BS: MD Liberals?

Subject: BS: MD Liberals?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 08:02 AM

"IN THE SANCTIFIED name of expanding the popular vote and widening access to the polls, Maryland Democrats have sacrificed fairness to partisan advantage. The Democrats, who dominate the state legislature in Annapolis, pushed through a bill allowing voting to take place for five days before Election Day -- but mostly at polling stations in Democratic strongholds.

This isn't the first time a majority in a state legislature has sought electoral advantage by ramming a brazenly partisan measure down the throat of the minority party. The justification generally comes down to, "Well, they'd do the same to us if they were in power." But no matter which party is behind such partisan mischief, the effect is the same: to subvert the faith that Americans place in the electoral system's fairness."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/04/AR2006040401755.html

Subject: RE: BS: MD Liberals?
From: jeffp
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 08:24 AM

It should be noted that Bruce has linked to an editorial, not the news article. That can be found at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/04/AR2006040401960.html.

Subject: RE: BS: MD Liberals?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 08:32 AM

Thanks, jeffp

Subject: RE: BS: MD Liberals?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 08:39 AM

from the news article:

"he House overwhelmingly approved legislation last month to abandon Maryland's touch-screen system, which critics say is vulnerable to tampering. The governor set aside money in his budget to lease new machines that use a paper ballot. But the Senate is poised to vote on a bill today that would put off requirements for paper receipts until 2008."

So, let me hear the cries of protest....

Subject: RE: BS: MD Liberals?
From: Rapparee
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 08:52 AM

I think some folks are put out because others thought of it first. Don't make it right, though, no matter who does it.

Subject: RE: BS: MD Liberals?
From: Greg F.
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 09:20 AM

Gee- kinda pales in comparison to the re-districting in Texas, & other BuShite antics, don't it?

Guess them Dems just can't get corruption down as well as the other side....

Subject: RE: BS: MD Liberals?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 09:22 AM

So, Greg, it is ok when the people YOU support are rigging the vote?


This goes beyond redistricting...

Subject: RE: BS: MD Liberals?
From: Bill D
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 10:20 AM

Haven't read the article thoroughly..(off to the dentist soon)..weill look at the details later.

but Bruce, I will comment that you do this basic thing regularly....to wit: finding something that a liberal or just plain Democrat does that 'seems' to be inappropriate, and holding it up as a counter-example to numerous instances of conservative/Republican practices.

We saw this in the Teresa Heinz-Kerry 'naughty word' incident and a couple more.

C'mon, guy...'if' a practice, ANY practice or behavior, is unfair, sneaky, self-serving, illegal, naughty, or just plain dumb, finding one example of your opponents doing it does not excuse 27 of YOUR side doing it! *grin*

No ever said that some Democrats (they ARE politicians, after all) and no capable of trying to offset the trend being set by the Republican lately of trying to stack the deck by Gerrymandering, catering to special interests, running misleading ads, packing the courts, manipulating the rules in Congress...etc...etc.

The move by the Democrats 'may' be questionable...gotta study it...but let's be fair: say something when your own party gets carried away with questionable tactics, too.

Subject: RE: BS: MD Liberals?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 10:40 AM

BillD,

I had pointed out in the past the Diebold machines were in use in MD, to a greater degree than in Ohio ( only two of the 67 counties there), but was informed that the DEMOCRATS would never do such a thing as rigging the vote. Ohio keeps being brought up, but any mention of MD is ignored.



"but let's be fair: say something when your own party gets carried away with questionable tactics, too."

I still am waiting the any of the liberals here to admit that GORE would NOT allow a recount of the ENTIRE Florida vote, but only the counties where the Democrats had a large majority.

Subject: RE: BS: MD Liberals?
From: Ebbie
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 11:11 AM

I may be missing something here- I frequently do - but a number of states, including Alaska, have early voting by absentee for a month prior to the election day. The absentee sites are in specific places and anyone may take advantage of it. Election Boards and politicians like it because, although the envelopes are not opened or counted until later, it lets them gauge voter interest and turnout.

Is Maryland it would seem that the GOP can ace the Dems' ploy by playing the unfair card. Since the Repubs historically are better organized - and have bigger war chests - they are under no great disadvantage.

Getting the vote out is the thing.

Subject: RE: BS: MD Liberals?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 11:17 AM

"The procedural aspects of this bill's passage are odious enough. Before they voted, Democratic lawmakers stripped the bill of provisions that would have permitted Republicans an equal role in deciding where to place the early-polling stations and that would have required that the stations' locations be geographically central. The conference committee that wrote the bill was composed of six Democrats and zero Republicans.

The locations of many of the polling stations for early voting seem designed to mine Democratic votes, which tend to be in more heavily populated areas. In Howard County, early-voting stations were placed in heavily Democratic areas in an apparent effort to weaken the reelection prospects of freshman state Sen. Sandra B. Schrader, probably the most imperiled of Maryland's 14 Republican state senators."

Subject: RE: BS: MD Liberals?
From: The Shambles
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 12:28 PM

As usual the Liberals offer a mixture of sound and original ideas.

Unfortunately none of the sound ideas is original and none of the original ideas is sound.

Harold Macmillan

Subject: RE: BS: MD Liberals?
From: artbrooks
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 12:59 PM

And, from the news article linked above: Democrats defended the measure, saying that the Republicans who control the State Board of Elections have taken no steps to implement early voting and that the law will force them to prepare for the September primary.

Subject: RE: BS: MD Liberals?
From: Ebbie
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 01:24 PM

Keep in mind, Shambles, that your Liberals are very different from our liberals.

BTW, liberal is not necessarily synonymous with Democrat nor conservative with Republican- they are only ideals for each.

Subject: RE: BS: MD Liberals?
From: Bill D
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 01:42 PM

"was informed that the DEMOCRATS would never do such a thing"

"Informed"?? geez...you gotta take being 'informed' with a grain of salt! We ...ummmmm...sneaky liberals have OUR zealots, also. Argue with the guy who informed you: don't just post generalizations.

"...waiting the any of the liberals here to admit that GORE would NOT allow a recount of the ENTIRE Florida vote,..."

Admit? What's to admit? Don't recall any such refusal in those terms. He asked for recounts in areas where there seemed to be obvious bias and registration irregularities. As it turned out, you may remember, he didn't get a whole lot of cooperation on that. As it was, the recounts did give Bush a tiny win. We still have the opinion that if many voters had not been denied due process in registration and voting procedures, that tiny win would have been reversed. The conservative court saw to it that no recourse was forthcoming, hmmmm?

    Gore did not bitch and complain and demand more investigations....

Subject: RE: BS: MD Liberals?
From: CarolC
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 02:05 PM

So, beardedbruce, does this mean we can get your agreement on the principle of fairness, openness, and accountability in the election process for both sides then?

Subject: RE: BS: MD Liberals?
From: GUEST,M.Ted
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 02:13 PM

You're just a jealous because we've got a Republican governor and you don't, Bruce--

Subject: RE: BS: MD Liberals?
From: CarolC
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 02:15 PM

Don't you and beardedbruce have the same governor, M.Ted?

Subject: RE: BS: MD Liberals?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 03:40 PM

CarolC,

I have stated that repeatedly in the past- that ALL elections should be fair, open, and accountable- NOT just the ones that the conservatives have won.

And I do have a Republican Governor- in spite of the Dems outnumbering Rep. by two to one, the best person running actually won.

Subject: RE: BS: MD Liberals?
From: CarolC
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 03:58 PM

Who's your governor, beardedbruce?

Subject: RE: BS: MD Liberals?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 04:12 PM

Robert L. Ehrlich

Subject: RE: BS: MD Liberals?
From: GUEST,M.Ted
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 06:17 PM

Sorry, Bruce, I thought you were in Virginia, which is a Republican State with a Democratic governor. Why I thought that is a mystery, but I am pleased to know that we are fellow Marylanders.

Subject: RE: BS: MD Liberals?
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 06:35 PM

If the controversy is over which polling places to open for early voting, they should have simply followed Florida's example. Early voting in Florida is done at the Supervisor of Elections offices and nowhere else. You want to vote early, you have to get down the County Courthouse or wherever the SOE's office is in your county. It's not necessarilly convenient for everyone, but nobody can accuse anyone of playing favorites.

Subject: RE: BS: MD Liberals?
From: pdq
Date: 05 Apr 06 - 07:17 PM

Here are some quotes from the Maryland governor:

Congestion means lost time, squandered productivity, wasted gasoline, increased safety concerns, and air pollution. it's time to change. My vision is a transportation system that compliments the way Marylanders choose to live - a balance between mass transit and new highway construction.
~Robert. L. Ehrlich

Every Maryland family wants financial security, schools that work, quality healthcare, safer neighborhoods, and ever-expanding economic opportunity. These are the building blocks of a superior quality of life.
~Robert. L. Ehrlich

Experts tell us that 90% of all brain development occurs by the age of five. If we don't begin thinking about education in the early years, our children are at risk of falling behind by the time they start Kindergarten.
~Robert. L. Ehrlich

Gun violence, domestic abuse, sexually transmitted disease, lack of educational opportunity, overcrowding in our criminal justice system - over-representation of minority youth in prison, all are directly related to our drug culture.
~Robert. L. Ehrlich

It's appropriate to celebrate public service, and the thoughtful people who choose to serve. They symbolize what is good and decent about this historic citizen legislature, and we thank them.
~Robert. L. Ehrlich

Leaders do not sway with the polls. Instead, they sway the polls through their own words and actions.
~Robert. L. Ehrlich

Leadership is about doing what you know is right - even when a growing din of voices around you is trying to convince you to accept what you know to be wrong.
~Robert. L. Ehrlich

My administration is serious about providing the tools needed to help our most vulnerable children grow up safe and succeed in life.
~Robert. L. Ehrlich

We have no more fundamental obligation in government than to ensure the safety of our citizens.
~Robert. L. Ehrlich

My capital budget maintains my commitment to the education of children, health of the Chesapeake Bay, and safety of all Maryland citizens. We will continue to focus on the five pillars of my Administration as we build today and look forward to the projects of the future.
~Robert. L. Ehrlich

Subject: RE: BS: MD Liberals?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 06 Apr 06 - 06:19 AM

M Ted,

I work in NorVA, but live in MD... PG County, to be more exact.

You know, the home of the previous governor, who got a "golden parachute" payment for leaving his job when he was elected governor, since he had to give up being County Executive...

Normal politics for THIS Democratic controlled state.

Subject: RE: BS: MD Liberals?
From: beardedbruce
Date: 06 Apr 06 - 06:29 AM

Bee-dubya-ell,

That would be reasonable- so why do you think the Democratic legislature decided not to go that way?

Subject: RE: BS: MD Liberals?
From: GUEST,M.Ted
Date: 06 Apr 06 - 11:46 PM

BB, I am a lifelong Democrat, and have a natural aversion Ehrlich, but those boys in the State House are the backslappingest, palm-greasingest, porkbarrelingest bunch of low-life cronies that I have ever seen, and I came here from Philadelphia--