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Posted on 02/27/2005 9:33:28 PM PST by HundredPercenter
I think that Katherine Harris and Ken Blackwell deserve the death penalty for their actions as state election officials in the 2000 and 2004 elections. Current federal law does not permit the death penalty for their actions and Constitutional restrictions make it impossible to give them the electric chair by changing the law. However, I still believe that their actions in a morally sound legal system would see them on trial for their lives! Katherine Harris as the Republican Secretary of State in Florida during the 2000 elections seemed to be using her office to promote the election of George W. Bush over the wishes of Florida voters. She was co-chair of the Bush campaign in Florida while serving as the top election official in the state. The conflict of interest was obvious. The potential for abuse was obvious. According to the investigative reporter and author Greg Palast, the actions of Harris and her office denied almost a 100,000 voters their right to vote or their right to have their vote counted. Almost all were Democrats! Details are available in Palast's book, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy.
Instead of being prosecuted for denying Florida citizens their vote, Republicans politicians created a safe seat in Congress for Katherine Harris. It looks likely that she will be seeking higher office in Florida. Since many of the voters who were illegally kicked off the voting rolls still have not been returned to active status, Harris has a chance of winning. Winning office by denying voters their voting rights should be a death penalty crime. In my opinion, any government official who uses their power to engage in a massive campaign to deny citizens their voting rights is committing a crime worse than treason in wartime.
Ken Blackwell as Secretary of State in Ohio during the 2004 election seemed to be trying to copy the Katherine Harris model. Voting machines were distributed to make voting difficult for Democrats. Crazy regulations that made registering difficult came out of his office. He played a key role in the Bush campaign while serving as the top election official statewide. An effective statewide hand recount was largely blocked because of Blackwell. Key state records are being denied access to the citizens of Ohio by his actions. Lawyers who challenge the vote recount procedures are being persecuted by the Republican Ohio Attorney General in legal actions on behalf of Blackwell. Many of the Ohio vote problems and Blackwell's role in them are documented at "Stolen Election 2004."
Denying voting rights to American citizens attacks the whole concept of American freedom. It is disgusting and morally repugnant. Something terrible has happened to the mindset of Republican leaders at the very top levels that makes winning power more important than American traditions, American values and American freedom. Our very American Democracy is being threatened.
The average Republican voter is unaware of the abuse. Most Republican voters would not put winning power over American traditions of free and fair elections. Democratic officeholders are in denial as well in many cases. Our election system simply stinks! Anyone who does not understand the weaknesses of our current voting system should read Black Box Voting by Bev Harris.
Only now, almost 5 years after Harris started purging the voting rolls in Florida in a partisan fashion, has the Democratic leadership in the US Senate made voting reform a legislative high priority. The Boxer-Clinton Voting Reform Bill is a great first step requiring a verified voting paper-trail, equal access to voting machines, advance notice of voting roll purges, etc.
However, we need to add stiff criminal penalties for any government official who denies the voting rights of large numbers of citizens. My liberal co-host on Democratic Talk Radio, Al Lawrence and I disagree on the penalty. Al Lawrence believes that they should face life in prison without parole. As the more conservative Democrat on our program, I support the death penalty in these types of cases. We both agree that crimes against American Democracy are the most serious types of crimes in existence next to genocide.
If I had my way, I would see Katherine Harris and Ken Blackwell strapped down to electric chairs and lit up like Christmas trees. The better to light the way for American Democracy and American Freedom!
Written by: Stephen Crockett (co-host of Democratic Talk Radio www.DemocraticTalkRadio).
(Denny Crane: "There are two places to find the truth. First God and then Fox News.")
"One of Ann Coulter's many clever observations was that
liberals feel that it is okay to lie, and to them, it's like a
sport."
Exactly. Sounds similiar to Rush's observation (and
I paraphrase) that liberals look at lying as not only OK, but
as a moral imperative because they see their cause as so just.
Liberal politicians lie for a different reason: if they told
you what they really wanted to do...you wouldn't vote for
them.
Pardon my inexperience on FR- I just got reinstated, kind of.
Next time I'll check.
I think Crockett needs electroshock.
I am sure socialists like Hitler, Lennin, Stalin and Mao all opposed capital punishment, 'on principle'
You are being overly generous in your characterization.
She can rope and brand me anytime.
Couldn't stand reading much of this. This jerk is 100% stupid.
Setting aside the fact that all but the looneyest of the moonbats believes there was a maddog thing fishy about the Ohio returns, I can't remember such a callous statement coming from the most radical of conservatives. Even a numbskull like David Duke would know better than to say something like this!
No,I dont know if he is a Republican or a conservative for that matter. I guess my point was if you have the guts to go against the grain, especially for the African American community here in LA, you are attacked amd villified, called AN UNCLE tom,traitor. etc. You guys know what I'm talking about.The backlash is quote awful. And for these so called liberals to call themselves compassionate and tolerant is the height of hypocrasy, to me!
They can't stand it, they are soooo not RIGHT!!!!
Go ahead, Crockett. Implode away. All you DUmmies keep making the case for us.
His writing consists of petluant, childish, staccato outbursts. I suppose they think it's brilliant over at DU.
Regards, Ivan
[Harris and her office denied almost a 100,000 voters ]
The DUmmies keep changing the number of "voters" denied. First they said it was 5,000, then they switched to 50,000. During the 2004 eelction, sKerry claimed 1 million people lost the right to vote. These people have zero credibility.
Yet another example of leftist dems projecting their own actions on the Republicans.
It was Gore and the rest, who did everything they could to invalidate the elections and rule of law. I wonder when it was that actually following the law became the wrong thing to do. And when it became apparent that their guy did lose, they continued the lies in order to make their followers believe that they were wronged, all for political advantage. Then, in the 2004 election, they did all they could to try to destroy public confidence in the elections.
Projection is the word that describes this.
Mark
Did you hear that Kathleen Sibelius (sp?), dem governor of KS, couldn't make the time to meet with Dean when he came to KS? "Sheduling conflicts."
Right...
Mark
We saw this in the Michael Moore interview with Bill O'Reiley. Moore saw no difference between being wrong and lying. As we know, according to leftists, there's never anything wrong with being wrong, so there must not be a problem with lying (except when conservatives supposedly do it).
Mark
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