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Foreign observers to audit election
Washington Times ^
| 8/07/04
| Joseph Curl
Posted on 08/07/2004 12:52:24 AM PDT by kattracks
The Bush administration has invited a team of international monitors to observe the U.S. presidential election in November, but the group will not come from the United Nations, as some congressional Democrats had urged.
Assistant Secretary of State Paul V. Kelly, who handles legislative affairs for the department, affirmed the invitation this week in a letter to 13 House Democrats. They had requested U.N. monitors for this year's elections in an effort to avoid the charges of disenfranchisement and voting irregularities that plagued the 2000 election, the closest in history.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the largest regional organization in the world with 55 participating nations, will monitor the U.S. election on Nov. 2. Members include Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Spain and the United States.
"OSCE members, including the United States, agreed in 1990 in Copenhagen to allow fellow members to observe elections in one another's countries," Mr. Kelly wrote. "Consistent with this commitment, the United States has already invited the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) to observe the November 2, 2004, presidential elections."
[snip]
OSCE officials deployed an observer team to monitor the most recent U.S. elections, on Nov. 5, 2002.
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: observers; osce
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To: texastoo
Did you scream in 2002? Have we lost sovereignty since 2002 because we had foreign election observers? If 200 people make a fuss, are they all correct, always, on everything?
Just what sort of betrayal, in concrete terms, happened because we had foreign observers in 2002? What sort of betrayal, in concrete terms, is going to happen in November because we had foreign observers?
Some people have a hot button called the UN. I don't like them, much, but they exist even if they have been somewhat hijacked by our enemies. BUT: 2 of the 5 SC seats are the USA and the UK. Our two nations are the bulk of the real military force available to the UN or to nations who need military intervention. Russia needs us as a market. China also needs us as a market. Neither Russia nor China is going to challenge us militarily as they cannot afford it monetarily and would lose militarily. France cannot do more than posture and obstruct, sorta like the Donks. The USA alone contributes 25% +/- of the UN budget.If we are not members and do not hold onto our major position there, they will then be a unified front against us and one where we have no leverage. We withheld funds from UN organizations that funded abortions, as an example; this is another major issue for many people. We also refused to give the UN an interest-free loan for their needed renovations.
The UN is sort of like politics in general: it is war by other means, in the case of the UN, by diplomatic means.It is a way of keeping our enemies closer.
So far as I can tell over the past 59 years (and I am old enough to have observed most of that time period), the UN hasn't harmed the USA. They may have plots and plans and they are a huge bureaucracy seemingly bent on taking over the world, but they cannot. They lack the money. They lack the military force. They lack the unity among themselves. They lack any real reason to even try. They posture and they obstruct and sometimes they steal. That's about it. They can give us diplomatic cover when we need to act militarily. They provide a neutral forum where nations can work to avoid all out hot war.
Bush took a grandstanding issue from the Black Caucus and just repeated what was done in 2002. In 2002, we had less fraud than previous years and Republicans won huge, everywhere, up and down the ticket. This is one more way to prevent an outcry from the Donks about stolen elections and disenfranchised voters.The Donks are less inclined to steal an election if their revered foreign friends are watching.
I really wish everyone who has the answers would just run for office. Even run for school board or a neighborhood council. See how it works. Try and keep everyone happy. Balance priorities, serve constituents, deal w/dirty tricks and above all: first win the damned election. Then come back and tell a man who has won 3 tough races with the same campaign staff how it is done.
Bush ran the huge state of Texas and did a good enough job that he was the first Governor elected to a second term and at that point, it was not a Republican state. He has had 4 stressful years as President and has dealt with the world continuously in that time. He has done all right, IMO. The rest of the world has lied, cheated, thrown mud, stabbed us in the back, obstructed and wished us ill. We prevailed and it is to Bush's credit. I will trust his judgement on the foreign election observers. YMMV.
61
posted on
08/07/2004 4:08:55 PM PDT
by
reformedliberal
(Proud Bush-Cheney04 volunteer)
To: All
The Fed folks had no authority to do this.
They had no authority to sign onto this 10 years ago.
The States are the ones who have the authority to set the guidelines on how their Electors are chosen.
Article 2, Sect. 1 [2].
I don't see how the Fed types can impose foreign monitors into said process.
Each State should have a right to deny access to these socialist punks.
Can we FREEPERS file to be observers?!
If so, I would like to organize a group to observe voting precincts in the district of SHIELA JACKSON LEE here in Texas.
To: kattracks
Ping for later read.
Alas the USA. It was a great republic while it lasted.
64
posted on
08/09/2004 6:41:41 AM PDT
by
redgolum
To: kattracks
The more I think about this, the madder I become!
I would suggest we all flood the WH switchboard and email servers voicing our displeasure!
I called our local talk radio yesterday and plan to email a "letter to the editor" of our local newspaper, too.
To: kattracks
OK wow. This is enough to incite me, personally to violence. I absolutely despise the rabid socialists of europe and to think of them coming into this country with all those idiots from stupid third world countries is enough to......grrr
lets organize a vigilante band to lock all these observers in someone's basment until the election is over, whereupon they will be sent to cuba (their ideal country) on rubber rafts.
66
posted on
08/14/2004 12:24:39 PM PDT
by
kat1776
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