The Republicans stole the election!
Saturday, December 13th, 2003 - 4:17pm
No, I'm not talking about 2000, but rather the little known 1888 presidential election. The incumbent, Democrat President Cleveland, won the popular vote but ultimately lost the electoral college vote (and the election) to Republican nominee Harrison.
Although I haven't found any reference to Cleveland supporters calling Harrison an "illigitimate President", this obviously wasn't such a pressing issue that it resulted in a change of election policy.
I started my own blog so when I feel the need to make an ass out of myself, I won't have as far to go.
Edit - Nevermind I''m still half asleep, wrong Harrison.
"That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history. "
- Aldous Huxley
Well, Cleveland, unlike Gore, had the balls to run against the incumbant in the next election and won. The more I hear from Gore the more I thank God for the electoral system.
I'm bringing sexy back!
Harrison was indeed called illegitimate by his opponents and only served one term, as did John Quincy Adams, who also lost the popular vote. But Harrison lost because a third party pulled away almost a million Republican votes - and remember, that number meant a lot more in terms of 1888 population that it does today. Neither of those presidents faced election during a war, at a time when the opposition is largely viewed as less effective than the incumbent on matters of national security.
Reagan understood that the key to peace was never arms control. Security had nothing to do with the number of weapons, it had everything to do with the intention and power of those who possessed them. - Charles Krauthammer
It''s nice that you guys think the popular vote vs. electoral college issue is why some consider the presidency of Dubya illegitimate. Not accurate, but nice.
"I think Elysium has the right of it" - Certis
Well, the maintream press has given up on trying to say that Gore actually won Florida, since all of the recounts - even after Bush was inaugurated - showed Bush got more votes there.
The focus now, from Dean, for example, is that Gore got more votes (in the general election) and should have been president. Constitutionally ignorant, but makes for a good bumper sticker.
Reagan understood that the key to peace was never arms control. Security had nothing to do with the number of weapons, it had everything to do with the intention and power of those who possessed them. - Charles Krauthammer
Then would you care to tell us why?
Given the existing set of checks and balances between the executive, legislative and judicial branches, I''m quite curious...especially since the only thing resembling a legislative attempt to modify the current election process was the McCain-Feingold bill (which dealt strictly with fundraising and election-related speech, not the electoral college).
I started my own blog so when I feel the need to make an ass out of myself, I won't have as far to go.
I think maybe it has something to do with the purging of voter rolls before the election.
http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=217&row=2
I don''t know a whole lot about these allegations but I saw a documentary about it and as a computer programmer I was appalled at how loose the matching process apparently was. They were using some pretty shoddy SQL queries.
It''s a moot point now I guess, but if some of these people had not been purged from the rolls, there''s no doubt in my mind it would have influenced the results of the election.
"That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons of history. "
- Aldous Huxley
I think I can guess this one. The Republican challenges to Gore''s endless recounts meant that some votes that were improperly cast (because they voted for more than one candidate or no apparent candidate) couldn''t be counted automatically as votes for Gore. Sounds like election theft to me.
Whatever, the same Supreme Court that held that there is a constitutional right to sodomy but not constitutional protection of political free speech decided in favor of George Bush in 2000. Those that don''t believe George Bush is a legitimate president are just suffering from ""sour grapes"".
I'm bringing sexy back!