The Margin of Fraud

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So we have a very tight race for Arizona’s Second Congressional District, the one that was represented by Gabrielle Giffords until she resigned after being wounded in a rampage shooting here in Tucson. Incumbent Ron Barber was on Giffords’ staff and was also wounded in the shooting. He ran for the district in a special election and won, then ran in the 2012 General election against Republican Martha McSally, whom he narrowly defeated. Wikipedia reports:

The district was, at least on paper, slightly more Democratic than its predecessor. However, his race against Republican Martha McSally was one of the closest in the nation. McSally led on election night by a few hundred votes, but the race was initially too close to call due to a large number of provisional ballots. Barber eventually overtook McSally as more ballots were counted. By November 16, most of the outstanding ballots were in heavily Democratic precincts near Tucson. The Arizona Republic determined that as a result, McSally would not be able to pick up enough votes to overcome Barber’s lead. By November 17, Barber’s lead over McSally had grown to 1,400 votes. The same day, the Associated Press determined that there weren’t enough ballots outstanding for McSally to regain the lead, and called the race for Barber. McSally conceded the race later that morning.

Well, history repeats, kinda.  At least it rhymes.

Once again the day after the election, McSally had a lead – 36 votes. The following day her lead had widened to 363 votes. The day after that, it narrowed to 317 votes. On Saturday the margin was 509. Sunday, 341. Monday, 179.  If the final difference is less than 200, an automatic recount is triggered.

Today’s margin? One hundred thirty-three with “two hundred ballots left to count.” The key quote:

(Barber spokeswoman Ashley Nash-Hahn said:) “In Pima County, 782 voters had their ballots rejected, and those votes have not been counted. During the legal recount process, we will work to see that every lawful vote is counted and that the voices of Southern Arizona are heard.”

Anybody taking bets on this one?  She obviously didn’t win by more than the margin of fraud.

No, Ann. Just, NO.

KevinLeave a comment

Ann Barnhardt bloviates about the election:

Look, you can tell me about how the United States is “turning it around” when abortion is a capital offense and sodomy is recriminalized. You can tell me all about how the U.S. is on the road to recovery when there are people in the streets weeping and sobbing on their knees begging the Triune Godhead for His mercy and forgiveness for spending the last fifty years proverbially kicking God in the crotch non-stop.

(*SIGH*)

I don’t want her on “my” side.

Weaponizing Government

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Recently, Gerard Van der Leun posted a quote from Fred on Everything:

Fools say, “If you are not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to fear.” This might be true, or partly true, or sometimes true, or occasionally plausible, if government were benevolent. It isn’t.

The feds—whatever the intention of individuals—are setting up the machinery of a totalitarianism beyond anything yet known on the earth. It falls rapidly into place. You can argue, if you are optimistic enough to make Pollyanna look like a Schopenhaurian gloom-monger, that they would never use such powers. They already do. The only question is how far they will push. What cannot be argued is that they have the powers.

Please do read the whole thing.

I was reminded once again of a quote I pulled off the Geek With A .45’s blog back in 2004 (sadly no longer available from the source, but I’ve still got it) and have repeated here often:

We, who studied the shape and form of the machines of freedom and oppression, have looked around us, and are utterly dumbfounded by what we see.

We see first that the machinery of freedom and Liberty is badly broken. Parts that are supposed to govern and limit each other no longer do so with any reliability.

We examine the creaking and groaning structure, and note that critical timbers have been moved from one place to another, that some parts are entirely missing, and others are no longer recognizable under the wadded layers of spit and duct tape. Other, entirely new subsystems, foreign to the original design, have been added on, bolted at awkward angles.

—

Others pass by without a second look, with no alarm or hue and cry, as if they are blind, as if they don’t understand what they see before their very eyes. We want to shake them, to grasp their heads and turn their faces, shouting, “LOOK! Do you see what this thing is? Do you see how it might be put to use? Do you know what can happen if this thing becomes fully assembled and activated?”

Bill Whittle, interestingly, weighs in on the subject as well in his latest Afterburner:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF_XeBRci8k?rel=0]
Jonah Goldberg caught a lot of flak for his 2008 book Liberal Fascism, but they say when you’re catching flak it means you’re over the target.