That’s it. The camel’s back is broken.
George Bush is allowing the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to “monitor” the elections of our free and sovereign nation. Simply outrageous. WorldNetDailyreports:
When 13 Democratic members of the U.S. Congress asked United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to send election monitors to the U.S. this fall, the move outraged many Republicans and other proponents of national sovereignty.When those same 13 Democratic members of Congress were turned down by Annan, they took their request to Secretary of State Colin Powell — again to the shock of many Republicans and those who warn about foreign entanglements.
Yesterday, those 13 Democratic House members got their surprising answer from the State Department — the administration will indeed invite foreign election monitors to observe the U.S. elections in November.
Kofi Annan, to his credit, turned down the request of the hysterial hypocrites. But President Bush, via Colin Powell, is giving in to the demands of a raving bunch of…to allow foreigners to “monitor” Americans and how we run our free electoral process? I will not be subjected to “monitoring” by any foreigners, some of whom might even come from terrorist countries! The monitors will be confined to Florida only? So what. My protest is still valid in principle.
I hope Bush and Powell don’t think this will win them any favor among “black voters.” Those two can comply with every single demand put forth by black members of Congress. Bush will still be a “racist” and Powell will still be a “house slave.”
I’m so angry right now, and I tend to get very irrational when I’m angry, so I’ll refrain from any more outbursts. I may post more on this later. Feel free to add your own views.
Joe Mariani, writing for GOPUSA.com, sums it up: “Let me get this straight. A group of Democrats want to bring some people from countries like North Korea, Iran, Syria, China and Cuba — people that have never seen a democratic election in their lifetimes — to sit in judgment on our elections? What kind of voodoo politics is that? The last time a foreign body had any direct influence over the political process of this country, the situation was corrected by a war for our freedom from British rule. Are these so-called Americans so willing to surrender that hard-won right of self-determination now, and to such a shamelessly scandal-ridden group of anti-American dictatorships and terrorist sympathizers? We may as well dissolve the Union now and save ourselves the pain of watching it done for us.”
Also see Michael King.
Around the blogosphere: One Hand Clapping, Matt Margolis (very blunt!), Discount Blogger, Calblog, Slobokan, SlantPoint, Red Line Rants, Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler (language warning), Booker Rising
Addendum: President Bush’s amnesty plan for illegal aliens almost broke my will to vote, but I recovered. I don’t think I can get over this current debacle.
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La Shawn,
I may be mistaken, but it is not the UN. It’s a European group of some kind. Cx my blog from a day or two ago. I’m probably being too nitpickin’. We shouldn’t have any group monitoring our elections.
UPDATE: It’s a group called OSCE. Copy and paste the link below into your browser….
http://cnn.allpolitics.printthis.clickability.com/pt/cpt?action=cpt&title=CNN.com+-+International+team+to+monitor+presidential+election+-+Aug+8%2C+2004&expire=-1&urlID=11261137&fb=Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2004%2FALLPOLITICS%2F08%2F08%2Finternational.observers%2Findex.html&partnerID=2001
I’m still voting for Bush. IMHO he only agreed because otherwise he’d be hearing about “stealing the election” again over the next four years. This way it shuts the liberals up. If I hear the “president-select” argument again, I’ll scream.
No, I’m not happy about it, but it keeps Barbara Lee and her friends from starting a revolution.
Thanks, Guy.
But I’m still angry!
Actually, it would be rather amusing if this group did indeed find real instances voter fraud. Might shed some light on things.
But then again, they will probably only find what they are looking for: Republican voter fraud.
I posted about this a couple of days ago.
I’m uneasy about this as well, but it’s not unprecedented. I also think it’s to head off the moonbat chorus regarding stolen elections that’s bound to come up.
I think there may be violence if Bush wins and he’s trying to head it off. That said, I do think that it’s opening up a big can of worms. The president didn’t open up this can, however.
Here is a list of the members of the Organization for Security and Co-Operation In Europe:
Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Holy See, Hungary, Iceland
Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania , Russian Federation , San Marino , Serbia and Montenegro, Slovak Republic, Slovenia , Spain , Sweden , Switzerland , Tajikistan, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey , Turkmenistan , Ukraine , United Kingdom , United States of America, and Uzbekistan.
The USA was one of the original members back in 1990, when the Treaty for its existence was signed.
I had added a link to the last post. Here it is. http://baldilocks.typepad.com/baldilocks/2004/07/now_this_needs_.html
I just did some quick research and found out that the OSCE sent a delegation to Florida during the 2002 midterm elections. Moreover, the United States under Bush, Sr. signed the treaty that while not legally binding, it’s a political commitment, which among other things, included observations of elections when asked.
This cheeses me off too – as if we’re some nation on the brink of civil war.
Geez….
There is one GOOD thing to come from these clowns watching the elections: when Kerry loses, there will be no wiggle room for anyone to scream voter denial!!!
Mad Mikey: There is one GOOD thing to come from these clowns watching the elections: when Kerry loses, there will be no wiggle room for anyone to scream voter denial!!!
I think that’s the very reason for this.
La Shawn,
i have to admit that this really tees me off too. It did so when I first heard about the Democrats asking for United Nations monitoring. But…this is one of those Catch 22 situations. If Bush blew them off, he’d hear about it for another 4 years (provided he won). By letting them in he still doesn’t change any liberal minds, and quite possibly ends up making his base (like you)upset, but it does take away the “stolen election” argument. Say speaking of that, maybe we should have them monitor Chicago for deceased voters, bet the Dems wouldn’t like that…or maybe most of Cities in Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas for illegal voters (I KNOW they wouldn’t like that).
Expatlse: So what? I still don’t like it. I don’t care what they signed or what they did during the 2002 midterm elections.
Juliette: What’s going on? Seems like ages since we talked.
Thanks for the comments, everyone.
They are not monitoring. They are observing. We should be happy and proud to invite guests from all over the world to view our election process. Don’t get sucked into Wing Nut Daily’s paranoia.
But I’m repeating myself:
http://www.kimdutoit.com/dr/forum/threads.php?id=3674_0_34_0_C
Should have posted a warning about strong language on the above link.
It’s crazy. But look at it this way. By allowing the OSCE in to observe our elections, as we have in Kosovo, Albania and the other Eastern European countries, we are setting an example for other rickety countries to ensure fair elecctions. It’s not about our sovernigty. Also Bush kills the arguement about stolen/bought elections. Remember, he had great difficulty in getting traction on a lot of his intended policies.
It is incumbent for us to vote for him as well as the necessary conservatives who will support him in DC, be they dem, rep or ind. RINOs due up this year and 2006 like Specter, Snow et al need to go. What matters is that be a super majority (60+) so there will be no excuse for not being able to install the judges, policies etc.
The really stupid thing is that they’re only coming to Florida, right? What about all the other states that might have “unfair” elections? It’s because most voter fraud is Democratic.
I’m tempted as well! Somebody should be whipped and made to go search for bin Laden for this great idea
My problem is that I do not trust the outsiders. Will the socialists try to make trouble for Republicans unwarranted? My feeling is that they will. This is an American issue, and it annoys me that the foreigners are going to be allowed to watch just as badly as it annoys me that George Soros gave 20 million dollars to moveon. Foreigners have no say in American politics.
I don’t like it, but my reaction is the opposite of yours Miss Barber. All the more reason to get the vote out for Bush. If Bush wins with an irrefutable margin, we all win in the end. We talk of being an open society, so let’s be open and teach the world while we have their attention. Let’s show them that choosing a government doesn’t involve violence or coercion. It simply involves ordinary people walking into an election station and peaceably casting their votes.
grab the ammo and run for the hills.
La Shawn:
My point is that you were discussing terrorist states, and people from Cuba, NK, etc. coming. That is wrong.
On the other hand, I still think you should vote, even if it is not for Bush.
Terrorists, communists…all the same to me. Expatlse, do you ever agree with anything I post?
Communists, huh? I thought your commentary about going to Church this past Sunday was great as well as the Cosby stuff. I also like your candid take-no-prisoner attitude even if I disagree with what you are saying. Consider me a Gadfly in the ear of your blog.
I should be working on my dissertation now, but I feel blog reading is more enjoyable.
Great! I was beginning to wonder. I think it makes the blog more interesting that you like some, but definitely not all, don’t you? No doubt these “observers” will be socialists or worse. Gee, I wonder who they’ll be rooting for at the polls: Kerry or Bush? Kerry or Bush?
What’s your dissertation on?
I am analysing the President’s use of emergency injunctions in labor disputes, concluding that the court’s have abdicated their responsibilities not questioning the President with respect to Taft-Hartley injunctions. When I say President, I mean all Presidents, not our current President. It is for my LL.M at the London School of Economics. Upon my retiring my expat status (in 2 weeks), I’ll be off to DC to work at a civil rights boutique firm, so I’ll be squaring off with some of your one time associates at the US Attorney’s office, since our clients are mostly federal employees.
As far as the observers, I take the position that other posters have said, it will show the world how proper free elections work.
On another Presidential topic. While I am an unabashed liberal, I am extremely annoyed when people refer to Bush as anything less than elected President. Simply, if Bush v. Gore (which I haven’t read) went the other way and Gore became the President, I believe Republicans would be doing the same thing Dems are doing now, and the Dems would blame it on sour grapes.
The fact is simple, we needed a President, and ultimatly the Supremes had to decide the case. The sky didn’t fall and hell hasn’t frozen over (at least I hope not). The Republican candidate won, and all of the eggs being thrown and comments like “President Select” or “Hail to the Thief” do not mean anything.
They’d better not root for anybody at the polls, or else they’ll go to jail.
LaShawn.
Vote. You can leave the presidential election blank or write in a candidate.
Aren’t there local elections that you care about?
Rather than vote for Clinton, I voted for the Tax Reform Party candidate.
As someone who appreciates the sacrifices made by blacks who fought for the right to vote, I will head to the polls with everyone else. I don’t really care about local elections since the one or two Republicans running for the D.C. Council have no chance of winning, but I’ll vote for them anyway.
Amusing spin on the observing thing.
They had better have a court order if they want to enter my precinct. Texas law is very specific as to what observers are allowed into the polling places and what paperwork they need — and as election judge, I have the ultimate say on who can observe.
If they follow the same rules the State Dept gave them in FL in 92 and CA in 93, these observers will be required to remain no less than 50 feet from any polling place.
Might as well be reporters or exit pollsters.
I can see why everybody’s upset, but the observers won’t be running our elections; they’ll be watching.
Across the country, Democrat politicians reflexively object to all attempts to monitor elections as “voter intimidation”. What they mean is, it will interfere with their attempts to steal elections. The Democrats who proposed this idea to the UN did it as a phony PR trick, but Bush took them up on it.
We shouldn’t care if everybody in the world comes to watch our elections. We are proud of our democratic system, as chaotic as it sometimes is. And if the monitors’ presence somehow prevents vote fraud, that will help Republicans.
I hope the administration will send the observers to those precinpts where, in the last election, 100% of the voters showed up, and 99% voted for Dimocrats. These were on Dakota reservations and in Pennsylvania.
This seems to me to be too silly to lead to the kind of outrage that would lead you not to vote for President Bush. It was a silly request, and it was really unnecessary for him to grant it, but is your outrage over this greater than the differences between Bush and Kerry should motivate?
‘ No doubt these “observers” will be socialists or worse.’
Lets be real here. I dont know what your definiton of Socialist is but scanning over the list Expatlse provided…..i see no Socialist countries, and i certainly see no terrorist or Communist countries. Talk about paranoia. The US signed up for this deal, just like all those other countries did. Its hardly cause for this uproar.
I’ve got a few rules here, “Filthy.” #2 is that you don’t offend the blog hostess. Implying that I’m paranoid is offensive.
In which case i apologise, but i wasnt being specific. Im just saying i think the whole uproar over the issue is paranoia.
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