CA Senate Primary: Carly Fiorina’s Demon Sheep Ad Produces Surge in Donations for GOP Rival

San Francisco Chronicle:

Campbell told KPCC’s Patt Morrison Friday afternoon that he thought the ad is “exceptionally nasty.”

“But what makes it a news story is that it’s so awful, so over the top, that it actually helps me,” Campbell told the SoCal public radio host. “The result is the greatest day of contributions on line at Campbell.org. in the entire campaign.”

As we’ve told you before, Teacher Tom the mild-mannered professor doesn’t like smacking down opponents. Way back when — nearly a month ago now — when Tom was running for Guv, he would refuse to say his opponents names when saying something even minorly critical of them.

“An attack ad is kind of unfortunate,” Campbell said. “You just don’t expect to be attacked in such a truly bizarre way, and you don’t expect it to help you.”

“It turned into quite a successful campaign ad for me,” he said.

Answers to Jim Crow Civics Literacy Test Sample Questions

Here are the answers to the Alabama voters’ literacy test sample questions, circa 1964:

“B” Questions

Prospective voters would be required to answer four questions like these:

1. What body can try impeachments of the president of the United States? [Senate]

2. Check the applicable definition of “responsibility”:
A duty [x]
– A speech
– A failure

3. Name the attorney general of the United States. [Then: acting A.G. Nicholas Katzenbach; now: Eric Holder]

4. Women may now serve on juries in Alabama state courts. [True]

5. Can the president of the United States be impeached? [Yes]

6. Check the applicable definition for “representative”:
– Agreement between states
Person chosen to act for others [x]
– Good character

7. FBI stands for [Federal Bureau of Investigation]

8. Each county in Alabama may decide by whether or not it will have legalized sale [sic] of alcoholic beverages. [True]

9. Can the president of the United States be removed from office for conviction of bribery? [Yes]

10. Check the applicable definition for “treaty”:
Agreement between nations [x]
– A tax
– A written oration

11. Name the man who is nationally known for heading the Federal Bureau of Investigation for many years. [Then: J. Edgar Hoover; now: Robert Mueller]

12. What officer is designated by the Constitution to be the president of the Senate of the United States? [Vice President]

13. Can you be imprisoned under Alabama law for a debt? [No]

14. In addition to becoming a U.S. citizen by birth, a person may become a citizen by:
– Immigration
Naturalization [x]
– Voting

15. Name one person by name or title who is part of the judicial branch of government in Alabama. [Then: Chief Justice Livingston; now: Sue Bell Cobb]
16. The first sentence of the United States Constitution is called the Preamble. [True]

“C” Questions

Prospective voters would be required to answer four questions like these:

1. If a person charged with treason denies his guilt, how many persons must testify against him before he can be convicted? [Two]

2. At what time of day on January 20 each four years does the term of the president of the United States end? [12 noon]

3. If the president does not wish to sign a bill, how many days is he allowed in which to return it to Congress for reconsideration? [10]

4. If a bill is passed by Congress and the president refuses to sign it and does not send it back to Congress in session within the specific period of time, is the bill defeated or does it become law? [It becomes law unless Congress adjourns before the expiration of 10 days]

5. If a person seeks to search your home, what kind of paper must he have before you are compelled to allow him to do so? [Search warrant]

6. If the United States wishes to purchase land for an arsenal and have exclusive legislative authority over it, consent is required from [Legislature].

7. Prior to the adoption of the United States Constitution, the organization of states was known as the [Confederation].

8. Tribunals are [courts].

9. Can the state coin money with the consent of Congress? [No]

10. Name one area of authority over state militia reserved exclusively to the states. [The appointment of officers]

11. The power of granting patents, that is, the securing to inventors the exclusive right to their discoveries, is given to the Congress for the purpose of [promoting progress].

12. The only legal tender which may be authorized by states for payment of debts is [U.S. currency].

13. In what year did the Congress gain the right to prohibit the migration of persons to the states? [1808]

14. Who is the commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States? [The president]

15. Which of the Parts above, of the United States Constitution deals with the federal government’s authority to call the state militia into federal service? [Part 1]

16. The president is forbidden to exercise his authority of pardon in cases of [impeachment].

Could Tea Baggers Pass the Civics Test Tancredo Proposed at Convention?

art-taprncredo-confed-flagDuring the sparsely attended opening night event at the tea bagger convention in Nashville Friday night, Tom Tancredo, a former Republican presidential aspirant and Colorada congressman with neo-Confederate ties, set the racist tone for the conclave by decrying the outlawing of Jim Crow era literacy test for voters:

TANCREDO: “And then, something really odd happened, mostly because I think that we do not have a civics literacy test before people can vote in this country. People who could not even spell the word “vote,” or say it in English, put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House, name is Barack Hussein Obama.”

The racist rant by Tancredo — who was last seen in November storming off the set during an interview on MSNBC after DailyKos’ Markos Moulistas called him out as Vietnam War draft dodger — was described as “creepy” by former Bush speech writer David Frum — and prompted Keith Olbermann to praise Tancredo (in the video embedded here) for “stripping away” the “cloak of hatred” from the tea bagger movment.

The literacy tests, which were used primarily in Southern precincts to prevent African-Americans from voting, were outlawed as part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

But Tancredo’s call for reinstating the tests, which had the purported purpose of confirming that voters understood how state and federal governments functioned, prompts the question: Could the tea baggers themselves pass the test — and could Tancredo.

Here is how it worked in Alabama and most states during the Jim Crow era:

In the rural counties where most folk lived, you had to go down to the courthouse to register. The Registrars Office was only open two or three days each month for a couple of hours, usually in the morning or afternoon. You had to take off work — with or without your employer’s permission — to register. And if a white employer gave such permission, or failed to fire Black who tried to vote, he could be driven out of business by economic retaliation from the Citizens Council.

On the occasional registration day, the county Sheriff and his deputies made it their business to hang around the courthouse to discourage “undesirables” from trying to register. This meant that Black women and men had to run a gauntlet of intimidation, insults, threats, and sometimes arrest on phony charges, just to get to the Registration Office. Once in the Registrars Office they faced hatred, harassment, and humiliation from clerks and officials.

The Alabama Application Form and oaths you had to take were four pages long. It was designed to intimidate and threaten. You had to swear that your answers to every single question were true under penalty of perjury. And you knew that the information you entered on the form would be passed on to the Citizens Council and KKK.

The test was organized into Part A and Part B:

In “Part A” the applicant was given a selection of the Constitution to read aloud. The registrar could assign you a long complex section filled with legalese and convoluted sentences, or he could tell you to read a simple one or two sentence section. The Registrar marked each word he thought you mispronounced. In some cases you had to orally interpret the section to the registrar’s satisfaction. You then had to either copy out by hand a section of the Constitution, or write it down from dictation as the registrar spoke (mumbled) it. White applicants usually were allowed to copy, Black applicants usually had to take dictation. The Registrar then judged whether you were able to “read and write,” or if you were “illiterate.”

In Parts “B” and “C,” you had to answer two different sets of four written questions each. Part “B” was 4 questions based on the excerpt you had written down. Part “C” consisted of 4 “general knowledge” questions about state and national government.

The tests were graded in secret. Even if a black person got the answers right for every question, the registrar could still declare him or her to be “unqualified” to vote. Based on Tom Tancredo’s record, the testing system he has in mind would be similarly rigged.

Below are 16 sample questions from Parts A & B, circa 1964. (Click here to see questions with answers):

“B” Questions

Prospective voters would be required to answer four questions like these:

1. What body can try impeachments of the president of the United States? ________

2. Check the applicable definition of “responsibility”:
– A duty
– A speech
– A failure

3. Name the attorney general of the United States. ________

4. Women may now serve on juries in Alabama state courts. [True/False]

5. Can the president of the United States be impeached? [Yes/No]

6. Check the applicable definition for “representative”:
– Agreement between states
– Person chosen to act for others
– Good character

7. FBI stands for ________.

8. Each county in Alabama may decide by whether or not it will have legalized sale [sic] of alcoholic beverages. [True/False]

9. Can the president of the United States be removed from office for conviction of bribery? [Yes/No]

10. Check the applicable definition for “treaty”:
– Agreement between nations
– A tax
– A written oration

11. Name the man who is nationally known for heading the Federal Bureau of Investigation for many years. ________

12. What officer is designated by the Constitution to be the president of the Senate of the United States? ________

13. Can you be imprisoned under Alabama law for a debt? [Yes/No]

14. In addition to becoming a U.S. citizen by birth, a person may become a citizen by:
– Immigration
– Naturalization
– Voting

15. Name one person by name or title who is part of the judicial branch of government in Alabama. ________

16. The first sentence of the United States Constitution is called the Preamble. [True/False]

“C” Questions

Prospective voters would be required to answer four questions like these:

1. If a person charged with treason denies his guilt, how many persons must testify against him before he can be convicted? ________

2. At what time of day on January 20 each four years does the term of the president of the United States end? ________

3. If the president does not wish to sign a bill, how many days is he allowed in which to return it to Congress for reconsideration? ________

4. If a bill is passed by Congress and the president refuses to sign it and does not send it back to Congress in session within the specific period of time, is the bill defeated or does it become law? ________

5. If a person seeks to search your home, what kind of paper must he have before you are compelled to allow him to do so? ________

6. If the United States wishes to purchase land for an arsenal and have exclusive legislative authority over it, consent is required from ________.

7. Prior to the adoption of the United States Constitution, the organization of states was known as the ________.

8. Tribunals are ________.

9. Can the state coin money with the consent of Congress? [Yes/No]

10. Name one area of authority over state militia reserved exclusively to the states. ________

11. The power of granting patents, that is, the securing to inventors the exclusive right to their discoveries, is given to the Congress for the purpose of ________.

12. The only legal tender which may be authorized by states for payment of debts is ________.

13. In what year did the Congress gain the right to prohibit the migration of persons to the states? ________

14. Who is the commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States? ________

15. Which of the Parts above, of the United States Constitution deals with the federal government’s authority to call the state militia into federal service? ________

16. The president is forbidden to exercise his authority of pardon in cases of ________.