anger Floridian Democrats might feel over the 2000 debacle, but this is just stupid, since it just gives the other side a chance to claim moral equivalence for their systematic disenfranchisement of minorities. (See! They do it too!) Don’t give 'em anything to work with. And remember to vote early and often! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-thugs-intimidate-voters/270879/11 "2004-10-24T15:36:38Z")
It wasn’t just me who was harassed by them! I almost made these lunatics the subject of my first pitting last week but I was concerned that I may have overreacted. I was going to the local courthouse to transfer the titles on several cars. I had considdered doing the early voting while I was there but there were so many people there to vote that I couldn’t park in the courthouse’s parking lot and the line hundreds of people deep was visible as I came in so I decided to hold off for my local polling place to be open Nov. 2. So I’m walking in carrying three license plates and several automobile registration forms and person wearing a button for a the democratic Senator canidate runs up to me and says “Are you voting?” Obviously I’m there for other business but someone could make an error and I say, “No.” “Why don’t you vote?” This is starting to raise my ire but I let it pass and say, “I’ll vote on November second.” “You know you can vote today.” Apparently this person thinks I’m an idiot. Even if I didn’t have knowledge before hand that early voting was open it’s impossible to walk into the courthouse without seeing that. I growl, “Yes, I know.” “You really should vote today.” **"WILL YOU SHUT THE HELL UP AND LEAVE ME ALONE!!"** Congradulations Betty Castor, you have convinced me to vote for your opponent by succeeding in personally pissing me off. There have been other canidates whose stances on issues or actions have made me angry (there’s two of them running for president this year, in fact) but you’ve gone beyond the call of duty for this one. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-thugs-intimidate-voters/270879/12 "2004-10-24T15:45:44Z")
> [@Just Some Guy](#): > > Congradulations Betty Castor, you have convinced me to vote for your opponent by succeeding in personally pissing me off. Perhaps not the best way to choose your next Senator. Better to vote for the candidate whose positions and policies you most agree with. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-thugs-intimidate-voters/270879/13 "2004-10-24T15:55:32Z")
> [@Early Out](#): > > Certainly no one should be permitted to criticize The Leader, especially not in the midst of a hotly-contested election. It’s simply outrageous that the poor dear had to listen to this. If the extent of her complaint was that others were talking about their dislike for the President, I’d certainly place her in the “whiners” category. But that’s not it: > [@](#): > > One woman who voted early in Boca Raton, at the Southwest County Regional Library, complained that as she stood in line, two men behind her were “trashing our president,” Fletcher said, declining to identify the woman. She tried to ignore them. Then the man touched her arm and said, “Who are you voting for?” > > “I said, `I don’t think that’s an appropriate question,’” the woman said she responded. > > “Uh oh! We have a Bush supporter here,” screamed the man behind her. > > For the 2 1/2 hours she had to wait in line, she was heckled by the man. As they neared the voting room, someone in the rear of the line yelled, “I sure hope everyone here is voting for Kerry!” she reported. > > That’s when the man behind her held his hand over her head and screamed, “We have a Republican right here!” There were “boos and jeers” from the crowd. > > “I felt intimidated, harassed and threatened!” the woman wrote in her complaint to the Republican Party. Did you not read that? If the parties were reversed, I guarantee there’d be cries of “voter harrassment.” ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-thugs-intimidate-voters/270879/14 "2004-10-24T15:58:39Z")
> [@Squink](#): > > Nope, I’m saying that she sounds as flaky as the airplane gal. All the terror she felt was probably synthesized within the confines of her own paranoid cranium. Do you feel that it should be illegal to talk about the president while standing in line? Certainly not illegal to talk about the President while standing in line, but I think the conduct she describes directed at her goes well beyond “talking about the President while standing in line.” ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-thugs-intimidate-voters/270879/15 "2004-10-24T16:06:53Z")
> [@](#): > > That’s when the man behind her held his hand over her head and screamed, “We have a Republican right here!” There were “boos and jeers” from the crowd. If the crowd of early voters in Boca Raton was that overwhelmingly Democratic, it sounds like Kerry’s going to take the state, by a landslide. This is the kind of detail in a story that makes me a little skeptical, frankly. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-thugs-intimidate-voters/270879/16 "2004-10-24T16:10:03Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Certainly not illegal to talk about the President while standing in line, but I think the conduct she describes directed at her goes well beyond “talking about the President while standing in line.” The conduct of the other people in line is clearly disgusting and out of line. Of course, **Bricker** , if it was the Republicans harassing a Democrat, you’d be in here lecturing us about how those other people have a right to free speech so it’s clearly OK. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-thugs-intimidate-voters/270879/17 "2004-10-24T16:24:38Z")
> [@Neurotik](#): > > The conduct of the other people in line is clearly disgusting and out of line. > > Of course, **Bricker** , if it was the Republicans harassing a Democrat, you’d be in here lecturing us about how those other people have a right to free speech so it’s clearly OK. Not remotely, nor can I imagine how you reach that conclusion. I’ve defended - sorta - the right of political telemarketers, but that’s a far cry from polling place harrassment. I assure you that if this story surfaced wiyth the parties reversed, I’d be quick to condem the obnoxious Republican behavior. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-thugs-intimidate-voters/270879/18 "2004-10-24T16:27:19Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Not remotely, nor can I imagine how you reach that conclusion. I’ve defended - sorta - the right of political telemarketers, but that’s a far cry from polling place harrassment. I assure you that if this story surfaced wiyth the parties reversed, I’d be quick to condem the obnoxious Republican behavior. I’m glad you mentioned the political telemarketing, because I couldn’t remember which thread I was annoyed with you in until you reminded me. I don’t particularly want to hijack this thread with that thread, but you completely missed the point of the OPs rant in that thread. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-thugs-intimidate-voters/270879/19 "2004-10-24T16:32:35Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Certainly not illegal to talk about the President while standing in line, but I think the conduct she describes directed at her goes well beyond “talking about the President while standing in line.” Well, you certainly have a right to question the veracity of the story. But why was your first defense of the situation simply minimizing the ills the woman encountered? You dismissed her ordeal as simply complaining about people talking in line. Only when I drew readers’ attention to the actual substance of the woman’s story do you shift ground and suggest that the story is phony. Why? To answer your objection… the woman’s story was related by affadavit. This doesn’t mean it’s absolutely unquestionable, of course, but it is more reliable than an anonymous e-mail, for instance. And while I agree that any random sampling of a hotly contested state is unlikely to end up with a room full of Kerry supporters and a lone Bush supporter, my understanding is that the Kerry camp is aggresively pushing early voting, much more than the Bush camp is. Based on this, the uneven distribution seems more plausible. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2004, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-thugs-intimidate-voters/270879/20 "2004-10-24T16:33:06Z")
> [@Early Out](#): > > Perhaps not the best way to choose your next Senator. Better to vote for the candidate whose positions and policies you most agree with. I’m pro-Not-Pissing-Me-Off so my vote was lost right there. More seriously, this kind of direct interaction with campaign workers is not something that I’ve really dealt with before. The handful of other times I’ve been in such encounters they’ve been far more courteous and polite (both parties). The canidates are trying to earn my vote and being treated like that by a campaign worker means it’s lost. It’s like a business, if I’m treated poorly by a business I’m not going to use them even if there are only two of that type of business in town. Sure I could just not vote in that campaign (I can’t vote for her opponent in the other party but I don’t care for him on political grounds; in my mind he’s what I don’t like in the Republicans and Democrats combined into one canidate), but there’s an Independant running and I can just toss my vote to that canidate to demonstrate my displeasure. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democratic-thugs-intimidate-voters/270879.md?page=2)