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Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Hypocrisy, thy name is "Republican"
Posted by Jill | 11:41 AM

Greg Palast (a.k.a. "Mr. February") induces the coffee-spit-on-the-keyboard as he notes Republican Sen. Richard Lugar's shock....shock...and appalled-ness (???) at the election irregularities in Ukraine.

He quotes the New York Times (emphases mine):

An international election observer mission - from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the European Parliament, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and the Council of Europe - released a preliminary report on Monday declaring that the election did not meet democratic standards.

The observers' findings were seconded by Republican Senator Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Citing the disturbing fact that official results diverged sharply from a range of surveys of voters at polling places, Lugar said, "A concerted and forceful program of election-day fraud and abuse was enacted with either the leadership or cooperation of governmental authorities."

Other prominent Western observers were unsparing in their criticism of the state's conduct of the election.

"Fundamental flaws in Ukraine's presidential election process subverted its legitimacy," the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, sponsored by the Democratic Party in the United States, declared in its preliminary report. The institute, cited "systematic intimidation, overt manipulation and blatant fraud" that were "designed to achieve a specific outcome irrespective of the will of the people."


As Palast notes:

This reporter was unable to reach Senator Lugar regarding the inconsistency of official election results and exit polls in the USA; the intimidation of minority voters in Florida and Ohio; nor the failure to count two million ballots cast, half by African-American voters, in America's first post-democratic election held earlier this month.

Eastern bloc observers noted that balloting in Ohio, New Mexico and Florida did not meet Ukrainian standards, but applauded America's attempt to restore democratic institutions after the overthrow of elected government in 2000.


I swear, you can't make this stuff up.

UPDATE: Keith Olbermann, the last investigative journalist in America still with a full-time job, weighs in on the irony of Republican worship of exit polls in the context of Ukraine, and dismissing of them here.

One aspect to this whole recount/exit poll fracas that isn't getting enough attention is that of disenfranchisement. It's one thing to recount the votes and look at whatever pitiful audit logs haven't yet been destroyed by Republican election officials. It's quite another to find out just how many people were prevented from voting entirely due to their precincts being stiffed for adequate voting machines.

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