Apparently exit polls are a good indicator of vote fraud after all.

[Cat Atomic]

Now that it's convenient, I mean.

It's interesting to see how differently CNN treats the subject when it's an election in the Ukraine, and the contest is between a Kremlin puppet and a US puppet. Suddenly it's ok to suggest that inaccurate exit polls are an indication of possible fraud.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/11/21/ukraine.ap/index.html

[whirlygigspin]

1. yeah but that's about "those" people over there

I could never happen here...right?

[dpibel]

2. The oft-misquoted Emerson:

Foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.

What's more, perfectly reasonable consistency is kind of hobgoblinny, too.

You must be one of those darned reality-based types.

Here. Drink yer koolaid.

Jeez.

[prof_science]

3. Ok, I have to admit...

...I have no idea what your post meant. I'll read it again.

Um, yeah... nope. It's probably just time for bed. sorry.

[dpibel]

4. Wasn't sufficiently fraught to justify clarification. But...

Just to try to demonstrate that it wasn't utterly random synaptical firings, and to tragically illustrate the maxim that if you have to explain the joke it wasn't funny in the first place:

A background item: I have known people to say, "Consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds." Which is a rather strange position to take, I think. The origin of this bon mot is RW Emerson, who in fact said, "Foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds."

In the present context, Cat Atomic is pointing out the inconsistency of claiming exit polls in the USofA are frothy bits of error-prone nothingness, while simultaneously asserting that exit polls in the Ukraine are filled with import.

Something made me think it amusing to apply the Emerson quote to this situation--a bit of a reversal, if you will; pretending that Cat Atomic was being foolishly consistent. She is, of course, being merely consistent, rather than foolishly.

To reflect that (and the Booshy mindset), I threw in the next bit about reasonable consistency, which Cat Atomic seems to like, but which is anathema to the Booshies and the acceptable media.

The "reality-based" reference is to a recent David Suskind article, much discussed and quoted on these fora, in which a Booshie chided Suskind and others of like mind of being members of the reality-based community, whilst the mighty Booshies are out and about creating their own reality, which the rest of us can only vaguely hope to comprehend. The attempted, albeit failed, humor here is the idea that mere things like reality (that exit polls ought to be as reliable one place as another, and especially more reliable in the world's greatest country as opposed to some former SSR) seems important to Cat Atomic, who obviously has not kept up with the currently reigning paradigm.

The "kool-aid" reference was to the Jonestown mass suicide, and is a term used quite a bit hereabouts to indicate acquiescence in the new roll-your-own reality. I thought it mildly amusing to suggest that Cat Atomic get with the program.

"Jeez" was just kinda punctuation.

I hope this allows you to fully enjoy what was intended as a quick throwaway joke.

[DireStrike]

5. Oh, NOW I get it!

I kept taking away, and putting back, and taking away "foolish" to try and see what you were saying. I never quite built the chain of logic up to where you were. Those are some narrow alleyways for neurons to navigate in the dark.

[dpibel]

6. Sometimes it's perilous to dip a toe in the stream of unconsciousness nt

[timtom]

10. I have found myself zinging off

what I think are delightfully whimsical and deliciously mischievous posts. When called on the carpet for an explanation, however, I, in typically cowardly fashion, went away and pretended that I didn't exist for a while.

I salute your willingness to explain. (That's me over there under the coffee table in the fetal position, trembling.)

[prof_science]

11. Wow. Thanks!

I think I was too tired to see what you were trying to say. I didn't mean to come off as a smart ass with my comment, and I appreciate you taking the time to explain...

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds" Just to nitpick. :P

 

[dpibel]

12. I do so hate to be busted

In truth, thanks for the correction on the quote. It's especially tragic to be presuming to correct someone on a quotation and have it wrong yourself. But I grow increasingly accustomed to acknowledging my own limitations.

[prof_science]

13. Heh.

I used to have limitations and failures of memory, that is, until Google became my memory and fact checking source.

I have a hard time remembering what life was like before the internets...

[Raster]

14. Jesu Christe! Do you do this for a living?

[dpibel]

15. You mean I could get paid for making a public fool of myself?

Damn! Sign me up! And here I've been giving it away for free.

[Raster]

17. Nope, I think you did good. Insightful and clever.

[Cat Atomic]

7. That's about it.

You know what's odd about the whole "reality-based community" thing to me? That it's nothing new. I mean- it *is* new to see political figures openly acknowledging it as doctrine (even if it's off the record), but it isn't a new phenomenon.

I always think back to the fall of the Berlin wall. I read an editorial piece in Newsweek just a few weeks afterwards, and the writer was explaining why we needed to be involved militarily in South America (I don't recall the specifics- it had something to do with a paramilitary operation, IIRC).

Anyway- the interesting thing was that he talked non-stop about the drug trade, which had instantly become the new Official Truth. This same guy had been talking about South American communists just weeks before, but when the Soviet Union evaporated, that story just peeled off and shiny new one was there to be chattered about. I don't think he even realized what he was doing.

Same thing with Hussein. Hero one week, villain the next. We've still got these guys all over the news talking about how it was worth invading Iraq to depose Hussein, because he "used chemical weapons", and nobody even acknowledges the fact that *we* gave them to him in the first place.

These really are Orwellian times.

[dpibel]

16. Dueling litrachur

Can't disagree about Orwell, although I sometimes think he was much too much the optimist.

I've recently been pondering whether an earlier Brit didn't have an even better read on present day thought and communication:

"When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less."

I'll leave it to you whether we can take any hope from the ultimate fate of the speaker of that wisdom...

[SoCalDem]

8. CNN used the wrong names.. I did a re-write & sent it to them

SoCalDem (1000+ posts) Mon Nov-22-04 01:02 AM
Original message
"Exit polls show KERRY with lead"... If CNN appreciated irony

Edited on Mon Nov-22-04 01:06 AM by SoCalDem
This is the story they ran about RUSSIA's election.. I used caps to "tweak it".. switched names and took a little liberty with places....The parallels are stunning... yet CNN doesn't get it..

Sent it to Wolfie & Judy, but I doubt they will see the irony or pathos of it all..

asd you read this article, think back to how our own election was (NOT) covered with as much attention to detail or gravity.. Everything that was WRONG here, was a glitch..or conspiracy, that they all just laughed and giggled about

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/11/21/ukraine.ap/i...



MY VERSION

No clear win yet in USA poll
Exit polls show KERRY with lead
Sunday, November 21, 2004
Posted: 7:57 PM EST (0057 GMT)


Supporters of JOHN KERRY celebrate exit polls that show him in the lead


ANYWHERE, USA (AP) -- UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Central Election Commission said early Monday that PRESIDENT GEORGE W BUSH had collected 6 percent more votes in the country's presidential race than JOHN KERRY, while exit polls put the opposition challenger ahead.

The commission said that with 26 percent of precincts counted following Sunday's election, BUSH had 51 percent of the vote, compared to KERRY's 45 percent.

No geographic breakdown was given to indicate where the votes had been counted so far in the bitterly contested election, which is seen as determining whether USA tilts toward the LIBERAL or CONSERVATIVE AGENDA.

One exit poll, conducted by anonymous questionnaires under a program funded by several Western governments, said the LIBERAL-leaning reformer KERRY had won with 54 percent of the vote and BUSH trailed with 43 percent.

Another poll put KERRY ahead by only 49.4 to 45.9 percent, the {INSERT POLL-TAKER'S NAME HERE} news agency reported.

The confusing picture increased tension that had been building in anticipation of Sunday's major opposition demonstration (HAHAHA)

The commission announced its initial results after a crowd of about 5,000 KERRY supporters, who alleged election officials would falsify the results, had dispersed amid opposition calls for them to return at 9 a.m. (0700 GMT) Monday. Some supporters pledged to spend the wintry night in tent campS set up IN OHIO AND FLORIDA.

KERRY'S supporters say election officials intend to falsify the results, and his followers gathered for a demonstration they dubbed a "parallel vote count." Groups of elderly BLACK PEOPLE, businessmen and students huddled in the cold, many wearing scarves or armbands in KERRY'S SUPPORT.

KERRY foes alleged the rally was part of an effort to foment civil unrest with the aim of seizing power. The Central Elections Commission office was heavily guarded by riot police and several armored vehicles were deployed on its territory. Ambulances were parked near the square.

BUSH spokesman KARL ROVE criticized the exit poll results, calling them "incorrect, unscientific and even comical."

SNIP.....

"The difference between KERRY and BUSH displayed in exit polls shows that even if authorities attempt to rig the vote they will not be able to falsify all of it," KERRY'S campaign manager told 5,000 people gathered .

Some 77.31 percent of registered voters turned out to vote. The figure was based on one-third of the country's 225 election districts.

Both camps complained of voting problems. Adding to the tension, a policeman guarding a polling station overnight was found dead of a head injury apparently inflicted by intruders, news reports said.(MAY ACTUALLY HAPPEN IF ELECTIONS DON'T STOP GETTING STOLEN FROM THE PEOPLE)

In the OHIO, about 40 people forced their way into a voting station and smashed everything. Members of the election committee, who were inside at the time, managed to protect the ballot box but were injured in the melee.

KERRY campaign complained that BUSH supporters were given absentee ballots and bused out of their native regions and back again so they could vote twice. They also complained of observers being barred from some polling stations and said attackers injured several people at KERRY headquarters in the city of CLEVELAND.{THIS COULD HAPPEN AS WELL, DUE TO YOUR INATTENTION TO REAL VOTING ISSUES IN AMERICA}

BUSH'S side, meanwhile, cited voter list problems.

Absentee ballots were expected to figure significantly in the contest.

The election came after months of opposition allegations of official interference, LIES, AND CHARACTER ASSASSINATION and complaints of intimidation OF PEOPLE WHO TRIED TO REGISTER, BUT HAD THEIR APPLICATIONS DISCARDED...AND INTIMIDATION OF MINORITY-RACE VOTERS IN SEVERAL STATES.

SNIP....

KERRY'S critics frequently portray him as a MASSACHUSETTS LIBERAL who could be unduly influenced by his INTELLECT,WELL-TRAVELED FOREIGN POLICY OUTLOOK,HIS ABILITY TO ACTUALLY RESEARCH AND THINK ABOUT DIFFICULT ISSUES, AND HIS KNOWLEDGE THAT ALL THINGS ARE NOT BLACK/WHITE..GOOD/EVIL . He says he wants to push the country to greater integration with Western Europe and has suggested seeking GREATER CONTACTS WITH THE UN AND NATO

BUSH HAS been strongly praised by FOX NEWS, MSNBC,CNN,ABC, NBC,RUSH LIMBAUGH, NEIL BOORTZ,BILL O'REILLY,AND MOST OTHER MEDIA OUTLETS. THE OVERT SUPPORT HAS COME IN THE GUISE OF "NOT" REPORTING IMPORTANT MISTAKES THAT HE HAS MADE...AND BY "NEGATING" ANY POSITIVE STORIES ABOUT HIS OPPONENT, JOHN KERRY.

[Meshuga]

9. I can't believe people still bother with CNN...

and other cable outlets after the 2004 elections. They are only big and make lots of money because the people they hurt most still watch them and add traffic to their websites.