My Fellow Villagers: (part the first)

[rubinpdf]

The election is over. The race has been called by our media.I ask all those that do not support Number One to stay at home this Tuesday. There is no need for you to vote. We have already won. Coming out may just make the day a big free for all... and nobody wants that

Comments

[rbandrews]

But it's okay when you guys do it?

You've probably seen this, but this place seems to have pretty awesome coverage of polls and whatnot, and not a lot of editorial. Mostly it's just graphs.

[rubinpdf]

That's like comparing apples and oranges. At the point (after 2:00 in the morning) that Florida was called for Bush, the voting had closed for more than 5 hours. When the networks called the state for Gore, it was a full "70 minutes before the polls closed in the largely-Republican Florida panhandle".

Unless there were mysterious ballot boxes "found" stuffed with votes from voters voting after 2:30 in the morning, the call for Bush did not affect the outcome in the slightest.

[rbandrews]

Actually, you're right, it is like apples and oranges.

One was pretty obviously a joke, done a week beforehand, in a small regional left-wing newspaper.

The other in all seriousness, by a national news organization that portrays itself as "fair and balanced".

And since the election was decided by the supreme court instead of those ballots, I guess we'll never know whether it affected the outcome.

[rubinpdf]

And since the election was decided by the supreme court instead of those ballots...

We do know. According to Wikipedia:
In the aftermath of the election, the first independent recount was conducted by The Miami Herald and USA Today. Counting only "undervotes" (when the vote is not detected by machine), and not considering "overvotes" (when a ballot ends up with more than one indication of a vote, for example both a punch-out and hand-written name, even if both indicating the same candidate)[36] Bush would have won in all legally requested recount scenarios. (that means in all methods requested by Al Gore legal team)

The Supreme Court only stepped in because the Florida Supreme Court demanded that several counties recount ballots differently than the rest of the state. It was deemed unconstitutional because it the votes would be unequally counted across the state - with no set standard as to what a valid vote was.

In addition Wikipedia states:
A survey estimate by John McLaughlin & Associates put the number of voters who did not

[rbandrews]

Sounds pretty good when you only tell one side of the case, doesn't it?

Bush argued that the recounts in Florida violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because there was no statewide standard that each county board could use to determine whether a given ballot was a legal vote. Each county used its own standard to manually recount each vote, and Bush argued some counties would have more lax standards than other counties. Therefore, two voters could have marked their ballot in an identical manner, but one voter's ballot in one county would be counted while the other voter's ballot in a different county would be rejected, due to the varying standards used for manual recounts.[20]

Gore argued that there was indeed a statewide standard, the "intent of the voter" standard, and that this standard was sufficient under the Equal Protection Clause.[21] Furthermore, Gore argued that the consequence of ruling the Florida recount unconstitutional simply because it treated different voters differently would effectively

[rubinpdf]

We will have to agree to disagree. It's history, and the outcome has been determined - and in my mind, there is no need continuously argue the outcome.
I used the example of 2000 only to show how when elections are called before polls have closed, it can discourage people from voting.
Is that what IS happening right now? Perhaps. Is that the intent of the reporting? Certainly not beyond the realm of possibility, and worthy of discussion before it becomes history.

As to your assumption I am voting for McCain... Before the selection of Palin, there was a greater than even chance I would have voted for the Libertarian candidate (Bob Barr).

[rbandrews]

I just assumed, given that you are a Republican.

So just to clarify, the selection of Palin as a vice-presidential candidate makes you more likely to vote for senator McCain, or less likely?

Because I could almost stand having McCain as a president. I disagree with basically every policy he has, but until he selected Palin, I thought of him as at least competent. He wasn't a joke, the way the current president is. Palin, though... Combined with McCain's questionable health, she's downright scary.

[rubinpdf]

I'm not a Republican (perhaps a republican - since the US is truly a republic, and not a democracy, but that's another debate), and have never registered as one. I consider myself a conservative libertarian (though at least one political internet test labeled me as a Capitalist - a label I will not argue with).

[rbandrews]

Oh, okay. I thought what with the Bush-defending you were a Republican more than a conservative. Republicans tend to be behind most of the policies of putting federal government in places it shouldn't go, like the amendment to ban gay marriage, unwarranted wiretaps, the war on (some) drugs, No Child Left Behind, etc.

Have you seen this?

[rubinpdf]

I defend Bush mainly on the attacks that he's too conservative. From my perspective, Bush is too moderate, and if he is defined as radical right-winger, it is less likely we will see a true conservative elected. One thing I like about Bush is he is willing to make a stand on principle and if he says he's for or will do something(whether you agree or disagree with his stand) he won't wait for a poll to see if it's popular. I think that should be admired.

No Child Left Behind:
is a controversial United States federal law (Act of Congress) (co-Authored by Democratic Rep. George Miller of California and Democratic U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts) that reauthorized a number of federal programs...
and an attempt by Bush to reach out to the democrats by working with Kennedy on greater spending on education