November 10, 2004
Learn and regroup
Look, the theft in 2000 was blatant and well documented and swept completely under the rug. This time, they were much more professional and organized, and trying to track down the many ways in which they disenfranchised folks or manipulated vote totals will take some time.
Do I think they stole the election? Yeah, probably. I think they managed to swing enough votes through intimidation and fraud and other tactics, and I think they covered their tracks sufficiently to get away with it.
I’m not happy about it, but as I mentioned on the air yesterday, and as Atrios says,
... irregularities and questionable results are not necessarily "proof" of "fraud" and "proof" that the "election was stolen. " If people want this issue to be taken seriously they need to stop thinking that any of the information floating around right now - and yes, I've seen it all multiple times - provides proof of any such thing. Yes, legitimate questions have been raised, but I fear people on "our side" have started to confuse the legitimate questions with the answers to those questions they've imagined. I'm fully ready to believe that everything was corrupt in Florida, Ohio, and elsewhere, but thinking and knowing are different things entirely.It is entirely true that there are a sufficient number of either weird or clearly unacceptable things which happened during this election. It's entirely true that the media should be following up more of these stories; the integrity of our democracy is seriously at stake. But, the cause is not helped by touting inconclusive statistical studies as "proof" or screaming "kerry won! kerry won!" every five seconds.
A "smoking gun" may yet appear, but until that time we need to differentiate between legitimate questions and manufactured answers. And, the cause of improving things by '06 is not helped by turning legitimate questions into conspiracy theories.
Devote more energy to the future, while keeping a wary eye on the past. We need to prevent another theft in ‘06.
Posted by Norwood at November 10, 2004 06:17 AM