GOP Fliers Apparently Were Part Of Strategy (Dirty Tricks File) --WaPo

[Demeter]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/12/AR2006111201084.html


GOP Fliers Apparently Were Part Of Strategy
Md. Tactics Similar To Ones in 2002

By Matthew Mosk and Avis Thomas-Lester
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, November 13, 2006; B01



The six Trailways motorcoaches draped in Ehrlich and Steele campaign banners rumbled down Interstate 95 just before dawn on Election Day.

On board, 300 mostly poor African Americans from Philadelphia ate doughnuts, sipped coffee and prepared to spend the day at the Maryland polls. After an early morning greeting from Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s wife, Kendel, they would fan out in white vans across Prince George's County and inner-city Baltimore, armed with thousands of fliers that appeared to be designed to trick black Democrats into voting for the two Republican candidates.

The glossy fliers bore photos of black Democratic leaders on the front. Under the headline "Democratic Sample Ballot" were boxes checked in red for Ehrlich and Senate candidate Michael S. Steele, who were not identified as Republicans. Their names were followed by a long list of local Democratic candidates.

Nearly a week later, a fuller picture has emerged about how the plan to capture blacks' votes unfolded -- details that suggest the fliers, and the people paid to distribute them, were not part of a hurry-up effort but a calculated strategy.

Republican leaders have defended the Election Day episode as an accepted element of bare-knuckle politics. But for many voters, it shattered in one day the nice-guy images Ehrlich and Steele had cultivated for years.....

Staff writer Ovetta Wiggins contributed to this report.

[reality based]

1. Makes that little love-in between Soledad O'Brien and Steele

this morning on the Caca News Network even more revolting.

[qnr]

2. And some want Steele as RNC chair? When he can't admit to being Republican? n/t

[chaumont58]

3. Someone should brace David Broder about what he thinks about these stories

He could not hide his disgust with Clinton and his so called morality lapses, but he is silent with the repukes' attempts to steal elections. These aren't isolated incidents. They are part of an ongoing, longterm, pattern. If Republicans can't win at the ballot box, they attempt to steal the ballot box.

[peacebird]

4. Okay - What sort of legal recourse do the Dems have over this?

[Demeter]

5. I Think It Could Go Into Building a Nice RICO Case

If it all was documented, and a grand jury called, I bet we could put the GOP out of business, just like Operation Rescue.

[peacebird]

7. Are the Dems demanding that charges be filed, a grand jury convened?

I certainly hope so.

[Demeter]

11. I Am, For One

and I'm not alone. Whether any of the "leadership" is, is another question.

[drm604]

6. Jesus

While we were out phone banking and knocking on doors trying to supply people with the facts, they were out committing fraud. :puke:

I wonder how well we would have done if they'd campaigned honestly?

This part really gets me:

Republican leaders have defended the Election Day episode as an accepted element of bare-knuckle politics.

You know what really gets me? I think they may actually believe this. Rather than seeing elections as a way to determine the will of the people, they see it all as a game where winning is the ultimate goal and the only thing that matters. The country should be governed by whoever is most skilled at "bare-knuckle politics".
:banghead:

[brooklynite]

8. Here's the ballot...

[Hard_Work]

9. Know what?

I think that is CAN be proven to be a long term ploy. Had these people, by chance, recently had straight ticket voting removed, as we have here in Missouri? By forcing people to vote for each candidate individually, candidates with name recognition, as opposed to party recognition, have a definite advantage.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

12. This flier and those like it are great evidence for straight-party

ticket voting options in MANDATORY national/state election standards. Just fill in one check-box and you're done. Great for first-time young voters. IIRC I was taught how to pull the "Democratic" lever in a special High School assembly by a visiting Election Bureau official with a miniature voting machine. I really pity first-time voters today.

One of the secrets of Republican "victory" is making ballots so complicated that millions will shy away from it. Sample ballots in some localities in some elections have had close to 100 separate items for voters' choice. No wonder lines out the precinct door often are hours long.

The Republican message of the huge sample ballots in the newspaper and the long lines when you drive past the polling place is simple: "Don't waste your time!"

[MarinCoUSA]

10. Elections are no place for "bare knuckle" anything. PERIOD!

n/t