Have you followed the bits of news? Numerous break-ins at Republican campaign offices; vandalism, including gunfire; coordinated invasion and intimidation of Republican volunteers by the AFL-CIO; damaging and stealing signs; exploiting handicapped children; and (at least according to Drudge) even written instructions to operatives to lay the groundwork for future claims of "voter intimidation" even if none has occurred!
One essayist writes here:
If Drudge has it right, then the Kerry-Edwards campaign is going to do its damnedest to turn our fine nation into a banana republic.Farfetched? Hardly. See this NY Post column:
To these guys, winning office is more important than the sanctity of elections. Holding power is more important than the Constitution. Much as I despise at least half of what most Republicans stand for, they don't seem nearly as willing to trash the system they're trying to run. Too many Democrats, especially at the national level, just don't care that our system, our nation is far more important than any single election.
I could mention the Lautenberg Trick in New Jersey. Or Gore's ballot shenanigans in Florida. Or the voter-registration fraud currently going on in Colorado, Nevada, and elsewhere. Or the Democrats' successful call to bring election observers into this country. Bring them in from where, Venezuela? Hey, no big deal sullying the reputation of the world's oldest continuously-functioning democracy, just so long as we can make the Republicans look bad, right?
The rules don't matter. The reputation of the country doesn't matter. The political health of the nation doesn't matter. Power matters.
Marc Elias, the general counsel for the Kerry team, has said the campaign intends to be able to "fight five statewide recounts and still have funds available to the campaign." The New York Law Journal reports that the local Lawyers Committee for the Kerry Campaign has raised $2 million to support recount efforts...That's not even getting into the collusion of the major media, as expressed in the ABC News internal memo:
In New Mexico, Democrats already won one lawsuit, which argued voters shouldn't have to show ID at the polling place because that would have disproportionately affected minority voters. (The suggestion that minority voters can't be trusted to bring their drivers license will strike some as a condescending insult, but never mind.)...
Of course, rationalizing is what lawyers do best. But you'd think vigilance against voter fraud would be a bipartisan issue. As "Stealing Elections" author John Fund points out, at least eight of the 9/11 hijackers were registered to vote in U.S. elections.
In fact, many of the Democrats' legal efforts and claims of disenfranchisement are meant to thwart attempts to stop ineligible voters. Jesse Jackson and the NAACP routinely complain that, if the felons in Florida weren't "disenfranchised," Al Gore would be president today.
Hey, Gore would be president if Canadians were allowed to vote, too, or if residents of heavily Democratic districts in Florida could vote twice. Too bad those pesky election laws have been used systematically to cheat Democrats of the presidency!
...For the lawyers, the delicious turn of events since Florida 2000 is about oh-so-much more than just assuring a future tort reform veto. If every election is now potentially reversible in court, the litigation lobby will finally have achieved its ascendancy over all three branches of government.
And for the Democratic Party, that seems to be a small price to pay for never having to admit they've lost.
ABCNEWS Political Director Mark Halperin admonishes ABC staff: During coverage of Democrat Kerry and Republican Bush not to “reflexively and artificially hold both sides ‘equally’ accountable.”Bias? What bias?
The controversial internal memo obtained by DRUDGE, captures Halperin stating how “Kerry distorts, takes out of context, and mistakes all the time, but these are not central to his efforts to win.”
Halperin states the responsibilities of the ABCNEWS staff have “become quite grave.”