Olbermann needed to ask Alvin Greene some more questions.

[mfcorey1]

Name the cities and sites where you campaigned.

Can I see one of your campaign posters?

Who is your campaign manager?

What is your occupation?

Are you the Orly Taitz of the Democratic Party?

How do you spell campaign?

[eleny]

1. "Who is your campaign manager?" Now that's going to be dynamite

And a start at getting to the heart of all this.

[IndianaGreen]

5. I think he was his own manager

How did this guy managed to win?

[customerserviceguy]

7. Simply, it was "I like this guy's name"

That happens a LOT more than any of us want to believe. If we had a simple civics test for voters, you might eliminate some of that, but since that would be unConstitutional, this is the alternative.

It's democracy, strange things happen. The last unbeliveable result I remember is Jesse Ventura's winning the governorship of Minnesota.

[Alcibiades]

9. I think South Carolina once had civics tests for voters

Some of them, anyway.

[customerserviceguy]

10. Exactly

And getting rid of them means that sometimes, people who really don't know enough about politics or particular candidates are going to use some really goofy ways to pick someone to vote for. I had a co-worker many years ago who would vote for a man over a woman, when he had the choice.

Stupid, but it's a side effect of freedom.

[eleny]

11. In 1980 I met a man who said he was voting for Reagan because Reagan was going to win

"And you want to vote for the person who's going to win, right?" That was so long ago but I still have a hard time with it.

[Alcibiades]

12. This sort of thing was found to be unconstitutional

in South Carolina v. Katzenbach. Naturally, the purpose of such tests was to disenfranchise blacks--white folks didn't have to qualify in the same way. From Justice Black's opinion:

"Discriminatory administration of voting qualifications has been found in all eight Alabama cases, in all nine Louisiana cases, and in all nine Mississippi cases which have gone to final judgment. Moreover, in almost all of these cases, the courts have held that the discrimination was pursuant to a widespread "pattern or practice." White applicants for registration have often been excused altogether from the literacy and understanding tests or have been given easy versions, have received extensive help from voting officials, and have been registered despite serious errors in their answers. Negroes, on the other hand, have typically been required to pass difficult versions of all the tests, without any outside assistance and without the slightest error. The good-morals requirement is so vague and subjective that it has constituted an open invitation to abuse at the hands of voting officials. Negroes obliged to obtain vouchers from registered voters have found it virtually impossible to comply in areas where almost no Negroes are on the rolls."

Even if there were some civics test we could all agree would be fair to administer, I certainly wouldn't trust the good people who run South Carolina--the South Carolina GOP--not to return to this sort of shenanigans.

[customerserviceguy]

16. I wasn't calling for civics tests

I was just calling for the conspiracy theorists to acknowledge that an electorate that is poorly informed often uses irrational means to decide who wins the coin flip.

[Alcibiades]

19. True, but if they are using heuristics to determine voting

it's not really a coin flip. The wisdom of the crowd can and does win out, unless someone is actively gaming the system, something that would seem more possible in low salience elections than in a senate race. Whoever pulled this off is working more off Sniderman, Brody, and Tetlock than Converse.

[Jack Rabbit]

2. Mr. Olbermann's interview was very effective

I was left with the distinct impression that he could not have answered any of the questions you suggest.

It won't do any good to ask Mr. Greene if he is a GOP plant. While it is possible, he is probably unaware of it if he is.

[Faygo Kid]

3. Nah, Keith backed off; Greene wasn't capable of doing more than he did.

No use beating on the guy. There's more here to come.

[corpseratemedia]

4. god the sc gop is utterly corrupt

[Me.]

6. And The WH Is Worried About Progressives & Unions?

Maybe they need to identify who the real enemy is.

[snagglepuss]

8. BINGO nt

[discopants]

14. open primaries are the problem

as long as the GOP candidate runs without opposition in his own party, these things will continue.

Limbaugh's "Operation Chaos" exposed the GOP ethics as clear and simple for everyone to see. There was no hiding it then, only boasting and taunting. Now it's more quiet and in the shadows until it's too late to do anything about it. GOP patriots truly respect their right and privilege to vote, don't they?

[Booster]

13. Keith's show isn't that long. God, that was painful to watch.

[Green_Lantern]

15. it looked and sounded like Greene was in a swamp...

During the interview.

[Gin]

17. heard on Big Ed that he got the most votes in mostly white areas

that are mostly rethuglican....so...if that's true...the minority vote didn't help him.

[lunatica]

18. He did ask the first four

Slightly differently, but he asked.