# Democrats take the House and have a shot at the Senate. Election Fraud my ass. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 8, 2006, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-take-the-house-and-have-a-shot-at-the-senate-election-fraud-my-ass/379521 "2006-11-08T05:38:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-take-the-house-and-have-a-shot-at-the-senate-election-fraud-my-ass/379521/41 "2006-11-08T17:07:08Z")
[QUOTE=RedFury] Wonder how much money gambling-addict, gloater extraordinaire **Bricker** , lost in this election? Hope his pocket hurts as much as the drubbing his Party got. [/QUOTE] Oh yeah, I almost forgot. I hope that **Fear Itself** cleaned up! Congratulations, **Fear Itself**! Now, let’s see some of that patented **Brickey Shuffle**! Oh yeah, we’re the best! We’re the party of big ideas and a permanent majority! Ooo! Ahh! ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-take-the-house-and-have-a-shot-at-the-senate-election-fraud-my-ass/379521/42 "2006-11-08T17:10:26Z")
[QUOTE=Airman Doors, USAF] OK, now that that’s out of the way, I ask all of you Chicken Little Democrats who have been beating the “Diebold’s going to throw the election” drum for the past few months: where’s the cheating? Where is the widespread corruption that we were led to believe would be running rampant? To hear it from you guys, a Republican victory was assured. Rove and Diebold were going to cheat. Mass disenfranchisement was going to occur. [/QUOTE] The very fact the Democrats won is evidence enough of massive fraud, dontcha think? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-take-the-house-and-have-a-shot-at-the-senate-election-fraud-my-ass/379521/43 "2006-11-08T17:23:45Z")
[QUOTE=SteveG1] I thhink or hope this is the beginning of OUR mandate - the moderates, the center AND the left, and we get to tell all the right wing religio-whatevers FUCK YOU **WE HAVE A MANDATE**. [/QUOTE] Yes, but unfortunately you still can’t marry him. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-take-the-house-and-have-a-shot-at-the-senate-election-fraud-my-ass/379521/44 "2006-11-08T17:28:43Z")
> [@](#): > > OK, now that that’s out of the way, I ask all of you Chicken Little Democrats who have been beating the “Diebold’s going to throw the election” drum for the past few months: where’s the cheating? Where is the widespread corruption that we were led to believe would be running rampant? To hear it from you guys, a Republican victory was assured. Rove and Diebold were going to cheat. Mass disenfranchisement was going to occur. Anyone want to bet which side files the lawsuits and demands recounts later today (VA and MT)? ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-take-the-house-and-have-a-shot-at-the-senate-election-fraud-my-ass/379521/45 "2006-11-08T17:45:09Z")
[QUOTE=Airman Doors, USAF] …I’m curious as to whether the Democrats will remain the party of virtue or if they will return to business as usual. [/QUOTE] Business as usual? In effect, their shop has been closed for about 12 years. Think of them as a ‘Start-Up’ company where you are going to have to wait a few quarters to try to mine trends out of their total results. As for those results, I’d certainly like to see the following: - A Constitutional Amendment reaffirming the right of Senators to filibuster and preventing this right from being stripped by a hot-headed majority legislature. (And I’m saying this when Airman Door’s party is now in the minority.) - ‘signing statements’ either ruled unconstitutional or legislatively limited to prevent their current use as ‘rule by fiat’. - The Iraqi Conflict (but not Afghanistan) officially and legislatively re-classified as falling under the ‘War Powers Act’, with all that this would entail. \*Reinstatement of the original ‘Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act’ to try to curtail this administration’s runaway spending. But I’m not holding my breath. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-take-the-house-and-have-a-shot-at-the-senate-election-fraud-my-ass/379521/46 "2006-11-08T17:48:01Z")
[QUOTE=xtisme] For my part, I’m happy that the Dems have won big…now the government will be totally dead-locked and NEITHER of these frigging worthless parties will be able to accomplish much. A pox on BOTH of their houses, I say…and long live split governments! 😉 -XT [/QUOTE] A-fucking-men. Well said. Well said indeed. And Doors, give it up. It seems that a subset of the loonie left just HAS to feel persecuted, even when they won. Let them have their drooling conspiracy theories. It doesn’t matter. When the time comes for them to win an election not as a backlash to the current administration’s failures, but on their own merits, they will be left high and dry, fapping their wieners at real life, just as they always have been. ---
**Author:** ![Walter\_Windchill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-take-the-house-and-have-a-shot-at-the-senate-election-fraud-my-ass/379521/47 "2006-11-08T17:53:57Z")
[QUOTE=Weirddave] A-fucking-men. Well said. Well said indeed. And Doors, give it up. It seems that a subset of the loonie left just HAS to feel persecuted, even when they won. Let them have their drooling conspiracy theories. It doesn’t matter. When the time comes for them to win an election not as a backlash to the current administration’s failures, but on their own merits, they will be left high and dry, fapping their wieners at real life, just as they always have been. [/QUOTE] Weiner flapping? I thought Foley was a Republican. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-take-the-house-and-have-a-shot-at-the-senate-election-fraud-my-ass/379521/48 "2006-11-08T17:58:50Z")
[QUOTE=Lamar Mundane] Anyone want to bet which side files the lawsuits and demands recounts later today (VA and MT)? [/QUOTE] Even though I want a Democratic controlled Senate, I think it would be entirely appropriate for the losing side in either of those states to ask for a recount presuming they stay within the boundries set ( i beleive 1/2% in Montana and 1% in Virginia). Those races are very close and I think it would be beneficial to have them recounted so as to have much more clarity and faith in the results. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-take-the-house-and-have-a-shot-at-the-senate-election-fraud-my-ass/379521/49 "2006-11-08T17:58:58Z")
[QUOTE=Count Blucher] - A Constitutional Amendment reaffirming the right of Senators to filibuster and preventing this right from being stripped by a hot-headed majority legislature. (And I’m saying this when Airman Door’s party is now in the minority.) [/quote] My party is not in the minority. I have no party. In addition, I went for the Democrats for the second election in a row. So, if you must make some sort of party affiliation, I align more with the Democrats now. Anyway, the point of this is that I have had to witness post after post about this vast right-wing conspiracy going to cheat the Democrats, and when it doesn’t turn out that way it’s quiet enough that I can hear the wind whistling and birds chirping. I think it’s the epitome of hypocrisy to protest when the you lose but look the other way when you win. Nobody complains when they win. As for the machines being corruptible, I have always allowed for that possibility and I have always wanted fair and honest elections. But what I’ve seen is cries of “election fraud!”, which are conspicuously absent in this case because the result was the desired one. When the Republicans complain I’ll tell them to shut the fuck up too. I am not particularly partisan anymore- you guys beat that out of me. What I try to be is consistent. All I ask is that the doomsayers be consistent as well. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-take-the-house-and-have-a-shot-at-the-senate-election-fraud-my-ass/379521/50 "2006-11-08T18:00:57Z")
Actually, all the claims about fraud by rigged machines is true, but the Republicans lay low, this election, so that they could lose enough seats to blame the Democrats for “losing” the war in Iraq and roar back in with a machine chosen super-majority in '08. _(I can’t wait to see how long this takes to show up as a Conspiracy Theory. I wonder who will first “break” it to the public.)_ ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-take-the-house-and-have-a-shot-at-the-senate-election-fraud-my-ass/379521/51 "2006-11-08T18:12:47Z")
[QUOTE=tomndebb] I wonder who will first “break” it to the public.)\* [/QUOTE] Michael Moore is in need of a new hit. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-take-the-house-and-have-a-shot-at-the-senate-election-fraud-my-ass/379521/52 "2006-11-08T18:44:58Z")
Myabe the hue and cry made people watch things better? Actually, there is a great deal of election fraud going on, by both parties. Don’t look to Diebold but look to Mr. Gerry Mander. I hate that guy. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-take-the-house-and-have-a-shot-at-the-senate-election-fraud-my-ass/379521/53 "2006-11-08T18:58:41Z")
[QUOTE=BobLibDem] Sometimes cheating isn’t enough to win. If there is no evidence of election fraud, then why is the FBI investigating irregularities in Virginia? [/QUOTE] That has to do more with attempts to keep voters away from the polls than shenanigans with polling machines. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-take-the-house-and-have-a-shot-at-the-senate-election-fraud-my-ass/379521/54 "2006-11-08T19:26:26Z")
[QUOTE=scr4] You can’t steal an election unless it’s a very close race. Otherwise discrepancy between exit polls and actual results would be obvious. [/QUOTE] In the 2004 presidential election, when exit polls and actual results didn’t square up, the mainstream media suddenly decided that the exit polls were flawed and recalculated their exit poll numbers to be more harmonious. (As reported in the June 15, 2006, issue of _Rolling Stone_.) ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-take-the-house-and-have-a-shot-at-the-senate-election-fraud-my-ass/379521/55 "2006-11-08T19:27:28Z")
[QUOTE=Lute Skywatcher] That has to do more with attempts to keep voters away from the polls than shenanigans with polling machines. [/QUOTE] True enough but I consider voter intimidation to be another form of election fraud. Whether you browbeat “undesirable” voters from casting their votes are monkey with the counting, the effect is the same. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-take-the-house-and-have-a-shot-at-the-senate-election-fraud-my-ass/379521/56 "2006-11-08T19:40:15Z")
**Can** we please let poor old Elbridge Gerry rest in peace. He was _Governor_ of Massachusetts, and opposed to redistricting for partisan advantage, when the (fairly corrupt, by and large) legislature created the infamous district to which the cartoonist attached his name. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-take-the-house-and-have-a-shot-at-the-senate-election-fraud-my-ass/379521/57 "2006-11-08T20:50:12Z")
I think it’s too much to ask that the victors be expected to call the results into question. If the loser is willing to accept the results, then I think it requires a selflessness beyond what any human should reasonably be expected to have for the winner to demand a recount. I don’t think it’s too much to ask that the losers shouldn’t be expected to accept razor-thin results, and that it’s fair for them to ask for a recount. I also don’t think it’s too much to ask that the victors consequently allow the recount when it’s asked for and accept the results. What angered me more in the past was not Republican victories, but the attempts to block recounts. If the elections were truly held impartially and as fairly as the system allows, then a legal recount should prove that the victory holds. That recounts were opposed made the situation far more suspicious. If, in the current election, the Republicans ask for a legal recount, I’m on board with that. If the Democrats (any Democrats, the voting bloc or the politicos) oppose it, then they lose any and all credibility. If it turns out that some races that went to the Dems should have gone to the Republicans, I’ll be saddened, but those would be the results. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-take-the-house-and-have-a-shot-at-the-senate-election-fraud-my-ass/379521/58 "2006-11-08T22:17:08Z")
I am a fairly reliable Democrat. I also think that it would be very irresponsible to to have recounts in Virginia and Montana, and this isn’t because of possible election fraud. My view is simply that when races are this close, it is even more important to make doubly sure that every single vote is counted, and counted accurately. Virtually nobody will be taking office until January, so why not take the time to make sure that the tallies are valid? I will not be terribly disappointed if Republicans decline to challenge Tester in Montana, but recounting the votes is just sensible when victory hangs on a mere few thousand votes. ---
**Author:** ![Walter\_Windchill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Walter\_Windchill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walter_Windchill)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-take-the-house-and-have-a-shot-at-the-senate-election-fraud-my-ass/379521/59 "2006-11-08T22:29:01Z")
I’ve never understood why the recount would be more accurate than the first vote. For example, in Virginia, fewer votes are counted… many provisional ballots are tossed out, for example. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-take-the-house-and-have-a-shot-at-the-senate-election-fraud-my-ass/379521/60 "2006-11-08T23:35:03Z")
[QUOTE=Airman Doors, USAF] Would I have had to wait for the hue and cry from the conspiracy whackjobs if the Republicans had won tonight? [/QUOTE] No, since accusations of voter fraud by the Republicans in this election have been going on for quite some time. [QUOTE=xtisme] I’m reasonably sure that the shitty eVoting machines we seem to have been served up with are a combination of poor government oversite, poor government grasp of what exactly they were looking for, poor government RFP’s and follow up, with poor contractor support and lots of general government/contractor fuckup-ery…i.e. the problem is business as usual in the government contracting world. What I DON’T see, which was my point, is some vast shadowy conspiricy by the Republican right to steal elections wholesale. This isn’t to say there haven’t been Republican shinanigans…or Democratic ones either…its to say I don’t see a national conspiricy of them. I’ve seen zero evidence to support such a conspiricy theory. All the evidence I’ve seen fits nicely into the standard model of government contractor products and general fuckups. [/QUOTE] Including the “errors” consistantly being in the GOP’s favor ? If you want an example of silly thinking, dismissing a rather obvious campaign ploy, by people with both the power and amorality to employ it, simply as a silly conspiracy theory . . . now _that’s_ silly. Just going by the kind of people the Republican leadership are, I’d be shocked if they _didn’t_ try to rig the elections. Accusing the Republicans of trying to steal an election is like accusing the Mafia of breaking the law. [QUOTE=Airman Doors, USAF] As for the machines being corruptible, I have always allowed for that possibility and I have always wanted fair and honest elections. But what I’ve seen is cries of “election fraud!”, which are conspicuously absent in this case because the result was the desired one. [/QUOTE] You keep saying that, but I never noticed any lack of such accusations. I rather suspect that there _was_ fraud by the Republicans, but simply not enough. Or the Democrats just cheated better, not that I believe it. The Republicans are simply more amoral, sleazier, more corrupt than the Democrats by far. [QUOTE=BayleDomon] What angered me more in the past was not Republican victories, but the attempts to block recounts. If the elections were truly held impartially and as fairly as the system allows, then a legal recount should prove that the victory holds. That recounts were opposed made the situation far more suspicious. [/QUOTE] Agreed. They _acted_ like people who were guilty of fraud. That’s a major reason I believe they _were_ guilty of it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-take-the-house-and-have-a-shot-at-the-senate-election-fraud-my-ass/379521.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/democrats-take-the-house-and-have-a-shot-at-the-senate-election-fraud-my-ass/379521.md?page=4)