The American Spectator

home
ADVERTISEMENT
Print Email
Text Size

The Spectacle Blog

After the Minnesota Supreme Court unanimously rejected his lawsuit today, Republican Norm Coleman graciously conceded the bitterly disputed contest over the second U.S. Senate seat for Minnesota.

None of this changes the fact that as a senator Al Franken is not legitimate. The election was stolen at the precinct level, during the recount, and during the post-election litigation.

Never forget the role that ACORN played in this.

As ACORN-aligned Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, a former community organizer, presided over the vote-counting process, Coleman’s original lead dwindled. The morning after the election, Coleman led Franken by 725 votes. Over the next five days, Coleman’s lead had dwindled to just 221. Election officials claimed they had to correct typos on vote tally sheets and that these corrections gave Franken 435 votes and took 69 away from Coleman.

There were mountains of other irregularities which I’m not going to bother detailing here and somehow in the end Franken came out on top.

Ritchie was elected Minnesota secretary of state in part because of outside help. He defeated two-term incumbent Republican Mary Kiffmeyer in 2006 after receiving an endorsement and financial assistance for his run from a below-the-radar non-federal “527” group called the Secretary of State Project. The entity can accept unlimited financial contributions and doesn’t have to disclose them publicly until well after the election.

The founders of the Secretary of State Project, which claims to advance “election protection” but only backs Democrats, religiously believe that right-leaning secretaries of state helped the GOP steal the presidential elections in Florida in 2000 (Katherine Harris) and in Ohio in 2004 (Ken Blackwell).

The secretary of state candidates the group endorses sing the same familiar song about electoral integrity issues: Voter fraud is largely a myth, vote suppression is used widely by Republicans, cleansing the dead and fictional characters from voter rolls should be avoided until embarrassing media reports emerge, and anyone who demands that a voter produce photo identification before pulling the lever is a racist, democracy-hating Fascist.

In 2006, the Minnesota ACORN Political Action Committee endorsed Ritchie and donated to his campaign. According to the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board, contributors to Ritchie’s campaign included liberal philanthropists George Soros, Drummond Pike, and Deborah Rappaport, along with veteran community organizer Heather Booth, a Saul Alinsky disciple who co-founded the Midwest Academy, a radical ACORN clone. One article on Ritchie’s 2006 campaign website bragged about the fine work ACORN did in Florida to pass a constitutional amendment to raise that state’s minimum wage.

It was revealed during a panel discussion at the Democratic Party’s convention in Denver last summer that the Democracy Alliance, a financial clearinghouse created by Soros and insurance magnate Peter B. Lewis, approved the Secretary of State Project as a grantee. The Democracy Alliance aspires to create a permanent political infrastructure of nonprofits, think tanks, media outlets, leadership schools, and activist groups-a kind of “vast left-wing conspiracy” to compete with the conservative movement. It has brokered more than $100 million in grants to liberal nonprofits including ACORN. The aforementioned Pike and Rappaport, who gave money to Ritchie’s campaign, are members of the Democracy Alliance.

According to IRS 8872 disclosure forms, the Secretary of State Project received donations from Democracy Alliance members including Soros, Rob Stein, Gail Furman, and Susie Tompkins Buell.

Meanwhile, for conservatives, it hardly needs to be pointed out that this Frankenstein is a fundamentally unserious and untested figure worthy of ridicule. After being isolated in the echo chamber of the entertainment-media-academia complex where he got nothing but praise for decades, Franken is quite unsuited for the world outside. He cannot tolerate criticism and characteristically responds to it with over-the-top vitriolic attacks. He is the living embodiment of all the horrible things that conservatives fairly or unfairly impute to DailyKos bloggers.

A professional comedian originally, Al Franken remains a joke.

View all comments (17) |

Daniel| 6.30.09 @ 10:56PM

No arguments here, but the fact remains that the people of Minnesota made this election close enough for all this to work.

James Carville| 7.1.09 @ 6:35AM

the undermining of our political institutions by the nazi-collaborator George Soros, his myraid of soft-money political organizations, and his ill-begotten wealth together is one of the most serious threats to the freedom and prosperity of the American people that we've faced since Kruschev promised to bury us. Soros' activities need to be stopped. If Madoff got 150 years for his Ponzi Scheme, a close scrutiny of Soros' activities should crimes befitting a much longer sentence.

Rocco| 7.1.09 @ 7:11AM

JC, I wouldn't count on it, NOT under this regime. Biting the hand that feeds it???? Never.

Pingback| 7.1.09 @ 7:13AM

LibNOT - News, Video, and Conservative Opinion » Coleman Gives In - Franken Declared links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…lead had dwindled to just 221. Election officials claimed they had to correct typos on vote tally sheets and that these corrections gave Franken 435 votes and took 69 away from Coleman. Read the rest here. The comedian becomes the joke. And the joke is on the American people. People who read this...also read: Starting already: GOP Election board members tossed from Philly polling stations Obama…

Rocco| 7.1.09 @ 7:15AM

Also, what is one more clown on this ship of fools known as our federal government? Until our society throws off its addiction to "bread and circuses," count on more of the same. A good indication is all this hoopla over Michael Jackson - with all of what is going on in Iran, Honduras, N. Korea, etc. all you hear about is the King of Pop.... as if there weren't more important things to worry about, like the Cap and Steal legislation approved under the radar last Friday by the House.

Prester John| 7.1.09 @ 8:31AM

Franken is the final piece of the tragic farce to be played out over the next year and a half. While as Rocco said he is merely one more clown on the ship of fools known as the United States Congress, the Dems now have their 60 votes in the Sentate.

One can only hope that a few of sane members on the Dem side of the aisle will stand up and put country before party. And it is a shame to depend on the poor health of Senators Byrd and Kennedy to keep them from the destruction they intend on inflicting on our country.

I will not be holding my breath.

Grzmlyk| 7.1.09 @ 8:47AM

I, for one, have had my fill of Republicans who slink away obsequiously in the face of blatant cheating.

I'm tired of gracious concession speeches that blithely ignore the utter corruption and criminality that lies purring at the feet of the "victor."

The Dems - and ACORN - learned the lessons of 2000 well (which George Bush WON). From now until this country collapses utterly in a twisted mass of serfdom, every disputed election will be won by the Democrat.

Why? It is they who hold the local levers of election machinery. And to be a Democrat is above all else to be a crook. "Finding" previously non-existent ballots is child's play to this mob.

Of course, this pattern of election stealing will never strike the mainstream media as newsworthy; after all, they applaud the thugs that lurk around polling places with weapons. You know, the hoodlums "enforce" fairness, and aren't we all for fairness?

Coleman should have vowed to take this to the Supreme Court and he's solidified his eunich status by agreeing to fade politely into oblivion. Think Franken would ever do that? Any Democrat? No, their "politics of personal destruction" creed mandates that they "take no prisoners" in their scorched-earth march to the sea.

Then again, maybe ACORN told Coleman his kids would sleep with the fishes if he pursued this any further. That's one promise, no doubt, they'd keep.

Until Republicans purge this party of the David Frum/David Brooks/Peggy Noonan et al wing and grow a set of cajones, we deserve what we get. And every day we fail to grow a set of cajones is another day ACORN further transforms before our eyes into Obama's SS.

Are we ever going to tire of being pop culture's punching bag? Is our only option to to try to be the best behaved punching bag we can be in hopes that the mainstream media will praise our punching bag-worthiness? Are we forever going to cede the definition of the playing field, the rules and the refereeing to liberalism and then wonder why we never win?

Our only consolation: Just like France's Reign of Terror, many of these "caring" liberal elites have no idea what they've unleashed in Obama's election; they don't yet know that they, too, will ultimately be consumed in the inferno of "social justice."

And, if I'm not in a gulag by then, I'll be there with marshmallows.

Pingback| 7.1.09 @ 11:40AM

Twitted by TXConservative links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

Twitted by TXConservative This post was Twitted by TXConservative Al Franken linked to ACORN fraud: http://bit.ly/ok1S6 http://twitter.com/TXConservative/statuses/2421535227 Last pics posted on

citizen222| 7.1.09 @ 12:01PM

FRANKLY the joke on us! Because the real issue at hand isn't comedian Al Franken - it's George Soros and his wealthy friends at the Democracy Alliance whose stated goal by PROGRESSIVES is to take down Capitalism!

Their stated goal is to " create a PERMANENT political infrastructure of nonprofits, think tanks, media outlets, leadership schools, and activist groups—a kind of “vast left-wing conspiracy” to compete with the conservative movement.

But I beleive that their goal is to destroy our two party system and collaspe the US economy. And they might just pull this off.

The Democracy Alliance (DA)— is meant to be a financial clearinghouse. They not only merely to elect Democrats.... but to PERMANTELY realign U.S. politics. "


Who are these people?

"George Soros’s Democracy Alliance: In Search Of A Permanent Democratic Majority"
@http://sweetness-light.com/archive/foundation-watch-soros’s-democracy-alliance-1

Pingback| 7.1.09 @ 8:46PM

ideapalooza blog » Blog Archive » In a Democracy, the People Get the Government They links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…of a filibuster proof Senate, and this is not good for the country.  Not now, not ever. Al Franken thanked ACORN today.  Huh.  The same ACORN that is under investigation in 14 states for voter fraud.  Experts agree, ACORN manhandled Franken’s election and is responsible for his win. This disrupts Tocqueville’s stated premise.  ACORN disrupted our democratic system, continues to do so, and if the…

Pingback| 9.19.09 @ 12:42PM

BizzyBlog links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

BizzyBlog HOME BizzyBlog Manifesto MonetaryMatters Email View Archives October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008…

arctic_front| 1.22.10 @ 4:18AM

ok, hear me out:

I live in Canada.. that in it's self is not important...
However, one fact needs to be explained to U.S. voters.

In Canada, each voter has to be enumerated, and that voter has to be a citizen for 'some time' of the location he/she wishes to vote for. Political party affiliation has no relevance on this 'voter list'. Each citizen is checked for voting validation as a resident of his area only.

On election day, each citizen eligible to cast a vote, is directed to a designated polling place for his area. They cast their vote no differently than any other democracy.

however, what is different is how each person finds themselves on the voter's list. Nobody ever asks anyone what party they support. They do, however, ask that they prove their residency and right to vote in that given jurisdiction. Photo ID is also expected when you show up to vote.

It must be stated that if your name is not on the enumerated voter's list, you cannot cast a vote. There are ways around this,, but they make it difficult so that people can't vote unless they are proven citizens in that particular area.

I think the basic premise is thus: If you can't document residency in a particular (in Canada we call them 'ridings') , then you can't vote.

This eliminates fraud.

I know most Americans don't know shite about Canada... but I'm telling you folks who don't know about us northern neighbors, we KNOW democracy. We live it, breathe it and send it around the globe better than you Americans do. When it comes to elections, no offence , The U.N. prefers officials from Canada to make sure elections are above board and fair.

When you 'Yanks' get your voters lists sorted out and legit.... and they sure as hell are a joke right now, then your version of 'democracy' might actually mean something. Until then, you might want to keep quiet about this whole ' we are the foundation of modern democracy' shite.

To be truthful, as a Canadian, I am in total AWE of your constitution. It is a document worthy of awe. Now, let me ask you, why the friggin' hell do I, a Canadian, have to lecture ANY of you Americans, on the meaning of democracy?

You should all be so ashamed of yourselves for the sorry state of your county. GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER!

Mass. just elected Mr. Brown. Time to send a message...

I'm a Canadian who loves America.... The rest of America needs to wake up. Obama and ALL Democrats have to GO!

More Blog Posts by Matthew Vadum

http://spectator.org/blog/2009/06/30/al-franken-d-acorn-heads-to-th

ADVERTISEMENT

SPONSORED LINKS

FLASHBACK TO: 1995

Clip of the Day

Most Popular Articles

Obama and the IRS: The Smoking Gun?

Jeffrey Lord | 5.20.13

The Inoperative Jay Carney

Jeffrey Lord | 5.23.13

Holding AWOL Obama Accountable

Betsy McCaughey | 5.23.13

Obama's Imbroglios

R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. | 5.23.13

Lerner's Plea

Ray V. Hartwell | 5.23.13

Time to Go for the Kill

Peter Ferrara | 5.22.13

Laying Down My Pen

Quin Hillyer | 5.23.13

ADVERTISEMENT