Posted on 08/27/2004 4:49:58 PM PDT by Trueblackman
I have been asked to appear on Hannity and Colmes this evening along with Ken Waters, to debate the jointly released NAACP/People for the American Way Memo that claims Republicans are engaged in voter intimidation of minorities in the South.
Give 'em . .. . , well, you know, Kevin. Will be watching. Thanks for the heads up!
get em buddy, you have them intellectually outmanned ... and try to smile more :-)
Break a leg!
You always do a good job. I really like it when you get Alan mad. Do a number on his mom and see if he bites.
Congratulations!!!!!
Kick some A.
I will be watching and pulling for you!
Kick Ass Kevin, Just Kick ASS!!!!!!!
Is this going to be a live thread?
Excellent idea. Point out how short and easy it is to fill out.
"People for the American Way"
Should be "People for the UnAmerican Way".
The Segment is at 9:30pm
BTTT! 180 sounds good, Kevin. Heh. That'll make him stutter.
Enter Bob Herbert, urban affairs op-ed man for The New York Times. In his Aug. 16 column, "Suppress the Vote," Herbert wrote, "State police officers have gone into the homes of elderly black voters in Orlando and interrogated them as part of an odd 'investigation' that has frightened many voters, intimidated elderly volunteers and thrown a chill over efforts to get out the black vote in November."
Herbert then compared the investigation to pre-civil rights days, when whites would do anything to keep blacks from the polls.
The next day, Herbert's Times colleague, Paul Krugman, repeated the insinuation. "[T]he state has provided little information about the investigation, and, as Mr. Herbert says, this looks remarkably like an attempt to intimidate voters."
And then liberals everywhere went crazy. The story quickly made its way to National Public Radio and to talk network Air America. People for the American Way repeated Herbert's allegations in a fund-raising e-mail. On Aug. 16, Rep. Corrine Brown declared her anger in a press release: "I am outraged to hear that Florida Department of Law Enforcement officers are intimidating elderly members of Orlando's black community. ... If they are going to investigate anything, they should be examining the Florida governor's office [rather] than intimidating elderly people who are merely trying to express their right to vote."
On Aug. 19, Brown and five other black House Democrats demanded that the U.S. Department of Justice investigate the FDLE for civil-rights violations, which generated a new round of press. The juggernaut rolled on.
The next day, Aug. 20, Herbert followed up his original piece, declaring, "The smell of voter suppression coming out of Florida is getting stronger." He mentioned a May 13 letter the FDLE sent to Dyer saying "that there was no basis to support the allegations ... ."
And then, on Aug. 23, he made this proposition: "Why go forward (with the investigation) anyway? Well, consider that the prolonged investigation dovetails exquisitely with that crucial but unspoken mission of the GOP in Florida: to keep black voter turnout as low as possible."
It's a fantastic story: Armed GOP Gestapo canvassing black neighborhoods to make sure Dubya gets re-elected. Too bad it's all bullshit.
The FDLE made it clear that the May 13 letter Herbert refers to only spoke to Dyer's involvement, not to the bigger issues of ballot fraud or illegal campaigning. Local press accounts made that clear. Apparently, Herbert never bothered to read them.
FDLE officers are in fact "interrogating" poor, elderly blacks, because those are the exact same people whose votes Thomas allegedly mishandled. Should the FDLE be knocking on doors in Windermere to investigate vote fraud in black neighborhoods? Probably not.
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