Is "Russian" Interference in the 2016 election a serious issue?

zimmer said:

Is it, or is it not a serious issue?

Yes?
No?

Click to expand...

:roll:

calamity said:

of course it is

Click to expand...

zimmer said:

Is "Russian" Interference in the 2016 election a serious issue?

Yes?
No?

Click to expand...

Wasn't that something when Obama whisper in a hot mic he would do re after the election ? :roll:

zimmer said:

The issue is simple.

Is Russian interference in the 2016 election a serious issue? It is a Yes or No answer. It is, or it is not.

Click to expand...

Not so simple, because we don't have all the evidence before us. Presumably we'll have to wait a while for the intelligence agencies investigating interference to detail all that happened. Your claim is like asking whether DB Cooper is still alive is a serious issue or not. We don't know whether he's alive or not, so we cannot say for sure.

Your poll amounts to an opinion poll, and I would point out that the truth, in this case, does not depend on anyone's assessment of the truth.

zimmer said:

I've conflated "interference" with "influence".

For Russians to influence is to interfere, wouldn't you agree?

Click to expand...

No. I do not agree.
When you interfere you are disrupting the process.

The process was not disrupted.

Attempting to influence (the people) does not even come anywhere near being an interference, matter of fact, in this country the RT stuff would be freedom of speech.

As was made clear, there were no "no hacking of the polling booths" and "no tinkering of the numbers".
Had that occurred, you then would have had interference.

Excon said:

No. I do not agree.
When you interfere you are disrupting the process.

The process was not disrupted.

Attempting to influence (the people) does not even come anywhere near being an interference, matter of fact, in this country the RT stuff would be freedom of speech.

As was made clear, there were no "no hacking of the polling booths" and "no tinkering of the numbers".
Had that occurred, you then would have had interference.

Click to expand...

lol...so, hoodwinking stupid people so that they vote for Trump is all good. I agree.

calamity said:

lol...so, hoodwinking stupid people so that they vote for Trump is all good. I agree.

Click to expand...

Spare us the biased bs.

No one has shown that any possibly false information influenced anyone to change their mind.

Excon said:

Spare us the biased bs.

No one has shown that any possibly false information influenced anyone to change their mind.

Click to expand...

That simply defies logic. Sorry.

It's particularly important not just because it happened, the issue is also important right here in the present and in the foreseeable future. This is because in order to combat future occurrences, we as a nation have to be united and agree that Russian interference is unacceptable, and our President first has to believe it happened and that it's wrong.

As it stands, while we've been arguing about possible collusion in the past, the President is engaging in the very worst kind of collusion right now: he's made it clear to Putin and in no uncertain terms that Russian interference in our election doesn't matter and therefore they have the green light to do it again.

So let's say you're Putin and you've successfully invested a mere $200,000,000 into getting the President you want, and he

a)refuses to say a single negative thing about you,
b)refuses to acknowledge the existence of your interference, except whereby he can use it to attack his predecessor,
c)directly and publicly attacks his own intelligence community for saying Russian interference happened,
d)works instead to return the compounds his predecessor confiscated and lift the sanctions formerly incurred as a reaction to the interference, and
e)repeatedly works to dismantle the unity and trust within NATO, the alliance created specifically to contain your country's expansionist goals.

If you were Putin, would you work to influence the outcome of the 2018 election, and the 2020 election, and every single election after that?

Excon said:

Spare us the biased bs.

No one has shown that any possibly false information influenced anyone to change their mind.

Click to expand...

And even if it did, how is that different than any other election? Candidates, in every election known to man, have created ads full of hyperbole and false information against their opponents. They spread false information on the campaign trail, social media and in the debates. False information has influenced every single election we've ever had.

Kal'Stang said:

Depends on what interference you're talking about. :shrug:

Click to expand...

That's why the OP's question is too vague to be meaningful. A better question would be: "Is an investigation warranted so that we can find out if Russian interference actually happened?"

Excon said:

No. I do not agree.
When you interfere you are disrupting the process.

The process was not disrupted.

Attempting to influence (the people) does not even come anywhere near being an interference, matter of fact, in this country the RT stuff would be freedom of speech.

As was made clear, there were no "no hacking of the polling booths" and "no tinkering of the numbers".
Had that occurred, you then would have had interference.

Click to expand...

RT/Putin does not enjoy freedom of speech in this nation. To be clear the US Constitution does not protect foreign propaganda. The US Government can and does suppress foreign propaganda aimed at Americans. See cold war.

Josie said:

If Russia actually "hacked our election," that would mean they got into our voting machines and changed votes. That is definitely a massive serious problem.

If Russia hacked into campaign computers to get information about them and gave it to the opposing campaign, then that is definitely a very serious problem.

Click to expand...

THAT's why we we need an investigation... to find out.

radcen said:

That's why the OP's question is too vague to be meaningful. A better question would be: "Is an investigation warranted so that we can find out if Russian interference actually happened?"

Click to expand...

Any hint of interference in our elections by anyone and especially by countries like Russia is about as serious as it gets. A complete investigation should be done either way. IMO there should be an investigation into such things every Federal election cycle, just to make sure no one is interfering internationally or domestically. So that we can assure American voters and the world that our elections are fair and of upmost integrity.

radcen said:

THAT's why we we need an investigation... to find out.

Click to expand...

That's why the FBI is already investigating.

Josie said:

That's why the FBI is already investigating.

Click to expand...

Exactly. My impression of the OP's question... and this is in part based on *who* the OP is and their partisan history here at DP... is that they are somehow trying to get around to portraying it as a 'non-issue' and that we shouldn't even have an investigation. My point is that his question jumps the gun and assumes an investigation is a waste of time, and hence the obvious choice (to him) is that it is a non-issue.

zimmer said:

Well... obviously you believe there is intereference...

Was it a "serious issue" as the thread asks. It does not pinpoint any... it asks a general question... you must answer yes or no, or not answer at all.

Thanks for participating.

PS. I did not set the poll up to identify voters... but if you would like... please do so at the top of your responses.

Cheers,
Zim

Click to expand...

Bold: And that is the problem. It's too general. Yes, they did interfere. But some of the things that they interfered on are not near as problematic as others.

Kal'Stang said:

Bold: And that is the problem. It's too general. Yes, they did interfere. But some of the things that they interfered on are not near as problematic as others.

Click to expand...

Was it a serious issue?

Yes?
No?

radcen said:

Exactly. My impression of the OP's question... and this is in part based on *who* the OP is and their partisan history here at DP... is that they are somehow trying to get around to portraying it as a 'non-issue' and that we shouldn't even have an investigation. My point is that his question jumps the gun and assumes an investigation is a waste of time, and hence the obvious choice (to him) is that it is a non-issue.

Click to expand...

So... for you... it is a "serious issue"?

zimmer said:

Was it a serious issue?

Yes?
No?

Click to expand...

You can continue to repeat yourself if you wish. My answer is the same. :shrug:

zimmer said:

So... for you... it is a "serious issue"?

Click to expand...

Potentially serious enough to be investigated... then we go from there depending on the results.

You seem to be upset that people are seeing through your agenda.

N o F U Z Z.


COMEY: Yes, sir. There should be no fuzz on this whatsoever. The Russians interfered in our election during the 2016 cycle. They did with purpose. They did it with sophistication. They did it with overwhelming technical efforts. It was an active measures campaign driven from the top of that government.

There is no fuzz on that. It is a high confidence judgment of the entire intelligence community and the members of this committee have seen the intelligence. It's not a close call. That happened. That's about as unfake as you can possibly get. It is very, very serious, which is why it's so refreshing to see a bipartisan focus on that. This is about America, not about a particular party.

HEINRICH: That is a hostile act by the Russian government against this country?

COMEY: Yes, sir.

DaveFagan said:

Koch Brothers, Sheldon Adelson, AIPAC, and assorted billionaires paying their rent to USA politicians and you're worried about Russian interference. Get Real. Citizens United reveals where the true enemy of Citizen taxpayers lies and it's not in Russia./

Click to expand...

DaveFagan, if you're going to run with that line, it's disingenuous to exclude George Soros, Tom Steyer, the Democracy Alliance, and other members of the Progressive Machine.

radcen said:

Potentially serious enough to be investigated... then we go from there depending on the results.

You seem to be upset that people are seeing through your agenda.

Click to expand...

And to have our senate vote overwhelmingly vote (97-2) for stronger Russia sanctions -

"The Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a bipartisan package of new Russia sanctions that also lets Congress block President Donald Trump from easing or ending penalties against Moscow, the year's most significant GOP-imposed restriction on the White House.

The 97-2 vote on the Russia sanctions plan capped a week of talks that demonstrated cross-aisle collaboration that's become increasingly rare as Trump and the GOP push to repeal Obamacare without any Democratic votes.
...
"These additional sanctions will also send a powerful, bipartisan statement that Russia and any other nation who might try to interfere with our elections will be punished."

Senate overwhelmingly passes Russia sanctions deal with new limits on Trump - POLITICO

97 to 2. How often does that happen these days?

radcen said:

Potentially serious enough to be investigated... then we go from there depending on the results.

You seem to be upset that people are seeing through your agenda.

Click to expand...

REMEMBER THIS POST... BECAUSE IT'S ROTFLOL, and so very wrong.

If this were a game of chess, you'd have made a fatal error.

ocean515 said:

DaveFagan, if you're going to run with that line, it's disingenuous to exclude George Soros, Tom Steyer, the Democracy Alliance, and other members of the Progressive Machine.

Click to expand...

And unions.