Limbaugh safe from voter-fraud charges

[Thepricebreaker]

Radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh has been telling his audience for days now that he could be indicted for encouraging Ohio Republicans to take a Democratic ballot in the March 4 primary in what he calls "Operation Chaos."

Could that actually happen?

Not likely, Ohio officials say.

"We have no intention of prosecuting Rush Limbaugh because lying through your teeth and being stupid isn't a crime," said Leo Jennings, a spokesman for Democratic Attorney General Marc Dann.


http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/03/28/JAIL_RUSH.ART_ART_03-28-08_A8_HV9P3PM.html?type=rss&cat=&sid=101

[China_cat]

1. When it encourages illegal actions, it should be.

[BOSSHOG]

3. Yes indeed

If he were to advocate someone shoot someone in power and it happened would he and his values be off the hook? I chuckle at how members of the party of responsibility never want to take responsibility for anything.

[BOSSHOG]

2. If ignorance were a crime

most people with "values" would be behind bars.

[Llewlladdwr]

4. Just out of curiosity...

what 'illegal actions' were being encouraged? This is a serious question.

On edit: corrected punctuation

[LSparkle]

5. Perjury

On voter registration forms in Ohio, the applicant swears that they believe
in the policies of the party they're registering with (not just making
mischief).

[Thepricebreaker]

7. What happends if the parties ideas change?

[LSparkle]

10. Then you re-register as another party ...

I think it means that, at the time you registered, you were doing so
for genuine ideological reasons.

[Llewlladdwr]

8. Let me get this straight...

It's a crime to register with a party in Ohio unless you swear to believe in their policies? How exactly do they enforce that? Telepaths?

Do you have to agree 100%? Is 75% enough? What if you only agree with one party's plank 50% of the time but the other only 30% Are you not allowed to vote for either?

Sorry, but the first time someone gets charged under that law it's going to be declared unconstitutional. Which I imagine is why there's no plan to do so.

[LSparkle]

9. I'm just passing on what Mike Malloy was saying last night ...

It's probably not something officlals pursue necessarily, but he said there's a line on the
registration that says something like that and that the applicant signs "under penalty
of perjury."

[Llewlladdwr]

14. Didn't mean to sound combative.

But in all honesty I've engaged in 'strategic voting' myself. It's irritating to be the target but believe me, both parties do this.

[Dorian Gray]

15. I have no idea what Rush Limbaugh

thing is about, but I assumed on government forms, it's about the information, not the ideological stance when they say "under penalty of perjury." (So, their address, any history of jail, etc.)

[hughee99]

11. A stupid law...

Not that it's intentions aren't good, but that it's a completely unenforceable law. I would be willing to bet that if push came to shove, the law would be struck down before anyone was successfully prosecuted using it.

[LSparkle]

18. I agree ... but if it could put PigMan behind bars, hey, I'm for it

[hughee99]

21. Much like many other laws this administration pushes for...

my concern isn't about how people say they want to use it right now, it's how once the precedent is set, the wrong people will abuse it.

On edit... not that there's a "right" group of people to abuse a law.

[AZ Criminal JD]

22. So you are for laws that can put political enemies in jail?

[Thepricebreaker]

6. Sign a form when switching... which is kinda scarey - you "pledge" yourself..

[OHdem10]

12. When Obama makes "Robo calls" to Republicans asking

them to crossover and vote for him, this is ok?????

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

17. Slighty better than Limbaugh endorsing Hillary in Texas no?

[SoCalDem]

19. There is a world of difference

a candidate calling and asking for your vote is one thing..

but a radio personality encouraging people to skew an election is something else, entirely..

It's encouraging voter fraud..

[L. Coyote]

13. LOL "lying through your teeth and being stupid isn't a crime"

And, they are busy investigating serious crimes.
Like Kerry-Bush vote-switching in 2004 Ohio Presidential votes.

"This result infers about three percent of Kerry votes were switched to Bush. Random cross-voting does NOT explain the disparity revealed by comparison of distinct cross-vote probability subsets. Fraudulent Kerry-Bush vote-switching cannot be ruled out."

How Kerry Votes Were Switched to Bush Votes
http://jqjacobs.net/politics/ohio.html

[Xenotime]

16. How is it Plush Limpballs always seems to weazle out?

[lpbk2713]

20. Until last November he had Jeb Boosh to run interference for his worthless ass.

Charlie Crist is a rethuglican but he's not a part of the inner circle of the Boosh Crime Family.

So I don't think it is quite as easy now for OxyRush to get a free pass.