Bradley effect Shmadley effect
Posted by: Donna
For criminy’s sake, can we please put an end to this idiotic urban legend once and for all? The heralded “Bradley effect” will not be a factor in this election and I am doubtful that it ever existed at all. People who were involved in the Bradley/Deukmejian race attribute Bradley’s loss to a concerted effort by the Deukmejian camp to get out absentee ballots. 1982 was the first year that widespread absentee voting was available in California and the exit polls at the time weren’t set up to reflect it. Bradley won at the polls that night, as expected, but lost when all the votes were counted.
There ain’t no such animal as a Bradley effect, people. The idea that racists are telling pollsters they did one thing after doing another is laughable. It may be socially unacceptable to publicly acknowledge one’s racism in voting decisions (not that it stops some people, believe you me) but it’s not like there aren’t a plethora of code words and dog whistles available to couch your racism if you are just not comfortable voting for the black guy. Take your pick from these examples:
“Muslim”
“Reverend Wright”
“Not a Real American”
“ACORN”
“Fannie and Freddie” (Yes, federally chartered mortgage institutions are now code for black people. Check out some right wing blogs if you don’t believe me.)
For racists who wax nostalgic for Reagan there’s the less contemporaneous but still effective:
“Welfare”
So stick a sock in it, MSM, with this Bradley effect malarkey. Then again, there’s this:
Last week, Julie Hensley made one of her thousands of phone calls on behalf of Barack Obama. A woman answered. As Hensley ran through her short script, the husband impatiently broke in.
“Ma’am, we’re voting for the n***er.” And hung up.
These anecdotes of the “Reverse Bradley effect” might also be the stuff of urban legend, but I’d like to think they’re not.
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Of course there is also now the “skeletor effect”. It will make people afraid to vote for someone they fear will be able to give orders to the likes of Lord Vader. I know it gives me pause.
I wouldn’t worry about the Dark Lord of the Sith, simon. I’m pretty sure Dick Cheney will retire.
Lord of the Sith! That’s what I was looking for. Thanks Donna.
I take heart in people like my grandfather, who said he wasn’t going to vote for either candidate because, “neither of them are worth anything”, but by the time he got his VBM, he was voting for Obama. I was proud of him for that (and of my grandma for harping on him to vote). Since I helped him fill out his ballot, I know he voted for Obama and for Democrats down the ticket.
Yay for your Grandpa!