Posted on 06/06/2006 10:01:47 PM PDT by RWR8189
If the current trend continues, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is going to end up being involved in the journalistic equivalent of the Bay of Pigs. His article in the latest issue of Rolling Stone Republicans stole the 2004 election in Ohio is coming under a massive assault - and from the unlikeliest of places. Monday in Salon, Farhad Manjoo reduced RFK, Jr.'s seemingly authoritative argument to rubble. Democratic pollster Mark Blumenthal followed suit later the same day by taking down Kennedy's claim that exit polling is an "exact science" and highlighting how he either misinterpreted or willfully distorted numerous aspects of exit poll analysis contained in the Edison-Mitofsky report.
Last Friday RFK, Jr. asserted on CNN, "There's no legitimate dispute that there was a massive, concerted, deliberate effort by high level-Republican Party officials to fix the election in Ohio. And the press has not covered this issue." This is a grotesque lie unsupported by even a shred of credible evidence, yet Kennedy is out on national cable television spewing it as gospel truth. As Manjoo points out in his Salon piece, the Democratic Party's own analysis, conducted by a team of handpicked experts, concluded that "the statistical study of precinct-level data does not suggest the occurrence of widespread fraud that systematically misallocated votes from Kerry to Bush." (Emphasis added). Repeat after me: there was no fraud in Ohio.
I take that back. There was one confirmed case of fraud in Ohio in 2004: a Democratic operative was paid in crack cocaine for submitting hundreds of registrations all in the same handwriting with names like "Mary Poppins" and "Michael Jackson."
The point, however, is that if you sift through the allegations of "irregularities" Democrats investigated in Ohio, what you find more than anything is a list of reasons why democracy up close is a fairly ugly thing: a combination of human error, machine malfunctions, and other assorted glitches. They happen all across the country every time we try and facilitate a process to allow millions of people to express their opinion within the space of a few hours. Remember also that many of the places where irregularities are alleged to have occurred in Ohio were in heavily Democratic precincts with Democratic poll workers.
I have a good friend who is a liberal activist working on the East Coast, and he was one of the thousands of volunteers who descended on Ohio in the final weeks of the election to help turn out the vote for Kerry. After the election I asked him what happened and he said that one of the factors that frustrated their efforts was that poll workers in heavily Democratic precincts were terribly disorganized. Their voting lists weren't being properly updated, and as the day wore on it became difficult to locate those who hadn't voted and go pick them up and get them to the polls. The disorganization accounted for some of the long lines in heavily Democratic areas as well.
Like most Americans, I'm in favor of continuing to take steps to try and improve our election systems to make the right to vote easy to exercise. And I'm also for taking whatever steps we can to wring fraud out of the election system. The casting of an illegal ballot is every bit as pernicious to our democracy as the disenfranchisement of a legitimate voter.
Ultimately, no matter what technology we employ or how many rules we have in place, our system is going to be plagued with a certain degree of error, fraud, and abuse because it relies on the responsibility of voters to properly cast their ballot and also on the responsibility of poll workers to make sure those ballots are properly counted.
If Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was a serious, credible person, he'd be working to try and improve the U.S. election system. Instead, he's out spinning falsehoods about the 2004 presidential election in Ohio that many members of his own party don't even believe.
I am surprised he has any credibility left to shrink. I never listen to him, he is an algore wannabe.
I listened twice to RFK's interview with Neil Cavuto. All I can say is that RFK's attitude is: "Don't confuse the issue with the facts."
I'm an Ohio voter. I didn't have any problem voting in 2004.
Kerry lost Ohio because South Ohio...south central, south west, and south east ALL went for Bush overwhelmingly. That's the story.
How do these Kennedy's continue? I swear the guy sounded like a mental midget.
RFK is one of the angriest goofballs Ive ever seen.
The poor fellow is always seething
bump
Theres the complete truth. a Lot of these lil rich kids need to find a purpose in life in order to fill the void.
They have everthing and find themselves drifting without the direction of the personal conviction that that emerges with work..
I believe Osama is one of these people
You be bad! Right, but bad!
Semper Fi
Bevan says "if RFKjr were a serious person". Well he's not. He's a crackpot...pure and simple. A not too bright crackpot that only got elected because of his name.
Hard for something that small to shrink, IMHO.
I have never seen RFK Jr. say anything that wasn't an outright demogougic lie. It's good to see people are catching on to his schtick.
Did you notice that he said that the 2000 and 2004 elections were stolen and 2008 will also be stolen.
If the Dem's win in 2008,will he concede that the election was stolen.
Why people give any credence to what is said by a Kennedy is beyond me. I am sorry that JFK and RFK were assassinated, but the Kennedys are the sleasiest people around.
I don't have time to read the thread -- gotta go and build the products that make America great -- If someone already posted this, sorry for the duplicate...BUT
There must have been a recent meeting at the kennedy Compound. They must have decided that the Kennedy name needs a little refreshing. They're ALL coming out fighting. RFK Jr writes an article on the Ohio election results, that includes not one new idea, and lots that has already been discounted. Teddy writes a couple, and again, not one new idea. Caroline shows up on the Daily Show. pushing her father's book, "Profiles In Courage", which is 50 years old. Time to spiff up the ole family name?
It seems that gore actually did win in 2000 in Florida. You see, according to the tinfoil crowd, even though the NY Times WA Post, et al had headlines indicating that, had the recounts been done, that Bush won. But, buried in the seventh or eighth paragraphs was the truth that Gore really won, the media just didn't want anyone to notice it since after 9-11 it would have resulted in a change of government.
The newspaper-sponsored recounts were completed in the Spring of 2001, long before 9/11/01.
Bush still wins Florida in newspaper recount (April 4, 2001)
There must have a been a recent bender at some Kennnedy party house. They've all come down with the hangover crankies. Mean drunks -- meaner when hungover. RFK Jr delerium tremens on ancient Ohio elections, Teddy slaps his belly up and down mightily on his senate desk desk splintering it to pieces, and causing minor injuries to the interns underneath, Carloine, the goth, tiptoes into the today show in black on black eyeliner and in gaspy tones rubs her Dad's "Profiles in Courage" like some ouija board on national TV to the viewing audience of the brain dead.
Big plans. The "Fighting" Kennedy's. Anger fueled by Granddad Joe's rotgut rum, well-aged. Bitter, angry and obnoxious when poured from the bottle, over ice or not.
A perfect match for the average drunken, self-abusive, mean-by-alchohol-poisoning New Englander.
IIRC, the trip to the ER resulted in absolutely no problems for Kennedy.
The Kennedys and "Profiles in Courage"?
More like "Profiles in Spoilage"
(Hey, gimme a break - I couldn't find a closer rhyme for courage.)
I saw him on Cavuto the other day. What a dim bulb. He's trying to make a name for himself as a Kennedy and the only name he'll make for himself IMHO is STUPID.
Yes, he always sounds like he's ready to croak.
Was this in Syracuse, Destiny?
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