The Hill has a disturbing article describing how police around the country are preparing for the possibility of problems on election day.
Police departments in cities across the country are beefing up their ranks for Election Day, preparing for possible civil unrest and riots after the historic presidential contest.
Public safety officials said in interviews with The Hill that the election, which will end with either the nation’s first black president or its first female vice president, demanded a stronger police presence.
Some worry that if Barack Obama loses and there is suspicion of foul play in the election, violence could ensue in cities with large black populations. Others based the need for enhanced patrols on past riots in urban areas (following professional sports events) and also on Internet rumors.
Those internet rumors are coming from a variety of places — and they’ve been out there for many months.
For instance — I spent an extremely unpleasant several hours earlier this week reading some white supremacist and other fringe sites, where there’s a LOT of talk about how they need to arm because of the perceived coming racial unrest. But speculations about rioting can also be found on other sites, some of which are very widely read.
Simultaneously, on the other side of the very wide political aisle, the wheels are already in motion to declare another election stolen in the event of an Obama loss. As the polls have widened to show increasing leads for Obama, these rumblings, too, have gained speed.
All of these folks, imo, are trying to awaken a Dead Parrot… but taken altogether, it’s really no surprise that police departments are gearing up.
I’m really looking forward to November 5th. You?
*****
Added: If Rick Moran’s Dead Parrot doesn’t provide enough perspective, maybe James Joyner will.
Polimom,
Evidently either:
1) you are doing an exemplary job of injecting irony into your post, or
2) you don’t know / remember that November 5th is Guy Fawkes day.
Remember, remember, the fifth of November . . . .
If the Right is prepared to steal the election as was overtly accomplished in 2000, they should be prepared to defend that decision against any and all non-violent resistance. . I for one am not willing to see two coup d’etat in one lifetime.
And remember, the GOP was not afraid to make a test run aofthe use of a violent mob in the Broward Country recount, and successfully shut down a recount that would have gone for Gore by the threat violence from a rioting crowd. Having been successful in that instance, why would they not expand this to any number of other close jurisdictions.
I would never advocate violence, but I will clearly state: this Democrat is not prepared to allow a repeat of 2000 to proceed quietly.
If there was good evidence that the election was stolen, I think a lot of people in law enforcement would join in the protests, just like they did in Ukraine and Georgia when Russian-supported candidates tried to steal those elections.
There are a lot fewer diehard Republicans in the military and law enforcement than you might think, especially after the past 8 years, and even a lot of Republicans (with the probable exception of Dobson/Bachmann types) would draw the line if there was reliable evidence of election fraud by their party.
Both parties have their share of idiots. Some seem to think that a minority president gives them carte blanche to use the term “racist’ whenever something comes up they don’t like. On the other side, we have idiots who see all minorities as being of one mind and plotting against the whites.
Black pundits have actually ramped up this rhetoric with their newly found positions on cable news shows that campaign for Obama.
This campaign has set back the progress in race relations by a large margin. I expect trouble regardless. However, the hint that minorities would riot if Obama wasn’t elected smells of “blackmail”. My vote isn’t going to be coerced by anyone. Period.
TGood — “I expect trouble regardless. ”
Why do you say that? Or maybe I should ask what you mean by “trouble”?
Yes, I am looking forward to November 5. I’ll be hundreds of miles away from any U.S. metropolitan area watching the chaos unfold on a big screen t.v. I’ve come to view these national elections with ever greater fear and loathing. The increase of my fear and loathing for these elections is matched only by my growing fear and loathing of being present in large public gatherings and crowds of hate filled Americans. They may come to burn down the house, but I won’t be there to see it. One of many problems with this election is that whomsoever is crowned victor by the courts or the congress, or, whose to say, maybe even the voters, hasn’t either the talent nor the capacity to bridge the chasm that divides this so-called “nation”. The winner will preside over a hopelessly divided populace, one that is rapidly becoming divided into two heavily armed camps of irreconilable differences. As one commentator pointed out, since 2000, the core of eacy party has come to view the winning of a national election by the opponent as illegitamate. That means that the government formed by the winner is viewed as illegitimate by what used to be viewed as the “loyal” opposition. I’m becoming ever more of the opinion that the only successful resolution to this problem is to pursue the course of the growing Sessionist movement and carve this thing up.
Mark Folse October 22, 2008 | 11:36 am
“If the Right is prepared to steal the election as was overtly accomplished in 2000”
You need to get over it and grow up. It’s been almost nine years. It wasn’t stolen in 2000 just like it wasn’t stolen in 2004. I thought we ran out of Kool-Aide.
I can tell Joe is not American because he can’t spell a very common American beverage mix found in any grocery store, although evidently not the stores in his country, so he should shut up. I’m with Mark — nobody is going to steal an election this time around without a fight!