I receive a lot of e-mail from supporters. I also receive quite a bit of e-mail from critics. Most of the critics can't spell, use grammar properly or punctuate a sentence properly. One critic who has learned how to use the English language properly is Tim, also known as Tazzy32@aol.com, so I'll share with you some of what he has to say.
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Here's part of a message that Tim sent me today:
By the way, did you see in the newspapers where Duh-bya would have won Florida no matter how the ballots were counted? Why do you think it is that you would continue to think the election was stolen... when the facts show the opposite? Better yet, why don't you put an update on the situation on your Liberal Views and Commentary site so that people can see that you do have a grasp of reality? ; )
Your Friend, Tim Tazzy32@aol.com
I contacted Democratic National Committee Press Secretary Jenny Backus for a response. Jenny was on my radio show on March 9, 2000.
Here is part of the message that Jenny sent to me:
It is very clear from the Miami Herald count - if all votes in all counties had been counted under judicially approved standards, Al Gore would have won Florida. And, if all the people who INTENDED to vote for Al Gore - actually got to cast their ballots without confusion or impediment- the margin of victory would be even higher.
The USA Today/Herald headline of a Bush victory is wrong.
FACT ONE - The Herald/USA Today simply excluded several counties from their count - Gore would have won if they were included.The Herald/USA Today study excluded several large counties from their recount - including Palm Beach, Broward, Volusia, and parts of Miami-Dade counties. Other consistent accurate recounts of those counties show Gore won. In fact, the Herald & USA Today study itself explicitly shows that if they had included those counties in their study, Gore would have won Florida by 393 votes.
FACT TWO - Their study is based on one selective scenario of undervotes only.The Miami Herald/USA Today did not count OVERVOTES - Ballots which did not register a vote on election night because there were more than one category selected but from which could have been determined a clear Gore or Bush vote by the local canvassing board in a manual recount. The media consortium's recount (including newspapers like the Washington Post, New York Times and the Wall Street Journal) - which will be done in a few weeks - does count overvotes.
FACT THREE - The Herald/USA Today study admits that they may have missed hundreds, possibly thousands, of ballots which were lost from election night.
DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe took exception, yesterday, to the Miami Herald/USA Today study of ballots from the Florida partial recount. McAuliffe noted that the conclusion that Bush received the most votes in Florida is flawed in several ways. Most importantly, they did not include a full, accurate tally of the votes in seven entire counties and even used different vote-counting standards within the same county. Additionally, unlike the canvassing boards conducting the counts, the Miami Herald/USA Today count did not include overvotes - ballots that upon examination by the local canvassing board could determine a clear Gore or Bush vote. Nearly two-thirds of the overcount were not included.
"The same study that Republicans tout as proving that Bush really won Florida, also shows that if all the ballots were counted on election night, Al Gore would have won," McAuliffe said. "And if all the people who intended to vote for Gore actually got to vote, without being confused or intimidated, the results would have been overwhelmingly in favor of Gore. Any way you spin this data, you still come to the same conclusion, more must be done to protect our sacred right to vote and have our votes counted."
McAuliffe also pointed to the results of the study to raise questions about George Bush's hard turn to the right and away from the center of American politics.
"The only mandate that George Bush should have after a careful examination of the 2000 election results is a mandate for electoral reform," McAuliffe said. "But the silence coming out of the Bush White House, his brother's Governor's mansion in Florida, and the halls of the Republican-controlled Congress couldn't be more deafening. The Bush brothers are not only walking away from fixing the system that lead to such confusion and error, but now George Bush is cutting funding for electoral reform from the Federal Election Commission in his budget."
Bush refused a request by the Federal Election Commission for $5.5 million over two years that would be used for election reform efforts. The FEC requested the money for its Office of Election Administration, which is the only federal office with the ability to address how elections are run nationwide. The FEC wanted the additional funding to develop standards to ensure that future elections are run properly, according to Republican FEC member David Mason, who chairs the Commission's budget committee. "We have always wanted to take the next step but haven't had the money," Mason said. The request for additional funds was rejected shortly after the FEC submitted it in February, according to Mason. [USA Today, 3/21/01]
The additional funds requested by the FEC would have allowed the Commission to increase its staff charged with overseeing how elections are run and to conduct a survey of election mechanics across the country. The FEC wanted to double the size of its five-person election administration office, which many election reform proposals in Congress want to use as the basis of a new agency to raise election standards nationwide. The funding would have also allowed the FEC to undertake a "comprehensive census" of voting equipment used throughout the country and to survey local election administrators to develop a manual of the best practices for running elections. [USA Today, 3/21/01]
In addition to rejecting the FEC's request for election reform funding, the Bush administration also told the Commission to cut $1.4 million from its budget. The FEC requested $42.8 million in its budget request. According to Republican FEC member David Mason, the Commission needed the $42.8 million just to maintain its current level of services. The FEC's budget request was reviewed by Vice President Cheney, OMB Director Mitch Daniels and Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill. [USA Today, 3/21/01]CONCLUSION - THE ONLY MANDATE BUSH SHOULD HAVE IS A MANDATE FOR ELECTORAL REFORM.
George Bush is pushing a massive fiscally irresponsible tax cut which targets programs that working families count on. Poll after poll shows Americans oppose his special interests first economic approach.
The only mandate Bush should have is for electoral reform.
We cannot let what happened in Florida happen again. The principle of every vote being counted is central to our democracy and our way of life.
We need Presidential Leadership on this topic. George Bush and Jeb Bush have been silent on electoral reform. In fact, President Bush's budget cuts funding for the Federal Election Committee.
Republicans in Congress have yet to hold comprehensive hearings on electoral reform or on reports of voter suppression.
The Democratic Party is committed to a comprehensive program of protecting, preserving, and enhancing voter rights across this country.Jenny Backus, Press Secretary
dnc_press_office@dnc.democrats.org
Democratic National Committee Press Office
430 South Capitol Street SE
Washington, DC 20003
So, as you can see, Tim, Al really did win in Florida. Any other questions?
I'm also working on booking Jenny for an appearance on my radio show for later this month.
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