D&C joke election postponed; Galvin's office admonishes

[raccoonradio]

http://bostonherald.com/news/politi..._election_postponed/srvc=home&position=recent

The election is tomorrow if you're a Democrat, joked John & Gerry this morning. Spokesman for Mass Secy of the Commonwealth Bill Galvin not amused. Someone actually took them seriously. In other news,
Blue Hills erupting, and Martians are landing in Grovers Mills NJ.

"One listener said his father-in-law believed the elections were postponed, and called him because he was so upset."

 

[raccoonradio]

On Free Republic someone who heard the show said the caller who claimed his father was "upset"
at the alleged postponement was probably just making it up...

 

[yoyoradio]

time for Metco. So they did not want blacks going to the polls to vote? wow. These guys never learn. Today is the all-time high number of the black vote and they were giving out false information to try and stop people going to the polls? The democrat is code for black voter.

 

[raccoonradio]

But there are far more white Democrats in these parts. And not all blacks are Democrats;
Wayne Budd, Frank Cousins (Esx. Country Sheriff) and Jack E. Robinson (ran for several offices) come to mind, all Republicans.

 

[yoyoradio]

did they say the election was postponed when there was a white man on the ballot? No. They just save that joke when there is a black man on the ballot?

 

[raccoonradio]

I could see them making the same joke if Hillary, Kerry, or Edwards were the nominee.

 

[MUGrad]

I could see them making the same joke if Hillary, Kerry, or Edwards were the nominee.

Agreed. I'm fairly certain their "joke" was motivated by the fact that their guy McCain is trailing in every poll and appears to have little hope of winning today.

Funny how everything comes back to race for some people. Just because race could be an issue/reason does not automatically make it the issue/reason.

 

[raccoonradio]

Jason Wolfe released a statement (see Heslam's blog in Herald) saying that D&C were obviously joking and that they were actually reminding everyone to go out and vote today.

In all honesty, if anyone is a "minority" around here, it's Republicans and if Shays loses CT House race
today (and I think he's losing big), there will be no Republican U.S. Reps in all of New England. So if
you want to talk about minorities in race, I can bring up minorities politically...

 

[thetheo]

did they say the election was postponed when there was a white man on the ballot? No. They just save that joke when there is a black man on the ballot?

It's a joke I've heard in other places in other years, got nothing to do with who was on the ballot.

You would know that if you listened this AM, as they called a caller a racist for not planning on voting for Obama because of the color of his skin.

Were they wrong years ago for the Metco comment, yes....do I agree with 99% of their views, hell no....but clearly you were not listening as there was nothing racial about the broadcast this AM.

 

[DJbobo]

http://bostonherald.com/news/politi..._election_postponed/srvc=home&position=recent

The election is tomorrow if you're a Democrat, joked John & Gerry this morning. Spokesman for Mass Secy of the Commonwealth Bill Galvin not amused. Someone actually took them seriously. In other news,
Blue Hills erupting, and Martians are landing in Grovers Mills NJ.

"One listener said his father-in-law believed the elections were postponed, and called him because he was so upset."

Doesn't matter. Unenrolled voters represent more than 50% of all the registered voters in Mass.
They're your typical Regan Democrats. McCain is no Regan. Even if the Dems didn't vote today,
D+C's guy would still get crushed in Mass.

 

[Bakers_Bookstore]

I believe some of you are missing the point of Galvin's outrage. According to today's Globe Galvin's office got several calls because of that broadcast.

Voter fraud is a serious crime and if even one person didn't vote yesterday because D&C said the Democrat's voting day was today then Galvin should file charges unless D&C made it crystal clear it was a joke and untrue.

I didn't hear the broadcast so I'll leave it at that.

 

[aaronread]

Jason Wolfe released a statement (see Heslam's blog in Herald) saying that D&C were obviously joking and that they were actually reminding everyone to go out and vote today.

Given the substantial reports of robocalls trying to convince voters in allegedly-Democratic districts in multiple states that they really weren't supposed to vote on Tuesday, or that if they have any criminal record (even parking tickets) that they can't vote....I would argue this was a joke in exceedingly poor taste. Right up there with the "METCO Gorilla" incident a few years back. Hundreds of thousands of people being stripped of their most fundamental right as citizens is not something I find particularly funny.

And to shove the knife a little deeper...something tells me if Tom Ashbrook on WBUR was "reminding people to go out and vote" by saying that REPUBLICANS couldn't vote until Wednesday, a lot of people pooh-pooh-ing this would be apoplectic at the moment. :

 

[JoshuaC]

The Pterradactyl guy is right... regardless of whether it was funny or not, regardless of whether it had anything to do with race or not... voter fraud is a crime. It is one thing to be critical of your government (or an opposing party) - it is another thing entirely to try and stop them from being able to make their opinions (whether you agree with them or not) known.

That and, whether it is entertaining or not, we are licensed these frequencies to operate in the public interest, and that sort of behavior just underlines how little we are doing our jobs.

I heard a local ConTalker in my city this morning talking about how Employers, faced with tax increases expected under an Obama Administration, should first fire workers who voted for Obama to "teach them a lesson." When we try and defraud or intimidate the voting process and public, we ruin one of the very things that makes this country what it is, what it has been, and/or what it could be... without which we wouldn't have the rights to run our stations at all.

 

[freqlost]

[

And to shove the knife a little deeper...something tells me if Tom Ashbrook on WBUR was "reminding people to go out and vote" by saying that REPUBLICANS couldn't vote until Wednesday, a lot of people pooh-pooh-ing this would be apoplectic at the moment. :

So you think Tom Ashbrook and D & C are comparable ?
D & C are known morons and for anyone who slants left to take them serious is a joke.
Voters of either side who look to D & C for political info are losers who shouldn't be voting.
This was not a primary, if you took what D & C said for real, you shouldn't be voting !
If it was a primary, might be a different story.

 

[magpie]

Michael Graham and/or Jay Severin made the same joke over on WTKK.

 

[Mickey37]

Re: Galvin tells D&C they're being very bad boys

If D&C confused even ONE voter, then their schtick was wrong. 'Course, what does this say about the intellect of the average voter.......?

 

[Blackroc]

I try to listen to D&C most days (for RS info) and it's tough: really, really tough. More than ten min's at a time is becoming unusual. But the postponement bother is pretty lame.

 

[aaronread]

So you think Tom Ashbrook and D & C are comparable ?

Oh God, no. My point is that given D&C's right-leaning (okay, far, far right) audience; that crowd views NPR as left-wing, liberal commie pinko idiots who shouldn't be allowed to speak at all, much less have a radio station. With that in mind, if Ashbrook had said essentially the same "joke" but had said it was Republicans who needed to wait until Wednesday, that D&C audience would be completely flipping out about how unfunny and terrible a joke it would be, and that Ashbrook should be fired, and that WBUR should have their license suspended, blah blah blah blah.

My ultimate point here is that I strongly suspect that people's reactions to D&C's "joke" have a lot to do with their own personal, political leanings than anything grounded in reality. Those who like D&C's views are thinking Galvin is making a mountain out of molehill. Those who don't like D&C think Galvin was spot-on.

That said, I think Ptteradactyl and JoshuaC have a valid point: it is indeed against the law to encourage people to commit a crime. Doesn't matter if you think it's a joke, if you shout "FIRE!!!" in a crowded theater and there's no fire, and people get trampled to death in the ensuing mayhem...guess what? You're gonna get charged with manslaughter. (at least in some states) Or in this case, it's equally against the law (Civil Rights Act, I believe) to intimidate people from exorcising their legal rights.

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

in this case, it's equally against the law (Civil Rights Act, I believe) to intimidate people from exorcising their legal rights.

Well, they can *exorcise* those rights if they so choose, but if they are somehow intimidated from *exercising* those rights pertaining to elections and voting, it violates the Voting Rights Act.

 

[rockababy]

If democrats are stupid enough to believe that republicans vote on Tuesday and democrats vote on Wednesday, then I'm sorry, democrats don't deserve the right to vote at all. Anyone with half a brain would know this is a joke, if you don't even have half a brain, then, you should just stay home period.