Today's letters to the Seattle Times contain an interesting letter. I find it interesting because some of the left's biases and preconceptions are contained within.
The Republicans did not demand "perfection in the process" when their candidate Dino Rossi was in the lead in the governor's race ("GOP lawsuit makes vote observer famous," page one, Feb. 4).
If Rossi had been sworn in as governor instead of Christine Gregoire, would the Republicans have ever bothered to dig up every error in the election process? Or would they even now be telling the Democrats to stop whining and investigating and just accept a done deal?
I think it is good for our state that the Republicans lost the governor's race, because their investigation and uproar will ensure changes. But the most sensible thing to do about the problems they have publicized is not to hold another election now, which will have its own problems and start its own round of wrangling.
What we need to do is make the changes in our election process that will make it work better next time. It will never work perfectly.
But if we're lucky, the Republicans will lose again, and force some more improvements.
I'll address the factual error first, since the letter writer labors under the common leftist misconception that the GOP wasn't pursuing fraudulent votes until after Gregoire was declared the winner. A quick check of the November and December timelines at Sound Politics will reveal that the Republicans WERE investigating fraudulent votes even before the hand count proceeded, and had found conclusive evidence of fraud before the hand count was completed. It intensified as the counties finally released the actual voter lists, rather than simple numbers by precinct. Of course, since the Times and the P-I have both been quite negligent in reporting the myriad problems, it's possible that she simply was unaware of any activities prior to the certification.
Of course, she's against the recount, because it's highy likely that her preferred candidate won't win. (If the letter doesn't make it clear enough, she's a professional activist, allied with homeless and other "progressive" causes; she also champions terrorist enabler Lori Berenson on her website.) Fraudulent votes don't matter if the "right" candidate won.
The most telling line, however, is the last, in which she implies that the Republicans need to lose again in order to enable further reform. It's sad to see a staunch supporter of the left admit that only the Republican Party is interested in fixing the broken election system here in Washington state.
Somehow, I don't think that is what she was trying to convey in her little missive, but that's what I came away with. Maybe it's our fundamental differences in mindset. I believe in prosecuting ALL fraudulent voters, even the husband who sent in his dead wife's absentee ballot (allegedly for Rossi). Fraud is always wrong, regardless of the reasoning behind it.
posted on February 13, 2005 11:46 AM
Comments:
These people are perfectly happy to steal if it meets their "higher" objectives.
posted on February 13, 2005 11:46 AM
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