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Shadows of 2000
Even today, I remember — with a dull shiver skipping down my spine — the aftermath of the 2000 presidential election. The persistent questions about who really won. The nagging uncertainty about the integrity of our electoral system. The recounts. The protests. The finger-pointing.
If Nate Silver’s predictive models are right, get ready for a much more contentious and disconcerting scenario in 2008.
As if the country’s potential economic collapse weren’t enough to keep us awake at night …
5 Responses to “Shadows of 2000”
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I completely agree that this is an unhappy prospect. If it happens–and it's a very big if–it's certain to cause even more problems that the election of 2000.
Pete, that is indeed an unpleasant scenario, and I remember well the gut-wrenching aftermath of that 2000 “election” – one which ended up giving us 8 long years of depressing “leadership”. Fortunately the odds are against a repeat performance – also there is the additional hope the electorate has learned something productive over the last 8 years about the difference between reality and political rhetoric.
I anticipate, even predict, more Democratic vote fraud and the typical lie-cry of “disenfranchisement” and “disenfranchise” whenever reasonable, proper voting security and legitimacy are sought. It happens in the cities time after time.
I suspect (but we never know) that the Dems won't debase themselves as they did after the 2000 election, trying to steal what they lost and engaging (with a complicit media) in blatant propaganda-for-the-stupid such as the widely-broadcast Conference Call (Lieberman still owes us an apology for that).
Presumably the Dem margin of fraud or other sources of error won't be significant to the extent they cloud any election result that is close. May the vote-total signals remain clear despite any lousy noise this year. (A worse clarity concern than is the case for a secession vote in Quebec someday; maybe we need foreign oversight, particularly in the cities. Oops — that's “disenfranchisement!” Arrgh)
Right now, things are even, though subject to change (or McCain-Palin stalling — the McCain-Palin ticket currently is the key to this election unless Obama and Biden can regain the initiative and a stronger position than they currently have).
http://people-press.org/report/450/presidential…
If the Republican ticket wins again in a swing state and gets the electoral vote but loses the popular vote, it's going to cause resentment and there is likely to be not just the instant seize-the-moment statement I predicted in 2000 with Hillary Clinton, but a more broad statement by the public this time to abolish the Electoral College and replace it with direct election of the President and Vice President (or do a party ticket vote, which is what people do in practice for those two positions). Actually, it doesn't even have to be in a swing state but if it's decided at the last minute in _any_ state, there will be a desire to go to direct election, and it may be sought anyway, if the vote is close at the end.