election 2004

There is a database website on "voting incidents" that I just found out about in connection with the hearings that Conyers is holding in Washington today. See also his online documentation of Ohio voting and election problems.

I listened to the hearings. They are not official Judiciary Committee "hearings" because only the Democrats -- and not even all the Democrats -- sanctioned them. In any case, it was the most riveting, inspiring thing I've heard in American politics since Kerry's acceptance speech.

After listending to the "hearings," I heard about this Associated Press article on Democratic Underground. In the article, journalist Brent Kallestad writes:

More than nine in 10 respondents said they had no problems, other than having to wait in long lines, according to the Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.


While 75 percent of voters described themselves as "very confident" or "somewhat confident" their vote was correctly counted, the degree of satisfaction varied between winners and losers, according to assistant poll director Clay Richards.


He said 95 percent of the Republicans quizzed said they were very or somewhat confident in the result, compared with only 58 percent of Democrats. President Bush (news - web sites) carried the state with 52 percent of the vote over Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites).

This all under a headline: "Poll: Fla. Voters Had No Voting Problems." This strikes me as blatant mendacity. So I wrote the AP this email in response:

I am amused by the article you published today under the headline:

Poll: Fla. Voters Had No Voting Problems.

Then Brent Kallestad went on to state:

"only 58 percent of Democrats" said they were very or somewhat confident in the results.

No problem?

You are the problem. This is blatant deception of the American public, whitewashing, and disinformation.

Ha! Ha! Ha! you hypocrites! You're supposed to be the last line of defense against tyranny in this country, but instead you're the first to betray your responsibilities.

You are responsible for the anger and fallout that could result from millions of fed-up, disfranchised Americans.