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“That one” on the ballot
Oops. In upstate New York, absentee ballots have gone out with a little misspelling, listing presidential candidates John McCain and…Barack Osama.
Osama bin Laden is not running for President of the United States, and the election officials said they “regret” the error.
Topic: Campaign 2008, WorldMagBlog
Keywords: barack-obama, John-McCain
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back to top43 Comments to ““That one” on the ballot”
Oh dear science!
Are they kidding here?
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I’m sure it was just an honest mistake. Uh huh.
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the “b” and the “s” are close on the keyboard and proofreading is such a difficult chore.
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This evening we have McCain supposedly calling off his attack dogs, potential ACORN voter registration fraud, and a bi-partisan panel of legislators (10 R’s, 4 D’s) finding that Sarah Palin “abused the powers of her office”.
But WMB suggests this as a topic?
I shouldn’t complain, it’s your playpen. But…
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“I’m sure it was just an honest mistake. Uh huh.”
No, of course it wasn’t a mistake; it was deliberate–all part of the vast conspiracy against Obama. You’ve got to be kidding!
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ree post 5,
as a minimum do you consider that this leads to a fair election?
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Some ballot production software products have spell checker features that can yeild this sort of embarassing result (usually occurring in smaller jurisdictions with minimal staffing, spread too thin and no one being primarily doing election work – which is a surprisingly common situation). Some spell checkers will try to change Obama to Osama.
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Let’s see…it went through three rounds of “proof readers”, yet no one caught the mistake. Uh-huh…
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krm post 7,
one of the reasons why people should be held responsible for such oversight.
Again my question to ree: does this lead to a fair election?
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OH wait, perhaps I misunderstand: are ree and krm suggesting that we should tolerate a specficially unfair election?
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Musing #10: Well it wasn’t McCain’s name that was mis-spelled in a particularly unfortunate way that reinforces a slanderous whisper campaign … so what’s the problem?
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who do you guys think is behind this?
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KBells … I think was accidental, but I also think it was not something to shrug about. If nothing else, the people preparing the ballots were really careless.
And if McCain’s name had come out “McSame,” I doubt you or KRM or others would be so complacent.
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The ghost of Lee Atwater walks the land.
The upstate officials “regret” the mistake, but, upscale Republicans despair of the mistake, because that sort of attitude is driving Mexican-American voters in droves into the Democratic Party.
Woo-hoo, Sarah! Keep telling it: Republicans don’t like people with funny names.
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. . . it went through three rounds of “proof readers”. . .
In the days of unhappy typesetters’ unions, newspapers never wrote “hit” after a word ending with an s, or “it” after a word ending in s, because it was so easy to close and open space between letters, and the result could be so eternally hilarious to the typesetters.
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From the Rensselaer Board of Elections Website
“We try hard to provide the most accurate information we are able.”
Evidently they are UNable to try hard enough. If this was McSame printed on the ballots we’d have the McNuts and Palinistas out there with pitchforks chanting “terrorist” “Off with his head!” “Kill him!” and all the other respectful things Palin-McCain supporters say about Senator Obama at their rallies.
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If McCain came out McSame, it certainly wouldn’t have been an honest human or computer error, so it would be a totally different story. This error as an unfortunate one, and if something can be done to fix it, it should be, but this whole election has been so ridiculously favored towards Obama from the get-go, it’s just kind of comical to see people crying “unfair” at this mistake like this, as if it’s going to have any effect on the outcome.
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Sorry for the editing mistakes.
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Ree-
Please explain: “this whole election has been so ridiculously favored towards Obama from the get-go”
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but this whole election has been so ridiculously favored towards Obama from the get-go
Indeed that is a curious statement that needs explanation.
A month ago the Republicans were on the march toward winning in November and getting good reviews. And there were a number of folks on here assuring us that McCain & Palin were gonna win.
Perhaps Ree was on a deserted island for the month of September.
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If by “ridiculously favored towards Obama” you mean more people are likely to vote for Obama than McCain because they think he’s the better candidate, I concede you have a point.
If you’re trying to allege some sort of conspiracy, I’d like to see your evidence.
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ARCADIA (4): … a bi-partisan panel of legislators (10 R’s, 4 D’s) [found] that Sarah Palin “abused the powers of her office”.
FRANK: Hey there, not so fast!
It was reported that the McCain-Palin campaign found NO evidence of wrongdoing on Palin’s part!
So there!
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There’s no “conspiracy”–just a fawning left wing mainstream media that refuses to see, much less report, any of the glaring problems with Obama, and that resorts to childish mockery to portray McCain and Palin as a couple of drooling idiots. It doesn’t matter, though. Ultimately, God is in control of the election as He is with all things, and our nation is just reaping what we’ve sown. This is so regardless of which candidate wins, and things aren’t looking good right now whether we end up with McCain or Obama.
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Ree-
Are you suggesting God is unhappy with George Bush, and all he has done in His name?
If Sarah and her special blessings from the African Witch Chaser Muthee worked to make her Governor of Alaska, why has He changed His mind, and appears to now be denying her the Vice Presidency?
I don’t buy the “fawning left wing mainstream media” crap. If it’s mainstream, it’s American. If you recall, George Bush was unquestionable by these same people for most of the last 8 years.
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ree post 23,
whether there was or was not a consipiuracy here is probably undeterminable.
That a serious eror was made which could impact the election is indisputable.
That this occurred after the experience with butterfly ballots ewtc. in florida suggesats an election authority whihc is nothing short of totally incompetents, and they should be relieved of duty and replaced prior to the election. I suggest that replacement absentee ballots should be prepared and sent out with instructions to destroy the originals.
But I sense the apologias that it was a harmless mistake yet again. I suggest that the evidence is increasing that there is a section of the Republican party which is committed to ensuring that there is not a fair an dhonest election. This is a poster child demonstrating this.
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I watrched the clips of McCaijn rebukig his supporters at the ralley.
In particular when he rebuked the woman calling Obama an Arab, I saw the glimmerings of the McCain from 2000 which I briefly supported.
It is possible that McCain will revert to his original self and while this will undoubtedly lose the election it would partially recover his reputation.
Interestingly, if McCain could do this, it would be a demonstration of leadership which would arguably provide a reason to seriously consider him for president.
I doubt that he will follow through on this.
And the McCain campaign is devolving into caricature.
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Between Lumpy and Musing, they sure like to twist these threads up!
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Musing: The Obama campaign has been a caricature all along.
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Are you suggesting God is unhappy with George Bush, and all he has done in His name?
I’m not suggesting that our nation or our politicians must infallibly discern God’s will to receive God’s blessing, no.
If Sarah and her special blessings from the African Witch Chaser Muthee worked to make her Governor of Alaska, why has He changed His mind, and appears to now be denying her the Vice Presidency?
I have no idea who the vice president will be, and I’m not referring to what George Bush has done as president or what Sarah Palin has done as governor or what Obama or Biden have done as senators. I’m not suggesting that the outcome of the election rests on God punishing or rewarding particular politicians for how they’ve discharged their duties so far.
I don’t buy the “fawning left wing mainstream media” crap. If it’s mainstream, it’s American. If you recall, George Bush was unquestionable by these same people for most of the last 8 years.
I always wonder when people say things like this whether whether they really, honestly, truly have convinced themselves that it’s true or if they’re just so insecure that they can’t concede even the utterly obvious to the opposition.
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Ree: The “liberal media” may have existed at one time, but it doesn’t anymore and hasn’t for at least 25 years. I know conservatives have an interest in being able to whine about alleged bias, but the facts don’t support it.
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Of course, Steve, the media’s treatment of McCain/Palin is exactly the same as their coverage of the Obamessiah–the one whom even the winds and the water obey.
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Oh no, it’s not the same. McCain/Palin get a much easier time.
The cable news channels were all Wright, all the time, for several weeks earlier in the year. We’ve heard almost nothing about Palin’s witch-chasing preacher.
The Ayers story has been covered by almost every mainstream news outlet. There’s been little (some, but little) about McCain and Charles Keating.
Just for two examples.
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In the words of Ted Kennedy: obama, osama, obama, osama, obama, osama…………
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LOL!
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I see the myth of the liberal bias continues — without a complacent media the invasion of Iraq would probably have been reconsidered, without a complacent media Republican disenfranchisement schemes in Florida and Ohio would’ve been in the open, without a complacent media Palin’s religious associations would have been fully investigated, without a complacent media Keating should be as popular as Ayers etc. The American media is not only complacent its lazy — it reports whatever it is fed rarely fact checking or doing their own investigation. Its failed in its responsibility as the Fifth Estate.
In order to get a list of current Republican attempts to purge voters list, I needed to refer to a leftist site not the MSM.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/10/11-4
In 2004, African-American students from Wright State, Central State and Wilberforce were regularly challenged on their registration credentials and forced to endure waiting in lines to vote for hours. Students at Cedarville, a Christian school, made no such reports. Sheriff Fischer’s targeting of historically black college students, the core of Obama-mania, is intended to send a chilling effect through the ranks of these Democratic voters.
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Re the “myth” of the mainstream media being liberal: Does anybody remember how the wonderfully “unbiased” Dan Rather lost his job? Have you seen the studies of how media people vote? Ever wonder why “pro-choice” is the designation of choice, but it rarely seems to be paired with “pro-life” (which is a far more accurate term)?
Yes, the media is biased. They were happy with McCain a year ago, because for a Republican he was a pretty good guy (read “RINO”), but they’d really rather have a complete Democrat in place.
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HRW, hey, I haven’t heard about these “Republican disenfranchisement schemes in Florida and Ohio”! Sounds ugly. What are they doing?
I did hear plenty of media support for Democratic dirty tricks in Florida in 2000, so perhaps the Republicans are simply watching the process more closely so that nonsense like that won’t happen again. (I’d have been embarrassed to be from Florida after that “hanging chad” garbage!!)
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The Republican candidate for governor in the state of Washington lists his party affiliation on the ballot as “GOP.” All the other Republican candidates list in the state list their affiliation as Republican.
The counter-argument seems to be that if some voter is so ignorant and dumb that he or she doesn’t know that GOP means Republican they are going to get what they deserve.
Radical Agnostics for McPalin: We haven’t suffered enough! (Though we are working on it as hard as we can. Regardless of your mileage, the tire tracks look good on you.)
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I was just trying to head off the conspiracy theory nuts to the extent possible. It is tough to proof ones own work, and many election administration offices are big enough to have multiple people – combine that with extremely tight deadlines and many other critical items having to be done concurently, and we should have been more surprised if this didn’t occur here and there.
It will be fixed and life will go on.
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Excuse me that should have been “aren’t big enough”
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Cheryl
You’ve never heard of purging voter lists?
http://tinyurl.com/ytob5o
“Democratic dirty tricks” Gore just about rolled over and whimpered at Bush’s feet. Gore’s easy submission to defeat help cement the impression many on the left have of the Democratic leadership as lacking the testicular fortitude to carry on a real political fight.
The “Brooks Brothers Riot” is a well known event in which Republican staffers were flown in to intimidate and stop the recount process.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooks_Brothers_riot
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outkast post 28,
if it is a caricature, it would appear to be an organized caricature which appears to be working solidly towards winning.
Can you say the same about the Palin/McCain campaign?
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The following link appears to make an argument that McAin is getting more favorable media treatment than Obama:
http://www.mediatenor.com/
and
http://www.mediatenor.com/charts.php
I suggest this pretty well debunks the argument of a media bias towards Obama.
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