THE TRUE WINNER IS GORE

Various calculations are being made as to the true Gore margin of victory in FL, and it would be good to stress that Gore really won by tens of thousands of votes but for faulty ballot design, voting irregularities, and alleged voter fraud and discrimination. In short, probably the pre-election polls and exit polls were right and that is why it is so mysterious as to why the Gore projection on election night was withdrawn. Without stressing the true margin of victory in FL and the popular vote victory throughout the USA, the impression can be given that somehow this recount is an attempt to steal the election.

Peter

BIBLICAL METAPHOR

My dearly beloved fellow democratic family members:

The narrow road which leads to the White House is quite rough, bumpy, sometimes icy, sometimes dry, sometimes the sticks and stones keep breaking our bones, as we travel this way, while the Bushes keep trying to darkened our pathway to the White House. There is a lion's den up the road prepared for our beloved brother Al Gore. They have made a pact with hell, to prevent our brother from entering the White House. But as Daniel was thrown into the lion's den, he looked out of the window of hope and began to pray for the redeeming hand of Almighty God, to save him. The Almighty God sent an angel to stop the mouths of the lions from eating Daniel up. When the King learned, excuse me for saying this word, THE CONSPIRACY, those who had thrown Daniel in the lion's den, where thrown in themselves and the lions ripped them to pieces. So we must pray for the same redeeming angel to come and stop the mouths of these lions in the Bush's camp from overthrowing Al Gore as the President Elect of the United States of America. Don't lose hope, my beloved brothers and sisters democrats, because when all the truth comes out behind all of this, some people are going to be "Kissing Bars", at midnight, "eating handcuffed soup for lunch", and dial collect at breakfast time. Stay strong and don't give up!

Brookone

A VETERAN SPEAKS OUT

Watching the brazen attempt by Bush and Cheney to steal Florida and the presidency is a complete outrage to law abiding Americans and EVEN A BIGGER OUTRAGE FOR AMERICAN WAR VETERANS some who have suffered both physically and mentally serving The United States of America with pride and devotion. I refuse to let this happen and will work with you tirelessly to prevent the "Bushwhacking of America". I'm not a wealthy man and can't make a cash donation but I can write and will gladly if you need me to. Today we become Patriots once again as our forefathers that rose up against the British and their oppressive acrimonious rules; we now must rise up against Bush and Cheney and overthrow their acrimonious, adversarial behavior against not only the people of Florida but also the entire nation. We must protest vigorously the conflict of interest by the Florida secretary of state and have the fire in our stomachs and desire to take our battle to the United States Supreme Court, SO HELP US GOD.

Lawrence L. Pichulo

BUSH UNDER PRESSURE

I love this. It gets better each day. Of course W doesn't want to meet with Gore. He's probably intimidated as hell. This is the man who has just beaten him in the popular vote. He is smarter, more experienced, more physically imposing. And Bush knows that Gore probably knows plenty about the Bush family's shenanigans in Florida and elsewhere. Gore now speaks with the authority of one who has proved himself in the ballot count with more votes than Bush, Clinton or any other man except Reagan. He also has the authority of being right. His position is to support the democratic principle and push for the most accurate possible vote count. He stands on the side of democracy, a much stronger position than Bush, whose main battle has been to suppress the vote counts in Florida.

The Bush mob can run their sloshy logic on us and get by with it in most situations because of their power, because they can count on the major media to give them a good spin. But now they are caught between a focused national electorate on one side and the courts on the other. Neither side of that equation is going to buy such an absurd argument as "manual vote counts are unreliable, machines are better." It flies in the face of logic and of laws across the country, including the law W signed in Texas. I am loving this.

David Cogswell

NIXON'S "RESTRAINT" IS A MYTH

The attached is a letter I sent to salon.com, reacting primarily to the Washington Post article whose URL is at the bottom.

TWISTS AND TURNS AFTER ELECTION 1960

In a front-page Washington Post article, Peter Carlson asserts (WP, "Another Race to the Finish", 17 Nov 2000) that Richard Nixon (1) successfully pressured the Herald Tribune to end Earl Mazo's series on election fraud in 1960 but (2) was powerless to halt the activities of his party's chairman (Sen. Thruston Morton), his campaign manager (Robert Finch), and his press secretary (Herb Klein). Come again? I have bridges and Arizona beachfront property on the market as we speak.

At the time, Herb Klein stated that Nixon had not been consulted. But no one believes that the "titular head" of a party can't stop activities he wants terminated. Klein's statement was just the polite fiction we accept so that the leaders have distance and plausible deniability.

A quick check at my local library yielded additional interesting twists and turns in the 1960 election aftermath that I haven't seen reported. For example, all of Mississippi's electors were unpledged, as were six out of eleven in Alabama. The issue was civil rights. About the first of December, one of the unpledged Alabama electors wrote to electors in other Southern states urging them to vote for Sen. Harry Byrd (D-VA) for president and Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-AZ) for vice-president.

On 11 November, three days after the election, the uncontrollable Sen. Morton called for "vote fraud inquiries" in Delaware, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Texas (WP, 12 Nov 1960). The following day, Sen. Green (D-RI) requested that Sen. Morton provide evidence of fraud or irregularities so that his Senate Subcommittee on Privileges and Elections could discharge its duty to assure fair and legal federal elections. Sen. Morton never responded or acknowledged receipt of this request, nor of Sen. Green's second request on 3 December 1960. (WP, 4 Dec 1960)

On 16 November, absentee ballots switched California from Kennedy to Nixon.

On 21 November, Texas Republicans asked for investigations of "frauds and irregularities". At that point, Nixon/Lodge trailed Kennedy/Johnson by 42,264 out of 2,288,940 votes cast, just under 2%. In New Jersey, Republicans won court orders granting recounts in five counties. (WP, 22 Nov 1960).

On 30 November, defeated Republican Governor William Stratton said that the Illinois certification board -- which he chaired -- might not certify any Illinois electors if there were strong evidence of fraud in Cook County. The Illinois margin at that time was 8,849. (NYT, 1 Dec, 1960). His statement intensified the dispute in Illinois and raised the question of how many electoral votes would constitute a majority if the Illinois votes were not sent forward (WP, 4 Dec, 1960). (The precedent of New York not voting for George Washington led many to believe that the standard is "the majority of electoral votes cast.") This electoral vote dispute in turn raised the possibility that the presidential election could be thrown into the House of Representatives for resolution.

Also on 30 November, Republicans in Essex County, NJ abandoned their efforts when the recount of the first 151 precincts (out of 581) showed no change at all in the vote count. With only 181 precincts nationwide not reporting, Kennedy then led Nixon by 180,180 out of 68 million votes. (WP, 1 Dec 1960) Pennsylvania's recount was ended, with a lead of 117,549 for Kennedy. Connecticut's Board of Canvassers certified Kennedy's win with a margin of 91,242. (NYT, 1 Dec 1960).

On 1 December, Democrats in Hawaii and the Republican Attorney General filed dueling lawsuits concerning disputed votes. The New Jersey recount was halted in all affected counties after eleven days of recounting (NYT, 2 Dec 1960).

On 2 December (25 days after the election), Sen. Morton flew to Chicago with great fanfare, saying there was "still a remote possibility" that Nixon would be inaugurated the next president. (Formal actions were still in progress in Illinois, Missouri, Texas, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New Mexico.) Mayor Daley was furious at Morton's visit, saying he had come to investigate his own propaganda (WP, 3 Dec 1960). He added that the Cook-County recounts to that point had only added to Kennedy's margin of victory (NYT, 3 Dec 1960). At a press conference, Sen. Morton said, "I don't have evidence one way or the other" that the Illinois election was won by outright larceny. He did observe that election fraud might be an issue in the 1962 and 1964 elections. He suggested that a court be "asked to direct the Cook County Elections Board to amend its official proclamation." (NYT, 3 Dec 1960).

Texas Republicans for their part continued gathering evidence of poll fraud into December, even after the Texas Election Board certified Kennedy and Johnson. John Conally called the Republican efforts a publicity stunt (WP, 4 Dec 1960).

For nearly four weeks, formal Republican protests continued across the country. They gathered evidence, they demanded recounts, they sought court orders and injunctions to force recounts, they held press conferences, and the lame-duck governor of Illinois threatened to unilaterally withhold all of Illinois' electoral votes if he personally were not satisfied with the probity of the Cook County results. Richard Nixon, the "titular leader" of the Republican Party, was not involved and remained powerless to pressure all these rogue Republican partisans. Yet after the publication of the first four of Earl Mazo's articles on election fraud in the Herald Tribune, Nixon quashed the remainder of the series in days. (Why didn't he take action after the first article, I wonder?)

As the subtitle of Mr. Carlson's article says, Nixon "didn't haggle" himself He did maintain the appearance of being "out of the loop". However, he was in the loop sufficiently to send minions to do his dirty work. Far from displaying "an uncharacteristically selfless [...] statesmanship," Nixon in 1960 demonstrated bare-knuckled political brawling behind a self-proclaimed facade of plausible deniability.

David Bell

Peter Carlson's article: http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36425-2000Nov16.html

RAPPIN' ABOUT BUSH

POEM: Bushes new name and fame game.

Der Fuhrer Squeaky, setting so high, is caught claiming the whole darn pie. $340.000.000 in favors he owes, because he does his math on fingers and toes. What good is this kind of political pet, that sells his people to clear up his debt?

Cooperate Fascism is the name of this game, where Human rights don't mean a thing. He wants his name to become fame. Pardon me, but his brain and soul, seems a little maim. He wants to serve us, was his claim, forgetting that his fathers reign was just as lame.

With laws made to hold the people at bay. Deregulation and lack of controls will lead the way. Lawless ones want to be above the law, They say Deregulation has no flaw, just people's degradation is all.

For those lawless ones you will slave all day, your bones to be broken, so they can have their way. Slave, but will you be among the few, that's able to save?

With stock market Bears and Bulls in control, having many ways to take your dough, you may never collect that pot of gold. But they'll give you a smile, as you starve in the cold.

Off to work your whole family will go. To pay back those favors Squeaky will owe.

We have radio talk show hosts, spouting propaganda that brainwashes and hoodwinks most. They block out reality, claiming their philosophy should be accepted as morality.

From questionable ballots to miscounts and other irregularities, you are told it's your own incongruities. You aren't poorer because you're smart, you simply didn't vote, giving them charge of your part.

It's the people's voice being drowned out, by a problematic ballot that was brought out. Dubious claims and remarks float about; to muffle those voices of truth, and put them in doubt. It show's that justice is on it's way out. It's only for the wealthy fat mouth clout.

Even the judges are looking out, because the letter of the law just may not count.

They should know the ways of the Lord, It's not a matter of getting Bush-whacked or Gored. We can see in what they trust, it's just monetary lust. The tax cuts, won't save their butts.

Stop the counting and ignore the peoples pleas, Squeaky just wants them in cardboard boxes and down on their knees.

Nineteen thousand voices scream to be heard; as Der Fuhrer and followers start smelling like turd. The point of all this is clear, watch out America, Hell! May come right here.