Wisconsin, election fraud, and propaganda

This blog used to be all about election fraud, until the right hijacked the topic with their claims of voter fraud -- a very different animal.

The term "election fraud" refers to schemes to miscount already-cast votes, usually through rigged electronic voting devices. The term can also refer to other shady tactics, such as robocalls which tell people to go to the wrong precinct.

The phrase "Voter fraud" is used to describe a scenario in which people pretend to be eligible to vote even though they aren't. All studies have proven that this problem doesn't really exist.

Nevertheless, millions of Americans believe that this country faces an epidemic of voter misidentification. This triumph of propaganda serves the interests of Republicans pushing for draconian ID laws which will keep seniors, students, the homeless and the poor away from the voting booth.

Wisconsin provides a prime example of this myth-meme in action. From the right-wing blog The Gateway Pundit:

Democrats in Wisconsin are busing in supporters from Minnesota today for the recall vote against Governor Scott Walker.
On Twitter Democrats say they are driving in from across America.

Notice how the Pundit does not humor us with examples or screen caps proving that these tweets exist and that they came from actual Democrats. You know damned well that if such evidence existed, we would see it. The Pundit does, however, favor us with a very unconvincing clip from the 24/7 lie machine known as Fox News.

There’s more…  A man called into the Chris Plante Show today. He said Democrats are giving away free stuff to supporters who go vote in Wisconsin. The caller said Democrats have four buses coming into Wisconsin from Michigan to vote Democrat.

As Sherlock once said: "Bleat, Watson. Pure Bleat!" Those mythical buses drive through Blogistan Right during every close election. The evidence proving their existence is about as believable as the eyewitness accounts of Goatman.

You want shady activity? Here's the real deal. In the previous post, I asked if it was possible to track misleading robocalls to their source. Indeed it was: Some of those calls came from a phone connected to a Wisconsin phone bank controlled by the GOP. Although we may not yet have a clear narrative of what happened, we do have something tangible to investigate.

I predicted a Walker win weeks ago; his victory did not upset me. My focus is on propaganda. The important battle is the one for the minds of men and women. The important election has not yet been held. It will occur in the near future.

Suppose that, a week from now, you say the following words to someone you just met: "There was election rigging in Wisconsin." What, in all likelihood, will be the first image to pop into your listener's mind? Will he or she think of those fictional -- but much publicized -- buses? Or will he or she think of that very non-fictional GOP-owned phone? 

If the average person picks the bus instead of the phone, then this country will have voted -- yet again -- for hallucination over reality, for propaganda over the provable. That's the truly important election. Unless we find a way to win it, democracy can't work