Letters to the Editor
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Kennedy overreached but Manjoo seems prof. debunker
I broke the first comprehensive story on the media mistakes in the 2000 election ("WHOOPS"- How the Networks Got it Wrong- PROBLEM POLLING POLICY - Intellectual Capital- 11/25/00 MediaChannel 12/26/00 http://members.surfbest.net/mikehammer/whoops.htm ), an account of the most blatant fraud of 2000 Florida (SAMPLE BALLOT DECEPTIVE, DIFFERENT- Dems denied hand count in Duval Co.), and huge story on the Congressional Investigation (NETWORK NEWS HEADS IN THE DOCK - Tauzin Hearings Confused by Red Herrings, Election Woes) and there is absolutely no question that Al Gore won Florida by 20,000-40,000 votes had the 10-15 cases of illegal and unethical Republican tampering been reversed. But, it is very dangerous to project definitive allegations of fraud and supposed proper results on the basis of polls, exit or any other. Polls can be spectacularly wrong, as they were sometimes in 2000, and obviously in 2004. Yet the instant Stalinistic “correction” of Mitofsky’s poll numbers was deeply creepy and troubling. It could have been an embarrassed pollster trying to correct gross error (but way too fast) or something much much more insidious- the widespread media tendency to manicure the facts to avoid embarrassing or exposing Bush’s illegitimacy (like the invisible Inauguration protests, except on CSPAN).
I read Kennedy’s piece hopefully, like a drowning man, reaching for a life preserver, but thought there were some flaws in his methodology and nothing really new or any smoking gun. I think his contention that Kerry was way ahead in all the exit polls, beyond the margin of error, isn't correct. That said, I believe in his integrity and good faith, and think his rebuttal of Manjoo was persuasive. Manjoo makes some good points, but shows his bias in the extraordinary statement that voters who gave-up were evenly split between Dem and Repub. This was nonsense- every report said these incredible lines (up to 13 hour waits) were happening almost exclusively in inner city, black, or college areas- not rural or upscale areas. I think the poll of 2-3% of voters giving up was low- I certainly wouldn’t wait more than 2-3 hours, and think many heard about the delays and didn’t even try. Like Katherine Harris, the execrable Ken Blackwell should be counting days in prison rather than running for office- the saddest thing of all is that no one was ever punished for the Clinton Impeachment, 2000 Election Theft, or 2004 attempts. If you get away with it once, you will do it again.
Kennedy’s assumption that 10% of the purged voters were removed illegally is conservative- in my study of the 2000 FL felon purge: “In an examination of 14 Florida Counties, Deb Cupples discovered 42% inaccurate matches: men matched to women, blacks matched to whites, people of totally different names but same birthdate. Because Florida listed Party affiliation and race on voter forms, this gave election supervisors extraordinary ability to skew results, if they desired- though real felons were already vastly Democratic. They also matched felons from around the country with voters in Florida, although 2 judges ruled that illegal.”
Given all Blackwell’s corrupt machinations, it’s believable that Ohio was thrown for Bush, but I don’t think the proof definitive. Since most Dems believe that the winner of the popular vote (like Gore) should win the election, Bush’s 3½ million vote mandate seemed overwhelming and insurmountable. Of course, with all the paperless electronic voting machines built by big Republican-led companies, even that could be fictional. Nothing is beyond these people.
Michael Hammerschlag HAMMERNEWS.com