You have to wonder about Jimmy Carter’s integrity and judgement. In today’s opinion piece in The Washington Post, he complains about the conditions for the upcoming Florida election, using arguments that may have been taken right our of the Coordinadora Democrática press conferences during the last six months. If he wrote the piece himself, his capacity for cynicism is simply incredible. Where was he during the Venezuelan recall vote? Sleeping? Eating? (Speaking of Carter eating, one of my favorite Restaurants in Caracas, Urrutia in Solano Ave., had proudly displayed two pictures of the former President eating there, they have duly been removed).
But let’s looks at the ex-President’s laments about the Florida election:
“The disturbing fact is that a repetition of the problems of 2000 now seems likely, even as many other nations are conducting elections that are internationally certified to be transparent, honest and fair.”
I certainly hope transparent, honest and fair does not refer to the Venezuelan process. The failed audit on Aug. 15th was not transparent, neither was the electoral registry, nor the refusal to audit 50 machines selected by the opposition on the second audit on Aug. 18th. Or to think it is fair or honest that all important decisions were made by a three to two vote, with the three pro-Chavez Directors always voting together.
“A nonpartisan electoral commission or a trusted and nonpartisan official who will be responsible for organizing and conducting the electoral process before, during and after the actual voting takes place.”
This would never apply to our esteemed CNE, which was composed of three partisan pro-Chavez members and two partisan pro-opposition members. One of the pro-Chavez members was so partisan that he said in an interview to a Brazilian paper that the revolution had to be defended.
”Uniformity in voting procedures, so that all citizens, regardless of their social or financial status, have equal assurance that their votes are cast in the same way and will be tabulated with equal accuracy. Modern technology is already in use that makes electronic voting possible, with accurate and almost immediate tabulation and with paper ballot printouts so all voters can have confidence in the integrity of the process.”
Accurate and almost immediate tabulation? So that all voters can have confidence? Definitely not referring o the Venezuelan process he so superficially observed. Confidence has been shattered, and the integrity of the process is being questioned with very serious technical arguments.
“It is unconscionable to perpetuate fraudulent or biased electoral practices in any nation.”
It is also unconscionable to superficially certify processes that perpetuate biased and fraudulent practices…
Finally, I have switched two arguments made in the article:
“It is especially objectionable among us Americans, who have prided ourselves on setting a global example for pure democracy.
The top election official has also played a leading role in qualifying Ralph Nader as a candidate, knowing that two-thirds of his votes in the previous election came at the expense of Al Gore. She ordered Nader’s name be included on absentee ballots even before the state Supreme Court ruled on the controversial issue.”
Whatever happened to the “pure democracy” he boasts of in the first paragraph? Why should Nader’s candidacy be part of a controversial issue? Yes, he took votes away from Gore in 2000, but he also has a right to be a candidate which is being blocked by the party Carter supports in 17 states, using legalese and political maneuvering to block Nader’s and his supporters rights to have him be a candidate. I disagree with Nader’s candidacy personally, but the attempts to block him represent dirty rather than pure democracy as described in the first sentence.
Well Mr. Carter, with this opinion piece, I can only conclude you are not only superficial, but want to cynically apply different rules to the Florida election than you even tried to enforce in Venezuela. Certainly a double standard, but what else is new?
The Devil's Excrement 
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