Posted on 11/03/2002 6:07:39 PM PST by sweetliberty
We have just returned to Budge's house to do the FReep report because there is a lot of information to report.
In attendance were Budge, Travelgirl, The Battman, parsifal, Don Frivoinai, sweetliberty, and another FReeper who, for reasons you will come to understand shortly, needs to remain anonymous until after the election.
We arrived at Budge's around noon to get everything set up for the maiden FReep of the Arkansas Hog Wild FReepers and the FReepmobile. We got to the site around quarter after 1 and finished up some signs and headed over to the convention center to await the arrival of XXX42 and his horde of Rats. There we were joined by several folks from the Hutchinson campaign and there were quite a few folks who came down from Mount Ida. There ended up being about 30 of us on the outside.
During the wait, we were informed of quite a few "questionable" things going on. For starters, there was one young man who is active with Tim Hutchinson's campaign who was threatened with arrest if he didn't leave the premises. He had done nothing to provoke this action other than they knew who he was. One of the FReepers who is a poll watcher was also threatened with arrest when she tried to go inside the convention center. Another young man who is a Hutchinson aide had a ticket to the event and because he had been seen talkiing to the "opposition" he was not allowed in, being told that it was a private event and they could exclude whoever they wanted to. There was also a group of black folks who were with us so this young man passed his ticket to one of the black guys, who removed all his campaign stuff and went in incognito, laughing saying that they'd never suspect a black guy. Will give you his report later.
Nobody would tell us what door Clinton would be entering by so we took a chance and hung out on one side of the building where they said the car would drive by. True to form, XXX42 was late by nearly an hour. But here is the great part. We were positioned between 2 entrances. One was a major side entrance. The other was a small, fenced-in service entrance by the garbage dumpsters. Well, guess which one he used. Think....which would be most appropriate. Yep, you guessed it. The snake slithered in through the garbage entrance. And he got a look at our signs. It was a classic moment in FReeperdom.
There was a whopping 500 people or so there for the "event". There were few enough people that there was a Jehovah's Witness convention going on in the building at the same time. When Clinton arrived the Jehovah's Witnesses started leaving. At that time we didn't realize that there was another event going on and Travelgirl and The Battman asked one of the cops on duty why everyone was leaving. He responded, "if Clinton entered a room, what would YOU do?" When the Jehovah's Witnesses left, the parking lot started clearing out.
Anyway, we may have to flesh in this post after we all get home because there is a lot to tell, but there is certain information that it is very important to get out there NOW! Back to our "spy". When he came out, he said they were running it like a church service, and the whole focus was on how the evil Republicans are trying to keep them from voting. They were saying that we have all the poll watchers this election to prevent THEM from voting. Now, here is the clencher. They were told that there would be attorneys posted at every precinct to prevent poll watchers from challenging ANY ballots. Now, mind you, one of our poll watchers has already had massive problems with them at the polls during early voting the past couple of weeks and has been advised to retain an attorney. They have had the sherriff remove her from the polls twice when she had done nothing inappropriate...only challenging ballots for improper or no ID. There is an all out campaign by these people to intimidate the poll watchers and then turn around and accuse us of voter intimidation. This is serious and at least one person has some legitimate fear. I can't really elaborate at this point. The reason we wanted to get this up right away is to get other FReepers on the case to get this publicized and contact appropriate media, political and legal sources to alert them that Republican poll watchers in this county are likely to be facing an organized, all-out Rat attack. Any help that FReepers can offer is needed!! Make phone calls, send letters. Whatever you can do. Post your ideas as well.
Nothing is TOO low for the 'RATS to stoop to regarding elections, huh? :O(
BTTT
Excellent idea. And thanks for the addresses. Your chapter has lit a fire and showed us a real, live problem. Now we all need to go HOG WILD and spread this information around to the right commentators and others who can help.
KEMP: Watching the polls is an honest, thoughtful, democratic -- small -- idea.
COLMES: Small d. But you...
KEMP: So we're not trying to keep people from voting.
COLMES: Well, in Arkansas, poll watchers asked voters to produce I.D. or to have their photo taken,which is illegal, mostly in African-American districts. The Jefferson County Courthouse. It's wrong. We see a pattern here.
KEMP: I can't defend the indefensible.
COLMES: I know.
KEMP: Let's wait and fight out what happens tomorrow.
COLMES: I put this -- it seems like there's a pattern here, Mr. Kemp.
KEMP: Where?
COLMES: Arkansas. You have -- what I just showed you in Baltimore. You have...
KEMP: Look, I have no answer because I don't know what's happening.
Then during the interview with Ed Meese, here is what was said;
COLMES: Secretary Meese, it's Alan. Welcome to the program. We talked earlier about some of the charges that I made against Republicans.
And let me put one of them on the board right now and show it to our viewers and get your response from a legal standpoint."Trey Ashcraft, chairman of the Jefferson County Election Commission, said it was obvious the Republicans' actions," this is in Arkansas,"were targeting African-Americans. Ashcraft said he was disappointed in the Republican 'Gestapo' tactics.
They're trying to intimidate and prevent voters from participating in the Democratic process." "The registered voters feel insecure and the photos,"they were asking for photos of these people, "inexcusable. The Republicans know they can't win, so they're trying to steal this election. This is politics at its worst.
They're breaking the law...it's disgusting." Asking for photographs, two forms of ID against the law in Arkansas. In Jefferson County courthouse, largely African-American, what should be done about that, Mr. Secretary -- Mr. Attorney General?
MEESE: Well, I think the first thing to do is find out if it's true. I don't know anything about this election official, but he sounds like a Democrat to me.
COLMES: It's an elected official, non partisan?
MEESE: Well, but he probably is a registered Republican or a registered Democrat.
And I would suspect the latter because Alan as you know, it's usually the Democrats that make these unfounded charges. But...
COLMES: Oh, come on. Let's not be so partisan about that. You know...
MEESE: Oh, no.
COLMES: ...the Republicans would never do that, right? Only Democrats?
MEESE: Well, I would hope the Republicans wouldn't,but we know the Democrats stole the elections in St. Louis last time. They're notorious in Chicago and other places.
COLMES: Mr. Attorney General, as a former attorney general of the United States who was an attorney general of all of the people,how can you be so partisan and say that only one party does it? Aren't there irregularities on both sides? And don't both parties manipulate to play this game?
MEESE: Well, I think there are probably mistakes and errors and actual violations on both sides.
It just it seems to me that most of them that we know about that have been proven have, in fact, been Democrats.
But if there is somebody who is deliberately trying to keep a person from voting and doing that illegally, I think that's wrong.
On the other hand, the Democrats are trying to claim that legitimate ballot security measures such as requiring a single identification of people, and that sort of thing,is somehow interfering with people's right to vote. And that just isn't true.
COLMES: I'm talking about staying within the law.
[SNIP]
I guess I ,issed this first time around. Is that another way of saying that parsy is full of s**t? Hehehe...
You are doing a great job pinging this, we must come up with an answer to this nation-wide problem!
Alan is a dweeb!!
MEESE: Yes.
COLMES: In Florida, the same voter...
MEESE: I agree.
COLMES: ...scrub list that was used two years ago, the same firm is being employed. Greg Palace reports this. More than 94,000 names on it.
That they made a deal with the NAACP to wait until after the election before they do away with that scrub list.
And that could lead to the same kind of shenanigans we saw two years ago. Shouldn't they have cleaned this up two years after the last election?
MEESE: Well, I would think they should have. And again, who's responsible for not doing that? I think also, Alan,it's very important to recognize that you had your previous George Mitchell talking about the motor voter list, the Motor Voter Act.
That is the biggest facilitator of fraud that has ever been introduced into the United States.
And it's -- that's why the Democrats were so hot for it, and why the Republicans opposed it. I think if you look at the record state by state,you'll find that Republicans have the better of the records in terms of honest and legitimate elections and not falsification and fraud.
COLMES: Well, isn't it true historically that's it's been Republicans, who as George Mitchell said, as Ambassador Mitchell said, who have been in favor of more poll watchers,who have gone and tried to stop the vote? They're the ones who have tried to prevent motor voter? They're the ones who have tried to get fewer people to the polls?
MEESE: No.
COLMES: Historically, the Democrats have always been out to get more people into a voting booth?
MEESE: No, actually the Republicans have been very good at trying to get people to the polls.
They've had get out the vote campaigns at least where I came from in California, that have been spectacular.
But the reason that, as you point out, George Mitchell is for motor voter is it's a very good means of promoting fraud.
And those are the things that I think the Republicans are legitimately trying to prevent. I am absolutely encouraging every American to vote.
They should have the opportunity to vote, but they only get to vote once.
HANNITY: Mr. Attorney General, one of your finest performances.
Dear Sean:
The other day Alan Colmes, ignorant of the facts once again, criticized a Republican poll watcher in Arkansas for “intimidation” of blacks. Knowing the source of this story (the lying Democrats), Alan should have known better than to report this incident without finding out what really happened. Apparently he doesn’t know that a poll watcher in Arkansas is supposed to challenge poll workers when they don’t request IDs from voters. And if a potential voter presents an out-of-state drivers license, this is a valid reason for a poll watcher to challenge the ballot. And when voters enter the polls with campaign stickers, buttons, political t-shirts, etc., which are not allowed inside polling placers, a poll watcher is merely doing his or her duty in taking photographs of these illegal actions. These legitimate actions by a poll watcher are exactly what Alan Colmes has erroneously called “initimidation.” This outrageous assertion is certainly not fair and balanced reporting.
The fact is that it was not the voters, but the poll watcher who was being intimidated. NAACP operatives and other Democrats attempted to keep her from fulfilling her responsibilities, and she was forced to leave, while being subjected to an NAACP mob shouting and chanting at her. She then went to Jay Dickey’s office and told them what had happened, and two of the people there escorted her back over to the courthouse. From that point on, the people in charge generally made her job as difficult as they could and even called the sheriff to get her to leave. However, he allowed this courageous poll worker to go back in, after verifying with other officials that she did indeed have the right to be there and to do the things she was doing.
Such intimidation of poll watchers is outrageous and should not be permitted. Voter fraud by Democrats is rampant and is the most serious problem with our election system. It is essential to have poll watchers to monitor voting in order to have any chance to identify illegal voting at the polls. However, Democrats don’t want poll watchers interfering with their illegal voting, so they falsely cry “intimidation.” Then liberals like Alan Colmes are more than happy to take up the cause and be dupes for the Democrats, so that voter fraud can continue abated. This is outrageous, and Alan Colmes should be ashamed of himself.
Sean, we implore you to tell the other side of this false "intimidation" story. We are counting on good guys such as you to tell everyone what really happened.
Margie Seemann
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.