NYT: No More Sham Elections

No More Sham Elections

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

Published: November 20, 2004

E-mail: nicholas@nytimes.com


In Iraq shortly before the war, I had an icy conversation about Iraqi elections with one of Saddam's goons. "What do you mean by 'sham'?" he asked.

"Look, Saddam gets a lot of votes, but no one's running against him," I protested. "If you only have one candidate who can win, that's not a real election!"

Oops. I spoke too soon. The U.S. electoral system looks increasingly dysfunctional, and those of us who used to mock the old Soviet or Iraqi "elections" for lacking competition ought to be blushing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/20/opinion/20kristof.html?oref=login&th

This "opinion" piece certainly fits the description.

NOT ONE WORD OF MENTION ABOUT THE MACHINES. NOT ONE!!!!!!!!

Write this IDIOT and READ HIM OUT for this IRRESPONSIBLE, INFANTILE and thoroughly THOUGHTLESS drivel.

It's a good article, just not the one I was hoping for.

It's a shame that it has to be reported in incriments but it is a lot better than the previous "article". They've obviously felt pressure to throw a bone and I say we should keep pressing until we get the whole of it.

..who wrote so sanctimoniously last year that it was horrible that we were criticizing Bush (despite the decades-long hate campaign against us by Republicans) because we were too "angry" and how the average Christian voter would be turned-off by our "Bush-hatred."

:argh:

Dear Mr. Kristof,

Thank you for your insightful op-ed piece (No More Sham Elections, No. 20, 2004) that so accurately draws parallels between the current state of our electoral process and that of one party states like Baathist Iraq and the Soviet Union. I was surprised however that you failed to mention the overwhelming evidence of voting irregularities, voter disenfranchisement, suppression and fraud that still clouds this election and the future of representative democracy in this country. Nearly three quarters of Americans voted on electronic machines with no verifiable paper trail. This was a 'faith based' election in which we have no way of knowing whether our votes counted or not. This election is not over yet - there will be a recount in Ohio, where there is a paper trail and the Electoral College has not met. Perhaps democracy is not yet dead in America.

not 3/4.

otherwise the letter rocks