As reported in an October 2004 article in Vanity Fair, "The Path to Florida," it all began with a phone call (quotes, with noted exception, from article):
ALBERT GORE: "Circumstances have changed dramatically since I first called you [to concede] -- the state of Florida is too close to call."
GEORGE W. BUSH: "Are you saying what I think you're saying? Let me make sure I understand. You're calling back to retract your concession?"
GORE: "You don't have to be snippy about it."
BUSH [reconstructed]: "The networks have called Florida, and my brother tells me the numbers they're working off are correct."
GORE: "Your little brother is not the ultimate authority on this."
So began the 2000 post-election debacle in Florida.
And indeed it started with a series of bangs -- with ex-Secretary of State James Baker, the Bush-Cheney campaign's lead attorney in Florida, telling reporters that the election-day results should stand, as any further inspection of the ballots would only lead to "mischief" by Democrats.
Fast-forward to Ohio in 2004.
In a Christmas Eve article in the Cincinnati Enquirer, Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell tells the influential paper that present recount procedures are "too inviting of mischief." In a separate interview, State Representative Kevin DeWine (R-Fairborn), cousin of prominent Bush supporter U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine (R-OH), alleges that the parties seeking a recount in Ohio -- Green Party presidential candidate David Cobb and Libertarian Party presidential candidate Michael Badnarik -- may have "mischief on their mind[s]."
Washington state Republicans filing a lawsuit on behalf of defeated Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi have alleged, in court filings, that to allow the King County [WA] Canvassing Board to review previously discarded ballots would "invite mischief." And an amicus curiae ("friend of the court") brief filed in support of Rossi by former Republican State Attorney General Ken Eikenberry alleges that the recount offers Democrats an "opportunity for mischief."
Could it be that not only Democrats, but prominent Republicans as well are beginning to see Ohio and Washington as the Floridas of 2004?
And could Republican accusations of "mischief"-mongering (a half-hearted euphemism for "criminal election fraud") seem any more insulting and virulently hypocritical to progressive recount activists, given Republicans' crocodile tears and righteous indignation at having (so they say) their credibility impugned by the request for a recount in the first place? According to Karyle Mumper, a Bush elector in Ohio and the wife of Republican State Senator Larry Mumper, "It's a shame they [recount activists] do not believe in the honesty and the professional people working the polls." Republican Vice-President of the Ohio Association of State Elections Boards, Keith Cunningham, has said that it is "beyond insulting" that recount activists are "assert[ing] that elections officials in Ohio have intentionally done something [wrong]." And The Athens News has reported that county elections directors in Ohio felt "under attack" by the recount requests, and believed "their professional competence [was] being besmirched by a small group" of activists.
See Related Stories:
("Theft of the Election: Redux," with quotations from "The Path to Florida," BuzzFlash.com and Vanity Fair, 10/15/04 and 12/15/04, respectively)
Article
("Recount Expense Criticized," The Cincinnati Enquirer, Jim Siegel, 12/24/04)
Article
("Reed Says County Has Right to Fix Error, Tally 735 Ballots," Seattle Times, David Postman, 12/21/04)
Article
("Governor's Race Heads to Supreme Court," KGW.com and The Associated Press, 12/22/04)
Article
("Ohio Ready to Tally Electoral Votes Today," Cleveland Plain Dealer and The Associated Press, John McCarthy, 12/13/04)
Article
("Recount Pends, Presidency Certified," Bowling Green News and The Associated Press, Andrew Welsh-Huggins, 12/5/04)
Article
("Green Party Official Pleased with Local Recount of Presidential Vote," Athens News, David Laber, 12/20/04)
Article
0 comments:
Post a Comment