The Internet scout who sent me the condensed news below about the US election mess, introduced the items with this pregnant sentence:
"Now, the Seattle Times is insisting that Holocaust survivors of Israeli-American dual citizen(ship) will determine the outcome of the election."
Food for thought, isn't it? And there are still people who doubt the importance of the Holocaust as a political weapon wielded against America - as it is against every Western country in the world?
Read on:
Ornstein, Charles. "Calls For New Election Over 'Confusing' Ballot", in Seattle Times, November 9, 2000. p. A22.
Local and national Democrats are arguing that the poor design of the Palm Beach County ballots tricked jewish voters into voting for Pat Buchanan when they thought they were voting for Al Gore. At least one lawsuit has been filed to overturn the Bush victory in the county, and therefore the state and nation. Henry Handler, the attorney for one plaintiff, argues that the ballot was so complex that Jewish voters were effectively "disenfranchised". Gore claims the 3407 votes cast for Buchanan, and questions the disqualification of 19120 ballots (4% of ballots cast) due to double-voting for president.
Democratic lobbyists argue that the Palm Beach area is "heavily Jewish" and there is "no way residents... would deliberately vote for Buchanan". Richel, one of the Jewish victims stated, "You cannot elect a president of the United States this way. We have a lot of people here who are concentration camp survivors. They earned the right to democracy."
Jewish Rep. Robert Wexler (D, Fla) claims that he was aware of the problem before the vote count was announced, saying: "Hundreds of people spoke to me yesterday before the polls closed about their extraordinary confusion. I myself when I went to the polls was confused. I saw people who came out of the polling places. They were crying. They were in tears. On hysterics."
[Note: None of the people Wexler described have come forward; there is no videotape of crowds of hysterical Jewish Holocaust survivors in the parking lots outside the polling places that predates the closing of the polls.]
The NAACP has charged racial discrimination and demanded an investigation by Attorney General Janet Reno.
Rep. Mark Foley (R, Fla) observes: "It's reprehensible that because they're behind in Florida, they're somehow trying to find a scapegoat."
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Barabak, Mark Z.; Clark, Mike. "The Long Counts: President: Gap Narrows In Recount: Both Sides See Reasons For Hope", in Seattle Times, November 9, 2000. pp. A1, A22.
Bush remains ahead in the county-by-county recount. Both sides hope that the overseas ballots will elect their man: Bush counts on overseas American military personnel voting Republican, Gore counts on Israel, where dual American-Israeli citizens are expected to vote Democratic.
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Hannity, Sean. "Election Deadlock", in Fox News Channel, November 9, 2000.
Just like in the Monica Lewinsky matter, the Democratic strategy has been to wage war on the Republicans, using surrogates to give pausible deniably [ed: unclear] to Al Gore. The democrats have used people like Jesse Jackson to stir things up, to discredit Bush, and the try to damage any incoming Bush Administration. The story that the ballot tricked Jews into voting for Buchanan is just ridiculous, and false statements by Rep. Robert Wexler (D, Fla) about crowds of crying Jewish voters just shows that the Democrats are now willing to say anything without regard to truth in order to attack and destroy the legitimacy of the presidential election.
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"Bush Press Conference: Michael Dell Jewish Community Center in Austin, Texas", in Fox New Channel, November 9, 2000.
(12:00 a.m. PST) After campaign manager Karen Hughes noted that Bush has been in meetings with senior advisors and Dick Cheney this morning, Don Evans, Bush campaign chairman stated that when the vote count in Florida is done, it will probably award the state to Bush. He noted that the Gore campaign has already stated that it will not respect the vote count in Florida, and noted that it was distorting and politicizing the vote count "at the price of our democracy". It is not appropriate to demand re-votes until Gore gets the result he wants.
Karl Roves, chief campaign manager, stated that some 16,695 voters in Palm Beach County in third parties; in Palm Beach County Reform Party registered members were up 110% from the prior election, compared to 38% for all voters. The Gore campaign is handing out a fuzzy copy of the so-called "butterfly" ballot in order to make the ballot look more obscure than it really is. When William Daley stated the butterfly ballot was unfair and confusing, he did not admit that an almost identical ballot is used in Cook County. There remain many uncounted ballots nationwide, with it becoming more clear that George W. Bush will probably also win the popular vote. The overseas ballots have been overwhelmingly republican historically, in 1996 by 65% to 35%.
Hughes noted that the problem of double-voted in Palm Beach County occured in similar numbers in the 1996 and 2000 elections. Evans noted that the ballot in Palm beach County was designed by Democrats, the vote was administered by Democrats, and the vote count for Bush was determined by Democrats. In Florida, Palm Beach County is a Buchanan stronghold, with a strong local organization run by a relative. In the 1996 Republican presidential primary, Buchanan receiveD 8788 votes in Palm Beach County. The recount in Florida is finding almost no changes in the vote: in most counties the change is less than ten votes. There is a new problem in Palm Beach County: some where 800 new ballots have appeared (with 600 or 75% for Gore); no one can explain where the 800 new ballots came from, since there is no increase in the countywide or precinct-by-precint voter counts, but the state certification mysteriously is 800 votes higher.
Evans observed that "in this country we have elections to elect people, we don't hold election after election until we get the results someone wants."
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Caputo, Neil. "Patrick Buchanan on the Palm Beach County Vote", in Election Alert-Fox News Channel, November 9, 2000.
(approx. 12:30 p,.m. PST) Patrick Buchanan notes that he could imagine that some votes were cast in error, but whatever the motivation of the people who cast the ballots, the ballots as cast belong to the candidate indicated on the ballot. No one can tell What people were thinking when they cast their votes. The effort to change the count is just an effort to award the election to VP Al Gore. Speaking honestly, he could imagine that some of the votes were cast incorrectly, but he noted that he does not really know what happened; however, he does believe that he got many of the votes in Palm Beach County. Buchanan noted that he hopes Bush wins the election and believes that if the Florida recount confirms the Bush victory, then Gore should have the courage Richard Nixon had in 1960 to concede the election to Bush. He noted that in 1960, even though the election was stolen, that Richard Nixon had the courage and honor to concede the election and not divide the country: he hopes that Gore can have that kind of courage.
Buchanan noted that in a "crisis like this, you have to speak the truth", and that it is necessary to be honest about who won the vote, to stand up and congratulate the winner, and unite behind the new president. Buchanan noted that winner in an election is the person with the most votes; when there is conflict we must follow the law.
Buchanan rejected Caputo's repeated attempts to characterize Buchanan's honest admission that he was uncertain about the vote in Palm Beach County as a "vendetta" against the Bush family, or an attempt to "get back at" Ross Perot.
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Thought for the Day:
"A good folly is worth what you pay for it."
(George Ade)
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