If It's Not Good Enough For The Ukraine, Then Why Is It Good Enough For Ohio?

by Steve

So when exactly did the Bush Administration think elections are illegitimate if they do “not meet international standards and because there has not been an investigation of the numerous and credible reports of fraud and abuse?”

I know that many readers here have been disappointed that I haven’t made more of an issue of the potential for fraud in the election. Part of my reticence is simply based on the fact that on the surface Kerry did lose by at least several million votes, regardless of what happens in next week’s Ohio recount. But upon further reflection, even if you want to discount the possibility for fraud as nothing more than the rantings of disappointed and conspiratorial Democrats, the GOP and those who conducted the exit polls that were used by the White House as a deflection from answering tough questions early need to be held accountable for some of the following issues:

-Why is it accepted that the early exit polls (which showed Kerry ahead) must have been wrong because more Bush voters (supposedly) showed up later in the day, when no evidence has been provided to back up this claim?

-Why did Warren Mitofsky, who ran the National Election Pool exit poll for the AP and other media this year gather over 150,000 exit poll responses but only use half that amount to come up with their “adjusted” final exit poll which conformed to the final tallied vote results, and how/why was that exit poll half-sample adjusted?

-Regardless of what you think about whether large-scale GOP fraud took place, please explain how is it possible that when compared against the early exit poll predictions, the odds of Bush achieving the results he did in the Big Three are one in 662,000?

And lastly, here is a good summary by Alan Waldman of the unanswered questions so far, as well as another good one from Maureen Farrell of BuzzFlash.com.