To 60, By Hook or By Crook
Are Democrats on the verge of stealing an election the way Al Gore tried to in 2000? Judge for yourself:
Secretary of State Mark Ritchie has announced the canvassing board that will determine whether Republican Norm Coleman or Democrat Al Franken won Minnesota’s Senate race.
The board will be the final word on disputed ballots in the recount. The members include Ritchie, two state Supreme Court justices appointed by Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty and two Ramsey County judges.
And who is Ritchie? The guy who is in charge of the process, and will be one of five members of the canvassing board?
Why, he’s this guy:
I’m reassured. How about you?
Don’t you hate people who ramp up political rhetoric? Unlike his calm rhetoric, accusing Republicans of wanting to win at any price. That’s the kind of ramped-down rhetoric that says: you can trust me to count the votes fairly.
Meanwhile, Ted Stevens is behind by three votes. No, really. Three votes.
Now, no rational person wants him to be Senator. But if he wins and gets tossed out, there would be a special election. What would you say to Senator Sarah Palin?
Seriously, Patterico, it sounds like psychological projection to me.
Basically, just listen to what the Hard Left accuses the Republicans of doing—and they incriminate their own actions by doing so.
It seems that way to me. Remember the “every vote must count” business—but only in districts that favored Gore? Same deal here, I think.
The Hard Left really wants this joker to be senator. My guess is that they will get their way. And the MSM will continue to defend them, though that same MSM would never tolerate equivalent behavior from the Left.
Gloves are off.
Eric Blair (a723e0) — 11/12/2008 @ 7:42 pmI almost hate to ask, but you are suggesting Ritchie isn’t a good man?
He’s a decent man, though, right.
OK. I’ll let this go. But character counts, and Hayek had a point when he wrote a book chapter titled “Why the Worst Get to the Top”. Character counts, and lot of these people don’t have great
character. It’s a simple fact.
And the ideology of the left is premised on the virtues of expediency and the idiocy of principle — you might understand this thinking about the difference between leftist and conservative constitutional jurisprudence, as just one example.
PrestoPundit (ff5e16) — 11/12/2008 @ 7:54 pmPatterico – Are the Democrats on the verge od stealing the Minnesota Senate race?
Why yes, yes they are. Lanny Davis was on Hannity & Colmes and was talking about undervotes. Now Minnestoa does have and undervote law, but the problem is that they use optical scan machines and the machines spit out cards that can’t be read and voters are given an opportunity to correct their ballots or leave a no vote in certain races. There is no such thing as a need to determine voter intent with this system.
Absentee ballots were discovered in the trunk of a democrat official’s car. Whaddaya know, the votes were all for Franken and a Judge allowed them to be counted. What they were doing there and where they came from, no one knows.
Revised vote totals from election night have all been 100% in Franken’s favor, surely just a coincidence. Lanny Davis explains it as green martians, since no other explainations have been forthcoming.
It is nice to know that a supposedly impartial Secretary of State refers to one side of the race as “they.” It must kind of give the Franken camp a warm snuggly feeling.
daleyrocks (5d22c0) — 11/12/2008 @ 7:56 pmAt another site, I stated this, and will repeat. If they succeed in stealing an election for Al Fucking Franken, and that is exactly what they are in the process of doing, I am going to start a national drive to push for a Constitutional Convention where the only items on the agenda will be reaffirming the 2nd Amendment, and giving Minnesota to Canada.
JD (94c827) — 11/12/2008 @ 7:57 pmNo, Palin needs to stay in the State House, run for another term, and then start her presidential campaign as a sitting governor. Let Parnell go to the Senate.
Milhouse (a9a979) — 11/12/2008 @ 8:22 pmI mean, what the hell is the matter with those people? Jesse “The Body” Ventura as Governor, and now Alfucking Franken as a US Senator? Good Allah, there must have been a couple winters in the early 90’s that were exceptionally cold, and their brains froze and never recovered, because of global warming. Alfucking Franken. A bad SNL comedian, on his best day. US Senator.
JD (94c827) — 11/12/2008 @ 8:51 pmThis is why it serves Conservatives best to get angry and fight.
The fix is in. Liberals think they can do whatever they want and will have the MSM right there to help them along.
Pawlenty needs to poudly and proudly call fraud fraud and the immediate dismissal of state officials fabricating votes.
But he won’t and hasn’t
Robert Rodriguez (54247e) — 11/12/2008 @ 8:53 pmMN are pretty independent minded folks but they like a good story better than reality. Hence Al Franken and Jesse.
Robert Rodriguez (54247e) — 11/12/2008 @ 8:54 pmLiberals
thinkknow they can do whatever they want and will have the MSM right there to help them along.There, fixed that for you.
JD (94c827) — 11/12/2008 @ 8:55 pmOhhh Jay Leno doing the “Americans are stupid” bit.
Funny enough I know all the answers and I suspect most of the folks spoken too are Obamaites…. it is LA
Robert Rodriguez (54247e) — 11/12/2008 @ 8:55 pmI agree with Milhouse’s comment – the last thing that Palin should consider doing is going to the Senate. It doesn’t play to her strengths at all; the best thing she can do is stay in Alaska for now and focus on remaining the outstanding governor that brought her to our attention in the first place.
Simon (a84579) — 11/12/2008 @ 8:57 pmJD, OT
I wonder how outraged they are going to be at “Conservative Bloggers” comments when Teddy dies?
I think we should all send pictures of Tony Snow, Mary Jo and the Daily Kos posts when this happens.
If we could get 100,000 conservatives to do this it would be really interesting to see.
Robert Rodriguez (54247e) — 11/12/2008 @ 8:58 pmWasn’t Mark Ritchie supported by ACORN? SHOCKA.
JD (94c827) — 11/12/2008 @ 8:59 pmWhen will ACORN be visiting my enclave to sign up my Vote?
Robert Rodriguez (54247e) — 11/12/2008 @ 9:00 pmRob Rod – It will immediately become a national issue worthy of much inspection, and it will be covered far and wide. Unlike the bile flung at conservatives, which was not representative of the party as a whole, but was just a few random commenters that they cannot even prove are actually liberals.
Ted Kennedy and Robert Byrd are the poster children for why the Dems should never be taken seriously.
But, if you ever want a good laugh and a great interview with Sen. Gin and Tonic, read this. A classic.
JD (94c827) — 11/12/2008 @ 9:04 pmI realise this sounds horrible but I felt absolutely nothing but contempt for him when I heard about his horrid situation.
Say what I will about BHO I don’t think him as disgusting or disingenuous as Teddie.
Robert Rodriguez (54247e) — 11/12/2008 @ 9:14 pmDid the power company ever get the permits to build the eco-friendly wind mills outside his Hyannisport home?
BTW, that bridge is soooooooooo tiny in Chappy and the water so shallow. Just ridiculous anyone passed in those circumstances.
Robert Rodriguez (54247e) — 11/12/2008 @ 9:16 pmYou can be a killer or the Grand Kleagle of the KKK and be welcomed into the Democratic Party, and hold positions of honor.
JD (94c827) — 11/12/2008 @ 9:16 pmNo, hence that jackass Kennedy enviro-whackjob being the poster child for NIMBYs the world over.
JD (94c827) — 11/12/2008 @ 9:18 pmJD, sad but true.
Include felons too. Alcee Hastings no?
Robert Rodriguez (54247e) — 11/12/2008 @ 9:19 pmI think somewhere in heaven Marilyn is laughing her arse off at the Kennedys. I am sure Joe D is with her in the guffawing.
Robert Rodriguez (54247e) — 11/12/2008 @ 9:21 pmHow could I forget that. They replaced Jane Harmann with his crooked ass. William “Cold Cash” Jefferson is just too easy.
Robert – Read that linked interview in #15. If you do not literally laugh out loud, you have a problem.
JD (94c827) — 11/12/2008 @ 9:21 pmAppointed to the bench by President Carter in 1979, Hastings was impeached and removed from office in 1989 on two counts, perjury and conspiracy to obstruct justice.
Head of the Intel Committee?
Now Charlie Rangel too. Head of Appropriations forgets to pay taxes.
Another Democratic gem.
Robert Rodriguez (54247e) — 11/12/2008 @ 9:24 pmRead it.
Robert Rodriguez (54247e) — 11/12/2008 @ 9:24 pm… but if you point out three Demoncrap COngressman are felons WATCH OUT …. the NCAAP will show up at your door with hate crime legislation to take you to the pokey.
Robert Rodriguez (54247e) — 11/12/2008 @ 9:25 pmNot onyl that, Rangel was renting 4 “Rent Controlled” apartments in NY. A clear violation of law which no one is persecuting him for.
This PIMP, however, keeps getting re-elected and anytime something comes up he mentions his War service as a an excuse.
Robert Rodriguez (54247e) — 11/12/2008 @ 9:27 pmJD, I know your heart is in the right place, especially re MN, but, there is no way to limit the considerations of a Constitutional Convention, which is one reason we’ve only done it once.
AOracle (5fedf0) — 11/12/2008 @ 9:31 pmAOracle – It just got rejected on this year’s ballot in Illinois.
daleyrocks (5d22c0) — 11/12/2008 @ 9:35 pmSpeaking of disgusting and disingenuous, this make-believe “conservative” Robert Rodriguez, now soiling this thread, posted earlier today in “Where Should the Republicans Go Now?” thread (#156) and said that he thought “we have a disporportionate [sic] amount of Jews in position of authority from academia to business to government”.
He went on to lamely compliment Jews by saying, “Now, let me add, congratulations to an ethnic group who managed to understand the value of education, of supporting their community and of having high expectations for their children. Kudos” But, in a later post (#161), he started to pretend that he himself was Jewish, to deflect criticism, saying that he “Must be the only anti-semitic sephardim I have ever met.”
Official Internet Data Office (8360fd) — 11/12/2008 @ 9:43 pmThe Daley machine must not have thought they could have gamed the convention.
AOracle (5fedf0) — 11/12/2008 @ 9:44 pmSleazy as they are, gotta hand it to the Dems. When they see a safe Senate seat is about to be lost by a crooked politician — think back to Robert Torcelli in New Jersey — they have no compunction about replacing him at the very last minute with someone electable. Would that Alaska Republicans had that much chutzpah.
JVW (b6009a) — 11/12/2008 @ 9:53 pmYou see, Republicans still think there are rules to follow.
Another Drew (5fedf0) — 11/12/2008 @ 10:09 pmThey need to review the Rules for a Knife-fight as stated in Butch Cassidy.
Those are the same rules for winning politics.
I assume it’s just a typo. Surely you mean the it was George Bush who stole the 2000 election.
mick muhlfriedel (20f0a3) — 11/13/2008 @ 12:48 amOIDO, to be provacative, I think Israel should go back to its 1967 Borders in order the get peace with its Arab neighbors. Does this make me the bogey man?
And to say that disporportionately we have more Jews in elite circles is fact. Dunno what you been smoking. I think a full 10% of Congress is Jewish yet we are what 1.5% of the general pop?
If you don’t think this representation colors policy you are nuts. One of dogmatic locals who thinks that supporting Israel means reflexively agreeing with any “right wing” action they take vis-a-vis its neighbors.
If that makes me the bogeyman then you are a willfully blind idiot.
Robert Rodriguez (54247e) — 11/13/2008 @ 5:33 amOIDO, deflect critique.
You are Mr Ad Hominem attack and as yet discussed not discussed any point. All you said was Israel, Israel and screamed Anti Semitie. What my ethnic background is — just icing on the cake as far as I am concerned.
You sound/write like dumb arses who scream USA USA at rallies and call others anti-american for not wearing pins or whatever tokenism you can find. As if the combination of token acts with no substance makes the points more valid.
Nice job fool. Intellectual lightweight at birth.
Guess you can’t help yourself — you just playback what someone else recorded on your tape.
Robert Rodriguez (54247e) — 11/13/2008 @ 5:39 amPin the Tail on the Donkey:
No, mm, it wasn’t George W Bush who called his opponent and conceded the 2000 election, only to flip-flop and send an army of crooked lawyers to Florida to invalidate absentee ballots from US troops serving overseas, among a long list of AlGore’s other corruptions.
Patterico got it right, two-faced, double-talking AlGore is the low-down, dirty rat who tried to overturn the vote and steal the election of 2000.
Ropelight (1dddd9) — 11/13/2008 @ 5:40 amOIDO, will I be getting like mandel bread tossed at me or something AKA the oreo incident Mr Steele suffered at the hands of close minded biggots on the left?
Luddite.
Robert Rodriguez (54247e) — 11/13/2008 @ 5:42 amRopelight, Don’t forget, Bob Mulholland and Bob Beckel tried to blackmail the Electoral College Electors into voting for Gore.
PCD (7fe637) — 11/13/2008 @ 7:29 amSpeaking of disgusting and disingenuous, this make-believe “conservative” Robert Rodriguez, now soiling this thread again, posted yesterday in the “Where Should the Republicans Go Now?” thread (post #156) and said (here’s his full quote):
“We (as policy) support Israel for the simple reason is we have a disporportionate [sic] amount of Jews in position of authority from academia to business to government. And almost UNIVERSALLY they support Israel in every sense of the word and in the most reactionary of ways.”
Note carefully that Rodriguez, in his statement, refers to Jews as “they,” not as “us.”
Then he went on to lamely compliment Jews in the same post linked above by saying, “Now, let me add, congratulations to an ethnic group who managed to understand the value of education, of supporting their community and of having high expectations for their children. Kudos.”
Did you catch that part? Referring to Jews, he speaks of “their” community and “their” children, not “our” community and “our” children.
But, in a later post (#161), started to pretend that he himself was Jewish, apparently to deflect criticism, saying “Must be the only anti-semitic sephardim I have ever met.” And he’s still pretending he’s Jewish today.
That’s disgusting and disingenuous.
Official Internet Data Office (8360fd) — 11/13/2008 @ 7:59 amThe leftist illuminati will indeed end up stealing this election in Minnesota and the liberal MSM will make them look like saints all the while. What a joke!
Jeff (3cb047) — 11/13/2008 @ 8:38 amAOracle @ 27 – Fair enough. Then let’s have a free-for-all. If they are going to place Stuart Smalley in the US Senate …
JD (94c827) — 11/13/2008 @ 8:53 amWith their records on tax-compliance, SS will have a new best bud in Charlie Rangel!
Another Drew (51839f) — 11/13/2008 @ 9:42 amThe game is so stacked in favor of incumbents that I feel that if it is this close, the incumbent should lose.
nk (87c95e) — 11/13/2008 @ 9:45 amI know the “conservatives” here want to see themselves as a rag-tag group of plucky freedom fighters trying to stave off the Lib Empire but you guys are sounding pretty paranoid.
I’m with nk#43. Lose the incumbent. The districts here in Alabama are so blatantly and insanely gerrymandered that there is no “voting” for representatives. It’s all a done deal. If a new guy can beat an entrenched incumbent (sorry, I think both their teams are doing everything they can to get as many “votes” counted as possible) then good on him/her.
…..ok…. as long as the Dems don’t get those 60 seats. This country has had enough unchecked 1 party government thanks.
Ed Wood (c2268a) — 11/13/2008 @ 10:36 amGerrymandering…
Another Drew (51839f) — 11/13/2008 @ 10:46 amYes, the way they’ve gerrymandered those Senate Districts is just criminal.
One. Free advice to anyone officially involved from the Republican side. Get a professional statistician or two, maybe even faculty from Univ. of Minn, and have them calculate the probability of people “finding” a bunch of ballots only for Franken, or way out of proportion for him compared to the general election report (corrected for district, of course). The decide what probability counts as a “reasonable doubt”, 1/100, 1/1000? The Dems like to say they base things on science. (Also keep track of ballots “found” before and after this gets posted for the libs to “correct”).
Two. Believe it or not, Al Franken is a frequent guest reader on a PBS show for children. My chin almost hit the ground when I heard his name from the other room. I’ll believe PBS’s claim to be non-biased when I see Gov. Palin just as often. (I’m not holding my breath).
Three. What should be our response if it seems clear that Franken stole the election (or someone steals it for him)? I know I’m dreaming (or being delusional), and all cries of “don’t be a nutcase” aside, but I wonder how many hundred or thousand people would volunteer to be a human wall to keep the Sec. of State inside or outside of his office. Let’s see all those who were doing campus sit-ins 40 years ago. If we go in a big enough crowd, rotate who is on the inside or outside of the pack, we could even stay warm. We could petition the Gov, for a pardon after all was said and done.
Four. Yes, nk, there is a book entitled “If It’s Not Close, They Can’t Cheat”. But that assumes they didn’t already cheat enough to make it close. (Where is Jimmy Carter when you need him to watch an election, anyway?)
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 11/13/2008 @ 11:03 amHaving Jimmah certify the honesty of an election falls on about the same level of having Al Capone referee a street-fight.
Another Drew (51839f) — 11/13/2008 @ 11:20 amThey don’t need 60 votes, although I’m sure they would love them. They have enough votes to limit cloture to say 55 votes right now. They could slip a rule change through during the honeymoon in an avalanche of changes we can’t fight all at once. Then it will be fait accompli, rolling it back would be thwarting the public will, maybe even racist.
They would not be eliminating the filibuster, just altering it to more closely represent what Americans said they want. After all, they last changed it as recently as 1975. It is not set in stone.
We can’t let a few losers change the will of the people, can we?
And then there is Lieberman and other moderates. No, far better to get rid of the onerous filibuster and work to ensure that the Republicans are never again in a position to benefit from its removal. Stack the Senate with DC Statehood and work to make elections are determined by friendly courts.
Does their vision extend that far? Or, should I say – is Obama The One?
Amphipolis (fdbc48) — 11/13/2008 @ 11:37 amRun, Sarah, Run (From an old movie, if you are a kid).
TimothyJ (8fb937) — 11/13/2008 @ 12:36 pm“We are not suing to have these in the count,” said Franken’s lead attorney, Marc Elias. “We are simply looking for the data so that we can identify people who were legal and lawful voters to ensure their ballots are counted.”
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081113/D94E8FJ80.html
So they’re not doing that. They’re simply doing… that.
Amphipolis (fdbc48) — 11/13/2008 @ 1:35 pmI HAVE NEWS FOR YOU. THE DEMOCRATS HAVE STOLEN THE ELECTION AND THEY DID IT WITH A NO CREDENTIALS MORON. THE AMERICAN SHEEP WENT FOR IT.
IDIOTS.
BUM CAT (54d053) — 11/14/2008 @ 6:39 am