FOX Continues to Pound Away About "Voter Fraud"
Reported by Ellen - October 29, 2004 -
Greg Palast on Alan Colmes' radio show notwithstanding, FOXNews.com continues its drumbeat about "voter fraud" in a series of "Fraud File" reports. The latest Fraud File focuses on Ohio and Florida (two swing states where Democrats just happen to have completed very successful new voter registration drives).
First up is another report on the "left-wing" ACORN organization in Florida which has been accused of mishandling voter registration forms. Major Garrett "contributed" to this otherwise anonymous story. Anytime Major Garrett is on hand, I know there will be something for me to write about. This time does not disappoint. Although the report seems to have sympathy for the "many Floridians who thought they would be able to vote this year (but) won't be on the rolls and won't have their votes counted," the details of the story are all about the misdeeds of the organization.
Next are some reasonably balanced reports on challenges being halted to new registrations in Ohio and problems in getting out absentee ballots in Florida. That's followed by a report of a Democrat caught stealing Republican political signs in NC. The report concludes with an incomprehensible piece of news from Colorado that warns of possible double-voting without a clear explanation and a legal challenge in Iowa about provisional ballots that "could dilute properly cast votes" if they are not cast in the correct precinct. No word, of course, about how or why the place where a vote is cast impacts other votes in the precinct. Nor is there any mention of the Democrats' argument about this which is that if you don't receive your voter registration card you don't know where to go to vote.
Notice how all the misdoings in the piece are by Democrats? And if the challenges in Ohio have been turned down by the courts, why is FOX still reporting on it in a piece called "Fraud File?" My feeling is that FOX is using these stories to lay the groundwork for future voter challenges in the swing states and for casting the results of the election in doubt just in case - horror of FOX horrors - the unthinkable happens and Bush loses next Tuesday.
