Friday, August 19, 2005

Get over it.

Fire of Liberty
I just read that Paul Krugman says Gore would have won the recount in Florida in 2000 but the Economist turned Journalist forgot to read this article in the May 15, 2001 issue of USA Today headlined "Newspapers recount show Bush prevailed" see for yourself:
"George W. Bush would have won a hand count of Florida's disputed ballots if the standard advocated by Al Gore had been used, the first full study of the ballots reveals. Bush would have won by 1,665 votes — more than triple his official 537-vote margin — if every dimple, hanging chad and mark on the ballots had been counted as votes."
When will the people of the left get over 2000 like Republicans did in 1960. No time soon, I guess.

5 comments:

Lew Scannon said...

USA Today, there's a bastion of journalistis integrity. You're right, if you counted all the contested votes, Bush won, however what USA Today failed to report is that if you counted all the votes in Florida, Gore won. Not to mention the fact that Katherine Harris had 57,00o voters removed from the voter rolls simply because they had similar names, birthdates and/or social security numbers from a list of felons. And because they were black (Greg Palast, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy). The state of Florida was sued over this and settled out of court. Republicans still haven't gotten over 1960, my ex-father in law was still seething over it forty years later. Two wrongs don't make a right.

jstarley05 said...

Remember, Al Gore never requested a recount of the whole state of Florida but only two or three counties that were predominately Democrat. Was there a reason why Gore didn't want a state wide recount like President Bush requested, did he think he'd lose? Even if their were voters disenfranchised because of such similarities, I highly doubt that this was the reason 57,000 people couldn't vote. Instead of looking for a strawman like Harris to pin the blame on, could it just be that these the folks were taken off the voter rolls might have actually been a mistake ex-cons, non-registered, not a citizen of the US(there's a large Hatian community in Florida), went to the wrong polling place. You might find it convenient to blame Harris but she was doing her job in enforcing the election laws not to mention it's the duty of all citizens to make sure they go to the right polling station and have everything in order before they went to vote. They should have known this by the various reminders that the local newspapers, radio stations and TVs run prior to them voting. If Secretary of State had put the kabash on these 57,000 voters, you'd think that the US Commission on Civil Rights would have noted this in their final report on the 2000 Presidential Election in an April 17, 2003. This is what the report said:

The report does not find that the highest officials of the state conspired to disenfranchise voters. Moreover, even if it was foreseeable that certain actions by officials led to voter disenfranchisement, this alone does not mean that intentional discrimination occurred. Instead, the report concludes that officials ignored the mounting evidence of rising voter registration rates in communities. The state’s highest officials responsible for ensuring efficiency, uniformity, and fairness in the election failed to fulfill their responsibilities and were subsequently unwilling to take responsibility.

Now they fault members of the state government for various mistakes but if you notice they said there was no intended fraud to throw the election to Bush or Gore. This report was drawn up and signed by a Democratic appointed Mary Francis Berry(now retired) who is no friend of the Republicans. So I'd say that should remove any doubts on Florida.

As for the case your referring to, it had to do with the State of Florida releasing the list of some 47,763 suspected felons to the media, in which a judge ordered them to do. Check it out at CNN under the headline "Judge rules for media on Florida voter list."

Did I say 1960, I ment 1964 when Goldwater lost. Instead of giving up, Republican persevered and would win in 68,72,80,84,88,00, and 04. We didn't get wrapped up in "Bush Stole the Election" or "We Wuz Robbed," but we went forward with a set of ideas and policies that the American people welcomed with open arms. Come up with great ideas and you'll return to the top. Lay off the invective and you'll catch more flies.

Lew Scannon said...

I believed you were refering to the 1960 election, where there was indeed vote fraud in Illinois (particularly under Richard daley in Chicago) that helped swing the state for Kennedy. I was not aware of any vote fraud in1964, although it's a shame as Goldwater would have made a better president than Johnson anyway.

jstarley05 said...

Now I have to agree with you on Barry Goldwater of 64 but not the McCainesque version that emerged in the 1980's. As for the 1960 election, some folks like your ex-father in law can't be helped.

Lew Scannon said...

Oh, it was the McCain-esque Goldwater of the eighties that I wished we have gotten in '64. Oh, well, you can't change the past.