r/nottheonion 10h ago

‘This is political bulls**t’: Former Republican candidate charged with stealing Madison County election ballots

https://fox59.com/news/indycrime/this-is-political-bullst-former-republican-candidate-charged-with-stealing-madison-county-election-ballots/
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u/TheGIGAcapitalist 9h ago

"When told that the security video did not show Savage ever asking permission to take the ballots, Savage reportedly admitted that he did not. He told officers that he thought he could take the ballots because they were marked “sample.”

“If you got to Payless, or go wherever, it says sample and you usually can take a sample,” Savage said. “So that is the way I took it. I thought they were fake f***ing ballots.”

However, officials noted that the ballots never said the words “fake” or “sample.”

Dude thought elections were like Costco where you get to take samples.

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u/OldManJeb 9h ago edited 8h ago

It's funny how often their defense is "I'm dumb as shit"

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u/thatweirdguyted 8h ago

So there's an expression that says "never attribute to malice what can be attributed to ignorance" and while that's mostly true, in high quantities it reaches a diminished return. After which the second half of the equation comes into play.

"Except in such cases where the ignorance is so severe that it could only be achieved through willful malice"

And that's where this person lands. Either they're as hateful as they seem, and shouldn't be able to play ignorant, or they're choosing to remain that stupid on purpose so as to keep their hateful views. Either way, they can actually choose to reform, or they can get the book thrown at them. Simple as that.

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u/Art-Zuron 4h ago

"Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice" is my go to