What first appeared to be an isolated problem in one Florida county has now spread statewide, with e

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There s more than one way to skin a cat. Yes, idioms make no sense – no one skins cats. But everyone knows what it means – there s more than one way to solve a problem. This particular idiom has been attributed to the American humorist Seba Smith, first used in his 1840 short story The Money Diggers – and here s a profile of Smith – with no mention of his ever owning a cat. He was friends with Davey Crockett, for what that s worth. Maybe the two of them discussed accommodation special rates venice Crockett s coonskin accommodation special rates venice cap, but it s more likely Smith just loved colorful language and liked making up old sayings out of thin air, pretending people always said just that, in this case something about skinning cats. Then the oddest thing happened accommodation special rates venice – this one actually became an old saying. People say it all the time, much to this dismay of those learning English as a second language. Irrational idioms are always a problem, but there s always more than one way to solve a problem accommodation special rates venice – there s more than one way to skin a cat.
That s what the Republicans are working on as the first presidential debate looms large and early voting in many states is already underway. Mitt Romney is likely to lose as the debates may not make that much difference. A study of all the polling data since 1960 shows no direct correlation accommodation special rates venice between accommodation special rates venice the winner of each debate and the winner of the presidency – so even if Romney shines and Obama stumbles, a safe assumption is that no one is changing their minds now.
Mr. Romney is at best holding ground in the polls, and quite possibly losing some, at a time when he needs to be gaining it instead. Further, it s increasingly implausible for Mr. Romney to attribute the numbers accommodation special rates venice to temporary effects from the Democratic convention. Mr. Obama s probability of winning the Electoral College advanced to 83.9 percent in the Nov. 6 forecast, up from 81.9 percent on Wednesday.
Then there are the pundits. Whose Idea Was It to Nominate Romney, Anyway? – Romney accommodation special rates venice was a bad choice, if the only possible choice, but really it s the party, not him, that s the problem here. On the other hand there s In the End It Is Mitt   immediately countered by Sorry, It Is Not Romney s Fault and so on and so forth. accommodation special rates venice There s also Go Large, Mitt  versus Going Large Is for Losers It s Never, Ever a Good Sign and much more. All this assumes, perhaps rightly, that Romney will lose, barring some miracle. This also assumes that there s probably nothing much Romney can do about that now. Only fools, and those who buy lottery tickets, count on long-shot miracles. Obama will get more votes, many more votes, and that s that.
This is where the cat comes in, as there s more than one way to skin it, as everyone knows. If voters who vote the wrong way are the problem, then you figure accommodation special rates venice out a way to keep as many of those folks from the polls as possible, with an endless series accommodation special rates venice of bureaucratic impediments to voting, at least in the states run by Republicans – ending same-day voter registration, imposing absurd requirements on voter-registration accommodation special rates venice drives, and on voters themselves. Voter-ID accommodation special rates venice laws, to prevent in-person voter fraud, which doesn t exist, can be framed as protecting the integrity of the vote and that sort of thing. You pass laws establishing those ID laws, or you can do what Ohio did in 2004 to assure Bush carried the state – in heavily Democratic precincts have only one working voting machine, not the usual twenty accommodation special rates venice or so, so the lines are long and after waiting in line over ten hours, in the rain, just to vote, folks give up and go home. That works too. There s more than one way to skin a cat.
As for changing the law, it is imperative that you do scream a lot about in-person voter fraud, and if you have to admit there is none, and never was any, and likely never will be, then you do have to get all pious and talk about the integrity of the process, which must be maintained, because in-person voter fraud might happen one day, somewhere. One never knows, after all.
What first appeared to be an isolated problem in one Florida county has now spread accommodation special rates venice statewide, with election officials in at least seven counties informing prosecutors accommodation special rates venice or state election officials accommodation special rates venice about questionable voter registration forms filled out on behalf of the Republican accommodation special rates venice Party of Florida.
Lux said there have been forms that listed dead people and were either incomplete or illegible. He met with local prosecutors on Friday, but added that his staff was still going through hundreds of forms dropped off by Strategic employees.
The controversy in Florida which began with possibly fraudulent forms that first cropped up in Palm Beach County has engulfed the Republican National Committee, accommodation special rates venice which admitted Thursday that it urged state parties in seven swing states to hire the firm, Strategic Allied Consulting. The RNC paid the company at least $3.1 million routed through the state parties of Florida, Nevada, Colorado, North Carolina and Virginia to register voters and run get-out-the-vote operations. Wisconsin and Ohio had not yet paid the firm for get-out-the-vote operations it was contracted to do.
Oops. They ll have to rethink this tactic. After suggesting this was a minor matter, then seeing the problem spread, the RNC eventually fired the firm, at least this specific one. The effort to pad the voter rolls may continue, but of course everyone will be watching now. Drat.
Obviously this is time to go find another accommodation special rates venice cat. There must be another way to skin Fluffy, and of course there is. There s True the Vote – a Texas anti-voter fraud group recently profiled by the New York Times :
True the Vote s pl