Vast right-wing conspiracy to rob Tim Robbins of his vote?

This stuff never happens to Arnold Schwarzenegger. When Tim Robbins went to his local polling place today at the 14th Street YMCA in Manhattan, no one could find his name in the rolls of registered voters, even though he'd been voting at the same location for years. According to TMZ, an argument erupted after Robbins was told he'd have to fill out a provisional ballot. "Robbins allegedly got loud and the poll worker said he was calling the cops. Robbins accused the poll worker of trying to intimidate him so he wouldn't vote."

Of course, the right-wing press has been having a field day with this nugget, with the New York Post snarkily describing the actor as "liberal poster boy Tim Robbins" and quoting a poll worker as saying Robbins was "obnoxious." Dirty Harry's blog tagged the story "Snit Alert." It's not exactly news that conservatives loathe Robbins--they're always complaining about how his activism makes it impossible for any patriotic moviegoer to enjoy his films. But if you watch the TMZ video for yourself, you'll see that Robbins is unbelievably gentlemanly toward the TMZ reporter, patiently explaining his voting difficulties, before urging him to go off and vote himself. Maybe my conservative blogger pals are extra cranky today, with the polls painting a bleak picture for election night, but if they want to stereotype a Hollywood actor as a dilettante, they'll have to do better than this.

Photo of Tim Robbins by Ringo H.W. Chiu / For The Times

Comments

[Michael]

The problem with the right is that in their arrogance, they don't stop to think that at some point they will try to screw someone who is much smarter than them. Then the crime is uncovered, and they are made to look the fools they are.

[Draven]

What a loser! Crying and whining when he could have cast his vote on a provisional ballot. They would have checked his info, verified it, and given that it was his one and only vote that day it would have counted. He's just crying for attention once again. Susie - go change his diaper now - he's wet again. Such an idiot! Get a permanent absentee voter ballot you jerk and save the polling workers the inconvenience of your presence.

[David A.]

The criticism of Robbins wasn't about how he was on camera, which was fairly mellow. It's to his actions toward the woman clerk when told he wasn't on the rolls.

Robbins is something like 6'5" tall. He's a big guy.

Usually the workers for the voting sites are female, elderly, and about 5 feet nothing.

They also aren't generally involved with setting up the documents. They just look up the name, have you sign, and direct you to the booth.

They don't have the ability to be part of some screwy conspiracy theory to deprive people of voting.

Robbins should have known this, but he still chose to berate the clerk to the point that the cops were called.

A 6'5" angry dude up against some small weak old woman doesn't sound like a fair fight.

It just sounds like him being a big ol' jerk.

[Brent Bailey]

I read several accounts of this story trying to get to the truth of the matter. Most of the stories were headlined that Robbins was denied a vote when in fact he was not denied his vote. So the headlines are bald faced lies. He was offered a provisional ballot, the purpose of which is to expedite voting by delaying registration verification until after the polls close. No need for people to stand in line waiting for Mr. "I'm More Important than You" to get his way.

My biggest annoyance at this whole story is the way that Robbins so casually accuses the poll workers of committing fraud; i.e. "oftentimes those things (paper ballots) get lost or thrown away."

This is a great example of selfish, egotistical and possibly paranoid behavior.

[Right-is-right]

Tim Robbins isn't smarter than the average Cocker Spaniel, much less the average conservative. Are liberals so insecure and desperate to prove their questionable intelligence that they condone this sort of celebrity buffoonery?