Dumb question -- did Kerry ever answer the taser kid?

[IdaBriggs]

I still want to know why he conceded so quickly in 2004.

So do a whole bunch of dead Americans in New Orleans and Iraq.

[wellst0nev0ter]

1. Nope, The Kid Kept Speechifying, Never Giving An Opportunity For A Response (eom)

[WildEyedLiberal]

3. He did respond after the kid left I think - and kept trying to say he'd answer

I know I read somewhere that Kerry answered the question about contesting the election - he said that there was simply no legal basis on which to make a challenge. I don't have the exact quote or know where to find said exact quote, but I know I saw it.

But no, the kid was interested in causing a scene, not actually getting his questions answered. He kept shouting over Kerry when Kerry tried to answer him.

[book_worm]

10. I think the "kid" wanted some publicity and it got out of hand

[sandnsea]

2. I've always wanted to ask you

You were involved in the New Hampshire recount, correct? The polls were wrong, isn't that what your recount showed?

[IdaBriggs]

5. My study wasn't based on the polls. The polls caught my attention --

18% discrepancy is kind of a big one! (At 4:00 p.m. Kerry was winning the state by 18%, but three hours later he won by a little over 1% is kind of um....statistically odd, and implies that all voters between 4 and 7 have to vote for his opponent -- a couple of times. Smirk!)

So, I based my study on 2000 Gore/Bush results versus 2004 Kerry/Bush results. In 75% of the state, Kerry did as well as or better than Gore did (making it the "trend"). In the remaining 25% of the state, those numbers were reversed (meaning Bush did better against Kerry than he did Gore). When I broke it down by "size", it turned out that THE CHANGE occurred in a few select precincts, which coincidentally (?) were 80% of the "large" ones using one particular type of equipment.

In human terms, that meant that "small towns" were going more "liberal" while "big cities" were going "conservative" which seemed counter-intuitive, if you know what I mean. :eyes:

We did a "double check" of the physical votes (the first step in verifying data), but frankly needed to do more investigation (see an old rant about Bev Harris for more details), but resources weren't available for more detail. There were also some "odd" occurrences -- the first precinct that I called to see their poll books, for example, told me that the guy in charge had taken them all home, and no one was able to get a hold of him (several weeks later) to return them because he was off hunting, so if I got a hold of him (they gave me his phone number) would I please ask him to bring them back in?

Seriously.

The second precinct said that the person who knew anything about poll books wasn't going to be available until the following Monday, and then we just decided to show up at the third precinct. We did a quick "count" of the poll book, and the numbers looked "reasonable" at quick glance. (I also had a plane to catch, and we were kind of scrambling -- it was a crazy time!)

Anyway, at the end of the day, the Democrats in New Hampshire didn't even bother to show up for the last day of the recount (because they were mad at Nader -- idiots) but I talked with both the Secretary of State and the Assistant Secretary of State and went over my findings with them. I pointed out that SOMETHING funky was going on, but all I could do was run the numbers to point out where it was happening. They were/are both pretty impressive individuals who take their jobs VERY SERIOUSLY (and know the players in their state better than I do).

I'm not sure what happened next, but in the last election, the entire state of New Hampshire went completely BLUE for the first time in like, EVER. Or at least a hundred and thirty some odd years. I like to think that "behind the scenes" the good folks in the Secretary of State's office did some house cleaning, but honestly, I really don't know.

I worked behind the scenes on some other stuff for the rest of that year, and around Christmas time was suffering from some serious burnout, exacerbated by my father being diagnosed with terminal cancer (he died the following March), so I backed out and have only been peripherally involved in a few discussions since then. (I tried to help with a discussion about Holt, but it just got silly, and I've got teething twins to deal with at the moment!)

It was a very intense time. I am convinced it was "stolen" but apparently the Democrats just don't have good public relations people who can frame an argument in a convincing way. I think I was treated very respectfully by the press because I didn't say "STOLEN!" -- I said "GLITCH!" which it could very well have been. (With a glitch, it becomes less of an Evil Intent thing, and more of an Ooops! thing -- and we programmers get a lot of job security from "oopses"!)

I have a clear understanding of the human-ness of the people who were involved -- the Kerry folks on the ground were burned out after a very intense, hard fought, ultimately disappointing time, and they just disappeared. I was unofficially told that "we can't investigate a state we won without looking like fools" which was one of the stupidest things I've ever heard -- find problem in one place, and then use that same technique in next place, duh! And then there were people like Gov Bill Richardson of New Mexico who didn't want to know about stuff because if Kerry won in 2004, it would alter his chances of running for himself in 2008. (I haven't forgiven him for that.)

Threads, threads, and more threads. I'm totally off topic. What was your question again? And have I answered it?

:)

[sandnsea]

6. Long story short

The count was right, the exit polls were wrong, you found nothing you could have taken to court to prove fraud.

Same as in Ohio. Which would seem to me to be the answer to your OP.

And I do thank you for your work because I know you put in enormous amounts of time. I just don't know how you can't apply the frustrations in NH to the frustrations in OH. Along with the "silliness" you mention.

Glad your babies are doing well, haven't seen pics of them in a while. :)

[IdaBriggs]

8. All we "officially" know is that "something weird" was going on.

Like I said, there were discrepancies that still don't (and didn't) make sense. The precincts that "flipped" percentage wise support for Bush that had been the exact opposite in 2000 despite increased voter turnout (going from "solid Blue" to "solid Red") were just plain ... Odd. And the fact that these "odd things" happened in the "specific equipment" areas was a red flag of "oddness" if you know what I mean. Unfortunately, we didn't have the resources to pursue things. I'm pretty confident that "evidence" would have turned up if the resources Kerry promised hadn't evaporated. And amazingly enough, the polls in 2006 were "accurate!" I still want to know what happened to clean things up in 2006. Hopefully someday I will.

But, in the meantime, since you asked, have you seen this one of my beautiful babies? Dad's a fan!

[sandnsea]

9. awwww, that's so cute

They are adorable. I love the whole football thing going on there.

I don't see how you think the Kerry people could have found something wrong with those machines when nobody else has been able to, anywhere else, in the past 3 years. Not in any of the other suspicious elections, not in Dem states, nowhere. All these precincts were supposed to be part of a national conspiracy, and not one informant has come forward. Somebody would have talked by now. I just don't see how you can hold think the Kerry people could have uncovered something that nobody else has been able to.

[IdaBriggs]

11. People *have* been coming forward. Some have even been convicted

and/or testified before Congress. Some of the stuff even made the mainstream media. Here are a few of my favorite glitches (although the links have expired....sigh).

=In Florida, 78,000 absentee ballots incorrectly recorded 94% in favor of a controversial gambling proposal, while the rest of the county averaged only 70% favorable

=In Utah, 33,000 ballots (1 in 5 cast) weren’t counted at all because they were “straight Democratic”

=In Indiana, “straight Democratic” votes were counted as “Libertarian”

=In New York, Democratic votes kept “disappearing” and a recount appears to be overturning an initial Republican win

=In North Carolina, an entire precinct was accidentally “omitted” from the initial tallies – oops!

And HUNDREDS of other similar incidents all over the country, not including 50,000 voters from all over the country who complained when their votes switched from Kerry to Bush whenever they selected another Democrat.

But my babies are cute, aren't they?

[sam sarrha]

4. i cant believe any 21 year old with an IQ over 80 wouldnt know if you jerk the cops around they will

kick you ass... it is essentially a required procedure, but the tazar thing was abusive..

did you hear about eh schizophrenic women in a wheel chair they tazered to death.. shocked her for 160 seconds then a second tazar for another 10 seconds to finish her off..

who here believes the same thing wouldn't happen to them if they jerked on the cops like he did a very short distance from a senator..?? really .. jumping around like he was on crank or something.
not saying it was totally right but..what different would happen..especiallly without a camera

but i really wouldn't expect to be electro tortured tho... but i do now.

[Beerboy]

7. Yes, Kerry asked the cops to back off,

and he promised to answer everyone's questions.
It's probably the right thing to do though that one person should be able to abuse a public forum and prevent everyone else from asking questions and deny them their free-speech rights?
Yeah, Mr. Meyer is a 1st Amendment hero!
Not.
I hope the female cop Mr. Meyer struck during his exercise in 'free-speech' also avails herself of her constitutional rights, and also pursues criminal charges to jail this punk.
Mr. Meyer is only 21, and it's the easiest thing in the world to foolishly dis-regard the commands from a female cop just because she's physically smaller; if you swing @ a lady cop and deck her, you better have one hell of an exit strategy.:smoke: