Our blogs about
America's Wars
War on Iraq
War on Drugs
War on Afghanistan
War on Columbia
War on Philippines
War on Venezuela

MORE
Matrix Masters
Blogs
World Events
Katrina's Aftermath
US News
Bush Crime Family News
Science & Health
Earth News
Free Speech
News from Africa
News from Palestine
Bill of Rights Under Attack

Support Bloggers' Rights!

Lorenzo's
Random Musings
. . . about Chaos,
Reason, and Hope

 

Republicans Obstruct Call for U.N. to Monitor U.S. Elections
(Edward Epstein, San Francisco Chronicle, July 17, 2004)
The idea of asking United Nations monitors to observe the 2004 presidential election, a proposal embraced by some Bay Area Democratic House members, was rejected in a House debate so heated that one member was disciplined for her rhetoric. . . . By a 243-161 vote, the House passed an amendment . . . that would ban using federal funds to request U.N. monitors. The highly partisan issue, a direct outgrowth of President Bush's disputed, razor-thin 2000 victory in Florida, reflects a continuing move by liberal organizations to enlist lawyers and other observers for the 2004 election to prevent a repeat of what they say was the huge disenfranchisement of minority voters in many states four years ago. . . . A dozen Democratic House members stepped into this fight early in July when they sent a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan asking for U.N. monitors. "We are deeply concerned that the right of U.S. citizens to vote in free and fair elections is again in jeopardy,'' they wrote. . . . The Democrats say conditions for minority voters haven't improved in many places, pointing to a disputed effort in Florida to purge convicted felons from voter rolls. . . . Even though the Democrats' letter was symbolic because the U.N. couldn't send in monitors without the host government's approval, the Republicans reacted with fury. . . . "I suppose that through this letter, members of this body were suggesting that we, the United States, need help, that the states cannot ensure the integrity of the election process and therefore, we need United Nations monitors,'' he added. . . . Democrats such as Rep. Diane Watson, D-Los Angeles, said that was just what they had in mind. . . . "We need the world to see how our elections are run because Florida cheated, and we are not going to allow it to cheat again,'' she said. . . . But Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla., brought proceedings to a temporary halt when she accused Buyer and other Republicans of conspiring to steal the 2000 election from then-Vice President Al Gore. . . . "I come from Florida, where you and others participated in what I call the United States coup d'etat. We need to make sure that it does not happen again. Over and over again, after the election, when you stole the election, you came back here and said, 'Get over it.' '' . . . At that point, Republicans asked that Brown's words be "taken down,'' a parliamentary request for her to be ruled out of order and forbidden from speaking on the floor for the rest of the day. The Republican in the chair, Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, ruled her out of order. . . . "Members should not accuse other members of committing a crime such as, quote, stealing, end quote, an election," Thornberry ruled.

posted by LoZo 4:21 PM