Daily Show NAILS WH purpose in Election Day 'terra' scare. Look at this map!

[AirAmFan]

Rob Corddry:

"This administration is just trying to safeguard the voting process. Terrorists tend to target big cities. So, for this election, if you happen to live in a big city, especially one with a large ethnically diverse population, poor people, STAY HOME-- don't be a hero."

IMO they're really ON to something. Look at this map!

[shindig]

1. They are trying to scare voters in

the "big" democratic states to stay home on election day. That's what the recent terra announcements are about.

Also, they want to be able to legally "control" the protesters at their New York convention.

If security "concerns" there go from high to ueber-high, then it becomes more justified to push the protesters aside.

[AirAmFan]

3. Do you trust Ashcroft, Ridge, and Soaries to 'protect' your ballot access?

I can just imagine the smile on DeForest Soaries' face as he presents these voite-shaving ideas to AG John Ashcroft and Heimatsekuritatsfuhrer Tom Ridge! Do you think he has slides with this map?

[AirAmFan]

8. Is it time for Dems to demand easier access to absentee ballots?

Democrats may be able to defeat this kind of vote suppression effort by turning it on its head. In many places, extra paperwork and bureaucracy is involved in getting access to absentee ballots. (In other places, mail voting and or early voting are freely available to everyone.)

Democrats could call Ashcroft's bluff on Election Day "Terra" and demand free access on demand to absentee ballots in every state. Stumbling block into steppingstone time?

[REP]

2. Stewart Cuts Through The Crap

He got to the heart of the matter the day that announcement was made, and he tore Condi "Just Add Oil" Rice a new one tonight.

[AirAmFan]

36. Saddest commentary on today's media: COMEDY SHOWS have the best

news analysis! Whenever possible, I make sure to catch Leno's monologue, Letterman's Top 10 List, and the Daily Show up to the first commercial. That's where on TV I'm most likely to find out what the REAL news stories are for the day.

Think about it. Mainstream "news" operations can just boil down press releases from the WH. It's much cheaper and much less likely to bring on floods of complaints from Freepers than having investigative teams check out the story.

In contrast, comedy writers can't just be stenographers. Press releases aren't that funny--at least, not intentionally.

[Justice]

4. Did You Know That in Some States on 9/11, More People Voted In

The Primaries then usual? Apparently, sometime in the afternoon of 9.11, people started going to vote in primaries (wanting to do something to express our solidarity, our patriotism). If we have an attack on election day, or a threat of an attack on election day, I think more people will go to vote, not less.

As for me, I quote another DUer (cannot remember who, but read it on DU) - I will crawl over the rubble to vote.

[Bhaisahab]

6. yeah.. but that vote most likely will go to bush...

is my opinion, from the sidelines. ppl tend to express solidarity and patriotism by supporting the incumbent. reason is washed over by raw emotion.

[AirAmFan]

40. I see your point: An ACTUAL terrorist incident in the city might

motivate Dubya's base in the suburbs. You have to go out of your way in the suburbs to be inside a crowd of people and feel personally vulnerable to 'terra'. People would see the aftermath of the event in the city on thier TVs, jump into their SUVs, drive to the polls, and vote to "re-"elect The Smirk and The Sneer.

[AirAmFan]

7. GOP Pol:'The last thing we want to do is suppress voter turnout'.

See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45162-2004Jul12.html

That statement could be a liar's tip-off. Why deny something you haven't been accused of?

You might be right, but reaction to an ACTUAL attack well might be different from reaction to a PHONY ATTACK SCARE.

IMO suppressing urban voter turnout is EXACTLY what Rove and company want to do, using their phony Election Day Terra Scare

[Warren DeMontague]

33. We want to quash it entirely. n/t

[Hello_Kitty]

5. OMG that map is Amazing! Electoral College comment

I remember the night of the 2000 election. I was at work and some of my co-workers and I were talking about the electoral process as we awaited the results. I got in an argument with a right-winger about the electoral college. He claimed it was necessary (though he probably wasn't so supportive of it in Clinton's 96 victory) because....wait....let me breathe here......voters in highly populated urban areas tend to vote in blocs (read: Labor and Democrat) whilst the poor beleagered farmers in sparsely populated states like Wyoming (read: Conservative Republican) and their poor iddie biddie widdle votes would be drowned out by the liberal hordes in the Big Bad Cities. Therefore, those states deserved a disproportionate share of the presidential vote. After my head exploded and I asked him to clarify what he stated - yes, indeed all votes should NOT be equal, I realized why this country insists on retaining the anacronistic and seemingly pointless Electoral College. It hasn't always benefitted Republicans necessarily, but it seems to more often than Democrats. So I guess there IS a point to it!

[AirAmFan]

18. Howard Dean says that if the Electoral Vote system were abolished, no

Presidential candidate would visit his state (VT) ever again.

If only the popular vote mattered, and candidates were indifferent between getting a vote in Vermont or getting yet another vote in, say, Massachusetts, they'd spend there time where it was cheapest and most efficient to build up popular votes. But with the EV system, once Massaachusetts is "in the bag", it's time to move on to another state. The electoral vote system assures wider geographic consensus for Presidents than we'd have otherwise.

[AirAmFan]

9. Here's my analysis of the map:'Terra' scare advantage Bush, 3.7 to 1

The Soaries Election Day Terra Scare plan is BRILLIANTLY devious, IMO.

Everyone knows that terrorists look for concentrations of people in small areas before they do what they do.

Would there be a net advantage to Bush (red counties) or to Gore (blue counties) if continual talk about Election Day Terra scared more geographically concentrated people disproportionately into staying home?

The numbers at the bottom of the map have the answer: divide the first column into the second.

If my math is correct, the 2,436 red counties Bush won average 59 people per square mile, while the 676 blue counties Gore took have 221 people per square mile.

Ergo ADVANTAGE BUSH almost four-to-one from an Election Day terra scare! In the Gore counties, people are packed together 3.7 times more closely than in the Bush counties. Thus any stay-home reaction to phony Election Day'Terra' scares would tend to hit Gore counties much harder than Bush counties.

[Buns_of_Fire]

10. "And if it happens, don't worry -- there'll be another election

in 2012."

Jon corrects him: "Rob, don't you mean 2008?"

Rob faintly smiles. Pause. "Right..."

The whoosh of that going over the heads of any RWers who watch the show was almost deafening.

[AirAmFan]

28. That was hilarious too. The whole 5-minute segment was hilarious!

One of the best Daily Shows EVER

[dusty64]

11. EXACTLY what they are up to.

Sad but true.

[AirAmFan]

19. What do you think of DeForest Soaries, apparent author of this plan?

As an African-American Republican from a swing state (NJ), he MUST know something about suppressing urban votes so Republicans can "win".

I wonder whether Soaries was one of the NJ ministers Ed Rollins bragged about having "paid off" to keep them from mentioning the Democratic candidate for governor running against Christie Whitman.

Whitman "won" and later made Soaries her Secretary of State.

Remember Ed Rollins, Ronald Reagan's campaign manager and "Geraldo" regular on CNBC? He wrote a very revealing autobiography called, "Bare Knuckles and Back Rooms". Rollins bragged openly about "vote suppression" efforts to help elect Whitman by shaving voter turnout in Newark, Trenton, Camden, etc. He told reporters he "paid off" Democratic precinct workers to slow things down, and paid NJ ministers to keep quiet about Democratic candidates.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

From http://archives.cjr.org/year/94/1/cynicism.asp

Columbia Journalism Review January/February 1994

"Insider Cynicism: Ed Rollins Meets the Press, by Christopher Hanson Rollins is, or was, a Republican political consultant. The Sperling breakfast is a Washington institution of sorts -- held some 2,600 times over the past twenty-seven years -- in which journalists, hosted by The Christian Science Monitor's Godfrey "Budge" Sperling, gently question figures like Rollins and report the responses they find newsworthy.

At a November 9 Sperling breakfast, Rollins, boasting about how he had just helped win a governorship for New Jersey's Christine Todd Whitman, said the campaign had spent about $ 500,000 to suppress the black vote. He said GOP operatives had made payments to Democratic precinct workers in black areas on condition they sit on their hands on election day. And he said the Whitman campaign had contributed to church charities in return for black ministers keeping mum on the virtues of Democratic incumbent James Florio.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

See also http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1973367

[gasperc]

12. and to further safeguard, the red zone votes will count as two votes

It was a fantastic piece. But you have made an excellant point that there does seem to be a suppression of voting in the big cities which vote overwhelming Democratic and the scales could get tipped in places like Oregon, Iowa etc.

[AirAmFan]

43. Having mastered the use of generalized fear a la Orwell's "2 minute hates"

the Rove WH now seems to be experimenting with "targeted fear"

[LTR]

13. ROTF!!! That segment was hilarious!!!

The idea brought forth by the bit is to create a 'voting shield' that protects part of the country. Expendable parts left open to terra attacks include, say, California, then Oregon, then New York, then all of New England, and some of these states here (WI, IL, MI, MN).

The rest of the country is part of a 'voter shield'. Just to make it easy, let's color it 'red'. So, voters in the protected part of the country can vote safely. As a matter of fact, to reward their bravery, their vote will count double.

------

The entire bit had me rolling on the floor with laughter. Saw it after a Best of Chappelle episode.

[AirAmFan]

20. Even the TIMING of the announcement of "election Day Terra' planning

is very suspicious. Tom Ridge and DeForest Soaries have managed to drown out much of Kerry's introduction of his VP and their rollout of their issues. Even on this board!

[UTUSN]

14. What Dave Said

"The (Mal-)administration said they won't allow terrorists to tamper with the election. No, they want the GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA to tamper with the election."

[AirAmFan]

22. In Florida and other razor-close states, look for "Homeland Ballot Security"

at the polls to shave even more Democratic votes away, even among those who aren't fooled by the 'terra' scare. All Homeland Security has to do is set up a perimeter for scanning and searching everybody who wants to vote. Even a 30-second delay per person will create long lines in precisely those places where Democratic get-out-the-vote efforts have succeeded!

John Ashcroft, who's meeting with Ridge and Soaries to "protect" our votes, knows about suppressing votes at the polls. He lost his Senate seat in 2000 because thousands of minority voters waited THREE HOURS to vote in St. Louis. Such long lines would change the minds of some would-be Kerry voters at the last minute. All the GOP needs is a few thousand votes suppressed here and there and, boom! It's four more years of The Smirk and The Sneer.

See http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1981297

[Cat Atomic]

15. I don't see how that could work, for two reasons.

1. It doesn't matter if they manage to suppress voter turnout in, let's say, New York and California. The electoral system makes voter turnout irrelevant on a state level. That is to say, California has a set number of electoral votes to offer up, regardless of voter turnout.

2. These scare tactics will almost certainly have to be pushed into the mainstream by the rightwing press (Fox, Talk Radio, etc.), which means their own base is going to get a triple dose of it.

[AirAmFan]

17. (2) Yes, 'Election Day Terra' will scare some Republicans into staying home too

But it will scare MANY MORE Democrats. Look at the map. A linear relationship between geographic concentration and getting scared into staying home would mean that Democrats are 3.7 times as likely as Republicans to be scared into staying home.

(1) Yes, there's "winner take all". But WHO is going to take that set number of electoral votes in states where the election is close. "Election Day Terra" will have no effect in MOST states, which have been either red for many years or blue for many years. But, if it swings close states like NJ, Missouri, and Florida to Bush, "Election Day Terra" will have done its dirty work.

[Cat Atomic]

21. Yes, liberal states are more likely to suffer terrorist attacks-

but the Republicans in those states would also be afraid to go to the polls. At LEAST as frightened as Democrats. I'd even guess MORE afraid, since they've been taking in a steady diet of Fox News. The Republican voters are being motivated largely out of fear to begin with.

I don't see how this sort of suppression of voter turnout could possibly help Bush. If anything, it'll give Dems a larger margin of victory in population centers.

[AirAmFan]

24. I'm sorry I'm not a better writer. Maybe what I'm trying to say

would get through to you better with a completely different, more detailed approach. Forget about maps for a moment. See the earlier, much longer lead-in for my earlier thread, at http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1979833

[redqueen]

16. Another way to deal: Electronic voting machines

with no paper trail. Who won? Who knows! We don't, so that means the terraists don't know either!

And we'll take a bunch of people's names off of the voter list, so that when some people show up at the polls, they can't vote, causing confusion for our enemies!

If only there was a transcript on the net somewhere. And I wish he would have said audit trail instead of paper trail, but it was still classic material. :)

[AirAmFan]

23. Who writes the Daily Show? I agree, this was CLASSIC! It reminds me of

the days when SNL was funny.

[elfwitch]

26. Jon is the head writer

Steven Colbert is also a writer

[AirAmFan]

27. They've really alomst cornered the market on FUNNY use of IRONY

[Anwen]

25. Jon Stewart ROCKS!

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. That segment was brilliant!

[Wonk]

29. Video here for those who missed it

21 M vp3

[RichV]

30. Hey Wonk -- What can play that format?

Windows Media Player is rejecting it. Any ideas?

[Wonk]

31. Quicktime player works. Some other media players work too.

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/

http://www.google.com/search?q=vp3+video+player

[AirAmFan]

34. Thanks, Wonk. You're the best!

I know hosting all those megabytes can't be free.

[RichV]

37. Amen to that

Thanks a TON for hosting that, Wonk. I only caught the tail end of the Corddry skit on the 1am rerun last night. Very happy to see the whole thing.

[VOX]

38. Wonk, I must say it...

:yourock:

Many thanks!!

[Warren DeMontague]

32. I'm just waiting for this one:

"We have received credible information of a terrorist threat to polling places from the following: Dark skinned individuals, persons driving late model, beat up, or hybrid automobiles, and any person not white, male, and wearing a three piece suit. We will do everything in our power to protect the integrity of polling places from these potential terrorists"

[AirAmFan]

39. Things much as you describe WILL happen in NC, NJ, FL, and other close

states, rest assured. "Ballot security" has been in the GOP playbook for many years.

Police may question, search, and test for drug use people under "criminal justice supervision" generally can be questioned, searched, and tested for drug use at any time. Thus such people tend to turn and walk the other way when they see people in uniform. The uniformed people need not actually do anything much beyond just standing outside polling places to deter a certain percentage of would-be voters.

And uniformed "Homeland Security" officers surely will be posted prominently in neighborhoods where there are high percentages (up to 75 percent of men in some places) under "criminal justice supervision". But that's a sheaf of much more detailed NEIGHBORHOOD maps you can be sure Soares, Ashcroft, and Heimatsekuritatsfuhrer Ridge will be perusing anon.

[Nlighten1]

35. That was one of the best Daily Shows I have seen

[LoverOfLiberty]

41. That f'ing map

I've seen it too many times. Attempts to make GW the winner from all angles. Notice somthing missing there? Oh yea, GORE GOT OVER HALF A MILLION MORE TOTAL VOTES THAN BUSH!

[AirAmFan]

42. Sure Gore got half a million more PEOPLE to vote for him.But do you deny

that Bush won more COUNTIES?

Seriously, you have a good point. It can never be repeated too often that Gore won the popular vote. Even in a thread focusing on geographic concentration of Democrats and Republicans.

NONE of the graphics still on the USA Today website at http://www.usatoday.com/news/vote2000/electfront.htm have the popular vote totals! Acknowledgment that Gore won the popular vote is buried deep in text that nobody goes to usatoday.com to read.