Yes, yes it is to early. It is those “taunts,” name-calling and other denigratory talk that has caused our political system to devolve to the point that it has.

Just look at your anti-spam measure.

Posted by Dan Kachur on 11 October 02008 @ 12pm

It was a joke. :)

Posted by Waldo Jaquith on 11 October 02008 @ 2pm

Oops. Can you tell it’s a BIG pet peeve?

Posted by Dan Kachur on 12 October 02008 @ 6am

“Followed up by complaints that Democrats rigged the election.”

Actually, that’s been the main Democrat tactic every time they lose an election this century. I’ll be very surprised if Republicans whine their way into courts across the country the way Democrats did in ‘00 and ‘04.

Posted by I.Publius on 13 October 02008 @ 9am

The whole ‘rigging’ thing is hilarious. I mean, if this looked like a close election then I could understand the angle. In such a case, the slightest potential impropriety could throw the race. But Obama leads by double digits in most polls now.

Yeah, Democrats are cheating. They are rigging the election by convincing more people to vote for their candidate. Unfair!

Posted by Jackson Landers on 13 October 02008 @ 9am

Al Gore won New Mexico by a very small margin. If memory serves me, it was approximately 344 votes. It was the smallest margin of victory of any of the 50 states. I distinctly recall hearing among Republican Party activists, there was a belief that George Bush actually won the 2000 election [in New Mexico]. And that somehow Gore stole the election. So I think there was this belief that let’s not let this happen again. That’s what I believe to be the genesis of them attempting to put pressure on me to find prosecutable cases.

Former New Mexico U.S Attorney David Iglesias

So I set up a taskforce in September 2004 to investigate. I made it state, local and federal law enforcement, and I had made sure that the FBI was involved, and that the Justice Department, public integrity section in Washington was involved. I made sure that there were both Democrat and Republican officials as part of this voter fraud effort because I wanted to allay the fears of New Mexicans that this was some kind of partisan witch hunt.

We looked at well over 100 cases … Upon reviewing the evidence and looking at the FBI reports, and actually talking to the FBI agent in charge of this, I concluded, as did the public integrity section at main Justice [Department] and at the local FBI office, that we didn’t have any prosecutable cases.

Posted by Bubby on 13 October 02008 @ 10am

I’ll be very surprised if Republicans whine their way into courts across the country the way Democrats did in ‘00 and ‘04.

Remember George W. Bush and Richard Cheney, Petitioners v. Albert Gore, Jr., et al? Isn’t the “petitioner” the “whiner”? Isn’t that the granddaddy of all cases in which elections results were taken to the courts?

The good news is that I may be about to “get over it”.

Posted by Harry Landers on 13 October 02008 @ 10am

I. Publius: bullshit.

Posted by Ben C. on 13 October 02008 @ 10am

There will always be voter fraud. It will come for both sides. Sometimes it will be be from one side more than the other.

This will get more intensely reported in the last days of an election. It will be more loudly screamed by the party that feels a close election slipping way. It will be used to explain the close loss. (see also “we just didn’t get our message out”)

Posted by perlogik on 13 October 02008 @ 1pm

Remember George W. Bush and Richard Cheney, Petitioners v. Albert Gore, Jr., et al?

Better than most. Remember who began the legal action in Florida, particularly filing actions in the Florida Supreme Court? I’ll give you a hint… it wasn’t the Republicans. The U.S. Supreme Court only became involved when the Florida Supreme Court ignored Equal Protection.

Posted by I.Publius on 13 October 02008 @ 2pm

You mean that same kind of Equal Protection the Rehnquist Court hadn’t seen before or since? Yeah. Let’s not fight this one over. Institutions beat justice, that time. The end.

Posted by MB on 13 October 02008 @ 2pm

I guess that’s why the Court voted 7-2 on that issue. ::rolls eyes::

Posted by I.Publius on 13 October 02008 @ 4pm

Not much of a lawyer, are you?

Posted by MB on 13 October 02008 @ 5pm

I seem to be one with a better grasp of Bush v. Gore than you, friend.

Posted by I.Publius on 17 October 02008 @ 5am