To the Editor:
Second Opinion
Voting and 9/11
By the time you read this, the results of the CA Recall election will likely be known. Last weekend before election day, Republicans assumed success for Newsom! They claimed on Elder’s website that, “We implore you ... to join us in this fight as you are able, primarily by signing our petition demanding a special session of the California legislature to investigate and ameliorate the twisted results of this 2021 Recall Election of Governor Gavin Newsom," the website said.
There is a reference to "improperly formed ballots" that were discovered prior to the election, but no offer of evidence to support the claim. Also, “if there is an audit of the recall election, county election officials should not be a part of the recount, because doing so would be similar to ‘allowing an alleged criminal to examine the crime scene,’" the petition says.
The Repos are doing what Trump did in the summer of 2020. He claimed that he could only lose if there was fraud in November and whined it at every opportunity. If he won, the election was fraud-free; if he didn’t win, there was a clear “steal.” Remember the kid on the playground who always demanded a “do-over” and would stamp, snivel, and cry “foul” every time he or she lost? This is what the “grown-up” version looks like.
Republicans plan to do this for every election nationally which they lose from now on. Just smear and dishonor the election process, with no evidence, even before the results are known. They equate elections officials with “criminals,” unless they stack the election panels themselves, which they are doing in many states. People ask why Democrats, Independents, and fair-minded Republicans, do not respect the current Party.
I trust that the GOP will not hold up AZ as their classic example of a forensic audit, due this week, though I wish they would. The process has been a clown show from the first. Cyber Ninjas with no prior elections experience took the helm, the voting machines were dealt with in such a way that AZ is going to have to replace them at a substantial taxpayer cost. There have been numerous threats against legislators who criticized the process. The mysterious differences between the counts of other Repo candidates and Trump were found to be because many Republican voters voted a straight Party line, except they voted for Biden for president.
I have been critical of Bush 43 for so many reasons, but I have to give credit when due. His partial remarks on the 20th anniversary of 9/11: "We have seen growing evidence that the dangers to our country can come not only across borders but from violence that gathers within. There is little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home. But in their disdain for pluralism, in their disregard for human life, in their determination to defile national symbols, they are children of the same foul spirit. It is our continuing duty to confront them."
Three former presidents, Obama, Bush 43, and Clinton accompanied President Biden to Ground Zero or Shanksville on 9/11/21. Former President Trump was invited but opted out. Rather, he made a last-minute visit to a NYC firehouse to mention 9/11 and discuss his political future. Then he had to skedaddle to prepare for commentary on the Holyfield fight later in the day, for which he bragged he was going to make an “obscene” amount of money. He couldn’t even make that day of national mourning about anything except himself.
Kelly Scoles,
Fillmore