Posted on 01/08/2009 2:39:22 AM PST by rhema
The recount process didn't work or, more accurately, could not reasonably determine a winner. Al Franken no more won the U.S. Senate race than your pet cat, Zuba, who somebody probably voted for as a write-in candidate.
It would have been more plausible had Norm Coleman won the recount, having won on Election Night but by such a slim margin that it was mathematically unacceptable and thus triggered a recount.
In Minnesota, a victory margin of less than one-half of 1 percent triggers a recount. That's ridiculous, because the process that followed resulted in even less than a one-half of 1 percent margin for the victor.
The recount cannot determine a winner because the recount process we just witnessed quite likely produced corruption, however carefully it was massaged. It is difficult to believe, for example, that Franken benefited each time the canvassing board, under the eagle-eyed glare of Mark Ritchie, a secretary of state who it seems was tailor-made for this particular victory by another Democrat, applied different standards to different problems.
A precinct in Minneapolis "lost'' 133 ballots? Well, let's ignore that and just revert to the election night tallies from that precinct. A precinct in Maplewood had 171 more ballots to count than their total from the election? Hmm, we better count those. Not to mention quite probably double-counted votes and the generosity that was shown to many of the absentee voters whose errors in following instructions were thought to be only "minor.''
The corruption we just witnessed is ideological in nature, a corruption of privilege and responsibility. Secretaries of state, like Ritchie, have become powerful players in elections. By encouraging more voting and making it sound virtuous and noble to do so, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, for example, brought into the fold more and more uninterested and disengaged bodies, cheapening the votes of the legitimate lot of us who vote correctly and responsibly. Joe Mansky, the chief election officer in Ramsey County, said the other day that when he asked the long line of absentee voters who were outside his offices the Monday before the election why they were there, he heard from many, "The Obama campaign sent us.''
Now, of course, the Obama campaign can obviously encourage the strongest possible voter turnout, but when voting activists drag a net through the state and dump every possible human being who can fog a mirror and don't need much identification at the polling places or have them fill out absentee ballots, you are simply providing all the ingredients necessary to cook a recount stew that resulted in, well, the way it was supposed to result this time.
The result is horribly tainted. It will probably hold, despite impending court proceedings, but it will be no less tainted. And yes, the same would be true had Coleman emerged with a 225-vote victory. The margin for error is too glaring to be ignored by the other side.
What we need is a margin of victory that is mathematically bulletproof, not one-half of 1 percent. I don't know what that margin is, but a mathematician could come up with it based on vote totals. Out of 2.9 million votes cast, there would have to be a margin of victory that could not be automatically challenged as questionable. One vote below that number would call for the coin flip — yes, a coin flip.
A coin flip would have been more honest and contained more dignity than this slop we just endured. It takes all mischief off the table. Ceremonial coins could have been minted with Norm's face on one side and Al's face on the other. The coin would be showed to the television cameras before the toss. The candidates wouldn't even have to call it. If their face survives the flip, they win.
Then, they shake hands, and the state sells off the 10,000 or so minted special coins and dedicates the proceeds to the arts or wetland restoration or, the way we are going, to providing more buses to bring numskulls to the polls. You just can't make a good recount stew without those questionable ballots.
Yup. We got two rebate checks courtesy of Jesse...
And yet, I bet the liberals still say that Katherine Harris is the only Secretary of State to corrupt an election.
-PJ
As one great Freeper used to remind us, “ The Democrat Party is a criminal conspiracy”.
Wiiilllbbuuurrrrr!!!
If I’m adding a large column of numbers and the second count is not the same as the first I don’t automatically accept the second total as being correct. Especially if the first count is positive and the second is negative.
The independent that took 14% of the vote was a constitution-type party candidate. No way he took votes from Franken. He was just another protest vote against the incumbent for being a RINO.
Oh he was a lot worse that many out there. He is a despicable Human being.
Jesse was a liberal who was interested mostly in legislation (license tab fee reductions, et al.) that benefited him. He was about the only governor who refused to sign a National Day of Prayer proclamation, haughtily opining, "Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers. It tells people to go out and stick their noses in other people's business."
He's now distinguishing himself by saying 911 was an inside job: "Two planes struck two buildings... but how is it that a third building fell 5 hours later? How could this building just implode into its own footprint 5 hours later - that's my first question - the 9/11 Commission didn't even devote one page to that in their big volume of investigation... In my opinion, there is no doubt that that building was brought down with demolition."[
Yes he did. He and Franken split the idiot vote, which was monstrously huge this election. Two thirds voted for a constitutional amendment to raise sales taxes. Without Barkley in the race, Norm would have been trounced. Sad but true, and very indicative of just how sorry things are in the state and country right now. I live on soil that just sent:
-A Chicago street thug
-A CAIR advocate that staunchly defended the Flying Imams and their probing mission.
-A a a foul-mouthed piece of Hollywood trash
to Washington.
What can I say, except that my neighbors lack intellect and character?
“Personally, I am waiting for when a Governor appoints a horse as Senator.”
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I know you’re baitin us but I can’t help saying it, the whole horse would probably be a great improvement over the portion of a horse that now occupies most senate seats.
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