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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LindyBill who wrote (82708)	11/2/2004 9:59:01 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793858

Kerry Apparently Wants US Election Law To Meet Global Test CAPTAIN ED Foreign election monitors complained yesterday that they had been assigned to overwhelmingly pro-Kerry events, calling their neutrality into question even as their members lobbied John Kerry to make changes in electoral law: European election monitors touring central Florida were dismayed yesterday at their local hosts' emphasis on Democratic events, saying their schedule of pro-Kerry and left-leaning themes has left little time for similar Republican visits. The day started with a small airport rally for Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry, who appeared to promise a senior member of the delegation that he would commit to reforming federal election processes. The four-member delegation of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) also listened to filmmaker Michael Moore address the League of Conservation Voters and visited a polling station in Sanford, Fla., which was the site of voting irregularities four years ago. "I would say we are dismayed," said Bart Tommelein, a Belgian congressman, of missing a Bush campaign rally that coincided with their arrival here Saturday evening. "We are neutral, you know, and we really should be spending more time with the other side." Other OSCE observers concurred. GOP workers expressed puzzlement at why election observers needed to attend campaign rallies and events at all. A spokesman for the Bush/Cheney campaign in Florida questioned the propriety of them coming to either headquarters at all, and wondered how that squared with their mission as impartial poll observers: "Why would foreign election observers want to go to Bush-Cheney headquarters in Orlando?" said Republican Party spokesman Joseph Agostini from Tallahassee. "If Kerry-Edwards want to welcome them with tea and cookies, well, that's terrific. But if they're here to observe polling, this has nothing to do with polling." Mr. Agostini stressed that any "registered" observer was free to watch the voting, "but to us, international monitors are a peripheral issue." It's a transparent attempt to suck up to the foreigners, a very strange strategy for an American political party to adopt in a presidential election during wartime. It looks like they're perverting their neutrality in order to get them to claim that unfair polling practices hampered their efforts. Democrats in Florida apparently have no problem embarrassing their nation by trumping up phony charges (see Daschle's insistence that eye-rolling is a form of voter intimidation) to excuse their losses. Not that there's much neutrality to pervert. One of the observers, a Finnish legislator, told John Kerry that US election law had to be changed, and Kerry agreed to enact his demands: While shaking hands with supporters yesterday, he paused to speak with Finnish senator Kimmo Kiljunen, who pressed the case for better-regulated U.S. elections. "Mr. Kerry, I am an international elections observer from Finland; I have a proposal for you," Mr. Kiljunen shouted above the cheering and tumult and added that Mr. Kerry should work for uniform election rules for the entire country at the federal level. Mr. Kerry leaned in, nodding, and responded, "Yes, that's a good idea. I will do it." Kerry campaign officials did not respond to calls for comment on the statement. The Finn, a veteran of more than two dozen OSCE observing missions, said he felt satisfied that the Democrat had given him more than an empty campaign promise. Phase one of John Kerry's Global Test plan: eliminate federalism and change over 200 years of American electoral tradition. Putting America's national security policy to an international approval process isn't enough, apparently; now our internal electoral processes will have to get their seal of approval. You will note that Kerry has never shared this plan with American voters. Instead of offering a defense of our Constitution and our process, Kerry instead promised to roll over for European demands to change it all. It's the Kerry approach in a microcosm.