James Taranto wrote this in his April 11 2005
"Best of the Web" column
John Kerry, the haughty, French-looking Massachusetts Democrat, who by the way served in Vietnam*, showed up yesterday at a Boston event, where he was "using crutches as he recovers from knee surgery," reports the Associated Press. He was also using emotional crutches as he recovers from last year's election:
"Last year too many people were denied their right to vote, too many who tried to vote were intimidated," the Massachusetts senator said at an event sponsored by the state League of Women Voters. . . .
Kerry also cited examples Sunday of how people were duped into not voting.
"Leaflets are handed out saying Democrats vote on Wednesday, Republicans vote on Tuesday. People are told in telephone calls that if you've ever had a parking ticket, you're not allowed to vote," he said.
Where did Kerry come up with that idea about leaflets saying "Democrats on Wednesday"? Probably from this story, which appeared a week before the election:
With the knowledge that the minority vote will be crucial in the upcoming presidential election, Republican Party officials are urging blacks, Hispanics, and other minorities to make their presence felt at the polls on Wednesday, Nov. 3. . . .
"You can't walk through a black neighborhood here in Miami without seeing our 'Don't Forget Big Wednesday!' message up on a billboard, tacked to a phone booth, or taped to a bus shelter," Monreal added. "The Republican Party has spared no expense in this endeavor."
Before Kerry embarrasses himself further, someone ought to take him aside and explain to him that the Onion is a satirical publication
I admit that I found out about this here at www.mediamatters.org in an article entitled "Not funny: James Taranto twice wrongly claimed John Kerry based electoral fraud comments on jokes" so I knew that Taranto was wrong. However I decided how long it would take me to check whether Kerry might have been using a source other than "The Onion" without reading mediamatters refutation of Taranto. I read only to the end of the quote of Taranto's claim, then tried to check it on my own.
Now I am not a leading expert on the Web like Mr Taranto, so the only thing I could think of was to google Democrats+Wednesday+fraud. The first hit was vote2004.eriposte.com which is a huge site, so it took me a while to get to this entry.
11/1/04_2 [Permalink] UPDATED 11/2/04
Fake leaflet emerges in Ohio saying Republicans should vote on Tuesday (11/2) and Democrats on Wednesday (11/3)
Ohio Voter Suppression News mentions this:
Franklin County hit with phony leaflets
Matt Damschroder, director of the Franklin County (Columbus area) Board of Elections held a news conference Monday afternoon to announce that parts of the county had indeed been victimized by people distributing the following flyer:
[eRiposte note: Picture of flyer is at the URL above. I am reproducing the text here in brown font]
Franklin County Board of Elections
Election Bulletin
Because the confusion caused [sic] by unexpected heavy voter registration, voters are asked to apply to the following schedule:
Republican voters are asked to vote at your assigned location on Tuesday.
Democratic voters are asked to vote at your assigned location on Wednesday.
Thank you for your cooperation, and remember voting is a privilege.
Franklin County, Where Government Works
Note the date November 1 2004, which is somewhat before Taranto's post on April 11 2005.
Now vote2004.eriposte.com is a partisan site, so I can see how a fine journalist like Mr Taranto might not take their word for it. Now I'm a blogger not a journalist so I don't know how telephones work. However, I do know how to look up phone numbers on the web. I went back to google. This took quite a while because there were so many sites commenting on the accusation by Matt Damschroder, director of the Franklin County (Columbus area) Board of Elections that it was a bit difficult to find the web page of Franklin county. I managed to get to the Franklin county web page by googling Franklin County Ohio (that is by leaving out "Damschroder") In the process I found this obscure site. I also learned that Damschroder is a Republican no doubt eager to slander his fellow Republicans.
From the Franklin County page I just clicked on "select an agency" and then electoral commission and got this
Director Matthew M. Damschroder
Deputy Director Michael R. Hackett
280 East Broad Street, Room 100
Columbus, OH 43215
Phone: (614) 462-3100
Fax: (614) 462-3489
so I learn Taranto wouldn't have had to use the phone to check the story after all.
Given the difficulty finding Franklin county amid all of the stories about the fake Franklin county flyer which told Democrats to vote on Wednesday, this took much longer than it should have. Also I was playing Spades at www.pogo.com at the same time. The total elapsed time was 12 minutes.
Mr Taranto must be very very busy if he can't spare 12 minutes to check a story before posting.
update: Now I have read to the end of the story and I find that someone at the daily Kos got the goods in 5 minutes not 12. Well I guess that's why they get 400,000 hits a day and I get about 18.
Update2: I sent this e-mail to Damschroder, although I really shouldn't have.
Dear Mr Damschroder
I'm sorry to bother you about a very old story, which, I guess has led
to a flood of e-mails, but I was wondering if something I read on the
web is true or a joke. Did you hold a press conference just before
the election (Monday the 1 November 2004) in which you reported that a
fake flyer had been found which said that Democrats should vote on
Wednesday 3 November not Tuesday 2 November ?
This is, as I guess you know, a huge story on the web. I don't want
to waste your time, but I can't figure out if it is a true story or a
joke.
Sincerely yours,
Robert Waldmann
p.s. I'm not an Ohio citizen but my mom grew up in Ohio so I'm half Ohioan
but still sorry to waste your time.
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