Posted on 10/07/2002 10:53:40 AM PDT by Howlin
In view of that comment I was wondering if you had ever seen this old thread Lawyers Now Have Control of Nation Once Ruled by Law.
Your comments would be welcome there even now.
By Jeff McKay
CNSNews.com Correspondent
October 07, 2002
(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. Supreme Court Monday gave the go-ahead for New Jersey Democrats to replace Sen. Robert Torricelli on the November ballot with former Sen. Frank Lautenberg.
New Jersey Republicans had called the switch a political ploy intended to dump a candidate who seemed sure to lose - Torricelli -- in favor of a potential winner - Lautenberg. In fact, a new poll shows Lautenberg, the 78-year-old former three-term senator, leading Republican Doug Forrester 49 to 45 percent. Torricelli, plagued by an ethics scandal, had fallen behind Forrester by 13 points when he decided to quit his re-election bid.
Forrester has other problems revealed in the latest Quinnipiac poll. Although the survey's margin of error shows the race to be a dead heat, Forrester's approval rating is mired at 27 percent and he has lost ground with New Jersey's important Independent vote.
"The whole Torricelli mess has made Forrester better known," said Clay Richards, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "But his (Forrester) negatives have gone up. He has lost ground with Independents and 31 percent of voters say he is too conservative for New Jersey."
The poll also showed that one in three voters believe they could not vote for Lautenberg based upon the Democratic switch in candidates.
The New Jersey Supreme Court last week ruled 7-0 that Democrats did have the right to replace Torricelli as long as they paid the $800,000 for reprinting absentee ballots. All of New Jersey's 21 counties are reprinting all ballots to reflect the Democratic change.
The GOP had asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overrule the state court, arguing that the ballot switch had occurred too close to Election Day and basing part of its complaint on the approximately 1,700 voters who had already been mailed absentee ballots bearing Torricelli's name. Many of those ballots were sent overseas to residents living abroad or to military personnel serving in the war on terrorism.
The U.S. Supreme Court did not explain its reasons for refusing to be drawn into another election controversy. Supreme Court justices halted the vote recount in Florida in 2000, assuring that George Bush would win the presidency over Al Gore.
"This is a sad day that concludes yet another troubling chapter in the long history of embarrassment and disgrace the Torricelli-Lautenberg machine has inflicted on the people of New Jersey," said New Jersey Republican Party Chairman Joe Kyrillos.
"This underhanded maneuvering has set a disturbing new precedent that says only in New Jersey can a political party disregard the law and switch candidates in the middle of an election, simply because they don't like the odds," Kyrillos added.
The Lautenberg camp says now is the time to cease the rhetoric and discuss the issues.
"The United States Supreme Court today affirmed the wisdom of the New Jersey Supreme Court and assured New Jersey voters a fair election," stated Lautenberg. "My opponent has spent his entire campaign ducking from a discussion of the issues that affect New Jersey's families."
The National Republican Senatorial Committee also plans to ask the Federal Election Commission to bar Torricelli from giving his multi-million dollar campaign war chest to the party or to Lautenberg.
The Supremos is great. Sent it out to friends lib and conserv alike.
Let me know when we march on Trenton!
And that issue is that in a representative form of democracy, the health of that democracy can be measured by the quality of the people elected. Free, fair, and honest elections are the touchstone of our form of government. To the degree that we conduct elections like Mexico, Zimbabwe, or some other third world country, with last minute candidates, politically "devined" votes, and crooked deviant politicians, our democracy is diminished.
There have always been, and will always be, those who wish to rig the system in the effort to obtain or hold power. Those who do make a mockery of the Constitution and the principles laid out in the Preamble of the Constitution.
We have twice before (1776-77 with the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation, and; 1787 with the Constitution) established a form of national government based on certain basic principles. Read the words:
"Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such priciples, and organizing its powers in such a form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness."
In any event, in your scenario, we regain the Senate regardless whether Lautenberg gains the seat and I could live with that.
I have more faith in the Americans who live in New Jersey. The current poll that has Lautenberg leading the Senate race also states that one out of five NJ pollees who said that the events leading to Lautenberg's place on the ballot were "unethical" were going to vote for him anyway.
Those people will vote GOP or opt out. If they have the integrity and conscience to know about this scam, and think it is "unfair" or "dishonest" ... they won't vote for Lautenberg in the privacy of the booth even though they tell the survey interrogator otherwise. They see, acknowledge and state the fraud. I have faith they won't vote for that cynical and empty skeletor who's replacing that cynical and empty mobster.
Why? The understanding of unfairness trumps the desire to elect another democrat. There are 35% of the NJ electorate who do NOT view this dirty trick outrage as unfair or outrageous. They are irredeemable. They are Dems.
The GOP needs to find and nurture that 10% of our electorate who vote Dem out of stupid legacy or custom. They're hated, oppressed and generally getting jobbed by the Dems, and they need to be told.
The media is trying 24X7, they are manipulating as they can, but they can't change the dialogue. The major networks stuffed the Bush speech tonight because they understand that a focus on war and peace issues will deliver a GOP Senate. It will display our President as an honest, wise and inspired leader. They are pulling out the stops, to the point of NOT covering news events that have the outcome of uniting Americans. No unified America is permissable under a Republican leader.
But they are losing. Those among us unemployed want to be hired again, by corporations, as professionals making nice incomes and enjoying strong benefits. Old folks don't believe George W. Bush would disenfranchise, starve and enslave them. Lautenberg will be defeated on game day. Harkin may lose too.
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