Commentary: Florida, Michigan don't deserve revote

[Araxen]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/12/roland.martin/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

(CNN) -- For two weeks we have watched nearly every political hack from Michigan and Florida hit the airwaves to tell us that voters in those states deserve to have their votes counted, and new elections should be called for and paid by­ the Democratic National Committee.

One word they all keep tossing around is disenfranchisement. Because of this nation's sordid history on the issue of denying African-Americans the right to vote, those calling for a revote know the true power of the word, and just uttering it sort of backs the opposition up.

But folks, I'm sorry. Knowing full well how the two political hacks --­ also called governors of Michigan and Florida -- deliberately chose to ignore the Democratic Party rules and try to leapfrog the other states, I just don't have any compassion for them.

[islandmkl]

1. the Republican governor of Florida had NO PROBLEM ignoring

the Democratic Party rules....

everyone should look into the legislation that implemented the new primary date in Florida...

read the legislation, then take a deep breath, and remember how you felt in 2000 when the vote-counting debacle unfolded down here...

this issue is beyond simplistic finger-pointing for blame, and therefore, is too complicated to just 'figure out'...

if you don't know what happened last session in Tallahasee, you don't really know what's going on with all this right now...

just check it out...get yourself informed...

democracy is not about you having 'compassion'...it's about citizens having their VOTES COUNT...

[WilyWondr]

10. House Bill 537

118 to 0 in the House, 37 to 2 in the Senate

Florida House of Representatives
Republican Party 78
Democratic Party 42

Florida Senate
Republican Party 26
Democratic Party 14


JD Alexander and Don Gaetz, both Republicans, were the only votes against it.


Are there any recall elections planned for those legislators that passed this bill against the wishes of their constituents? I guess that means that these representatives are doing what their constituents asked, huh?

[islandmkl]

13. read the bill...

it provided for paper trail, etc. of all voting processes...the repukes tied the primary date in at the last minute...the dems were not about to let the vote-monitoring legislation disappear...

like i said...find out what was involved...those of us, and i would imagine i could safely say ALL OF US, who feel like Florida 2000 was possibly the worst American election travesty imaginable, do not want this huge state to continue holding elections in such a vulnerable fashion...

[leftofcool]

2. But you might wish you had come November......

just sayin'

[MNDemNY]

3. In FL the date was changed by the Rep. controlled

legislature against the wishes of the FL Dems. I am not sure about MI, but it may be the same there.

[MaineDem]

5. Sorry, the FL Dems supported it.

They also did nothing to stop it.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

7. The bill passed 115 to 1

Which means pretty much every DEM voted for it. Yeah, yeah, I know it had a verifiable paper trails provision attached to it but they still didn't have to vote for it. And the behavior of some prominent Dems in that state right now indicates they weren't protesting it too much.

[JackORoses]

11. a FL Dem sponsored the Bill

they are totally bullshitting on their responsibility for this.

[skipos]

4. No we don't.

But trying to find a compromise would be nice. Tricking MI voters by awarding delegates after we have had our sham election, when we were told there would be no delegates awarded... that is unacceptable to me.

[Birthmark]

6. Well, let's hope that same isn't applied to you one day.

Being denied a basic right on the basis of what someone ELSE did feels kinda unAmerican on this end of things. Apparently, the difference between you and I is that I'd fight just as hard if it DID happen to you as I am now.

Oh, and have fun at McCain's Inauguration.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

8. I agree. The governors of MI and FL shouldn't be able to vote. But what

does that have to do with anything?

The people are the people are the people.

Neither candidates nor governors can bargain away something that doesn't belong to them.

[DemVet]

9. Not exactly an unbiased source. Roland Martin defends Obama every chance he gets.

He's probably on the Obama campaign payroll.

When will news organizations get people to report the news or at least state their political bias?

I'm afraid we've jumped that shark.

[bellasgrams]

15. In FL the people voted for whom they chose, why is there even a

discussion. If we now decide to let them participate just use the votes. They knew when they voted their votes may or may not be counted, but they voted. COUNT THEM. In MI. BO and Edward were the only ones not on the ballot people were told to vote for the undecided or whatever they were calling it. Give the inexperienced guy that didn't have enough sense to keep his name on the ballot the ones belonging to him and Edwards. COUNT THEM. The citizens did nothing wrong they don't deserve to not have their votes counted.

[bunnies]

12. I read it this morning and I totally agree with it.

especially this part:

But the DNC should protect the integrity of its rules process. If it acquiesces, how many states will pull the same trick in four years? The precedent would have been set, and anyone else could make the same argument: Please, please, give us another chance, even though we brought this on ourselves.

No. Enough. Let's end this madness and tell Florida and Michigan that they had their shot. They blew it. It's time to move on and let the people who know how to play by the rules get on with this process. They made their bed. Now sleep in it.

And the people in Michigan and Florida should throw out the bums who stiffed them. Somebody must pay for the sins of these two states, and they should look to the politicians who keep running their mouths on TV demanding a revote.

[islandmkl]

14. the one thing i love about all of this...

full information is not near as good as information that fits your personal bill...

to anyone who says the Dems in FLA did it to themselves, I ask one more time:

Where the hell were you in 2000?

I'll tell you...you were sitting on your couch, watching TV, seeing it all happen, right in front of you...

The Stealing of the Election

and you couldn't believe it...hanging chads? no paper trails?

Well, it was pretty f***ing serious then, wasn't it? The Dems here tried to 'cure' that situation, the majority repukes sabotaged a bill the Dems knew was more important than just the DNC telling them when they could vote...

goddam...you want to penalize the very people trying to make sure the repubs can't pull the same shit again, at least not the same way, in Florida...

y'all need to pull your heads out...the Florida repukes f***ed you all once...and the Florida Dems get to pay for it...

check the census...who needs Florida?