Betraying The Oath Of Office - Con't

There are many many instances where Republicans are trying to supress the vote. They claim that Democrats are doing the same thing. But that isn't true. Democrats have been caught trying to get people registered, valid people. Republicans have been caught trashing democratic registrations and paying people to collect Republican registrations, but not Democratic ones.

In Detroit, when a Republican legislator got caught red handed explicity talking about the need to "suppress the Detroit vote", he was required to resign from the state Bush-Cheney campaign.

In Joe Conason's recent (10/29/04) article, "Supreme Injustice", he describes how judge William Rehnquist as a young lawyer, illegally challenged black and latino voters in Arizona to persuade them not to vote.

By not speaking out about cases where voters rights are compromised, the President has again not lived up to his oath of office.

Joe Conason concludes his article as follows:
If George W. Bush believed his own rhetoric about "freedom on the march," he would not permit these offenses to be committed in his name. If he believed what he says about "compassionate conservatism," he would not fear the judgment of the people he claims to care about. If he believed in the God-given rights that he talks about so often, he would speak out to discourage those who seek to intimidate the weak and the poor from exercising their only power in this country.

Betraying The Oath Of Office - Con't

Wouldn't you think that if the president was concerned about the oath of office he took to protect the constitution that he would do something about this. Or at least say something about it, preferably condemn it.

This from the Bushes against Bush web site (http://bushesagainstbush.com/mt/archives/000050.php)

Gordon Sasser in Tallahassee, Florida, got an automated phone call saying that he could cast his vote via phone by using the phone pad. The intent, of course, was to make him think he voted when he hadn't.

James Scruggs, also from Tallahassee, had a women call him and say that she would pick up his absentee ballot to "ensure it's safe delivery". The intend, of course, was to determine who he was voting for, and not deliver the vote if it wasn't for the "right" candidate.

Another elderly women was registering her husband for an absentee ballot. She did this because the night before someone called to take her voter registration information. Problem of course is that election officials don't make those kind of calls, so she would have thought she was registered, but she was not.

Isn't someone supposed to be protecting and preserving the Constitution? Isn't part of that Constitution the right to vote and to have those votes counted? Isn't that an important part of the democratic process?

Betraying The Oath Of Office - Con't

It seems the closer we get to the election, the more this president defies the oath he took 3 1/2 years ago.

One of the major foundations of our democracy is the right to vote. Each person has a right to vote, and a president should act to ensure that all people are represented by having their votes counted. This president, however, says nothing when the Justice Dept dismisses a lawsuit in Michigan that was trying to ensure that all provisional ballots be counted, even if they were voted in the wrong precinct. It seems everytime someone tries to ensure that everyone gets a fair vote to elect their next president, they are stifled by someone in this adminstration or the RNC.

Then what about this rather bizarre twist at President Bush's Central Point rally in Oregon: Three women show up wearing T-shirts that say "Protect Our Civil Liberties", and they are escorted out by state police who warn them that they will be ARRESTED if they return! One Bush volunteer called the T-Shirts "Obscene"! Kind of scary to think that Bush supporters think protecting civil liberties is obscene. This seems like a good reason for the president to start reading the papers and get in touch with what is happening around him. Because it clearly shows one of 2 things: 1-he doesn't know what is going on around him, or 2 - he isn't upholding his oath.

Betraying The Oath Of Office - Con't

Another news blast from Milwaukee where the mayor had asked for more ballots to be printed, expecting heavy turn out. However, the number the county agreed to print IS LESS THAN the number prepaired for the 2000 and 2002 elections. But the Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker refused. Walker is a state co-chairman of President Bush's campaign. ("Milwaukee Extra Ballot Request Rejected", Guardian, Oct 13, 2004). If Bush was serious about upholding his oath of office he would be more concerned about fair voting than winning at any cost.

In Oregon and Nevada Voters Outreach of America is being investigated for collecting voter registrations, and throwing forms for Democrats in the trash. The FBI is gathering information on the cases. "Most disturbing is that Voter Outreach of America is being paid by the National Republican Party and we ask how can people have faith in government if a national party is involved in trickery in depriving people the right to vote," said Clark County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates. In addition, Voter Outreach of America operated using a different name, "America Votes" in Oregon. America Votes is actually the name of a Democratic organization. (KLASTV.COM, Channel 8 Eyewitness News, Las Vegas 10/13/04). Apparently, this is the strategy of Nathan Sproul, who used to be head of the Arizona Republican Party. He's also a former high-ranking official in the Christian Coalition. He is targeting all the battleground states. Again, where is the president in ensuring that fair voting is taking place? Will he win at the expense of one of the very foundations of democracy?

Betraying The Oath Of Office - Con't

President Bush is still ignoring his responsibility to uphold the oath of office and to protect the contstitution. He continues to enlist the secret service to stifle free speech. According to an article in the Oct 1st Daily Cardinal from the University of Wisconsin, 3 Recine residents got ejected from a republican rally for wearing T-shirts that said "Liar". According to the Bill of Rights, freedom of speech and the right for people to peaceably assemble cannot be abridged (to shorten/curtail). But this is exactly what President Bush has allowed to happen in Wisconsin.

Did he read the constitution before he took an oath to preserve, protect and defend it?