Althouse: Homer Simpson tries to vote for Obama.

October 2, 2008

Homer Simpson tries to vote for Obama.

39 comments:

Anonymous said...: "Meanwhile, in Ohio..."; 10/2/08, 12:28 PM
Kevin said...: Homer dies...must be the next "Treehouse of Horrors" episode.; 10/2/08, 12:28 PM
Trumpit said...: Diebold makes electronic voting machines without a paper trail. How can they get away with that. The owner of Diebold is a Republican operative. Will this election be rigged to give the election to McCain. Quite possibley. Yes, I thought that was funny cartoon. Funny, but true.

And if you have trouble voting for Obama because he is black, think again. He is as white as you are because he was raised by white grandparents and when to a prep school. He has less black in him than I have in me because I went to integrated public schools.; 10/2/08, 12:35 PM
Synova said...: That was funny.; 10/2/08, 12:35 PM
Synova said...: Diebold makes your ATM machine, too.

Bastards.; 10/2/08, 12:36 PM
Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...: I Thought trumpit was funnier than the cartoon.; 10/2/08, 12:36 PM
sonicfrog said...: Kevin, Homer dies AND votes for Obama...must be the next "Treehouse of Horrors" episode.; 10/2/08, 12:38 PM
Anonymous said...: What do you think would happen if some idiot went to Harlem and asked the locals who they intend to vote for?; 10/2/08, 12:39 PM
bearbee said...: At least it picked his pockets before it regurgitated him.; 10/2/08, 12:40 PM
George M. Spencer said...: Bugs Bunny says Buy Bonds.

He plays flute carrot. Reminds me of Palin.; 10/2/08, 12:42 PM
Anonymous said...: jdeeripper said...
What do you think would happen if some idiot went to Harlem and asked the locals who they intend to vote for?

12:39 PM

I am not surprised in the least. I work with dozens of people just like that, black, white, and everything else.; 10/2/08, 12:48 PM
Mike said...: trumpit,

Diebold and the other companies make printers for their machines - all you have to do is buy them and use them.

That states or localities don't isn't the fault of Diebold (now Premier ES). These aren't new and have been available.; 10/2/08, 1:05 PM
sonicfrog said...: And if you have trouble voting for Obama because he is black, think again. He is as white as you are because he was raised by white grandparents and when to a prep school. He has less black in him than I have in me because I went to integrated public schools.

Trumpit, I have a Black Capped Lorikeet that was taken from the nest as a hatchling and fledged by Green Naped Lorikeets. At three months old, we purchased the bird and she has been raised by humans ever since. Is she now a Green Naped Lory, is she now a Human??? No. Despite her history, she was when we bought her, and still is, a Black Capped Lorikeet.

PS. Here is Emmet, our first Lory (GN), trying to help me play bass.; 10/2/08, 1:09 PM
Ray Fowler said...: This reminds me of an hilarious interactive online "ballot" during the 2000 Bush/Gore election. It was basically a flash animation with a picture of Bush on the right and a picture of Gore on the left. The instructions said to click on the one you wanted for president. If you clicked on Gore, you got Gore. But if you moused over Bush to click on him, the faces would switch places. So then you would mouse over to Bush on the left to click on him, but the faces would shift again. If you tried it too many times, both faces would turn into Al Gore.

I have looked for it online since, but have never been able to find it again. Does anyone remember this or know where to find it online today?

By the way, I was living in Fort Lauderdale, FL in 2000, home of the broken chads and butterfly ballots. There were a lot of funny things posted online about that election. There must be a collection of it all online somehwere. Again, anyone know where?; 10/2/08, 1:10 PM
Fred4Pres said...: So what would happen if Palin did okay, or even a little better than okay, in tonight's debate? First of all, relative to prevailing expectations, it would be a triumph. The story would be how well Palin did, which could get people thinking maybe they had underestimated her, which could imply maybe they had underestimated McCain. Given the attention this matchup will receive, that might even be enough to nudge the momentum back their way.

Huff Puff asks, what if?; 10/2/08, 1:11 PM
Simon said...: Not much of a surprise that Homer is voting for Obama. He seems the type.; 10/2/08, 1:45 PM
2yellowdogs said...: Can't be in Chicago. He would have died first then voted.; 10/2/08, 1:46 PM
john said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/2/08, 2:06 PM
TosaGuy said...: Why would Homer vote for Obama? Obama is against nuclear power :)

The more interesting question is who would Lenny and Karl vote for?

We know CrustytheClown is voting for McCain because he was elected as a House Rep as a Republican.

Moe seems pretty bitter and has a gun behind the bar--McCain

Mayor Quimby -- Obama
Mr. Burns -- McCain
Smithers -- torn allegiance
Ned Flanders -- Write in Mike Huckabee
Marge -- Hillary voter on the fence
Bumblebee Man -- depends on if he is Mexican or a Cuban.
Disco Stu -- doesn't advertise
Chief Wiggum -- McCain
Reverand Lovejoy -- McCain
Dr. Hibbert -- Obama
Principle Skinner -- McCain -- was also a POW
State Comptroller Atkins -- ??; 10/2/08, 2:07 PM
john said...: You could just about see the hidden hand of Walden O'Dell.

BTW Trumpit, he resigned 3 years ago, but maybe just to go undercover (pulls all Obama voters into the blackness). You should worry.; 10/2/08, 2:08 PM
Triangle Man said...: tosaguy said:

Reverand Lovejoy - McCain

I have to disagree with this. As Al Gore's identical twin he will vote party loyalty.; 10/2/08, 2:22 PM
Anonymous said...: TosaGuy said...
[...]
Bumblebee Man -- depends on if he is Mexican or a Cuban.
[...]
2:07 PM

Cuban he ain't; 10/2/08, 2:24 PM
Richard Fagin said...: The vacuuming thing is what's going to happen to us taxpayers AFTER Obama gets elected.

Watch your wallets.; 10/2/08, 2:38 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Homer is my idol.; 10/2/08, 2:49 PM
TosaGuy said...: Forgot several, but one notable..

Grandpa Simpson -- was spanked by Grover Cleveland on two non-consecutive occasions.; 10/2/08, 2:54 PM
Simon said...: TosaGuy - what about Duffman!?

Lisa probably can't vote directly, but would find some way to manipulate an adult or three into voting for Obama.; 10/2/08, 2:55 PM
Simon said...: We know which way Brian is voting, and Peter would get lost on the way to the polling station (one of the reasons I'm against expanding postal and internet voting). That leaves Lois up for grabs - a tantalizing prospect, I should think - and I think she'll vote McCain.; 10/2/08, 2:59 PM
Fletch said...: Comic Book Guy- Ralph Nader (Nerd)

Mrs. Krabapple- Obama (union)

Lionel Hutz- Obama (trial lawyer)

Bleeding Gums Murphy- Obama (Kool!)

Barney Gumble- (non voter- drunk that day)

Selma/Patty- Obama (Gov't employees)

Sideshow Bob- McCain (evil criminal)

Groundskeeper Willie- McCain ("cheese eating surrender monkey"); 10/2/08, 4:01 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Simon:

Lois isn't she Flanders' dead wife? Homer accidentally killed her killed a few years ago when he bumped her from the upper deck of a stadium.

Lois is still dead so she can't vote in most Springfields. But there are of course exceptions.; 10/2/08, 4:04 PM
Sofa King said...: Gee, I would have though that Comic Book Guy, being so internet-saavy, would be a Ron Paul supporter.

Otto - Obama (friend of the herb)
Dr. Nick - McCain (tort reform)
Supernintendo Chalmers - ???; 10/2/08, 4:16 PM
zeek said...: Blogger Synova said...
Diebold makes your ATM machine, too.

And yet the ATM manages to give you a paper receipt.; 10/2/08, 4:50 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: Commenters, your Simpsons knowledge is vast and cheering.

The audio file jdeeripper linked to of Sterns operative in Harlem is depressing. This confirms my view that many people feel their way through elections and pretty much shun thinking altogether. But then, we're shown nothing of the editing the producers did here. Who knows? It's possible a majority of interviewees were not led into answering stupidly. It could happen.; 10/2/08, 5:10 PM
Simon said...: AJ - no, I pivoted to Family Guy.; 10/2/08, 5:34 PM
ricpic said...: ...when to a prep school...

Obama's Choice

When to a prep school?
When to a public?
My two to a prep school.
My fools to a public.; 10/2/08, 5:54 PM
ricpic said...: Apu -- Obama, sad to say.; 10/2/08, 5:58 PM
Edgehopper said...: Going through the whole Fox cartoon stable:

King of the Hill:

Everyone votes for McCain other than:

Dale: Bob Barr
Luanne: Obama (because she's young, impressionable, and ditzy)

Family Guy:

Brian: Obama, and ACORN will be happy to register an underage dog to vote.
Peter: Gets lost and/or drunk on the way to the polling station
Lois: Clinton voter, could go either way.
Cleveland: Obama
Joe: McCain
Quagmire: McCain (fellow pilot)

Futurama:

Bender: Non-voting felon
Fry: Didn't care enough to register
Professor Farnsworth: McCain, accidentally reading the 3000 on the calendar as 2000.
Leela: Jack Johnson
Scruffy: John Jackson
Calculon: Nixon; 10/2/08, 6:54 PM
rhhardin said...: Actually electronic voting cannot be secure against a determined fraudster, no matter what you do, even in principle.

Ken Thompson outlines the threat and method in a Turing lecture, um, ACM put it behind a firewall. So much for the open web.

The observation is that you can put in a backdoor in any program if you write the compiler, and the backdoor need not be visible even in the source code of the compiler, making it invisible.

Likewise for the microcode of the machine that runs your program, or even the chip design.

What limits the exploit is the degree of motivation required. When it's control of the country, the motivation would be pretty high.; 10/2/08, 7:23 PM
Kylos said...: rhardin, of course, anything's possible, but just because it has a computer in it does not mean it suddenly becomes easier to cheat.

Ever seen those mechanical voting machines? With a little savvy, the designer of one of those devices could set up a counter to skim votes occasionally. Or scantron machines could be programmed to steal votes.

Going on about microcodes and compilers and even chip designs is really missing the point. The only way to verify that votes are being properly recorded is to have a paper trail. Any voting system, whether mechanical or electronic that does not produce a paper trail can be tweaked.

And rigging a machine so that it works across multiple election cycles and gives semi-believable results is even more of a challenge.

But really, it's a lot easier to rig elections by stuffing the results than by any complicated mechanical or software hack.

An anonymous vote is hard to verify, whether it is from a mechanical voting machine, anonymous paper ballot, or electronic voting machine. Open voting would be a much sounder technique. If multiple witnesses can attest to an individual's vote, then it's hard to change the final tally.

In any case, I think the concern over Diebold and evms is misplaced. Cheating can occur much more quietly, effectively, and with more precision at many other stages in the voting process than some rigged box will ever allow.; 10/2/08, 10:45 PM
Synova said...: The secrecy issue makes it hard for a person to even know if their own vote has been recorded properly. But votes have to be anonymous, right?

We implemented a "paper trail" vote method here in NM, and I don't think it made anyone the least bit more confident. You fill in the little dots and put the ballot through a shre... I mean, reader... it doesn't show what votes were read so you can make sure you didn't mess up, it just counts the ballot. And then when the recounting of the paper ballots happens the dumb-bunny in charge can't "locate" the freaking box of ballots for hours upon hours.

Can't locate it? WTF?

I'd think that ballots would require something called "positive control" at all times.

Paper ballots seem prone to going wandering and then finding their way back again.

I'd sooner trust Diebold.; 10/3/08, 7:14 PM