Monday, March 10, 2008

Rush Limbaugh Guilty of Inciting Voter Fraud

Yes, this All-American patriot, this brilliant and scintillating intellect, this compassionate (above all, compassionate and Christian!) soul... is guilty of inciting voter fraud.

Let me explain.

Right before the Texas and Ohio primaries, Rush Limbaugh went on the air and urged his listeners to cross party lines and vote for Hillary Clinton. Like this:

"I want Hillary to stay in this, Laura. This is too good a soap opera. We need Barack Obama bloodied up politically, and it's obvious that the Republicans are not going to do it and don't have the stomach for it, as you probably know. We're getting all kinds of memos from the RNC, saying we're not going to be critical there. Mark McKinnon of McCain's campaign says he'll quit if they get critical over Obama. This is the presidency of the United States we're talking about. I want our party to win. I want the Democrats to lose. They're in the midst of tearing themselves apart right now. It is fascinating to watch, and it's all going to stop if Hillary loses. So, yeah, I'm asking people to cross over and, if they can stomach it -- I know it's a difficult thing to do, to vote for a Clinton, but it will sustain this soap opera, and it's something I think we need. It would be fun, too." [italics bluechristian's]

Now that's really cute, Rush. It also happens that -- in Ohio at least -- it is illegal to do as a voter. I cite just a bit of the whole from Ohio's election laws:

Before any challenged person shall be allowed to vote at a primary election , the person shall make a statement, under penalty of election falsification, before one of the precinct officials, blanks for which shall be furnished by the board of elections, giving name, age, residence, length of residence in the precinct, county, and state; stating that the person desires to be affiliated with and supports the principles of the political party whose ballot the person desires to vote; and giving all other facts necessary to determine whether the person is entitled to vote in that primary election. [italics bluechristian's]

And how many Republicans who, at Limbaugher's command, crossed over to vote for Hillary Clinton are affiliated with or support the principles of the Democratic Party? Right.

What is quite obvious to ethical human beings here is that voting for a woman your party loathes in order that she, whom you percieve as the weaker candidate, can run against John McCain, is a violation of the spirit of democracy. And -- very important for the Christians out there -- it is a signal failure to obey Jesus' command to love your neighbor as yourself. Imagine if your candidate was submarined by a bunch of Democrats crossing over and voting for his or her opponent?

Right.

Oh, and by the way, in Texas according to MS-NBC, Limbaugh's supporters crossed over in high enough numbers that it gave Hillary Clinton her razor thin victory. I've been unable (so far) to find out if Texas election laws were also violated.

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4 comments:

hewhocutsdown said...

It's not a problem to point this out, just poke the finger at both sides. Kos from the DailyKos did this a month or two ago.

I don't mind you stating your position, but it's not the only position well meaning individuals and can hold, and if you're going to hold up individuals to scorn let's scorch both sides fairly, shall we?

Peace

Jon Trott said...

How can I argue with a guy whose blog links to Ubuntu.com? But seriously, I'll have to plumb DailyKos for that one. I would be astonished to find anything (or anyone) on the left remotely as bizarre as Limbaugh and his alternate universe. Well, maybe I could think of one or two names myself, come to mention it... except neither of them have remotely the popularity or power to get people to break election laws in such high numbers they affect the outcome of an election. Limbaugh does, and has.

hewhocutsdown said...

Here's the link for ya:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/1/10/2713/87225/55/434206

Don't get me wrong, I'm not terribly keen on the Republicans either. I'm a bit of an anarchist myself, but I try to praise and damn people as evenly as I am able.

I enjoy the blog, especially the parts about men/feminism. Check out Jesus Manifesto.com when you get a chance, it's run by Mark van Steenwyk out of St. Paul/Minneapolis, but there's a whole bunch of interesting people there talking faith, politics, society and lifestyle.

Jon Trott said...

I read the post, and yes, I don't think Kos should have encouraged Dems to go over and vote Republican (for Mitt Romney) "to cause mischief" for that party. I don't want to be so goody-goody that I'm no longer living in this 3d reality. But a vote to me is just about as sacred as anything can be in the world of politics, and to invalidate someone else's heart-felt vote with my very cynical one seems unloving to my neighbor. I certainly would be (and was!) offended to see Hillary Clinton win Texas because of Rush Limbaugh... who has thousands of times more influence than Kos, even though Kos is thousands of times more intelligent than Limbaugh... :)