27 Aug 2004 (Edited 22 Sep 2004)

Two weeks ago, three of the country's more liberal columnists wrote four columns attacking Florida, the GOP, and Governor Jeb Bush. Three of these were from New York Times columnists. Our local newspaper, the Syracuse Post-Standard, printed all four.

Three of the columns, all from the New York Times and including two by Bob Herbert, reported the same unsupported story of elderly black voters in Orlando being "intimidated" by Florida State Police who were checking voter registrations. Perhaps a more balanced handling of this liberal broadside would have been to print one or two of the columns plus an editorial examining why these attacks occurred together.

Most annoying was Bob Herbert's claim that state police had "gone into the homes of elderly black voters." Mr. Herbert provides little detail. For example: Was this breaking and entering? Were there warrants? Exactly what did the police do? I submit as an educated guess that the police were checking absentee ballot applications and warning citizens that voting twice was fraud. This is a justifiable precaution. Vote fraud is vote theft, and experience shows that many fraudulent votes are cast by people who don't know better.
Mr. Herbert is presenting the usual Democratic line that any attempt to reduce vote fraud is intimidating to minorities. The greatest intimidation would appear to be columnists warning that minorities are going to be prevented from voting.

• Molly Ivins, "In the national 'Crossfire...'", Creators' Syndicate,12 Aug
• Bob Herbert, "Suppress the Vote?", New York Times,16 Aug
• Paul Krugman, "Saving the Vote", New York Time, 17 Aug
• Bob Herbert, "A Chill in Florida", New York Times, 23 Aug

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Update -24 Sep 2004

There is now an investigation into the Orlando "intimidation." According to the Associated Press on 18 Sep 2004, "The (US?) Justice Department is investigating accusations that Florida law enforcement officers intimidated elderly black voters during a probe of voting fraud last spring."
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Some background on this "nefarious plot" was offered by Mike Thomas in the 21 Sep 2004 Orlando Sentinel.
In his column, Mr. Thomas writes,
"The plot dates back to the Orlando mayoral election in March, when candidate Ken Mulvaney accused a campaign worker for Mayor Buddy Dyer of tampering with absentee ballots.
"The Orange-Osceola State Attorney's Office called in the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate. Agents went to interview about 50 people, most of them elderly, who voted by absentee ballot.
"Now, as far as I know, the best way to learn if a crime has been committed is to talk to the people who might have been the victims of the crime."
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Although this is merely Mr. Thomas's account, it contains more detail and makes more sense than all three of the New York Times' columns on the subject. The New York Times is going beneath bad journalism - its columns appear manipulative, with a purpose to predispose the public to believe that the Republicans are going to prevent minorities from voting.

© 2004 Halway Systems

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