Pen company hopes to ink deal with Obama
By Josh Richman
Friday, October 26th, 2012 at 1:20 pm in 2012 presidential election, Barack Obama.
President Obama got more than one $5 million offer this week.
The Zebra Pen Company, based in New Jersey, sent a letter to the president Thursday offering to donate $5 million to the charity of his choice if the president will publicly disclose what kind of pen – ballpoint, gel, rollerball, etc. – and what color ink he used in filling out his college application, with “bonus points” offered for presenting the actual pen.
“Mr. President, America needs to know these very ‘important’ details,” the pen company asserted.
But to seal the deal, the company said, the president also would have to name Zebra as the official pen of the commander-in-chief, the White House and the Obama campaign, and do all future bill and treaty signings with the company’s pens.
Why do I report on this craven, self-serving tactic to manipulate politics for publicity’s sake? Because it makes just as much sense as reporting on this week’s other craven, self-serving tactic to manipulate politics for publicity’s sake.
The only difference is that Zebra pens are actually sort of useful.
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October 26th, 2012 at 3:33 pm
Josh,
I get it. This is kind of funny. And Trump’s stunt was stupid. I agree. But I wonder why you don’t also mention Gloria Alred’s stunt? As you know, she shows up most elections with some trumped up “gotcha”. You don’t think her stunt was for political reasons?
And besides, just exactly why is it so important for Romney to show 10 years of tax returns, and Obama not have to show his college papers and birth certificate? I am NOT a birther, but I do think there is a problem with Obama’s records for some reason. I suspect he got some affirmative action by claiming to be from some other country and now that he is President, he doesn’t want the whole world to know he did that, back in the day.
And why is it so easy to have the 25 year old divorce records of the Staples Exec unsealed and yet Obama can seal his college records?
I think people have the right to expect that their personal records should be private. But I also think that both sides should be treated the same way and fairly.
October 26th, 2012 at 5:18 pm
You go, Patty!
October 26th, 2012 at 8:02 pm
Very funny! The Donald was a guest on Letterman last night. He made a big deal about how China is ripping us off and how Mitt would fix that. Then, Letterman started a conversation about Trump’s nice tie (a Trump-branded tie). Trump took the bait and bragged about the tie. At that point, Letterman inquired as to where the tie was made. Turns out it was made in — you guessed it!
October 26th, 2012 at 8:59 pm
Re Patty O’Day:
Personally, I’d love to see Obama take Trump up on his offer and then watch The Donald squirm over the public pressure to make good on the $5 million.
But there is no reason for Obama to release information that has been expected of no other presidential candidate. Personally, I think it would be a terrible precedent that would burden future candidates for public office with an ever expanding list of things the public thinks it has a right to see.
Romney has no legal obligation to release any tax returns, including the two years he did finally provide. However, by choosing not to follow the practice of his predecessors in releasing multiple years, he invites and deserves all the mild-to-wild speculation about why — particularly in light of his extraordinarily exotic finances and the fact that he enjoys enormously advantageous tax treatment that is unique to people in the opaque world of leveraged buyouts. It seems particularly relevant when your experience in that world is the foundation of your stated qualification for the presidency.
October 26th, 2012 at 10:39 pm
RE#4
“exotic” finances? Is that the new Democrat term for wealth? How can you say that the tax code favors those that are the only ones paying.
Tax evasion and Tax Shelters are two different things that the liberal dems mix together to criminalize a man like Romney. Imagine if Mitt would have released 10 years. You and Ed Shultz would of had a field day demonizing him for reducing his tax burden. I know that enlightened individuals like you do not use any deductions and pay more tax than is required, but the law is the law, and some of us do not like paying for a bloated ineffective government.
The progresives income tax is a broken system. To stay in compliance people like myself and Mitt are forced to hire someone to navigate the complex tax laws to prepare our tax returns. Then, when we are done, the liberal dems say we are not paying our fair share. Mitt was facing a no win scenario and did the right thing by not releasing his taxes.
Unless you think Mitt was a tax cheat, there is no mystery. Reducing tax burden is not a crime, I would say it is as American as apple pie.
Now that you know why Mitt hasn’t released his taxes; why won’t Obama release his college records. I woud venture to say that being a prudent business man is alot more acceptable to the American public than being a U.S. citizen applying to college as foreign exchange student. Just a little “wild speculation”.
October 27th, 2012 at 12:28 am
No, that’s MY term for Mitt’s finances, not the “Democrat term.” Further, I may be a Dem, but I’m not an Ed Schultz fan. Third, you will seldom hear the words “fair share” from me in discussing tax policies, federal or state. I’m more about looking at tax ideas from the standpoint of their effectiveness in achieving fiscal and economic goals. Which is why — you’ll be shocked to know — I voted against Prop. 30 and have always been opposed to tax expenditures that clutter up the tax code and distort economic decision-making.
I assume that Mitt’s taxes are in full compliance with the law. So, I’ve not mixed anything “to criminalize a man like Romney.” However, the tax law from which he and other leveraged buyout (a/k/a private equity) partners benefit isn’t an accident or a law handed down from God. Companies like Bain, whose partners are major contributors to legislators who make tax policy, secured those laws the old fashioned way — buying influence (legally, of course).
We can debate the virtues and evils of leveraged buyout companies. At their best, they reorganize capital and make it flow to more productive uses. At their worst, they buy companies on the cheap, load them up with debt, use the proceeds from the debt to distribute huge “dividends” to the private equity partners, leave the company and employees in distress. During my business career, we used to call that “milking the cow.”
My big beef is about the special treatment of so-called “carried interest” income. This is the income private equity managers derive from their share of net gains in the funds they manage (using other people’s money, not their own). As one person has put it, “…carried interest, by every measure, is no different in substance than the performance or incentive fees which hundreds of thousands of other managers earn every day from the results of the businesses {real businesses] they oversee, whether it be restaurants or department stores or banks. Yet carried interest is taxed as a capital gain, whereas everyone else’s performance or incentive fees are taxed as ordinary income.”
You’re probably thinking these opinions about private equity and the special tax treatment of carried interest are the rants of that liberal economist, Paul Krugman.
Actually, they are the thoughts of Leo J. Hindery, who is the managing partner (same as Mitt’s former title) of private equity firm, InterMedia Partners. You can look it up yourself — Google “Leo Hindery Private Equity Carried Interest.” In addition to his writings on the subject, he has voiced his thoughts a number of times as an interview guest on the financial network, CNBC.
October 31st, 2012 at 9:05 am
Fascinating new numbers on RCP today — see them here.
If Romney is able to close the gap in those 2 states where he is behind by 1% or less, Obama still wins 271 to 269.
If Obama is able to close the gap (and he is — whatever bounce Romnuts got from debacle, er, debate #1, is G-O-N-E) in those three states where he is behind by 1% or less, Obama wins 332 to 206 — a BLOWOUT.
Meanwhile, I just gotta love how Chris Christie is undergoing a transformation on just how important a strong and well-funded Federal Government can be — and I expect the same transformation within him on how we as a nation need to dramatically impact climate change N-O-W.
November 1st, 2012 at 8:46 am
Great new numbers from RCP today — see them here.
The “O’mentum” just continues to build — as the Hafrican has taken back CO to push the EC to 290 vs 248, and is within a day’s polling of taking back VA to push it to 303 vs 235, and is gaining on the ground in FL, where if it falls to the socialist, the BLOWOUT of 332 to 206 would be in full display.
Meanwhile, is it me, or does anyone else notice that the cornerstone “center” of Romnut’s campaign slogan of “Believe” is the word L-I-E?
November 1st, 2012 at 1:06 pm
@ 8
Golden Gate Fields is running today.
There are probably some 60-1 shots going off that you’d like to put your money on.
November 1st, 2012 at 2:00 pm
There are way too many moving parts in this election to predict the outcome. Anybody who gets it right is just lucky.
I think Joe Scarborough got it right, saying either (1) Obama barely wins in the electoral vote and possibly loses the popular count; or (2) late deciders just say “what the heck,” and swing to the new guy — which could shift all the close swing states Romney’s way and give him a substantial margin in both the popular and electoral.
November 1st, 2012 at 2:05 pm
It’s interesting to look at the electoral map for elections dating back to 1952. Adlai Stevenson, a northern intellectual liberal, got virtually all of his electoral votes in both 1952 and 1956 from the Old South. IKE got what are now the blue and purple states.
The pattern didn’t start to shift until JFK. And he didn’t even win California. The big shift was in 1964, when Goldwater got the South, and 1968.
November 1st, 2012 at 8:04 pm
Weird Uncle Joe: “Where the hell am I today?”
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2012/10/joes-very-weird-uncle-day/58559/
November 2nd, 2012 at 6:50 am
Interesting reading at RCP this morning — you’ll notice that they have “suddenly” decided not to include any recent polls from VA (it being 4 days since the last one they are willing to show — that of 10/28) — see it here.
Why, you ask? Well, as I said yesterday, one more day’s worth of polling will show that Obama has closed the gap in state number 2 (VA), since he is ahead by 2% in the very last poll shown (RCP shows a time-delayed average) and with it, the EC goes to 303 vs 235, with Obama rapidly closing the gap with his ground game in FL for another 29 ECs, to take it to the 332 vs 206 BLOWOUT I called MANY months ago.
Why, there might even been some progress in the US Senate — there is a growing outside chance that not only will the GOP NOT take the Senate, but might actually lose enough seats to make it 55 D, 45 R vs the 53 D, 47 R that it now is — oh, what a rape of justice THAT would be.
Stay tuned, if you’re not delusional or childish, that it…
November 2nd, 2012 at 8:45 am
@13 –
I e-spoke too soon this morning — here is the latest polling for the Senate race to succeed the Tea Party-ousted Richard Lugar and it is a DOOZY!
Donnelly the Dimmicrat by 11%!!!
That pushes the confirmed line to 53 D, 47 R — just like it is now!
If Jon Tester can hang on in Montana, and “Crazy” Bob Kerrey can pull off the upset a lot of folks think is going to happen in Nebraska, we could have a Senate next Wednesday that has 2 more D votes than it has now — what a swift and hard kick in the gonads for Witch McConnuts THAT would be!
There IS a God — and she is named Sandy! What a mother nature really is!
November 2nd, 2012 at 12:12 pm
Americans died.
Obama lied.
November 2nd, 2012 at 12:23 pm
Cooling out the news: O’bummer administration tries to make Benghazi scandal go away until after the election.
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_21909393/administration-has-been-cooling-out-voters
November 2nd, 2012 at 2:44 pm
I heard a rumor that the Prez will appoint Jimmy Carter as special envoy to Iran sometime this month.
November 2nd, 2012 at 3:36 pm
Re: #15
Thomas Sowell. Now there is a clear-eyed, unbiased source for learning what did and didn’t happen in Benghazi!
Yesterday’s CIA release of previously classified information about the sequence of events, including a summary by columist David Ignatius, is a bit more informative for people who are actually concerned with facts.
November 2nd, 2012 at 3:52 pm
Re: #14
Despite Mourdock’s interesting views on “God’s will,” I’m surprised about that poll showing an 11 point lead in a state like Indiana. I would note that it’s 47-36. That means 17 percent undecided. Anything can happen in that contest.
Donnelly is a blue dog Democrat in the Evan Bayh mold. He’s also a “pro life” Catholic but doesn’t share Mourdock’s extreme views on the rape exception issue.
I’m as pro choice as it gets (government should butt out, end of story), but I think Mourdock gave a very honest and sincere answer to a question. He’s wrong, but he’s not nuts like the guy in Missouri.
November 2nd, 2012 at 4:14 pm
Re: 17
Carter definitely pissed off the Ayatollah and his followers when he gave asylum to the Shah for cancer treatment.
November 2nd, 2012 at 5:41 pm
@ 18 John W.
Yeah, everybody knows you can’t trust those old black men.
Clarence Thomas comes to mind.
And the only conspiracy is by our fearless leader trying to cover up his feckless performance until after the election.
November 2nd, 2012 at 5:52 pm
They should keep crazy Uncle Joe locked up in the basement:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/biden-theres-never-been-day-last-four-years-ive-been-proud-be-his-vice-president_660130.html
November 2nd, 2012 at 6:51 pm
@16 –
Just like Nixon with the Watergate “scandal” of 1972.
Wanna go THERE?
I don’t think you have the gonads or IQ points for THAT.
November 2nd, 2012 at 7:00 pm
@ 23
Your Nixon analogy is 40 years old.
Mine is in today’s headlines.
Case closed.
November 2nd, 2012 at 9:00 pm
Re 21
Not sure how Sowell’s race got into it.
As for Benghazi, I might point out that Romney didn’t play the Benghazi card in the foreign policy debate. My guess is that he thought better of it after receiving the national security briefings that general election presidential candidates regularly receive. There are lots of legit questions, and we’ll get the answers. The Benghazi compound (not a consulate) was, we now know, mostly a CIA operation. That fact alone suggests that we “civilians” should wait for the full story.
November 3rd, 2012 at 7:20 am
@24 –
Nixon got re-elected, and so will Obama.
Learn the lessons of history, or stay a fool.
November 3rd, 2012 at 11:20 am
@26 –
To further fill out this latest chapter of history, I fully expect in the new GOP-controlled House that we will see next Wednesday, that Eric Cantor will challenge John Boehner for the House speakership, and if successful, will immediately serve up as H.R. 1 the impeachment of President (Re-elect) Barack Hussein Obama, on the grounds of a massive coverup following the Libya attack on September 11th, 2012.
I am buying aluminum futures on the CBOE as I type this, knowing how tin-foil hats will be in great demand by folks who actually think this will be the electoral outcome, and will be so disappointed in seeing the Hafrican Socialist back in power, that they will need to vent their sick, twisted dysfunction any which way they can.
November 3rd, 2012 at 1:09 pm
@ 26
What a valid comparison: Nixon and Obama
The lessons of history to be sure.
Nixon and Obama are so similar in so many ways, except for their complexion and one was born in California while the other was born in Kenya.
Here is a life lesson for you:
It is better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and prove it.
November 3rd, 2012 at 1:13 pm
@ 27
My God, you’ve gone so far round the bend that now you’re responding to your own posts.
You must have really interesting conversations with yourself.
With your amazing predictive abilities you really should go to the track.
November 3rd, 2012 at 2:29 pm
Good morning Benghazi ! The diplomatic mission in Libya included a consulate in Benghazi. The CIA had a base of operations about a mile away. There was also a CIA contingent in Tripoli that monitored events in Benghazi. The consulate building was not fortified to the extent the CIA base was. CIA personnel were present in both Benghazi locations.
November 3rd, 2012 at 5:26 pm
Re: #30
Based on what I’ve read, your information is mostly accurate. However, I think you’re wrong about the consulate part. A consulate is basically a junior Embassy. A consulate would have a State Department staff headed up by a U.S. Consul. My understanding is that only 7 of the 30 people that were evacuated to the annex and then out of country worked for State.
November 3rd, 2012 at 6:06 pm
Our leader seeks revenge.
Revenge?
For what?
Who knows?
http://tinyurl.com/apuqn9z
November 3rd, 2012 at 6:51 pm
From an earlier post (@27) today (sorry I was delayed; I was off tending to my numerous HIGHLY lucrative rentals in Brentwood), we have the following:
“…folks who…will be so disappointed in seeing the Hafrican Socialist back in power, that they will need to vent their sick, twisted dysfunction any which way they can….”
Witness @28, @29 and @32 — and draw your own conclusions.
Memo to Elwood: We’re still not laughing WITH you, we’re laughing…you fill in the rest.
Obama 332, Romney 206.
November 3rd, 2012 at 7:44 pm
You know what’s really low class?
Bragging about your income.
It denotes insecurity.
November 3rd, 2012 at 7:59 pm
Papers Blast Obama Over Benghazi
WaPost & WSJ
http://weeklystandard.com/blogs/papers-blast-obama-over-benghazi_660248.html
Damn’ right wing rags anyway! Especially that WaPost.
November 3rd, 2012 at 8:18 pm
@34 –
Then I guess that Donald Trump (as just one example of MANY) and I are in good company — and remember:
Living well is the BEST revenge, since in the end, we all die, so he who dies with the most money lived the best life, and scored the most points.
It must really hurt hauling around all those tons of sour grapes you carry…
Let me know where to send the brie to go along with all of your whine…
November 3rd, 2012 at 8:25 pm
Re: 32
“Voting is the best revenge.”
A response to the hissing and booing when Obama talked about Romney’s big lie ads about Chrysler moving jobs from Ohio to China.
Voting IS the best revenge for that.
But I can tell, Elwood, that you are deeply hurt and offended by such toxic language. Take two aspirin and call me in the morning if it still is giving you a headache.
November 3rd, 2012 at 10:03 pm
Re: 35
I read the quite lengthy WSJ editorial this morning. It does a good job of spelling out the timeline and asks reasonable questions about security, which will be answered in full — what decisions were made when, by whom and why? What it doesn’t do is support the right-wing narrative that the administration engaged in some nefarious cover-up conspiracy for political or any other reason.
In fact, the editorial itself notes that Reuters was informed by administration sources the day after the attack that Ansar al-Shariah and a regional al Qaeda offshoot were probably involved and that Intelligence officials similarly briefed members of Congress that same week. Why the UN Ambassador later went with the movie story remains unexplained (at least to the public), but we do know that she was going by Intelligence agency talking points that had been provided to her. However, the fact that those groups were involved does not mean that the protests over the “movie” in Cairo were not what triggered those groups to make a move on that particular day.
As for security, hindsight is always 20/20 — just like with Pearl Harbor, the Marine barracks in Lebanon, the USS Cole, 9/11, Fort Hood etc. In the case of Benghazi,there is all sorts of noise about secret cables regarding security conditions in and around Benghazi. That includes the August cable obtained by Fox News — noting concerns about the mission’s ability to defend against a coordinated attack and saying the mission “would ask for additional physical security upgrades and staffing.” That wording strongly suggests that, at least as of August, no such request had been formally made. The only formal request had been to retain a special 16-member security team to protect the Embassy in Tripoli. But that was for Tripoli.
Any idiot can now say that we shouldn’t have relied on Libyan forces to provide security in Benghazi (which is the way security is normally provided to U.S. embassies around the globe). Whether that was a State Department or CIA responsibility to see that the place was more secure remains to be seen.
Nobody has talked about what went right. In addition to being a CIA base, the annex was designed to provide a fortified haven for mission personnel in the event of an attack. It worked. As noted in the WSJ editorial, the annex came under fire but was not breached. The Ambassador and another State Department employee were killed by the fire that occurred at the outset of the attack, but 30 employees were successfully evacuated to the annex and then out of Benghazi. The two CIA contractors who were killed were on the annex roof when they were killed by mortar fire.
November 3rd, 2012 at 10:52 pm
@ 36
Yes, I’m sure you and the Donald have a great deal in common.
Except he tipped more than you made last year.
November 4th, 2012 at 3:55 pm
@39 –
Yawn.
November 5th, 2012 at 6:56 am
And now we have the second of the three “Flohiva” states to flip back to the Hafrican Socialist according to RCP — see it here.
That puts it at 303 for Obama, 235 for Romnuts — and given the wild predictions by the likes of George Will and Dick Morris, I’ll repeat my own call from MANY months ago:
Obama 332, Romnuts 206. Let the landslide begin…
November 5th, 2012 at 11:28 am
Hate to say it, but I’m fearing not just a win for Romney, but by a substantial electoral college margin. Why?
Obama is ahead or statistically tied in the battlegrounds but not at 50%. Late deciders typically go for the challenger.
A little extra boost from the state election officials in FL, OH and PA. They never stop their efforts to reduce the early voting. Just look at the lines wrapping around blocks and the FL governor’s refusal to extend the hours. I especially don’t trust the election officials in Ohio, based on 2004.
Obama should not have taken PA for granted. It looks very tight. If PA goes red, that’s probably an indication that Obama’s firewall is melting in other battlegrounds too.
Hope I’m crazy-a** wrong.
November 5th, 2012 at 11:59 am
Who will win, Truthie or John W? The voters sure won’t.
November 5th, 2012 at 1:42 pm
@42 –
Hate to burst your bubble of knowledge, but CNN is reporting that undecideds are breaking for…wait for it…Obama.
I like your admission at the end of your latest post.
November 5th, 2012 at 3:16 pm
But don’t beLIEve (the word the way Romnuts spells it) me, read for yourself.
Obama 322, Romnuts 206. Book it, Dan-O.
November 5th, 2012 at 5:22 pm
If the results prove me to be C-A-W, nobody will be happier about it than I.
November 5th, 2012 at 5:38 pm
It would appear I have good company — Nate Silver over at FiveThirtyEight has it at 307 to 231, and he has FL slightly going to Romnuts, whereas I think that Obama’s ground game and the surge in Latino/Latina voting this year (see Dream Act by Executive Order, circa 2012, ibid.) will get him FL as well, for the grand total of 332 to 206.
As for Romnuts, the smell of “this turkey is DONE” is permeating his airborne cabin — since he is going to pull off a major faux pas and…wait for it…campaign on ELECTION DAY! You can already hear in his voice today (a complete lack of energy) that he knows the “dreaded event” is mere hours away — his concession speech!
For those at home, watch the VA returns — when Obama the Hafrican Socialist wins VA, it’s over — there is no need to wait for OH or FL results to come back, however delayed they are, since Romnuts can NOT win without VA as he is not going to make a dent in Obama’s firewall elsewhere (IA, CO, NV, WI, PA, MI, MN, etc., etc., etc.)
November 6th, 2012 at 8:39 am
Nate Silver now has FL leaning ever so slightly toward Obama — see it here and scroll down to see the state by state probabilities in the right hand side.
As a result, he has it at 313 to 225, but all of the states colored blue of some sort put it at 332 to 206 for Obama over Romnuts.
Oh, where, oh, where have we heard THAT before?
Oh, yeah.
From MOI, many months ago.
November 6th, 2012 at 12:26 pm
Liberal bed wetters heading for the bridge?
http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2012/11/06/what-if-nate-silver-is-wrong-video/
November 6th, 2012 at 12:41 pm
@49 –
So now you’re quoting Joe Garofoli as if he is God?
Joe Garofoli — he of “Shaky Hand Productions”?
I am so ROTFLMFAO!
November 6th, 2012 at 12:46 pm
“I’m predicting Obama will take an early lead today.
Until all the Republicans get off work.” –Tim Tebow
November 6th, 2012 at 12:51 pm
Local political pundit Mark Curtis has Obama winning with just a thin one-state margin and barely losing in the popular vote.
Dan Rather said this morning that his “gut” tells him Romney will have a good day.
As for us liberal bed wetters fearing the worst, it just DEPENDS.
Let’s face it — who knows? We’ll find out in several hours; or perhaps in several days; or perhaps in several weeks.
November 6th, 2012 at 1:09 pm
Clackamas County, Oregon election worker relieved of duty after discovery that she (allegedly) tampered with ballots by filling in straight Republican ticket on ballots where preferences were left blank by voters. Oregon DOJ investigating. The worker, Deanna Swenson, “tearfully insisted it was ONLY THE TWO ballots that had been altered.
Hey, what’s the big deal? If people are going to the polls and not bothering to vote for some of the offices, it’s very thoughtful of Ms. Swenson to fill in the blanks for them, right?
November 6th, 2012 at 1:12 pm
Re: 51
I’m sure Tim has been in contact with God to ensure GOP success.
November 6th, 2012 at 1:13 pm
@ 53
She must be from Chicago.
November 6th, 2012 at 1:25 pm
New Black Panthers monitoring polls again:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/11/06/new-black-panthers-back-at-philly-voting-site/
November 6th, 2012 at 1:35 pm
Voter ID: Who needs it?
http://freebeacon.com/the-truth-monkey-votes/
November 6th, 2012 at 1:45 pm
@55 –
Apparently you’ve lost the ability to read, or the ability to COMPREHEND what you read — it (the article) said that she (the election worker) tampered with those ballots to fill them in as “Republican [votes for Romney, etc.]” — so tell me again why you say “she must be from Chicago” [and by inference, working for Obama]?
Or are the words “inference” and comprehend” too big for you?
If so, just let me know, I can dumb it down…
November 6th, 2012 at 1:48 pm
News from Chicago’s 4th Ward (home of our leader, at least for a couple more months.)
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/election-judge-wears-obama-cap-while-checking-voters-obamas-chicago-ward_661843.html
November 6th, 2012 at 1:51 pm
GOP Poll Inspectors thrown out by New Black Panthers:
http://washingtonexaminer.com/philly-gop-poll-inspectors-being-ousted-for-dems/article/2512714#.UJmF5IbF1ae
November 6th, 2012 at 1:59 pm
Re: 56
Elwood, you’re a little slow on the trigger today. I was wondering how long it would take for you to pick up on that story — the one the video showing a lone, middle age NBPP dude, outside, opening the door for folks and, no doubt, intimidating the hell out of all the black voters showing up to vote.
Not that I think the dude should be there at all. However, that’s a bit different than Tea Party “True the Vote” people going into minority precincts, challenging voters and getting in their faces when they fill out paperwork. As in Columbus, OH where it got so bad that, even with Ohio’s electorally mischievous Secretary of State, they kicked them out.
November 6th, 2012 at 2:04 pm
Re: 57
We have bipartisan agreement that the credentials of people dressed up in gorilla suits should be checked before they are allowed to vote.
November 6th, 2012 at 2:13 pm
Re: #60
Bet you a steak dinner, or cuisine of your choice, that this is an inaccurate story.
November 6th, 2012 at 2:53 pm
@ 63
OK, John, here’s a follow up:
“A Pennsylvania judge also issued an order Tuesday to reinstate Republican election officials across Philadelphia who allegedly were ejected or refused entry by on-site Democratic voting chief judges.
One Republican official claimed that “just under 70″ Republican election officials were blocked from Philadelphia polling sites Tuesday morning by Democrats on site. One of them, the official claimed, “was shoved out of the polling place.”
“For this many inspectors to be ejected from polling places is rare, even for Philadelphia,” the official told FoxNews.com.
Take your best shot at predicting the final electoral map for the 2012 Presidential Election
Elsewhere in the city, a representative from the New Black Panther Party was also spotted outside a polling site. The New Black Panthers stirred controversy in 2008 when members appeared outside a polling site, one of them holding a billy club.
The representative seen Tuesday, Jerry Jackson, was charged in the 2008 case along with Minister King Samir Shabazz, but later saw charges dropped by the Department of Justice. He was seen Tuesday wearing the group’s trademark black beret, combat-style uniform and heavy boots. “No comment,” Jackson said when approached by a reporter.
Which states have Obama and Romney visited the most? Check our Candidate Tracker to find out
The flap over the election judges, though, was widespread. Republicans claim they are obtaining a series of court orders to seat the so-called election “inspectors,” and sheriff’s deputies will be available to escort them.
Watch the results pour in like a pro with FoxNews.com’s Election Command Center
Despite the high number of officials who were allegedly booted, the dispute itself is not uncommon for Philadelphia. Fred Voigt, legal counsel for the city commissioners, said these kinds of face-offs happen “with regularity” in the City of Brotherly Love.
“It happens all the time,” Voigt said. He said court-appointed Republican officials typically show up on Election Day and end up squaring off against stand-in officials at the polling sites filling in the open seats. Part of the problem, he said, is that the Republican inspectors are appointed on relatively short notice, leading to a string of confrontations on Election Day.
“There are no cool heads here,” Voigt said.
The on-site election officials are responsible for verifying the identity of voters, and monitoring for signs of fraud or disenfranchisement.
FoxNews.com’s Joshua Rhett Miller, Judson Berger and Joseph Weber contributed to this report.
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Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/11/06/judge-issuing-order-to-reinstate-booted-philadelphia-election-officials/#ixzz2BUB5wf1j
November 6th, 2012 at 2:58 pm
Oh, John?
Porterhouse medium rare, please.
November 6th, 2012 at 3:05 pm
All of this sudden inane chatter (@56, @57, @59, @60 and @64) just sounds like…
http://soundcloud.com/365daysofsound/2011-05-20-air-escaping-a
November 6th, 2012 at 3:15 pm
Re: 64 & 65
From Roxborough-ManayunkPatch
Linda Wolfe-Bateman, a Republican candidate for state representative in the 194th district, is also the 12th Ward Leader in Germantown. (one of the wards listed in the watchingtonexaminer.com story) She said she had to fight to seat a minority representative in one division earlier Tuesday.
However, she attributed the problem to a miscommunication.
“They didn’t tell the Democratic ward leaders this would happen, and a bunch of new people throughout the city came into the polls. I don’t think they knew what was going on,” she said.
That’s from a REPUBLICAN ward leader in the city and doesn’t quite jibe with the narrative that something wicked was afoot. The judge’s order cleared up the confusion. Hope everybody’s happy.
Porterhouse? Sounds good. I’m out the door to go have one. Will let you know how it tasted.
November 6th, 2012 at 5:01 pm
Barack Obama is going to win both the popular vote as well as the Electoral College — it appears I was not “liberal” enough in my projection as he just might take NC in addition to the other states I stated he would — for a total of 347 to 191 for Romnuts.
Even so, the votes are not even counted yet and John Boehner has said “mandate be damned — no new taxes on the wealthy!” even though that is THE linchpin of the Obama campaign.
Can we say “neo-fascist dictator” Boehner? Can I get an amen?
November 6th, 2012 at 6:45 pm
CNN is projecting that PA just went for the Hafrican Socialist — so much for that “last day, late minute” campaigning by Romnuts and Lyin!