Mopinko registers retards for Obama. Yes, seriously...

[asdf2231]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4139028

mopinko  (1000+ posts)       Tue Sep-30-08 11:02 PM
Original message
so, i registered a lot of voters today, even though none are likely to vote.
i helped to run a mock election (league of women voters, and the ivi-ipo, are trying to run the largest mock election ever in chicago high schools.) and i helped to register the kids that were old enough to vote. but the school was for emh and disabled kids.
i guess there was quite a lot of resistance to the idea. many parents did not want their kids registered, for fear that it would undermine their guardianship, even though they were assured that it did not. probably none of these kids are going to ever have the awareness and skills to even successfully fill out the ballot in a way that would count. but the point is, who am i to say?
i just couldn't see that any of these kids were any less likely to make an intelligent choice than the 20M+ that are probably going to vote for mcsame. maybe one or two will try to figure this stuff out, maybe some candidate will choose to represent these kids specifically. what the school is really trying to teach these kids is life skills. some will be able to do the jobs that they are being trained for. some will understand things in ways that i don't.
and what could be a more important life skill that to be a good citizen?

Mind_your_head  (1000+ posts)      Tue Sep-30-08 11:08 PM
Response to Original message
1. emh means? something? mentally handicapped?
 I would worry that someone could steal their vote or vote FOR them (absentee ballot).

On many levels, I don't think this is/was a good idea/thing.

JHC... YA THINK!?!?


 

[Miss Mia]

If the kids can't even fill out a ballot then WTF was the point in registering them to vote.

My friends know well if someone tells me they're not registered to vote, I will give them a freaking lecture.  (School board, City Council, they're so important to vote for!)  But a mentally challenged individual?  They probably cannot (from mopinko's description) even know who they're voting for or why.  That's not right. 

[GOBUCKS]

But a mentally challenged individual?

Democrat base.

The point of this registration drive is to get these names on the voter rolls. Remember, this is Chicago. You can be certain the democrat organization will find a way to get a vote cast for every one of these unfortunates. Maybe this is an alternative to having a precinct for every large cemetery. Cook County cemeteries and asylums cancel out the votes of dozens of southern Illinois counties.

This is the system that spawned the Obamessiah.

[BlueStateSaint]

But a mentally challenged individual?

Democrat base.

The point of this registration drive is to get these names on the voter rolls. Remember, this is Chicago. You can be certain the democrat organization will find a way to get a vote cast for every one of these unfortunates. Maybe this is an alternative to having a precinct for every large cemetery. Cook County cemeteries and asylums cancel out the votes of dozens of southern Illinois counties.

This is the system that spawned the Obamessiah.

Agreed.  I'm thinking that mopinko works for ACORN.

[asdf2231]

mopinko  (1000+ posts)       Tue Sep-30-08 11:26 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. educatably mentally handicapped
 we worried about that, too. but then, isn't that the case in a lot of marriages? or other relationships? who am i to judge that?

 

Mind_your_head  (1000+ posts)      Tue Sep-30-08 11:53 PM
Response to Reply #2
4. Thanks for elucidating what EMH means (although you should have done so 
 in your original post and not make us who don't regularly deal in this area 'guess' what it might mean - it's only polite/responsible - and it's not just YOU that a am saying this to, by the way).

No, it's NOT the same with marriages - and other relationships - geez! NO CORRELATION AT ALL!

Mentally handicapped persons TOTALLY rely upon/trust their caregivers. They don't/can't think very well clearly on their own ~ THAT IS WHY THEY ARE MENTALLY HANDICAPPED! They can't THINK properly on their OWN!

Thanks for "trying", but registering these folks to vote, unless they asked to do so specifically ~ which I HIGHLY DOUBT WOULD EVER HAPPEN ~ is something that is just ASKING to be ABUSED.

hay rick  (275 posts)       Tue Sep-30-08 11:39 PM
Response to Original message
3. Mentally handicapped not morally handicapped.
 GWB was semi-elected and re-elected by millions of mentally unhandicapped voters. I don't think the mentally handicapped could do worse if they tried.

Seriously, the life skills lesson was probably interesting and exciting for the participants. If they get the basic concept of being a good citizen- recognizing not only that they have rights, but also responsibilities to people other than themselves- they will be way ahead of a good portion of the "normal" population.
 

[franksolich]

You know, I have to agree with this primitive:

Mind_your_head  (1000+ posts)      Tue Sep-30-08 11:53 PM
Response to Reply #2

4. Thanks for elucidating what EMH means (although you should have done so in your original post and not make us who don't regularly deal in this area 'guess' what it might mean - it's only polite/responsible - and it's not just YOU that a am saying this to, by the way).

It's the height of rudeness, I think, when some sort of specialist is speaking to a general audience, and doesn't explain any of the acronymic babble.

In fact, it can turn one's audience off, acting as if, "Well, EVERYBODY knows what this means, and if you don't know what this means, you're just a retard."

[dutch508]

Now, I see a reason behind doing this kind of work. Low mental scores doesn't mean that one can not be a 'productive' part of society. It just makes me nervous when the dedicated left registers voters...of any mental stage...

I mean, seriously, you think mopo is going to tell them about the Republican ticket? Or is he/she/it going to say:

"Vote for Obama. He'll make sure you have what you need. McCain will have you all murdered, 'cause thats what the NAZI's do."

[JohnnyReb]

Now there is a bumpersticker I might put on my truck......

"RETARDS for OBAMA"

[USA4ME]

My wife's sister is mentally and physically retarded and lives in a group home in Macon, Ga.  IIRC it was the 2000 election where the local Dems came to the varoius group homes to register the occupants and offer to give them rides to the polls on election day.  Main thing I remember is that my SIL gave them grief when they told her to register so she could vote for Gore in order to get more money for the State mental facilities.  She told them she wasn't going to vote for a Democrat.  She definately got that line from her Daddy.

.

[jukin]

These kids are going to be on the plus side of the democrat population base.