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The Funny Side of Disenfranchisement
TPM Reader JW writes in with a little window into the mind of Washington GOP Chair Luke Esser, who decided to stop counting votes on Saturday night just because.
It's a column from Esser's college days, and a column that was clearly intended to be humorous at that. So it should be taken with a grain of salt. On the eve of the 1986 midterm elections, Esser wrote in the University of Washington's paper that he was praying for rain, because that would drive Democratic-voting "shiftless deadbeats" away from the polls. He explained, "Years of interminable welfare checks and free government services have made these modern-day sloths even more lazy. They will vote on election day, if it isn’t much of a bother. But even the slightest inconvenience can keep them from the polling place."
And since, he wrote, "[m]any of the most successful anti-deadbeat voter techniques (poll taxes, sound beatings, etc.) that conservatives have used in the past have been outlawed by busybody judges," he was organizing a "Rain Dance" for conservatives that night. Ha ha ha.
Josh
Zachary
Looks like he just asked someone to 'pull his finger.'
February 11, 2008 12:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, my former state senator is a tool. Luke Esser is a tool.
February 11, 2008 12:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
What a total fuckwad!
February 11, 2008 12:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
This site is so fucked now.
February 11, 2008 1:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
This site is so fucked now.
February 11, 2008 1:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
This site is so fucked now.
February 11, 2008 1:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
This site is so fucked now.
February 11, 2008 1:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's so funny to hear Repugthugs hollering about disenfranchisement. They wrote the book on it:
http://www.amazon.com/How-Rig-Election-Confessions-Republican/dp/1416552227
(ps. Don't buy it, check it out at your local library)
February 11, 2008 1:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Meet the Maine Democratic voters Mr. Esser.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=168717&ac=PHnws
http://bangornews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=160059&zoneid=500
Record primary turnout in lizzards, heavy wind, and thunder and lightning, according to a friend in Brunswick, Me.
February 11, 2008 2:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, those Maine lizards are the worst. Six feet long if they're an inch, and they can beat a snowmobile in a sprint over fresh powder. Kudos to Maine's Democratic electorate for braving the lizards to make it to the polls. ;)
February 11, 2008 3:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry about the re-posts; it is so hard to tell what this site is doing.
February 11, 2008 2:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, Karl's job is open. This guy would fit right in.
February 11, 2008 2:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
The DNC should endow a fund for conservative campus newspapers and columnists. It seems like every time we catch someone in political shenanigans, there's a column in some decades-old campus rag saying "If I ever get the chance, here's the shenanigans I'll pull. HA HA HA! Don't get your panties in a bunch, liberals, I'm just kidding because that's what irreverent maverick college paper columnists do!"
February 11, 2008 3:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
I've heard of giving it the old college try, but seriously...
Oh, but it's just an irreverent college prank... like "I'd rather be waterboarded than vote for John McCain..." Just like rushing your fraternity again, right, boys?
February 11, 2008 4:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
If you want to know just how messed up the Republican caucus system in WA is, take a look at my posts for the previous (Huckabee complaint) article.
It's their own damned faults.
February 11, 2008 4:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Looks like a slimey used car salesman.
Luckily most of the "Young Republicans" from that era were so vocal and unashamed of thier idiotic and often racist views (remember all that crap from those stupid kids back then?). I am sure there are countless self-incriminating statements from the past from the Republican aholes we will have to face in the near future. Better start digging and nip them in the bud before they get anywhere politically.
February 11, 2008 4:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
For better voter disenfranchisement related fun, see "Aesop's Fables Teach Children the Art of Voter Suppression" By Andrew Golden, recently on McSweeneys.
http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2008/2/5golden.html
February 11, 2008 5:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
The voters are no impediment to the work of the party... neither is the law.
Did da widdow wepublicans have a big wee wee when da voters didn't vote da way da party tod em too? aww too bad...
Just think of the regular elections when the Republicans once again determine which way the vote will go -- thats what we get for letting crimes go uninvestigated and unpunished... does anybody think the criminal machine that already installed their own chosen leader in power regardless of the vote of the people is going to stop now?
February 11, 2008 5:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why does the party even have someone with a history and a paper trail like his in a position of authority? At the very least, they should want to keep someone like that hidden under a rock.
February 11, 2008 10:49 PM | Reply | Permalink