Count it up!

Mark Ritchie is a member of my church, and I have to say that I have every confidence that his sole guiding principle for this recount is to have it open, fair, and beyond reproach. Not that that will stop the wingnuts, but honestly, we could not have a better person running this recount.

OT but I just heard that Obama is not interested in bringing to justice people implicated in torture. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Thanks, PW. I actually have a lot of faith in the recount process precisely because of Mark Ritchie, he’s a great guy. Met him in SF a couple of years ago, very impressed.

The Republiks are still using the old play-book. It doesn’t work like it used to because people get too much information from the toobz.

On your OT, I think that’s the reason he had McCain and Graham in for a talk today in Chicago. Obama is going to close down Guantanemo, and he wants McCain and Graham (who was an army defense lawyer to cover his back. It is a very smart move. Both men were against torture and the Guantanamo system, but got their arms twisted by the other thugs. He gets them on board and it neuters the other Republiks (plus Lieberman) who think torture is ok, as long as it is done to brown people.

Then why is a torture specialist on his transition team?
http://www.democracynow.org/20…..cials_tied

…they’ve brought in John Lott to spin the numbers for them.

Paging Tim Lambert, paging Tim Lambert, Dr. Lambert to the white courtesy phone please. Your old “friend” is at it again.

I think McCain will gladly back him up… He sold out for the sole purpose of helping Bush get immunity, imo.

Graham will follow McCain.

Also, as Spencer noted, the 2005 Detainee Treatment Act pushed by McCain makes it all but impossible to prosecute the lower-level folks, the ones doing the actual torturing.

Heh! I should hustle off to the Deltoid blog to see if he’s heard about it.

Could we please not get alarmed over every rumor that we “hear”? Why don’t we wait to see what Obama actually does?

Great post, PW. Hoping Al pulls this off – can’t stand Coleman.

The problem is that there aren’t many high-level intel people who are utter squeaky clean. (And there are quite a few of the low-level ones who are, as is Larry Johnson, bughouse crazy.) There’s a reason Stalin purged his secret police about every seven years or so.

Yup. He’s dealt with these people before, and he’s not going to cower or give them any leverage by being openly belligerent. He’s just going to do his job.

Count
every
vote

Why can’t Americans see which party favors that central principle, and which party doesn’t? And make their decisions accordingly?

I’ve heard some pretty good rationalizations, but yours belongs in the record book.

The famed Brooks Brothers riot was staged during a vote recount in Miami. As the story goes, the rioting Republican operatives effectively intimidated the poll workers into stopping the recount.

Will Coleman bring in Flamenco dancers or high dollar prostitutes for a new twist?

Our local paper had an AP article on Ritchie this a.m. If the Rethugs think he is someone to be trifled with, they’ve a surprise in store.

And I heard him interviewed a couple days ago on MPR. This guy is rock solid as Rushmore.

Bingo Teddy! Rethuglians never want to count all the votes and never have, supress the vote is thier mantra! Democrats always want all the votes cast counted! Gee I wonder which party really supports democratic elections??? Du oh!!

Exactly. He doesn’t scare, and he doesn’t yell. He just does his job, and he’s shown over the years that he’s clean as a whistle and plays fair.

There’s a new Astroturf group calling itself “the Minnesota Majority” which is trying to a) get him booted and b) repeal same-day registration, and c) institute photo ID. Ain’t gonna happen.

that must explain why bush appointed all those pro-torture folks too.

Good think you have a Ritchie rather than a Harris.