-Caveat Lector- >How the Republicans Stole the Election > >GOP won by planting seeds of deception >December 14, 2000 >BY ROGER EBERT > >Now that the adventure is over, it might be instructive to consider >some of the ideas that seeped into the general consciousness. How and >why, for example, did it become established in so many minds that Bush >was the presumptive winner and Gore the apparent loser? > >What the Republicans did, cleverly, was to establish effective "memes" >in the minds of the public and the pundits. A meme, so named by the >British evolutionist Richard Dawkins, is like a gene, except that >instead of advancing through organisms, it moves through minds. Memes >are simply ideas that demonstrate a high rate of survival and >transmission. > >Bush became the "winner" of a dead heat, in the midst of an incomplete >recount, when a premature victory was declared on her own unnecessary >deadline by his Florida campaign co-chairwoman, who also held the >crucial post of secretary of state. Once this bogus "certification" >was final (Ms. Harris signing several copies on TV, including a >valuable souvenir for herself), the Republicans referred to it >endlessly as a valid event, even though it was clearly a shameless >ploy to slam the door before the election escaped. A meme was born. > >The other effective GOP meme was the mantra, "we counted, and counted >again, and then a third time." These words were chanted by Baker and >the other Bush spokesmen until many Americans accepted them as a form >of truth, even though it is clear that thousands of ballots were never >counted at all. > >Another successful meme was the assault on the honesty of election >judges and the courts in general. They were often characterized by the >GOP as partisan crooks, unless their findings agreed with the Bush >cause, in which case they were patriots. > >This led finally to the spectacle of the "states rights" party >applauding the Supremes' federal coup halting the recount because, in >words that will haunt Scalia forever, a recount might cast "a cloud >upon what [Bush] claims to be the legitimacy of his election." Think >about that. In other words, if Gore ended up with more votes, a cloud >would be cast on Bush's claims. > >Three days later the Supreme Court majority overruled the Florida >court's attempt to interpret Florida law. John Paul Stevens' dissent >lamented this "lack of confidence in the impartiality and capacity of >the state judges who would make the critical decisions if the vote >count were to proceed," and added, in words that will long be quoted, >"...the identity of the loser is perfectly clear. It is the nation's >confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian of the law." The >Republicans were not only more effective creators of memes but were >also better at raising their voices. The Democrats were on the whole >more civil in their public statements. > >The GOP had no hesitation in making the dangerous charge that >Democrats were "stealing" the election. This in the face of plausible >evidence that Gore got more votes in Florida, as he did nationally. >Right-wing pundits were stirred to a frenzy. Ann Coulter accused the >Democrats of being "delusional nutcases," called the Florida Supreme >Court "power-mad lunatics," and found that the Democrats had crossed >the "fine line" between "typical Democrat lies and demonstrably >psychotic behavior." > >More Americans voted for liars and psychotics than for her candidate? >Really? Comments like these are an example not of opinion but of >behavior. Have you ever seen Ms. Coulter on television? Even her >conservative stablemates look queasy as her ideological flywheel >spins. > >The Democrats were just plain outshouted. And Lady Luck rolled the >dice and gave them the butterfly ballot, the Jews for Buchanan, the >election boards that took days off, the hired mob to stop the Dade >recount, the disenfranchised black voters, the illegally franchised >military and absentee voters, the Bush cousin to call the election on >TV, the Bush co-chairwoman to rush it through certification, and the >Bush brother to mastermind operation fail-safe by the Florida >legislature to certify Bush electors no matter who won. Even in Vegas >they'd be amazed by luck this rotten; the Miami Herald's >statisticians estimated that Gore probably outpolled Bush by about >23,000 votes. > >That's why it was so important for the Republicans to stop the count. > >It is important, then, to keep in mind that Bush was not obviously the >winner nor Gore obviously the loser. The GOP has captured the election >but may have done itself damage in the process, leaving doubts about >the fairness of its tactics and the recklessness of its rhetoric. > >At the end the Democrats were left with one meme that showed promise: >That they were the ones who wanted to count the votes, while the >Republicans did not. If memes work like genes in the evolution of >political opinion in America, this one may be the fittest, and may >survive > >We can only hope. > >Tell me, Conservatives...what part of all of this don't you >understand? <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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