Unskewed!
November 21st, 2012 by Erik Loomis
Creepy unskewed polls guy is back with the real reason Obama won–voter fraud!
[SL]: See also Weigel.
Posted in General | 88 comments
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Major Kong:
November 21st, 2012 at 10:51 am
I can’t help but notice that the “voter fraud” states are, you know, black.
I’m sure that was pure coincidence.
Malaclypse:
November 21st, 2012 at 10:56 am
Okay so I read this:
And the only way it makes sense is if “state wide” (sic) means everywhere in the state except Philadelphia.
And that exact same paragraph, with changes for geography, is the “evidence” of fraud in all four states. Everybody knows! For years! Blah people! Voting!
somethingblue:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:02 am
I thought blah votes only counted 3/5?
IM:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:07 am
Aren’t all these four states governed by republicans? So the republican governors and secretaries of state forged the election for Obama because…
Malaclypse:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:07 am
Well, Democrats seem to insist they count the same as a white man’s vote, which is why Republicans win statewide, but lose because of blah people.
Dude has all of the subtlety of JenBob.
Craigo:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:08 am
Every city and county in Virginia has two Republicans on its board foe elections, compared to one Democrat. FWIW, which to a hack like this guy is absolutely nothing.
joe from Lowell:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:09 am
A VP at Stratfor wrote that email?
There are multi-billion corporations and other important clients who pay big bugs to Stratfor for their intelligence services – mainly their analytical services.
joe from Lowell:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:09 am
Heh. Big bugs.
Craigo:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:10 am
Obviously there are traitors in the Republican party propping up Obummer. Chris Christie, is after all, History’s Greatest Monster (succeeding John Roberts, who held the title for less than six months).
Warren Terra:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:12 am
I hear the conspiracy is so widespread and pervasive that the Democrats are able to achieve their perfidy with aid of legion of accomplices, each of whom stuffs the ballot box with a single vote. Thus they are able to steal the election a tiny little bit at a time, almost imperceptibly, each one a chip knocked away from the foundations of the country our forefathers knew, taking us that much farther from a time when men were men and some were chattel.
laura:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:12 am
Does dude’s “evidence” consist of anything more than “In a lot of counties Obama got 90%+ of the votes which is suspicious given the state totals were a lot closer”? A quick search and I couldn’t find anything.
There’s something about leaked emails but I’m scared to click because of spyware.
Warren Terra:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:15 am
It’s a pet peeve of mine, but that’s more like negative 3/5ths. The slaveholders would have been perfectly happy to have each slave count as 10 rather than 3/5; after all, the Blacks counted as 3/5 of a person didn’t get to vote, and their 3/5-of-a-person value was used in apportioning seats, in order to give their oppressors greater representation with which to maintain their power.
BigHank53:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:15 am
Y’all might want to read this, which is the only decent profile I’ve seen of the guy. Shorter: I’ll take money from racist idiots.
joe from Lowell:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:16 am
lol
Anonymous:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:18 am
This guy’s disbelief that Romney could possibly be so unpopular in Philadelphia, the Hillbuz guy’s earnest belief that Cleveland would deliver Ohio to Romney. Have these people ever even been to a major city?!
Major Kong:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:20 am
You just won the internet for the day.
Left_Wing_Fox:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:21 am
Apparently the taste of reality was too bitter, so he’s spit it back out again.
Warren Terra:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:25 am
It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.
(For more, see BigHank53′s link, in the comment above yours)
djw:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:26 am
But it’s even worse than that: due to some sort of Democrat loophole, I believe this particular election theft strategy may be technically legal.
Njorl:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:26 am
Schadenfraude!
SP:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:33 am
Maybe it’s just poor web page design (unpossible!) but I can’t find any arguments at all on that page other than the claim that Obama won via fraud, made simply by coloring four states with enough EV to swing the election. There’s a map, links to his other site, links to generic anti-Ofraudo articles, but nothing beyond bare assertion. At least make an effort, man.
Craigo:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:35 am
Look at it this way – the demand for anti-Obama insanity is relatively inelastic, so any effort he puts towards improving the quality of his product will be simply wasted.
Malaclypse:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:36 am
Have these people ever even been to a major city?!
No. Did you know that some cities have dozens of black people living in them?
rea:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:37 am
It’s sad, really–a personally decent guy who cannot support himself other than by professional assholery.
Malaclypse:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:41 am
each one a chip knocked away from the foundations of the country our forefathers knew, taking us that much farther from a time when men were men and some were chattel.
Words fail to express how awesome this is.
Bitter Scribe:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:42 am
I was a little surprised by this. I thought this clown walked it all back after the election but I guess he just meant he was sorry for calling Nate Silver a fag.
This all reminds me of the scene in “Citizen Kane” when it becomes clear that Kane has lost an election. The editors at his newspaper glumly say, “Well, we can’t use this headline” and hold up a paper that says
CHARLES FOSTER KANE ELECTED!
“We’ll have to go with this one”
Charles Foster Kane defeated
FRAUD AT POLLS!
John:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:42 am
Actually, the Virginia “evidence” is even weaker!
joe from Lowell:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:42 am
It makes perfect sense that Romney got zero votes in some precincts. After all, nothing suspicious about that. No mistakes. No technical errors. Zero votes. Yup, nothing fishy there.
CaptBackslap:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:42 am
After I take over, invoking the 3/5 Compromise without being able to explain it will be punishable by community service as a tour guide in Colonial Williamsburg.
Craigo:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:46 am
Exactly
joeJen. Nor is it fishy that some precincts in Utah and Wyoming.Craigo:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:46 am
Reported zero votes for Obama, is how he meant to finish.
Scott Lemieux:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:46 am
Well, this explains it:
some graduate work at the University of Tennessee
I assume Reynolds was his mentor?
Craigo:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:47 am
And not just cities, but in Maine now too! Dozens and dozens! They’re everywhere!
somethingblue:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:49 am
Dude, I am aware of all constitutional traditions.
(Which is fortunate for everyone, because I don’t think the stockings would flatter my legs.)
John:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:49 am
My understanding is that this is just the beginning, and he will be gathering more evidence of fraud in those states. Or that’s the idea, anyway.
Craigo:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:51 am
Here’s a fun one: Teabagger is unable to comprehend 12th Amendment, thinks that Obama can be stopped if one-third of electors stay home.
Malaclypse:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:53 am
he will be gathering more evidence of fraud in those states.
If Cthulhu loves me, this guy will get Donald Trump to fund Jerome Corsi’s investigation.
John:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:53 am
What is the specific claim being made here? That Democrats elected Obama by somehow erasing the tiny number of Romney votes in entirely Black precincts in North and West Philly?
If you were going to commit fraud, the way would surely be to create phantom Obama votes in precincts like that, not to erase what would have to be a very meager number of Romney votes.
Grant:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:53 am
Got change for a cockroach?
Holden Pattern:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:55 am
Has a lot of explanatory value, doesn’t it? Our elites aren’t.
SP:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:55 am
Ah, the time honored intellectual pursuit of, “I already know what happened, now I just need to find the evidence to prove it!”
Holden Pattern:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:56 am
Which makes him… not a decent guy.
CaptBackslap:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:57 am
Oh, I wasn’t referring to you specifically. It’s just constantly invoked as shorthand in ways that make it clear the person has no idea what it was about.
Glenn:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:58 am
Well, you know, currently the NY vote total is about 1.5M below 2008 turnout… obviously we shipped out all of our Blahs to vote in swing states since they weren’t needed in NY. (And no, I haven’t actually seen them make this argument but I’m sure it’s coming.)
rea:
November 21st, 2012 at 11:58 am
Here are 4 bees.
catbutler:
November 21st, 2012 at 12:00 pm
It does make perfect sense if you know anything at all about Philadelphia.
Clearly the guy running that site knows nothing about the city at all. There are just under 1,900 precincts in the city. When I heard Romney got zero votes in 59, my first thought was “only 59?”
joe from Lowell:
November 21st, 2012 at 12:00 pm
Score!
olexicon:
November 21st, 2012 at 12:03 pm
“Teabagger is unable to comprehend”
The slogan for Election 2012
actor212:
November 21st, 2012 at 12:04 pm
If you continue to click through, you’ll see the Wikileaks article refers to emails from 2008, and how they reference “ballot box stuffing” and how McCain was presented with the idea of challenging them but did not.
No evidence. Whatsoever. Just an email alleging fraud.
Still, it would be irreponsible not to speculate, I suppose
joe from Lowell:
November 21st, 2012 at 12:06 pm
Did you ever read this?
I can’t believe that report, and this vote-fraud nonsense, came from the same source.
GeoX:
November 21st, 2012 at 12:07 pm
So…the guy admitted his methodology was wrong, but now he’s implicitly walking this back by claiming, oh no, Obama didn’t really win; he actually cheated, and cheated, in such a way that, by some crazy coincidence, looks exactly the same as it would look if the polls, and Silver’s crunching thereof, were totally accurate. Yes, that seems plausible.
joe from Lowell:
November 21st, 2012 at 12:08 pm
Inshallah, the people who funded Karl Rove’s groups won’t understand the sunk cost fallacy.
Bijan Parsia:
November 21st, 2012 at 12:08 pm
Excellent.
Craigo:
November 21st, 2012 at 12:10 pm
Michael Lind was once reprimanded by his bosses at Heritage for not turning in a policy paper on time – the reason being that the bill he was to support had yet to be written. “The reprimand said, in effect, that at Heritage we write policy papers first and add the facts later.”
Craigo:
November 21st, 2012 at 12:12 pm
I think people are in essence hearing, or choosing to hear, “Romney got zero votes in
a handful ofPhiladelphia‘s 1,687 precincts.Walt:
November 21st, 2012 at 12:13 pm
That’s easy for you to say. You probably have actual employable skills and abilities.
MikeJake:
November 21st, 2012 at 12:21 pm
I cordially invite Dean to take a walk through East Cleveland and Hough so he can meet all the Romney supporters.
tonycpsu:
November 21st, 2012 at 12:21 pm
OT: Yesterday, Booker’s name came up in the POTUS/VP speculation thread, and I have to say that participating in this charade certainly knocks him down a few notches on my short list. I thought he would make a pretty solid VP choice until this stunt.
I understand that city politics are full of these games, but unless I’m missing some nuance of how this situation came about, this looks really shady to me.
Craigo:
November 21st, 2012 at 12:30 pm
I don’t quite understand what the problem was. The city charter explicitly provides for the mayor to break ties when it comes to filling vacancies.
Craigo:
November 21st, 2012 at 12:32 pm
That’s not a brief for Booker, btw. I’m not going to tell NJ Democrats who to run for Governor or Senator, but I’d prefer that if goes no further. But he did nothing improper, and to the extent that there was a chaos, it was from his opponents bum-rushing the dais.
Manta:
November 21st, 2012 at 12:33 pm
I am disappointed: he seemed a misguided guy who learned his lesson with the “unskewed” fiasco.
tonycpsu:
November 21st, 2012 at 12:38 pm
I’m not saying he broke nay rules, but the walkout happened when the chair refused to recognize a speaker, a tactic that is very bad for democracy in most cases. Once the James backers walked out due to the chair refusing to recognize the speaker, Booker’s action was of course a legal play, but the fact that he showed up specifically to do this, with the chair refusing to recognize the opponents, etc. looks like an attempt to railroad a crony and squelch dissent.
Warren Terra:
November 21st, 2012 at 12:41 pm
The Booker speculation in the other thread featured solid reasons to doubt him, especially his opportunistic licking of Wall Street’s boots at Obama’s expense over the summer. A little sharp practice that stays within the rules while punishing the opponents for their ignorance, done to push his side in a political feud but not obviously to support corruption or the like, isn’t all high-minded Frank Capra Mr. Smith stuff, but I don’t see what’s so terribly wrong with it. It sure won’t help him work with the pro-Sharpe faction on his council, but (without knowing the backstory) I’m guessing that ship sailed long ago. This story is unseemly, and might be spun to damage him later, but I don’t see what’s so terrible in it.
tonycpsu:
November 21st, 2012 at 12:46 pm
Yeah, my point is that this is the kind of thing I expect from nearly every politician who gets to the nationally recognized level, but something like this definitely undermines Booker’s public image, which he seems pretty conscious of given how he uses social media, how he makes himself available to the beltway press, etc.
Malaclypse:
November 21st, 2012 at 1:01 pm
You mean the people who said we can’t leave
VietnamIraqAfghanistan, because to do so will render the previous casualties meaningless?Kurzleg:
November 21st, 2012 at 1:03 pm
He probably thought, “Man, if a lousy writer like Reynolds can make a buck off of this then so can I!”
UserGoogol:
November 21st, 2012 at 1:14 pm
Yes, this annoys me too. Also, blacks per se weren’t singled out by the 3/5 clause, slaves were. Free blacks were counted as a full person, even though of course they typically weren’t able to vote either.
djw:
November 21st, 2012 at 1:19 pm
I think he learned a different lesson: that there are a lot of people out there who’ll pay me good money to lie to them.
Holden Pattern:
November 21st, 2012 at 1:20 pm
That report looks like a precis of a not-too-stupid college history text coupled with readings of some contemporary realist-ish international policy papers. Useful (I mean that), but hardly original.
I can totally believe that the guy who wrote that went off the rails when trying to deal with contemporary domestic politics and basic numeracy.
sparks:
November 21st, 2012 at 1:33 pm
It seems he learned the lesson a little late i.e. he should never have apologized. Being a Republican stooge means doubling down when you’re wrong. It’s done so often, I think it’s coded in their DNA.
DrDick:
November 21st, 2012 at 1:35 pm
Everybody (on the right) knows that all black votes are fraudulent. Only white, Christian, male property owners’ votes are legitimate.
Jay B.:
November 21st, 2012 at 1:36 pm
Bonus points: Barackofraudo might be the laziest fucking name of anything ever. Stupid even for him.
Even “Ofrauda” would be better. And on the site he had it spelled “O’fraudo” like this was some Hibernian mischief. I don’t mind faux outrage and con artistry, but it has to have some artistry. Somewhere, Roger Stone is weeping softly about what’s come of his craft.
Jim:
November 21st, 2012 at 1:51 pm
And then he argues that “it is clear from viewing these stats that boosting the turnout in key swing states (the ones in yellow above) was taking place as well.”
The chart he shows indicates that, in two of the “key swing states” – Pennsylvania and Ohio – turnout was actually down by about 7% from 2008. DEMOCRATS: THEY CAN’T EVEN STUFF THE BALLOT BOX RIGHT!
FMguru:
November 21st, 2012 at 2:09 pm
His pre-unskewed track record shows a dude trying to bootstrap his way onto the wingnut welfare gravy train so this turn of events is not only unsurprising, it was probably inevitable.
Corey:
November 21st, 2012 at 2:13 pm
Bingo. The Amazon referral links and the hilarious pork rinds ad give away the game: he doesn’t want to get off the gravy train just yet.
timb:
November 21st, 2012 at 2:16 pm
There are no perfect candidates. That is not my endorsement of Booker, just an observation that they all get soiled hands.
h/t Tommy Carcetti
Bill Murray:
November 21st, 2012 at 2:23 pm
Really, America, today, is all hat and no chattel
Pestilence:
November 21st, 2012 at 3:13 pm
With what? Trump is deep in the hole again, and will probably go in for his 4th or 5th bankruptcy (I’ve lost count tbh)
Pestilence:
November 21st, 2012 at 3:15 pm
and ’14 and ’16
Anonymous:
November 21st, 2012 at 3:40 pm
Important question for Chambers to answer: was this voting fraud done in a manly or effeminate matter?
Anna in PDX:
November 21st, 2012 at 4:40 pm
Is “boosting the turnout” cheating now???
commie atheist:
November 21st, 2012 at 5:19 pm
Clicking on the “Post Comments” link certainly is entertaining. That’s about the third different thing it’s gone to since this came out a few days ago.
Holden Pattern:
November 21st, 2012 at 6:04 pm
Which makes him a GENIUS businessman — sticking his creditors with the debt over and over again. Dude’s a walking negative externality.
Pseudonym:
November 21st, 2012 at 8:23 pm
I still think it’s a convenient shorthand for the idea that some people count more than others, even if just for congressional apportionment and even when the 3/5-people had 0/5 votes themselves.
M. Bouffant:
November 21st, 2012 at 9:53 pm
Jeebus, what the hell wuzzat?
Manta:
November 22nd, 2012 at 3:02 am
Sad but plausible.
Jack:
November 22nd, 2012 at 5:56 am
Where does defending Philip Morris fall on the professional assholery scale?
Halloween Jack:
November 23rd, 2012 at 3:20 pm
That’s a great find, especially since it shows how quickly the money hose turns on and off for guys like that. I think that it’s quite likely that “he’s a flash in the pan who scored some quick bucks, and that he’ll fade back into obscurity”, especially since he’s admitted that he had no real idea what the fuck he was talking about, but for someone with no real prospects who sees his only real chance for making $11K a month (for however long that might last), it’s understandable that he might try to fire up the boiler on the gravy train again. He certainly wouldn’t be the first person by a long shot to try to hitch his wagon onto some aspect of the fantastically lucrative election business as his version of the American Dream.