I HAD LONG IGNORED the Ohio presidential election controversy as a combination of sour grapes and agitation by fruitbowls and nutcakes, and though I was surprised by the contradictions between exit-poll results and the final outcome, I did not suspect any grave election thievery beyond the suspicious circumstances that so embarrassed my home state of Washington.
To set the record straight once again, I must admit with great shame I voted for George Bush – a pro-war vote I now deplore because – though I still support what by all rights should be called the War Against Islamic Aggression – it is also obvious Bush’s domestic policies will be far harder on the poor (myself included) than ever I imagined. But I also voted for Christine Gregoire – yet I deplore too the apparent vote-thievery by the Seattle Democratic machine that gave her the governorship. But one of the lesser reasons I voted for Bush was that I believed John Kerry would probably win the election by one to three percentage points – just as the exit polls indicated – and on that basis I regarded my vote as a kind of pro-war protest. Conversely, the only reason I voted for Gregoire was that I assumed (and based on Bush’s record since the election, obviously assumed correctly) that Dino Rossi would further the Bush/Dominionist scheme for savaging the social safety net, turning poverty and the fear of poverty into a vicious flail with which to beat American working folk into ever more frenzied competition in the Rat Race. (Such are the enfeebled considerations that weigh upon the alleged mind of a genuine Independent.)
But back to the Ohio election: as I said, nutcakes and fruitbowls – until I read the Christopher Hitchens piece that ran in the March issue of Vanity Fair. I came across this vital work after a dear friend had suggested I research the ongoing controversy about the Ohio vote-count. Here is what Andrew Sullivan would call the Hitchens report’s “money paragraph”:
I am not any sort of statistician or technologist, and (like many Democrats in private) I did not think that John Kerry should have been president of any country at any time. But I have been reviewing books on history and politics all my life, making notes in the margin when I come across a wrong date, or any other factual blunder, or a missing point in the evidence. No book is ever free from this. But if all the mistakes and omissions occur in such a way as to be consistent, to support or attack only one position, then you give the author a lousy review. The Federal Election Commission, which has been a risible body for far too long, ought to make Ohio its business. The Diebold company, which also manufactures A.T.M.s, should not receive another dime until it can produce a voting system that is similarly reliable. And Americans should cease to be treated like serfs or extras when they present themselves to exercise their franchise.
The entire disturbing analysis is available here. It is long enough – and thought provoking enough – I will hold off on the other links I had intended to post tonight, perhaps saving them for some other day.
Posted by Loren at June 9, 2005 03:50 AM