-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~> <FONT COLOR="#000099">eGroups eLerts It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free! </FONT><A HREF="http://click.egroups.com/1/9698/2/_/1406/_/974026622/"><B>Click Here!</B></A> ---------------------------------------------------------------------_-> Please send as far and wide as possible. Thanks, Robert Sterling Editor, The Konformist http://www.konformist.com Sat, 11 Nov 2000 Robert Parry ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) As courageous Democrats like Bill Bradley are urging Al Gore to do the bend-over thing "for the good of the country," it reminds me how important the bipartisan cover-ups of the various Republican October Surprises were: 1968 (the Paris peace talks), 1980 (the Iranian hostages) and 1992 (the Passport files, which hurt but did not destroy the Clinton candidacy). Each time, the Democrats knew the truth but chose to keep quiet or acquiesce to false history "for the good of the country." Yet all we're hearing about now is how Nixon was a "patriot" for having accepted the election results in 1960. Part of our lost history also is that Nixon planned his own 1960 October Surprise, the ouster or assassination of Fidel Castro but it didn't pan out. Then, he was faced with the reality that regardless of the shenanigans in Illinois and Texas, Kennedy had won the popular vote. The situation is not at all comparable to today. Yet, here come the weenie Democrats again, not to mention the Jeff Greenfield pundits who are so determined to protect the democratic process that they don't seem to care that the process is about to overturn the will of the American people. ***** Elena Goss Letter to MSNBC: --------------------- This is our future. This is not a game. This is not basketball or football where an unfair call from the ref can determine the outcome of the game. Where in the end people go home grumbling about the unfairness of it all but accepting the outcome nonetheless. This is a democracy. We cannot be expected to accept this outcome. We cannot be expected to grumble about this unfairness and move on. There should be no uncertainty, no unfairness in a democracy. It is clear that in this uncertain time, the only thing that will bring the American people certainty is a revote in Florida. A recount just isn't enough to restore America's confidence in our electoral process. If Florida's citizens do not get an opportunity to cast their votes for the real candidate of their choice, then at least half of America's population will be doubting the legitimacy of America's President for the next four years. Furthermore, if Republicans are so confident that Bush won the electoral vote in Florida, then they should not feel threatened at all by the prospect of a revote. If in fact Bush did win the electoral vote in Florida as Republicans wish to claim, then surly a revote would show this. Republicans need to give American citizens a bit more credit - no one is fooled by their attempts to sweep this issue under the rug. It is clear that Republicans fear the truth - the truth being that if the citizens of Florida are given the opportunity to cast their votes for the candidate of their choice, Gore will be victorious. Conservatives' calls for Gore to concede are off base and I believe unconstitutional. It is not Gore's place to concede. Neither Gore nor Bush get to decide by concession who will be the next president. It is the American people who decide who will be President and they decide with their votes. In this case, the votes have been tainted by ballots in Florida that are questionable at best and illegal at worst. Gore has a responsibility to the American people. It is his responsibility to hang in there until this election has been resolved in a fair, legitimate and legal way. And I can see no simpler way to resolve this issue than holding a revote in Florida. It is the only way to settle the issue once and for all. It is the only way that we can feel confident, no matter what the outcome, that our next President is the President of choice - the President that was elected fairly and legally. ***** Friday November 10 8:56 PM ET Palm Beach Readies for Hand Count of Ballots By David Lawsky WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) - Palm Beach County prepared on Friday to recount a sample 4,100 ballots by hand on Saturday at the request of Democrats and over the objection of Republicans to provide a crucial piece in completing the U.S. presidential election puzzle. The Democrats sought a hand vote in order to get ``the most accurate count'' possible and in an effort to determine whether more Gore support might be drawn from thousands of ballots declared invalid after the initial machine count. Democrats say the number of invalid ballots was unusually high in the county this year, while Republicans say it was comparable to 1996. A Reuters computation showed ballots were invalidated at a 40 percent higher rate this year than in 1996, even after adjusting for increases in the number of votes cast. Republicans have also requested a recount of all ballots in the county, but they want it done by machine and not by hand. Republican George W. Bush (news - web sites) leads Democrat Al Gore (news - web sites) by a few hundred of the more than 5.8 million votes cast in Florida, with the winner gaining Florida's 25 electoral votes and the presidency, if other states stay the same. Democrats have focused on Palm Beach County in particular, because 19,120 ballots were disqualified for ``overvoting'' in the presidential race -- voting for more than one candidate. A Palm Beach County Commissioner, Carol Roberts, one of three members of the board that will supervise a hand canvass of 4,100 ballots at 9 a.m. (1400 GMT) Saturday, said, ``We'll all sit down as civilized human beings and we'll ask the Democratic Party (news - web sites) to tell us which three precincts they want to pick.'' Under state law, the 4,100 represents 1 percent of the total votes cast in the county, and may be taken from any three precincts chosen by those requesting the hand count. Then officials will break seals on locked boxes and move them to counting tables across the room. Roberts said the count will be affected by ``hanging chads.'' This is the election workers' name for the dangling bits of cardboard produced when voters fail to punch out the holes completely in punchcard ballots, rendering the ballots unreadable by counting machines. But if the ``chad'' falls out during handling, and the ballot is run through the machine a second time, the ballot will be read and counted, producing a discrepancy in the vote totals. Counting Methods Hand counting is supposed to eliminate that problem, because each ballot is inspected. Bush spokesman Tucker Eskew told reporters on the street below that the Bush campaign opposed a hand count. ``Any move toward a manual recount is troublesome,'' he said on the closed-off street next to the huge county government building, the scene of large demonstrations one day earlier. ``This country has moved toward machine voting and machine tabulation for a reason,'' Eskew said. ``It reduces human error. It eliminates any improper influence. It speeds up the process.'' Kym Spell, a spokesman for the Gore campaign in Nashville, Tenn., said the campaign ``requested the hand vote in order to get the most accurate count, especially as it concerns these 19,100 ballots that were apparently not tabulated at all.'' On Thursday, Bush campaign Chairman Donald Evans told a news conference that in making such charges Democrats neglect ''to point out that in 1996, a year with much lower turnout, a similar number of 14,872 ballots were invalidated for double counting in Palm Beach County.'' Roberts, a Democrat, took issue with Evans' figures saying he was effectively counting apples and oranges in one example, but only apples in the other. Roberts said the 14,872 invalid ballots in 1996 included those that were overvoted along with those that failed to cast any vote for president. If the same two groups were lumped together this year the number swells from 19,120 to 29,702. ``You are close to 30,000, so there is a dramatic difference'' from the figures cited by Evans, Roberts said in an interview in her office of the Palm Beach County Building. Records show the number of invalid ballots grew more quickly than the number of ballots cast for presidential candidates in Palm Beach County. This year 431,621 votes were cast for Gore, Bush, Pat Buchanan (news - web sites) and Ralph Nader (news - web sites). In 1996, 303,172 votes were cast for Bill Clinton, Bob Dole and Ross Perot, according to Palm Beach Post figures published on Nov. 6, 1996. Democrats attribute the problems to the now-notorious ''butterfly ballot'' which confused some voters, who either punched the wrong hole and voted for conservative candidate Buchanan by accident, or invalidated their ballots by punching the hole next to Buchanan and the hole next to Gore. The problems have touched off a spate of lawsuits. ***** Friday November 10 11:09 PM ET Bush Considers Seeking Court Order By RON FOURNIER, AP Political Writer George W. Bush (news - web sites) gave a top adviser authority Friday night to seek a court order stopping Al Gore (news - web sites)'s campaign from securing manual recounts of contested ballots in Florida, as both sides of an improbably deadlocked presidential election looked to the judicial branch for help in the make-or-break state. In a war of nerves, Bush's camp pressed Al Gore to concede Florida without multiple recounts yet Democrats pressed ahead with their protests - determined to find enough votes to erase Bush's advantage in initial counting. ``The quicker we get this resolved the better off it is for the nation,'' said Bush, even as his camp considered whether to seek the injunction. Replied Gore campaign chairman William Daley: ``This campaign is not over.'' That is what worried some Democrats across the country, who sought to carefully balance support for Gore with suggestions that his options were dwindling. ``I think that people's patience is going to be fairly limited,'' said Gov. Jim Hodges of South Carolina. ``He needs to rise above it and say, 'So be it.' You deal with the hand you're dealt,'' said Paul Feleciano, longest serving Democrat in the Kansas Legislature. Bush clung to a razor-thin lead in Florida - the crucial White House state with its 25 electoral votes - after county officials completed a machine-counted review of the 6 million ballots cast. Still to come were an unknown number of votes from Floridians living overseas and the state's official certification, due next Tuesday. In Florida, Gore advisers cited confusing and irregular ballots to press for follow-up recounts by hand in four predominantly Democratic counties. They won approval in three - one recount began Friday, two more Saturday - and the fourth request will be heard Tuesday. In a late-night conference call Friday, Bush gave James A. Baker III - the former secretary of state who's protecting the Texas governor's interests in Florida - authority to seek a court injunction barring the manual recounts, according to several GOP officials involved in the discussions. The officials said it was very likely the injunction would be sought, but stressed that it was up to Baker to make the final decision. A source close to Baker said the former secretary had not decided. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity. The action, however tentative, underscores the Bush campaign's concern that a widespread manual recount could erode his fragile lead over Gore and perhaps force Bush to seek recounts of his own in Florida and other close-voting states. Baker had said earlier that he's prepared to ``vigorously fight'' the manual recount because they open the process to mistakes and fraud that are avoided by machine counts. To buy some time, Gore's lawyers asked the state's Republican secretary of state late Friday to defer certification of the results until the manual recounts are complete. The recounts could drag on, though canvassing board members face fines of $200 a day after Tuesday. Republicans were getting into the act: At Bush's request, Palm Beach County officials will perform a mechanical recount Saturday of all ballots while conducting a separate recount by hand for Gore. ``The entire effort that's going on now in Florida is aimed at making sure that whoever takes office in January as president of the United States will do so with full legitimacy,'' Gore running mate Joseph Lieberman (news - web sites) told CBS. ``As frustrating as this wait may be,'' Daley said earlier, ``what we are seeing here is democracy in action.'' Frustrated described Bush to a T. ``We will be prepared'' to take office Jan. 20, the governor told reporters, taking a break from planning what he hopes will be a transition to power. He and his aides acknowledged that he can't claim victory before the overseas votes are counted and certified. ``There are still votes to be counted,'' Bush said. And so Republicans moved on several fronts to blunt Gore's ballot challenges. Bush strategists considered seeking recounts in GOP areas of Florida if Democrats started having success in their recounts, a senior strategist said. Other responses to Gore's tactics: - Bush's camp portrayed him as a man deep in planning for the presidency, victory nearly assured. ``The vote on Tuesday night showed Governor Bush won Florida's election, and a recount now confirmed his victory,'' spokeswoman Karen Hughes said in a statement released at 5:30 a.m. EST, catching the first wave of the media cycle. - Strategists eyed other close-voting states in case Florida falls to Gore. Republicans in Wisconsin said they found ballot irregularities. And Baker, speaking of recount drives, said ominously: ``That game can be played'' by both sides. - Bush aides said Gore should concede the state and the White House if the initial recount and next week's certification show Bush ahead. ``We certainly hope that in the best interest of the country the vice president will think carefully about his talk of lawsuits and endless recounts,'' Hughes said. An unofficial tally by The Associated Press in Florida's 67 counties showed the Texas governor with a 327-vote lead. State officials said their recount showed Bush leading by 960 votes with one county left. That was Palm Beach County, where the AP showed a big Gore gain. Not counting the Sunshine State, Bush had won 29 states for 246 electoral votes. Gore, who added Oregon to his victory column Friday, had won 19 states plus the District of Columbia for 262, with 270 needed for victory. New Mexico, with five electoral votes, remained too close to call. Gore's lead in New Mexico was down to about 100 Friday night. The incomplete national popular vote totals showed Gore leading Bush by 218,441 votes: 49,244,746 to 49,026,305 - about 48 percent each. Despite the show of confidence, Bush said it's ``a little early'' for him to contact the outgoing Clinton administration about the mechanics of transition. He also tabled plans to resign as Texas governor and hand the reins to his Republican lieutenant governor during the transition; that decision will wait until after the election is resolved, aides said. The aides said Bush adviser Larry Lindsey was likely to be offered the job of treasury secretary or chief White House economist if Bush is elected. As he met with Lindsey and other advisers about the transition, two noisy groups of protesters shouted rival messages outside the Governor's Mansion in Austin. ``No Fuzzy Election'' read some anti- Bush signs. The governor's supporters chanted, ``The people have spoken.'' For his part, Gore was at the vice president's residence in Washington, where he played touch football with his family. He talked of winning, then added with a smile: ``I'm talking about the touch football game.'' His Democratic allies were not so optimistic about the presidential race, and many were opposed to legal action. ``I think everybody is waiting to see what happens but the general feeling is that Bush will probably win,'' said Gene Bushmann, former chairman of the Missouri Democratic Party (news - web sites). He praised Gore's effort, but said, ``I think going to the lawsuit stage would be too much.'' Former Arkansas Sen. Dale Bumpers said Gore should consider calling it quits after Florida's absentee ballots are counted. ``There might come a time when the vice president would be well served to say the country's interest is more important than the interests of one person or political party, and go ahead and concede,'' Bumpers said. Hodges said Gore has a right to seek recounts, but doubted that a legal challenge of confusing Palm Beach ballots would work. ``Generally, most successful challenges have been on fraud,'' he said. ``I'd advise we exhaust all other remedies before we attempt any consideration of a court challenge,'' said Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota. Though still talking legal action, Gore's team was using softer tones than a day earlier. The campaign's legal experts ``feel strongly'' that the ballot used Election Day in Palm Beach County was unlawful, Daley said. ``We'll see what actions follow out of that.'' ***** Cuba offers US election observers Cuba's foreign minister has offered to send observers to the US to oversee a new election in Florida, should a second ballot be required. Felipe Perez Roque says he wonders what the US would do if the complaints of voter confusion over some ballots and reports of alleged irregularities had occurred in other countries. "I believe that those in the United States who have always tried to become judges of the elections that take place elsewhere must be receiving a lesson of modesty and humbleness," Mr Perez Roque said. And he has called for "a more rigorous or strict international scrutiny regarding the transparency of (US) elections." Mr Perez Roque says a new round of balloting in the state is a "reasonable suggestion," but stresses it is a decision for the US people to make. He says Cuba will be willing to provide advisers if asked. But he adds that as far as Cuba is concerned, it doesn't matter whether Texas Governor George W Bush or Vice President Al Gore wins the election since neither has advocated lifting the nearly 40-year-old embargo against the Communist island. If you are interested in a free subscription to The Konformist Newswire, please visit http://www.eGroups.com/list/konformist/ and sign up. Or, e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject: "I NEED 2 KONFORM!!!" 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