In 1972, Melvin Steinfeld published Our Racist Presidents: From Washington to
Nixon (Consensus Publishers, San Ramon, California). Maybe it's time for an
update.

"F. Leon Wilson" wrote:

> CHOMSKY Subscribers:
>
> We have touched on this issue, however why was it so difficult to get one
> (1) Senator to signoff on the challenge to the Florida vote?
>
> Isn't Joseph Lieberman a Senator?
>
> Comments on the artical below?
>
> F. Leon
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2001 07:37:54 EST
> From: [log in to unmask]
>
> >From the Black World Today: <http://www.tbwt.com>
> ---------------------------------------------------
>
> Jan. 05, 2000
>
> Dear Editors,
>
> Florida Suffrage And Legal Sham
> <http://www.tbwt.com/site/letters.asp>
>
> What the world & United States citizens witnessed last month in Florida
> was no illusion. A domestic coup d' e-tat unfolded right in our face. It
> started from the initial announcement that Al Gore had won Florida, around
> 7:50 p.m., 11-7-00. The announcement was made by exit poll experts who
> have a long history of accurately predicting elections: They did not know
> however, that over 185,000 cast ballots would be discarded throughout
> Florida. Including 27,000 in Duval County of which 40% were from African
> American districts.
>
> They did not know that over 19,000 cast ballots would be discarded in Palm
> Beach County due to the infamous "Butterfly" ballot, not including an
> additional 3,000 that were mistakenly cast for Pat Buchanan. They did not
> know that Reverend Clyde Judson of the Good News Little River Missionary
> Church in Miami, would have to call the Police, before his 1,400 African
> American cast ballots were picked up 4 days after the election. They did
> not know that 2 abrupt hand counts would occur & ballots slightly showing
> the voters intent would not be counted. They did not know that of the over
> 185,000 discarded ballots, over 80% would be from African American
> communities, according to Reverend Jesse Jackson. They did not know that
> 10,500 ballots from the Miami-Dade Democratic stronghold would not be
> counted. And certainly they did not know that the US Supreme Court would
> be called on 2 occasions by George Bush to stop recounts which ultimately
> resulted in Bush's favor thus saving him & the country from further
> embarrassment.
>
> Moreover, Judge Nikki Clark admitted that the 1998 Florida Election Law
> was broken when Republican operatives were allowed to alter absentee
> ballot request in Seminole County. The same crime happened in Martins
> County.
>
> Regardless, the altered ballots were not discarded and no one went to
> jail. Meanwhile, all over the US jails are filled with a disproportionate
> number of first offense inmates doing time for victimless crimes.
> Doctoring absentee ballot request are very serious & are not victimless
> crimes. If Judge Clark is as lenient with victimless crime defendants that
> come before her, as she was with those Republican operatives, her decision
> is at least consistent. If not, she contributed to the coup by letting the
> Republican operatives get away.
>
> Kweisi Mfume, NAACP President, held hearings which also revealed that
> hundreds of college students from Florida A&M & Bethune Cookman were not
> allowed to vote. Hundreds of other African Americans were illegally purged
> from the eligible voting list. These & other voting irregularities were
> reported to the US Justice department during & after the election.
>
> But according to Jesse, the US Justice Department failed to do its job.
> Jesse said that "There are counties in Florida under the protection of the
> 1965 Voting Rights Act. The Department fought diligently for Elian. But it
> did very little for disenfranchised voters."
>
> The Newsweek magazine recently reported that Supreme Court Justice Sandra
> O'Connor was visibly upset when it was announced that Gore had won
> Florida. She had planned to retire & move back to Arizona, but said that
> she could not retire and allow Gore to appoint a Democrat. The wife of
> Justice Clarence Thomas & the sons of Justice Scalia all worked for the
> Republican Party. In spite of their conflict of interest, they voted to
> stop the recount rather than recusing themselves. As a result, their votes
> were politically biased, weakening the credibility of the US Supreme Court
> & the legitimacy of Bush's election.
>
> I put my life on the line during the Vietnam era like other veterans. Many
> others lost their lives fighting for Democracy in foreign countries.
> However, after what we witnessed in Florida during the past election, we
> need not look no further than our own borders to see how Democracy needs
> to be respected & fought for. When the US Supreme Court awarded the
> Presidency to Bush, it disrespected all who risked & gave their lives for
> Democracy. In addition, "Fighting for every American vote to count is an
> act of patriotism as great as any soldier who ever fought on a foreign
> battlefield for Democracy," according to Jesse. And according to Supreme
> Court Justice Stevens, we will never know who really won the election
> until we count all of the votes. Jesse said that the Bush Presidency has
> legal merit based on the Supreme Court & Congress. But Bush's legitimacy
> is questioned because that can only be determined in a Democracy by the
> voters, when all of the votes are counted. Bush lost the popular vote by
> over 500,000 votes. He only won Florida because the US Supreme Court
> stopped the recount, thereby disenfranchising the will of thousands of
> voters.
>
> It is important to note moreover, that the recount that is being done by
> the major news firms may reveal that the loser won & the winner lost,
> according to Jesse. Meanwhile, don't be surprised by the Bush camp's
> attempt to even stop this recount. And don't be fooled when Bush says that
> "I trust the people." In essence, during the 2000 Presidential election,
> Florida violated the 1965 Voting Right Act & the US Supreme Court rendered
> a legal sham in crowning the wrong man as the 43rd President of the US.
>
> [log in to unmask]