One can have an interesting debate over the most self-defeating political statements in American politics. There was Bill Clinton’s not-so-clever answer about his affair with Monica Lewinsky as depending what “the meaning of ‘is’ is.” There was John Kerry’s statement that he was for the Iraq war before he was against it. There was Donald Trump’s refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power. However, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer may have taken the crown with his yelling on the streets of New York that “Now we take Georgia, then we change the world. Now we take Georgia, then we change America.” It is a quote that will live in political infamy — and play endlessly in Georgia. Now adding to the Democratic problems are liberal figures openly encouraging Democrats to move to Georgia to stack the vote in the runoff elections. So Georgia just started a hand recount in the midst of claims of voting irregularities but figures like New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman are calling for liberals to move to Georgia to influence their election. In other words, Friedman and others are sending the self-destructive message is that Jon Ossoff and Raphael G. Warnock might not have enough Georgians to vote for them so they need New Yorkers and Californians to come and vote as Georgians. The New York Times, which has run repeated pieces on alleged vote suppression by the GOP, has had nothing to say about Friedman’s call for vote stacking in Georgia.
I recently wrote about the irony of the runoff election starting on the anniversary of Sherman’s March Through Georgia. I did not think it would literally involve Northerners invading the state to carry out the campaign.
One of the recurring arguments is that Democrats have so demonized Trump and his supporters (including calling them Nazis) that it gives license to supporters to take any measure to ensure a Biden victory. As if on cue, Friedman then took to the airways to reinforce that concern. He told CNN, “I hope everybody moves to Georgia, you know, in the next month or two, registers to vote and votes for these two Democratic senators.”
It seemed like Friedman’s first thought on the runoffs was how he or others could rig it. He is not alone. New York Magazine’s Eric Levitz wrote “These run-offs will decide which party controls the Senate, and this, whether we’ll have any hope of a large stimulus/climate bill. If you have the means and fervor to make a temporary move to GA, believe anyone who registers by Dec 7 can vote in these elections.”
It appears that people told Levitz that he was saying the quiet part out loud and he deleted his post. Vote stacking with out-of-staters is the type of thing that you are supposed to do quietly, not openly. Georgians might not take too kindly to New Yorkers voting on their representatives.
For his part, former presidential candidate Andrew Yang has announced that he is moving his family to Georgia to push for Ossoff and Warnock. Now that will help . . . a leading California politician moving to Georgia to push for the runoff. Georgians will be thrilled.
What is fascinating is that, even if some people follow these directions, a hundred times that number of actual Georgians will be left irate over these calls.
Of course, the New York Times offered not even a hint of concern with one of its writers calling for people to manipulate the voting count in Georgia. It is all too familiar. The Times was fine with forcing out an editor for simply running an opinion piece by a conservative senator on the recent protests while later running a piece by “Hong Kong enforcer” supporting the crushing of freedom protests. It denounces Trump for what it considers suppression tactics while remaining silent as Friedman calls for dilution tactics in the election. It is also a curious call for the media which has been denouncing the effort not to count every vote. It now appears that counting every vote includes counting New Yorkers in Georgia.
Under Georgia law, you must be a “legal resident of the county” and meet other requirements to register to vote. Potential voters are required to provide either a Georgia driver’s license or a Social Security number and fill out a form online or in-person to send to the secretary of state by Dec. 7. It is a felony to vote in Georgia if you are not a legal resident or only plan to be in the state temporarily for an election. The Georgia Attorney General is mandated with enforcing these voter fraud rules.
Friedman of course has slammed Trump, which is his right and Trump deserved criticism on many of these occasions. However, he has portrayed himself as different from Trump despite calling him names because he is “respectful even with people I disagree with.” Except when he does not trust them to elect their own representatives and seeks to negate their votes in the name of the greater good.
Turley is so intent on demonizing Democrats that he purposefully ignored Georgia’s 2 Republican Senate candidates demanding Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Raffensperger resign because they don’t like the results showing Biden beating Trump. Raffensperger said Lindsey Graham pressured him to invalidate Biden votes. Trump called the Georgia recount “fake” & “unconstitutional.” Mark Levin is pressuring Republican state legislatures to appoint electors who will stack the vote for Trump. Turley’s reaction? He reflexively goes after Schumer & Friedman.
Let’s recap. When Biden was declared the winner, Trump charged the media with election interference & claimed polls showing Biden would win suppressed the vote by stopping many of his supporters from going to the polls. Then Trump swiftly switched gears & claimed massive voter fraud stopped him from winning. Turley’s reaction? He awards Schumer with the most self-defeating statement in American politics.
Turley is endlessly entertaining.
The major complaint about the GE Sec. State is that he told everyone he was doing an audit, a canvass and a recount combined.
That requires not merely counting ballots, but also looking at the legitimacy of the ballots that were cast.
The only thing he is doing is a hand recount of ballots. That is necessary. It is not sufficient.
It does appear that as a result of his recount that there is no consequential issue with the DVS software – atleast in Georgia – atleast that is based on what has been seen so far. That is GOOD to know. But it is not the only allegation of fraud that has been made.
However it is the only one that Georgia is addressing.
In Georgia – as with all the other swing states there are numerous other requirments for legitimate votes that were sidestepped, ignored or violated. Nothing is being done to examine those. They are being deliberately burried.
It does not matter how many times you count the ballots – if thousands of them are illegitimate you will still get an answer that does not reflect the actual votes of legitimate voters.
Further in GA as in other states election laws were disregarded ONLY in democratic precints.
This is a massive equal protection problem. It is also potentially REAL voter supression and REAL vote dilution.
Improperly cast votes violate the civil rights of those voters who cast legitimate votes.
Ga. Code § 21-2-501(a)(10):
The run-off . . . election . . . shall be a continuation of the . . . election . . . for the particular office concerned. Only the electors who were duly registered to vote and not subsequently deemed disqualified to vote in the . . . election . . . for candidates for that particular office shall be entitled to vote therein . . .
Will (and how) will that be enforced?
What is your actual question ?
Are you asking if those who voted fraudulently will be charged ?
Are you asking if fraudulent votes will be counted ?
It is near impossible to prosecute someone for a fraudulent mail in ballot.
You can not prove who actually filled out and mailed the fraudulent ballot.
It is impossible to remove a fraudulent ballot from the election count – once you have removed the outer signed envelope.
Fraudulent mailin ballots can be corrected only during the period from which they are received until they are removed from their outer envelope.
This is why election observers are so important. It is also why interfering with observers is itself an independent form of fraud.
Have you had a chance to further explore why 501(a)(10) is not applicable to the upcoming Jan 7 GA runoff?
The SOS website declares Dec 7 as the last day to register to vote in the runoff
Neither Sidney Powell or the R candidates themselves are raising the issue.
My legal research skills are rusty but I have not found any statutory basis for disregarding that provision.
It may come down to the fact that GA is a “trifecta” state, or that the Governor entered into an “accord” with Stacy Adams, etc.
There is nothing of value to GA voters in setting aside 501(a)(10) and the issue, of course, is whether any accord or other such action was lawful.
George Mair: My Nov 27 was intended for you. (It was my first post on this forum.)
If Democrats do not want Republicans to beleive that Democrats have cheated to beat Trump – they should not be encouraging people to cheat to take the Senate.
When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.
Maya Angelou
Georgia needs to impose a “quarantine law.” No out-of-staters allowed into the state until after, say, December 7. Because COVID!
Unless the laws in GA have changed since I went to college there.
Only a Georgia Resident may vote.
And residency requires having a valid domicile in GA for 90 days during the current year.
And GA like the vast majority of states does not count College Dorm residents as legal residents
BTW Most states have similar residency laws. Pretty much any state that offers any preferential treatment for residents – such as reduced in state tuition has strick residency laws.
JS: “And residency requires having a valid domicile in GA for 90 days during the current year.”
For nonstudents, that doesn’t seem to be the law. Establishing residency is a function of doing certain things (e.g., a physical address), not of time. Once done, you can register to vote (by Dec. 7.) Though it is considered a felony to establish residency and register, only for the temporary purpose of voting, then leaving the state. I have no idea how they would know that, or what they would do with the votes, after the fact.
I am not intimately familiar with GA residence law today.
But the GA AG has announced that it is a fellony for a person not meeting GA residence to vote in the GA runnoff.
And the code for residency that he cites is pretty clear that you can not be a GA resident while also a resident of another state, and that you must live substantially in GA.
Regardless, I would not sugguest voting in GA unless you actually live in GA unless you wish to go to jail.
It is likely that if you were allowed to vote – the vote would count.
That does not preclude being charged later with a felony.
The legitimate requirement that voting is by secret ballot – which is what precludes buying votes, also means that it is nearly impossible to remove an illegitimate vote once the ballot is cast in an election.
This is the major uphill obstacle Trump faces.
Democrats by separating mailin ballots from their outside envelope without oversight – which is required to count a mailin vote “in secret”,
precluded the removal of illegitimate votes. Even if a review of the envolopes demonstrates that 200,000 illegitimate votes were cast in PA, there is no means to separate those from the legitimate votes.
This is also why the efforts of democrats to circumvent laws, and observers are prima fascia evidence of fraud.
Democrats seem to forget that the U.S. Constitution is not only a wartime governing charter, but a progressive charter as well. In American history the “constitutional rule of law” model of government was designed primarily to EXPAND individual liberties. When the U.S. Constitution was used to take away individual liberties – like alcohol prohibition – it was a huge disaster that increased crime.
That was the real genius of Martin Luther King, Jr. King realized that although some of the Founding Fathers were deeply flawed and sometimes bad people, the “constitutional rule of law” system is vitally important in expanding individual liberties and advanced rights for women and minority groups. King didn’t love the Founding Fathers but did love the model of government they created. Unlike Malcolm X, King worked through the system to advance rights. King also believed rioting (property destruction) and looting hurt the cause of African-Americans. King likely would have opposed defunding the police but instead supported defunding “unconstitutional practices” while increasing funding for “constitutional and community policing”. Democrats lost critical races this year for not clarifying what defunding the police meant (ex: Cameron Webb in Virginia).
If today’s Democrats want to win future races, they should be following the wisdom of the more constitutionally-minded Democrats like Tulsi Gabbard, Steve Bullock, Jamie Raskin, David Trone, etc. – Democrats that appeal to all voters. These Democrats even won conservative and libertarian voters. Censorship and nanny-state governing (taking away individual liberties) is a losing strategy long term.
Just want southerners in Georgia want. A bunch on New Yorkers temporarily arriving so they can make the election decisions for them. Southern Hospitality will be a thing of the past.
Apparently they are utilizing the intellectual quote of Conan O’Brien ‘If all else fails at least there’s still DELUSION’
“I just got a message that says the president is requesting that every registered voter send him a snail mail letter a letter to demand a full audit of all 50 states. Send this to
President Donald J Trump
White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington DC 20500.
He will use this as evidence to the supreme court. He is asking all of us to send him hardcopy letters as evidence we the people are demanding an audit please do this tomorrow have every registered voter in your household send a separate letter. We need to swarm the White House mail room. Thank you.
The above info was reported on Newsmax this evening: President Trump has been censored by Twitter Facebook etc., electronic mail. Thank you in advance for forwarding this to friends and family yes the PO must deliver the mail. Pass this on to all Trump supporters!”
So maybe the GOP didn’t win the Senate. Is that what this means?
And he’s finally decided that he wants to support the USPS.
There is no low that scumbag Democrats won’t stoop to.
It is clear that, for the Democrats of today, the end justifies the means, even if those means include all the tactics from the the Marxist playbook. Why do we not learn from the lessons of history that anarchy, violence and corruption will never achieve a constructive and peaceful end and is really not a fair way to take over a republic.
Yang tweets: “To be clear I am heading to Georgia to get out the vote, canvas, knock on doors and let people know how important the special Senate races are. I do not plan on voting myself – I already cast a vote in NY. On to Georgia!”
https://twitter.com/AndrewYang/status/1326940317661224960
An early poll shows both Senate runoff races are tight:
https://www.ajc.com/politics/politics-blog/an-early-poll-of-georgias-twin-senate-runoffs-shows-tight-races/DUDDDLIHCJH4LORTT57HAOUG64/
Politico reports Georgia Democrats want Obama to campaign in the state, while Georgia Republicans want to see Trump.
Perhaps both will answer the call.