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• Monday, June 5, 2006 08:20 PM

  But it misses the point...

  While Manjoo may well be correct that Kerry lost in Ohio with or without manipulation, I think the discussion misses the point. We can hem and haw about the numbers, but ultimately what is important is the intent.

  So, the question is, was there an intentional effort to disenfranchise voters, particularly Democratic voters, during the 2004 election? That's the question we should be really asking here and if there was, then the 2004 election is entirely topical, not just generic voter reform. If the Republicans attempted to throw the election by unethical or illegal means, then that needs to be publicized and discussed, whether Kerry really won or not.

  To that end, I highly recommend reading into the work of Greg Palast (http://gregpalast.com) who has done significant research in the subject and is well known for being what can best be called an old school muckraker.

  If the answer is (or you have convinced yourself it is), no, there was no unethical/illegal, manipulation, then by all means the more global form of election reform is par for the course. However, while personally I am inclined to believe that Kerry would have lost regardless, we should remember that millions of Americans still believe that the Iraq War was built on a legitimate basis only because it is too hard to believe that their government and favored President could have pulled off such a grandiose lie. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.

  —scathew Read scathew's other letters
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