My coup runneth over -- "postponing" the election
I don't think very highly of the scooper, but Newsweek's Isikoff is reporting an exclusive, that the Dept. of Justice is reviewing legal steps needed to postpone the November election in light of the vague threat of a terrorist action in the days prior to the election.
Why the urgency?
How the hell do they know any of that? Did the bombing really influence the election in Spain? We don't know. Spain's participation in the war was deeply unpopular even before the bombing. Do terrorists think it influenced the election? Maybe, but I'm not privy to the "chatter." Do terrorists want to interfere our election? Who knows? Why would they, other than to show how unstable democracy really is?
But what I want to know is, why does Tom Ridge hate America so? I mean, why does he "take seriously" an action -- postponing an election in the face of...something (there's nothing to indicate what it would take to require postponementnt, a big bomb, many big bombs, a truck spill on I-95?)that would in fact abet the terrorists' ability to interfere with our election by postponing it. I mean, wouldn't these swine dance with glee if a truck bomb in L.A. resulted in the U.S. election being entirely postponed?
And wouldn't our own conspiracy theorists put on their aluminum foil hats?
Oh, and look who wants the authority to make the decision: DeForest B. Soaries Jr., chairman of the newly created U.S. Election Assistance Commission. The Baptist minister was appointed by Bush, one assumes, to develop a faith-based election system, instead of actually fixing the problems that led to the disaster in Florida four years ago. That would, after all, be difficult and unexciting.
Once again, we have an example of an individual with no apparent competence for the job who nevertheless has great authority in this administration.
Pandagon has more on the real questions we should be asking; instead of asking how to move an election, why not concentrate on how to make sure we get people to the polls in the face of some kind of incident?
Why the urgency?
...the success of March's Madrid railway bombings in influencing the Spanish elections -- as well as intercepted "chatter" among Qaeda operatives -- has led analysts to conclude "they want to interfere with the elections," says one official.
How the hell do they know any of that? Did the bombing really influence the election in Spain? We don't know. Spain's participation in the war was deeply unpopular even before the bombing. Do terrorists think it influenced the election? Maybe, but I'm not privy to the "chatter." Do terrorists want to interfere our election? Who knows? Why would they, other than to show how unstable democracy really is?
But what I want to know is, why does Tom Ridge hate America so? I mean, why does he "take seriously" an action -- postponing an election in the face of...something (there's nothing to indicate what it would take to require postponementnt, a big bomb, many big bombs, a truck spill on I-95?)that would in fact abet the terrorists' ability to interfere with our election by postponing it. I mean, wouldn't these swine dance with glee if a truck bomb in L.A. resulted in the U.S. election being entirely postponed?
And wouldn't our own conspiracy theorists put on their aluminum foil hats?
Oh, and look who wants the authority to make the decision: DeForest B. Soaries Jr., chairman of the newly created U.S. Election Assistance Commission. The Baptist minister was appointed by Bush, one assumes, to develop a faith-based election system, instead of actually fixing the problems that led to the disaster in Florida four years ago. That would, after all, be difficult and unexciting.
Once again, we have an example of an individual with no apparent competence for the job who nevertheless has great authority in this administration.
Pandagon has more on the real questions we should be asking; instead of asking how to move an election, why not concentrate on how to make sure we get people to the polls in the face of some kind of incident?
posted by John at 3:31 PM
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