RFK Jr is a Liar
Rolling Stone published an article by RFK Jr claiming to prove that Bush stole the 2004 Election. At first glance, it seems quite persuasive -- RFK Jr finds hundreds of thousands of Kerry votes that went missing from the final tally.

Sadly for RFK Jr, it's just not true. The "analysis" is a conglomeration of misrepresentations, misquotes, mistakes and opinions of partisan "experts". Farhad Majoo debunks it here.

Granting RFK Jr the benefit of the doubt, we could say he's simply led astray by his own partisan zeal. But Mr. Manjoo's debunking makes it clear that RFK Jr.'s "mistakes" are intentional.

The first salient omission comes in paragraph 5, when Kennedy writes, "In what may be the single most astounding fact from the election, one in every four Ohio citizens who registered to vote in 2004 showed up at the polls only to discover that they were not listed on the rolls, thanks to GOP efforts to stem the unprecedented flood of Democrats eager to cast ballots." To back up that assertion, Kennedy cites "Democracy at Risk," the report the Democrats released last June.

That report does indeed point out that many people -- 26 percent -- who first registered in 2004 did not find their names on the voter rolls at polling places. What Kennedy doesn't say, though, is that the same study found no significant difference in the share of Kerry voters and Bush voters who came to the polls and didn't find their names listed. The Democrats' report says that 4.2 percent of Kerry voters were forced to cast a "provisional" ballot and that 4.1 percent of Bush voters were made to do the same -- a stat that lowers the heat on Kennedy's claim of "astounding" partisanship.

Such intentional mistakes makes him a liar. A Liar.

If the parties were reversed, particularly when our country is at war, I would find such an argument by a eminent Republican in an international publication disgusting, and I would expect Republican leadership to state clearly that they find no merit in such an argument. (As they clearly denounced Trent Lott's comments at Strom Thurmond's tribute.)

But I won't be holding my breath waiting for such from our Democratic party, that is more interested in falsely undermining our President (and by extension, our country) than in laying out positive reasons why they should be in charge.
- posted by The Dutchman @ 12:02:00 PM