US Election Week 2020

[grumbler]

I have no idea who those two guys are.

They are alleged election irregularities.

They certainly look like election irregularities.  Human irregularities, too, for that matter.

They look like extras for the film Strange Brew or maybe Fargo.

[Darth Wagtaros]

Strange Brew is crying out for a remake. Or reboot. Or re-imagining.

[grumbler]

Strange Brew is crying out for a remake. Or reboot. Or re-imagining.

How could you possibly improve on that movie?  You hoser!

[Darth Wagtaros]

Strange Brew is crying out for a remake. Or reboot. Or re-imagining.

How could you possibly improve on that movie?  You hoser!

Modern special effects! Ryan Reynolds!

[jimmy olsen]

Seditious 

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/12/05/politics/trump-georgia-brian-kemp-phone-call/index.html
Original story at
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-kemp-call-georgia/2020/12/05/fd8d677c-3721-11eb-8d38-6aea1adb3839_story.html

Trump pressured Georgia governor in call to help overturn Biden's win in state

CNN Digital Expansion CNN Digital Expansion 2018 Veronica Stracqualursi
By Kristen Holmes and Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN

(CNN)President Donald Trump on Saturday called Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, pushing him to convince state legislators to overturn President-elect Joe Biden's win in the state, a source familiar with the conversation told CNN.

Trump asked Kemp to call a special session and convince state legislators to select their own electors that would support him, according to the source. He also asked the Republican governor to order an audit of absentee ballot signatures.

Kemp explained that he did not have the authority to order such an audit and denied the request to call a special session, the source said.

The White House declined to comment on the call, which was first reported by The Washington Post.
The President appeared to reference the call in a tweet Saturday, attacking Kemp and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and calling for a signature audit of the absentee ballot envelopes in the state -- while making false or misleading claims about the potential process. The governor, in response, tweeted that he has already "publicly called for a signature audit three times" -- leading Trump to then double down on his request for Kemp to call for a special session of the state's Legislature.

Kemp spokesman Cody Hall confirmed the governor spoke with the President, but, when asked about the conversation, only said that Trump offered his condolences on the death of Harrison Deal, a young Loeffler campaign staffer.

Trump's call to Kemp, his latest attempt to interfere in the results of the 2020 election, came hours before the President's visit to the state to rally in support of Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler ahead of January's Senate runoff elections. CNN previously reported that the President has publicly pushed for Kemp and Raffensperger, both Republicans, to overturn the state's election results -- demands they have rebuffed.

Hall told CNN earlier this week -- following a separate push from Trump to intervene in the state's elections process -- that "Georgia law prohibits the Governor from interfering in elections."
"The Secretary of State, who is an elected constitutional officer, has oversight over elections that cannot be overridden by executive order," Hall said in a statement at the time. "As the Governor has said repeatedly, he will continue to follow the law and encourage the Secretary of State to take reasonable steps -- including a sample audit of signatures -- to restore trust and address serious issues that have been raised."

Trump's refusal to concede and his continued push of false claims of fraud in Georgia has some Republicans uneasy and concerned that the President could depress turnout in the state's crucial runoff elections that will help determine the balance of power in Congress.

And despite the pummeling from their party leader, Georgia GOP election officials have pushed back against Trump's claims of fraud in the state.

Biden won Georgia by more than 12,000 votes, becoming the first Democratic presidential nominee to win the Peach State in nearly three decades. Kemp certified the results of Biden's victory on November 20, following a statewide audit, which included a hand-count of the nearly 5 million ballots cast in the election.

CNN previously reported that Trump had recently bashed Kemp, who is a supporter of his, as a "moron" and a "nut job" during another phone call. And earlier this week, the President publicly criticized the governor in an interview on Fox News, saying he was "ashamed" he had endorsed Kemp.

The governor does not plan to attend Trump's rally in Valdosta, Georgia, Saturday night, due to the sudden death of a close friend of the family, Hall told CNN.

This story has been updated with additional developments Saturday.
CNN's Ryan Nobles contributed to this report.

[11B4V]

And this surprises you why.

[Syt]

[DGuller]

Good to see Republicans finally take social distancing seriously.

[Valmy]

Yeah that was an embarrassment last night. Loeffler and Perdue are not taking this seriously for whatever reason.

I guess when it is crazy time in Republican land showing up prepared for a debate just shows you are part of the deep state or justifying the corruption that is opposing Trump or whatever. I mean both are slightly favored but it is not like they can expect to win this thing by 15 points or something that would justify blowing this off.

[alfred russel]

Yeah that was an embarrassment last night. Loeffler and Perdue are not taking this seriously for whatever reason.

I guess when it is crazy time in Republican land showing up prepared for a debate just shows you are part of the deep state or justifying the corruption that is opposing Trump or whatever. I mean both are slightly favored but it is not like they can expect to win this thing by 15 points or something that would justify blowing this off.

Loeffler did debate.

Perdue  straight up lost his first debate to Ossoff and skipped the second that was scheduled before the general election. Seems like he is scared to debate for that reason. But he never accepted the Atlanta Press Club's invitation to debate last night. Seems sort of bizarre to think there is an obligation to have a debate before a run off when the 2 candidates running got more than 95% of the vote in round 1.

[Sheilbh]

Perdue  straight up lost his first debate to Ossoff and skipped the second that was scheduled before the general election. Seems like he is scared to debate for that reason. But he never accepted the Atlanta Press Club's invitation to debate last night. Seems sort of bizarre to think there is an obligation to have a debate before a run off when the 2 candidates running got more than 95% of the vote in round 1.

In the UK the traditional response to someone not wanting to debate is for one of the newspapers to get a junior reporter to dress as a giant chicken to harass that politician at all of their public events

I can only assume the more dignified sounding Atlanta Press Club won't follow that example.

[The Minsky Moment]

I can only assume the more dignified sounding Atlanta Press Club won't follow that example.

Correct. Folks in Atlanta have far too much respect for chickens to demean them with comparisons to timid politicians.

[alfred russel]

In the UK the traditional response to someone not wanting to debate is for one of the newspapers to get a junior reporter to dress as a giant chicken to harass that politician at all of their public events

I can only assume the more dignified sounding Atlanta Press Club won't follow that example.

The debate was held with an empty podium and only one participant.

[Valmy]

Yeah that was an embarrassment last night. Loeffler and Perdue are not taking this seriously for whatever reason.

I guess when it is crazy time in Republican land showing up prepared for a debate just shows you are part of the deep state or justifying the corruption that is opposing Trump or whatever. I mean both are slightly favored but it is not like they can expect to win this thing by 15 points or something that would justify blowing this off.

Loeffler did debate.

Perdue  straight up lost his first debate to Ossoff and skipped the second that was scheduled before the general election. Seems like he is scared to debate for that reason. But he never accepted the Atlanta Press Club's invitation to debate last night.

I never said Loeffler did not debate, only that her performance was embarrassing.

Seems sort of bizarre to think there is an obligation to have a debate before a run off when the 2 candidates running got more than 95% of the vote in round 1.

See? I don't get the context because I don't live in Georgia. If the perception is that the debates are pointless then maybe Perdue skipping it might not be bad.

[alfred russel]

I never said Loeffler did not debate, only that her performance was embarrassing.

Everything about her campaign has been embarrassing. I've been here since 1996; when the state was still tenuously controlled by democrats. Republicans have thoroughly dominated since ~2000, but while the state has become more even in partisan balance the Republicans have become much more conservative. Loeffler has even run an ad comparing herself to Attila the Hun--with her as the more conservative alternative. But they keep winning.

I don't pretend to have the perception of the senate debates in Georgia. My working assumption is that since Perdue skipped the last debate in the first election, and almost won without a runoff, this won't really hurt him. His campaign is that Ossoff is a lightweight, while Ossoff is arguing Perdue is corrupt. I can see the calculation from Perdue's camp that their candidate is a shitty debator, a debate puts Ossoff on a level stage with a sitting US Senator which makes him look like less of a lightweight, and gives Ossoff a venue to pound his points home.