Posted by
Charles Lewis on Monday, January 21, 2008 5:35:14 PM
by Charles R Lewis
Just
when I was moving closer to abandoning my contention that there just
might have been some voting machine chicanery leading to the alleged
John McCain victory in last Saturday's South Carolina presidential
primary, more "non-evidence" arises to support the notion.
Bob
McLain's show on WORD in Greenville-Simpsonville became the fourth
today on which I delivered my ideas on the topic. McLain (resemblance
to the name, "McCain" purely coincidental) is just about the most
even-handed, level-headed of talk show hosts I know of; I've never
heard him be rude to anybody, regardless of persuasion.
I'd
spoken on his show shortly before the election, alarmed at McCain's
supposed lead in the primaries, to challenge any McCain supporters
listening to rear their heads. It had been my impression that there had
been no responders on this, the GOP-oriented station of record in
upstate SC.
McLain not only confirmed this impression, but
offered that in the entire run-up to the primary there had been only
two callers not overtly hostile to McCain, and that these two were only
considering the guy, not at all sold on him. Estimating 25 callers an
hour, 3 hours a day, 5 days a week for the two weeks before the primary
during which the focus was on the primary, that's a total of 750
callers, only 2 of which were even distantly amenable to John McCain,
who supposedly garnered 33% statewide, doing almost that well in our
upstate region. McLain, like me, found this remarkable, and finds the
McCain victory equally so; he wouldn't rule out my hypothesis.
[As
I previously reported, 11th hour web polls on that station and
Charlotte's WBT (on the SC border) showed a meagre 1% supporting McCain
and 7% predicting he'd win.]
McLain added that he himself
supported the return to paper ballots, as, he averred, did (of all
groups) the League of Women Voters. Together we renewed the appeal for
McCain supporters to call in and be counted.
I listened for
quite awhile after that. One prankster called in claiming to be a
McCainite, but it became evident immediately that he was being
facetious.
[Later, after I'd almost finished composing this
piece, one woman who said she had a son in the Marine Corps identified
herself as having voted for McCain. She said she did so because she
thought McCain would be strong on defense, believed he'd "seen the
light" on immigration (she'd "take him at his word," apparently
oblivious to the fact that in a recent debate he confirmed his "path to
citizenship" for invaders stance), and thought he had the best chance
of winning against the Democrats in November, and she considered that
her top prioirity. Later another said her husband, but not she, had
voted for McCain (for "internatnional experience" reasons - she said
she was "very surprised" at her husband's choice, by the way).]
Several
others gave credibility to my case, even citing me directly. One said
he'd been all over the state talking politics with people, and that he
hadn't encountered on in favor of McCain - not one. Another sharply
opposed the recent move to voting machines, on state constitutional
grounds.
Hopefully, this concept - assuming it's vaild - has legs. I'll keep you posted.