Count Every Vote, SometimesI must admit to almost laughing every time I hear Democrats repeat the slogan, “Count every vote.” It should be a given, but now that they’ve thrown the proverbial monkey wrench into their own machinery, it’s kind of amusing to watch.
Remember back in 2000? The Democrats accused Republicans of stealing the presidential elections for not wanting repeated recounts using ballots that were deteriorating by the touch. Let’s not forget, those same Democrats so poorly designed those “butterfly” ballots, that voters ended up becoming “confused” and cast for the wrong candidates. What was humorous was the fact that the same ballot was presented to elementary schoolers as an experiment, and they had no trouble at all voting for whom they wanted.
Allegations flew, numerous investigations were made, and the stolen election conspiracy was deemed false, although the accusation is still repeated to this day. Also curious is how few people mention that voting problems almost always seem to happen in Democrat districts, under Democrat handling. How a Republican could just walk in and successfully perform some kind of mischief is beyond me.
But the slogan remains, “Count every vote.”
Last year in an effort to achieve some electoral relevance, Michigan and Florida decided to change the dates of their primaries, against the protestations of Howard Dean and the party brains. As punishment, those two states were stripped of their delegates, and the candidates declined to campaign there.
Well almost all the candidates….
According to Canada’s
National Post,
“In a bid to respect the party's decision and maintain support in Iowa and New Hampshire, Democratic candidates including Ms. Clinton agreed not to campaign in Florida or Michigan.
“The major Democratic candidates -- with the exception of Ms. Clinton -- went so far as to have their names taken off the ballot entirely in Michigan.
“Ms. Clinton has subsequently, however, touted her victories in both states as legitimate.
She won 50% of the vote in Florida's Jan. 29 primary, compared with 33% for Mr. Obama. The former first lady won 55% in Michigan's Jan. 15 vote, while 40% of the votes were for "Uncommitted."
So now that the race has become a bit more competitive, complete with perceived momentum shifts, the Clinton campaign is arguing that those votes be counted (or cast again), while Barack Obama and the other candidates who were alive at the time and played by the rules, don’t want them tallied.
A bit of a quandary, if you ask me.
If, by the time the DNC Convention comes around and the Hillary-Obama race is still close, the disqualified delegates could make the difference in one campaign’s victory and the other’s defeat. Is it fair to change the rules half way into the game? In most cases, not. However, we are talking about the Clintons, of which no rule applies.
It’s obvious Hillary screwed the other candidates by leaving her name on a ballot when the others observed the Party dictates. It’s obvious she’ll have no problem using the Michigan-Florida excuse to change super delegate opinion, claiming she won the overall popular vote and those supers should bolster the desires of their constituency.
It’s suspected such a ploy conducted during the Convention could “tear the party apart.” Oh well…. Hypocrisy has a way of rearing its ugly head when least desired.
The Democrat Party leadership should have considered this situation when they decided to strip the delegates from Florida and Michigan. Obviously, the Clinton campaign did. All the subsequent options being floated around are not pretty. One is re-voting in those states, or reconvening caucuses. Both will cost money; money the DNC will not cover. If for some reason they do re-vote, the Obama camp will scream “foul”. If they don’t re-vote, the Clinton lawyers will be ready at convention time.
Either way, the voters of Michigan and Florida were screwed. Screwed by the very people who instruct all of us what our civic responsibilities are, and are the first to chastise anyone who play games with those responsibilities.
“Count every vote.”
That should be a given. However, nothing’s a given when the Clintons are involved. Little is done with competence when Democrats are involved, after all, you seldom see Republican polling places being kept open after the set time (by last-minute court order) because they didn’t have enough ballots, or the weather was bad, or any number of lame excuses. Democrats are usually the ones who are incapable of counting every vote.
2000 was a mess, 2004 was a mess, and in the proud recent tradition of Democrat Party, 2008 is already at that stage, and we’re a long way from November.
Next Sunday the 16th of March there will be a fund raiser for the final push of the Kathy Carpenter for Alderman effort in Kenosha.
