Below we post a selection of recent letters on our coverage of the US elections.
Thank you for your expose of John Ellis. There's another question to ask. Which network retracted its call for Gore first. Was it Fox? That's what we need to know. There's an awful stench here. I believe the Bush boys had Florida sandbagged through various kinds of corruption, and never expected that the nationwide popular vote for Gore would put the spotlight on Florida. They thought they could get away with it. They always do.
ES
Salem, Oregon
16 November 2000
Hi,
Just want to say thank you to for speaking up and making very public what I have been screaming for years. I thought it was all going to happen under Reagan or Bush, but now, perish the thought, should George W. win the US is almost certain to be turned into The United Police State of America, with all freedoms for the workers and people not of wealth stripped from them. The elite who will run with the dogs of course would keep their freedoms. I heard this story on talk radio with Mike Malloy and couldn't wait to get home and pull up your web site. I love it. Keep up the good work. You do have some people who are willing to stand with you.
In the struggle,
CP
16 November 2000
Thank you so much for telling the truth about the Florida mess. What many of us already know, that something smells awfully fishy in Florida! None of these happenings with tainted ballots, missing ballots, voter intimidation and manipulation of the press are an accident, but a planned and deliberate attempt to steal this election from its rightful winner, Al Gore. We know that, the question is: what are we American citizens going to do about it?
Keep up the great work!
NH
16 November 2000
I found the story written by Barry Grey total fiction. If anybody is trying to scam their way into the White House it is Gore and his band of lawyers. The liberal press started all of this when they reported Gore won Florida one hour after half the state of Florida was finished voting. They found it very difficult to accept the fact Bush was winning in Florida. Liberals, Socialists or whatever cannot accept the fact Bush won. Here is a quick solution to the matter, let Gore be president of all the blue states he won, and Bush can be President of all the red states which he won.
JS
14 November 2000
Great article on Bush attempt to steal election.
MO
Temple University, Philadelphia
16 November 2000
Regarding “The New York Times, The Washington Post and the 2000 election,” the attempt of the Republicans and the right wing to foist Bush onto the American people echoes eerily of the impeachment efforts. The same forces are involved with the same social outlook: the Republican Party with the extreme right (out of sight since the impeachment debacle) in control, the Democratic Party unwilling and unable to mount an offensive against the right wing, and the media which has taken yellow journalism to new heights, or should I say new lows. The inability of the Democratic Party to organize an offensive against the right wing has as much to do with its agreement with the program of the Republican Party as its real fear of unleashing the massive dissatisfaction and anger that exists within wide sections of the American populace. The World Socialist Web Site has rendered a tremendous service in pointing out that the defense of democratic rights has nothing to do with putting Al Gore in the office of the President and everything to do with beating back the right-wing forces grouped around George Bush and the Republican Party. I have no doubt that if Bush succeeds in taking office you will see people like the Christian right Pat Robertson again become publicly prominent.
HP
15 November 2000
Now this is the news I want to hear! Someone asking the right questions!
I think that it's great that you are calling it like it is and I'm disappointed no one else has of yet. There are some very fishy items surrounding this election, and I for one want them uncovered.
These are all very good questions and I know from speaking to many people in my surrounding area we are all asking these same questions ...
Do I believe Bush won ... not for a second ...
A concerned voter ...
JF
14 February 2000
As usual, the only election coverage right on the mark.
It is perhaps befitting the decay of American democracy that as things stand on November 14 the election will be decided by a $6 million heiress and chair of the Bush Florida campaign, rather than by the voters.
DK
14 November 2000
I picked up your story on a Yahoo News site (The US Election: the conspiracy begins to unravel). I'm not much into the conspiracy mindset, but this is an odd situation with some well-connected players in unusual positions, no doubt. It is refreshing to read your take on this (right or wrong). It does make me think that I might not be getting all the information from other news services.
Do you know how I might find out for myself why Voter News Service blew their initial call so badly? It seems that maybe they did have a good read on the will of the people after all. Is there a contact at VNS to which you could direct me?
(I've bookmarked your site and will return every now and then to see what other interesting things you have to say.)
Thanks,
TB
14 November 2000
Surely this is a joke. You can't be serious. Any individual who has more than half a brain can see through the charade that is currently going on in the state of Florida. Recount by hand ... translation: subjectively determine voter intent ... in a few counties that are Democratic strongholds. It is true that the process is somewhat flawed. The ballot in Palm Beach is definitely confusing for idiots. The time for fixing that is BEFORE the election, not after. Anyone who thinks this ballot, and the maneuvering after the election regarding its use, is a “plot” to steal the office of President of the US is so far off-base that it is not even worth discussing.
MK
14 November 2000
To the editor:
Cheers for having commented on this link between Fox News and the Bush campaign. Wondered if you were aware of the New York Daily News article of November 1, which mentioned a GOP plan to stir up a groundswell of public outcry in case Bush won the popular vote and lost the Electoral College. Looks like he may have been planning to be a sore loser.
SS
Austin, TX
14 November 2000
Your story about the false report from FOX on election night shocked me, but did not surprise me. I would like to see this get immediate attention on all the major networks and talk shows. If true, it supports the premise that Bush is a manipulative tool of the Republican right, which, if in the White House, would undo all the progressive fiscal, social and civil rights legislation that has been achieved in the last 30 years. Bring this out in the open, now.
BG
14 November 2000
What a scam, good old Jeb. It's just like you say, the exit polls normally show the winner but not in this case with 19,000 thrown-out votes. I just wonder after looking at this how many times someone has conceded who may have been the winner.... The US is in the Stone Age with voting. Why can't we have online voting like Arizona? When they started that, voting participation went up 600 percent. This is such a scam. The best thing to do is register your complaint with the criminal justice system at web@usdoj.gov
Thank you
MS
14 November 2000
Barry Grey,
How in the world did Fox's call of Florida to Bush at 2:16 a.m. have any effect on the election at all??? The polls were closed and the votes were in. Did you not watch Tuesday night? The only conspiracy was calling Florida to Gore while the polls were still open in Florida. That's criminal! Not to mention calling Bush victories very late. That depressed the Republican turnout across the nation in what otherwise would have been an easy victory for Bush. Anyone can say anything after the votes are in. As far as stealing an election, let's count, recount and count again. If that doesn't produce enough votes for Gore then let's count again, but only in heavily Democratic counties. What a circus.
So let's go along with your absurd belief that Bush conspired with his cousin. “Hey I know John, let's really show them. After everybody in the country has voted and I have a substantial lead in Florida, let's tell the public I took Florida, he, he. We gottem' now!” That's quite a plan. Do you really believe that the only corruption is in one or two counties in Florida? Well if Bush did steal this election then I would rather someone in the presidency with a little forethought than a bunch of clowns and their ambulance chasers led by Gore.
ME
14 November 2000
Voter News Service called Florida for Gore early, which led all the rest of the networks to call Florida for Gore. VNS is a pool that all the networks subscribe to, and it got its information from exit polls (actually voters leaving polling places). Now the party line across the press that VNS did “poor sampling” and called Florida incorrectly (I guess this is what you'd call major covering of asses).
But MOST IMPORTANTLY: If Ellis made the call for Florida to Bush, then he probably also was able to share VNS information with Jeb, who then would have gotten an inside lead on just where they needed to destroy Gore ballots to put his brother on top!
I was watching the election night coverage. Some things drew me to the conclusion there had been massive fraud (all circumstantial):
(1) Despite the press spin about the “toss-up” election, the harder-to-find Zogby/Reuters polls leading up to the election for about two weeks showed six of nine “battleground” states (Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Washington and Wisconsin) leaning toward Gore and the other three (Ohio, Missouri, Tennessee) toward Bush. The popular vote count went opposite to the more heavily quoted MSNBC daily poll (which showed Bush consistently 4 points ahead the entire period).
(2) As soon as the networks pulled Florida from the Gore column, most of the talking heads in the network coverage, especially ABC News (Peter Jennings, Sam Donaldson, George Stephanopolous), and Bob Schieffer on CBS, started talking about 1960, and other examples of voting fraud. Tom Brokaw mentioned something about missing ballot boxes in Broward County and ran into a digression about how ballot boxes disappear and America needs to bring better technology in to secure the process.
(3) After Gore withdrew his concession, Wisconsin's results (Wisconsin elections are managed by the dictatorial Republican Governor Tommy Thompson) switched suddenly from Bush leading to Gore leading. Tim Russert of NBC quipped, “Landslide Thompson,” which was clearly a reference for those in-the-know to “Landslide Lyndon” Johnson, who, in his initial Texas Senate race, won by 87 votes, all from one county, in one ballot box, including the votes of dead people, who apparently voted in alphabetical order.
Guessing that fraud had occurred in Florida, I suspect that the sudden shift to Gore was an executive decision by Thompson: I suspect he saw that the results in Florida were now under scrutiny, and decided to stop defrauding the state, for fear the spotlight would hit him next (this makes me doubt Republicans will ask for a recount there, although they bluster a lot about it today).
Circumstantial evidence also corroborates:
* Jeb Bush and his Republican Secretary of State of Florida (W's deputy campaign manager) managing the elections;
* The likelihood that, had Gore lost the popular vote nationally, or, if Florida had legitimately been a landslide for Bush, he probably wouldn't have felt the Republicans had so crossed the line with the fraud;
* Why would the Republicans be so intent on avoiding hand-recounts if the results had gone in their favor?
Then there are the subsequent massive reports of fraud in Florida:
* Mother Jones says Jeb contracted an agency to over-report blacks as felons, thus denying voting rights.
* Salon.com reports that duplicate absentee ballots went overseas, and some soldiers send both back.
* The “butterfly” ballot and the extensive number of “double-punched Gore/Buchanan ballots and Buchanan votes in the county, which Buchanan himself guesses aren't his.
* In several black precincts of a strongly Republican county, 22,000 votes were invalidated;
* Chicago Tribune has a map showing Gore numbers increased most during the recount in the most liberal counties;
* Missing ballot boxes, blacks denied voting rights and receiving pre-punched ballots, etc.
Curiously, the recount altered the total in Gore's favor by some 1,400 votes, and left a 200 vote gap (which was what the networks reported for nearly two hours on Election Night, before the vote gap suddenly started upward again and ended up at 1,784 votes).
I would bet both parties do commit acts of fraud here and there, given the sort of “spoils system” that pervades state election boards; I'd also bet that the accidents that are getting talked about (never the “fraud” word) are rampant, given the antiquated technology we use.
But I also think there's an unspoken agreement that if one side steals an entire presidential election outright, a holy war will result. (Much like the reason Hitler opted against using mustard gas in World War II, as it would have been used against Germany, too.) I think Democrats were pissed about Florida, because they just didn't see it coming, and Gore's career was just “over” enough that he felt he didn't have anything to lose dragging W through the mud over it.