Posted on 07/14/2004 10:13:47 PM PDT by esryle
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry yesterday announced the formation of a nationwide SWAT team of election lawyers to combat the kind of voting irregularities that occurred in Florida four years ago, contributing to the disputed election of President Bush.
Kerry said his team would take "tough action" to prevent the kind of voter "intimidation and harassment" that kept about 1 million African American voters from the polls in 2000 and prevented about 57,000 black voters from casting votes in Palm Beach County, Fla.
The legal team is led by Washington, D.C., attorney Robert Bauer and backed by teams of lawyers around the nation.
Kerry outlined the election program in an interview with executives of The Hearst Corp. and representatives from the company's newspapers, including Kenneth Bunting, executive editor of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Also at the meeting were representatives from Hearst's television stations and magazines from across the country.
Kerry said his lawyers would "go after" local election officials who erroneously "purge people" from the rolls of registered voters.
Kerry also expressed concern about some of the new digital voting machines fielded in some states as part of the congressionally backed, multibillion-dollar effort to modernize the election system in the aftermath of the 2000 irregularities.
On other issues, Kerry:
Hinted that he may travel overseas before the Nov. 2 election "not to negotiate but to listen" to foreign leaders about their views on U.S.-led operations in Iraq and other international issues.
Declined to rule out a visit to Iraq "at the appropriate time."
Promised to hold monthly news conferences if elected.
Kerry declined to identify countries he may visit before the election, but he mentioned Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Jordanian King Abdullah II, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Helmut Schroeder as allied leaders who should be enlisted in U.S. efforts to stabilize and rebuild Iraq.
Kerry noted that some past presidential nominees have traveled overseas before elections.
Iraq was "not high on the list" of countries he might visit, Kerry said, adding: "If I could (visit Iraq) at the appropriate moment, of course I'd go - for a troop visit, certainly."
Separately, Bauer said in an interview that the election teams would work in every state during the next few months, talking with local authorities, gathering information on voting procedures and researching possible legal issues that could arise.
"We have an operation that's nationwide," he said. "We want to make sure that every eligible voter who votes has that vote counted."
Bauer said the teams will examine a range of issues, including making sure new voting machines work properly, that voters receive adequate education and training on using the machines and that states don't mistakenly leave eligible voters off registration lists.
"We're trying to anticipate problems, so that when an issue comes up, it's not a matter of free-lancing a solution on the spot, but fixing it before it blows up," he said.
Kerry criticized Bush for building a "flimflam, fraudulent coalition" of nations for the invasion and occupation of Iraq, saying that the United States and Britain bore the burden, the casualties and the costs with only symbolic help coming from a variety of countries claimed as full coalition partners by Bush administration officials.
Kerry said his goal as president would be to get "as many damn countries involved on the ground as possible" in Iraq, in part by sharing reconstruction contracts with participating nations.
Kerry continued to defend his vote in favor of the congressional resolution in October 2002 authorizing Bush to go to war in Iraq as a "last resort," despite the findings last week by the Senate Intelligence Committee that the administration had relied on wrong information about Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction.
If he had been president at the time, Kerry said, he would have "wanted authority to use force so I could get something done, but I would have used (the authority) differently" to build an effective international coalition and solicit wider support within the U.N. Security Council to intensify diplomatic, economic and military pressure on Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to comply with U.N. weapons inspections.
"My regret is not my vote; my regret is the way the president went about going to war," Kerry said.
Liberals keep playing with the number of blacks supposedly denied the right to vote. Shortly after Bush was sworn in, Je$$e Jackson claimed on Chicago talk radio that 100,000 black felons were turned away. The whole point of this exercise, of course, is not to educate the public. Its purpose is to increase minority turnout for Kerry.
This is not a good sign, the demoRATS have been building up the base for riots in the streets when they lose for almost a year now. The GOP convention is just a warmup. They are despicable.
The ol' African-American got shafted movement is back in full swing......I was made aware of this 2000 article....does anyone have REAL data to counter this....the info is making it's rounds again
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,6903,409137,00.html
I hope that talking Cadaver, John Kerry, spends 100 million dollars to have his lefty lawyers oversee the landslide ass whippin he has coming in November. Can we say "POETIC JUSTICE"
Looks like the folks that drove the homeless voters to the polls in 2000 will be pulling "double duty" in 04.
This is fact?
Or is an example of the blatant, egregious, wild eyed Michael Mooresqe propaganda we've come to expect from the AP?
If anyone out there still wonders why less and less people trust mainstream news, listen up. It's because of outragous bull$#@^ like this.
Just how were blacks more than whites accidentally identified as felons, who were not felons, and scubbed from the rolls? How does the scubber know the race of the scrubbed?
57,000 black voters from casting votes in Palm Beach County, Fla.57,000?!?!? There is no way in HELL that 57,000 people in one city were stopped from voting. I guess if you tell a big enough lie, people will begin to believe it...
Maybe the Dims could produce some video showing the Republican thugs holding people a gunpoint. You're right, that is pure BS that anybody was denied to vote(felons not included).
BUMP FOR LATER READING
Cigarettes Distributed For Gore Vote Homeless Voters Given Ride, Cigarettes MILWAUKEE, Updated 5:49 p.m. CST November 5, 2000-- Campaign workers for the Democratic Presidential campaign were discovered distributing cigarettes to homeless voters after the workers had recruited the homeless specifically for their vote Saturday. WISN 12 News caught workers for Vice President Al Gore's campaign giving packs of cigarettes to homeless voters that they had transported to cast absentee ballots. "We've been pretty busy, going to the shelters," campaign volunteer Connie Milstein said. Milstein works for the Gore campaign in New York and came to Milwaukee to help get out the vote. "They had a couple vans, and said they'd give us a ride. So I took a ride," George Scharf said. Scharf is a homeless voter who said he had planned to vote for Gore anyway, and that voters weren't told about the free cigarettes till after they were at the polls. "They didn't mention that until we got down there anyway," he said. However, a Milwaukee Rescue Mission employee told WISN 12 News that he had to ask democratic campaign workers to leave the property after he caught them trying to bribe potential voters with packs of cigarettes. Although, one voter said that he did not feel like he was bribed for his vote. "They just came and asked us to go and vote," Bob Socha said. Socha also said that he enjoys voting and was already planning to vote for Gore. A representative from the Milwaukee County Bush campaign said that the tactics of the Gore campaigners raises a few questions. "Even aside from the law itself, I just think most people on a gut check level would say that's wrong," Rep. Scott Walker (R - 14th District) said. "One has to question if they were going to be voting anyway, one has to question why would the campaign, the Gore campaign, be giving anything out, other than a ride to vote. " After viewing WISN 12's video tape, a local representative of the Gore campaign issued a response to the democratic campaigners who distributed the cigarettes. "This kind of activity described by Channel 12 is not the kind of help we ask for and it's the kind of help we flat-out reject. These volunteers were from out of state, acting on their own and this was not part of any official Democratic 'get out the vote' activity in Wisconsin. They have left the state and we will not invite them to return," wrote Susan Lagana, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Coordinated Campaign.
In Kerry's world everyone but Kerry seems to be a crook. And out to "steal" things. Like votes? But it's Kerry who has not been to work in over a year but still takes the money. Who is dishonest? Who is the thief?
When will Pres Bush make a statement to the American people that advises them that JF'n hasn't been willing to do his current job, let alone a job that requires much more like the presidency. TWO senators didn't vote yesterday. Can anybody name them?
Liberals claimed that a police car parked near a voting booth in Tampa is proof of intimidation. LOL! Next thing you'll know, they will claim Rush Limbaugh (a Palm Beach resident)is using mental powers to make African-Americans fearful of voting.
2000 U.S. census lists Palm Beach County, Florida`s population at 1,131,184 people , with 13.8% of those being Black or African American.
By my calculations, that means about 81,970 Black/African Americans live in Palm Beach County.
And how many of them are registered voters?
So, 57,000 Black/African American voters couldn`t vote in Palm Beach County?
HMMM ...Something here is looking very fishy here............
"This kind of activity described by Channel 12 is not the kind of help we ask for and it's the kind of help we flat-out reject. These volunteers were from out of state, acting on their own and this was not part of any official Democratic 'get out the vote' activity in Wisconsin. They have left the state and we will not invite them to return," wrote Susan Lagana, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Coordinated Campaign.
Let me see.....These true-blue Dimocrats traveled to Wiconsin at their own expense, purchased cigarettes, at their own expense, rented vans at their own expense...Musta been some REAL loyal fans huh? BS
This guy is really getting the cart before the horse. Counting his chickens before they're hatched. Jumping the gun. Premature eja**** well, you get the picture. This is enough to piss off the Pope.
swat team ? can they do this ? can the states tell them to take a hike ?
Yep, you know we live in a police state don't you. These people are pathetic.
Why is he doing this? Is Richard Daley involved again?
This is scary...why do I have the feeling that they will *cause* problems, not solve them?
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