Police called in to NY-23 polling stations because of voter intimidation by teabaggers!

Note from Greetings: Congratulations, Teabaggers. You sound like the Taliban and their actions in the Afghanistan elections. We were once more civilized than they were.

By John Amato, Crooks and Liars, November 4, 2009

The teabaggers are turning to threats and intimidation out there in NY-23 land.

Elizabeth Benjamin writes in the NY Daily News:

It's getting ugly out there.

I just got off the phone with former state Democratic Chairwoman June O'Neill, who informed me the police had been called to at least two polling sites in St. Lawrence County due to overzealous electioneering (O'Neill called it "voter intimidation") by Doug Hoffman supporters.

"We've gotten reports that people are standing there, covered with Hoffman stickers and yelling anti-choice stuff at voters," said O'Neill, a St. Lawrence native who has been running the party's GOTV effort for Bill Owens in NY-23.

"Apparently, there's some woman claiming to be a commissioner," O'Neill continued. "Commissioner of what, I don't know. She's from Texas, I think, and she won't leave."

"This is not the way we roll in the North Country."'

O'Neill also said she had received anecdotal reports of problems at polling sites in Gouverneur, which is Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava's hometown. But she couldn't immediately confirm this.

I called over to the St. Lawrence Board of Elections and got GOP Elections Commissioner Debbie Pahler on the line. She confirmed that the police indeed had been called, but she downplayed the incident, saying it's "a routine procedure here in the county."

"We had electioneering within the 100-foot polling marker," Phaler said. "It's my understanding that they were asked to leave and wouldn't leave."

"If people are electioneering within the marker and don't stop when we ask them to, our inspectors are instructed to call law enforcement to assist them. I don't think anybody was arrested."

O'Neill also said she had received anecdotal reports of problems at polling sites in Gouverneur, which is Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava's hometown. But she couldn't immediately confirm this.

The Glenn Beck crowd are out there yelling anti-choice crap. They will bring the same anger and hatred they brought to the town halls that they disrupted. This is going to put a lot of stress on local police forces.

This is just the beginning. Gee, I wonder if Fox News will cover this voter intimidation and try to make a national story out of it. OK, I was joking. I hope the local media up in NY-23 get plenty of video of this. If any of our readers has video, please email us: crooksandliars-at-gmail.com

Please go out and bring back a real political party. We need two.

The Republican Party, with Scozzava's withdrawal from the race in New York State, is now who we thought they were. Religious extremists, racially motivated, no different than religious extremist movements in other countries of the world. As I hope they reject those extremists, so do I hope we reject these.

I look forward to either the return of a truly fiscally conservative-based Republican Party, or the replacement of this Edsel version with another party who follows those beliefs. This country needs two truly representative parties. Not one party and an extremist mob threatening, in turn 1) secession; 2) potential military coups; and other like seditionist policies. It does this country no good.

What they will find is what they have been railing against. The demographics of this country are changing. There is no stopping that, and it serves no purpose to be afraid of it. Once the Republican Party can embrace the demographic changes in the U.S. Population and return to what they believed in once, rather than a policy based on villainizing everyone that is simply "not like them", then they will have a chance. Until then, they will be standing on an ever-shrinking iceberg in an ocean that laps closer and closer to its edge.

I await the comments to come that, as I said of this group, move to villainize my comments rather than delineate their proposed policies.

GOP candidate Scozzafava drops out of NY-23 race

Note from Greetings: So.. the Republicans are now the party of the EXTREME extreme right-wing, with no relationship to the mainstream of America. This woman is a conservative, and SHE'S not extreme enough for them.

I hope the Republicans can shift back to their true fiscally conservative base and away from this equivalent of religious extremism that has taken over other parts of the world, too. This nation needs a realistic and valid 2-party system, not one party and an extremist mob.

The Republican Party's nominee in a special election bows out in favor of a third-party candidate

Alex Koppelman

Oct. 31, 2009

Score one for the tea partiers. Conservative activists unhappy that Dede Scozzafava, a moderate, was the Republican Party's choice to run in a special election to fill a congressional seat in upstate New York won a major victory on Saturday. Scozzafava has announced that she's dropping out of the race, leaving third-party conservative candidate Doug Hoffman as the Republican choice.

"In recent days, polls have indicated that my chances of winning this election are not as strong as we would like them to be. The reality that I've come to accept is that in today's political arena, you must be able to back up your message with money—and as I've been outspent on both sides, I've been unable to effectively address many of the charges that have been made about my record. But as I've said from the start of this campaign, this election is not about me, it's about the people of this district. And, as always, today I will do what I believe serves their interests best," Scozzafava said in a statement.

"It is increasingly clear that pressure is mounting on many of my supporters to shift their support. Consequently, I hereby release those individuals who have endorsed and supported my campaign to transfer their support as they see fit to do so. I am and have always been a proud Republican. It is my hope that with my actions today, my party will emerge stronger nd our district and our nation can take an important step towards restoring the enduring strength and economic prosperity that has defined us for generations."

The Republican establishment -- or at least those parts of it that hadn't already been backing Hoffman -- has now officially thrown its support behind the third-party choice. It's hard to predict anything in a special election like this one, but given the makeup of the district, it appears Hoffman is now headed for victory.

-- Alex Koppelman