;o)
Posted on 01/13/2008 10:21:43 AM PST by mnehring
Jennifer Call's eyes searched the office for nothing in particular. Her arms waved and her fear spilled out.
"This is where I grew up," Sutton's town clerk said yesterday. "This is my hometown, this is where my family is, and all of sudden, my name is being splashed across the internet as this horrible person. And the frightening part is, I don't know these people and they don't know me."
Call wants the nationwide army of boisterous Ron Paul supporters, believers in more conspiracy theories than Oliver Stone, to know that she's committed no crime.
Not treason, as the dozens of phone callers screamed. Not fraud, as the dozens of e-mails charged. Nothing.
Human error, by someone unknown, caused Call's office to claim Paul received zero votes from the town during Tuesday's first-in-the-nation primary.
Paul actually got a whopping 31 votes.
Out of 920 cast.
Launch an investigation. Alert the media.
The mistake was corrected early the next morning, but that hardly mattered. The Paul machine, upon reading the number in print, quickly went into counteroffensive mode.
This is luck at its worst. Screw up Rudy Giuliani's vote total. Or John McCain's. Or John Edwards's. Or Bill Richardson's.
But never, ever get anything wrong when it comes to Paul and his voting tally. If you do, fans who shouted from the rooftops through the primary season will track you down and chew you out.
"Most of the these people are not rational," Call said.
Call, 35, arrived at the Pillsbury Memorial Hall Tuesday morning at 7 for the start of a marathon day. About a dozen or so staffers coordinated the effort, guiding voters, counting votes, rechecking totals.
Paul's 31 votes got lost in the shuffle, lost in translation between moderator Greg Hill's voice and Call's pen.
The slot next to Paul's name on the original return sheet said 31, but a space on Call's return, next to Paul's name, remained blank.
"He's (Gill) reading off his results, I'm writing them down on the return," Call said. "I don't know why it was blank. I don't know if he skipped over it or if someone interrupted him to repeat the last name and it got skipped, or maybe I missed it. It was that simple."
No it wasn't.
Call was met by town officials the next morning at 9:30. They told her the mistake had been rectified. Call, her jacket still on, was confused.
"What are you talking about?" she asked.
She was told someone had come in and said he'd voted for Paul. The voter noticed the "0" in the local newspaper and wanted an explanation. When he got it, he left, satisfied.
Call phoned the Secretary of State's office and re-faxed the form, the one with a circled "31" next to Paul's name. Just to make sure.
Then it hit, like one of those snowstorms last month. Call got a call from someone named Bob. No last name. She remembers the man identifying himself as a reporter for the Associated Press, looking for the story on voter fraud.
She said she'd fetch the details, then call him back, thinking the media would need a strict timeline and every tidbit available.
"I'm thinking he's legitimate," Call said. "I call Bob back and it's a fax machine. I called AP and asked for Bob. They told me a reporter would have given a last name."
Others in the office received calls and e-mails. But Call was the name out front, the town clerk as well as the tax collector. She was labeled the brains behind the plot. She had the biggest target on her back.
The assault picked up after lunch. Paul supporters phoning Call claimed to be from the media. Others just yelled, saying she had committed treason, fraud. One person said she should be shot. She received as many as 40 calls that day.
"One person said he was on a nationally syndicated radio station," Call said, "and he has given out my phone number and they need to call the town of Sutton to find out why there's voter fraud."
The voices came from everywhere. California. Ohio. Florida. Michigan. Very few were from New Hampshire.
A man from Texas e-mailed that he was "contacting, by certified mail, the Attorney General of New Hampshire . . . and requesting a complete investigation and prosecution of any and all parties involved."
A police dispatcher in New London said yesterday she'd received inquiries about the clerk's office phone.
Call got a handful of calls that night at home, refusing to pick up whenever an out-of-state number appeared on her screen.
She got about five more the next day in her office. She tried to get work done. She called the Massachusetts company that makes the licenses for dog owners in her area. The guy had heard of her.
"Wow," the man said. "This is the second time this week I've seen your name."
"Where?" Call asked.
"I've gotten a dozen e-mails about how you've destroyed the New Hampshire primary."
"Why?"
"We make voting machines."
"The problem is," Call said yesterday, "we don't use voting machines."
She went home and locked her doors. She called her mother in North Carolina. She cried. The calls kept coming. She unhooked her answering machine and requested an unlisted number.
"I was drained emotionally and physically," Call said. "That's when I really started to freak out. Thursday it hit me, that most of these people are not rational. That's when I became scared."
It's calmer now. The calls and e-mails had stopped as of yesterday afternoon. Call had the day off, but she went into her office to retrieve some paperwork.
She's hurt and nervous, but she's got a job.
"I've got a school board meeting Saturday," Call said. "I've got to be ready."
Oh lawd. Is that some Susan Atkins?
Layoff the personal attacks.
Peaceful Armed Protests... What's more American?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for lunch.
Liberty is a well armed sheep contesting that vote. - Ben Franklin
Well Democracy is winning. Media has blacked us out. I honestly think it's time to spin off some Liberty militias & hold peaceful armed protests. That way nobody will taser or gas us for our freedom of speech.
What's more American than protesting 1st Amendment, and bearing arms while doing it 2nd Amendment.
That would send shockwaves.
The power exists in us, not the media, not the government, not in the police. It exists in the power of the people who contest what the wovles are doing. Not once in American history have I ever heard of a peaceful but ARMED protest. Yes that's right, loaded shotguns strapped on backs, pistols in belts.
Who would mess with it? Imagine 50,000 people armed protesting.
What a dream.
I remember when it was cool to freep liberal candidates.
Imagine 50,000 people armed protesting.
If the Supreme Court rules the wrong way on Heller (and jackass Bush didn't do much to help us on that), you might just see such a scenario. I'll be there.
Let's look at what everybody was asked, please:
Governor Huckabee, did the American commander in the Strait of Hormuz the other day make the right decision by responding passively when approached aggressively by Iranian fast boats believed to be from the Revolutionary Guards? He also received, as you know, a warning that said that the American ships might be about to blow up.
*snip*
Senator Thompson, same question to you. Right call?
*snip*
Mr. Mayor, what do you think.
*snip*
Senator McCain, you've been a naval commander. This group, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, has been designated a terrorist organization. They made an aggressive and provocative approach to our warships. There was no certainty they weren't about to set off bombs.
What would you have done as a commander?
*snip*
Congressman Paul, what if this happens again?
So, Ron Paul had it the easiest. He got to think about everything and formulate his answer after hearing from the rest of the candidates. He then got asked about how to deal with the same kind of incident if it happens again. Such a question gives him the perfect opportunity to declare whether the original response was correct and to set himself apart from the other candidates if necessary.
Either not hearing or not listening, Ron Paul had his own, wrong idea about what the others had said and began to lecture about their supposed "rush to judgement."
Hume calls him on this.
Ron Paul responds with "I'm very sorry, I can't hear a word you said."
Hume says, "Every one of these -- of your fellow candidates have said they supported the commander's decision to respond passively. I just wonder what you're reacting to."
Ron Paul says, "Well, I didn't hear that."
To give him the benefit of the doubt, maybe Ron Paul has a hearing problem and is in some kind of denial. Otherwise, why did he engage his mouth so confidently if he didn't hear what folks said?
It is more likely that he just wasn't paying attention and performed his own rush to judgement.
In either case, what will this mean for us with him as president?
You guys are on here to call out the anti-Paul people. Why on earth do you expect me to do that? I am anti-Paul. It would be rather hypocritical of me to do that. I call out the rude people.
I have enough on my hands with these haters. There are plenty of them who who hate me and fervently wish for my demise. You call out the anti-Paul people.
Oh....and I don't really care what you find "old." I'm not trying to impress you and I certainly don't take orders from you.
Just wanted to make that clear. ;-)
I'm just saying that these Paul threads would be a lot less gay if everyone just took a quaalude before posting. If you step back from the situation and observe it, we really do look like a bunch of retards.
If you're worried about how you look, go do something else. Go do any of the multitude of things you can do by simply being able to go where you want to go when you want to do it.
You know as well as anyone that FR is addictive as crack. Plus, I'd miss you. ;-)
Don't underestimate the psycho vote!
I have reviewed your comments and my responses (#77 and #124) and believe that I have accurately and sufficiently supported my position. Therefore I rest my case.
They obviously didn’t want to shake his hand and get an autograph from him.
The evidence is in the FACT that they were throwing things at him, as well as the name calling.
YAWN.
Your petty little games of “gotcha” bore me.
You got called on your hypocrisy, so be a man and grow a pair already.
Because ron paul is a fraud.
He is an embarrassment to not only the Conservative movement, but the Republican party, and the country as a whole.
He claims to support the troops, while he votes against every military budget that comes along. He voted against the funding for additional body armor. He voted against pay raises. He voted against funding for barracks and family housing renovations. He voted against providing more medical, educational, and retirement benefits for veterans.
He has blamed America for 9/11.
He has called our troops who served in Desert Storm “war criminals”
He accused our troops who served in Operation Gothic Serpent of “gunning down women and children in the streets”.
He claims to be against NAFTA and it’s “Superhighway” while he places a $30 million dollar earmark in the FY08 budget to help fund the NAFTA Superhighway.
He claims to be against earmarks because they’re “unconstitutional”, yet he placed $400 million worth of earmarks into the FY08 budget. Not a single one of the projects he funded is covered under the Constitution and every single one of them should have been funded at the state and local level or through private organizations.
“In either case, what will this mean for us with him as president?”
More 9/11’s
More iranian hostage fiasco’s
More embassy bombings.
More Americans being killed worldwide.
Our allies getting toppled by the islamofascists one by one.
A death threat isn't serious?
Who knows who made the call? Maybe some dirty trickster or rabid Paul hater.
God forbid that a paul SUPPORTER did it.
“No lie, I said if she told me who she was, I’d maybe tell her whom I was. I mentioned my # is already on the internet.”
Dodge much?
” They obviously didn’t want to shake his hand and get an autograph from him.
The evidence is in the FACT that they were throwing things at him, as well as the name calling.”
So why is this group of men letting 1 woman walk behind them, if they are in so much danger?
You can’t have it both ways!
“No lie, I said if she told me who she was, I’d maybe tell her whom I was. I mentioned my # is already on the internet.”
Dodge much?
How is that a dodge?
Would you suggest your loved ones give their contact information to anonymous strangers on the Internet?
How about this. If you FReepmail me your real name and phone number, I’ll do the same.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.