Hi K!
The spin machine worked overtime all weekend on both sides.
I'm nauseated.
From the Bush thread a link to a Robert Novak column about the absentee memo. What struck me was the source of the memo. As you said, on the face of it, it sounds like a detailed instruction sheet, but it seemed to me that it is one that should have come from an official source, not from a Demo operative sending it to 500 Dem. lawyers. The intent is obvious.
Mark Herron, a lawyer from the state capital of Tallahassee engaged in the Gore campaign legal effort, last Wednesday sent off a five-page letter to colleagues around the state addressed to "FDP (Florida Democratic Party) Lawyer." The subject: "Overseas Absentee Ballot Review and Protest." It amounted to a quickie guide for tossing out the serviceman's vote.
It worked. In Jacksonville, officials ignored an affidavit from an aircraft carrier postal clerk swearing that mail sent by naval personnel often lacks a postmark. Consequently, plenty of sailors lost their vote at 4:30 Saturday morning (including, for example, Donnie Haynes, Michael Gentry and Clifford Shearer from the USS George Washington).
Brevard County Republican Chairman Ray Marino went home at 11:30 p.m. Friday after seven and one-half hours of inspecting overseas ballots and wrote this memo:
"Gore had five attorneys there. Their sole objective was to disenfranchise the military absentee votes. They challenged each and every vote. Their sole intent was to disqualify each and every absentee voter. They constantly challenged military votes that were clearly legitimate, but they were able to disqualify them on a technicality."
In Broward County, 92 overseas ballots were accepted and 304 rejected. In Miami-Dade County, 110 out of 113 were turned down. Statewide, 2,203 ballots were accepted and 1,420 rejected. As a result, Bush's net overseas gain was only 630, for an overall Florida lead of 930. |
