Ohio Postpones Destruction of 2004 Ballots

The New York Times reports that Ohio is going to delay destruction of the Presidential ballots. Critics of the Ohio election are suing to delay the destruction for several additional months alleging widespread irregularities:

“This is not about Mr. Kerry or Mr. Bush or who should be president,’’ said Bill Goodman, legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, a New York group that is part of the lawsuit. “This is about figuring out what is not working in our election system and ensuring that every cast vote counts.

“There is a gap between the numbers provided in the local level records, which until recently no one has been allowed to see, and the official final tallies that were publicly released after this election, and we want to figure out why that gap is there.”

Blackwell’s candidacy for Governor wil likely increase the attention given to the criticism of how he handled the 2004 election and will hopefully lead to an end of the system where partisan individuals are in charge of elections. This was a problem both in Ohio in 2004 and under Katherine Harris in Florida in 2000.

My bet is that a full review will show even more signs of shoddy handling of ballots, and possibly sporadic cases of outright fraud. The January 2005 report from the Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee found “massive and unprecedented voter irregularities and anomalies.” Most likely a full review will not change the conclusion that these irregularities “would not have erased Bush’s 118,000 vote margin in the state.” However it is preferable to determine this by evaluation of the data rather than by speculation. Even if the number of votes changed by such irregularities is not sufficient to change the result inn 2004 the system should be corrected before future elections.

Reviews subsequent to the 2000 election, which was officially much closer than in 2004, did show that Al Gore would have won Florida if there was either a recount of the entire state (as opposed to  the  specific counties requested by Gore) or if the overcount was considered in cases where the voter’s choice was clear. The overcount consisted of ballots where Gore’s name was  both punched and Gore’s name was also written in, leading to disqualification of the ballot for voting twice.

Carter Agrees to Speak to Former Iranian President; Right Wingers Outraged

Even if Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadineja doesn’t get his chance to debate George Bush, there may still be some communication between Iran and the United States, even if limited to former Presidents. Former President Carter has agreed to speak with former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami. According to the Washington Post:

Khatami, a reformer who served as president from 1997 to 2005, is scheduled to speak at the Washington National Cathedral on Sept. 7. His schedule may include speeches at the University of Virginia and to an Islamic group in Chicago. He may also pay a private visit to Thomas Jefferson’s home at Monticello, according to sources familiar with his trip. He will begin his visit in New York at a U.N. conference on the dialogue of civilizations.

A conversation between Jimmy Carter and a former Iranian President is especially interesting considering that Carter lost his reelection bid largely as a consequence of the hostage crisis in Iran. Despite such potential tensions, Carter aide Phil Wise said Carter is willing to speak with him:

“President Carter, in his role since leaving the White House, has made his office and services and center available to basically anybody who wants to talk. He believes that it is much better to be talking to people who you have problems with than not to, and that’s the approach he takes now,” Wise said. “I can confirm that President Carter is open to a meeting if the former president of Iran would like to have one.”

The right wing blogoshere is not as happy about the prospect of speaking to those we have problems with. The Booman Tribune has a round up of the response. Little Green Footballs objects to Khatami even entering the country:

Giving Khatami a visa is a sheer outrage, at a time when Iran is issuing genocidal threats, sponsoring terrorism around the world, and rushing toward nuclear weapons. What the hell is wrong with our government?

I can think of a lot of things wrong with the government, but this would not top the list. Blue Crab Boulevard protests what they see as “back door diplomatic exchanges.” I wonder what they think of the alleged back door dealings between Reagan and Iran before Reagan took office, or the back door agreements which came out in the Iran Contra Scandal. Captain’s Quarters would like to see the White House “inform Carter of their intention to enforce the Logan Act.”

Yes, to them I guess it is far better to avoid communication. The Bush policy of labeling them part of the axis of evil, talking of a crusade, and starting a preemptive war next door has sure done wonders for our relations with Iran.

Bush Admits “Economy Went Into The Tank”

Brian Williams interviewed George Bush on the one year anniversary of Katrina. Crooks and Liars has the video. The 9/11 attack wound up being a major topic of discussion. Wilson asked Bush about sacrifice:

Williams: The folks who say you should have asked for some sort of sacrifice from all of us after 9/11, do they have a case looking back on it?

Bush: Americans are sacrificing. I mean, we are. You know, we pay a lot of taxes. America sacrificed when they, you know, when the economy went into the tank. Americans sacrificed when, you know, air travel was disrupted. American taxpayers have paid a lot to help this nation recover. I think Americans have sacrificed.

That’s something to consider when we see how Bush’s response to 9/11 has not only undermined our national security by strengthening al Qaeda and Iraq, but has also caused the economy to go “into the tank.” When talking about taxes, Bush failed to mention that much of the cost is being passed on to our children, and undermining our retirement accounts, due to the deficet Bush is running up.

Wilson also asked Bush about his reading. The transcript has Bush saying, “Well, I’m reading about the battle of New Orleans right now. I’ve got an eclectic reading list.” People who watched the interview are saying that it sounded like Bush said “I’ve got an epileptic reading list.” (Wonkette also heard it this way). The interview became almost incomprehensible by the end:

WILLIAMS: How have you been read wrong?

BUSH: I don’t know. I frankly don’t pay that much attention. I don’t want to hurt people’s feelings, but…

WILLIAMS: Still not watching television, huh?

BUSH: I watched a good baseball game.

During the interview Bush commented on how historians will be evaluating his Presidency in the future. Perhaps thay should remember that George Bush “watched a good baseball game” while “the economy went into the tank.”

Joe Lieberman vs. Elections

My Left Nutmeg has the video of this exchange:

Fox News: “Will Connecticut senator’s independent run help embattled GOP candidates?”

Joe Lieberman: “Well, they should have thought of that before they had the primary.”

I take it that he believes it is wrong for Democrats to go and try to vote him out. (More at MyDD)
In other news on Joe Lieberman, USA Today puts down the role of the blogoshere. Skippy refutes him. The Hartford Courant looks at Lieberman’s ads. David Sorota says the ads show Lieberman is out of touch.

Republicans Build A Very Tiny Tent

Republicans claim to have a big tent and are critical of Democrats for dumping Joe Lieberman, but if their moderates happen to stray we see how small their tent has really become. The authoritarian right interprets a bill signed by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as a sign that “the gates of hell are prevailing against the church.” WorldNet Daily reports:

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has tossed out all sexual moral conduct codes at colleges, private and Christian schools, daycare centers and other facilities throughout his state, if the institutions have any students who get state assistance.The governor yesterday signed a bill that would require all businesses and groups receiving state funding — even if it’s a state grant for a student — to condone homosexuality, bisexuality and transsexuality.

Schwarzenegger isn’t the only moderate Republican to be attacked by the right wing today. Right Wing News presented The Conservative Case Against Rudy Giuliani In 2008 yesterday. They object to Giuliani’s views on abortion, providing this example:

“I’ve said that I’ll uphold a woman’s right of choice, that I will fund abortion so that a poor woman is not deprived of a right that others can exercise, and that I would oppose going back to a day in which abortions were illegal.

DONAHUE: Which would be to continue the pregnancy.GIULIANI: Which would be that I would help her with taking care of the baby. But if the ultimate choice of the woman – my daughter or any other woman – would be that in this particular circumstance [if she had] to have an abortion, I’d support that. I’d give my daughter the money for it.”

I do that in spite of my own personal reservations. I have a daughter now; if a close relative or a daughter were pregnant, I would give my personal advice, my religious and moral views …

They criticize him for supporting a ban on assault weapons making me surprised they didn’t take the opportunity to note that here he’s more liberal than Howard Dean. They find fault in him opposing a ban on gay marriage and the Republican’s use of gay marriage as a wedge issue: (more…)

Bush Bewildered

Maureen Dowd writes that George Bush is Begat, Bothered, Bewildered. She’s not impressed by either his visit to the Gulf or his the claims that his reading level has advanced beyond My Pet Goat:

W.’s anniversary contrition for the cameras was a more elaborate version of his famous Air Force One flyover a year ago, when he had to be shown a DVD of angry news coverage of apartheid suffering here before he belatedly and grudgingly broke off his five-week Crawford vacation.

In an interview on the Upper Ninth Ward’s desolate North Dorgenois Street, the president told NBC’s Brian Williams that, besides Camus, he had recently read a book on the Battle of New Orleans and “three Shakespeares.” A White House aide said one of them was “Hamlet.”

What could be more fitting? A prince who dithers instead of acting and then acts precipitously at the wrong moment, not paying attention when someone vulnerable drowns.

Asked by the anchor whether he was asking people in the country to sacrifice enough, he replied briskly, “Americans are sacrificing — we pay a lot of taxes.”

(more…)

There’s No Do-Over’s Dubya

George Bush promises a “”better and more effective response” to hurricanes one year after Katrina.

In related news, George Bush promises increased security at Pearl Harbor in case of another attack from Japan, a rapid rescue attempt should the Titanic sink again, and promises not to sit around reading a children’s book should the World Trade Center be attacked by terrorists again.

Posted in George Bush. Tags: . 3 Comments »

Kerry on Changing the Voting Laws

This story from earlier today on John Kerry is so poorly written I didn’t even bother to link to it earlier, until I found that it has received considerable attention in the blogosphere. Kerry sent out an email supporting Ted Strickland, who is running against Ken Blackwell for Governor of Ohio. Kerry noted problems with voter suppression in Ohio:

On one side is Ted Strickland — a good man admired by Democrats and Republicans alike. On the other side is his Republican opponent, Ken Blackwell, who has used his office to abuse our democracy and threaten basic voting rights.

This isn’t just rhetoric. As you know, in 2004 while serving as a co-chair of George W. Bush’s 2004 Presidential campaign in Ohio, Secretary of State Blackwell oversaw the state’s 2004 election. He used the power of his state office to try to intimidate Ohioans and suppress the Democratic vote. Is he ashamed of what he did? No — he’s emboldened by it.

Since 2004, he has twisted the election process even more, adding new voting regulations that have created confusion and controversy. His legacy as Secretary of State? Putting partisanship ahead of the electorate’s fundamental right to vote. That’s not just a reason not to promote him as Governor; it demands a grassroots mission to stop Ken Blackwell from getting a further grip on power in Ohio.

The article confuses the issue by reporting, “ Multiple lawsuits by outside groups were unsuccessful in challenging Ohio’s 2004 election. One case filed by the League of Women Voters is still in U.S. District Court in Toledo. It claims Ohio’s election system discriminates against minority voters.”

This confuses two separate issues, voter suppression and claims that the election was “stolen” and leads to analysis which fails to understand the situation such as this from Decision ’08:

So Kerry didn’t contest it, a recount showed Bush won by over 100,000 votes, and no lawsuits contesting the results have been successful either – yet John Kerry, a sitting U.S. senator, doesn’t mind sowing public distrust of the democratic process for temporary political gain, at a time when voter cynicism is sky high.

Some like Robert Kennedy, Jr.along with some irresponsible bloggers are making noise with unsubstantiated claims that the election was stolen. They continue to spread absurd arguments about the exit polls and stealing of votes. This is not what John Kerry is talking about here.

John Kerry has been speaking out about measures which suppress the vote since the election. He is not saying the election was stolen. There is no way to know to what degree these measures affected the result. He is not even saying that all of the measures are illegal. The problem is that Blackwell’s actions may have been llegal under Ohio law, but should not be. Therefore the comments on court decisions are irrelevant to Kerry’s argument. What Kerry is saying is that changes are needed in the laws, and that the way to accomplish this is to elect Ted Strickland rather than Ken Blackwell.

Creative Accounting

I actually heard of this a while back, but it has suddenly been a topic of discussion in the blogosphere (such as here and here). In order to make it appear the Republicans aren’t running up as huge a deficit, they are going to delay making government payments from late September until October. That means that Medicare will hold up the checks paid to doctors and hospitals for services performed in September:

That way, point out the gleeful budgeteers and Medicare pooh-bahs, all of whom presumably are glowing with health, Uncle Sam’s Medicare tab this fading fiscal year will be $5.2 billion less than it otherwise would have been. Or at least would seem to be $5.2 billion less — in Washington, as we all know, appearance and reality are not invariably the same phenomena.

Of course, this oh-so-clever stratagem would mean that next fiscal year’s Medicare bill will be $5.2 billion more than it would have been. But, not to worry, those indefatigable financial watchdogs in the Office of Management and Budget and their henchmen in the uppermost reaches of Medicare are on the case. And we have every confidence that next year they’ll make up for any untoward increases in costs by ceasing to send checks to doctors, hospitals et al. in August or even July, if necessary.

Actually the Bush Administration can’t even take full credit for this idea. Several years ago they placed a permanent delay of around a couple of weeks into payment of Medicare claims. This gave the appearance of a one time reduction in expenses. Ever since then Medicare claims have continued to take a little longer to be paid than other payers. They’ve also considered temporary delays of this type in the past.
If this really helps keep the government out of a financial mess, so be it. I just have one question. May I delay sending in my quarterly federal income tax estimate from September until October when I receive payment from the government?

Posted in Health Care. Tags: , . 1 Comment »

Republican Policy of Perpetual Warfare for Political Gain Failing

E. J. Dionne, Jr. wonders, by election day, “how many Republican candidates will have come out against the Iraq war or distanced themselves from the administration’s policies?” The latest prominent example is that “Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.), one of the most articulate supporters of the war, announced last Thursday that he favored a time frame for withdrawing troops.”

Dionne expects more Republicans to distance themselves from Bush’s failed policies in light of the New York Times poll which shows that a majority do not believe that “the struggle for Iraq was not connected to the larger war on terrorism. They thus renounced a proposition the administration has pushed relentlessly since it began making the case four years ago to invade Iraq.”

The problems for Bush are even worse than Dionne states. Those who realize that Iraq is a diversion from the real problems of terrorism are less likely to support Republicans. On the other hand, even many people who still do see Iraq as part of the struggle against terrorism also see Bush’s failure in Iraq as being a failure against terrorism. This helps undermine what had been Bush’s strongest point politically, even if never deserved.

Dionne gives several more examples of Republican candidates who are distancing themselves from Bush. This is the best sign that the Republican policy of perpetual warfare for political gain is failing. While we expect little from George Bush intellectually, or from Dick Cheney ethically, it is hard to believe that the majority of Republicans would have supported such a disastrous policy as Iraq on their own. The authoritarian mind set of the modern Republican party kept them in line, and many supported Bush as long as they saw this as politically beneficial. Republicans were rewarded in 2000 and 2004 for placing politics above the good of the country. It appears they can no longer win this way.