By: Mary Mostert, Analyst, Original Sources (www.originalsources.com)_
November 10, 2000
3:30 PM EST Friday, November 10, 2000 - The State of Florida's official recount of presidential vote, available at: http://enight.dos.state.fl.us/report.asp?Date=001107 - shows Governor George W. Bush leading Vice President Gore by 981 votes. (not 327 votes as the Associated Press reports.) This number does not include the absentee ballots.
This nation is in the midst of a national tizzy-fit because our once trusted media sources clearly reported information that was wrong on the night of the election. Before the polls actually closed in Florida, EVERY network - ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOXNEWS - reported that Florida had been won by Al Gore. At the time of that report, the reports actually showed George Bush several points ahead.
In other states, Georgia for example, George W. Bush was ahead for hours before the networks declared it in the Bush camp. However, the data being reported by the media was not real election information- such as official precinct counts. What was being reported as "returns" were coming from exit polls conducted by a polling firm. Even though the election appears to be totally different than the polls prior to it, the networks substituted "exit polls" for the official vote counts and today are insisting that we now believe another poll on the recount of the votes.
What we saw and heard yesterday was an example of the kind of spin we have seen from the Clinton-Gore administration for eight years. And, while we still haven't seen the full, official count of the Florida vote, partly because many absentee ballots have not been received, much less counted, by Thursday evening we were being told through the Associated Press that George Bush was only about 229 votes ahead of Al Gore.
Evidently the Gore camp realized this meant he had lost Florida's 25 electoral ballots, since the absentee votes tend to be heavily Republican. So they have moved to the next stage of what increasingly appears to be a well orchestrated effort to gain by coup what could not be gained by campaigning, spin doctoring and reported vote buying. The Associated Press reported:
"WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- (AP) -- Angry supporters of Democratic Vice President Al Gore protested outside of an elections office in Palm Beach County, where more than 19,000 ballots have been disqualified and two lawsuits have been filed seeking a new vote."The Rev. Jesse Jackson arrived at a rally outside the Palm Beach County government center, where people held signs saying, ``Redo the vote'' and ``Gore got more.''
"Officials in the heavily Democratic county said 19,120 ballots in the presidential race were thrown out before they were counted because more than one candidate was picked; only 3,783 voters made that mistake on the U.S. Senate portion of the ballot."
As the day progressed we heard Gore campaign manager William Daley threaten to move the decision about who the next president will be from the voters to the lawyers. He said, "I assume the courts will take a serious look at what may be an injustice unparalleled in our history.''
In short order, 48 hours after the vote took place, two lawsuits were filed in Palm Beach County Circuit Court. One of the plaintiffs, Lillian Gaines, 67, revealed the problem to the American public: "I went to the polls for one specific reason, to vote for Gore. I hit the second hole. I am sure I did. What was going on in my mind was somehow my right to vote had been taken away from me."
Her vote had been taken away from her? Now let's see. She came into the polling place, got the ballot in her hand, took it to the polling booth, and punched the wrong hole. Nobody took her right to vote away from her. At that point, she should have returned the ballot and asked for another one. If she didn't do that, it was her own fault. NO ONE TOOK ANYTHING AWAY FROM HER! If she is 67 years old and hasn't figured out how to vote yet, she has a serious problem. It's not the problem of the ballot.
The lawsuit against the canvassing board and election officials said the ballots were ``deceptive, misleading and confusing.'' Clay Roberts, director of the Florida Division of Elections, refuted that charge with: ``I don't think they are confused. I think they left the polling place and became confused. The ballot is very straightforward. You follow the arrow, you punch the location. Then you have voted for whom you intend to elect.''
That's about as simple as it can get. Yet, Daley charged the ballot violated Florida law, which give us a clue as to what is probably ahead.
Former Secretary of State James A. Baker, III, representing George W. Bush in the recount responded with: "They did have a chance to have their voices heard. And let me tell you something else about that ballot: That ballot was posted, as required by Florida law, in newspapers and public places all over the state of Florida. Not one complaint was received about that ballot, which, by the way, was approved by a Democrat who was elected. A Democratic election supervisor approved that ballot. And we haven't heard one gripe about that ballot until after the voting took place.''
The much maligned ballot, oddly enough, was apparently designed by and approved by Democrats. County Elections Supervisor Theresa LePore, a Democrat, said the ballot was drawn up that way because there were so many candidates and because she wanted the names to be large enough for older people to read. Now lawyers for Al Gore are saying the ballot design is illegal and have mounted a campaign to demand a re-vote.
What occurred yesterday was a very smooth and well-orchestrated technique that was taught in the 1960s by Saul Alinsky. According to Alinsky, a student of Marx and Lenin, the secret to getting what you want is to create a "people's organization." Alinksky described a people's organization as a conflict group:
A people's organization is not a philanthropic plaything or a social service's ameliorative gesture. It is a deep hard-driving force, striking and cutting at the very roots of all the evils which best the people...A people's organization is dedicated to an external war...A war is not an intellectual debate, and in the war against social evils, there are no rules of fair play...In our war against the social menaces of mankind there can be no compromise. It is life or death."
Part of that war is what Alinsky called "rubbing raw the sores of discontent." What we are watching since the election is a golden example of how riots and anti-Vietnam protests were organized in the 1960s. You find, or invent, some kind of problem and do exactly what Bill Daley did yesterday - blow it totally out of proportion, take it out of context and label it a human rights issue. The butterfly ballot has never been called an "illegal" ballot in Chicago. It is an invented problem designed to create chaos in the presidential election process so Gore can claim the White House even though the votes don't warrant it.
The Gore camp is trying to position itself, with the help of its media friends, into a position where it can substitute media spin, trial lawyers and judges for the votes of the American people. One of the lawsuits was reportedly withdrawn when the Democrats failed to get the judge they were angling to get. This is an organized effort and what is at stake here is our system of government.
It's a dangerous game.
To comment: mmostert@originalsources.com
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