posted on December 1, 2000 01:17:42 PM
I believe at last count there was 45 court challenges going on, 2 more to add to the circus today. The lawyers are never going to go home, this is beginning to be like an Energizer commercial, it just keeps going, and going, and going, and going...
--Six people filed a lawsuit in Tallahassee asking that 1,500 overseas ballots from 10 Republican-leaning counties be tossed out because they arrived after 7 p.m. Election Day. The plaintiffs allege a violation of federal law.
--In Tallahassee, Democratic voters filed a lawsuit challenging 9,773 Martin County absentee ballots, saying GOP officials added voter ID numbers to applications that had been left blank. Bush had a 2,815-vote edge in Martin County absentee voting.
Baker called it right Monday when he said the legal manuvering can go on for months. I hope the Florida legislature does put an end to this madness.
posted on December 1, 2000 03:35:33 PM
They did manage to get the Florida supreme court to deny an appeal on the 'butterfly ballot'. I wonder how they are going to be able to explain to those people it was a legal ballot in terms they'll understand?
My favorite Florida bumper sticker so far was this one:
posted on December 1, 2000 06:15:47 PM
I know this doesn't get rid of the Florida traffic jam at the courts, but it does address a desperate attempt some claimed to challenge the Bush/Cheney ticket.
-- In Dallas, a judge dismissed a lawsuit seeking to overturn Bush's victory in Texas on grounds Bush's running mate, Dick Cheney, is a resident of Texas rather than Wyoming. The Constitution prohibits the president and vice president from living in the same state, but U.S. District Judge Sidney Fitzwater ruled Cheney has proven he ''has both a physical presence within the state of Wyoming and the intent that Wyoming be his place of habitation.'' Cheney lived in Dallas while he was chairman of Halliburton Co. but changed his voting registration to Teton County, Wyo., on July 21 -- four days before becoming Bush's running mate. (Associated Press)
posted on December 2, 2000 10:33:54 PM
Julesy? May I call you that? Sorry. I am not in an email circle here...If Memory serves me right, you voted for Nader? Correct?
If that is so, can you please explain how you voted for one guy, but manage to comment on so many of the irregularities of votes submitted for reconsideration?
Also, if you were a Nader supporter, why do you care a rat's azz about the outcome of this election?
Well that's good. Cheney will be the backbone of the Bush administration if there is one, and he's a good one insofar as I can see. I think this thing would have been a republican cakewalk with him as the presidential candidate, or with another other capable person.
There'd have been no need for all of the deceptions and slieght of hand tactics had GW not been the candidate.
I think it takes incredible gall for you to attempt to determine what I can and cannot comment on (though I expect nothing less from a Gore supporter, for you also felt it your right to try to determine whom I should vote for in the first place).
As a *voter* in this election, and a citizen of this country, it is very much my right to expect that said election be fair. It is also my right, regardless of whom I voted for, to scrutinize an outcome, especially one such as this.
Btw, if you had been informed before speaking, you would've seen that I have actually commented very little on the election. But don't let that get in the way of your tantrum.
posted on December 2, 2000 11:42:51 PM
I was talking to my much smarter sister about Cheney the other day, my fearful speculations about what might happen if Cheney were to have a fatal heart attack, thereby making George W president. My much smarter sister said that she used to think Cheney was okay, but there was something that he did that changed her mind. She can't remember what it was, or when whatever happened happened that changed her opinion of him, (but it was long before this post-election stuff.) I wouldn't trust anyone but my much smarter sister on such a flimsy basis, but I trust her judgements about such things completely. So, my advice would be to not feel too comforted by Cheney's presence, he's not as good as he looks (though I can't tell you why.)
This doesn't have anything to do with anything either, but I stumbled across a New York Daily News Online article, written on Nov. 1, 6 days before the election. Before the election, there was speculation that Bush would win the popular vote, and Gore would win the electoral vote. In light of what appears to have happened (although Gore keeps on claiming he won the popular national vote, who's to say, with such a small margin, and ditto for Bush's Florida win), this article I found pretty interesting, looking at it with hindsight.
It purports to quote nameless Bush insiders on the Bush camp's plans to wage a battle for the presidency, converting electors, (who, presumably, were for the non-popular vote winner Gore), to give Bush the presidency when he didn't win the electoral vote.
posted on December 3, 2000 04:23:15 AM
Yep. Cheney has a long history of very questionable financial dealings dating to the Reagan administration, and his associations with Halliburton during the Clinton time have not only made him very rich but have directly or indirectly affected the awarding of pretty spectacular amounts in defence contracts.
The fact that he's been able to do it without a lot of either fanfare or controversy alone better qualifies him for high office than GW is, given the outright failures and public boondoggles which follow his adventures.
posted on December 3, 2000 04:31:23 PM
The vitriole against Gore supporters by Nader supporters is refreshingly naive. So Gore supporters urged you to vote for Gore, and Bush supporters quietly respected your choice, is that it? You got played, and not by Gore.
posted on December 4, 2000 09:04:28 AM
Wouldn't it be a strange twist of fate if in light of the Supreme count's ruling they ruled that Gore's team had contested the results beyond the deadline.
posted on December 5, 2000 01:30:53 AM
I heard some people say that, but I think that wouldn't make sense. The Democrats, in filing their contest, were operating under (the timeline of) the law at the time.
It's ironic to me that what should have been a more discussed political circumstance, the Nader factor, hasn't been looked at very much at all, because our attention has been turned instead to the situation that the Nader factor possibly precipitated in the first place, not that I'm at all sure it did precipitate it (i.e. I'm not at all sure if Nader's candidacy siphoned what would have been Democratic votes off, making the Democratic-Republican race closer than it would have been.)
But what I do think is that the votes Nader picked up, combined with the closeness of the Democratic and Republican race, will serve to push the Democratic party even further to the right than it was already going. This, to me, is far more important than that the Republicans might have won one presidency that they wouldn't have won without Nader. If Nader had been in, and the Democrats had won this presidency, as close as it turned out to be, the Democrats would still be moving to the right, probably. But that Nader was in and the Democrats lost will force the Democratic party to go even further to the right than they might have.
Now there's irony. Nader didn't consider himself a realistic winner, this time, or next time, or probably anytime. What he wanted was to force the Democratic party to move back to the left, and instead he did just the opposite. Short of Nader actually winning the presidency, the stronger Nader's showing was, the stronger the necessity that the Democratic party move even further to the right, away from what Nader was striving for.
posted on December 8, 2000 11:45:48 AM
With the Martin and Seminole county lawsuits a bust I think Gore should consider taking time out from picking his cabinet and start working on a concession speech. If the Florida supreme court decides against him (which I supect will happen) I'd say the fat lady would be official be singing.
