The State Canvassing Board’s determination earlier this week that Al Franken won the U.S. Senate race by 225 votes has caused some rather unseemly frothing among right-wing pundits. The talking points were initially established by the Wall Street Journal editorial board, which after years of railing against “judicial activism” strangely castigated the canvassing board for being “meek.”
Rush Limbaugh then upped the hyperbole by opining that Franken and the Democrats are somehow stealing the election. “We did not elect Al Franken,” he rumbled. “He stole the race. They are stealing the race up there blind in front of everybody’s nose.”
But the award for most delusional attack on the integrity of Minnesota’s recount process undoubtedly goes to Dick Morris and Eileen McGann. Writing at Newsmax, the duo forgo facts in favor of the intemperate use of exclamation points. “Watching Al Franken and the Democrats steal this election, vote by vote, is a horrific sight that makes a mockery of the electoral process, the fundamental element in our democracy,” they write. The column helpfully includes two links for enraged readers to make a donation to the Republican National Lawyers Association to help fund Coleman’s legal battles.
Joe Conason has a nice rundown of the madness over at Salon. He ends his column with some salient advice for those accusing Franken of magically rigging the recount results. “If they know of any evidence that would show he has stolen votes or violated any election statute, let them report it to the state law enforcement authorities,” Conason writes. “And if they don’t, perhaps they will at last have the decency to shut up.”













8 Comments »
Comment posted January 9, 2009 @ 9:45 am
“Watching Al Franken and the Democrats steal this election, vote by vote, is a horrific sight that makes a mockery of the electoral process, the fundamental element in our democracy,” write Dick Morris and Eileen McGann at Newsmax.
Here we have, in the quote from Morris and McGann, a perfect encapsulation of the present sickness of the right-wing mind. As moderates are hunted down and kicked out of the party; as the shrill and angry talk show hosts continue to set the tenor of conservative discourse; and as most of the more serious thinkers on the right either succumb to the mental meltdown or retire from view (or from life itself as in the cases of Buckley, or as of Jan. 8, Richard John Neuhaus), leaving bizarrely unserious thinkers like Jonah Goldberg and Michelle Malkin holding the torch, the rest of the world hopefully just nods its head in knowing exasperation and goes about more important business.
Comment posted January 9, 2009 @ 10:22 am
The RNLA must be one finely run organization. Their fundraising letter ran:
> An urgent message from our Newsmax Sponsor, Republican National Lawyer Association.
Al Franken, the liberal comedian, is not happy Minnesotans voted to
defeat him in a close election this past election day.
He and is his liberal allies are working feverishingly to steal the
Minnesota Senate election.
In fact, some press reports claim that after a “recount” Al Franken is
now in the lead!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I decided to bait them by e-mailing them to ask if they were still working feverishingly [sic] and that needling seemed to go right over their heads. The guy who wrote back (which surprised me) said in reference to my desire as a Democrat to count all legally cast votes:
> That is what we want. If Franken won, that is fine with us. But Coleman won on Election Day, won despite some serious issues with the Canvas (including statistically impossible gains for Franken and the intimidation of an election official to change her story to benefit Franken), and now has fallen behind under some circumstances that don’t pass the smell test. But don’t listen to me, go here for one short example:
http://johnrlott.tripod.com/op-eds/FoxNewsMNCanvassBoard122208.html
If the Voters of MN elected Franken, then that is what should happen. But all signs are the people of MN voted (narrowly) for Coleman but the partisan Secretary of State and his canvasing Board are selecting Franken.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
If Franken won, that’s fine with them? I have my doubts. All signs are the people of MN voted narrowly for Coleman? Except, say, the votes?? The recounted certified votes?? If that’s the effort they put into their fundraising and they can’t be bothered to proofread, then have Dick Morris shilling for them, I don’t give them much chance. Also, it seems so many of their challenges have been tossed for simple issues like lack of jurisdiction, it seems like absolute legal incompetence to me.
Comment posted January 9, 2009 @ 10:23 am
Not to mention everyone that keeps posting an opinion piece from a Murdoch-owned newspaper as if it were gospel.
Comment posted January 9, 2009 @ 1:34 pm
jmy9595
Kudos for checking into that. These people are the delusional being led by the delusional, but fromo that KSTP poll, it sounds like 31% are either delusional or don’t know they’re being lied to.
Comment posted January 10, 2009 @ 4:54 pm
Thanks Eric, no big curprise there, and that represents, what, 75% of former Senator Coleman’s votes? I insist on calling him by his rightful title.
Comment posted January 10, 2009 @ 4:54 pm
Make that surprise, not curprise….
Comment posted January 10, 2009 @ 9:07 pm
as a fellow israelite i am pleased with frankens candid ability to steal this election, there arent many things that make me feel proud, but a jew in the office is definitly one of them, lets keep up the good work boys! actually i’m not jewish, but am i the only one who thinks franken makes kissinger look straight?
Comment posted January 11, 2009 @ 7:15 pm
You lied us into a war that got thousands of Americans killed and brought about a civilian body count that can only be measured against… how do I put this politely? ‘the Axis powers’ civilian relocation policies’.
You drove our economy over a cliff like a teenager huffing glue.
You gerrymandered Texas, mugged the voters in Florida, and greenlighted the mass production of vote stealing machines.
And now you whine that a member of the reality-based community has gotten elected (along with a bunch of crude anti-semitic sniping), and you cry foul — without a scrap of evidence — that he committed a felony and stole the election. Or maybe you have evidence that the election was hijacked but you just don’t feel like going to the the feds with the evidence?
All of you on the right… get real. Then get ready. It’s payback time.
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