Amen. I'm voting from overseas, and I'm actually worried that some jerk will shred my vote.

I have little trust in the *process*, and that staggers me, and angers me.

Who the F*ck do these people think they are??

I agree with you. The observers are a huge violation of the constitution and states rights. It is the right of the state to run the federal election however they want, and the federal government asking a non-american organization to help run the state's show is so unconstitutional it makes me want to scream. If I see some observer here in Colorado Springs, they are gonna be escorted out of the building, politely but firmly. It is an outrage how the dems are playing and their base is behaving. News organizations put forward blatant frauds to support them, unions strong arm their members to vote for the dems and smash rebublican headquarters, signs are vandilized and stolen in voiolation of the first amendment, put forward only anti-bush films while suppressing anti-kerry. It is so 1984 it is scaring the hell out of me.

How incredibly accurate you are. As a broadcast newsman from some 30+ years ago....I am amazed at both the complete departure from unbiased news by the MSM, and the resultant encouragement...or at least ignoring...of blatent lies and fabrications by the DNC & the Dem candidates for national office.

The repeating of lies already discredited; the harping on ideas which have also been discredited; and the impossible projection of extrapolations of fantasy (Reeve could have been walking again)...

Is there no end to their lies-for-power?

I must be missing something. Lying, both democrat and republican, is part of the political process. Perhaps even a critically important part. The DNC blurb just directs party operatives to tell lies. This is neither unusual nor disturbing to me.

Bret,

We're not talking about the lies ALL candidates tell to make people like them, make people think they can get something for nothing, etc.

We're talking about lies which could very well undermine people's faith in the election PROCESS. Not our faith in the candidates - no thinking person has much of that. But rather, our faith in the system itself.

Throw that away, and we're left with nothing.

I have to agree with Stephen here. I too am disgusted with the willingness on the part of Democrats to bend laws and common decency itself. I remember hearing that in the 1994 Florida governor's race, the Democrats organized phone banks to call seniors, and say that candidate Jeb Bush would cut Medicare, even though the governor has nothing to do with Medicare! (Incidentally, if that didn't happen, and Jeb Bush had won in 1994, he might very well be president now! So tell the Democrats it is their fault that GWB is president.)

drudge=grain of salt.

Well said.

This is a lynchpin election for precisely the reasons you describe: if the voting process is abused in the manner many of us suspect, the credibility of the election will be nil. And for what, so a slightly left of center Supreme Court Justice is nominated instead of somebody slightly right of center? So Bill Richardson can be Secretary of State instead of Colin Powell? More precisely put, what the "end" for which this power is so aggressively and recklessly sought?

We live in troubling times. Some of us just might need to step up to the plate and do something about it. Perhaps in addition to voting in the manner you discuss, we can also become involved as volunteers or poll watchers, etc. Inconvenient, yes, but it would seem to me the least we can do.

I’m an Army battalion commander currently serving in the heart of Baghdad. Its difficult for me to express how important this election is to those of us currently in harm’s way. First, let me say that my brigade combat team has been here 6 months. In this time, we have lost over 25 soldiers and had over 300 seriously wounded. Yet, in my battalion alone I have reenlisted over 100 soldiers. I have less than 20 soldiers a day go on sick call out of over 600. Amazing when you consider the oppressive heat during the summer. I you tell this because our soldiers know they are making a difference, and absolutely believe in this mission. We don’t give a rat’s ass about WMDs and know we are not fighting for oil. Truly, first and foremost we believe that we are defending America by attacking the enemy on his turf. For God’s sake what do people think the likes of Zarqawi/OBL would be doing if they were not on the run trying to prevent us from establishing modern states in the Islamist world? There is no safe haven! This is only true because the US Army and Marine Corps is in his back yard. Also, we are providing hope for people who have been brutally oppressed for a generation. What an insult to tell those of us who know, and are doing the fighting and dying, that this is the “wrong war, wrong time, wrong place”. Imagine the effect on our military if we have a commander in chief that believes our brothers and sisters have died in vain. Like you I am more liberal than the President on most social issues, but these issues can wait, and probably will seem irrelevant if a nuclear devise is exploded in NYC, or we experience a couple of Breslan’s in the United States. I beg, plead that my friend’s on the left or undecided, cast there ballot for the President this election, on only one issue, the war on terrorism. Ask yourself what does Ed Koch, an east coast liberal Jew, know that I don’t know. Sorry for the length, be proud of your military.
LTC Bob Hope

and what might you have to say about this story?

Greg, Chiles admitted it after.

People are already losing faith in the education system, this is our underpinning, and we can take it down if we so choose.

How do I know the Dems are losing? Because they are working so hard to delegitimatize the results,even before its happened. you dont do that if you are winning, becasue you shoot your self in the foot. If Kerry "wins" he still has to govern. Hows he going to do that if they win be delegitimatizing the vote? Do the dems think if they win the presidency that Kerry is kind and rule by edict? The President works for us, no matter who he is. Congress exists for the purpose of tying the president down as to keep him from his desires.

None of that changes if Kerry is elected. But if the Dems keep trying to destroy democracy, it wont matter who is president. The country will become ungovernable, no matter who is in charge.

They way the dems are playing it tells me that they already know whats about to happen. and its not going to be good for the dems.

I concur with your assessment Doctor Green. I am a republican who deeply wants there to be two parties in the US, but I want both parties to be on the side of the US. We need the democrats to keep us honest, but we need them to be on our side. America first, party second.

It reminds me if when you are beating your older brother in chess, and he just flips the board over rather than cede that hes losing.

This is a big deal. From the day I was born, I had always thought the USA was infalliable. We were different, better, invincible. During the 2000 election, I saw the line where that all turns into chaos and it was a scary thing. I saw it again on 9/11, and have been ever since, especially as the election heats up.

I don't especially fear John Kerry, but I fear a John Kerry victory...especially since any scenario in which he wins will be a very close and contested election. A John Kerry victory validates everything that the Democrats have done since Election Day 2000.

It validates a media completely in the bag for the Democratic Party and means objective journalism is dead and buried.

It means that Hollywood will become a liberal propaganda machine, giving us Farenheit 9/11-like movies before every election and a travelling troupe of celebrities to brainwash teenagers into thinking and voting liberal.

It will mean tampering with elections and election law is fair game. Break ins, intimidation, vote fraud, and demagoguery will become the norm. The courts will become an active part of the election process with judges arbitrating and deciding elections, in some cases removing the voter from the process entirely.

The truth will become just another campaign tool, as the media and Democrats just see it as a means to be manipulated and ignored as needed in order to achieve their desired outcome.

That's the world we're going to live in if John Kerry wins. That's why Bush *has* to win, and why the Democrats and the liberal media have to be convinced that such tactics won't get them back in power. Add that to the stark ideological differences between Bush and Kerry, and this is hands down the most important election we've had since 1980, if not since the end of WWII.

catherine, so the link to the actual page is????

http://drudgereport.com/dnc.jpg

The Jackson Sun, a newspaper in West Tennessee, reports that there will be a news conference at 1 p.m. today at Legislative Plaza in Nashville at which "the Special Olympics, the Tennessee Disability Coalition and candidates in the race for a seat in the Tennessee House of Representatives" will discuss the "distasteful political flier" circulated via the campaign headquarters of an incumbent Democrat state legislator. More coverage of the story here from WMC-TV (Memphis). The Knoxville News-Sentinel web site carries the same AP story that I linked to yesterday. Nothing in today's Memphis Commercial Appeal (the big-city daily nearest the events) or The Tennessean.

-----

My dad's absentee ballot never showed up.

TO: catherine
RE: Therein...

"and what might you have to say about this story?" -- catharine, citing reports of people shredding and/or trashing voter registration forms in Arizona, reputtedly Democratic forms.

I say investigate and prosecute as required in the strictures of the law.

However, I'll point out that slander and libel are against the law too. And so is making a false statement to an investigating police officer. Martha Stewart has found that out.

Now, the question of this thread is not about an already on-going investigation.

Rather, it is into the Democratic National Committee counselling people to allege a crime has been committed even when no crime has been committed.

Therein, I suspect, lies the difference between you and I, catherine.

I say investigate all reports of crime. You, on the other hand, seem to be supporting the reporting of crime where no crime exists, yet.

And I say 'yet', I remind you that telling a police officer that a crime has been commited, when none actually has, is known as "making a false report". And that, in itself, is a crime.

So here the Dems are, if this report is accurate, telling people to make false reports.

Sounds like inciting criminal conduct, if you ask me.

Regards,

Chuck(le)

catherine, you'd better start doing your homework.

Go to their website.

Somehow I don't think ACORN, Emily's List, Planned Parenthood, Sierra Club, NAACP, NARAL among others can be considered republican dirty tricks.

---

We do have some lovely parting gifts for you, however.

It is sad to see what lengths people will go to to get back in power. I hope and pray that sanity will prevail, but it gets hard to think it will sometimes.

Fantastic post Stephen. I say fantastic because it eloquently gives voice to the unsettling dark periphery in the back of many voters minds. Along with the abuse of the system for power and the weird violent aspects of this years demonstrations...it just *feels* like a crisis is brewing and the democrats are creating it on purpose. As sick as I am of the politics three weeks out from the election...I am glued to the process and am going to be volunteering the next couple of weeks because I fear it, the trust and the process, might be forever changed after this election.

TO: Stephen Green
RE: The Democrat Party Criminals

"...I'm going to vote Republican straight down the line. If I have to punish a couple of local Democrats I'm fond of, then so be it, but I have to try to get a point across: The national Democratic Party is bad for this country." -- Stephen Green

Here! Here!

For the last 12 years we've watched, with growing concern, the continual malfeasance on the part of the Democrats. Ever since the disaster at Waco, things have been going continually down-hill with them.

Reading histories on the declining years of the Roman Republic, I see the same sort of pattern emerging here. And if we do not nip this in the bud now, educating people as the NEA has NOT been educating them, we'll go the same road.

It's all too easy....

Regards,

Chuck(le)

Thank you so much for this post!! It is being sent around our little circle of friends, from the right and the left.

I, too, saw the chaos in 2000 and it made me very afraid. Very afraid. I am sickened by the idea that the left in this country are so close to such a crucial victory. This should have been a fairly easy walk for Bush...and it's not. I fear for the health of our republic with the dems in political power, and the left in control of the mainstream media...

@Mike M.

Your predictions on what a John Kerry win would be like leaves aside the GOP. Frankly, the Right would not take this laying down and be forced to fight back with similiar tactics (or up the ante)...and that would not be good for the country, either.

There's no end to how much we could lose. It's bad however you slice it.

The projection from the left and the dems in general is staggering and I have no clue why the public reaction is not complete rejection of the tactics. It isn't just the DNC that has lost track of what free elections and a multiparty system means. Old media is right in there forgoing their role as newscasters in favor of casting the news to interfer with and game a national election. I can not understand my own family's lack of reaction to being gamed like this. I have a college age daughter who this past weekend asked me how I can support a president who intends to draft her friends. My wife believes the violence aimed at republican campaign offices is merely a reaction to how they acted in Florida 'trying to keep Gore from getting a fair recount'. The media touts the lies with loud indignation and the corrections rate no more than a whisper and the lies enter the public consciousness to stay.

I had some hope the last few years that the proud victors of the 60s and 70s culture wars who could never appreciate the downside of their victory would age out of the political process and nazi, police state, and fascist as acceptable memes to apply to conservative thought finally disappear. The hate is already being enthusiastically managed by another generation with all the distortions concerning the body politic intact. I wonder what the left's reaction will be when the election appears lost if that comes to pass. I think the ugliness and elitism from the left we see today will be a church social compared to what we'll see in a few weeks. The left's reaction to losing the election if that comes to pass will establish precedents in the weeks after that will either damage the Democratic party beyond anything I could predict or the national election process itself.

Maybe it's me, and it's just a raucous and free society adjusting to the paradigm shift information technology has bought into play the last 10 years. I don't think so though. I think the reaction of the left at watching their ideas ultimately rejected in the political arena has cemented their rejection of rational participation in national affairs entirely. The process is snowballing as the loss of control over information they enjoyed the last 20 years exposes more and more of their cherished ideals as mistakes and they are looking for anyone and any reason but those ideals themselves to blame. I really think we are headed for orchestrated violence from the left in this country far beyond trashing campaigns offices and if Kerry loses we'll see the beginning of that violence before the inaugeration up to and including trying to overthrow the election results by any means possible.

source The Bush administration has invited a team of international monitors to observe the U.S. presidential election in November, but the group will not come from the United Nations, as some congressional Democrats had urged... The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the largest regional organization in the world with 55 participating nations, will monitor the U.S. election on Nov. 2. Members include Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Spain and the United States.

On another note, I don't think a Kerry victory would necessarily translate into a clear win for the Democrats. The GOP would be in charge of everything else. And, the GOP would be free of "compassionate conservatism." They can be an opposition party that will present a clear alternative to the Dems instead of acting worse than the Dems in some respects.

The point you make is consistent with
Chad Clanton's comment on Fox's Dayside Tuesday, re Sinclair Broadcasting airing "Stolen Honor." Clanton said, "They better hope we don't win."

I really fear for the First Amendment rights of anyone to the right of Michael Moore if the Dems as currently constituted ever acquire control of the White House and Congress (they've already pretty much got control of the Judiciary everywhere but the Supreme Court).

Yup - tell your daughter she's supposed to be wired, why doesn't she find out for herself?

Passing, the violence has been predicted for awhile. They had it in their grasp and 9/11 blew them out.

I read this last night before the debate and realized that, in a couple of sentences, this describes exactly how I feel and exactly what's happening out there.

From Power Line: Posted by Hindrocket at 06:40 PM | Permalink | TrackBack (1)

It Can't Be

It just can't be. I said a year ago that I did not believe the establishment would permit President Bush to be re-elected. That prediction is looking pretty good right now, as the unbelievable assault on our President, launched from every corner of the mainstream media and the dominant culture, spirals out of control. On the other hand...is it really possible that Americans will elect this man President?

[Picture of Kerry riding his bike, talking on the phone and looking like the dork he is.]

Wake me when it's over.

You dimwitted fuckstains. To have the nerve to suggest that it's the Democrats who have a problem maintaining the integrity of elections. After all the Republican tricks in 2000, with the news of even more criminal investigations being opened into Sproul and company for throwing Democratic registrations into the trash...like the president you so slavishly adore...you're blind little mice, ignorant of the truth around you. have fun losing.

Widespread litigation over electoral results would be just as bad as widespread violence. The result would be the same: a distrust of the democratic process. If this happens in significant magnitude this time around, or if it continuously happens in local, congressional, and the next presidential election, this countey will have encountered a serious danger and perhaps the greatest test to its internal democracy.

I think that Just Passing Through is correct: the information age has revolutionized the political landscape and we are only starting to witness this. Violence and litigation may be the last attempt by the left to stop this transformation from occurring. I think that it is a failed effort on their part, but there is no way of knowing if, given the stakes, democracy can in fact survive such repeated or significant assaults.

I fear the worst. I think that President Bush may become an Abraham Lincoln, who prosecuted a war over a bitterly divided nation, freed millions of oppressed peoples, and that he may go out like Lincoln as well. All it takes is one leftist.

The justification goes as follows:
Bush = Hitler (or worse), therefore he must be a cheater, therefore anything we do to beat him is justified in the long term best interest of peace, prosperity, etc.
This is moral bankruptcy on the part of the left. They are willing to trash the system to beat someone they have demonized (while embracing Islamofacists who would destroy everything they are supposed to stand for).
If Bush had lost in '00 he never would have filed suit in New Mexico, a state with a far closer vote and many more irregularities than Florida.
Democrats are all about government fixing everything, so the NEED to be in power, and can't STAND not to be in power... the electoral college kept us out of power? Change it. Absentee ballots from overseas service men & women kept us out of power? Throw them out on a technicality.
Dishonest people steal because they assume everyone else does so therefore it's OK.
I say these things as a lifelong Dem who has seen the light.

Stephen is being extreeeemely selective in what outrages he acknowledges. Yes, if indeed Drudge's report is accurate, undermining our elections preemptively for partisan advantage is inexcusable.

However, an arm of the GOP this week was discovered to have illegally shredded thousands of Democrat voter registration cards. Republicans in the house routinely provide the text of proposed bills on the desks of Democrats literally minutes before scheduled votes, preventing them from voting with any knowledge of the substance of the proposed bills. That is deeply, deeply undemocratic.

I'm just scratching the surface here. Green's highly selective outrages are getting a little bit ridiculous.

Wow. James Brown, I liked you better before the drugs, alcohol, abuse of women, and jail. Back when you had a brand new bag, and felt good, and all that, you were a hell of an entertainer.

In my old hippy days the far left (actually, communists) called for the infiltration of the democratic party, labor unions and most importantly--the nations education system. At the time I paid little attention to the proposed radicalization....sex, drugs and rock and roll would have to suffice.

I eventually joined a labor union(boilermakers)-it was obvious from the start that any attempt at turning these guys on to communism would lead to a well deserved ass-kicking! I eventually left for greener pastures and self-employment.....as a matter of fact, most of my closest friends left the union. Those who remained are hardcore leftist---and bad asses-or, can't wait to retire.

Most of the Marxist bloviating in the newspapers in Tucson come from either a tenured professor at The University Of Arizona or from an active/retired public school teacher.

Obviously......the democrats have succumbed to the radical fringe which is being financed by Soros/Kerry-Heinz, et al.

My only hope is that the republicans totally kick the commies butts back to Cuba or some other "eutopian mecca" so thay can see that Americans don't buy into this totalitarian idea.

p.s. I'm a registered libertarian.

Given all this, it is clearly time to take the battle to the Democrats. We must actively pursue them and aggressively tail them wherever they go, infiltrating meetings, filming and recording everything they say and do between now and the election. They must be exposed to the light of truth.

I am calling for a MASS ACTION on behalf of America - each and every one of us must become actively engaged in **every** possible technique to stop these fascists before they destroy the republic.

ACT NOW or you will never get another chance.

Stephen, excellent article. Gee, James Brown whay don't you say how you really feel? Although more conservative on some issues than you, Stephen. I agree that a straight party ticket vote is an effective way to telegraph your displeasure with the other party. Of course, here in Texas, there are very few contested races.
I do have one observation on voter fraud. How is it "voter intimidation" to require an identification card, such as a drivers license? How did these people get to the polls in the first place? Let's put police around the polls and issue tickets for driving with no license.

You missed a few examples. Remember when the Dems briefly got a court to call off the California recall? Remember when the same people who supported the Lautenberg switch on the grounds of the voters' right to a competitive election defended McGreevey manipulating the timing of his departure so as to prevent precisely such an election?

Well, Mr. "James Brown"--

You'll definitely be singing "I Feel Bad" after this election when W trounces ketchup boy!

I happen to live in very left-wing Ann Arbor, MI, and the rhetoric of some of the local lefties is absolutely amazing. I've even heard some lefties call for armed revolution if W gets re-elected! I then have to remind them that the right-wingers have most of the guns, and that sort of sobers them up. Perhaps they're planning suicide bombings after the election?

Wow--you must of missed the stories of acorn and ACT throwing republican registrations away, of registering felons(in states where they cannot vote) and registering from a phone book.
Passing laws that restrict requiring ID when voting-----trying to get voters to be able to vote in any precinct--both which greatly increase the probability of fraud. H*** anyone can vote with more ease than they can buy a bottle of liquor or a pack of cigarettes--liberal values for you.

JB --- Nice language.

Democrats committed voter fraud in 2000 in Missouri (keeping polls open late), in Wisconsin (buying votes with cigarettes and other give-aways), and in Florida during the chad-counting in Democrat only counties. Their biggest problem is that they couldn't steal the election, and they blame the Republicans when they couldn't.

Now, they're massive voter fraud going on in Colorado, with even DNC election manuals saying to make things up.

I think it's very telling that the Democrats are so fearful that they won't win, that they have to resort to cheating. They have no confidence they can outright win an election.

It's going to be hilarious when Bush wins, inspite of all the crap the Democrats are trying to pull.

There's also the example in John Fund's book of the Miami mayoral election that was overturned by fraud, where the guilty party was caught on tape bragging that he could stifle inquiries into the fraud by crying racism.

You're kidding me, right? You can't possibly believe that by voting for Republican candidates that you don't agree with will honestly punish the other side, do you?

You vote for the good candidates and not the bad ones, no matter which side of the aisle you're on. You don't foolishly vote for one party because they're allegedly "better" than the other - that's just f-ing stupid. Republicans, if they weren't in power, would employ just as many dirty tricks as Democrats if it meant getting back into those seats of power.

You're committing an unbelievable injustice to our democracy by voting in this unbelievably stupid fashion.

Sam Wilkinson

My mother told me to never get into a stink contest with a skunk, and James Brown, you are exactly that !!!

Stephen:

How do you feel about the RNC paying people to destroy the registration forms of Democratic voters and telling people that the Democrats are going to take their Bibles away?

How do you feel about the Republican county official in Milwaukee intentionally lowballing the number of ballots to be provided to inner city voters--with the sole purpose of preventing them from voting.

How do you feel about the Republicans' voter fraud activities in South Dakota?

This gripe is a symptom of spending too much time in the conservative echo chamber. Anyone who thinks that the Republicans don't use the same tactics used by the Dems is living in fantasy land.

Zell Miller wrote "Party of teh people no more" for just these reasons.

This is the work of the Terry McAuliffe/James Carville Clinton/Gore gangster wing of the Dems, with the collusion of the leftist/statist radicals. Power is all that matters, to hell with the Constitution.

Forget the Alamo! Celebrate Diversity, Or Else!

Well Stephen, Mr. Brown above just helped make your case for you.

For my part, I'm a conservative republican, but like you I've never voted straight party ticket.

As someone who grew up in NYC and lived there for several years after college, I had and have a lot of respect for the likes of Pat Moynihan and Ed Koch.

As someone who's lived in Chicago for the last decade -- where qualified republicans are few and far between on any state or local ticket, I've voted for more than my share of Dems.

This election tho, I will not be voting for any Democrats. It's sad to have to punish individuals, but until their party gets rid of the likes of Terry McAwful and his goon squad, I can't vote for any of them.

Much of this is down to Al Gore. His decision to contest Florida in 2000 showed him to be a lesser man than Richard Nixon, who refused to contest the 1960 election when he well could have. When Nixon has more character than you you're in heap big trouble. And it opened the door for all the violence and lawyering that is occuring now in this election.

why is everyone treating the story from drudge as totally credible? if it's true, it's indeed terrible and disgusting, but i'd like some more sources to confirm it before everyone decides the democratic party needs to be flushed down the toilet.

pots and kettles. I don't see that the Dems are any worse here. I don't want to see any more divisiveness than we already have. . . but I fear whoever wins, the other side will cry 'foul.' Let's grow up a bit. For those who find perfidy only among the Dems, Joshua Green's piece on Karl Rove in the November Atlantic is very interesting.

Links, Geek, please.

Did the first happen out West?

James Brown.....on your hands and knees like the good little commie-boy that you so clearly are-you have four more years of pain coming!

When the occupant of the office becomes more important than the office itself -- and the process by which such an office is legitimate -- you are fucked. For good.

Well said, Stephen.

The "pre-emptive strike" has been in full swing for some weeks now. More than a month ago NPR was running "reports" of election fraud, which were not reports at all but just Democratic spokesmen assuring everyone that Republicans were going to cheat, "like last time." They followed exactly the pattern described in the DNC manual.

The Democrats make extensive use of minority spokesmen in this dirty work, and they target it in particular at minority audiences. Kerry himself was making this charge to minority audiences as early as August.

Which goes to show you, for the hundredth time, how the Democratic "strategists" really feel about minorities.

Catherine, the Drudge story is only one of many.

Check out Bill Hobbs' site for much more of this type of thing.

nice, Stephen.

related:

"without certain architectonic ideas, certain habits of the heart, a love for argument and evidence and open conversation, and a few other moral and spiritual dispositions, ... a republic respecting rights can[not] thrive, or even survive."

(the third conservative structural condition for a free society)

Novak

Fukuyama's "Trust"

Hewitt's "If It's Not Close, They Can't Cheat"

Hey, Slippery Pete:

I was under the impression that the stories about Democratic registration cards being shredded are a little fishy as the organization accused of shredding them is a liberal umbrella organization.

Has the Republican party ever had machines running as the Democratic party has had in several cities?

Stephen,

I fear you are right. A big part of the bitter division we have right now is the democrat's persistance in the 'stolen election' mantra.

Maybe they figure if they're destined to lose anyway, they can try to create that illusion again.

It truly saddens me that they refuse to be a loyal opposition party. Rather than being willing to compete on ideas, they simply want power and are willing to destroy the system in order to get it.

We need to send a resounding message. Not only should you vote republican, everyone needs to get out in these last couple weeks---especially the last 72 hours, to make sure it isn't close.

The MSM is doing everthing they can to keep the race close, or at least give the appearance that it is. This opens the door for the lawsuits.

I know conservatives call liberals traitors pretty lightly sometimes, but this willingness to turn over the game board if they don't win really does make them traitors.

My hope is that it is the last, desperate spasms of a dying movement.

I disagree with one aspect, Stephen. This was not an angry post. It's simply an essay with a theme and many facts to back up that theme. I live in Alaska, and as far as the Senate race goes, I was actually undecided. That is out the window. The only way for the Democrats to reform is to crush them first. Then they won't be able to blame it on those million African-Americans who were disenfranchised or anything else they can make up along the way. See if you can get this syndicated in the MSM. I wouldn't change a word.

Is there an allegation about a Republican responsible for destroying Democratic voter registrations?

Yes.

So what is the difference between Republicans and Democrats on the fraud issue?

Republicans say, "If the guy was doing that, he should be prosecuted."

Democrats say, "If our guys are doing it, they deserve a medal."

I went on a Dem thread about that 3-year-old girl who was assaulted by the Kedwards union thug. What did the Dem thread say?

Basically, 270 posts or so can be summed up this way:
1) The dad was a dummy for taking her to an Edwards event and holding up a "Bush/Cheney" sign(apparently, you're a dummy if you exercise your right to free speech in front of a Democrat); and
2) The little bitch had it coming to her; she was probably going to grow up to be a Rethug anyway.
_________________

I have an acquaintence who is a Reserve Marine officer who volunteered to be racalled, and is in the Sunni Triangle right now.

He makes no bones about several things:
- we (the US) are making a difference
- most of the country outside the Sunni Triangle is relatively peaceful
- US soldiers and Marines in Iraq universally hate the MSM, and feel they are undermining them.
- and I quote, "A vote for Kerry is a vote for dead Americans."

Take it for FWIW.

Gee James, sounds like you missed your morning dose of thorazine.

"Fuckstains"...? I haven't heard that one since the Clinton impeachment hearings.

This was a fairly reasoned discussion about the balloting hijinx perpetrated by zealots on both sides of the aisle. That is, until you showed up.

Thank you for playing, though. It reminds us all of mindset of the DNC Tinfoil Hat brigade.

I need to add: if this page is a real DNC document, I agreee that it is inappropriate. I am curious to see how this develops.

James, would you say David Broder is a conservative?

Did you ever read "Deadlocked" by him and the WP reporters?

Very interesting book.

BTW, it was Mary Matalin on CNN who first questioned the FLA call. Pages 35-37.

Of course, one could argue that if the MSM waited until the polls were actually CLOSED in FLA -- The Panhandle is in the Central time zone, before making the call, everything would have been avoided, there would have been a definitive winner.

Ever since the Democrats sold their souls to Bill Clinton, I keep thinking of what Winston Smith, protaganist in "1984," learned in Room 101:

"Now I will tell you the answer to my question. It is this. The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power."

This election business is just more of what they've been doing over the last 10 years.

Thank goodness there remain Democrats like "James Brown" who remain committed to high standards of civil discourse and reasoned argument. If power is in his hands, I'm sure we can count on magnanimous treatment.

Maybe something good can come of this.

Maybe we can get REAL voting reform.

Require everyone who votes to provide a valid ID.

Require them to provide their social security number and fingerprint.

Instantly check this against voter rolls in all states for other votes in the current election.

This would be amazingly expensive, but it would give us nearly 100% accuracy in our elections.

We could compare turnout and voting to recent elections. Then we might find out who really is perpetrating voter fraud, rather than shrugging and issuing the surrender that 'both sides do it.'

My suspicion is that the democrats commit great fraud, but I would happily eat crow if proven wrong by the above system.

tom

We can definitely see a pattern here: the Democratic party will literally do anything...lie, cheat, steal, malign someone's family, make crude jokes, etc...to win the election. They have lost all scruples, and I fear for our democracy, especially if Kerry wins. Can one imagine the abuses of power if Kerry wins and holds the presidency?

And the MSM is an arm of the Democratic party, and will not hold them accountable for anything...

Kerry would be far worse than Nixon, only with no media watchdog...it would be very scary...

We must do everything we can to defeat this crooked Kerry...then after that, we need to really organize and crush and replace the MSM...our very democracy is at stake now...

Here's the text of the Colorado Election Day Manual page as it appears on Drudge:

***********

If no signs of intimidation have emerged yet, lauch a “preemptive strike” (particularly well-suited to states in which there (sic) techniques have been tried in the past).

- Issue a press release
i. Reviewing Republican tactic (sic) used in the past in your area or state.
ii. Quoting party/minority/civil rights leadership as denouncing tactics that discourage people from voting.

- Prime minority leadership to discuss the issue in the media; provide talking points
- Place stories in which minority leadership expresses concern about the threat of intimidation tactics
- Warn local newspapers not to accept advertising that is not properly disclaimed or that contains false warnings about voting requirements and/or about what will happen at the polls.

***********

I'm not sure that I'm a huge fan of this tactic. I know I'm not a huge fan of the typographical/grammatical errors. However, I see no instance in which they instruct anyone to tell a lie.

"I don't mean to say that Republicans haven't used dirty tricks, or won't in the future." It's just that its okay when my side does it.

Great post. I'm not going to waste time agreeing with it :^) but would rather just add that one reason that the Democrats are like this is because the media enables them. Conversely, the Republicans have to play it straighter because they are checked by a relentlessly hostile media. Tactics available to the Democrats are not available to the Republicans. The Republicans could not pull off something like the DUI hit on George W. Bush in the final days of the 2000 election campaign because the press would not cooperate.

Although for the last 30 years the Democrats have therefore enjoyed an advantage (the "15%" mentioned by Evan Thomas) in the longer run this may play out differently. A majority of voters may well come to associate the Dems with sleaze.

TO: catherine
RE: Why, what?

"why is everyone treating the story from drudge as totally credible?" -- catherine

Did you read my comment? I think I said, "if this report is accurate", did I not?

I just got off the phone with the county and state Democrat HQs here in Colorado. Neither of the people I talked with had heard of this, before I brought it to their attention.

But then again, this looks like a document that would not make its way down to the phone-answering crowd. It would be kept at the executive level.

I'm still looking for cooborating evidence that it exists. Maybe Drudge can provide the complete document.

But, that not withstanding, I've still watched the Dems going down the toilet for the last 12 years. This would just be another nail in their coffin. An outrageously BIG one at that....if accurate.

Regards,

Chuck(le)

I think it would be an excellent idea if some intrepid bloggers went out to polling places on election day with digital cameras and just snapped photos throughout the day, trying to catch people repeat voting. I suspect that this would be a very successful endeavor, especially around college campuses. One central blog could link to all of the results, call it the Carnival of the Vigilant. While I would be more than willing to provide this service, it would be nice if someone with more than 40-something hits a day participated. I believe that this would have several positive effects.

First, it would deter fraud, as people tend to get skittish when they see cameras. And there should be no legal logistical problems as you can legally hang out at a polling place all day so long as you don't lobby for a specific candidate on the premises.

Second, it may actually catch a few people in the act. The benefits of this are self evident.

Third, there is an outside chance that it would expose a larger problem. Voting in this country should require (at least) a photo ID. Think about everything that you do that requires a photo ID, and how much less important those things are than voting.

This is an area where people can make an actual difference. Isn't technology grand?

So, if you are a student with time on your hands on November 2nd and you catch someone voting twice, or being denied the right to vote improperly, or being allowed to vote improperly, post it. If you send me the link, I'll post it, and my 40-odd readers will at least be the wiser. And who knows, maybe someone more high profile than me will pick up on it. (hint hint)

I like this loyal opposition party idea, but where to start it. . . I genuinely believe that a Dem will be stabbed in the back every time by DeLay or Hastert. I felt the 2000 election result was unfair, and that power was exercised inappropriately by Rep officials in FL. I feel certain that part of what are being construed here as power machinations by Dem activists are visceral responses to a process they feel is ALREADY compromised. That the destruction of the process, the elevation of attainment of power over all else, happened four years ago. W. has done little to dissipate that feeling since. Why don't we have IRV? Why won't FL require printed output from their electronic voting machines? Why did they try another voter roll purge?

Stephen,

Another good essay. I posited one cure back in May to the Democratic party problem here:

http://www.nopundit.com/archives/2004_05/16/000076.html

The tasty bits:

Quote

Americans desperately need a third party. I call it the "two-body problem". It is borrowed from astrophysics' classical "three-body problem", where predicting the orbital paths of three significantly massed planets becomes intractable very quickly (Caution ahead! I am not an astrophysicist, nor have I played one on TV). Any one of those planets may be slingshotted out of the system by the combined gravitational pull of the other two by a mere quirk of alignment. To astrophysicists, there is no two-body problem. Two planets will orbit each forever until an outside gravitational force is introduced, no matter the size of either planet.

In American politics, having two parties is poisoning our democracy (that and the 17th amendment). No matter what a Democrat says, the Democratic "planet" is in no danger whatsoever of being slingshotted out of our political solar system. The Democratic party may shrink (until saner heads prevail), but it will continue to exist as a force forever. Enter a significant third party, and the partisan dementia being uttered by John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Robert Byrd, and Al Sharpton will have to cease (so long as Democratic party heads demonstrate any sense at all). To not do so would threaten not just their significance, but their very existence. Ahhh, one can only dream.

Endquote

My conclusion: the Democrats are digging their own grave. Incrementally, Americans are realizing that they can "look behind the curtain", and are. It is unfortunate to contemplate that the Democrats may win a short term battle in 2004 (I highly doubt it), but the ultimate glare of bright sunshine will prevail.

PS: Quote above is from "A Modest Proposal II". See sidebar at my site for first "A Modest Proposal".

Dear Stephen:

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

BTW, did I say "Thanks"?

I did? Well thanks again anyway.

Go Cards!

Geek, Esq. -

"How do you feel about the Republicans' voter fraud activities in South Dakota?"

The only allegation of voter fraud in South Dakota was against the Democratic party, not the Republicans. There was a federal investigation into charges that Democrats forged registration cards during the 2000 election.

Several contractors working for the Democratic party were found to have produced bogus registrations. Another one plead guilty to fraud just a few weeks ago.

The fraud was centered on the 2000 SD senate race, which the Democratic candidate won by 527 votes.

James Brown,

That is exactly the kind of projection from the left I was referring to. The 'tricks' in 2000 that I suspect you are referring to now were on the Dem side, and we've had to hear for 4 years how the resistance to hijacking an election was the dirty trick.

The Sproul accusation is by one person so far and unsubstantiated. Counterpoint that with admissions of multiple registrations on college campuses with the openly stated intent of illegally voting twice. Regardless, neither of the two instances even compares to the orchestrated attacks on campaign offices I mentioned. You see both equivalance and justification for projecting the fault to party with far less culpability in this election.

There is no logic to the projection. There is no ethical, social, or political justification for what the left has done.

The problem is that liberals aren't particularly dedicated to democracy. It's a fine tool to use if it helps get them what they want, but they are completely comfortable abandoning it if it doesn't get them what they want.

There are even broader implications--for instance, the fact that Bush is bringing freedom and democracy to 25 million Iraqi's doesn't in any way temper their opposition to the war because these are things they don't really care about.

Correction to my post, above - the South Dakota fraud case occurred in 2002, not 2000.

I suggest that Mr. Green read Josh Marshall's weblog for factual stories (with links, no less) which describe the heinous tactics Republicans are employing in droves to reduce whatever advantage they think Democrats may gain with new voter registrations.

These include things like a Republican organization registering new voters (under the pretense of being somehow "official") and subsequently discarding democratic registrations, the 2002 tactics where Republicans employed war dialing machines to tie up phone lines and so on.

And what exactly is wrong with inviting impartial observers to oversee the election? Is our country's pride going to be hurt by having our elections supervised? If that will ensure fair elections, so be it. Consider our electoral system, where the chief election officers of more than one state are actually partisan (in one state, the republican candidate running for governor is also the chief electoral officer for the state). Witness Katherine Harris's inarguably partisan actions in 2000, and then complain about inviting electoral observers to the U.S.

I'm officially an "Independent", and I voted for Bush Sr. in '92 (Reagan previously, and Clinton and Gore in subsequent elections, because they were very much the lesser of multiple evils), so I'm not some "liberal" trying to balance out the equation here. I suggest you broaden your horizons instead of getting all your news through sources which all apply the same partisan filter.
Thanks for reading!

I totally agree with you on this.

I would also add that the MSM also falls into the same trap when they encourage (or at least give a nod by not reporting it) this behavoir.

I truly believe the problem is a worldview issue. Liberals tend to buy into postmoderism and with that comes the idea that the end justifies the means. They truly believe they can make this world a better place and so it doesn't matter if they have to break a few rules and destory the country into order to do that.

I think it's sad for democracy and for America to abuse the system this way and in the end - they are hurting everyone, including themselves.

Spot on--and I think this uncovers what concerns me about this election (and the last). It is not so much that Kerry might win, which might be disasterous for 4 years, but that our system of elections might be destroyed, which would have truly long-term consequences. Is this where we are headed--who knows, but time will tell. And each and every citizen, Dem or Rep., owes it to this incredible country to keep our system trustworthy.

A free society exists on social capital: a basic trust in the rule of law.

Without that a free society cannot exist.

The Democratic party is working very hard to undermine that trust; they are squandering years of hard won social capital.

The Democratic party must be punished at the polls...period. And as someone noted above, the Dem party is enabled to conduct their scorched earth policy to regain power thanks to the MSM. We must replace the MSM for our democracy to survive long term. Otherwise, our freedom will be gone.

I got my NRA voting list. Even where I live there are some Democrats on the list that have been supporting 2nd ammendment rights. Unless these Dems for local and national office do some very quick backing away from, and denouncing of Kerry's and Edwards lesbian remarks, and a few other shenanigans, I will be voting a straight Republican ticket.

I agree with what Steven said, the Democrats are poisoning the system and democratic process.

Agreed. For the first time I'm going to vote against a good Democrat congressman (who will win in any case) I have always supported despite my Republican leanings, simply because of the way the Democratic National Committee and the Kerry-Edwards campaign have conducted themselves. They would gladly destroy the republic in order to gain control of power and that's a sad commentary on how far they have sunk. The average outhouse has a cleaner bottom.

Wow, what a great entry. I wasn't sure, but i'm now sure I'm going to be voting for Bush now. What the Democrats are doing is digusting. I can't believe it. It's a desperate sick attempt.

TO: Paul Noonan
RE: A Good Idea

"I think it would be an excellent idea if some intrepid bloggers went out to polling places on election day with digital cameras and just snapped photos throughout the day" -- Paul Noonan

That's sort of what I have in mind. Albeit, I'm not going to try to catch people voting more than once. I'm going to be checking to see if the AFL-CIO is doing what it claimed it would; sending teams of "observers" to the polling places to 'oversee' the voting.

Susan's an election judge. She's boning up on what to do in the event that unregistered 'observers' show up at her polling place. According to her understanding, one has to be registered with the county to 'observe' an election in a polling place.

We'll see what transpires with this 'help' promised by the AFL-CIO. Hopefully, it will no be like the 'help' they provided in Orlando a couple of weeks ago.

Regards,

Chuck(le)

I remember the night of the Calif Recall election, where we saw a preview of this Dem strategy...before the returns were in, Jesse Jackson was all over the airwaves alleging all sorts of voter mistreatment and disenfranchisement...

Of course it was all for nought because Arnold won by such a huge margin...

We need to do that again this time: win big so the Dems can't cheat...Hugh Hewitt actually has a book out about that...

Geek, Esq. How do you feel about the mayor of Milwaukee asking for more ballots than he has registered voters???

Sandy,

Yes, she's wired. What you're wired to and the flow of information that comes across that wire is what matters. The college population are not yet inclined to look beyond the pipelines they habitually link to - the entertainment industry, the tenured academics, and special interest groups - for counterpoints. It is an information war and the left still controls a great many of the outlets. If it didn't, John Kerry would not be the Democratic nominee. Joe Lieberman would and the nation would be faced with a decision bwteen two men of stature and principle with different ideas instead of a man appealing to principles and a man pandering to hate.

Here is Slippery Pete:

However, an arm of the GOP this week was discovered to have illegally shredded thousands of Democrat voter registration cards.

Here are the FACTS:

On Tuesday afternoon, Las Vegan Eric Russell and his girlfriend took a packet of documents to the Las Vegas FBI office but left before filing a formal complaint about what Russell says was a deliberate effort to disenfranchise local voters.

Eric Russell didn't even bother to file the complaint knowing full well the Clintonian tactic of smear by baseless charge.

I am a moderate independent who will be voting for our current president this year. Although John Kerry, himself, has given me ample reason to think he will be a poor leader, one of my main concerns is the "It's okay for us, but not for you" mentality of the Democrats this year.

George Bush has to sign a form 180 releasing his military records, but Kerry does not?

The democrats can spend over sixty million in soft money 527s demonizing Bush, but when the swift boat veterans spend less than one million the Democrats cry like they're hurt and ask for the ads to be pulled?

Prominent Democrats can rally round the flagpole when Michael Moore's political propaganda piece opens but scream bloody murder when Sinclair wants to broadcast an anti-Kerry documentary which will offer an opportunity for rebuttal?

Christian Evangelical ministers are told not to endorse a candidate for fear of losing their tax exemption but Kerry can show up in churches with Jesse Jackson stapled to one hip and Al Sharpton to the other? And, believe me, the rhetoric on the last occasion regarding who to vote for was not vague.

The Kerry campaign can sign up Carville who keeps his news correspendent status but Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street Journal has to take a leave of absence to work with Republicans?

Lastly, can you imagine the outrage if one of the Republicans had said anything remotely equivalent to Edwards' stupid comments about Christoper Reeve standing up and walking or both the Democratic nominees comments about Mary Cheney?

In my eighteen years of watching political campaigns I have never seen anything so repugnant.

Sorry for the long post.

The post is disengenous. The Oregon problems appear to be the same we had in the D.C. Mayor's race recently. Kids getting paid a dollar a signature make up names to get an extra buck--Hurts the Democrats more because they waste money on non-existent registrations. The regisration cards come back non-deliverable. But the Sproul allegations are that voters, who have signed up have proper registrations destroyed by party. I think you know this Vodkapundit. Also, the memo. What exactly is wrong with saying "There has been voter intimidation here before and we want to make sure it happens again?" Because that is exactly what the memo says. Drudge paints it much different than the language of the guide. Big surprise there.

For a while, I've been wondering about this.

The left has gone all-out this time around: the MSM have just about abandoned even the pretense of objectivity; there's been a steady stream of Bush-bashing books and movies; the entertainment industry is overwhelmingly left-leaning. In a final irony, after all the kvetching about the influence of money on politics, the left has a billionaire sugar daddy backing a multitude of astroturf campaigns and propaganda mills.

If even that doesn't suffice to win, subverting the election process is all that's left. We've already seen multiple reports of union thugs (sorry about the redundancy) trashing GOP offices. How far will they go? The tinfoil hat brigade at DU think the Republicans assassinated Paul Wellstone; I really don't want to think that of the Democrats, but I have to wonder whether there's any depth to which they won't stoop.

Your discussion encapsulates everything I have been feeling lately about the national Democrats' tactics. I have voted in the past for both R and D. This time it's straight R. I haven't heard my local rep, D. Price (D), say anything against bringing in banana republic election observers, or marshalling lawyers to overturn elections, etc., so he can take his chances. The assault on our democratic traditions worries me and angers me much more than any specific policy shortcomings of either presidential candidate. It's not too late for the grownup democrats to speak out, but time is growing very short.

I converted to straight Republican ticket despite being a registered Democrat after the 2000 debacle. I have been voting that way ever since.

I've voted straight Republican every time I've voted (started voting in 1984). Why? Because the Republican Party is more aligned with my beliefs than the Democratic Party. Have I ever seen a Democrat that I'd consider voting for? Of course, but when it comes time at the voting booth, I could never trust a Democrat with the only bit of power I have in this country. My vote. The Democrats can take their rhetoric and B.S. and put it where the sun don't shine.

great. something else i get to worry about..
these ballot stuffin sorry-*** mf's better not come near me on election day, i will exercise MY CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT to vote for whomever i freakin please. (bush, btw, cause i don't trust herman munster, i believe he is stupid like dan quayle).
my 8yr old daughter was watching tv with me the other day and saw lurch on the local news. she turned to me and said, "is that john kerry?" i said yes. she said "i don't like him." "why not?" sez I. "he looks weird..."

"Frankly, the Right would not take this laying down and be forced to fight back with similiar tactics (or up the ante)...and that would not be good for the country, either."

The Right will fight back with the law and the Constitution, jkrank. It's exactly what they did in 2000. Bush and the Republicans demanded that Florida follow its own election law and ever since the Democrats have been claiming that Bush stole the elction and that he was appointed by the Supreme Court. All for following the existing law.

There isn't much argument here. One party is manipulating the system through the courts. One party is ransacking and vandalizing Republican campaign bulidings. One party has assembled an army of lawyers ready to contest election results anywhere and everywhere. One party has cast doubt on our election laws and systems, and has called their proper execution unfair.

That party is the Democratic Party. I'm with Stephen on this one. I'll be voting straight ticket Republican for the first time ever (not like there are any worthwhile Ohio Dems to vote for anyways). The DNC needs to be sent a message loud and clear. Stop f*cking around with our elections or you'll never get a Democrat elected dogcatcher in Berkely, CA.

Screw em. I've had it.

Wow

I just sent an e-mail to the Democratic candidate for Georgia state house district 48, explaining to her why I would now be voting for her Republican opponent. I explained that the only way I have of registering my disgust with the DNC Chairman, and his minions, is to make my feelings known down ballot here in Georgia, which President Bush should carry easily. I had genuinely considered voting for her, but while I have never voted a straight ticket in the past, and may not vote for all Republican candidates this time either, I will not vote for a single Democrat, and will inform those candidates why they will not receive my consideration or vote. For too long the state Democratic candidates have been able to sup at the trough of the national party's coffers, while running away from the party's stink. I will vote Republican, Libertarian or abstain, but will not cast a single vote for a Democrat this election.

Sorry can't type today--got the flu. What I meant to say was that the memo says we want to make sure that voter intimidation that happened here does not happen again. Voting irregularities are a real problem in this country, but nobody seems to be doing anything about it. Someone is going to have to step up with stronger laws which protect the process.

What to do about fraudulent voter registrations?

Simple.

1) Nobody votes without a picture ID and a thumbprint.

2) No absentee ballots without good cause, which requires a sworn affidavit.

3) Prosecute vote fraud at the federal level and prosecute it hard.

LOL. Just suggest these and listen to the Dems scream bloody murder.

They know where the fraud is and who these would hurt.
_____________

4 counties in Ohio have more people registered to vote than were counted in the 2000 census. I've give you 2 guesses which party they are registering for, a hint that it isn't Republican.

http://billhobbs.com/hobbsonline/

When the dem's bring blue staters to battleground states in droves amidst fraud, the FBI needs to be forced to act and lots of people need to go to jail.

Damn Stephen! Now I know how you got your blog popularity. You write good, but you write great when you get mad.

And you sense the issues 'worth' getting mad about.

Katherine Harris's followed the law in 2000. That that law did not favor the democrats does not make her actions partisan no matter what her political party is. In nothing more then another excuse to project the anger over a failed hijacking onto the people who refused to give currency to it.

'Republican organization registering new voters (under the pretense of being somehow "official") and subsequently discarding democratic registrations'

This is alledgedly happening on both sides. Alledgedly. If true, prosecute both parties vigorously for the offenses.

Now then, establish an equivalance for me with campaign offices and workers being assaulted and campaign office computers with mailing lists being stolen. Tell me how ABC's internal memo deciding that the lies from the left are less meaningful than those from the right and establishing an editorial agenda to exploit that decision is not gaming an election. Explain to me why Dan Rather still has a job with CBS.

Establish the equivalance with anything coming from the conservative side.

We have a raucous and free wheeling body politic in every national and most local elections and always have. I wouldn't have it any other way. What is sourcing from the left, the media, and from the DNC itself is something quite different.

"The problem is that liberals aren't particularly dedicated to democracy. It's a fine tool to use if it helps get them what they want, but they are completely comfortable abandoning it if it doesn't get them what they want."

Ignatius, if this is the case, why is it that Republicans are trying to "surpress" turnout and votes--and how is it that your candidate for President can say that a dictatorship is okay as long as he's the dictator? It gives the wrong impression. The scariest thing I ever heard was when my most Republican friend, veteran Congressional staffer, told me that he really would prefer a military dictatorship enforcing right-wing views over democracy. I will agree however, that at the fringes, both sides lose committment to democracy--i.e. Nader, who wants to be able to run despite not meeting the statutory minimum numbers to get on the ballot.

To see how this outrage has happened before, one only need to look to Russia in the teens and twenties of the last century, and Germany in the thirties. Even today those people cannot say how it was that they were deceived. The control of the media is all important in this, ask Citizen Cane.

Here's an interesting experiment...

Go to google and search for "voter fraud" and then read the first couple of dozen stories that come up.

Amen Brother! I've had it up to my eyeballs with claims of Republican or Conservative = Evil. Let the facts and intents speak for themselves. Democrats these days definitely view Scruples as a disease you should protect yourself from getting!

C'mon guys and girls, stoke that fire! ;) You do all realize that the Democrats are saying almost exactly the same things don't you? Furthermore, they are saying them just as much justification. Both sides are up to dirty tricks all the time. Who does more? It's hard to say, but it is important to count both sides (clearly something few of the commenters here have tried to do).

Election fraud? Yep, both sides do it as much as they think they can get away with. Who does it just depends on who has the power to do it. Fortunately, the culprits sometimes get caught. The Republicans play at least as dirty as the Democrats, maybe even more so. (Then again, maybe not.)

Expect to see lots of lawsuits on the election results from both sides regardless of who wins. The Supreme Court decision on the Florida recount in 2000 opened up a real can of worms. I understand both parties have already sent teams to Ohio to prepare for the recounts there.

BTW, Volokh has some more on the Nevada case. It seems two GOTV organizations with similiar/the same name got mixed up. The ones destroying ballots in Nevada do not seem to be the same ones sponsored by the Teamsters et. al. They seem to be solely a Republican creation.

My message: admit your own sins (or at least those of your party) before you go out and blast others for those same sins. Be sure you are not guilty of the crimes of which you accuse others.

I’m not following this.

The 2000 election was won on the basis of wrongfully excluded votes in Florida. Rioting Republicans delay ballot recounting and run out the clock.

The Detroit Free Press quotes an elected Republican official and campaign worker that Republicans won’t be able to take Michigan unless they can “suppress the black vote.” The official does not deny the quote.

The Republican Ohio Secretary of State sends out memos saying that voter registrations should not be processed unless they are on 40 pound paper, even though she acknowledges (subsequently) that withholding registration on this basis is improper.

Republican Tom DeLay has been censured multiple times for unethical conduct, and his top five lieutenants are under indictment for illegal conduct, including taking illegal money for the purpose of gerrymandering district boundaries to ensure greater Republican control.

And now people hired by the Republican National Committee in Nevada to register voters are caught shredding the registrations of Democrats.

NONE of these wrongful practices can be remedied after the fact; they all must be remedied before election day, or the consequences on the election cannot be undone.

Meanwhile, Democrats apparently plan to cry wolf, a practice that can be remedied simply by asking the Democrats to prove their allegations. They may cause delay, but no actual change in the vote totals.

And I’m supposed to conclude that Democrats, not Republicans, are undermining faith in our voting process?

I think it is time to set up an emergancy voting program.

Lets all get a piece of 8X11 paper, put a government sealed bar code on it, and place it in the box.

The Dems and the Reps want to capture this election by any means necessary, I sat We the People put an end to it right here right now!

Ask your local government to enact their emergancy voting plan.

Why shouldn't the point of registration be ENTIRELY left up to the individual? Is it so much to ask of a person who enjoys the fruits of the most free, most rich, nation on earth that they take the TOTAL responsibility to vote themselves?

There has been a mantra that "everyone" should vote. Baloney. If you cannot be bothered to take the time to properly register, can't modestly bestir yourself to go to a poll once every other year and are "offended" or "intimidated" by someone at a poll who asks for a common requested representation of your identity I submit you SHOULDN'T vote.
Is society better served by making sure (at the risk of massive voter fraud) that the lowest common denominator of lazy slug is propped up enough to vote?

Mike M.

Be at Peace. I agree with you and the Commander from Baghdad that this is a vital election.

However, your greatest fears will not be a factor. There are too many Veterans like myself that will NOT ALLOW a hate-America take-over.

We could possibly have another Civil War, but if so, most of the left-wing and Liberal News Media and Hollywood types will be eliminated as needed.
(I DO NOT think that will happen).

If that sounds bad to you, Sorry, but that is why Kerry types want to take away your guns.

Excuse me. I found this page following links from a British newspaper to Instapundit to here. I am reading this discussion (in the UK) and am totally confused.

Firstly, you are all alleging really appalling fraud, mostly by democrats but with links to accusations against republicans that are just as horrendous. Yet the mood seems to be really against outside observers being invited when such fraud would seem to warrant that. The picture you paint is not of a modern democracy but of something still really wild-west – and that does sort of fit with the picture people overseas got from the 2000 election debacle in which it certainly looked as if the person who got the lowest vote won the election because judges appointed by his friends and relatives decided it. Surely you need independent outside observers?

Secondly, there are lots of accusations against the media. Am I right in thinking that is what the MSM is? But they seem to allege only a leftist bias. Again, I may be mistaken but in Britain we do get Fox News and we are familiar with Rupert Murdoch, the Australian who owns it and he is very clearly politically right-wing. I have heard talk-shows in the past and on the whole that kind of bias would be very severely reprimanded in the UK where we have strong public interest broadcast rules. It seems to me that the media represent their own interest and that you could do with some decent state regulation like most other countries.

Thirdly, somebody said that liberals ‘’truly believe they can make this world a better place and so it doesn't matter if they have to break a few rules and destroy the country into order to do that’. It was my impression that this was what the Republicans believed. Republicans launched the invasion of Iraq with the intention of reforming a whole society through government military force and in the process have destroyed large parts of it. Republicans and a left-wing UK government lied to the world about the threat from Sadaam Hussein. That is now beyond doubt since the final Iraq Survey group report and whatever the rights of invading a badly run country I find that very worrying, much more worrying even than voter fraud. Somebody mentioned 1984 – a lot of that book is about populations kept cowed by a permanent fake war. Isn’t that something that should be causing a lot more concern than it is?

Finally, it really looks strange to British people to hear George Bush called an anti-establishment figure as opposed to Kerry. Like Kerry he is a rich Yale graduate whose whole family are involved in politics at the highest levels and who is closely connected to big business, right?

I know this will be read as a partisan post which it is not meant to be. It is meant to be a series of genuine questions and comments on the difference between how things look from the UK as opposed to in the US. It seems like most of you are convinced that your country is on a knife-edge and I can sympathise with that while not being sure who is to blame for it. From outside it doesn’t seem very surprising. When it acts in the world America acts as if the laws and rules it says apply to everyone else do not apply to it; it will launch international prosecutions but refuse to allow anyone American to be prosecuted; thinks the Geneva Convention need not apply to it; condemns torture yet practices it; says that nations can’t have nuclear or biological weapons but continues to manufacture them for itself; says democracy is best yet routinely backs violent dictators (including Sadaam Hussein in the 1980’s) and now, for instance, the leader of Turkmenistan who deals with critics by boiling them alive.

Given all this it is hardly surprising that the domestic political system is completely corrupt and people rig it to their own benefit.

America is a fine country and mostly its people are fine. But the one’s in charge do you a disservice.

In friendship

James

I happen to believe that barring a last minute DUI story with more traction than the one in 2000, Bush will win by a large margin. However, if Kerry wins by a small margin, we are in for trouble just as Stephen has eloquently described. The abuse of our political system that the Democrats have wrought will be to large to ignore by the courts, the public and the MSM. The Republicans are not immune to abusing the system, but as Stephen said, they seem to have more respect for the "means" than the "end" and the Democrats in this years desperation have focused on the "end" with no regards to the "mean". We're talking about months of court battles regarding thousands (50-100?) of felons registered to vote, eligible voters registered more than once, or in multiple states. Again, both sides will have these, but the disproportionate amount of Dems in question will create a situation where if Kerry wins by a small amount the faith in our system will be questioned exponentially more than in 2000.

Ok, so how do we _fix_ the insanity?

Personally, I think I'm going to take my video camera, stand the proscribed distance from the polling place doors, and record.

Then I'd have a _maximum_ count of people voting at my precinct. The numbers are published -> hard evidence if there _are any shenanigans.

There just aren't _that_ many polling places. Organizing a polling-place-observation thing nationwide wouldn't require an insane number of people.

The dyed thumb trick sounds useful too.

how is it that your candidate for President can say that a dictatorship is okay as long as he's the dictator?

Do Democrats have their sense of humor removed when they register? I'm just wondering, because that statement -- clearly a joke in context and delivery -- has been trotted out regularly since it was made.

And, really, folks -- the level of denial, tu quoque finger-pointing, and out-and-out whining from Democrats is annoying.

"Geek" -- you horribly distorted the story from Milwaukee. The city of Milwaukee requested 938,000 ballots, but it has a voting-age population of 424,000. Unless you think every voter needs two ballots, and some need three, there's no reason for that many unnecessary ballots.

I don't have time to read all the comments, but I'll play devil's advocate.

It seems like this response by Dems is likely a result of the voter intimidation that has allegedly occurred in Florida as reported in the Times by Bob Herbert. What exactly is wrong with using a preemptive technique to try to stop voter intimidation even in places where you don't have proof that it exists? Is anyone suggesting our elections will actually be less fair and more suspect because of these tactics? It's everyone's responsibility to ensure fair elections. Questioning election credibility started with Florida, and not because the Dems questioned their procedure, but because their procedure was flawed in many respects.

Your smears and smoke screens aren't gonna let you bastards steal the elections this time. Us dems are standing tall and firm. We're not taking your shit.

We learned our lesson in '00. "Fool me once... ain't gonna get fooled again," to quote a famous talking chimp.

Your smears and smoke screens aren't gonna let you bastards steal the elections this time. Us dems are standing tall and firm. We're not taking your shit.

We learned our lesson in '00. "Fool me once... ain't gonna get fooled again," to quote a famous talking chimp.

I quit voting for Demomcrats in national elections sometime during the early 1980's. The last time I voted for a local Democrat would have been 1986. And I have never voted a straight ticket -- just have to skip some offices.

The national Democrat party has been corrupt for at least since the early sixties. When the end justifies the means you have lost your soul, even if you don't believe in such things. And as Steven has noted, it is a terrible thing for the country.

So where do cultural and fiscal conservative libertarians find canidates to support? It aint gonna be amongst the Dems.

Ummm, not to pop any bubbles here, but did anyone even READ the page Drudge link to? It's about pre-emption of possible attacks.

We can't wait for an attack, by then it will be too late. We don't want the smoking gun to be in the form of a mushroom cloud!

Funny how dirty tricks are dirtiest when practiced by the left. In any case, Rove is more than capable of matching and dirty tricks the Dems pull.

Maybe everyone is missing the really big picture? Both the Republicans and Democrats are what is driving this country into the ground. Our vote only goes so far as to decide which dynasty we wish to rule for four years.

It's time for some new ideas and some new choices. Screw the donkeys and the elephants.

I have been part of a Team that has jailed 22 fraud and corruption facliliators in Texas in past elections. (All Democrats).

It is a fact that over 90% of all Felons currently serving time in all 50 states for election related fraud are Democrats. (They never win elections any other way, you know).

Vote buying by Demoncrats has been ingrained in their felonious natures since the days of "Boss Tweed" in New York over 100 years ago. If you register as a Democrat, you also have better than a 50% chance in many places of voting for at least 25 more years AFTER you die.

We had Democrats voting turn of the century graveyards for Lyndon Johnson in Texas over 50 years later. Most of that stopped when we jailed the crooks. However, it really stopped when Texas became a Republican state in all state wide elections.

Chicago and the Daily Demoncrat machine carried Illinois for John Kennedy using Dead Voters. Richard Nixon knew that but had too much integrity to create the fraud problems of crooked Demoncrats like Al Gore.

I also believe John Kerry's Mom knew that he has NO INTEGRITY at all. (Otherwise, Why beg him to remember the word on her death bed, if that actually happened)?

James:

1> Americans do not want foreign observers because America doesn't need any stamp of approval from a foreign government to authenticate anything we do. Even if we screw it up, its our business and not yours. Europe can kindly take a hike.

2> You want state regulation of the ONLY "right-wing" network out there, to silence its speech. How charming. Take note: the MSM (mainsteam media = 3 broadcast networks: ABC, CBS, NBC, and also CNN and the newspapers like the NY times, LA times, etc) are OVERWHELMINGLY LIBERAL. ALL of them are liberal. Yet you see fit that Fox News must be censored. Sounds like you can't compete in the market of ideas.

3> Liberals believe in government control. Republicans are distrustful of government power and think that more likely than not the government is the source of the problem, not the solution. However, there is no denying that freedom has been a great cause for peace in the world. Germany and Japan are free societies now, thanks to our "intervention" in their governments. And for the last frickin' time: everyone in the world thought Iraq had WMDs.

4> Bush is anti-establisment because he isn't an elitist. He doesn't care what elites in the MSM think. He doesn't give a CRAP what Europe thinks about us. He cares what ordinary Americans think about. He's a religious man, like most ordinary Americans. He's an honest, stand up guy. Kerry oozes contempt and stagnant elitism through every orifice. And he'd bend over to Europe's insane quest for a veto over the American "hyperpower." Bush takes that and gives it the mocking rebuke it deserves.

Thank God the Pilgrims left Europe. They had the right idea to begin with...

This is more sickening dirty tricks by the Dems.

And this funny language of the Dems..calling it a "preemptive strike" is deceptive...
For their manual clearly says:
"If no signs of intimidation have emerged yet..." and then tells them what to do...

So basically the Dems are stating that it's OK to make accusations based on something that hasn't happened, but which they presume could happen...boy, is that something out of Stalinist Russia?

TO: epoh
RE: See Ya....

"Your smears and smoke screens aren't gonna let you bastards steal the elections this time. Us dems are standing tall and firm. We're not taking your shit." -- epoh

...at the polls.

Regards,

Chuck(le)

This "preemptivness" is the same kind of stuff the Sierra Club does in land-use issues - they advocate that if there's not a genuine individual conflict, write-in and create one. It's a part of their activist policy, and until recently in their literature.

Amazing, powerful indictment of liberal Democratic power mongers trashing the electorial process for their own gain. Ed ranger, you have suggested the best way to send the message to the Democrats. As long as the Clintons remain in control - and don't forget, kids, who's lined up for 2008 - of the party, it will remain without a soul or conscience. It will be up to local candidates to pressure the national party to restore sanity.

Did anyone read the actual manual? All it says is to pre-emptively prevent FUTURE voter intimidation tactics by reminding the public about (actual) past ones. It NOWHERE says to make them up or to charge ongoing practices when they don't exist. God. What a non-story.

James:

The notion that the United States needs international observers is risable. How we conduct our elections is none of the world's damned business. If you will recall, at one time we were governed from Westminster but not to our liking. As a result, my and many other Americans' forebearers settled the issue of our sovereignty by the traditional appeal to arms.

TO: nick
RE: As I Was Saying (Above)

"It's time for some new ideas and some new choices. Screw the donkeys and the elephants" -- nick

...I'm game for another major party.

Get it organized, will ya! Stop talking and start doing.

In the meantime, we can only work with the (f)tools we have at hand.

Regards,

Chuck(le)
P.S. I'm not particularly impressed with the Libertarians nor the Greens. Their recent antics were childish and only caused me to be more disappointed.

The Dems are acting like the Politburo these days, and the MSM is their Pravda...

Folks, we must fight for our freedom in this country all over again (this time in a peaceful way)...

One thing the Dems have going for them is that their radical leftists know how to protest and shout and act like an agrieved party...we in the silent majority need to become very vocal...we need to organize and protest and get active for our cause too...

Look at CBS..they aired a fraudulent story intending to influence a presidential election, and they think they can get away with it...we need to raise hell until CBS News goes down...

The same with the Democratic party...we need to expose these frauds for what they are...and relegate them to the ash heap of history...

I recently moved within California, and had to re-register. I've still got part of the paperwork on hand.

"REGISTRATION FORM RECEIPT
Attention Voter:
If you do not mail your form personally, have this receipt signed by the person who takes it from you and keep it until you receive your Voter Notification Card. This receipt will be used to investigate any cases in which that person does not mail or deliver the form to the County Elections Official within the time limit required by law."

Further, forms have serial numbers. My guess is that a properly signed and dated receipt is grounds for a provisional ballot. This combination probably makes destroying registration forms futile.

On the whole, I'd say that the Nevada/ACORN story is probably bogus, or at least weak.

Like Stephen, I've only voted party-line once, in '88. This year, I'm going to do it again. Yuck.

Excellent and necessary essay - and isn't it sad that it is so necessary. I'm going to link to it at my blog.

And don't forget the PAUL WELLSTONE DEATH RALLY.

Remember that delightful display of loving, inclusive Democrat harmonic convergence? The man dies and within a few days, the fucking Democrats are screeching at his GODDAMN MEMORIAL SERVICE about how they're gonna WIN WIN WIN WIN. An early version of the Howard Dean scream, en masse and at a memorial service.

Cute.

It appears that "Just passing thoughts" has responded to my comment - thanks.

Setting aside the question of Katherine Harris' conduct (and others have pointed out how thousands were disenfranchised in that election), do you see a problem with having partisan officials in charge of the electoral process for a state? Harris was the head of the Florida committee to elect Bush, or some such. It just strikes me as completely absurd that someone could hold both positions and yet claim impartiality.

As for this so called "climate of fear" that avowed Republicans are talking about (and, as I said, I'm an independent - I will probably vote for Coors in Colorado, but I'm almost certainly voting against Bush - it's too bad there's no real alternative but Kerry), the break-ins etc. are troubling. But it is no more appropriate to connect them to the Kerry campaign without proof than it is to say that this is a Republican tactic to elicit sympathy. There have been proven instances of Republican tactics along those lines, even at the highest levels of government - witness Memogate (http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Memogate")

As for Dan Rather, he made himself look ridiculous - the story was dubious at best, but not doing any sort of verification was completely irresponsible. He ought to resign.

The same goes for media organizations reporting the very erroneously named "Swift boat veterans for truth" in a positive light, given that (and I've spent some time looking into their allegations) their entire campaign is a tissue of lies. Along with the ridiculous campaign in West Virginia where the local republicans claimed something along the lines of "The democrats will take away your Bibles and promote homosexuality", I don't think the Republican party has even the slightest claim to the moral high ground here.

P.S. Not to nitpick, but it's spelled "alleged" :-)

Excellent rant, Stephen.

I, too, intend to do something that is anathema to me this year: vote straight GOP. The Democrats have been such bastards on a national level that they deserve punishment at the local level.

James, welcome to our happy family. Try not to get any on ya.

1. "..2000 election debacle in which it certainly looked as if the person who got the lowest vote won the election because judges appointed by his friends and relatives decided it." Wrong. Go back and read the report at Wikipedia, not the Guardian.

2. Of course Fox News skews Right. Have you ever heard of ABC? CBS? NBC? The New York Times? The Washington Post? I could go on. Right-wingers have the WSJ opinion page, Fox News, and small-circulation magazines like National Review, but lefties make their opinions known on literally anything, even stupid tabloids like "Entertainment Tonight".

3. "Republicans and a left-wing UK government lied to the world about the threat from Sadaam Hussein." Wrong. We saw the same things that even the French, Germans, and Russians saw. The difference is we had the balls to do something about it.

4. I seem to recall Orwell's 1984 being in the fiction section.

5. Of course W is a man of privilege, from a rich family, connected to big business. Who would you rather have a pint with, him or Kerry? Seriously.

6. The Geneva convention doesn't apply to terrorists. Read it.

7. Does the U.S practice torture? Are you referring to the unfortunate incident where that ugly woman pointed at Sahib's peepee? Tain't torture, James. Not even a good fraternity prank.

8. Don't make me point out that it was the British Empire that was responsible for oppressing nearly half the world for centuries. Of course, you could make the argument that the best thing that could have ever happened to India, South Africa, Canada, etc. was to be oppressed by HRH's occupiers. Maybe the U.S. occupying Iraq will turn out to be the best hope for all the Middle East.

Cheers to you and thanks for joining us.

I think we might be talking about the same thing in Vegas.

My question to those who have cited this is, have you visited the website of said group?

If this is the same item we're talking about, I don't think Emily's Group, The Sierra Club, NARAL, NAACP, Move On can be considered conservative groups.

Please go directly to the source, - I mean the actual group, not the news report and will you please link here? Thank you.

Here is a more detailed description of the probable scenario:

http://www.americanpolicy.org/un/main.htm

I am reminded of a line by Danny de Vito in the movie 'Other People's Money'

"Of course I've got lawyers. They are like nuclear weapons: I've got em coz everyone else has. But as soon as you use them they screw everything up. "

All bets are off after THE FOOTNOTE. You know, the one where Scalia/Thomas/Rhenquist said "This case, where we seemingly do a 180 degree reversal on everything we've ever said about the Equal Protection Clause, should never be used as a precedent for anything else in the futre!"

As Curtis Mayfield sang, if there's hell below, we're all gonna go.

I have never figured out how the demwits thought that Bush stoled the election in 2000. Every count and recount, even the one after the Supreme court ruling to stop the last count (See, Demwits, the Supeme Court didn't award Bush the election, it merely said 3 recounts are plenty), showed Bush winning. Live with it because you will have to live with it this year too.

James:

Hello to the UK!

We respect your opinion, but we have to say that you do not understand how Americans think.

Monkey boy go back to Cirque de Crawford. Dance to shiny organ. Monkey happy. No hard work. Sleep, monkey. Sleep.

Daniel,

If you think the Swift Boat Veterans' argument is a "tissue of lies" why is it no one in the MSM or the Kerry campaign has seriously addressed their allegations? And I suppose you do believe the "flying dog", "CIA agent magic hat" and Kerry's "Christmas in Cambodia" stories are utterly credible, no? And the "V" for valor which isn't awarded with a silver star?
Yeah, "tissue of lies" is a good theme...possibly for your suggestions.

The best current proof of the willingness on the part of the Democrats to do anything to win, was Kerry's comment about Dick Cheney's daughter Mary during the debate last night. Clearly it was planned. John Edwards walked up to the water's edge on the issue during Vice Presidential debate, mentioning his opponent's daughter without saying, as Kerry did, "she is a lesbian."

Emboldened by this preview, Kerry stomped right over the line last night. The next excuse they'll probably use is that John Kerry thought that since it was a debate on domestic issues, he was free to get personal about anybody's family members!

Last night his campaign manager, Mary Beth Cahill, callously made it clear that Kerry was impugning Mary Cheney, when she defended his comment by saying of Mary, "she's fair game."

The point isn't whether the recount would have won it for Gore (who imho deserves what he got for only asking for selected counties). The point is how transparently the Supreme Court majority whored itself -- not even Richard Posner, who agreed with the ultimate decision, could defend their hypocricy on the Equal Protection Clause (and he didn't even address the cowardly footnote).

Sydney - Thanks for the response. I didn't expect such aggression but I know that is how it works in blogland. Can I just clarify some things please?

Firstly, I wasn’t suggesting you need ‘a foreign government’ to authenticate things. It was just that since this thread is about such fraud it might be an idea. There are lots of non-governmental organisations that send observers for elections and it might be a way to, as it were, pre-empt the pre-emptors.

Secondly, I wasn’t suggesting censorship and I wasn’t suggesting regulation only of Fox News. The impression the thread gives is of widespread concern, on all sides, about media bias. In countries like the UK, which is a democracy and has been for some time, we have laws that regulate broadcast news media and monitor print, in order to ensure that the public interest is served. That certainly doesn’t mean that the news media are in the pockets of the government. Far from it. The BBC is not a private media station it is publicly owned (all the British people own it) and it is the one that has been in a major stand-off with the government because it pointed out that the government was not being honest in its statements about Iraq’s weapons. That is the market of ideas in action.

Thirdly, I still don’t get the thing about distrust of government power being a republican thing. I know that classic conservatives don’t care for big government because they don’t like grand social engineering schemes and they don’t like governments spending vast amounts of money. But the current Republican administration seems different – launching a massively utopian scheme to remodel a whole society and region of the world was always going to end in a mess, and running up the largest ever foreign-owned debt to do it seems really un-conservative to me.

Also, not everyone in the world thought Iraq had WMD’s. The weapons inspectors didn’t, the UK government advisors didn’t and nor did many millions of people in the UK.

Fourthly, thanks, I understand a bit better why Bush is thought anti-establishment – it is a different notion of what an establishment is to the one we have in the UK. Here being part of the establishment simply means being part of the ruling classes regardless of actual attitude to anything.

On a different manner, I appreciate that other nations shouldn’t tell Americans what to do – and that wasn’t my intention. But can you see why, when you say that it is a good thing that Bush ‘doesn't give a CRAP what Europe thinks about us’ that might be offensive? Not that I am crying or anything but it doesn’t really build bridges or friendship between nations. I am pretty sure that when Lincoln thought of America as ‘the last best hope’ he wasn’t imagining it not giving a crap about anyone else. It just seems to me unnecessary to say that kind of thing. As an individual I do what I decide to do and how I want to do it but that doesn’t mean that I don’t see what others have to say and it doesn’t mean that I am dismissive of them.

My fear, as someone who is big fan of the American way, is that such an attitude will weaken friendships and in the long run be a bad thing for the country – especially when it is in debt to foreign nations.