dan s wang on 15 Feb 2001 00:06:37 -0000 |
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[Nettime-bold] Re: <nettime> The Truth about VoterGate and the Black Electorate |
O.- Yeah, I think that's pretty much true. One of my local papers (the Chicago Tribune) did an investigation into the final vote count and concluded that Gore had the votes to win, and that even in several Republican counties--which went uncontested by Gore--hand recounts for the purposes of studying the election demonstrated net gains for Gore (albeit sometimes only a handful). Given the Republican editorializing of the Tribune, it is not surprising that this was reported not as 'Gore won' but rather as 'Gore got more votes'. You might want to check out the chicago tribune site for the details. I think at least a couple of Florida newspapers also went into recount-as-investigative-journalism mode, and have concluded the same. But apart from the election theft another way to look at it is this: Gore would rather have lost to Bush than take on even the least reformist of Nader's platform. Think about it: Gore actually preferred to have Bush in power than propose anything that would seriously improve life for the poorest and most disadvantaged people. Early on he positioned himself to the right of Bradley, and all along looked to the swing segment who would vote for either himself or Bush--ie a voting block which is in itself essentially conservative. My theory is that Clinton and Gore have been popular among Black Americans not because of policies, but because the two of them are, on a personal level, completely comfortable with Black people. Clinton's inner circle has always included trusted Black friends--that in itself was a first at that level of power. That such a demonstrated ease among Black people would be a reason to support Clinton, despite policies that have actually hurt the Black population as a whole, says a lot about how overtly racist white politicians have been and often still are on the personal level. But, if the Clinton years taught anything, it is that a personal friendliness is by itself not enough, because the policies do matter. Bush is betting on continuing and furthering the disconnect by instituting extreme policies that favor the rich while presenting an array of minority faces around him. He's calling the bluff: how can we accuse him of being racist when he's got people of color in key positions? Ah, but of course--it's all in the policies. But the same logic dictates that Clinton/Gore weren't much better. Which is what the Nader folks were saying all along. dan w. ---------- >From: Ododita@aol.com >To: nettime-l@bbs.thing.net >Subject: <nettime> The Truth about VoterGate >Date: Wed, Feb 14, 2001, 9:02 AM > > To all Nettimers: > > I would like to know if the votes in Florida have actually been tallied, but > not announced in the United States. I have several friends from overseas in > Europe who say that the vote count is done, and that Gore won. Is this true? > > -Odili Donald Odita > > # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission > # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, > # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets > # more info: majordomo@bbs.thing.net and "info nettime-l" in the msg body > # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@bbs.thing.net _______________________________________________ Nettime-bold mailing list Nettime-bold@nettime.org http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold