2013 Early Venezuela Presidential Election

[Old Man Svensson]

If Capriles wins, I will eat the biggest hat in Wyoming. And we have a lot of Texan immigrants.

[Old Man Svensson]

According to an article on ABC, Maduro and Capriles have been engaged in a Twitter war for the past hour.

I need someone to confirm this so I can die of laughter.

[Old Man Svensson]

Well, I guess that settles whose side the military is taking. It appears Maduro has nothing left.

[Old Man Svensson]

My ass. Authoritarian as Chavez was, his elections were at least reasonably legitimate. I hope Capriles and the entire country fight this disgrace of democracy. And Maduro? Just the tyrannical liar I thought he was.

[Old Man Svensson]

Given how close this is, this may turn out nasty.

I sure hope Capriles doesn't go down without a fact.

Until today, Venezuela was a flawed democracy. Now it's officially become a sham democracy.

Like Florida 2000?

In exactly the same way that you are like a Przewalski horse.

Well, I guess the comparison was unfair to Venezuela.

And here I thought you were an adult with decency.

[Old Man Svensson]

Where is this evidence that the election was tinkered with or illegitimate?

Don't be naive. Chavez himself had a history of election tinkering, and Maduro is demonstrably far worse than Chavez ever was, in every aspect. He pulled these figures out of his ass.

I hate to compare this any further to the example the chucklehead above me is using - because he's using it purely as a strawman for the sake of being an asshole - but your attitude toward this is uncomfortably reminiscent of the Republicans when George Bush stole his election.

[Old Man Svensson]

Wasn't there a prolonged period of time when results just stopped coming in to the official government election website? Then Maduro just gets announced the winner by a slight margin after the military assembles? Yeah, sounds perfectly legit.

And it wasn't just that they assembled, it was that they called Capriles in to meet with them, as did the interior minister. Say what you will about Chavez, Maduro is almost transparently an election thief.

[Old Man Svensson]

Capriles calling for a full recount.

Good. No matter what you think of Chavist policy, these "results" are a sham, pure and simple.

[Old Man Svensson]

Capriles calling for a full recount.

No doubt Republicans on this thread will suddenly be for recounts.

And the Democrats. Stop being a ridiculous leftist strawman.

[Old Man Svensson]

Well, I don't see why everyone is so persuaded than there was fraud.

It's quite possible, I would even it's likely, but I wouldn't dare to affirm it's sure at 100%

Process is flawed and has to be fixed, for sure. Involvement of the army worries me, yes. But I wouldn't make a call on the legitimacy right now. I would wait than more elements are avaliable to reach a fully enlightened decision, not just using first impressions.

It may sound ridiculous, but, we work that way in science, and I think the approach is worthwhile in other domains, too.

That's not how right-wingers operate, that's why you don't see many of them in science. They have a tendency to "believe".

We all "believe". Does that make me, someone that you personally helped identify with socialism, a right-winger?