In light of what has happened yesterday in Florida, my readers will appreciate the jaundiced eye one of the intellectually independent internet's media scouts has cast upon American elections.
Without further ado, here are the results:
Abnews-22 - 20001108
(1) Lewis, Martin "Jewish Veto On US Presidential Elections Demanded By Time Magazine (Time-Warner Inc.) Spokesman", in Election Alert-Fox News Channel, November 8, 2000.
Martin Lewis (time.com) has demanded on the Fox News Channel Election Alert (live: approximately 10:55 a.m. PST) that George W. Bush concede the election due to an alleged election fraud. Lewis charges that the Florida election was rigged by tricky ballots that led Jewish voters to accidentally vote for Patrick Buchanan. Without being challenged by the newsreader, Lewis falsely argued that Buchanan is a Hitler supporter, and then stated that Jews cannot be expected to vote for a Hitler lover, and therefore Jewish voters in that precinct should be granted what would effectively be a veto over the US presidential election.
[Note: The time.com website focuses on the "tradition" of vote fraud in Florida, e.g., "'Miami Was the Site of the Biggest Ballot Fraud in Recent US History', TIME's Miami bureau chief Tim Padgett explains the checkered past of Dade County elections. Of course, this "tradition" of election fraud in Florida was only discovered after the vote in Florida.]
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(2) Jackson, Jesse. "Jesse Jackson Charges: African-American and Jewish Voters Prevented From Voting", in Election Alert-Fox News Channel, November 8, 2000.
Jesse Jackson on Fox New Channel Election Alert has charged that there was a pervasive racial bias in the Florida election. Jackson states that African-American voters, and only African-American voters, were turned away from polling places in Tampa and Tallahassee due to "shortages of ballots". Jackson also charges that Jewish voters who "pulled for Gore" on the ballot were instead recorded as having voted for Buchanan.
[Note: The ballot in question did not designate the vote by having somthing that could be "pulled", but rather was a punch-out style ballot. Jackson appears to be embellishing the Gore campaign charge of bias against Jewish voters, rather than having any direct knowledge of any ballot errors.]
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(3) Matthews, Chris. "George W. Bush Move Offensive to Jewish Voters in Florida: Jews The Real Victims", in Presidential Race (MSNBC), November 8, 2000.
Chris Matthews, speaking on MSNBC (approximately 11:45 a.m. PST) argued that George W. Bush has taken a step that is deeply offensive to Florida Jews. He argued that James A. Baker, III, former secretary of state, was deliberately hidden by Bush during the presidential campaign, because Baker is an "arabist" and therefore offensive to Jews who support Israel. Matthews noted that by sending Baker as an observer for the Florida vote recount, George W. Bush took a step that is deliberately offensive to Florida Jews: therefore, Jews are the real victims of the presidential election "fraud".
[Note: The word "arabist" is a word used in the demonization of people who are not deemed loyal to Israel.]
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(4) "Press Conference of Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth", in Presidential Race (MSNBC), November 8, 2000.
(Press Conference, 12:20 a.m. PST) Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, with Attorney General Bob Butterworth notes that an automatic recount of the Florida vote was underway. Articulated his support for the county supervisors of elections and independently elected Secretary of State Catherine Harris, and stated that election fraud is a felony and would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. He stated he would recuse himself from the canvassing board. He called for responsible conduct by both political parties. He noted his dismay at the "irresponsible" repetition of rumors by the news media, rumors making unsubstantiated allegations of election fraud.
Attorney General Bob Butterworth stated that Florida would fully investigate any questions about the election and would conduct an honest and fair count.
During a Q&A session, Bush noted that the alleged box of uncounted ballots [in an African-American church used as a polling place] turned out to be a box of school supplies. Bush noted that the ballot that has been claimed as defective [allegedly causing mainly Jewish Gore voters to vote for Buchanan] was fully reviewed before the election, and that any challenge should have taken place before the election.
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(5) Caddell, Pat. "Florida Elections 'Very Clean'", in Presidential Race (MSNBC), November 8, 2000.
Pat Caddell, Democratic Strategist, states on MSNBC during a panel moderated by Chris Matthews (approximatedly 12:55 p.m. PST), that Florida has a record of "very clean" elections and while there have been irresponsible allegations, when they are investigated, the rumors turn out to be false. He cited the example of the so-called "box of ballots" that turned out to be school supplies.
[Note: Matthews tried to set the tone forr the discussion by gratuitous stating there was a dichotomy between "peace makers" and "Hezbollah", in an apparent effort to pander to those putative victimized Florida Jewish voters.]
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(6) Caddell, Pat. "Chris Matthews: Aged Jewish Voters Victimized in Florida Election", in Hardball (MSNBC), November 8, 2000.
Chris Matthews, hote of Hardball (MSNBC, beginning 1:00 p.m. PST) argued that a ballot that forced Jewish voters to vote for a candidate that they "rightly despise" should be the basis for overturning the Florida election. He noted that several of these victimized [Jewish] voters has retained legal counsel to attack the legality of the election.
John Shubin, Florida "election expert" noted that there is no evidence that even one voter stated there was a problem with the ballot, and that not one voter called for assistance in filling out the ballot. He stated that such a printed ballot with arrows pointing to the holes to be punched out has never been overturned by a legal challenge.
[Note: The Florida ballot in question is similar in complexity of format to about ten SAT questions, and much easier to answer.]
Then Hardball turned to a group of elderly Jewish voters, led by spokeswoman Ricky Golden, a "community leader" in Boca Raton. She claims she was tricked into voting for Patrick Buchanan when she wanted to vote for Al Gore; there was a long line and she was hurried. At 11:00 at night on the evening news she realized that she had been tricked and victimized into voting for Buchanan. She stated, with the happy agreement of Matthews, that: "For Buchanan to get even one vote here is absurd", she noted she had collected a list of people who now assert they were tricked. She demands that her [Palm Beach] county get to vote again. She alleged that other aged Jewish communities were also tricked and victimized into voting for Buchanan.
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(7) "Presidential Election Too Close to Call", in Crossfire (CNN), November 8, 2000.
Robert Wexler (D, Fla) has been all over the television today arguing that a Palm Bach ballot resulted in several thousand Jewish votes for Al Gore being stolen for Patrick Buchanan. He argues there was "extraordinary confusion" and near "hysteria of voters leaving the polling places" yesterday due to the form. He stated that he "refuses to waive his right to a legal ballot" and states that unless Bush leads by at least 3400 votes [the number of Jewish votes he claims were stolen by Buchanan] the presidential election is illegitimate. He continues to assert that Buchanan could not legally have obtained even one vote in Palm Beach County and the fact that Buchanan received 20% of his statewide vote in that one county means the vote must be invalidated. Wexler, who is Jewish, demands that Jewish voters in Palm Beach County get to vote again if a recount finds Bush to be the winner. Wexler argued that there was a conspiracy to prevent Palm Beach Jews from voting the way they want: once again, Jews are the real victims. [As the show was concluding, Wexler became "hysterical", insisting that Al Gore was the real winner becaue he won the popular vote.]
John Scarbrough (R, Fla) noted that at first, today, the Democrats claimed there was a missing box of votes in an African-American church that was used as a polling place, and after six hours in the media this was revealed to be a hoax. Only after this first vote fraud claim was revealed to be a hoax did attention focus on Palm Beach County. He noted that Buchanan received 0.79% in Palm Beach and this was a level of voting consistent with statewide patterns (in Palm Beach County, the 3400 votes were won by: Gore, 62%; Bush, 35%; Nader, 1.2%; Buchanan, 0.79%). He noted that there was a process for questioning the appropriateness of the ballot, but that process ended before the vote.
[Note: Oddly, the only voters "confused" to "hysteria" by the ballot were Jewish voters. Wexler seems to be arguing that the most stupid people in America are the Jewish voters of his district in Palm Beach County.]
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Thought for the Day:
"The past is but the beginning of a beginning, and all that is and has been is but the twilight of the dawn."
(Herbert George Wells)
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