International team to monitor presidential election

Cnn.com

[jveritas]

LOL... That is a good one my friend.

We have few people here on FR who believe in the "black Helicopter theory". They make between 10% to 15% of the total people on FR, but unfortunately they are very loud, very noisy, and very annoying.

They did not vote President Bush in 2000 and they will not vote for him in 2004. They vote for some bitter losers like Pat Buchanan, some libertarian candidate or some Constitution party candidate.

They try to demoralize the vast majority of us by attacking the President at every opportunity or by posting gloom and doom scenarios (polls in particular). However we are much smarter than them, much more informed, and much more logical to fall to their stupid game.

[reformed_democrat]

you can say good bye to the Dem Party .. because American's will freak out on them

From your mouth to God's Ear.

Americans tend to look the other way when democrats and children act up. I'm not sure what the loons could do that would cause normal people to finally say, "OK. That's IT. You're Grounded!"

[Jasper Willowtree]

dems came up with this nutty scheme but if i'm reading this right isn't the administrations state dept extending the invitation...

[reformed_democrat]

you are going to see some stuff in NYC for the convention too

I don't think the NYC merchants will be as "tolerant" as the Seattle bunch, though.

At least, I hope not.

[NYC GOP Chick]

Yes, it appears that our treason-committing Statist Department has, indeed, done just that.

From the start, it bothered me that Powell wouldn't get rid of the Clintonian leftovers, and I don't mean the unfireable civil service hires, but the political appointees. They're going to be the end of us.

[Jasper Willowtree]

shocked to find out the osce was here in 02...if true, was powell responsible for allowing them in then as now...it would surprise me if powell was acting unilaterally...he wouln't do this without bush's approval...

[Major Matt Mason]

I don't like it but think this could be a good political move on the presidents part. The democrats really can't complain and will be forced to keep fraud in check on their end

LOL! Do you honestly believe that a bunch of leftist monitors (and that is what they will be, I can assure you) are going to find any fault with anything a Democrat voter does? This is a brilliant move, just as the signing of CFR into law was, so that the courts would take care of it- they took care of things, alright, like our free speech.

[COEXERJ145]

We have few people here on FR who believe in the "black Helicopter theory". They make between 10% to 15% of the total people on FR, but unfortunately they are very loud, very noisy, and very annoying.

Yeah, I've noticed. They see everything as part of the "New World Order" conspiracy.

[Major Matt Mason]

Of course this has nothing to do with the U.N. but why let details get in the way.

The OSCE has "partnered" with the UN on several items, so it is not right to say that this has nothing to do with the UN. All you have to do is look at this org's web site.

[reformedliberal]

They were here in 2002. We won huge and fraud was down. They were here for the CA recall: we won that one and it wasn't close and no complaints of fraud that I recall (not being in CA).

They are escorted. They do not interfere. They observe. They answer questions formally when they return to their countries. We send observers to their elections.

It is because we are sovereign that we can invite guests. Our elections are transparent. This is only proof of our strength and sovereignty.

One of the missions of this group is free and fair elections. They observe in major democracies so they have a benchmark for the 3rd world elections they observe. You see the reports all the time: elections in such-&-such 3rd world basket case were flawed/fraudulent/problematic. These are the people who then try and suggest changes to make the elections less prone to fraud.

Not that we are depending on this too-small group to ensure fairness. We will have poll watchers in every precinct. If you want to volunteer, make plans to be off work Election Day and take the training from the campaign beforehand. There will be attorneys available in every state for any major problem.

And while, like all international NGOs, they have an affiliation w/the UN, they are not *the UN*. I do not think there is one member from a non-democratic state. They are our major trading partners in Europe.

[daybreakcoming]

"The U.S. is obliged to invite us, as all OSCE countries should," spokeswoman Urdur Gunnarsdottir said. "It's not legally binding, but it's a political commitment. They signed a document 10 years ago to ask OSCE to observe elections."

OK, who was President of the US ten years ago? I see this as backfiring on the demos. They made the request as a publicity stunt. Pres Bush called their bluff.

[daybreakcoming]

whoops - big uh-oh. The article here stated ten years ago and while I always hesitate (BIG lie inserted here) to blame Clinton for anything - I had to on this one but after reading another article - I regret to withdraw this one. But I'm sure I'll find something else to blame him for.

[backtothestreets]

This is H****S***!

Where are we, as a nation, headed?

[Honorary Serb]

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe was invited to monitor the election by the State Department. The observers will come from the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.

The forces of "human rightser-ism" on the move. America trembles.

[Indie]

The other threads explain that is not anything to blow a gasket over

You have been the only one to state this on the other threads. You are wrong.

[Imaverygooddriver]

About time. Algore tried everything he could to steal the election last time, and look how close he came to it. Trying to overturn the felon law, trying to dis-qualify military ballots, trying to get "soiled chads" to count for him, trying to get 20 million re-counts until he "won", handing out booze and butts to bums in exchange for votes..etc etc

[CurlyBill]

I agree with you .... this is sickening! Are they here to help the French candidate?

[Kaslin]

The U.S. is obliged to invite us

What a crock

[ArmyBratproud]

People who think this is no big deal...are not looking at the actual problem. If these peope try to cause problems and say the election is bad...it will backfire on Kerry.

BUT THE REAL PROBLEM HAD TO DO WITH CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES.

Those powers not given to the Fed side are reserved for the State side.

States are the ones who certify their votes. They are the ones who set up how votes are done in their State.
We saw this in New Jersey and Florida. The Supreme Court sent a message that the States are in charge of how the set up to elect officials. That's seems to be one of the reasons they allowed the Florida State Supreme Court let Florida drag on if it went by claimed state guidelines. They even let it go on more than guidelines said. And why they also said that they were not allowed to keep pushing for more recounts.

The State Department does not seem to have the authority to invite these people in to monitor. It seems that it may violate a State's Rights issue.

State's should be able to say..." we will not have monitors in our state". No matter what the monitor's intent.

And there is the issue of National Sovereignty.

This action will only give Kerry the chance to say..."this just shows that Bush did not really win Florida...if we need these observers".

There were investigations into Florida by the commission....and if you look at what is actually in the report...The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights' (which by the way had a Clinton appointee whose term was up...but refused to step down and allow the new replacement to take their seat) report showed no evidence that a single person was intimidated, harassed, or prevented from voting by Florida law- enforcement officials.
Also, The report showed no evidence of systematic disenfranchisement of black voters.
The PURGE list that they made an issue of in their partisan based conclusion, which had nothing to do with facts of the investigation or what is actually written in the report, was actually twice as likely to prevent WHITES from voting, than blacks. There were also 6500 ineligible felons who were allowed to vote. And the vast majority of them voted for Gore. Some suspect that Gore may have gotten well over 3500 illegal votes because of this.

Furthermore, 24 of 25 counties that where there were the highest accusations of disenfranchisement of blacks, those voter, the County Elections Supervisors, who answer to the County Commissioners....and not the Governor or State officials, WERE DEMOCRATS.
AND EVEN IN THOSE COUNTIES....IT WAS A BALLOT SPOILAGE ISSUE.....MEANING THE VOTERS THEMSELVES MAY HAVE MADE AN ERROR. That's not disenfranchisement by the election supervisors....that's stupidity by the voter.

All of the above combined show that there should be no monitors allowed.

[Squantos]

I can't believe the Rats are wanting this......All those dead peoples votes in Chicago will be disinfranchised fer sure.......:o)

Stay safe !