Incandenza wrote:


Tell them that they wouldn't have a Twitter if someone superior to them hadn't invented it.

I find it amusing, assuming of course that the link I read was truthful, that Ryan used Social Security survivor benefits to help get himself through Miami of Ohio after his father passed away when he was 16.

Ah yes, reminds me of that classic Fox News moment. "I've been on food stamps and welfare. Did anybody help me out? No."

We hadn't heard from Dave Mustaine in a while. At a concert he alleged that Obama staged the shootings in Aurora and the Sikh temple in Wisconsin as part of an anti-gun agenda.

Surely all they have to do is put up pictures of Ryan looking particularly evil, or menacing, and say "THIS MAN WANTS TO TAKE AWAY YOUR MEDICARE/MEDICAID" and suddenly you'd have an army of old people seeking to do the romney/ryan ticket serious physical harm. surely Even the most racist, sick old person isn't going to vote for Romney/Ryan?

Ryan's been careful to exclude current and imminent retirees from his Medicare reform.

We haven't really had much discussion here of this election's round of voter suppression efforts, which seem to be particularly bad in Pennsylvania and Ohio. And Florida, but that's obvious. I have to say, I'm a lot less confident now than before Romney's nomination that Obama will be a one-termer, but if he is, it looks likely it will be because of these initiatives.

That is the entire reason I cannot get at all overly confident about the election. Just about every single battleground state has new bullshit to thwart Obama supporters from voting. An Obama re-election would be satisfying, but not as satisfying as seeing Obama actually win the states of PA, FL, and OH despite their blatant efforts to have us go back to the Pre-1964 Voting Rights days.

No real surprise, but the obvious coordination of all this is also easily the most under reported news story/crime by the corporate media.

Have I understood that Ohio thing correctly? Shorter opening hours for polls where people vote for the Democrats?

And photo ID is what? Driving licence or passport? Obviously lots of people don't have those. Are there not photos on ID cards?

I've just rolled in to Colorado, which is very much a swing state and where, at certain times of day, the advertising is nothing but political hackery. It is horrible and awe-inspiring at the same time, the amount of stuff that's being poured out.

Anyway, one of the adverts, amazingly, is one where Romney and Ryan are pictured, and they're suggesting that Obama is cutting Medicare ("they're taking money from your program, old person, and putting it into a giant government program": this is pretty much the exact wording; it leaves me dumbstruck). It's audacious, even ballsy. But seeing Ryan's face with the words Medicare and Cut together surely isn't the brightest of moves by the GOP advertising dudes, is it?

They don't have ID cards.

TonTon wrote:

States do have ID cards. I have one for California because I've never learned to drive, and I still get carded at bars there.

It looks exactly like a driver's license. I could probably drive and get away with it.

But you chose to have it, I think, yeah? Why not use your passport?

Lots of Americans don't have one - two thirds, but that includes children.

Yeah, mandatory IDs is what nanny states do.

I was assuming Flynnie has one.

In Philadelphia alone there could be over 400,000 people without a valid photo ID WHO ARE REGISTERED VOTERS who could be disenfranchised.

Bill Moyers' show did a segment on this, and just how someone could have such difficulty getting a photo ID:
billmoyers.com/content/voter-id-who-doesnt-have-photo-id/

An interesting thing I read was that this might not hit the Democrats as hard as has been suggested. It plays against urban blacks who don't drive and therefore don't have IDs, but generally they are a low-turnout group. They may generally overwhelmingly vote Democrat when they get to the polls, but they generally don't get to the polls.

But it also plays against old people who no longer have driving licenses or who've lost their paperwork. And these are generally high-turnout people who vote Republican. Old white people are the highest turnout demographic and, for reasons that baffle me, seem to overwhelmingly vote Republican.

A 5% cut in old white voters may counter a 20% cut in urban black voters given the turnout differences.

So, although theoretically it hits more blacks and hispanics, it may cut back against Republicans who're going to have some very, very angry old white people who won't be able to vote against a communist muslim this time.