Posted on 01/01/2008 8:17:43 AM PST by EagleSword
JEFFERSON, Iowa -- White House hopeful Barack Obama came out swinging Monday when asked if he would fight another "stolen presidential election" like some Democrats believe happened the last two times.
But his "fighting" stance contrasts sharply with the vote he took on his very first day in the U.S. Senate where he joined the 74-1 majority voting not to challenge President Bush's disputed victory in Ohio. The Congressional Black Caucus urged him to be the second "yes" vote, but he declined.
At a town hall meeting in rural Jefferson on Monday, undecided voter Bruce Banister, 56, asked Obama, "The last two presidential elections have been very dirty, and for me there have been very serious questions about whether George Bush was even legally elected. I want to know if we have another dirty election and you are the candidate, if you think it is dirty, will you back off like Gore and Kerry did or will you fight?"
Obama replied, "I intend to whoop 'em so good that it won't even be close and they can't steal the election."
After sustained cheers, laughter and applause, Obama added that he would hope to win over enough independents and Republicans in the general election that, "We aren't going to have 47 percent on one side, 47 percent on the other side, 5 percent in the middle and they all live in Ohio and Florida so you only campaign in two states."
Then Obama gave the hard-charging answer Banister was looking for: "If for any reason this thing is close, we will fight it tooth and nail till the end. The nice thing is, I'm a voting-rights attorney as well as a civil rights attorney."
That was enough to persuade Banister, a rare-guitar dealer, to commit to supporting Obama over his other choice, John Edwards, in Thursday night's caucus.
All the main candidates hoping to win Thursday's caucuses criss-crossed the state Monday seeking to win over undecideds like Banister. Obama is locked in an apparent three-way tie with fellow Democratic front-runners Hillary Clinton and John Edwards.
Obama did not mention in his answer to Banister the controversy that greeted him on his first day in the Senate. He faced angering party leaders on his first day by voting not to join Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and African-American congressmen in rejecting the vote totals from Ohio, where Democrats say faulty voting machines and bad voter-registration policies threw the close election to Bush.
Obama said through chief strategist David Axelrod that he voted to accept the results because Kerry himself said he did not want to fight it.
At his first three events Monday, Obama faced questions from undecided voters about what he would do to stop illegal immigration. Obama said he would tighten the borders and crack down on employers who hire illegal aliens but would also support a "path to citizenship" for those already here.
Mike Bloomberg will steal the election from Hillary in New York and Florida.
Denied these electoral votes, she can not win.
Outside of NY city I’m not sure how blooming idiot would do.
Obama Introduces Resolution Opposing Photo ID Requirement for Voting
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) today, along with Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Congressman John Lewis (D-GA), introduced a resolution opposing a recommendation released yesterday by the Carter-Baker Commission on Federal Election Reform that would require all Americans to show photo identification before voting.
Obama commended many of the Commission's recommendations, such as voter-verified paper trails. However, he strongly objected to the Commission's recommendation for a national voter photo identification requirement, noting the Commission's own acknowledgment that there is "no evidence of extensive fraud in U.S. elections or of multiple voting."
"Yesterday, the Carter-Baker Commission on Federal Election Reform released its recommendations for improving the electoral process," said Obama. "While many of these are good ideas worthy of consideration, its report also recommends the implementation of a national voter identification requirement - a requirement so incredibly restrictive that you couldn't even prove your identity with a U.S. military photo ID card. This is a mistake, and you only have to look to the state of Georgia to see why."
"Georgia's new photo ID requirement is a poll tax for the 21st century. It's a law that requires some of the poorest among us - those who probably don't have access to transportation - to possibly travel great distances and pay up to $35 just to exercise their right to be heard."
A number of states, including Georgia, have recently passed laws mandating government-issued photo identification for voters at the polls. Georgia law no longer allows affidavits affirming one's identify to meet identification requirements for voting, a change that the National Commission on Election Reform just four years ago found would "impose an additional expense on the exercise of the franchise, a burden would fall disproportionately on people who are poorer and urban."
Obama pointed out that Georgia's top election official confirmed that photo identification would not have resolved any instances of fraud in the state's 2004 elections, and he expressed concern that a photo voter ID requirement would have the effect of suppressing the vote, not encouraging it, by creating an undue burden on voters without addressing actual fraud.
Currently, there are 150,000 Georgians over 70 who do not have government-issued photo identification, and 1 in 8 Americans do not have a driver's license. This group is disproportionately poor and often do not have easy access to all the documents necessary to get a government-issued ID. Georgia has only 56 locations in 159 counties where people can get this photo identification, and Atlanta, one of America's largest cities, is not one of them.
"In the last election, many Americans stood for hours and hours just to exercise their Constitutional right to vote," said Obama. "We should be making this easier, not more difficult. And we should be figuring it out how to make it easier for all Americans - not just those with a car, or the extra cash to pay for voter ID card."
Obama also suggested that the strong endorsement of this resolution in the Senate reflects a conviction that the mere fear of voter fraud does not justify making it harder for eligible citizens to exercise their right to vote.
Senators Akaka (D-HI), Clinton (D-NY), Corzine (D-NJ), Dorgan (D-ND), Feingold (D-WI), Harkin (D-IA), Kennedy (D-MA), Kerry (D-MA), Lautenberg (D-NJ), Mikulski (D-MD), Reid (D-NV) and Stabenow (D-MI) have joined Obama and Dodd as cosponsors of this resolution.
Barack talking about steeling elections? That’s rich. He hails from ‘Crook’ county Illinois, where they invented stealing elections at the national level back in 1960.
Shoring up the psycho base.
They know they lost despite their efforts at stuffing ballot boxes in Florida in 2000. (Dimple and hanging chads occurs when you run a stylus through a thousand ballots.)
Then they demanded that all states get modern vote counting equipment, lose thousands of fraudulent votes, and then had to resort to slashing tires in republican districts in Ohio 2004.
Now they want Foreign citizens to vote in our election.
(NY drivers license scam - Hillary and Spitzer)
Obama can kiss my white A$$!!!
Think about it..... a few votes here and there and Miami and West Palm and Hillary doesn’t make it.
Him winning is not the objective. Hillary losing is the objective.
say wat?
In NY, the downstate/NYC region is heavily Democrat. Upstate is much more conservative/GOP. Moderates can tilt upstate either way. If Bloomberg takes votes away from the Dem nominee in NYC, they will have to very well among these moderates to win the state. The GOP could win NY by a plurality, and that would be a fatal blow to the Dems chances for winning. A loss in NJ and/or Conn could be equally devastating.
Does this mean Obama denounces dead people and illegal aliens voting for Democrats?? I bet not.
I don't give a damn if Pee Wee Herman is running as republican, and theres a nuke attack on November 4th.
I WILL VOTE!!!!!!!!!!
I would love to spit in Obamas face if I could get the chance.
If Obama really means it, this is bad news for the Democrats.
Then how does any DEM expect to win???????????????
Perhaps Obama wouldn’t mind investigating cases where there is actual evidence of ballot manipulation?
Did he comment whether attempted theft would be tolerated, such as that attempted by Democrats in 2000, going to the Dem. majority Florida Supreme Court for a first recount which didn’t yield the desired result, then a second recount which didn’t yield the desired result, then a third requested recount which was cut short by the US Supreme Court?
Not too sure about that...we can't take the damn accent much less the politics
Unless they win.
oh please. this guy has no chance for the nomination.
someone should really let him know he is just a sacrificial lamb so it doesn’t look like hillary just gets annointed.
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