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MUST READ FROM JOE SOUCHERAY: “RECOUNT STEW COOKED DOWN TO A HORRIBLY TAINTED END”
By Michael B. Brodkorb | January 7, 2009
“The recount process didn’t work or, more accurately, could not reasonably determine a winner. Al Franken no more won the U.S. Senate race than your pet cat, Zuba, who somebody probably voted for as a write-in candidate.
It would have been more plausible had Norm Coleman won the recount, having won on Election Night but by such a slim margin that it was mathematically unacceptable and thus triggered a recount.
In Minnesota, a victory margin of less than one-half of 1 percent triggers a recount. That’s ridiculous, because the process that followed resulted in even less than a one-half of 1 percent margin for the victor.
The recount cannot determine a winner because the recount process we just witnessed quite likely produced corruption, however carefully it was massaged. It is difficult to believe, for example, that Franken benefited each time the canvassing board, under the eagle-eyed glare of Mark Ritchie, a secretary of state who it seems was tailor-made for this particular victory by another Democrat, applied different standards to different problems.
A precinct in Minneapolis ‘lost’ 133 ballots? Well, let’s ignore that and just revert to the election night tallies from that precinct. A precinct in Maplewood had 171 more ballots to count than their total from the election? Hmm, we better count those. Not to mention quite probably double-counted votes and the generosity that was shown to many of the absentee voters whose errors in following instructions were thought to be only ‘minor.’” Source: Pioneer Press, January 7, 2008
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35 Responses to “MUST READ FROM JOE SOUCHERAY: “RECOUNT STEW COOKED DOWN TO A HORRIBLY TAINTED END””
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January 7th, 2009 at 8:49 AM
The recount cannot determine a winner because the recount process we just witnessed quite likely produced corruption, however carefully it was massaged.”
DAMN them Pawlenty-appointed judges; RINOS – every one of ‘em!!!
January 7th, 2009 at 9:32 AM
As usual, Soucheray applies common sense to an obvious question, and just as reliably, our part time plow truck driver and full time troll lets drool run down his chin.
It’s snowing, Cheeto boy…warm up the Chev!
January 7th, 2009 at 9:49 AM
I thought Joe’s column this morning pretty much encapsulated why Franken is winning and why Coleman can’t understand why that’s happening.
Joe doesn’t like messiness. He thinks certain people shouldn’t vote. He has a right to his opinions but those opinions are contrary to the spirit and letter of the law. The fact that voting is messy doesn’t make it either tainted or corrupt. The job of the election counters is to count votes and there aren’t nor should there be points given for neatness or style.
The process has been fair, and I think will continue to be fair as Senator Coleman pursues any remedies to which he is entitled. If Joe Soucheray has any evidence of the corruption he alleges, he should produce it rather than throw out groundless accusation in his newspaper column.
January 7th, 2009 at 9:49 AM
Here’s one difference between you and me, Scrotee:
Your beater has Whiskey Plates; my fine (and expensive!) truck does not.
BwaaaaaHAHAHAHAHAHhahahahaha!!!
January 7th, 2009 at 9:50 AM
Keep counting until you get the results you want, seems to be the new mantra of the DemonRat party.
It’s not so very much different than what was once said by their hero, იáƒáƒ¡áƒ”ბ ბესáƒáƒ იáƒáƒœáƒ˜áƒ¡ ძე ჯუღáƒáƒ¨áƒ•áƒ˜áƒšáƒ˜; Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili, AKA ИоÑиф ВиÑÑарионович Сталин, Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin, AKA Uncle Joe, which was:
“You know, comrades,” says Stalin, “that I think in regard to this: I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this —- who will count the votes, and how” Or more loosely translated: ‘It’s Not the People Who Vote that Count; It’s the People Who Count the Votes”
January 7th, 2009 at 9:53 AM
“A precinct in Minneapolis ‘lost’ 133 ballots?
Well, let’s ignore that and just revert to the election night tallies from that precinct.”
If there is sufficient reason to believe the votes were cast, they must be counted. The error of an election judge cannot abrogate the right of those voters to have their votes counted.
“A precinct in Maplewood had 171 more ballots to count than their total from the election?”
If Joe can show us which if any of these votes are invalid, they should not be counted. If not, what grounds does he have for excluding any particular vote?
January 7th, 2009 at 9:56 AM
“Keep counting until you get the results you want, seems to be the new mantra of the DemonRat party.”
I think all validly cast votes must be counted. If anyone can produce sufficient evidence that any particular vote is invalid, it should be excluded. We are all waiting for such evidence.
January 7th, 2009 at 9:58 AM
The link isn’t working now. I do want to read that article.
January 7th, 2009 at 10:00 AM
O. K. This link should work:
http://www.twincities.com/soucheray/ci_11389081?nclick_check=1
January 7th, 2009 at 10:10 AM
So evidently, Joe Soucheray reads the Wall Street Journal, and is willing to believe them over his lying eyes.
Meanwhile, Scott Johnson — yes, that Scott Johnson — offers a dose of sanity. I don’t agree with all of it, but for a movement conservative, Johnson does a pretty good job of explaining why the claims of the most rabid Coleman supporters are bunk:
The portrayal of Senator Coleman as a victim akin to Dino Rossi in the Washington recount fiasco is misleading. Friends of ours who have observed the process up close and who know the players managing it on behalf of Senator Coleman share our misgivings regarding this portrayal. Senator Coleman has acted a bit like an NFL team sitting on a two-point lead in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter and playing zone defense. He could have been much more aggressive in protecting his position in the days since November 5.
That sounds pretty much like what DFLers have been saying all along.
I await Swiftee explaining that Johnson is a stupidface because he’s only an attorney.
January 7th, 2009 at 10:33 AM
He also said “The Franken campaign outhustled and outsmarted the Coleman campaign. If I were advising Senator Coleman, I would tell him to shake up his team and send in a new quarterback to run the offense now that he has the ball in overtime, i.e., the election contest. I would tell him to send in Dorsey attorney Roger Magnuson from the bench onto the field to lead the team.”
This contest is far from over!
January 7th, 2009 at 10:34 AM
It does have to be hard to argue about how badly you have been screwed when more and more republicans are coming out each day saying the process appears to have been fair.
But I love how Norm Coleman is single-handedly helping provide democratic office holders with a whole new batch of potential supporters as they flee the small tent that is being torn to the ground by our corrupt former Senator in his non-graceful exit from public life.
January 7th, 2009 at 10:34 AM
The problem in aattacking the canvassing board is that Chief Justice Magnuson is very widely respected across the political spectrum. He is hardly the meek character subject to malign influence of Mark Ritchie that the Wall Street Journal chooses to find.
Not all issues were decided by the canvassing board. Sen. Coleman has a right to pursue an action in the courts. I voted for Al Franken, but what I want is for the guy who got the most votes to win.
January 7th, 2009 at 10:43 AM
Through all the verbal gymnastics that liberals go through to defend this election theft you never see them actually addressing the real issues of double counts and changing standards. These people know full well what has gone down but condone it because it benefits their guy.
And that’s why I continue to say that liberals have no conscience. Worse, they know it.
January 7th, 2009 at 11:42 AM
“Through all the verbal gymnastics that liberals go through to defend this election theft you never see them actually addressing the real issues of double counts and changing standards.”
I don’t think ballots should be counted twice. Show me which ballots are duplicates and I for one would be glad to throw them out. What more do you want? Concerning changing standards, the standard I have is that voter intent on the ballot must be recognized. I know haven’t changed on that since the beginning.
January 7th, 2009 at 11:50 AM
Feckless, have someone read it for you again.
Johnson isn’t saying that the recount wasn’t rigged, he’s saying that Norm should have been more vocal about it.
As usual, you prove once again that Soros knows when to cut a sock puppet loose. Given the amount of time you suddenly have to strut your honorary uterus around over here, your little bleg isn’t doing very hot either….take a hint.
January 7th, 2009 at 11:57 AM
Count all the supposedly wrongfully rejected absentee ballots – but only if they voted for Franken. That was the strategy they used.
We will see what the courts say.
January 7th, 2009 at 12:42 PM
This recount was a joke and everyone knows it.
January 7th, 2009 at 1:58 PM
The problem that Norm Coleman has is, as Hiram, pointed out, that even if a Court were to conclude that some ballots were counted twice there may be no remedy in place to correct that. The Court cannot simply subtract some votes for Mr. Franken (or add them to Mr. Coleman) without being able to ascertain which ballots were double counted or in the case of Maplewood, which 171 ballots are the “over vote”.
The missing 130 ballots in Minneapolis did leave a paper trail and the Canvassing Board concluded that in the absence of the physical ballots themselves, they would rely on the machine tape rather than disenfranchise the voters of that precinct. After all, no one doubts that the people voted and that the ballots were cast legally and the machine tape provides the results – that the physical ballots were misplaced is an administrative error and the voters should not be penalized. No Court in the U.S. will over rule the decision reached by the Canvassing Board in that instance.
January 7th, 2009 at 2:00 PM
“The problem that Norm Coleman has is, as Hiram, pointed out, that even if a Court were to conclude that some ballots were counted twice there may be no remedy in place to correct that.”
Wrong. It’s called a new election….worked out just fine in Georgia.
January 7th, 2009 at 2:14 PM
You’re really hittin bottom if you’re relying on the Illogical Garage Boy for political commentary, Brodkorb. But I guess when you feature a serial drunk driver as one of your leading contributors, you can’t scrape much lower than that.
January 7th, 2009 at 2:37 PM
SwifteeBoatee, are you suggestin’ that “Whiskey Plates” should, from now forward, be referred to as “Swiftee Plates”?
January 7th, 2009 at 2:40 PM
Wrong. It’s called a new election….worked out just fine in Georgia.”
So, now Scrotee is advocating replacing Minnesota Law with Georgia Law??!?
I’m sure it makes sense to Scrotee; he’s a (cheney)in’ hick – just like them southern
rednecksrepubliCons….January 7th, 2009 at 2:42 PM
The rules are what they are, Franken will be seated, Norm voted for the bailout and sealed his fate. Shame on him, and shame on the Democrats for giving us such a pathetic candidate that Norm still had a chance.
January 7th, 2009 at 2:47 PM
Back from plowing parking lots already, Cheeto boy?
I’ll bet that fin feels really good in your pocket, doesn’t it? Don’t spend it all at one place!
HAHAHAHAAaaaaAaa!
January 7th, 2009 at 2:51 PM
Say, Cheeto boy?
If you save that five, plow a couple more lots and shine a few boots…you could upgrade your capital equipment!
Sweeet, right?
HAHAHAHAHAA!!1!
January 7th, 2009 at 5:19 PM
Tonight on the O’reilly Factor – Fox News for you idiot leftees – Dick Morris, who has worked for both Demos and Repubs, will lay out the case for this Coleman/Franken election being nothing more than outright election stealing by the Demosocialists. Tune in and weep leftees.
January 7th, 2009 at 5:35 PM
“The truck has a title but not current tabs, I can deliver. “
Damn, Scrotee – cops took your whiskey plates away, AGAIN??!?
Oh, and MCy2k – that’s “Faux” news, and I’m not surprised you fall for their crap.
PT Barnum said there’s a sucker born every minute; the KarlRoveCorollary says that suckers make up the base.
“As people do better, they start voting like Republicans — unless they have too much education and vote Democratic, which proves there can be too much of a good thing.” — Karl Rove, February 19th, 2001
Obviously, Mikey – you’re not really that educated.
January 7th, 2009 at 6:22 PM
Whiskey Plates=Swiftee Plates
Works for me, Tommy! Just look for the battered motorcycle with the “W” plates and a babbling greaseball astride it and you’ll know who it is.
January 7th, 2009 at 6:47 PM
“…battered motorcycle…”
Don’t tell me – Scrotee rides an import??!?
Has he taken the training wheels off?
January 7th, 2009 at 8:43 PM
Tommy = pussy boy. I’m betting Tommy would be on his knees begging for forgiveness if Swiftee was in the same room with him.
Tommy is only a “big man” on the blogs. In real life he is a little pussy.
There, I guess that covers Tommy.
Next? danbrome!
January 8th, 2009 at 1:59 AM
Well, rePete, you’re “right” about one thing – I do worry about what a whacko like Scrotee might do.
You see, goin’ back to jail doesn’t bother Scrotee much at all……
January 8th, 2009 at 7:58 AM
Still a pussy Tommy
January 8th, 2009 at 9:52 AM
Still a rePete, rePete.
January 8th, 2009 at 9:54 AM
You know, I thought Joe’s column was incredibly instructive as an example of the two cultures that exist in our electorate today. What I thought was interesting about Joe’s piece wasn’t so much the arguments he made so much as the fact that he thought they were effective or to the point. Joe is bothered by messy voters. He is in favor of various methods and attitudes that would have the effect of weeding out voters he doesn’t like very much. From a pragmatic political perspective this is understandable. Those voters, it is generally believed, trend Democrat. What I find amazing about this isn’t that Joe makes this argument, rather that he seems to think the argument is compelling. From my perspective, on the other side of the political divide, there is literally I care nothing less about than the messiness of voting. I don’t say everyone should vote, that’s a personal choice, but what I do say is that everyone who wants to vote, who is eligible to vote, should vote and have their vote counted, and without hindrance of any kind. In fairness to Joe, to me those principles are as self-evident and compelling to me as Joe’s are to Joe. The advantage I have, however, is that the law is on my side, at least for the time being.