Posted on 02/06/2003 10:53:28 PM PST by Pokey78
The Boston Phoenix out yesterday carries a dispatch by Seth Gitell that includes the following anecdote about the 2000 Democratic primary in New Hampshire. “Gore operatives had access to exit polls showing the vice president being defeated by Bradley. They also learned that while Democratic voters were voting in large numbers for Gore, independents, many of them upscale suburban voters, were voting for Bradley’s sophisticated brand of liberalism.” This they knew by early afternoon. Their solution? “The Gore team organized a caravan to clog highway I-93 with traffic so as to discourage potential Bradley voters from getting to the polls.” Mr. Gitell’s report notes that the traffic jam is “spoken of with awe by operatives who worked for the campaign.”
And the ploy worked. Mr. Gore won the primary, successfully fending off Bill Bradley’s attack from the left. Mr. Gitell told us that he heard at least three former Gore operatives make reference to the primary-day traffic jam — “and an intentional component of it.”
This story reminds us of a moment later in the 2000 campaign. On January 11, 2001, Governor Jeb Bush of Florida was brought before the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, chaired by Mary Frances Berry, to answer allegations that Florida’s vote was rigged to exclude minorities, in part by the alleged erection of police roadblocks meant to intimidate black voters.
Liberal black leaders accused the Bush campaign of a racist attempt to deny black voters access to polls. Kweisi Mfume of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People charged that “Black, Latino, and Hatian, and Jewish voters” had been disenfranchised by “a multitude of non-uniform election practices.” “Nowhere can it be said we practice liberty and justice for all. We need only to look at Florida,” said Mr. Mfume. The Reverend Jesse Jackson joined in the action, stating that “the rules were not public, and the roads were unclear” and calling the Florida vote “a systematic plan of voter suppression.” “The election ripped a scab off a festering sore,” griped Rep. Alcee Hastings of Florida.
The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights’ final report said that while “Florida Highway Patrol troopers conducted an unauthorized vehicle checkpoint within a few miles of a polling place in a predominately African American neighborhood,” the police “did not anticipate that the existence of the checkpoint would intimidate voters.” Hardly systematic. The same cannot be said of the Gore operatives’ efforts in New Hampshire. Anyway, it sure will be interesting to see how Rev. Jackson, the NAACP, and the rest of those concerned about “voter suppression” react to Mr. Gitell’s dispatch. It sure would be fun to see the Gore operatives trying to explain themselves to Mary Frances Berry.
She was probably in on it...
No explaining needed.
Al Gore - 76,897 (50%)
Bill Bradley - 70,502 (46%)
Other - 7,240 (5%)
"Vote Early and Often and Create Traffic Jams"
Primary School - Field organization (Albert Gore's team sabotaged 2000 New Hampshire primary)
I have difficulty understanding this kind of thing, maybe because of the area I live in. Around here, most blacks and other Democrat constituencies live in the parasite nests (cities) where they do most of their traveling by bus and subway. And it is usually only a few blocks from their row homes to the polling places anyway. "Roadblocks" are generally meaningless in this situation, at least for Democrats. Around here, roadblocks would most definitely impede a lot more whites with SUVs than it would blacks.
Also, people usually don't find out about a roadblock until they hit one, where ultimately, they will get through. And continue on their way to the voting place. So, exactly what is a strategically placed roadblock supposed to do? "Intimidate" blacks into voting Republican? I don't get this whole thing.
Exactly. A police checkpoint isn't going to intimidate anyone from voting because you wouldn't know about it until you see it, and then you just go through it. You aren't going to then call all your friends to warn them about it.
The other complaint was that voters were turned away at the polls. But these were Democratic precincts, run by Democrats. Democrats aren't going to turn away genuine Democrat voters. It is not going to happen, and it didn't happen.
To believe that the election was stolen from Gore you have to be blindly irrational.
Personally, I have my own theory, I think alot of the rats, who were engaging in voter fraud, had planned to use the names of people who were registered to vote, but who they expected to never show up (they probably wouldn't have had the info to know race, or were afraid of a scene if somone showed up, only to be told that they had "voted already") and when they started seeing people coming in, who they didn't expect, they crapped themselves, called the cops, to buy some time, and hope for the best.
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