Air America

[A. Joseph Ross]

On 6 Nov 2004 at 16:23, Joseph Pappalardo wrote:

> Jeaneane Garofolo and Rhandi Rhodes have been whining about how the
> eelction was "stolen"...and that there was massive voter fraud and voter
> intimidation...and if they would just COUNT the votes, Kerry could still
> be win!

Since Kerry has conceded the election, there seems to be no effort to ascertain the truth of 
this.  There have also been charges from Republicans of voter fraud.  There are documented 
instances of voter intimidation, particularly in African American and other minority areas.  
Whether it was enough to tip the election, I don't know.  But the press seems to have lost 
interest in finding out.  Nor has there been any explanation for why the exit polling gave a 
result so far different from the actual vote count.  
 
> I mean, c'mon...face reality!  I don't know anyone with half a brain who
> is still pitching a "stolen" election.

There were plenty of problems in certain critical locations, particularly Ohio, Pennsylvania, 
and Florida.  But whether there were enough to amount to a stolen election, nobody really 
knows.  And nobody seems to be looking into it.
 
> "People didn't really mean to vote this way", is another quote.

I agree that, at least the way this is worded, it's pretty dumb.  Assuming (1) that the touch-
screen machines actually recorded votes correctly and (2) there were no problems of ballot 
design (such as the butterfly ballots of 2000), people mean to vote the way they vote.

But people may vote based on false information.  I don't happen to know the source, but 
there is a survey out there  of Bush supporters showing that a majority of them believe that 
weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq and that Saddam Hussein was actively 
helping Al Qaeda.  
 
> It seems like conspiracy theories abound.  Face the facts...and do some
> analysis.

With that, I quite agree.  I believe in following the facts wherever they lead.  Unfortunately, 
there are partisans on both sides who do not.
 
> If I was an AA host this week...I woulda just let people vent, call and
> express their (hurt) feelings, express their outrage, etc....talk about
> the future, strategy, etc.

Stephanie Miller was doing that the day after election day.  And she must have had a lot of 
calls, too.  I've called her twice before, and it's taken about 15 minutes for me to get on the 
air.  The day after election day, I had to hang up after 45 minutes.
 
> If they want to be the voice of the extreme left...then fine.  But if they
> want to gain more of the mainstream liberal audience, then they need much
> more thought and less idiotic rantings.

Different hosts are different in this.  Some rant more than others.  And since we have some 
absurd right-wing ranters, I don't see why we shouldn't have some on the left, too.
 
> (Rush may have has silly rantings when Clinton was in office, but at least
> he added some humor.)

As does Al Franken -- though his rantings are much more fact-based than most.
 
> Franken just does a radio version of Moore's film.  

Moore's film had its facts fairly well researched, but it also insinuated a lot of things without 
saying them, and many of them are either false or unproven.  Franken generally sticks to 
well-documented facts.  Which is why I like him a lot better than some of the others.  There's 
one guy on in the evening on the Air America Webcast who keeps referring to "the Bush 
crime family."  That goes a little too far in my book.

> I don't think America accepts that george bush is a lying, schemeing,
> money-grubbing, callous, Jesus-freak that the extreme left was making him
> out to be.

Which is unfortunate, since he is exactly that.
 
-- 
A. Joseph Ross, J.D.                           617.367.0468
 15 Court Square, Suite 210                 lawyer@attorneyross.com
Boston, MA 02108-2503           	         http://www.attorneyross.com