Wow. What the fuck happened?

[Scootaloo]

I went to work today after cruising on DU. The one thing that struck me about what was going on in Wisconsin was the turnout. 119% in Madison, other precincts reporting numbers close to 90%. You don't get turnout like that in this country. That in and of itself was amazing, and uplifting; people do not turn out en masse to vote for the status quo.

I work, I have dinner, I come home, and FUT THE WHACK, Walker won?! By a huge margin?!

Of course DU isn't being terribly informative, with everyone clutching their heads in between screaming at the president.

What I want to know is... what went wrong? The numbers were there. I'm absolutely certain of this. The Fascists do not motivate numbers like that. Spare me the moaning and beard-tugging. What are the numbers, what are the facts? Were there irregularities reported?

Barrett might have conceded (really, guy? really?) but I haven't. Something is amiss here, deeply amiss.

[The Wielding Truth]

1. You know it too. I feel it so strong. Walker did not win.Weird. It does not make sense.

[AndyTiedye]

2. Guess Who Got to Count the Votes

[TheWraith]

3. Okay, here's the Cliff's Notes.

One: Walker hammered the rural areas with positive ads about himself to drive Republican turnout. He had a massive cash advantage to dominate the airwaves with and do GOTV.

Two: Democratic turnout was lackluster, despite what the early reports said. There were still fewer total voters than in 2008.

Three: Recall elections are notoriously hard to win. Many people simply don't support recalling someone for anything less than criminal activity, as reflected in 60% of exit poll respondents saying so.

Four: the Dem candidate was marginal, and had already been beaten by Walker once before.

Five, and lastly, 7 points isn't that huge of a margin, given all of the above.

[HooptieWagon]

7. Six:

The RW propaganda machine was hammering the meme that unionized public employees have cushy high paying jobs and dont deserve it.

[SoutherDem]

10. That is the one that gets me

How is it the Republicans can make teachers sound like the bad guys for getting insurance and a retirement plan, but it becomes class warfare if anyone points out the outrageous salaries and bonuses the 1% gets?

[Scootaloo]

11. Why is it that we fold every time they say "class warfare"?

Let's just say it; fuck yes it's class warfare, now where's my fucking guillotine?!

[renate]

12. good question

Not so much with the guillotine, perhaps, but there are a lot more of us than there are of them. What's wrong with saying they've declared class warfare on us? It's not as though we've declared class warfare on them. I think the latter is what the GOP has managed to imply is going on, even though the opposite is so patently true.

[Phlem]

4. They have since

fine tuned their election stealing apparatus.

-p

[MjolnirTime]

6. At least you can accept that you are a Neanderthal. That's a step forward.

[ohheckyeah]

9. poster is gone. n/t

[Scootaloo]

8. The trick with flinging poo is getting it to stick; rapidity of fire doesn't count for much

Just something to keep in mind when you make your new account.