If George Orwell were a democrat party operative, he might write a fictional character who would write this letter. But not even the character would be stupid enough to send it.
The New York State Democratic Committee is bullying people into voting next week with intimidating letters warning that it can easily find out which slackers fail to cast a ballot next Tuesday.
“Who you vote for is your secret. But whether or not you vote is public record,” the letter says.
“We will be reviewing voting records . . . to determine whether you joined your neighbors who voted in 2014.”
It ends with a line better suited to a mob movie than a major political party: “If you do not vote this year, we will be interested to hear why not.”
That story is four days old, antediluvian by political story standards, and in the intervening time the issue has gone through all the standard phases: Blanket denial that such a letter exists, acceptance that there was a letter but we didn’t write it, okay somebody here wrote it but we don’t know who, and this morning it’s holding at yes a Cuomo appointee wrote it but Cuomo knew nothing! Nothing! Distasteful as I find the whole matter, I must confess that this midterm has been unusually entertaining.
It used to be that you could pretty well assume that any political advertisement or message was from either directly from the candidate’s machine or from the candidate’s party. But these super PACS have changed everything. First, it means that any particular ad (from either party) can contain outright lies, yet the candidate can claim complete ignorance & innocence when challenged because they have no direct control over the content.
Also, this inscrutable fog of anonymous players can lead to some interesting “dirty tricks”. For example, yesterday we received six calls from a particular governmental candidate. The calls seemed to be deliberately timed to be irritating, and rang for much longer that automated calls usually ring when we didn’t answer. So were that particular candidate’s public relations folks so daft that they are willing to piss off voters with their irritating calls? …Or were those over-the-top irritating calls really from the other side?
As the voter, we can only guess, try to keep an open mind, and guard against allowing others to do our thinking for us.
Regardless of who wins, I’m always glad to see the political “silly season” over.
Regardless of who wins, I’m always glad to see the political “STUPID season” over.
Fixed that for ya
Best part about election day? The ads finally come to an end the day after
Worst part about elections for us here in Spokane is that we share our TV stations with North Idaho. So we don’t just get OUR political ads – we get THEIRS, too.
I know far more about what a bastard Idaho Governor Butch Otter is than I care to know, and I’m pretty sure his opponent steps on puppies for recreational purposes (when he isn’t drowning kittens and stealing food directly out of starving childrens’ mouths, that is).
Interestingly enough, I got a card with pretty much the same message on it here in Arkansas. From a Republican.
It listed that I’d voted early in 2010, I’d voted early in 2012, and had a question mark for 2014. It also noted that whether or not I’d voted was public record, and “Your neighbors will know.” I looked at it, mentally noted that it was something of a jackass maneuver for a Republican politician to employ, and threw it out.
It’s not as if the Stupid Party can’t be just as inept as the Evil Party can.