I must admit to endless amusement over the Republican sentiment that rich folks who happen to be Democrats are hypocrites for doing things that other rich folks (and we all know rich folks are Republicans) do.
Next week on Free (of brain cells) Republic: Hillary Gets Her Nails Done . . . Using Toxic Acetone as Polish Remover! Democrats suck!
Don’t you know, minty, that that’s the first rule Republicans fall on whenever they debate topics these days?
IOKIARDI – It’s OK If A Republican Does It.
Especially since they call themselves “dittoheads” and seem to almost gleefully wallow in their apparent lack of being able to think for themselves.
No one is right 100% of the time… anyone that blindly follows something, anything, without some critical thinking from time to time scares the shit out of me.
You too eh?
Could someone explain to me why the voting machines can’t be examined and decomissioned if they are prone to tampering?
I second the OP’s plea to get over the election - Bush won and even though that’s a much bemoaned tragedy in itself (imho, ymmv), it shouldn’t distract from the voting machine problem.
Since there are no elections right now, it would be the perfect time to put those voting machines to the test and revert back to hand counted votes as it is done in other democracies, if they turn out to be easily manipulated.
Apart from costing a few dollars, is there any reason to hinder an investigation on this matter?
Yep. When you add up all the problems with the election (everything from military voters getting absentee votes late to dead people voting) the notion that it was a coordinated fraud becomes much more realistic.
I am aware that this is a partisan foundation, but this report is well researched and cited.
I posted nothing resembling what you are talking about.
Everybody else seemed to get it. Try reading it again.
The “ditto” in dittohead refers to the custom on the show of saying “ditto’s” when you call in. This is to save time, because most callers say they are a long time listener and really enjoy the show, etc, etc. This was taking up lots of air time, so the custom of saying “dittos” came about. Hence: the listeners are “dittoheads”.
It’s interesting that you would jump immediately to the conclusion that the listeners blindly follow Rush without any critical thinking just becuase of the term “dittoheads”. You have no idea what you are talking about, that much is clear. Maybe that’s why they “scare the shit out of you”. The unknown is scary.
Homework assignment: Find a conservative person who listens to Rush and make friends with them. It shouldn’t be that hard his audience includes about 30 million people each day. You might be surprised how non-scary the person is. Maybe, just maybe, they actually are capable of critical thinking but still just disagree with your worldview. It’s actually possible.
I don’t believe I said that. Teresa Heinz Kerry was pretty openly pushing for the White House before Mr. Heinz died. Then she went and married a prominent Democrat and pushed him to run. It seems she was very supportive of the Republican party before, and now she’s gone to the left. Either she was hiding her opinions all those years or she’s an opportunist. I vote the latter. It’s not terribly uncommon.
I don’t believe John Heinz was a White House hopeful whatever Teresa Heinz’s ambitions. He was a more moderate to liberal Republican, and would have had real trouble getting the nomination in an increasingly conservative party.
Also, it was pretty well known for years in Pennsylvania that Mrs. Heinz was more liberal than her husband, but subordinated her political views out of respect for him and his electability. After his death, she was no longer required to do so, and she became a formidable philanthropic and political force in her own right.
I don’t think she’s an opportunist at all. She loved her first husband very much, by all accounts.
No, if you’d care to read what jinwicked said, you’d know what scares her. You even quoted it in your post: “anyone that blindly follows something, anything, without some critical thinking from time to time scares the shit out of me.”
Despite your proclaimed clarity, I’m sure you agree with the above statement about what’s scary.
People changing their minds over years? That’s unheard of, what an outrage!
Oh and I can’t stand those opportunists either, who jump on the losing side’s bandwagon. Disgusting, really!
So, what about my question about the voting machines - if there’s doubt about their reliability, why can’t they be checked now that the elections are over? Unless elections are abolished, it doesn’t take a crystal ball to foresee there’s another one in 2008, hence the topic of voting machines isn’t settled.
Just a quick thought here: If this sort of a statement were made by a Liberal about the results of an election in which a Republican had won, we would already have several posts referencing tinfoil hats and making snide remarks about conspiracy theory nutjobs.
Please don’t misunderstand; I think that the way that the recounts happened was pretty damn sleazy on the Democrats side of things, and I believe that there is overwhelming evidence of inherent problems in the system. That said, I am pretty sure that this can all be attributed to bungling incompetence, not orchestrated fraud.
One other thought here: There is a very simple way to solve the problem inherent in these electronic voting machines that will either make everyone happy, or piss everyone off (not sure which). All that we need to do is to outsource our election process to India. I hear that they are very well educated and speak excellent English. I figure that this has worked out so well for our economy and the level of service that consumers receive in the technical job sector that it is far past time that we look at it seriously regarding our democratic process.
Well, perhaps. But if the best defense to a charge of fraud is bungling incompetence, how does that reflect well on a party?
I used to BE a conservative person that listened to Rush Limbaugh, and I thought the phrase dittohead was stupid and braindead back then – you can make up whatever “reasons” it exists that you like, I’ve heard the druggie sitting there gloating about his Dittoheads enough with my own two goddamn ears.
I even used to watch Bill O’Reilly until a little after 2000, when all the Republicans started going batshit insane and the religious fanatics hijacked the party, and O’Reilly just turned into a raving loonatic. I didn’t even actively dislike Bush until all this Iraq shit started going down, and they started their agenda of legislating their damn “morality” onto me and everyone else. The only reason I was ever a Republican to begin with was because I personally believe in individual freedom and smaller government/fiscal responsibility, but the Libertarians and a handful of holdout Democrats seem to be the only ones that believe in that anymore.
So, to make it clear, I didn’t jump to that conclusion at all. I arrived at it after listening to his friggin’ radio show for years and then freeing myself from his little cult of personality. Maybe, just maybe, if you find a non-conservative person and actually ask them why they believe something, you’d be surprised how non-jumpy-to-conclusions they are. It’s actually possible. Asshole.
I think that I was pretty clear that it did not reflect well on the party and that, in fact, I found the actions of the Democratic party in this context to be sleazy. That said, it is worth mentioning that (even in very Democrat dominated King county) it was not just a bunch of Democrats running the polls and counting ballots. Members of both parties were involved in administering the election.
One very sad thing about this whole mess is that I think that it is really distracting from the far more serious issue. The fact that we are so divided as a state (and a nation, for that matter) that the elections are this close indicated a huge social problem that is being ignored. This, I predict, will bite us all in the ass sooner or later.
First you take away our bears and now you want to deny us our liberals? Puritans suck!
Ah, I see. You are dumb.
I gave you the benefit of the doubt after reading your post and just figured you to be ignorant. You see, ignorance can be fixed. Being as dumb as you appear to be isn’t really fixable. I won’t try to help you any further.
You actually have listened to Rush often, and still haven’t managed to grasp the most basic of facts about his show. Even now, you insist that I just made up the meaning of “dittohead”, when anybody who has listened to the show would know I speak the truth. Well, anybody who listened to the show and isn’t dumb that is.
Granted.
Quite frankly, if you have a problem with gloating then Rush probably isn’t your kind of show.
Are you trying to suggest that Bill O’Reilly is not impartial? Haven’t you seen the “No Spin Zone” where he’s just giving it to us straight and nonpartisan?
Awwright, so you got to points. But you’re mistaken to think the religious right hijacked our party in 2000. These guys have been with us for a long-time, remember the “moral majority” from the 80s? The one thing you have to say for us Republicans, Our kooks are not stealthy. You know right away they’re kooks. They’re obvious.
Democratic kooks on the other hand can be stealthy. They hide their kookiness, and you never know what can set them off.
What morality got legislated on you since Bush got elected? I sincerely missed it.
I beleive in it, and I’m a Republican. Please come back we need you. Our party needs incredibly hot and intelligent talented artists. We need you. Please come back.
Here, just bow down and kiss this picture of Dubya, then accept Jesus as your savior and all will be forgiven 
I would say something to Debaser but it doesn’t look like you need my help.
Aw, c’mon my friend, you know that’s not how it works.
A citation backs up your argument. It doesn’t substitute for it.
Especially when the cite is to a large PDF file.
Make your argument if you want, with quotes from and cites to particular parts of the PDF, but don’t just toss the report at me and say, “This is my argument; it’s all in here somewhere.” Because I’m not going to do both your work and mine.
Sorry. I thought folks would have appreciated having the totality of observed problems with the 2004 Washington gubernatorial election.
More to follow on that one.