Posted on 11/06/2002 7:30:33 AM PST by pabianice
Wins by 800 votes.
That's the whole nut right there. With the difference below one quarter of one percent, Thune has a choice to ask for a recount or file suit on the voter fraud issue. He can't do both.
Well it looks like you got everything figured out for the next two years. Hope you are right. However, I doubt we will get 3/4 of the loaf now. Not with this president. My expectation is that we might get a 1/4 and if we are lucky in 2 years get another 1/4. And when you mention RINOs I'd put George on that list too...Reagan he is NOT!
Of course he isn't Reagan. Reagan lost seats in his first term and in his second.
Bush has gained seats first time out.
Any questions?
Be Seeing You,
Chris
A transplant is a good idea, but I think he needs one on the other side of his body.
George W. Bush will build upon and surpass Reagan's accomplishments in the cause of Conservatism, while pathological malcontents like you continue to grouse on the sidelines. His successes will come and they will be to none of your credit.
That's a lot of "ifs." Hope it happens.
Carolyn
Sorry - South Dakota Secretary of State's official election returns.
First off, has it occurred to you that you're arguing that those voters should have voted against their consciences? That you put your partisan ambitions above the free choice of other people?
Second, were you aware that the Libertarian Senate candidate in South Dakota withdrew from the race several weeks ago, and publicly threw his support to John Thune? Well, a lot of South Dakotan voters weren't aware of it either -- because the regional media barely mentioned it!
Third, why do you think that those 3000 LP voters would have voted Republican had there been no LP candidate? What about the possibility that they would have voted "None Of The Above Is Acceptable" in the only available way -- by staying home?
If you want Republican candidates to garner the votes that ordinarily go to minor-party candidates, you have to offer those voters what they want. What minor-party voters tend to want is ironclad pledges of allegiance to particular principles (e.g., Libertarian), or particular stands on issues (e.g., Right To Life). To make such pledges entails the risk of alienating other voters who would normally vote Republican.
Where I live (Long Island, NY), Republicans are just "Democrats On A Budget." They never dissent from any Democratic statist initiative; they just promise to phase it in or do it cheaper. Since that contradicts my beliefs, I stay home. A great many voters do the same; we just want real limited-government Constitutional-fidelity Republicans, and all we get are fakers.
In short, it's time you stopped assuming that your troubles were caused by the minor parties. You don't have any claim on those votes -- and the people who cast them would be the first to tell you so. Get to work on getting the GOP's house in order if you want better results.
Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit the Palace Of Reason: http://palaceofreason.com
Seems to me that every absentee ballot should be checked against every application signature.
Furthermore, she (the vote fraud woman) has two completely different sounding names. How can we be sure that the same person on these reservations was not voting as Mary Smith, Maria Redfeather, and Maya Featherred? Are Indians who live on reservations even given social security numbers? Do they have to register for the draft and pay taxes? And, if there was fraud, would the fact that it was on a reservation (federal land?) make the punishment more severe?
Same deal as Harry Reid , Ron Wyden-left of Hillary-of Oregon got in the Senate a couple of elections ago thanks to a "Conservative" vote of one percent--
"The greater good of others" is a non-argument. "Others" can be trusted to look after their own greater good. They do not get to determine my moral position. If my conscience dictates that I support some minor party, then I do so. If my conscience dictates that I not vote, then I don't vote. That is the way it will always be, until the day voting is made compulsory -- and on that day, I'll lead the local militia in a full-scale assault on whatever state installation is handiest.
There are frequently exceedingly good reasons for not voting. I will not reward a man I regard as morally reprehensible with my support for public office -- which is what the vote is. If you think it's "the lesser of two evils," or some equivalent nonsense, you need to check your premises; there is no gain to be had by supporting evil. When all contestants align themselves with evil, the sole remaining alternative for a good man is to abstain from voting, so as to refrain from endorsing the legitimacy of a wholly evil set of alternatives with his ballot.
Whatever your relatives were wounded for, it wasn't the vote. The vote is the least excrescence on the true purpose of the Republic: "to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity." If I feel not voting, or voting for some minor party, is the best route toward that, then that's what I'll do -- and on the way I'll be pitying you benighted fools who tell yourselves that you simply have to vote for a Republican (or a Democrat; let's at least admit the outside possibility) because he's "the lesser of two evils." Not only do you put your moral position in hock to some party's promise to look after your interests, in defiance of all history on the subject; you also ask to be shafted by the very candidate you support, by providing him evidence that, as long as the alternatives look even worse, he can count on your vote.
Not smart. Very not smart.
Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit the Palace Of Reason: http://palaceofreason.com
Incidentally, since it's still a relatively free country, I am still free to advocate always voting against Democrats as effectively as possible. This is almost never accomplished by voting third party--
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