voter ID and Alien Essence

[NeilT]

I thought I'd move this topic over here just in case there's actually some baseball stuff to talk about.

I know that one side of the voter ID question sincerely believes that there's massive voter fraud that can be corrected by voter ID requirements, and that the other side believes that the only purpose of voter ID laws is suppression of minority registration and preservation of the status quo, but here's what bothers me about voter ID.

1.  If there really is massive voter fraud, prosecute it. It needs to be prosecuted.
2.  If there really is massive voter fraud, requiring a picture ID at the polls isn't going to stop it.  If somebody can manipulate voting, all they have to do to get around the poll ID requirements is order a bunch of good IDs from Canada or China.
3.  The only people who seem to be affected by voter ID laws are the elderly.
4.  None of the ID laws apply to voting by mail, which is the easiest place for fraud to occur.
5.  If George Washington and Abe Lincoln didn't need IDs to vote, why should I?

As for alien essences, how would you know if aliens had stolen your essence?  Don't they wipe your memory?

[chuck]

1.  If there really is massive voter fraud

There isn't.

[homer]

There isn't.

I don't know if you are saying there isn't fraud, or there isn't 'massive' fraud, but in close contests the fraud doesn't have to be 'massive' to make a difference:

This study examines participation rates by non-citizens using a nationally representative sample that includes non-citizen immigrants. We find that some non-citizens participate in U.S. elections, and that this participation has been large enough to change meaningful election outcomes including Electoral College votes, and Congressional elections.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261379414000973

The study also goes on to criticize voter ID as a solution.

[Limey]

The incidents of voter fraud that would be caught with the new ID laws is in the single digits.  Not single digit percentages, single digit in pure numbers.  Meanwhile, in states where the new laws have been in effect for at least one election cycle, there has been a noted drop in participation by minorities who, as everyone knows, are pretty much a block vote for Democrats (Asians and Cubans excepted).

Voter ID laws in Kansas and Tennessee dropped 2012 turnout by over 100,000 votes

In response to a request from a group of Democratic senators, the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office analyzed the effect of voter ID laws in Kansas and Tennessee on 2012 turnout. Their findings? Turnout dropped at least 1.9 percentage points in Kansas and 2.2 percentage points in Tennessee thanks to the laws. By our calculations, that's 122,000 fewer votes.

Kansas, in particular, is a notable state for this to be an issue.  They have highly competitive races - basically separated by a pube - for Governor and for Senator.  The latter potentially being the difference between a Democratically-controlled Senate and a Republican-controlled Senate.  Given that these laws do not address the easiest form of voter fraud - absentee ballots - it's hard to see the vote-suppressing result of these laws as being a feature, not a bug.

Oh, and if you need to see a smoking gun in this regard, here's Chris Christie:

Christie stressed the need to keep Republicans in charge of states — and overseeing state-level voting regulations — ahead of the next presidential election. Christie made his push at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce event in Washington, D.C., where he ran down a list of states he’s spent time in recently as chairman of the Republican Governors Association questioning whether a Republican presidential nominee would rather have the incumbent GOP governor in power or the Democratic challenger.

“Would you rather have Rick Scott in Florida overseeing the voting mechanism, or Charlie Crist? Would you rather have Scott Walker in Wisconsin overseeing the voting mechanism, or would you rather have Mary Burke? Who would you rather have in Ohio, John Kasich or Ed FitzGerald?” he asked.

[Bench]

Not too sure how JDJO and BBWAA counts as "baseball stuff" anyway, but if any place were an appropriate setting for a politically charged flame war between the informed and the Mr. Happies of the world, a thread about JDJO was surely it.  

[NeilT]

Not too sure how JDJO and BBWAA counts as "baseball stuff" anyway . . .  

I am such an idiot.  You're absolutely right.

[Limey]

FWIW, here's a road map as to how Texas' voter ID law suppresses the votes of the elderly, the poor and minorities.  The subject of the article being a member of all three of those demographics, and one of 600,000 - six...hundred...thousand - Texans believed to be in the same boat.

[Bench]

FWIW, here's a road map as to how Texas' voter ID law suppresses the votes of the elderly, the poor and minorities.  The subject of the article being a member of all three of those demographics, and one of 600,000 - six...hundred...thousand - Texans believed to be in the same boat.

It also adversely affects women who change their name due to marriage/divorce.  If the maiden name on her voter registration index is different from the married name on her driver's license there's a whole extra set of hoops to jump through.  

[Limey]

It also adversely affects women who change their name due to marriage/divorce.  If the maiden name on her voter registration index is different from the married name on her driver's license there's a whole extra set of hoops to jump through.  

Wendy Davis - post-filibuster fame - got tripped up by this last time around, I believe.

[HudsonHawk]

I don't know if you are saying there isn't fraud, or there isn't 'massive' fraud, but in close contests the fraud doesn't have to be 'massive' to make a difference:

This study examines participation rates by non-citizens using a nationally representative sample that includes non-citizen immigrants. We find that some non-citizens participate in U.S. elections, and that this participation has been large enough to change meaningful election outcomes including Electoral College votes, and Congressional elections.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261379414000973

The study also goes on to criticize voter ID as a solution.

This study is based on five...yes that's five (5)...people who checked "non-citizen" on an internet poll and claimed to have voted in the 2008 Presidential election.  A similar poll for the 2010 mid-term election failed to turn up a single verified instance, but that didn't stop the "researchers".  From there, they extrapolated that millions of non-citizens are voting and swinging elections for the Democrats.  This study is already being hammered by pollsters, statisticians, scientists, accountants and hair dressers as being complete hackery. 

[BudGirl]

Sounds like another reason women should note be allowed to vote.

[chuck]

This study is based on five...yes that's five (5)...people who checked "non-citizen" on an internet poll and claimed to have voted in the 2008 Presidential election.  A similar poll for the 2010 mid-term election failed to turn up a single verified instance, but that didn't stop the "researchers".  From there, they extrapolated that millions of non-citizens are voting and swinging elections for the Democrats.  This study is already being hammered by pollsters, statisticians, scientists, accountants and hair dressers as being complete hackery. 

The type of "fraud" that voter ID laws purport to address simply does not exist. There is no evidence of it anywhere, at any time. The voter fraud that does happen, of course, is invariably done by Republicans who do things like sneak into retirement homes and trick Jessie Mae into signing a straight-ticket absentee ballot.

But again, there's no fucking reason to be discussing this because everyone knows what this is - simple disenfranchisement. Anyone who claims otherwise just makes a (further) fool of himself.

[Dark Star]

The type of "fraud" that voter ID laws purport to address simply does not exist. There is no evidence of it anywhere, at any time. The voter fraud that does happen, of course, is invariably done by Republicans who do things like sneak into retirement homes and trick Jessie Mae into signing a straight-ticket absentee ballot.

But again, there's no fucking reason to be discussing this because everyone knows what this is - simple disenfranchisement. Anyone who claims otherwise just makes a (further) fool of himself.

I was going to ask, just what is it people are afraid of, re: fears of voter fraud? 

But, I'm afraid I already know.

[Navin R Johnson]

This is the kind of tempest in a teapot "issue" that the AM talk radio hucksters live for.  Their business model is built on it.

[HudsonHawk]

This is the kind of tempest in a teapot "issue" that the AM talk radio hucksters live for.  Their business model is built on it.

The rely on people remaining ignorant and afraid.  That's how they make money. 

[subnuclear]

Mathematically, any fraud issues and the enforcement of voter id are impossibly small to measure in an actual election. Voter participation is no where near 100% so small variations in voter turnout wash out all effects.

[Col. Sphinx Drummond]

I wonder how many poor ol' disenfranchised Democrat voters don't have a photo ID and how the fuck they get away with it. Hell, I can't take a shit inside of an alien space craft without showing three forms of ID. Seriously, it's 2014, how does one get to be an adult (recent name changes excluded) and not have a photo ID? Anyway, I don't think it will stop fraud, and we only know about the bad fraudsters who get found out.

[NeilT]

I wonder how many poor ol' disenfranchised Democrat voters don't have a photo ID and how the fuck they get away with it. Hell, I can't take a shit inside of an alien space craft without showing three forms of ID. Seriously, it's 2014, how does one get to be an adult (recent name changes excluded) and not have a photo ID? Anyway, I don't think it will stop fraud, and we only know about the bad fraudsters who get found out.

It's not uncommon for the elderly not to have current photo IDs, either because they never drove or because they gave up driving. 

[BudGirl]

My dad doesn't drive but he has an ID.

[NeilT]

that's because he's always carded at bars.

[Col. Sphinx Drummond]

It's not uncommon for the elderly not to have current photo IDs, either because they never drove or because they gave up driving. 

Probably more rare than common.  I really wonder how many? I mean if we could identify who doesn't then they could be assisted in acquiring one. Lets find out who doesn't and help them get one.

[NeilT]

Here's an anecdote.

http://nancysims.com/stategovernment/uh-oh-i-encounter-voter-id/

[HudsonHawk]

Probably more rare than common.  I really wonder how many? I mean if we could identify who doesn't then they could be assisted in acquiring one. Lets find out who doesn't and help them get one.

What if they don't want one? 

[Col. Sphinx Drummond]

What if they don't want one? 

What if they do?

[Bench]

Anyway, I don't think it will stop fraud....

It won't stop fraud because there isn't any to stop.

[Bench]

Probably more rare than common.  I really wonder how many? I mean if we could identify who doesn't then they could be assisted in acquiring one. Lets find out who doesn't and help them get one.

Why should people have to jump through a bunch of hoops and pay the government money in order to exercise their fundamental right as a citizen?  Surely not to solve a problem that doesn't exist in the first place. 

[chuck]

Why should people have to jump through a bunch of hoops and pay the government money in order to exercise their fundamental right as a citizen?  Surely not to solve a problem that doesn't exist in the first place. 

It hasn't escaped my notice that the people who are on fire to have the government require a government ID in order to exercise a constitutional right are in fact the get the government out of my life crowd.

[HudsonHawk]

What if they do?

Then they're free to get one.  How is that relevant to forcing people to get one as a condition of exercising their god-given right to self determination?

[mrpink]

It won't stop fraud because there isn't any to stop.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/hans-von-spakovsky-here-comes-the-2014-voter-fraud-1414450805

Google says otherwise. He's not objective but that doesn't make him wrong.

[Bench]

It hasn't escaped my notice that the people who are on fire to have the government require a government ID in order to exercise a constitutional right are in fact the get the government out of my life crowd.

Right.  These are often the same folks who fervently believe that a giant bureaucratic institution like Notre Dame's constitutional rights are being violated by having to fill out a one page form opting out of insurance coverage for birth control.  But, hey, you want to vote?  Gather all appropriate documentation and walk your ass down to the DMV for a few hours and pay the government some money so you can exercise your fundamental right of franchise. 

[HudsonHawk]

It hasn't escaped my notice that the people who are on fire to have the government require a government ID in order to exercise a constitutional right are in fact the get the government out of my life crowd.

The same crowd who demand the dissolution of the FDA and CDC then turn around and scream about the lack of coordinated effort on the Ebola shit.  The same crowd who demand cheap labor to fuel their economy then turn around and scream about closing the border.  The same crowd who whine about the ability of homosexuals to marry on the grounds that it's destroying the "family structure", but are twice divorced on their third with a "no-committal ceremony".  The same crowd who holds up a draft-dodging child molester as a paragon of American values just because he owns a lot of guns.  The same crowd who blasts parents and sex education for teenage pregnancy while their own 15 year old daughter is knocked up.  You know...the morons.

[Jacksonian]

I would think the better the first route to ensuring the least amount of voter fraud is to make sure those registered to vote are legal to vote.  Apparently NC found a bunch registered who shouldn't have been.  And also making sure the voting machines are working correctly.

[HudsonHawk]

http://online.wsj.com/articles/hans-von-spakovsky-here-comes-the-2014-voter-fraud-1414450805

Google says otherwise. He's not objective but that doesn't make him wrong.

Let's distinguish between racketeering by candidates and the non-existent rash of illegals supposedly voting.

[Limey]

Probably more rare than common.  I really wonder how many? I mean if we could identify who doesn't then they could be assisted in acquiring one. Lets find out who doesn't and help them get one.

In Texas, it's estimated to be 600,000 - 750,000 eligible voters who do not have acceptable ID and/or the underlying documentation to get one.  In the article I posted above, the poor guy's birth certificate was completed erroneously with his mother's maiden name, not her married - and his - last name.  So his voter registration card and birth certificate have different names, so he can't vote.

I still do not see why showing up at the correct polling station, with a valid voter registration card that was mailed to your registered address, that matches the voter rolls at the polling place, is inadequate to determine eligibility to vote.

[Bench]

I still do not see why showing up at the correct polling station, with a valid voter registration card that was mailed to your registered address, that matches the voter rolls at the polling place, is inadequate to determine eligibility to vote.

It's ridiculous that the very document which memorializes ones right to vote is insufficient to actually vote.

[Limey]

What if they do?

The constitution prohibits any "poll tax".  Requiring an ID that costs money to obtain has been deemed to be a poll tax time and time again.  The Texas law was deemed a poll tax by the appropriate Federal court and stayed.  The Supreme court stepped in and stayed that stay, deciding that it's too close to the election to change the law now.

So, you are arguing for something that has been tested through the entire court system and even SCOTUS agrees it is unconstitutional.

[Limey]

The same crowd who demand the dissolution of the FDA and CDC then turn around and scream about the lack of coordinated effort on the Ebola shit.  The same crowd who demand cheap labor to fuel their economy then turn around and scream about closing the border.  The same crowd who whine about the ability of homosexuals to marry on the grounds that it's destroying the "family structure", but are twice divorced on their third with a "no-committal ceremony".  The same crowd who holds up a draft-dodging child molester as a paragon of American values just because he owns a lot of guns.  The same crowd who blasts parents and sex education for teenage pregnancy while their own 15 year old daughter is knocked up.  You know...the morons Palins.

FIFY.

You forgot to mention that it's also the same crowd who believe that Obama cannot be President because he was born in Kenya to an American mother and Kenyan father, but Ted Cruz is ok because he looks caucasian was born in Canada to an American mother and a Cuban father.

[HudsonHawk]

FIFY.

You forgot to mention that it's also the same crowd who believe that Obama cannot be President because he was born in Kenya to an American mother and Kenyan father, but Ted Cruz is ok because he looks caucasian was born in Canada to an American mother and a Cuban father.

A Cuban father who was a communist, a supporter of Fidel Castro and an illegal alien. 

[BudGirl]

A Cuban father who was a communist, a supporter of Fidel Castro and an illegal alien. 

But he likes tea.

[juliogotay]

Let's distinguish between racketeering by candidates and the non-existent rash of illegals supposedly voting.

I don't know. This article seems to be pretty much down the middle. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/10/24/could-non-citizens-decide-the-november-election/

It also illustrates why i.d. is not the answer.

[Limey]

A Cuban father who was a communist, a supporter of Fidel Castro and an illegal alien.  

I really, really, really hope Ted runs for President.  He is perfectly eligible*, IMHO, and he will be supported by the tricorne brigade who will implode when trying to explain the cognitive dissonance.


* The location of Obama's birth is irrelevant to whether he is a natural-born citizen, as it is for Cruz.  A citizen-parent is all they need.

[HudsonHawk]

I don't know. This article seems to be pretty much down the middle. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/10/24/could-non-citizens-decide-the-november-election/

It also illustrates why i.d. is not the answer.

If you've been paying attention, you'd know that article and the included "research" has already been thoroughly debunked. 

[HudsonHawk]

* The location of Obama's birth is irrelevant to whether he is a natural-born citizen, as it is for Cruz.  A citizen-parent is all they need.

It's not irrelevant, as he was born in Hawaii, making the citizenship of his parents the irrelevant part. 

[Limey]

It's not irrelevant, as he was born in Hawaii, making the citizenship of his parents the irrelevant part.  

Exactly.  But the accusation that he was born in Kenya was always a red herring.  No one (in control of all their faculties) to my knowledge has ever questioned whether his mother was a citizen.  That rendered all the birth certificate stuff moot, but it was buried in a cacophony of racism whining and bad hair.

[MusicMan]

FIFY.

You forgot to mention that it's also the same crowd who believe that Obama cannot be President because he was born in Kenya to an American mother and Kenyan father, but Ted Cruz is ok because he looks caucasian was born in Canada to an American mother and a Cuban father.

The crowd that screeches about Obama's choice of CoS, but cheers when Cruz's CoS tweets that "before Obamacare, there was never a recorded case of Ebola in the US"?

[mrpink]

I really, really, really hope Ted runs for President.  He is perfectly eligible*, IMHO, and he will be supported by the tricorne brigade who will implode when trying to explain the cognitive dissonance.


* The location of Obama's birth is irrelevant to whether he is a natural-born citizen, as it is for Cruz.  A citizen-parent is all they need.

I know libs love to, but you shouldn't confuse the average tea-partier with the average birther.

[HudsonHawk]

Exactly.  But the accusation that he was born in Kenya was always a red herring.  No one (in control of all their faculties) to my knowledge has ever questioned whether his mother was a citizen.  That rendered all the birth certificate stuff moot, but it was buried in a cacophony of racism whining and bad hair.

Actually, many questioned the citizenship of his mother due to her being a minor at the time of his birth, or at least the ability of her to confer automatic citizenship on her child at the time. 

[Fredia]

I don't driver but have id for just the normal things you need one for

[juliogotay]

If you've been paying attention, you'd know that article and the included "research" has already been thoroughly debunked. 

By whom?

[HudsonHawk]

By whom?

By every political scientist, pollster and statistician.  The very same website posted the debunking several days later. 

[Ron Brand]

I know libs love to, but you shouldn't confuse the average tea-partier with the average birther.

Here's a little tidbit for you. If you or anyone else refers to me as a 'lib' or uses a similar derogatory term to describe me in person, there is a significant risk that a very serious escalation will be at hand.

[HudsonHawk]

Here's a little tidbit for you. If you or anyone else refers to me as a 'lib' or uses a similar derogatory term to describe me in person, there is a significant risk that a very serious escalation will be at hand.

"liberal" is a term that should be worn with pride.  It signifies that one can think for himself.  As opposed to "wingnuts" and "tea baggers". 

[Bench]

Here's a little tidbit for you. If you or anyone else refers to me as a 'lib' or uses a similar derogatory term to describe me in person, there is a significant risk that a very serious escalation will be at hand.

Lib is derogatory? 

[Ron Brand]

Lib is derogatory? 

Yes.

[Ron Brand]

"liberal" is a term that should be worn with pride.  It signifies that one can think for himself.  As opposed to "wingnuts" and "tea baggers". 

Yep. I'm proud to be a liberal. I react negatively when it's cheapened into the shorthanded slur of 'lib.' 'Libtard' is incendiary to me.

[HudsonHawk]

Yep. I'm proud to be a liberal. I react negatively when it's cheapened into the shorthanded slur of 'lib.' 'Libtard' is incendiary to me.

"Conservatives" are simply lazy thinkers.  Consider the source and take it for what it's worth. 

[juliogotay]

By every political scientist, pollster and statistician.  The very same website posted the debunking several days later. 

Every political scientist, pollster and statistician? All I have found is on the same website that questions the validity of the study because some of the respondents may have misstated their citizenship status. Which of course would invalidate every single study ever done if the respondent misrepresented their identity and demographics. I would think if respondents did misrepresent their citizenship status it would be on the side of being a citizen rather than a non-citizen out of fear but that is just speculation on my part. This study was done by the Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES) and was coordinated by Professor Stephen Ansolabehere of Harvard and the MIT Public Opinion Research Training Lab.

[Ron Brand]

"Conservatives" are simply lazy thinkers.  Consider the source and take it for what it's worth. 

Considering the source has done a lot to keep me out of jail over the years. My give-a-shitter and off switch have been a lot less reliable lately though.

[juliogotay]

"Conservatives" are simply lazy thinkers.  Consider the source and take it for what it's worth. 

You left out the part about hating blacks, browns, gays, women, non-Christians...

[HudsonHawk]

Every political scientist, pollster and statistician? All I have found is on the same website that questions the validity of the study because some of the respondents may have misstated their citizenship status.

Then keep looking.

I would think if respondents did misrepresent their citizenship status it would be on the side of being a citizen rather than a non-citizen out of fear but that is just speculation on my part.

But this is not what they found.  In fact, they found that something like 40% of the people who reported being a non-citizen for the 2010 election had reported being a citizen in 2008.  Not to mention the fact that they found exactly ZERO people who reported being voting non-citizens in 2010, yet they randomly assigned a probability of 6%.  It's simply a scientific and statistical mess. 

[Ron Brand]

"Conservatives" are simply lazy thinkers.

I did skip over this and I shouldn't have. There's plenty to like about a conservative point of view and certainly, there have been many conservative viewpoints that have a great deal of merit. I can't dismiss conservatism out of hand and I wouldn't want to dismiss liberalism or progressive viewpoints out of hand either. It's the folks at the ends of the bell curve who still fly those flags that make it all such a mess. It's oversimplifying to equate the Palins or the Duck Dynastys or the Brownbacks with conservatism; that's a much less intelligent, much more viscerally mean strain that I have a lot of fear of.

[Navin R Johnson]

The constitution prohibits any "poll tax".  Requiring an ID that costs money to obtain has been deemed to be a poll tax time and time again.  The Texas law was deemed a poll tax by the appropriate Federal court and stayed.  The Supreme court stepped in and stayed that stay, deciding that it's too close to the election to change the law now.

So, you are arguing for something that has been tested through the entire court system and even SCOTUS agrees it is unconstitutional.

The only amendment they care about is the 2nd.

 

[mrpink]

Yep. I'm proud to be a liberal. I react negatively when it's cheapened into the shorthanded slur of 'lib.' 'Libtard' is incendiary to me.

I'm surprised you made it through most of your life with that kind of reaction so something so offhand and not even meant to be insulting.

"Teabagger" is insulting to me.  At least "libtard" makes sense, I'm insulting your intelligence.  "Teabagger" means what, that I like to dip my nuts in peoples' mouths?  It creates a perverse mental picture, but how is that even relevant?   And the constant use of it by mainstream libs is disturbing.  I was shocked when I heard a guy on NPR say it. 

[HudsonHawk]

"Teabagger" is insulting to me.  At least "libtard" makes sense, I'm insulting your intelligence.  "Teabagger" means what, that I like to dip my nuts in peoples' mouths?  It creates a perverse mental picture, but how is that even relevant?   And the constant use of it by mainstream libs is disturbing.  I was shocked when I heard a guy on NPR say it. 

That's exactly what it means.  That you're insulted by it is the point. 

[Ron Brand]

I'm surprised you made it through most of your life with that kind of reaction so something so offhand and not even meant to be insulting.

"Teabagger" is insulting to me.  At least "libtard" makes sense, I'm insulting your intelligence.  "Teabagger" means what, that I like to dip my nuts in peoples' mouths?  It creates a perverse mental picture, but how is that even relevant?   And the constant use of it by mainstream libs is disturbing.  I was shocked when I heard a guy on NPR say it. 

I didn't call you a teabagger and I don't use that term. If you don't show me respect you can bet that'll be returned in kind. 'Lib' is clearly meant to annoy and degrade. Use the term 'liberal' or don't, but if you choose not to you should expect others to interpret it in a context you may avoid by using the correct word.

[Limey]

"Teabagger" is insulting to me.  At least "libtard" makes sense, I'm insulting your intelligence.  "Teabagger" means what, that I like to dip my nuts in peoples' mouths?  It creates a perverse mental picture, but how is that even relevant?   And the constant use of it by mainstream libs is disturbing.  I was shocked when I heard a guy on NPR say it. 

For the record, Tea Partiers used to refer to themselves as "Teabaggers", until (after a sensible amount of time was allowed for it to be enjoyed) they were advised of the modern usage of the term.

Now they are insulted by their own term.  Perhaps we shouldn't have told them.

[BizidyDizidy]

This conversation puts me in an awkward spot since I loving dipping my balls in peoples mouth but don't necessarily agree with the wingnut politics.

[mrpink]

That's exactly what it means.  That you're insulted by it is the point. 

And you call conservatives lazy thinkers?  That's weak.

[Navin R Johnson]

I'm surprised you made it through most of your life with that kind of reaction so something so offhand and not even meant to be insulting.

"Teabagger" is insulting to me.  At least "libtard" makes sense, I'm insulting your intelligence.  "Teabagger" means what, that I like to dip my nuts in peoples' mouths?  It creates a perverse mental picture, but how is that even relevant?   And the constant use of it by mainstream libs is disturbing.  I was shocked when I heard a guy on NPR say it. 

I can only speak for myself, but when I refer to someone as a teabagger, I don't think they actually engage in that activity (well there are the Michael Berry's/Larry Craig's of the world but that is a whole other issue).   I am not using teabagger in the literal sense that they teabag people, anymore than when I call someone a shithead I consider their head literally made of shit.

It is more that I metaphorically consider the TP folks teabagging our society/discourse with stupidity.

Also, it is just an easy/lazy way to piss of the Tea Party folks, just like same libtard or whatever.

[HudsonHawk]

This conversation puts me in an awkward spot since I loving dipping my balls in peoples mouth but don't necessarily agree with the wingnut politics.

I'm not sure how one can dip his balls into someone's mouth and *not* be in an awkward position, irrespective of his politics. 

[HudsonHawk]

And you call conservatives lazy thinkers?  That's weak.

They are.  But that has nothing to do with the purpose of an insult.  Try again. 

[mrpink]

I didn't call you a teabagger and I don't use that term. If you don't show me respect you can bet that'll be returned in kind. 'Lib' is clearly meant to annoy and degrade. Use the term 'liberal' or don't, but if you choose not to you should expect others to interpret it in a context you may avoid by using the correct word.

I didn't mean it that way, but your interpretation is noted.

[HudsonHawk]

(well there are the Michael Berry's/Larry Craig's of the world but that is a whole other issue).

They just have a wide stance. 

[Bench]

I thought I was a gentleman of the world, but I had no idea that teabagging implied putting your balls in someone else's mouth.  Frankly, that sounds like a very risky endeavor and the opposite of a conservative course of action, insofar as conserving ones balls is something to be desired. 

[Ron Brand]

I'm surprised you made it through most of your life... 

You are not alone.

[BizidyDizidy]

I thought I was a gentleman of the world, but I had no idea that teabagging implied putting your balls in someone else's mouth.  Frankly, that sounds like a very risky endeavor and the opposite of a conservative course of action, insofar as conserving ones balls is something to be desired. 

Well, only to be done consensually of course

[NeilT]

This thread makes me glad I have no political opinions.

[HudsonHawk]

This thread makes me glad I have no political opinions.

You're free to dip your balls without consideration?

[chuck]

I thought I was a gentleman of the world, but I had no idea that teabagging implied putting your balls in someone else's mouth.

And you used to live in Montrose? Damn, dude.

[Bench]

And you used to live in Montrose? Damn, dude.

I always thought teabagging was something bros did to embarrass their passed-out bros. Snap a picture of their nutsack on the passed out guy's forehead or something.  Even when the guy is passed out it, dropping them in the mouth seems like it could backfire severely.

Now if it's a consensual act, then candied apples is a much more pleasant Tuesday in the 'Trose. 

 

[chuck]

I always thought teabagging was something bros did to embarrass their passed-out bros. Snap a picture of their nutsack on the passed out guy's forehead or something.

Ahh, right, the old Alabama nutscrape.

[Col. Sphinx Drummond]

I always thought teabagging was something bros did to embarrass their passed-out bros. Snap a picture of their nutsack on the passed out guy's forehead or something.  Even when the guy is passed out it, dropping them in the mouth seems like it could backfire severely.

Or something a disgruntled teen pizza maker would do to a pizza for a customer that shows up at closing time.

[Dark Star]

Or something a disgruntled teen pizza maker would do to a pizza for a customer that shows up at closing time.

"In a recorded phone call between Symonds and his manager, the teen apparently admits to having decided to rub his balls over the pizza ... (and) later allegedly admitted that had he not been caught, he "probably" would have still given the testicle-rubbed pizza ("a family-sized stuffed pizza with Canadian bacon, pineapple and extra cheese") to the customer."

They were going to cook it later anyway, so WTF?

[Lefty]

Well, only to be done consensually of course

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR1hI_Ikuv8

[Limey]

Here's a sample of eligible Texans being denied their right to vote.  At what point do anecdotes pile up enough to be a real thing?

[Bench]

Here's a sample of eligible Texans being denied their right to vote.  At what point do anecdotes pile up enough to be a real thing?

Considering it doesn't take more than the number of fingers Jose Canseco has on his left hand for the solution to do more harm than the perceived problem by a matter of factors, it's already a real thing. 

[Col. Sphinx Drummond]

Well, tomorrow I'm going to find out if they'll let me vote; my address on my current driver's license is different than my address on my voter registration card.

[Navin R Johnson]

Voted this evening, they asked for my ID, scanned like a credit card and matched it to my voter registration card.