Similar to how they blanketed black neighborhoods with flyers claiming that all traffic tickets, back rent, etc., had to be paid before you'd be allowed to vote.
In the interests of fairness and being civilized and all that, I should say that the referent of 'These People' is those, and only those, people involved in sending out the letter. While I can make assumptions about which party they support based on whose votes they're trying to suppress, that doesn't make this official Republican Party ratfucking.
And the people who sent out flyers urging people to vote on the Wednesday after election day. Targeted to minority neighborhoods, of course.
Guess I better not vote either. My grandfather was a Canadian carpenter who spent about nine months of the year in the US working, during the building boom of the twenties. No SS#s, withholding, or anything else in those days, so being an illegal had no penalties. Because he was away from the family so much when my dad was growing up, I have the least sense of him of any of my grandparents. I know he loved politics and reading about it in the papers, so he might well have voted. Whether he had a Cala or two in the states is the sort of thing there's no way to know..
that doesn't make this official Republican Party ratfucking
Riiiiiiiiight.
I'm actually serious about that -- you're not responsible for every asshole who's roughly on your side. We aren't, and they aren't. You are responsible for encouraging them (everyone who's ever said 'Well, maybe if those Floridians weren't too stupid to follow the directions for voting we wouldn't have to have the recount' qualifies on the 'encouraging them' front) or for giving them money if you do, but without evidence of that you can't actually blame all Republicans for this. I can certainly think very, very ill of the people who did it, though.
6: A memo authorizing it. Which, of course, they would never produce. But I have no doubt that most of these shenanigans are not freelance jobs.
And everybody, from my daughter to an eighty-five-year-old guy I talked with over the weekend, expects a lot more of this and that it'll be effective. As MY says, the last several elections have looked good for Democrats in October, so expecting the worst comes naturally to us now.
you can't actually blame all Republicans for this
Of course not. You can, however, point out that elected and hired officials of the Republican Party engage in this kind of stuff constantly, and that the training for it goes on at the College Republican level.
I'm sorry, and I realize that I'm stepping in a minefield, but immigrants can't vote. Naturalized citizens can.
A naturalized citizen is still an immigrant. My grandfather didn't stop being an immigrant when he became an American citizen. Check a dictionary.
How have we made it this far without a joke about ogged, that highly unnatural immigrant citizen?
Here, I'll do it for you:
im?mi?grant? /??m?gr?nt/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[im-i-gruhnt] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation
-noun 1. a person who migrates to another country, usually for permanent residence.
Note the entire lack of mention as to whether the immigrant in question has or has not become a citizen of their new country.
Immigrant is what I call myself even though I'm both. I'll bet TLL's distinction is their ready-made defense if it's traced back to the campaigns, though.
It's complete and utter obvious bullshit. Doesn't mean it won't work, of course.
Like I said, a minefield but I have personally known several well intentioned green card holders who fully intended on voting. And I also know that this letter is intended to deceive.
While you've got it open, LB, could you look up the word "pelloton" for me? I came across it today and can't remember what it means.
And I also know that this letter is intended to deceive.
Again, this makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. If you actually believed what you said in 11 ("immigrants can't vote"), then what's wrong with the letter? If you agree that the letter is meant to deceive, what do you think is deceptive about it?
several well intentioned green card holders who fully intended on voting.
Neat. I'm fine with putting "Do not register to vote if you are not a citizen" all over voter registration forms.
15: But TLL's distinction is totally wrong. Immigrants can vote, as long as they're naturlized citizens. Am I missing something?
An "a" in naturalized, that's what I'm missing.
21 -- "A group or cluster of cyclists in a cycle race; esp. the main body of competitors, the pack"
Spelling threw me. If he means the pack in a cycling race, the word seems cognate with our word "pellet," compact mass.
LB- I think it is meant to cause confusion. I also think it is a poor tactic. Every naturalized citizen has taken a citizenship test and knows that they can vote. In fact, I would assume that that is why they became citizens instead of legal residents.
Y'know, if Unfogged wants to make some difference politically, I suggest collecting these blogospheric nuggets that register for about 0.0003 seconds on the normal American's attention span, and collecting them in a book. Party of Evil (dedicated to Ranesh Ponnuru, XXOO).
Might make some bucks, who knows? Me, I just wanna see Katie Couric ask, "Now, are you Unf or Ogged?"
(s/b "Now, are you the unf or the ogged?")
Nixon voice: "I was Unffed!, and then I was Ogged!"
Every naturalized citizen has taken a citizenship test and knows that they can vote.
And yet, this kind of crap intimidates people. I mean, shit--Ogged is a citizen, and he's worried (not unreasonably, I think) about being put into a detention camp. The things we "know" we have a right to do are not always the things that, in fact, we're allowed to do. And a lot of Latino immigrants in this country have had first-hand experience with that.
voter fraud or voter intimidation should be prosecuted vigorously.
You got your Unf in my Ogged!
You got your Ogged in my Unf!
Every naturalized citizen has taken a citizenship test and knows that they can vote.
Not if they're naturalised as children, as many are. My Offspring was 5 when he was naturalised; all he remembers about it is having to stand in a very long line in the hot sun for several hours with no access to a bathroom or something to drink. [Having had to deal with immigration as an educated American citizen, I am amazed that anyone not born here makes it through INS proceedings. IMX, INS goes out of its way to make things difficult, including mispronouncing names when announcing one's turn - no one living in LA doesn't know how to pronounce "Camarillo". They refused to tell us whether we'd be called under our last name(s) or my son's Korean name, then objected to his new name "because it's too long" - i.e., both parental surnames were a part of it.]
The Kid votes. He tries to get his friends to vote. Especially the ones who were born here who think that, because their parents were not citizens, that they cannot vote. So even those born here don't necessarily know their rights & privileges.
Yeah we had trouble with the Social Security people about the length of our daughter's name (which includes the name she was given in the orphanage and two parental surnames) -- this led to delightful interactions with the tax people about whether the child for whom we were claiming exemptions was a real entity or imaginary.
(She is however not yet of voting age.)
I'm sure that the culprits, if found out, will rely upon the legalistic definition of 'immigrant' in the INA. That's bullshit, of course. Point is, the rights of not-born-in-Americans have been subject to such legal wrangling and political rhetoric lately -- bilingual ballots, English as national language, denial of habeas and counsel, etc . And anyone who's dealt with the INS/USCIS knows that you need at least three officials telling you something, ideally under oath, before you believe them.
34: Social Security can't fit the Kid's full name [First name/Korean name/middle name/mama's last name/daddy's last name] on their computer forms. They shortened my last name to a single letter. We're hoping that the Kid doesn't have to go through hoops to get his tax refund again this year.
It was the Republican Party, according to MSNBC. Shocked, I'm sure we all are.
It should also be pointed out that the candidate who spread flyers saying "You are advised that if...you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time" is himself an immigrant.