Florida's Election Officials Questionable Behavior During the Recount is Harming Rick Scott

[Final-Fan]

NightlyPoe said:

Final-Fan said:

That may be, but the relevant question is:  can Cindy Hyde-Smith's quote be as easily demonstrated to be harmless when put back in its natural context? 'Cause otherwise, you know, you're just desperately tossing red herrings. 

The natural context was obviously a joke.  I don't think she's standing out in public with cameras on her legitimately musing about how nice voter suppression is, do you?

It wouldn't be the most extreme case of a politician's terrible ideas slipping out on camera.  When the context of the joke is, "oh isn't it terrible (wink wink) that these young Democrats are finding it harder to vote", yeah I can definitely believe that she would put the same thought in the inverse construction.  Nobody is smart 100% of the time.

And I'd also point out that to make your objection really stick I think you need an alternative hypothesis a little more detailed than "joking lol".  Specifically, is it that the idea of deliberately making it harder for Democrats to vote couldn't have been further from her mind when she was considering whether to vote for the policy, but it now occurs to her as a wonderful joke?  This this is the sort of thing Republican legislators find funny to joke about, but the same legislators would never consider actually doing it on purpose? 

Last edited by Final-Fan - on 06 December 2018