Posting thread to our blog...
--- On
Sat, 7/26/08, Michael Busick <misterb_46@hotmail.com> wrote:
From: Michael Busick <misterb_46@hotmail.com>
Subject: RE: FOXNews.com - Guard Confirms Late-Night Hotel Encounter Between Ex-Sen. John Edwards, Tabloid Reporters - Politics Republican Party Democratic Party Political Spectrum
To: "Brian Menard" <brian_menard@hotmail.com>, "Young Kim" <yhkpenguin@yahoo.com>, "Brian Adamson" <briada@hotmail.com>
Date: Saturday, July 26, 2008, 8:27 PM
Well, I can tell you that the way I looked for them, I found a lot more than I left behind. You all may hear about a few duplicates this year, but I can almost guarantee they will be newly-created (thanks to the way Diebold sets up their database searches) or older ones that would've had to have been found specifically (name changes that I would've had to have run across).
I did three different database searches on each list of voters under the same birthdate (from 11/2/86 -- youngest you could be and vote in November of 2004 -- back to sometime in 1919 -- I still have the spreadsheet I used). By last name only (catching easy dups), then by house number of residential address (catching similar names who didn't move), and then by first name (catching women -- mostly -- who got married and then moved). I was starting to run out of people (not many around born before 1919) and then I would only find more that were new ones because the voters decided to go by their middle name this time around instead of their given name or first name. I tried for years to widen the search parameters so that more people would pop up as possible duplicates (only first initial of first name in common instead of first four, for example) and got the IT guys to open it up to two letters. Now, at least, the folks in Olympia are running their own searches (faster than I can), so a lot more are being caught automatically before I found them.
And, personally, I think what the right was able to do in Florida before the 2000 election constitutes voter fraud. Voters should not be surprised to find out on election day that their registrations have been cancelled. In Washington state, if your registration is inactive (due to returned mail, etc.) and you don't vote in two consecutive federal elections, you can be cancelled without knowing about it, but in Florida in 2000, voters were cancelled instantly (skipping the inactive stage) because their names were close to those of felons.
If even just one GOP councilperson showed, I wouldn't still be upset about it. He wouldn't even have to talk to us. :)
From: brian_menard@hotmail.com
To: yhkpenguin@yahoo.com; briada@hotmail.com; misterb_46@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: FOXNews.com - Guard Confirms Late-Night Hotel Encounter Between Ex-Sen. John Edwards, Tabloid Reporters - Politics Republican Party Democratic Party Political Spectrum
Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2008 22:48:07 -0400
Mike:
As an election official for several years, and as a (now lapsed) political scientist, I offer you my heartfelt congratulations and appreciation for your service. That's a LOT of dups you found. Not as a Republican, but as a former Head TA for Larry Sabato (author of "Dirty Tricks," about the dark side games of American politics) and in "in the trenches" politico for the last 38 years, I do have to wonder how many more are out there. That's not a reflection on you; one person can do only so much, particularly when, as you point out, others in the office much longer than you have left without such accomplishment. But I also would be the first to say that it's not just the Right that cares about voter fraud, or that it's not just the Left that perpetrates it. Dirty Tricks haunt our system from all sides. (Just look at what was done to McCain in the 2000 primary season.) Kudos to you for all you did to clean things up in King County. BTW, the GOP councilors missed an opportunity by boycotting the pizza event; King County politics may be highly partisan, but that falls into the category of official duty.
BRM
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, July 26, 2008 9:23 PM
Subject: RE: FOXNews.com - Guard Confirms Late-Night Hotel Encounter Between Ex-Sen. John Edwards, Tabloid Reporters - Politics Republican Party Democratic Party Political Spectrum
It seems to me that Obama gets criticized for moving left AND moving to the center. I think he should just do what he wants to do, not give a damn about the polls and let the votes fall where they may.
It would certainly keep him in high regard with me -- unlike McCain's selling out since he ran in 2000.
First McCain's camp (and/or others on the right) criticized Obama for not going overseas enough and then when he does, they criticize him for either going to the wrong places (Brandenburg), not following through on his original plans (Germany to visit troops), or not campaigning at home.
Heck, Barack can't even privately visit the Western Wall without the media getting involved and everyone taking sides about what happened.
I'm glad presidential campaigns only happen once every four years -- even though they seem to start about halfway through the interim period.
As for the discussions, it's just easier for me to respond here rather than visit a blog. Plus, when the blog got started, I was working a job with a hellish commute (Bothell-Renton and back again) and now I'm not, so maybe I'd have more time now.
BTW, when I left the elections job in June, I was given a Certificate of Appreciation (signed by the elections director and the county executive) because of the 8,500 duplicate registrations I found on my own (in my spare time before and after my shift and sometimes at the end of my lunch period) in my three years there. A few of my co-workers there knew I was obsessed about finding as many as I could, but I didn't know I would get something like that because other people have worked there longer and left with nothing -- other than a signed card.
Of course, so many on the right would (might) see that and say, "Gee, if you found that many, I wonder how many there really are?" And the rest of us would (might) say, "I guess it's not just the right that seems to care about potential voter fraud." :)
A couple of years ago, the King County Council (5 Dems and 4 Reps) gave the elections office folks free pizza for lunch one day and hung around to talk to us. Only the Dems showed up. That's pure bullshit. No one in the elections office cares (or even knows) what party people choose. I'm very disappointed not one Republican could show up as even a token effort to congratulate us for doing a better job than we had been.
From: brian_menard@hotmail.com
To: misterb_46@hotmail.com; yhkpenguin@yahoo.com; briada@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: FOXNews.com - Guard Confirms Late-Night Hotel Encounter Between Ex-Sen. John Edwards, Tabloid Reporters - Politics Republican Party Democratic Party Political Spectrum
Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2008 12:56:54 -0400
Brian:
You just laid out in clear terms my disenchantment with Obama. The general claim from Obama/supporters to bring independents and Republicans into his camp is that he is post-partisan, pure and true, no political games, what you see is what you get, let's all work together to solve the problems of our nation and our world. After months of checking him out with interest through the fall and winter of '06, my criticism since January '07 - when he finally started filling in some details to this "let's all pull together" rhetoric - is that there's nothing new here; he's really pushing the same left-wing agenda that has been pushed for a long, long time. He just does it much more smoothly, charismatically, and effectively than so many of his predecessors in the political limelight. The real message is, "To all you folks who support Republican policies and oppose my liberal agenda, we would all be better off, could have political harmony, and could solve important problems if you would just get out of our way let us do what we're trying to do." That's not post-partisan, that's hyperpartisan delivered with a friendly smile. Obama's campaign has not been revolutionary in its honesty, purity, forthrightness, and positive tone...all the things that were supposed to set him apart from his Democratic (and Republican) competition. If he were the Real Deal, someone truly interested in bringing everyone together (instead of just bringing his opposition over to his side through whatever deceptive and insincere empty rhetorical means he and his campaign can muster), he would have much to offer despite having a relatively light record of accomplishment during his brief time on the national stage. Instead, he has shown himself to be just another politician willing to say and do whatever is necessary to get elected. From public financing of his campaign to his prognostications on the Surge strategy, political expedience seems more and more clearly to be what drives his campaign. I think this has the potential to be his Achilles heel in the campaign, for if more people snap out of his charismatic trance and shift from awe at his rhetorical skill to resentment over his doublespeak (more damaging because the doublespeak claims he won't do exactly what he is doing wit his doublespeak), this choice in how to conduct the campaign could damage his candidacy critically. Right now he's still got momentum, and if he stays ahead of the general public's awareness by distracting them with new lines to keep them from realizing the old lines were just lines, he'll win in November by anything from a squeaker (like Kennedy over Nixon in 1960) to a landslide (like Johnson over Goldwater in 1964). If, on the other hand, his rhetorical web starts to unravel, should his "Vote for me because I'm not like all those other politicians you dislike for their empty promises" cover be blown he has nothing to fall back on other than an empty record in the Senate boasting only the "most liberal senator" rating. In the interest of fair and objective analysis, I'm not saying McCain is without fault; but, if folks question McCain's sincerity about bringing people together, at least he can point to a long record of working with folks on the other side of the aisle in clear and direct contradiction of his own party's positions, even to the detriment of a President from his own party.
BRM
P.S. Young (et al.): Does this exchange of e-mails mean we are back on? Should we move back over to the blog? Or are we more successful at trading e-mails?
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, July 26, 2008 12:05 PM
Subject: RE: FOXNews.com - Guard Confirms Late-Night Hotel Encounter Between Ex-Sen. John Edwards, Tabloid Reporters - Politics Republican Party Democratic Party Political Spectrum
Hmmm, well said. I'm hoping Obama is doing what he needs to, to get elected. Then, perhaps if we are lucky, he will govern as a Liberal. The jury is still out, but I'm still very hopeful.
-B.
"...I see you Mary in the garden
In the garden of a thousand sighs
There's holy pictures of our children
Dancin' in a sky filled with light
May I feel your arms around me
May I feel your blood mix with mine
A dream of life comes to me
Like a catfish dancin' on the end of the line
Sky of blackness and sorrow ( a dream of life)
Sky of love, sky of tears (a dream of life)
Sky of glory and sadness ( a dream of life)
Sky of mercy, sky of fear ( a dream of life)
Sky of memory and shadow ( a dream of life)
Your burnin' wind fills my arms tonight
Sky of longing and emptiness (a dream of life)
Sky of fullness, sky of blessed life ( a dream of life)..."
-Bruce Springsteen, the Rising
________________________________
From:
misterb_46@hotmail.comTo:
briada@hotmail.com;
brian_menard@hotmail.com;
yhkpenguin@yahoo.comSubject: RE: FOXNews.com - Guard Confirms Late-Night Hotel Encounter Between Ex-Sen. John Edwards, Tabloid Reporters - Politics Republican Party Democratic Party Political Spectrum
Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2008 23:39:52 -0700
The way I heard it, the right was going to get Obama on the FISA bill regardless of which side he was on. Despite all this nonsense about a liberal media, the right still dictates who is more patriotic and/or concerned about America's safety.
He votes for it and it looks like he's against privacy rights.
He votes against it and it looks like he's against fighting the war on terror.
I had also read that voting for the FISA bill still gave him a chance to come back later and charge the telecoms with some kind of lawbreaking.
________________________________
> From:
briada@hotmail.com> To:
misterb_46@hotmail.com;
brian_menard@hotmail.com;
yhkpenguin@yahoo.com> Subject: RE: FOXNews.com - Guard Confirms Late-Night Hotel Encounter Between Ex-Sen. John Edwards, Tabloid Reporters - Politics Republican Party Democratic Party Political Spectrum
> Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2008 00:00:56 +0000
>
> Say, what's up with Obama, these days? Mr. "nice guy" has me really concerned. Perhaps, Young was correct, early on, when he suggested that Hillary would use her experience and anger to really fight the Republican challenge. Sorry, Young , if my paraphrasing did not capture the spirit of your remarks, months ago?
>
> Anyway, Obama better become an attack dog and quickly, or he will not beat McCain in the swing states and most assuredly, will lose the election in November.
>
> Where are his attack ads? Why doesn't he point-out McCAIN's character flaws? McCAIN has consistently voted against veterans, for example.
>
> Also noteworthy, is Hills vote against F.I.S.A. Wondering, if we-all supported the wrong Democrat?
>
>
> -B.
> ______________________________
> I would've been very surprised if Edwards would've accepted the invite from McCain, given how John has sold out any independents that would've voted for him in 2000.
>
> ________________________________
>
> From:
brian_menard@hotmail.com> To:
fossriver@comcast.net;
jmenard@u.washington.edu;
johanna.menard@gmail.com;
briada@hotmail.com;
misterb_46@hotmail.com;
YHKpenguin@yahoo.com> Subject: FOXNews.com - Guard Confirms Late-Night Hotel Encounter Between Ex-Sen. John Edwards, Tabloid Reporters - Politics Republican Party Democratic Party Political Spectrum
> Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:45:23 -0400
>
> Oops...guess Edwards is off Obama's short list now.
>
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,391426,00.html
