And he criticized the federal government for not doing more to help Louisiana elections proceed.'Tis Bush's fault.
Posted on 01/02/2006 2:53:09 AM PST by Libloather
This close to voting
Friday, December 30, 2005
One of the hallmarks of a working democracy is that elections happen when they're scheduled to happen. But while special elections are now set in three parishes damaged by recent hurricanes -- Jefferson, St. Bernard and Acadia -- Gov. Kathleen Blanco has ordered an indefinite delay in New Orleans' regular citywide elections, which had been scheduled for Feb. 4 and March 4.
Not surprisingly, the matter ended up in federal court. And while U.S. District Judge Ivan Lemelle declined to set an election date, he did say he was "this close" to taking over the process himself. More importantly, he pushed the state to schedule the elections quickly.
That pressure is entirely warranted. Greater New Orleans' recovery from Hurricane Katrina depends in part on persuading the world that life can and will return to normal here. That's one reason to hold Mardi Gras in 2006. It's also a reason to hold the city's elections on time.
Taking the advice of Secretary of State Al Ater, Gov. Blanco postponed the Feb. 4 primary and March 4 general election because of the destruction of many New Orleans polling places and the dispersal of so many voters. She did not set any timetable for holding the elections.
Her decision triggered a flurry of suits. The one that ended up before Judge Lemelle maintained, among other things, that the postponement would violate the rights of black voters. Judge Lemelle denied a motion asking him to set a date, but he clearly understood the need to schedule elections quickly. And he criticized the federal government for not doing more to help Louisiana elections proceed.
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
Democrats are afraid of losing elections while their constituency is out of state. They probably find it difficult enough to get their constituency to show up and vote when they live in New Orleans... Now that they're scattered throughout the country, it is far more difficult to ensure that people show up to vote... and the nature of these new elections are such that the normal shenanigans of vote fraud the the Democrats normally engage in will not be lost in the overall confusion of our normal general elections periods.
I don't understand - being DEAD has never been an obstacle to Dem voting - why should being GONE be one???
MSM Motto: “Fair is foul... foul is fair... and some things are best unspoken”
Exactly. I'm waiting for someone from the DNC to produce a list of New Orleans voters and claim, "Oh, we know how these people would have voted anyway, so we can hold an election and vote by proxy."
- being DEAD has never been an obstacle to Dem voting - why should being GONE be one???
---Good one.
And he criticized the federal government for not doing more to help Louisiana elections proceed.'Tis Bush's fault.
I will bet those school buses will get some use bring back all those stranded voters in Texas and elsewhere right around election time.
>>The one that ended up before Judge Lemelle maintained, among other things, that the postponement would violate the rights of black voters.
But not the rights of the white voters?
By the way, what's wrong with absentee balloting?
Some analysts believe that the longer the elections are postponed the more likely it is that many of these displaced democrat voters will permanently relocate to their new homes, making them ineligible to vote in N.O.
Since Florida 2000, the Democrats have been increasingly clear that they want all the votes that "belong to them", regardless of the actual arithmetical count.
In DemoWorld, the total black voting-age population of a district is a floor below which their candidate cannot fall.
If blacks spoil their ballots, or move away, or, God forbid, vote Republican - no matter, the Democrat should get all those votes anyway.
The former residents of New Orleans are now residents elsewhere. They are, by definition, ineligible to vote in Louisiana elections.
A few interesting things about the Mardi Gras celebrations.
Several members of the NAACP have criticized the plans to continue on with Mardi Gras, as long as such displacement exists. That just advances my convention that Mardi Gras should continue there same as always, though I think this year it will be scaled down.
The other thing is, Mardi Gras is a cultural expression, and ain't a New Orleans. All along the gulf, Mardi Gras is the marquee celebration for the year, and while it is true that there are only 2 cities that have modeled their entire society around the celebration, it is still an important event. If Mardi Gras was canceled, it would send a bad signal to the nation, and in a city where Mardi Gras is so essential to the essence, to not hold it would be admitting defeat in the face of Katrina.
That said, New Orleans will not be getting as large a share of the tourism aspect of Mardi Gras as normal, and already, every other city that celebrates Mardi Gras (including mine) is making an effort to bring in as many Mardi Gras tourists as possible.
Blanco and Nagin are dead ducks
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.