Why Don’t We Question Close Races AFTER We Win to See Why They Were So Close?
November 11, 2013

 
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I don’t know why, but before every election in recent memory, we hear lots of reports of Republican attempts to disenfranchise tens of thousands (millions?) of legitimate legal voters all in the name of “protecting elections from (non-existent) voter fraud”. So they pass laws, new restrictions, and implement despicable practices like “voter caging” to stop LEGAL voters… uncoincidentally typically the young, poor, minorities, or any combination thereof, that just happen to vote Democrat… from voting. These attempts to stop tens of thousands of registered voters from exercising their Constitutional rights rarely make the news and gets a lot of Democrats very upset prior to the election. But then AFTER the election, once the Democrat wins ANYWAY (often by a razor-thin margin), no one ever seems to go back and wonder WHY the election was “so close” in the first place. We seem happy just to have won, so why poke the bear? Last week we saw this in action in Virginia, where polling showed the Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe leading the scandal-ridden, homophobic, Rightwing social-extremist Republican candidate Ken Cuccinelli by as much as 15 points in one poll (and an average of nearly 7 points, and growing, the day before the election) only to win by just 2.5% once all the votes were in. And no one seems to be asking, “How did that happen?”

The loser in this particular race, Cuccinelli, actually seemed to concede what an awful candidate he was in his own concession speech, arguing that the final result was so close “because of (a public rejection of) Obamacare”. Translation: “I was a terrible candidate and the race wouldn’t have even been close had it not been for people voting in protest of ObamaCare!” Which is an awful argument on two fronts. Besides admitting that if it weren’t for “ObamaCare”, you probably would have lost even worse, but the fact is the “PRO-ObamaCare” candidate WON, meaning that more people apparently like the program than don’t.

So why was the Virginia race WAY closer than any of the polls predicted? Maybe the fact that three weeks before the election, the GOP-controlled board of elections purged 38 THOUSAND registered voters from the elections rolls, most of whom by no coincidence fell into the Democratic demographic of young, poor & minorities. McAuliffe’s margin of victory was just 55,000 votes in a state with nearly 2 million votes cast.

The danger here of allowing Republicans to believe that the election was actually closer than it actually was while disregarding the tens of thousands they likely disenfranchised, is that it allows them to believe falsehoods like “ObamaCare is wildly unpopular”, “the Shutdown is the only reason Cuccinelli lost” or “if they had just spent more money on the Cuccinelli campaign, he would have won”, and therefore allow them to continue to their obstructionist ways and continue to push far-right legislation in the false belief that that’s what the people actually want. They then push the idea that the public is “evenly divided” and that there’s more support out there for the GOP Platform than there actually is, and the public… not knowing any better… believes it.

In 2008, Obama’s margin of victory over John McCain was SEVEN percent with 66.8 Million votes. Four years later, the margin of victory was cut to just 3.9 percent with Obama receiving nearly one million fewer votes than he did four years earlier despite an overall increase of 1.6 million more voters. Romney received 2.6 million more votes in 2012 than McCain did in 2008. Translation: You must believe either ONE MILLION Obama voters switched to Romney and despite population growth not a single new voter voted for Obama, OR that millions of Democratic votes were not counted because they were prevented from voting (ie: long lines, fewer voting days/hours, voter ID, being forced to vote absentee and then not have those ballots counted, etc.) I report, you decide.

The damage done by not questioning these “mysterious” razor-thin victories after all the polls predicted a comfortable lead prior to Election Day is immense. Democrats scratch their head, wonder what they did wrong, and decide that what the people want is for them to incorporate more Republican ideas into their policies. Meanwhile, Republican spin-meisters get to go around claiming that the election was “so close” because voters are “evenly divided” and don’t necessarily support the policies of the Democratic Party. And, having gotten away with it once, by the next election they push the envelop just a little bit farther. And then farther. And then farther, until election results like Bush/Gore in 2000 become common-place.
 


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November 11, 2013 · Admin Mugsy · 2 Comments - Add
Posted in: Election, Politics, Unconstitutional, voting

2 Responses

  1. Grant in Texas - November 11, 2013

    Today’s Rolling Stone has an article about how Republicans have rigged the vote by Gerrymandering.  Just as the GOP on the night of President Obama’s first inauguration plotted to obstruct every Obama initiative, they soon plotted to take over Congress. Karl Rove wrote in a Wall Street Journal column in early 2010: “He who controls redistricting can control Congress.”  With RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie, the Republican State Leadership Committee  (RSLC) launched the Redistricting Majority Project (REDMAP) with an
    explicit strategy to “keep or win Republican control of state
    legislatures with the largest impact on congressional redistricting.”  It worked.  For example, “In Pennsylvania, Democratic candidates took 51 percent of the vote across the state’s 18 districts, but only five of the seats.” Overall, Republicans have maintained a 33 seat edge in the House even though Democrats overall won 1.4 million more votes nationwide.  The “democracy” Bush introduced to Iraq is less corrupt than ours.  http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/how-republicans-rig-the-game-20131111#ixzz2kMEyHFxG

  2. cunning linguist - November 16, 2013

    A couple of thoughts here…GerrymanderingDieboldKoch BrothersUntil Citizens United is rescinded, and campaign finance reform is enacted we will get nothing other than the “anointed” candidates meaning, of course, the ones purchased on the open market.What disgusts me is the fact that they don’t even bother to hide their true intentions, or the masters they serve.

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