Tuesday, March 19, AD 2024 6:21am

Rigged Elections

 

George Will despises Donald Trump and left the Republican Party after his nomination.  However, he believes that Trump has a point about rigged elections:

GEORGE WILL: When Mr. Trump talks about it being rigged, he sweeps all his grievances into one big puddle. He talked about the media. He talked about the primaries. He talked about the polls. Talked about the Republican National Committee. I think when most persons hear that an election is rigged, they think of government action to rig the election. And there Mr. Trump has a point if he would just make it more clearly.

It is hard to think of an innocent reason why Democrats spend so much time, energy and money, scarce resources all, resisting attempts to purge the voter rolls, that is to remove people who are dead or otherwise have left the jurisdiction. It’s hard to think of an innocent reason why they fight so tremendously against Voter I.D. laws. They say, well that burdens the exercise of a fundamental right. The Supreme Court has said that travel is a fundamental right and no one thinks that showing an I.D. at the airport burdens that fundamental right.

We know — we don’t surmise — we know that the 2010, ’12 and ’14 elections were rigged by the most intrusive and potentially punitive institution of the federal government, the IRS. You can read all about it in Kim Strassel’s book Intimidation Game. She’s familiar to all Wall Street Journal readers and FOX viewers. This is not a surmise. I have talked to lawyers in a position to know they say it’s still going on. The IRS is still intolerantly delaying the granting of tax exempt to conservative advocacy groups to skew the persuasion of this campaign.

Go here to read the rest.  The Republican Party has long engaged in a game of pretend where it studiously ignored the fact that the other major party stole every close election that it could, often in circumstances that strongly indicated blatant vote fraud.  That game of pretend is manifestly coming to an end.

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TomD
TomD
Wednesday, October 19, AD 2016 7:13am

Consider these facts:
1) Bill and Hillary Clinton ask Trump to run for president
2) Clinton campaign emails from the same time identify Trump as the weakest opponent – thank you Wikileaks
3) The various Trump scandal tapes never appear during the primaries, even though many knew they existed – what size is Howard Stern’s audience again?
4) Trump never wins a closed primary, but he wins open primaries in which Democratic voters can cross over
5) The scandal tapes come out right before the election

This is diabolical. Trump is correct, the election is rigged, but the biggest rigging is Trump himself.

Don L
Wednesday, October 19, AD 2016 7:55am

The masses raised their pitchforks and lit their torches, ready to storm the Washington bastille when a well know real-estate developer happened to step in front of the protesters shouting follow me.
George Will, in meantime, was doing the Washington cocktail circuit, trying to impress everyone with the fact that his first name and his last initial was identical to that of our first president.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Wednesday, October 19, AD 2016 8:35am

One thing we’ve been looking at is the complete collapse of anything resembling an ethical sense among partisan Democrats born after 1927 or thereabouts. That’s true of Washington pols, and it’s true of rank-and-file partisans. What’s ethical is what gets them what they want. The discourse about voter ID is just rationalization.

chris c.
chris c.
Wednesday, October 19, AD 2016 9:10am

Good that George Will knows for a fact that the last 3 national elections were rigged. So what exactly did Will and his fellows in the Conservative and/or GOP establishment do about it? To ask the question is to all but answer it. And they are shocked! shocked! and dismayed that voters are turning to an “outsider”. It’s almost funny but the consequence are too grave to allow for that.

Mary De Voe
Wednesday, October 19, AD 2016 9:38am

“The person has no value except that he is a member of the Communist Party” Karl Marx.
The person is endowed with self-evident truths; created equal with God-given unalienable rights and the person is self-determined. Self-determination comes from the inside of the person.
Any individual, as a member of the Communist Party is not self-determined. A member of the Communist Party is determined from outside by dictators; dictated to by The Communist Party. from THE GLORY OF BEING AN AMERICAN by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.
Being politically engineered by individuals above the law is communism.

TomD
TomD
Wednesday, October 19, AD 2016 11:56am

Don McC, I would disagree a bit. I am convinced that there is no collusion between Trump and the Clintons, though I was uncertain six months ago. Trump’s display of the depths of his narcissism in the last month prove he will NEVER act on the behalf of another, even the Clintons. You were right on that one. Also, I bet the Clintons were just as surprised he took the bait. I really would have liked to have been the fly on the wall during that ego stroking session.

Nate Winchester
Nate Winchester
Wednesday, October 19, AD 2016 12:00pm

The Republican Party has long engaged in a game of pretend where it studiously ignored the fact that the other major party stole every close election that it could, often in circumstances that strongly indicated blatant vote fraud. That game of pretend is manifestly coming to an end.

Um… Don, need I remind you of this? (which was just extended to dec 2017, another link)

Now, you’re the lawyer so I’ll defer to your superior expertise but to me that looks like not that the GOP is playing pretend, but that it’s been ordered by the court to play pretend. And it has to keep doing so until 2017.

This is one area I think a 3rd party could make major headway. Have the libertarian party or constitutional party (or whomever) pick up the challenges on voter fraud that the republicans are banned from and I think people would take notice.

Kyle Miller
Kyle Miller
Wednesday, October 19, AD 2016 12:17pm

The Supreme Court has said that travel is a fundamental right and no one thinks that showing an I.D. at the airport burdens that fundamental right.
Not sure the SC meant flying is a fundamental right. You could say certain standards must be followed by the airline industry given it is a public service.
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@Donald,
What role do his hapless Republican opponents in the primaries play who couldn’t even locate the Howard Stern audios of Trump that were floating around the internet?
Do you think producing those tapes would have any impact on an irrational primary voter base such as Trump’s? He was compared to cancer. He said he could kill someone and still win. And on and on. Did. Not. Matter.
The reasons the tapes did not appear:
1) Plenty of dirty laundry out there already.
2) Airing the dirty laundry was considered being an enemy of the party. “You’re just giving the Democrats ammunition!”
3) Opponents were hoping to avoid lowering the primaries to National Enquirer level, which is where Trump likes to operate.
4) Opponents put false hope in the primary voters. They believed the GOP to be “never been more conservative” and would see Trump’s campaign for the carnival act it is/was.
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@chris c., The “never been more conservative” GOP was busy going along to get along. Or whining how they have no power to do anything. “Unless the stars are in perfect alignment, we can’t do anything.”

Nate Winchester
Nate Winchester
Wednesday, October 19, AD 2016 12:19pm

So we agree on my 3rd party plan.

Now looking on Dave G’s post (where the commentators are already coming out saying “it doesn’t happen” thanks to things like the brennan center) while the Federalist and Pew seem to be saying “no it really does.” *sigh* It’s getting so tiresome having to spend time just getting people to relearn the basics.

The Bear
Wednesday, October 19, AD 2016 12:40pm

I thought Will left the GOP a long time ago.

TomD
TomD
Wednesday, October 19, AD 2016 12:52pm

The issue about the Howard Stern tapes not appearing in the primaries is not just about the GOP.

It is about the integrity of investigative journalism. It is about an independent Fourth Estate that knows that to side with one political party year after year would be to court corruption.

.Anzlyne
.Anzlyne
Wednesday, October 19, AD 2016 1:44pm

I had trouble following G Will’s line of reasoning about when and why he left, except that it provided an opportunity for him to be smug and superior to both Ryan and Trump.
Maybe that kind of self righteous smugness and unwillingness to be a foot soldier for a greater good is why the highfalutin party can never seem to unify.
We may see in the discussions tonight that Chris Wallace is also just such an independent (all by myself in a class of my own) conservative.

Kyle Miller
Kyle Miller
Wednesday, October 19, AD 2016 9:34pm

. By the time he was taken seriously, the anti-Trump vote was divided between Rubio, Cruz and Kasich.
And his poll numbers rose when the field thinned, i.e. the anti-Trump vote less divided, and he embraced the National Enquirer, retweets disparaging photos of opponent’s wives, and floated accusations about Cruz’s father being a part of JFK’s assassination’s. His supporters were voting for him no matter what. Brexit and all. Trump being the brick in the window.

The Christian Teacher
The Christian Teacher
Wednesday, October 19, AD 2016 10:54pm

The Bushes (Former Republican governors, presidents, Vice President, party leaders, etc.) supporting Hillary tells us all we need to know about that national party’s leadership–and their so called “support” for life.

Father of Seven
Father of Seven
Thursday, October 20, AD 2016 5:23am

“I thought Will left the GOP a long time ago.” He was never in it. Will is an elitist who comically thinks his knowledge of baseball from reading about it and watching it makes him both an intellectual and connected to the proletariat at the same time. Will has always been too smug to be in anything other than a party of one.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Thursday, October 20, AD 2016 8:50am

No, Dr. Will is a lapsed academic (a 2d generation academic who grew up as aChampaign-Urbana faculty brat) who abandoned the Democratic Party as a graduate student ca. 1963. His dissertation, which he elaborated upon for general audiences in his 1981 Godkin Lectures, is certainly a challenge to liberals promoting what was once called ‘the open society’, a term you’ll notice has disappeared. After leaving academe, he was an aid to Sen. Gordon Allott (R. -Colo) for three years. After Allott left Congress, he landed a series of commentary berths and was picked up for syndication. His best work is his earliest work. (Same deal with Charles Krauthammer). He was then hired by PBS as a Republican voice on Agronsky & Company and them moved to ABC in stages beginning in 1981. He hasn’t aged well intellectually. Like Charles M. Schulz, he seemed to lose a great deal of creative juice after going through divorce proceedings. The libertarian turn in his thinking after 2000 was annoying, co-incident with scores of columns on the perfidy of campaign finance regulations. Striking attitudes over Trump isn’t impressive, either. James Neuchterlein explained his retirement in 2004 thus: he could afford to and he’d said everything he had to say. Will hasn’t needed the money in decades, and there were more serious (and less remunerative) pursuits for him to follow than topical commentary. Will would have done well to heed Neuchterlein’s argument.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Thursday, October 20, AD 2016 8:56am

Two things: polling undertaken in September 2015 gave the establishment lane candidates (Rubio, Bush, Christie, Kasich &c) about a quarter of the respondents. By the close of the primary campaign, the establishment lane candidates had garnered … 26% of the ballots in primaries and caucuses. That was there ceiling this year. Ted Cruz did manage to put together a base of support with organizational skill and emphasizing a signature bloc of issues quite distinct from Trump’s, but it wasn’t enough. NB, as each of the also rans dropped out, his polled support resorted between undecided voters and the remaining candidates. There’s no compelling reason to presume an earlier departure on the part of Rubio or Kasich would have given Cruz the nomination. The nexus from which Rubio and Kasich sprang is as hostile to Cruz as it is to Trump.

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Thursday, October 20, AD 2016 9:16am

Name one so-called GOP professional and one conservative pundit that isn’t a cog in the elitist machine/oligarchy running the country for gain. Proof: they (e.g., the Bush Dynasty) support Hillary over Trump who promises to end the corrupt game.
.
Ruling in the White House since President Reagan:
GHWBush – 4 years
Slick Willie – 8 years
GWBush – 8 years
Zero – 8 years
.
Ergo, 20 of the past 28 years featured a Bush or a Clinton in the White House. If the Jeb planned coronation had succeeded, the republic-in-name-only would have been saddled with four or eight more Bush/Clinton years.
. .
Hillary is a corrupt, incompetent sociopath.
.
If there were justice in the Justice Department, Clinton, Comey, Lynch, and Obama would be in prison. The big rig is Hillary is 24/7 lying on TV and not where she should be in a prison yard.

And besides, anybody that votes Clinton is either, or, or both an idiot and a despicable sac of human excrement.

Kyle Miller
Kyle Miller
Thursday, October 20, AD 2016 11:49am

Momentum is everything in primaries and by the time Rubio dropped out after Florida Trump had it.
Another name for momentum is called voters, voters choosing to vote for a man despite the dirty laundry aired. It really doesn’t matter what affiliation the voters came from. (Ok. Except for the ones Democrats bused in to put the thumb on the scale for their preferred opponent.) The point is people stepped into polls and made a decision to select the man who himself proved to be a clown, con man, and crude mannered.
.
Airing the video or Stern audio would have made little to no difference. The previously referenced WP story of Trump’s comments on women in August 2015 made no difference.
.
Trump popular with independents and Democrats? Guess Nov 8 will be a cake walk.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Thursday, October 20, AD 2016 3:11pm

You still are in denial that Trump got the nomination largely on the strength of non-Republican votes. T

Open primary states are not novel. Also, the survey research consistently showed him in the lead and gaining increments when opponents left the race. Not sure how the surveyors constructed their sampling frame, of course. Were they sampling Republican registrants, self-identified Republicans, those planning to participate?

Kyle Miller
Kyle Miller
Thursday, October 20, AD 2016 3:53pm

Considering how off the wall polls are currently, anything is possible.
Consistently showing Hillary ahead is not off the wall. Maybe you mean those polls showing Trump barely holding a lead in strong Republican states, like Texas and Georgia. In Texas, Trump has raised only half what Hillary has. As Trump would say, “Sad.”
.
My gut feeling is Trump will lose big. The largest group he’ll lose are women. Second will be Latinos. On the flip, I think he might match previous GOP presidential support with blacks if not get a little bit more support.
You still are in denial that Trump got the nomination largely on the strength of non-Republican votes.
That is a topic covered in another thread. Discussing it now is like discussing how hot the day is when the topic is the brightness of the sun. I provided evidence, which you dispute and is still more evidence than what you have provided showing the contrary. And please don’t send me to any Infowars article. Have mercy.
I will leave this article with you which will certainly tickle your Brexit bone.
http://thefederalist.com/2016/10/17/brexit-voters-and-trump-voters-are-fed-up-with-the-same-things/

TomD
TomD
Thursday, October 20, AD 2016 4:17pm

The best possible outcome would be for Trump to win a close election and then have Clinton challenge it a la Gore in 2000.

Ernst Schreiber
Ernst Schreiber
Thursday, October 20, AD 2016 4:18pm

Whoever wins, the country deserves what it’s going to get —good and hard.
.
Which is why I’m voting for the Constitution Party’s candidate (assuming they got onto the ballot in South Dakota)
.
Because I know I don’t deserve what’s coming. And neither does my family,

Ernst Schreiber
Ernst Schreiber
Thursday, October 20, AD 2016 4:26pm

Forgot to link to what’s coming. Apologies.

Ernst Schreiber
Ernst Schreiber
Thursday, October 20, AD 2016 4:32pm

The best possible outcome would be for Trump to win a close election and then have Clinton challenge it a la Gore in 2000.

That’s just what George Soros thinks. Vladimir Putin too.

TomD
TomD
Thursday, October 20, AD 2016 4:43pm

That’s just what George Soros thinks. Vladimir Putin too.

Interesting. Can you cite sources? I’m not doubting you, I just want to know their reasoning. My reasoning is that I’d love to see Ms. “you are subverting the country when you talk about not respecting the outcome of the election” turn around and not respect the outcome of the election.

Ernst Schreiber
Ernst Schreiber
Thursday, October 20, AD 2016 6:09pm

You really expect the media-democrat complex to drive Clinton into a disgrace filled exile for trying to steal an election, undermining public faith and confidence in the legitimacy of our system in the process, the way they did to Al Gore back in 2000?
.
Moreover, were the Florida 2000 debacle charade repeated this year, the counting would continue until Hillary won. Because the 5th vote to overturn the FL Supreme court isn’t there now.
.
And you really think this feckless bunch of Republicans controlling Congress is going to recognize the Republican slate of electors from FL as the certified slate if the Democrats can keep counting the votes until they “win?”
.
Because I don’t.

TomD
TomD
Thursday, October 20, AD 2016 7:33pm

Ernst:

No, yes, and no(and not just Florida).

But you and I would know the truth.

Ernst Schreiber
Ernst Schreiber
Thursday, October 20, AD 2016 9:13pm

Winston Smith knew the truth too. For all the good it did him.

Kyle Miller
Kyle Miller
Thursday, October 20, AD 2016 9:38pm

Rasmussen Trump +3
LA Times Trump +0.6
People Pundit Trump +1.6
IBD Trump +1

LA Times is always Trump friendly. Pass.
Is this the same Rasmussen?
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/political_commentary/commentary_by_larry_j_sabato/with_19_days_to_go_clinton_s_lead_is_bigger_than_ever
People Pundit. Poll conducted by Internet panels. Is this like a sophsticated Matt Drudge poll?
IBD. Hard to tell what they think. They show another poll have Clinton ahead by 2.
3 out of nearly all polls in Trump’s favor must mean a landslide for Trump. :-\
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/general_election_trump_vs_clinton-5491.html

Christine
Christine
Thursday, October 20, AD 2016 10:48pm

Didn’t Will host the cocktail party so all the conservative intelleckchuals could meet Obama to see how smart he was and show off how smart they were? They were so terribly impressed- Kraut was there, Kristol, Larry Kudlow, David Brooks who isn’t really a conservative except that’s the only reason the kool kids at NYT will play with him, Peggy I don’t even like to mention her name since she voted for Obama Noonan, Gigot, & Barone. A few days later Obama met with the lefties. The big difference was that the lefties were on his speed dial from there on out and the righties were sent home with their memories.
Will the wind bag. Smarter than thou. They all could have been a help to Trump and to the country but they are more concerned with elucidating the subtle nuances of their own beefs with him and hogging the mic to analyze oh-so-incisively his shortcomings and character flaws and ultimately- why he just can’t and shouldn’t win. Of course he has his share of flaws . But if I may: Does not Obama, while smooth and svengali like on the outside, have detestable and deceitful aspects to his personality not to mention his dangerous vision for America & policies to implement them? We now have evidence- 8 years worth of bad economy, an exploding racial divide, social engineering through legislation, breakdown of values, institutions, & traditions, breakdown of the rule of law, widespread corruption, Mid East in flames causing massive migration, Iran nuking up with our help..tell me when to stop! And ditto for Hillary who has no likability on the outside to finesse her evil plans. I would think they would be the subject(or object) of our conservative analysts and rich material there to keep them well occupied with their laser intellects breaking it down for the masses. But I am wrong again and painfully so.

TomD
TomD
Friday, October 21, AD 2016 9:14am

Winston Smith knew the truth too. For all the good it did him.

Winston Smith did not believe in God. One can wonder in what directions Orwell would have gone in 1984 had his Smith character been a believer.

Kyle Miller
Kyle Miller
Sunday, October 23, AD 2016 2:28pm

LA Times was the most highly accurate poll in 2012 when it was called the Rand Poll.
I researched this, and I did not find this to be true. Different sources credit different polls depending on how they measure. But Rand was not on top of any list I found.
Latest LA Times shows a tie.
.
However, please proceed Kyle with your defense of your statement that the polls consistently show Hillary ahead made on the same date when four polls show Trump ahead.
One of those polls was Indiana. If you cite that, I’ll reference GA and TX where Trump is struggling to hold on to a lead.
.
Polls. Polls. Polls.
https://twitter.com/Colettod/status/790182715555475457/photo/1

Kyle Miller
Kyle Miller
Sunday, October 23, AD 2016 5:10pm

I saw that list. It shows IBD/TIPP is an average error of 0.9 when measuring the avg of the last 21 days. Rand comes 4th with 1.8. If you compare with pollsters conducting at least 1 poll in last 21 days, Rand drops further. (See second table.)
538’s lists differ than the list I find most common. I think because he looks at the last 21 days. The common list looks like this, and Rand does not even make the list…
http://www.politisite.com/2012/11/07/analysis-most-accurate-political-polls-from-2012-presidential-election/
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/11/the-most-accurate-polls-of-2012-148876
.
This article seems to confirm some of what you’re saying… sort of. Sounds more like they looked good in 2012, but could have just gotten lucky. We’ll see.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2016/10/14/why_pay_attention_to_the_la_times_poll.html

Art Deco
Art Deco
Sunday, October 23, AD 2016 11:42pm

Largely because Obama’s margin was thought to be 2.50 on November 10. It swelled to 3.9 when all outstanding votes were tallied.

When I was involved in local politics a generation ago, it was conventional wisdom that absentee votes were more favorable to Republicans than machine counts. Either we’ve had a cultural shift or that’s telling you what share of the ballots were filled out by ACORN members making use of the names of voters on the rolls which their canvassers have determined have moved away.

My last foray into local politics was to pull votes for a candidate for mayor in a small town near Utica. I open the printout and staring me in the face is the name of a psychology professor who had registered to vote six years earlier and left town two years later when her contract was up. As late as 1959 in New York you had to register in person every year at the town clerk’s office or the county board of elections. When I was involved a generation later, they still tracked the obituaries, purged your name if you hadn’t voted in four years, and purged your name if someone tried to forward mail sent to your address (which the postal service routed back to the board). Even so, if you canvassed in neighborhoods chock-a-block with singles, you had a lot of dead entries because people who live in those neighborhoods commonly move every year (and they’re never home when they do still live there).

Nate Winchester
Nate Winchester
Monday, October 24, AD 2016 1:10pm

And while everyone was arguing… this was found.

At the very least, Don’s ORIGINAL POINT (“Considering how off the wall polls are currently, anything is possible.”) has been pretty thoroughly proven.

Kyle Miller
Kyle Miller
Monday, October 24, AD 2016 1:22pm

They are not off the wall when the super majority of polls show Clinton ahead. I agree that +12 Clinton seems a bit much. A flawed poll does not mean all polls are flawed or off the wall.
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Democrats are not cheating because Wikileaks exposed them. They’ve been cheating for decades I’m sure. Yet, Republicans have won and polls were not accused of being off the wall.
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I find the IBD/TIPP the more interesting of polls. We’ll know shortly who is right or wrong.

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