It was bad enough when a majority of Republicans were so disinformed after the 2008 election that they thought ACORN stole the election (almost 10 million votes, apparently) for Barack Obama.
Now that ACORN is no more (since early 2010), the massive disinformation campaign that Republicans have been suckered into believing seems to continue nonetheless. Just under a majority of self-identified GOP voters think the non-existent ACORN stole the election again this year for Obama! Those tricky non-existent bastards, apparently, somehow stuffed the ballot box 5.5 million times and never got caught even once!
From Public Policy Polling today, who note that Republicans are “not handling election results well”…
It should be noted, for any of those duped Republicans who may be reading this, that there is no evidence, none, zero, nada, that any vote has ever been stolen in any election either by ACORN or via one of the bad voter registrations submitted by one of its workers (bad registrations which were almost all discovered by ACORN themselves and turned in, along with the rogue worker who submitted them, to authorities.)
For those stooges who are still unconvinced, because they read something somewhere on the Internet about “voter fraud” in 2012, we dispatched with the most popular “massive voter fraud” myths of 2012 over the weekend right here.
Finally, as if all of that isn’t pathetic enough, PPP has more sad news for a party which now seems intent on disappearing itself entirely…
One reason that such a high percentage of Republicans are holding what could be seen as extreme views is that their numbers are declining. Our final poll before the election, which hit the final outcome almost on the head, found 39% of voters identifying themselves as Democrats and 37% as Republicans. Since the election we’ve seen a 5 point increase in Democratic identification to 44%, and a 5 point decrease in Republican identification to 32%.
UPDATE 12/6/12: Even Glenn Beck’s The Blaze “news” site is skewering Republicans for chasing ACORN ghosts, calling PPP’s finding “potentially alarming”. (Gosh, we wonder who might have been responsible for setting off that “alarm”?) Also, Stephen Colbert takes his own shot at the GOP’s ACORN “voter fraud” fantasy as well. That video is right here…
Its incredible how far disconnected some in the Republican Party have become from reality. First they believed the polls were “skewed” and when it turns out that the polls were right, they turned to fraud as an explanation. Fraud by a group that doesn’t even exist no less. Good luck with that GOP voters.
What an apropos photo, Brad. It provides context for the word “wingnut.” Though you might have also thrown in a few loose screws.
But seriously, let’s go ahead and give them…Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska. Carve it right on out, and help them move. They can’t have Utah and Wyoming, too pretty. And they can’t have Louisiana on east because they’ve shown they don’t know how to handle coastline. But I’d offer them those 5 states, right now. Take the deal.
OT: Progressive Radio AM 1090 is getting pulled here in the Seattle area. In favor of yet another sports channel. Goodbye Randi, Mike, Thom, Ed, Stephanie, Norm… unless people can afford to drop money on podcasts. Totally crazy.
This calls for the creation of a cartoon character: “Acorn, the voter fraud fairy”. Acorn might look like Tinkerbell, but with a hat resembling an acorn (nut) crown. She’ll have a magic marker in one hand, and a disguise kit in the other. Like Santa Claus she will have the power to be everywhere at once, since that would be necessary to forge 5-10 million votes one at a time.
The other 51% variously blame Fat Albert, the Tooth Fairy, Darth Vader, and Iran.
An important point about ACORN that often goes unsaid is that they were required by law to turn in ALL voter registrations, including any that were known to be fraudulent. The fact that Republicans made political hay out of this is testament to how ridiculous the party has become and how ignorant the electorate has become.
It’s misleading to state “Half of the Republicans polled (49%) thought ACORN stole the election” even though that statement comes straight from the Public Policy Polling press release.
This is a ridiculous result from a ridiculous poll question: “Do you think that Barack Obama legitimately won the Presidential election this year, or do you think that ACORN stole it for him?”
So, the response “I think the results were not legitimate” is automatically recorded as “ACORN stole it.”
The results would be much different if the question was, say, “Do you think ACORN stole the election?” or “How did Obama win?”
This election WAS stolen, just like all our major elections in the past 40 years or so. First the potential candidates are vetted by the controlling power structure (corporations, the super wealth, corrupt politicians, etc). Any questionable candidates that squeak by to the primary are marginalized by the corporate media and are soundly defeated. In the general election we are given a chance to select from their first and second choice. That’s democracy?
This election WAS stolen, just like all our major elections in the past 40 years or so
In the sense that corporate power and media consolidation puts forth certain candidates and marginalizes others, I see the point. However, that is a very different argument than the argument that the election was stolen by voter fraud.
In addition, the idea that “ACORN stole the election” is an argument used by those who want to further strengthen the power of elites and those who already hold power by denigrating the very types of community grassroots organizations (like the now defunct ACORN) that work to empower the least empowered members of our inequitable political and economic system.
…and people on food stamps are buying lobsters! …and Canadians come here for health care (how do they pay for it?)
Brett @ #8: one of the choices was “not sure”, so that blows your theory out of the water. Instead of answering “ACORN stole it”, they could’ve put “not sure”.
This is all part and parcel of the hallucination of the good citizenry.
This election was “almost” stolen by Karl Rove, if not for Anonymous it would have been stolen in the exact same way they DID steal the 2004 election.
Wow: Acorn is a new conspiring organization, just like the Freemasons, the Trilateral Commission, and the Illumnati.
What an appropriate picture. Not a single acorn in all those nuts1
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