The pinhead they interviewed said that this station was open on Sunday ONLY because the Obama campaign wanted sit open because they had a big rally nearby and wanted everyone to vote right after it. I hate suggest the mob has a point, but do they?

One more time: This is all very fine but since none of the "big media" is covering it - it doesn't count. Neither Cnn.com or msnbc have any story on it (that I can find).

Perhaps it will get covered tomorrow but I'm not counting on it.

We keep assuming that these outrages will move public opinion. They don't because they are not visible to the public.

I appreciate that Dumbya has totally politicized the DOJ but isn't attempting to harass or intimidate voters a civil rights violation?

Wow.
Ugliness on steroids.
I'd rather listen to dogs bark...

And of course, the violence is starting.

http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=307949

"Just" vandalism at this point, but I'd expect more.

JohnN -

You haven't glommed onto the new dynamic that the "mainstream" national media are using.

They no longer figure out what to report on - instead they look at blogs and figure out what's being talked about and then start investigating those stories.

It started with Drudge in the 90s, but it's become more and more clear to me this election that the national media has stopped finding stories themselves and instead are just waiting for the blogs to pick up local news stories and give them national exposure - to the tiny audience of people who follow blogs, of course. Once it has that national exposure, the mainstream national outlets start running with it.

I have no idea why this dynamic is occurring - whether it's laziness on the part of the folks running the news aggregators that are the national news TV networks or if its just a lack of manpower at the networks because of rising costs and slashing of staff. Regardless, the dynamic is pretty clear for those of us who are junkie enough to follow this stuff outside the standard broadcast/cable TV sources.

these hecklers are probably being paid by the "swift boat group. These people should be arrested and charged with sedition. Where are the lawyers and police to protect the voters. John McCain and Palin be DAMNED for this.

these hecklers are probably being paid by the "swift boat group. These people should be arrested and charged with sedition. Where are the lawyers and police to protect the voters. John McCain and Palin be DAMNED for this.

I don't know, it's not really that uncommon in our nation's history for people to be harassed, intimidated, and physically assaulted on their way to vote. This is a more polite version of Jim Crow-era stuff.

I doubt this will deter African American voters; they've put up with worse for the past 150 years.

Laziness.

They've been doing this sort of thing at clinics that offer abortion services for years and years. They're well trained at being thugs.

And, really, it's worked out pretty well for them. Sure abortion is still *technically* legal. But in many states it can be damn hard to find a safe place to get one in fact. The occasional firebombing or murder of a doctor helps to discourage the others.

But that's just women, and these are just ... er, "poor people", so unless a shark attack is involved, I wouldn't expect any great amount of attention to it.

Woulda been great if one of the voters would turn around saying:

"What are you DOING? I'm trying to get my neighbors to vote Republican instead of the pro-abortion party and you pull THIS crap??? How the hell are we supposed to win these people over when you tell them they're the enemy? You're making my job frackin' IMPOSSIBLE! Go HOME, you idiots!"

No, the mind does not reel.

This is what you get when partisanship is allowed to rise to unhealthy levels among self-righteous people with a win-at-all-costs mentality.

I hate suggest the mob has a point, but do they?

No, of course not. Once again, this is a rightwinger viewing simple reality through the funhouse mirror of his own fears.

Many early voting sites in NC (but definitely not the majority of them) are open on at least one Sunday. Unless Senator Obama plans to canvass the state like Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, there's no way that it can be attributed to the proximity of a rally.

From the tire-slashing story:

Earlier in the day, the newspaper said, Obama visited a local restaurant where one patron shouted "Boo, socialist! Socialist! Get out of here!"

The only socialist in this election is Sarah Palin. You know it. I know it. Unfortunately the rest of America doesn't seem to quite know it. Isn't it time they learn? I think it is time to go there...

"I hate suggest the mob has a point, but do they?"

Of course, opening a polling place on a Sunday makes mob violence justified. WWJH?

BTW, do you really think that a polling place can be opened becuase one campaign directs that it be? I'm sure that if it's open, it's in accordance with State law.

It's the revival of a tradition of electoral violence that flourished in the 19th century. In some parts of the country (Baltimore, for example) it was literaly worth your life to vote against the party in power.

Ah, yes, Nazi germany in the 30's. Ah, the good old days, when a sound trouncing and a negligent media combine to form a "perfect fascist state". McAce should be very proud. I bet his mom is.

The MSM is just as much at fault as the nere-do-wells perpetrating the onslaught, if not more as they have the moral obligation to point it out and name names:Palin/McCain!

And those corporate elite ass holes who are most recently being bailed-out are sitting near by and smiling as their brainless lemmings do their bidding. There is just too much money riding on this event to have the outcome end well for Obama and the clearer thinkers. Way, way, too much money to lose...

What mfw12 said @3:07 pm. Plus as I've said numerous time, modern Republicanism is a mental disease, not a political philosophy, and this madness just shows how terrified the zombies are becoming that their world is collapsing around them and they're stricking back in any way they can to prevent it.

I truly hope they won't succeed.

This is truly sickening. This is what democracy means to those people? I'm trying SO hard to respect the opposing point of view, but these mouth breathers make that damned difficult.

it's become more and more clear to me this election that the national media has stopped finding stories themselves and instead are just waiting for the blogs to pick up local news stories and give them national exposure...

Yeah, MS-NBC should be paying royalties to Talking Points Memo.

Seems like they're edging toward "ein Volk, ein Reich" territory. Well, John McCain, are you still proud of your supporters?

If this was happening in Iraq, the same people would be calling for the deaths of the harassers and screaming about spreading democracy.

Once again the right proves they love the word democracy, but hate the actual implementation (allowing minorities to vote).

Harassing voters is about as anti-democratic as you can get w/o committing a major felony.

Kind of reminds one of this famous image, doesn't it?

GOP busted in Voter Fraud Case:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fraud20-2008oct20,0,3842357.story

The voters probably weren't real Americans, so the mob is fully justified (in their own mind).

I hate suggest the mob has a point, but do they?

Of course they do! Why on Earth would anyone want people to vote at their convenience? It should be daunting, difficult and fraught with peril!

That's how democracy works!

Wot? No self-reference?

I notice Andrew gives a Hewitt award (instead of a his normal Malkin award) to Malkin for this:

"The Raleigh News and Observer profiles a couple from Zimbabwe that was forced to escape their native country when the thug-o-crats decided to 'spread the wealth around,'"

Never mind the childish thug-o-crats slur. She has to live that bit of hate down along with her infamous cheerleader routine. Obviously, she will never escape the blog gutter. Rather, my point here is again SOCIALISM. This is the new campaign front.

Note to the Obama campaign:
Alaska doesn't matter. Time to expose the real socialist in this election. You've got the money. Burn this baby at the stake. Nothing but the hot facts please. Let's talk socialism...

Our society has some ways to go still.

The October 13th issue of the New Yorker (the one on politics, with the elephant and the ass on the cover) has an article, written by Jill Lepore and titled: "Annals of Democracy; Rock, Paper, Scissors; How we used to vote".

She describes the Election Day of 1859 in Baltimore (the incident referred to, I think, by Tom S, @15:11), which ended with a death of a potential voter, on his way to the polls. The results of the election were contested (for several reasons) but the judge let them stand on the basis that: "any man of ordinary courage could have made his way to the polls".

It looks like the subtitle of the article -- "How we used to vote" -- could use an addendum: "and still do".

File under: You can't make this stuff up

A shorter me:
Palin inciting crowds by calling Barack a socialist is rife with comedic possibilities.

Maybe this is a stupid question, but how the hell do they know who the voters are going to vote for? Suppose they're screaming nasty things at a McCain voter? Not that it makes a lick of difference since they shouldn't really be screaming at any voters. I suppose I shouldn't expect them to show an iota of intelligence about how they 'protest'.

Take a look at the neo-nazis in present-day Germany, and you'll see exactly the same thing, with the same underlying motivations and beliefs.

All early voters should don Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter masks when voting. This would protect them from the haters and guarantee them their anonymity, you betcha!
peace

There are examples in our history of heckling voters. Just think back to the time shortly after the Civil Rights Act of 1957 was passed. Voters were heckled and far worse for attempting to exercise their right to vote.

No wonder the GOP sent a campaign contribution mailer to the Russian Ambassador -- they've apparently been soliciting campaign advice from Lenin and Stalin.

The Republicans have issues with people upholding their civic duty and legally voting. That's all you need to know, folks. These people are anarchists, pure and simple.

Uh, there's no law that says McCain supporters can't vote on that Sunday, either. Nimrods.

Maybe the hecklers are so ignorant they will forget to vote for McCain

Uh...instead of heckling the voters...why not...I don't know...get in line and vote as well?

If you care that much, but all you care to do is protest voters, you are seriously messed up. Next thing you know, they'll be setting up protests on the lawns of people with Obama signs.

These folks are just mad because their beloved Jesse Helms finally died. And what's with the "John and Sarah" chant? Did they forget the rest of the the song?

"John and Sarah,
Sitting in a tree,
Gonna F-U-C-K
Our Country.
First Came John,
Then Came Sarah,
Then Came the Racists who were hooked on Terror."

This is the most ridiculous thing I've seen in a long while. Heckling early voters, taunting them with calls of "Cheaters!" and "Traitors!"? Truly sad.

I've taken to tricking both my Red and Blue voting friends by sending them to www.votethequote.com; they get SO frustrated when they can't guess which candidate has said what. Maybe I should give them a gym membership too so they don't take out their frustrations by joining a mob...

I've seen less orderly polling places during local elections in the Chicago area.

People are allowed to be loud and obnoxious.

The partisans are clearly keeping their distance from the voters in line.

I don't see anything wrong with campaign workers and activists working polling places.

I don't see any intimidation.

OK, that was painful.....but a fairly tame and legal annoyance of our great Democracy. I can imagine that the protesters assembled at the McCain/Palin Rallies we've seen in the past videos cause about the same level of annoyance for the other side. (That is, except for the plunger lady......she's completely classless.)

1957 Little Rock Central High School comes to mind, too. That was Orval Faubus and an era even more hateful than the 1960's version of George Wallace that John Lewis referenced. McCain's campaign is the sleaziest, most divisive ever.

To the people asking "Do they have a point?" about the polls being opened... The Sunday voting was scheduled ahead of time, in different counties-- not just in Fayetteville:

http://www.sboe.state.nc.us/content.aspx?id=17

Look on the bright side: at least, they haven't yet resorted to positioning snipers around the polling places. See?

Just keep telling yourself we have a functioning electoral system. It's easier to get along that way.

Killings during election seasons is common in the Third World. Are we joining them?

Any day is a good day to vote.

Nothing wrong with voting. It's a sacred duty.

http://www.co.cumberland.nc.us/election_board/early_voting.asp for early voting info in Fayetteville, NC

"I've taken to tricking both my Red and Blue voting friends by sending them to www.votethequote.com; they get SO frustrated when they can't guess which candidate has said what."

Hey, Felix, maybe it's because many of those quotes that issued from the mouth of McCain are blatantly insincere. It's easy to make pronouncements.

The bi-products of negative campaigning and character assassinations? The sum of the last eight years of cultural lobotomy, talk show-patriots, bigots, zealots and god-creatures? Welcome to the end. This country is so full of "god bless amurka" morons that even when Obama does win there will never be enough adults to warrant continuing to live in such a savage and completely brainless nation. America is doomed because Americans are the most stupid and arrogant denizens ever to exist. My partner and I are looking to move outside of the states and this little clip is exactly why. There used to be a time when harassing voters was a crime and voting was revered as a right and a duty. Now it’s just the right’s “duty� all over the place. Well kindly Jesus folk, you can have this shitty country. It doesn’t represent me, honesty or liberty or glory,; it's really just a dump now, full of maggots and baby diapers..

Conservatism in its modern incarnation is incompatible with democracy as that term has historically been defined.

I've seen this movie before. It was "Birth of a Nation."

Notice the guy complaining that these are "cheaters" for voting that day, had himself voted early for McCain.

I grew up in the segregated South and I haven't seen anything like those videos -- even on TV -- since the 1960s. No one has commented on the "local sheriff" who clearly takes the side of the hecklers who are supposedly upset about Sunday voting (altho at least one of them left the heckling line to vote!). This is a chilling scene. Steve's outrage is more than justified. We all have a duty to be outraged.

A decidedly more encouraging video of an incident at a McCain rally in which McCain supporters confront a bigot is up on RealityChex.com at http://www.realitychex.com -- tho some commenters think it's a setup -- it could be, but I hope not.

There's no way that many people showed up spontaneously. Somebody organized that mob.

The republican party's root strengths. And they should abandon a political philosophy that has kept them in power for more than one hundred years? For the sake of decency?

Hah, that's rich!

The republican party's root strengths. And they should abandon a political philosophy that has kept them in power for more than one hundred years? For the sake of decency?

Hah, that's rich!

Maybe this is a stupid question, but how the hell do they know who the voters are going to vote for?

Sorry to have to say this, Bluestar, but note that Steve (with the assistance of The Washington Times) has already answered your question:

The voters were mostly black, and the "angry protesters" were "nearly all were white." (sic)

But of course, no one would dream of suggesting that the McCain campaign, or any of its authorized surrogates, has ever attempted to stir up bigotry.

According to the link jrb posted above, most locations are not open on any Sundays. All of the polling places in Durham, Herford, Mecklenburg, Stanley and Vance counties and one polling place in Forsyth county are scheduled to have polling places open on Sunday October 26th.

About half the polling places in Guildford county, all of the locations in Durham county and five locations in Cumberland county including four in Fayetteville, were open yesterday.

So the only way the people yelling cheater were correct about that location being opened specifically for the Obama campaign is if that location was not normally used for early voting at all.

Even if that was true, which it wasn't, the whole purpose of early voting is to increase turnout while reducing the burden on polling places on election day. So it would be perfectly normal for election officials to take advantage of an event that would encourage more people to vote early.

The shooting in the head of a bear cub, stapling Obama signs around his neck and leaving him on WCU campus was aboput the lowest, I hope they find who did this. Also this hate has got to stop.

The comment at 7:46PM was me.

I did fill out the name/email fields, so I am not sure why they didn't show up.

On the topic of Sunday voting possibly being "arranged" by the Obama campaign, I should mention (I'm a resident of Asheville) that on Sunday, James Taylor gave free "Concerts for Change" in Charlotte and Asheville. I can't speak for Charlotte, but the early-voting places remained closed in Asheville. And there's a lot of "godless liberals" in Asheville, according to . . . well, according to the people who spout such nonsense, and harrass early voters. They certainly don't allow facts to challenge their lovely theories.

The bear incident is horrifying and utterly depraved. I rather suspect it was intended to "kill two birds with one stone," and was addressed not only to Obama supporters, but to the environmentalists who have increasingly turned their attention to conservation efforts in the Smokies.

Ironic, that "Conservative" and "Conservation" have the same linguistic roots.

"When they're not trying to intimate voters at polling places, Republican activists are slashing voters' tires, kicking journalists to the ground, attacking middle-aged women going door to door on Obama's behalf, and vandalizing ACORN offices. And, of course, the unabashed racism is common.

The mind reels."

This surprises me not at all. Were you asleep for the last 8 years? This is what they do.

"[F]reedom isn't free. It has always, ALWAYS been difficult to be a progressive in conservative areas. Even more so if you're black. It's not right. But that's the fight we have been engaged in for over 150 years.

We are winning. The courage shown by that African American veteran is the harvest of the most recent 45 years of patient resistance. I watch that film and I see nothing but victory.

Eyes, prize."

-- Crossposted from Avedon Carol's Sideshow

Well, it seems that the Republikkkans are at it again. Racist white people need to grow up and get a grip. Newsflash: Just because its called the White House, does not mean that only white people can be president!!!! I cannot wait until November 4th. Ignorant white people better brace themselves because change is coming!!