SwiftVets.com

[Mother]

http://federalistpatriot.us/

Subverting Democracy...

Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, representing Ohio in the House, and Sen. Barbara Boxer, representing herself, stood in the joint session of Congress on Thursday to challenge the certification of the Ohio electoral delegation's vote. Vice President Cheney, chairing the joint session of Congress meeting to certify the 2004 election of George Bush, immediately adjourned the proceedings so that the two houses could debate the issue.

Boxer and Tubbs Jones then rose in their respective Houses and rattled off a list of 20 "problems" that supposedly plagued Ohio's election. Since most of them related to urban centers run by Democrat administrations, we would suggest that the DNC consult with Ms' Jones and Boxer to correct the situation. After the grandstanding ended, the Senate voted 74-1 and the House 267-31 to reject the objections. The joint session of Congress resumed Thursday night and quickly finalized certification of the 2004 presidential election, 286 electoral college votes to 251, Bush over Kerry.

Republicans were understandably displeased. House Majority Whip Roy Blunt said, "Every time we doubt the process, we cast doubt on that fabric of democracy ... people do need to have confidence that the process works."

In 2000, 24 Democrat representatives raised objections to President Bush's election as well, but without a Senate challenge, they went nowhere. Senator Boxer's actions speak for themselves.

[Beatrice1000]

I watched some of this staged “dramatic event” on C-Span, as much as I could -- the griping, anger, self-righteousness -- petty whiners! I admit I could not bear listening for long and just checked in and out -- but was pleased to see the Republicans stand up and speak directly against this charade, as in the speech below:

** “Congressman Asserts Michael Moore Had Hand in Boxer’s Objection to Counting Ohio’s Electoral Votes” **

Floor Speech of Rep. Ric Keller (R-Fla) regarding Electoral Vote count delivered on 1/6/05:

(excerpts)
".... Isn't it ironic that the only people who refuse to "move on" are the people from MoveOn.org and their hero Michael Moore? ... Why are we here wasting time on silly Hollywood inspired conspiracy theories?

Well, since Hollywood likes conspiracy's so much, here's a real one. On 6/23/04, the Michael Moore movie Fahrenheit 911 premiered in WDC. According to U.S. News & World Report, NYT, & National Journal, one of the few Senators who attended this premier was Senator Barbara Boxer. In this movie, Mr. Moore said it was shameful that not one U.S. Senator objected to the electoral vote count in Florida. Two days ago, on 1/4/05, the same Michael Moore published a new letter to Senator Boxer* & other Senators reminding them that they didn't object to the electoral vote count four years ago, & requested that they rise & object to the vote count from Ohio today. Today, in fact, Senator Barbara Boxer just objected to the Ohio vote count. Is this all merely a coincidence? Is this pandering to the Michael Moore wing of the Democratic Party? Is it worth wasting two hours of Congress' time? The only bigger waste of two hours would be to go see Fahrenheit 911.
......
Regarding those who are now killing Americans in Iraq, he (Moore) said, "The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not insurgents or terrorists or the enemy. They are the revolution, the minutemen & their numbers will grow -- and they will win." How many normal people in this country really believe that a terrorist like Al - Zarqawi, who chops off the heads of Americans over in Iraq, is on the same level as Paul Revere, the folk hero of the American Revolution?

Here's some straight talk. In 2000, they didn't like the way the votes were counted in Florida. Now, they don't like the way the votes are counted in Ohio. In the blue states, they call it a recount. In the red states, we call it what it is: sour grapes. ... Why allow the conspiracy theorists to undermine the public confidence in the electoral system itself?”

*moore's website: 1/4/05 letter to senators
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WHY INDEED. The grievances/allegations of the Black Caucus and Boxer & their ilk were frivolous and harmful -- there is no value for the U.S. in what they did no matter what direction they try to stretch it in; there is enough evidence that Ohio voting was fine and that the President was re-elected by the nation -- the only value they can extract is for themselves: a soapbox by any other name is still media coverage (for their continuing work on their agitation for their own self-interest and against the best interests of this country).

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[Mother]

Will somebody please give that man a Congressional Medal of Honor!

I wonder if he got a standing ovation?

[LewWaters]

While this extreme arm of the party seeks to obfuscate the election in Ohio, where the margin of victory is nearly 100,000, they find no problem with the following "irregularities" noted and discovered in the Washington Governors race;

[Schadow]

[SBD]

January 07, 2005
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA): We Got What We Wanted
News Hounds

Yet another California Democrat appeared on Big Story with John Gibson. Unlike the usual run of “warm beer” Democrats that haunt the halls of FOX News, this fiery woman don’t take nothin’ from nobody! Her name is Maxine Waters and she was interviewed by substitute host Judge Andrew Napolitano along with her colleague Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL). The topic, of course, was the Democratic challenge to the Electoral College vote from the State of Ohio led by two women, Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH) and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA).

DIAZ-BALART: Everybody in the world has accepted it [the fact that Bush won] except for a small group of RADICALS [his emphasis] in the Congress and a couple of anti-American activists around the country, such as Michael Moore who said the American people are dumb. Those are the people that don’t want to accept the reality. Now, let me tell you what the problem is ‘cause this wouldn’t be that bad except for the fact that the only thing it does is to undermine the credibility, the legitimacy, of the President of the United States, of the Commander-in-Chief while our troops are in harm’s way...This is not a laughing matter. This is a very serious affront to the institutions of democracy. So when Congressman Delay said that this was not a laughing matter he was absolutely right.

NAPOLITANO: How about it, Congresswoman Walters? You just heard - Waters, excuse me - you just ...

WATERS: My name is Waters.

NAPOLITANO: I’m sorry.

WATERS: Yes.

NAPOLITANO: He says that you and your colleagues are attempting to undermine the legitimacy of President Bush. Congressman Delay says its an assault on our institutions and a threat to our ideals. What do you say about that?

WATERS: Oh, I think that kind of language is less than any member of Congress should want to use. They have no credibility when they go over the top with that kind of radical language. What they are trying to do is fire up people to think that somehow there are no problems in our voting. I don’t care where you are in the United States of America. You want you vote to count.”

Judge Napolitano went on to enumerate the bipartisan recount that took place in Ohio which was controlled by equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans. All 88 counties were recounted and there was no protest from either side.

NAPOLITANO:... Do you think it’s worth making a big deal and delaying the President’s reelection over this?

WATERS: You missed the whole point. Would you like to stand in line for ten hours in order to vote? Would you like to have your vote discarded? Would you not like to be able to cast an absentee ballot? Would you not like to have a provisional voting system? I don’t know why some of you who claim to care about democracy don’t understand that the vote is the underpinning of a democracy...

NAPOLITANO (trying to cut her off): Congressman Balart ..

WATERS: ... and we ought to be concerned about it...

NAPOLITANO: Congressman Balart, there are two guys ...

BALART: Yes, Judge.

NAPOLITANO: Congressman Balart, there were two guys on a statewide ballot who were both Democrats in the Senate - John Kerry and John Edwards. Did THEY [his emphasis] join in today’s protest? [COMMENT: In music there is an Italian term - stretto - that is used to describe a passage the moves forward quickly, with a sense tight urgency rather like a rubber band being pulled. That describes Napolitano’s intensity here. He hasn’t lost all of his trial lawyer skills, it seems.]

BALART: They did not. It’s very interesting. You know the Congresswoman talked about credibility. Let’s look at that. Let’s look at how much her own colleagues thought this was a credible effort. There’s 435 members of the House and - what? Only 30 - less than 30 - voted for this measure. That speaks [intensely like an actor’s stage whisper, stretching the word] volumes for credibility.

WATERS (interrupts): OK. That doesn’t mean...

BALART: Those are the facts ...

WATERS: That doesn’t ...

BALART: Excuse me Congresswoman. Speaking!

WATERS: That doesn’t mean anything ...

BALARY: Well, I guess if she says it, she wants the votes counted, but she doesn’t want the votes counted for credibility’s sake on the House floor ...

NAPOLITANO: If you had your way, Congresswoman Waters, what would you have had happen today?

WATERS: Oh, we had what we wanted [to] happen. I’m talkin’ to you on national television about a debate that took place in Congress about making every vote count. I have what I want.

NAPOLITANO: You didn’t really ..

WATERS: I have created a forum. I’ve created the opportunity for a debate. All of those members who joined in have radio stations and television stations all over the country talking about how we can make people’s vote count. How we can have ...

NAPOLITANO (overtalks, interrupts): Didn’t the leadership of your own party try and talk you out of this?

WATERS: No. Absolutely not. I don’t know where you got that from. Nancy Pelosi, who is our leader, the minority leader of the House, spoke to this issue.

NAPOLITANO: OK.

WATERS: Did you see her?

NAPOLITANO: ... and voted against it, by the way.

COMMENT

I noticed throughout the day little asides about the “delay” in the vote for something that was inevitable with an emphsis on the fact that the vote wasn’t certified until late afternoon. Call it woman’s intuition, but it wouldn’t surprise me if FOX had worked out a Presidential photo op to coincide with the end of the vote certification. If so, they would have been really miffed when a few Democrats led by a couple of uppity dames ruined it.

Reported by Marie Therese at January 7, 2005 02:33 AM



Sunday, Dec. 19, 2004 12:58 a.m. EST
Rep. Maxine Waters Faces New Allegations

NewsMax.com

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters' family members earned more than $1 million over the last eight years by doing business with companies, candidates and causes that she helped, according to a newspaper report Sunday.

Waters' daughter and son pocketed fees from campaigns endorsed by the congresswoman's election mailers while her husband worked for a bond underwriting firm seeking government business from her political allies, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Waters, an influential lawmaker who has represented Inglewood, Hawthorne, Gardena and parts of Los Angeles since 1990, declined to answer detailed questions, insisting her family's fortunes were kept apart from her political activities.

"They do their business and I do mine," said Waters, 66. "We are not bad people."

The Waters' close financial ties are not expressly prohibited by state laws or congressional ethics rules.

According to the Times, Waters and her children are linked through a political organization that publishes an election mailer listing campaigns she endorsed. Some candidates are included free of charge, though others pay tens of thousands of dollars.

Of the $1.7 million L.A. Vote collected in the last eight years, nearly $450,000 went to Karen Waters and her consulting firm, public disclosure reports show. About $115,000 was paid to the congresswoman's son.

Karen Waters, 46, said she and her mother kept their business dealings separate. Her son, Edward Waters, 49, a high school basketball coach and political consultant, declined to comment.

Waters' children have also landed consulting work with the mailer's advertisers, including former 1998 gubernatorial candidate Al Checchi and Indian tribes.

Campaign consultants for the tribes, whose interests and ballot measures Waters has consistently backed, said Karen Waters was hired on her merits. "We didn't hire her because of her mom," said consultant Chuck Winner.

Waters' husband, Sidney Williams, has made nearly $500,000 as a consultant to a municipal bond company and lobbying politicians his wife supports, according to public records.

The 62-year-old former professional football linebacker and U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas said Waters complied with public disclosure laws, but declined further comment.

The Times reported that Williams helped the firm win a $40 million school bond sale approved by school board members that paid Waters' mailer operation to advertise her endorsement.

With his assistance, the company also secured a $424 million bond deal to build a prison in Delano after successfully pitching the office of state Treasurer Philip Angelides.

Angelides, who has been regularly listed in Waters' mailers, said in a statement that his decisions are based solely "on the advice of the professional staff."

Bond underwriter Siebert, Brandford & Shank hired Williams for his own connections and not those of his wife, according to Napoleon Brandford III, the firm's chairman and co-owner.


SBD

[Beatrice1000]

[SBD]

[scotty61]

What the Democrats seem not care about or notice; is that the average voter is sick unto death of campaign rhetoric by election day. They are in danger of alienating even more people by continuing thse pointless challanges. Here's hoping that they remain as totally clueless as they have shown themselves to be in the past.
_________________
John Kerry. A Neville Chamberlain for our times.