Nesrie
2914
I have never been to a polling place in my life. If i moved out of OR, I don’t know I would even know what to do or expect. It’s kind of like when I pump gas.
RichVR
2915
A white old man with a gun in a carry state that can intimidate people with his obvious weapon.
kerzain
2916
When my wife and I first moved here we were flummoxed when we got our ballots in the mail. We couldn’t shake the feeling we were making some sort of mistake or oversight the whole time we were filling them out and mailing them in/dropping them off.
As for gas… early experiences were quite emasculating.
The good news is his poll watching thugs will be showing up on November 28th!
ShivaX
2919
It would be hilarious if his people took it to heart, showed up on the 28th and then declared the election rigged because they changed the date.
Washington went to mail-in only a couple of years ago. Before that, you could mail it in or go to the poll. I usually dragged my butt to the polling place, just because it felt more … errr… ceremonial? There’s a word but I can’t think of it.
Anyway, with automatic voter registration when you renew your license, and the convenience of mail-in ballots, we have it pretty easy, but a big chunk of us still don’t participate.
Tim_N
2922
Reading transcripts of Trump’s speech is almost impossible to get through. Is there a level beyond ‘stream of consciousness’?
It’s been longer than that. 38 of the state’s 39 counties were vote-by-mail-only in 2009. The holdover was Pierce County (aka, Tacoma). They finally switched in 2012.
Guap
2925
Vonnegut explains Trump and his poor white trash voter demographic very well:
“America is the wealthiest nation on Earth, but its people are mainly poor, and poor Americans are urged to hate themselves. To quote the American humorist Kin Hubbard, ‘It ain’t no disgrace to be poor, but it might as well be.’ It is in fact a crime for an American to be poor, even though America is a nation of poor. Every other nation has folk traditions of men who were poor but extremely wise and virtuous, and therefore more estimable than anyone with power and gold. No such tales are told by the American poor. They mock themselves and glorify their betters. The meanest eating or drinking establishment, owned by a man who is himself poor, is very likely to have a sign on its wall asking this cruel question: ‘if you’re so smart, why ain’t you rich?’ There will also be an American flag no larger than a child’s hand – glued to a lollipop stick and flying from the cash register.
Americans, like human beings everywhere, believe many things that are obviously untrue. Their most destructive untruth is that it is very easy for any American to make money. They will not acknowledge how in fact hard money is to come by, and, therefore, those who have no money blame and blame and blame themselves. This inward blame has been a treasure for the rich and powerful, who have had to do less for their poor, publicly and privately, than any other ruling class since, say Napoleonic times. Many novelties have come from America. The most startling of these, a thing without precedent, is a mass of undignified poor. They do not love one another because they do not love themselves.”
Dejin
2926
Yes it does, and it also means he’s likely to continue sniping at establishment Republicans long after he’s lost the election, because his ego will demand it.
It will be interesting to see if his political half-life is longer or shorter than Palin’s.
@Guap, what is that from? Just curious, haven’t read that before.
Edit: Never mind, google to the rescue. And I have read it before (Slaughterhouse-Five) but it has been a long time.
Ah, Thanks. Time flies. I’m in Pierce, where we are apparently just a bit more stubborn.
rshetts
2929
Trump is not a career politician like Palin. I believe Trump is using this campaign to enrichen himself and his “brand” and the outcome is, in some ways, moot to him. Of course his ego wont allow him to walk off into the sunset and he will also want to keep himself relevant so he will absolutely ride this crazy train as far as it will take him. His political clout will be gone post election as the Republican party will be looking for the nearest hacksaw so that can cut themselves away from the dead hooker they handcuffed themselves to. But his financial clout will be stronger than ever.
antlers
2930
This is not the “poll watcher” Trump is asking for. He is making this plea primarily in Pennsylvania, where polling place regulations are loose. He is urging his supporters to drive to neighborhoods where a lot of Democrats are likely to be voting and to mount spurious challenges there to cause disruptions that will lead to long voter lines. In this way, a few of his fanatical rednecks could prevent thousands of people from voting. There is precedent for this sort of thing in Pennsylvania.
Trump is certainly not encouraging the sort of civic engagement you seem to be envisioning.
Only tangientally Trump related, but still awesome:
Arguetron
First, how many Presidential or VP candidates have explicitly called for poll watchers in recent years?
Second, Pence was not making that request in isolation or in the context of responsibility and civic duty. He was responding directly to a supporter calling for revolution if the opponent wins and suggesting that win would only be due to a rigged election (despite no evidence or precedence of that in recent history of American politics). In that direct context the call for poll watching becomes insidious.
Thirdly, it is Republicans/Conservatives that have a documented history of unethical or illegal poll watching along with voter suppression tactics targeted at ethnic minorities, students, and the poor/underprivileged. Due to demographic changes in the U.S. Republican candidate prospects for office increase when potential voter turnout is decreased.
