TUESDAY'S LETTERS: Ohio Election Stealing, Coulter's Slander

By: E&P Staff In today's letters, a clarification from the edtorial cartoonists convention, reaction to Joe Strupp's Ohio elections story, and more readers stirred up by Ann Coulter's recent remarks about the 9/11 widows.


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Clarification From the Convention

Your quotation of some of my remarks as the after-dinner appearance speaker at the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists convention in Denver were not wrong. But they lacked context.

In addressing the jailing of Judith Miller, I did say something more or less like, "I'm still upset by the fact that a reporter was put in prison and left to languish there. I'd feel the same way about Robert Novak and Ann Coulter -- although I admit that the thought of Ann Coulter in chains is attractive!"

But that observation was delivered with a clearly comedic pause, tone, and facial expression. The audience understood that, and laughed. I want Editor and Publisher readers to know that I defend Ann Coulter's rights of free expression, and those of any other journalist, commentator, or citizen, without reservation.

Scott Simon
NPR


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Readers Respond to Strupp's Article on the Ohio Ballots


I would like to see each allegation examined in a court of law or by an independent investigatory body. I have no faith in the mainstream media currently and certainly not that of much of Ohio (my home state). Sorry, but you guys have lost all credibility with me.

After all the lies promulgated by this current administration and the media's many many sins of omission, not to mention Fox's outright lies, you all have a lot of 'splainin to do'.

Dr. Richard Welser
Clinical Neuropsychologist



The problem is no one has really addressed the issues raised by the differential between the exit polls and the counted votes. This is the body on the ground. The smoking gun is what the mainstream press is not looking for.

Robert D. Utter
Former Editor
The Westerly Sun
Westerly, R.I.



Something has smelled to high heaven for some time about Mr. Blackwell in Ohio. How can this republican activist, this controller of elections, be allowed to run the entire show, to make and change the rules at will, when it comes to voting? Do you not think this improper at the least -- outright cheating at the worst? Something tells me that this thug belongs behind bars.

Many of us see Blackwell this way, sir. We see the republicans getting away with stealing elections, with our slovenly ( but once so effective ) media not looking into things deeply enough. We see the MSM as just one more in a long line of Bush/Cheney/Rove enablers. The media once were the people's watchdogs. No longer. That worries me greatly. The least you could do is demand some kind of voting permanent record (paper ballots?), as one helluva lot of us are more than a bit skeptical about voting being legitimate in America these days. At least Kennedy is making the effort to dig the truth out -- MSM's job in the past, but no longer, I guess.

Gary Van Ess
Green Bay, Wis.



... I have no problem with [Strupp's] story per se, but it does raise some questions.

If these editors think the charges have been so thoroughly investigated, why didn't they offer up any details of that investigation? It seems all they are interested in saying is the allegations have no basis in fact. Period. End of story.

They need to tell us how all these innocent mistakes could happen; if that is indeed what occurred.

Also, if these investigations took place, and if they resulted in the conclusions these editors indicate, why weren't those conclusions reported by any other major newspaper? I'm pretty certain it's the same reason they rely on when refusing to report anything that doesn't fit the Republican Party line. But, I don't know what that reason is and I'd really appreciate it if you could fill me in.

Your profession is in serious trouble. I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that. The Constitution of the United States explicitly spells out the duties of journalists in a Democracy. Most journalists today are in breach of that contract; and the attitude of the editors in your story is an excellent example of that breach.

David St. Amant
Madison, Wis.



So now Diebold has given Ken Blackwell a tidy little gift of $10,000 in thanks for his part in the election theft. Where are the journalists of integrity that should be reporting on this? A sigh for the good old days. Americans are now forced to get real news on the 'net, BBC, Link TV and others, but certainly not our own press.

Alice Semingson
Deer Park, Wash.



Any idiot that has ever been involved in any election campaign knows that every election can be manipulated. That Ken Blackwell, Ohio's Sec. of State, was also Bush and Cheney's Chairman -- like Katherine Harris in Florida -- reeks to high heavens. That he is currently overseeing his own campaign for Governor of Ohio is exactly what the stupid and dishonest people in Ohio deserve. How many Ohioans have been indicted from the current Governor on down to Congressmen with more to come because of Republican corruption in that State. If all elections are not fair and if all votes are not counted for the person intended, we no longer have a Democracy. IS THAT TOO HARD TO UNDERSTAND?

THAT SIMPLY HAS NOT BEEN THE CASE IN OHIO, SPIN IT AS MUCH AS YOU WANT. YOU ARE EITHER STUPID OR DISHONEST, MAYBE BOTH, IF YOU BELIEVE THAT THE 2004 VOTE IN OHIO HAS BEEN THOROUGHLY EXAMINED AND NOTHING IS AMISS.

Hank McCann



Your article on "Some Ohio Editors" response to Kennedy's allegations of vote fraud is itself a poor bit of reporting. Where it would have been useful to learn how the media in Ohio react, your article was anecdotal and provided no assurance that the views reported were representative. I would even argue that for members of the press to react defensively to allegations that they had missed a huge story is not even news.

Despite their protestations, and countercharges, the people quoted offer no rebuttal to the central allegation that totality of the best evidence available indicates a stolen election. This seems to be the heart of the problem: that members of the working press do not feel it is their job to undertake an investigation of such a complex fraud. They expect "democrats" to prove the crime before they will report it. That's fine if your responsibility is only to your employer, but this attitude does not serve the citizenry who depend on the news media to inform debate over public policy.

However difficult it may be to prove, we cannot ignore our eyes that beheld a pattern of disenfranchisement directed toward democratic voters, we cannot ignore the clear evidence that Kerry voters turned out in numbers large enough to win Ohio, and we cannot dismiss the unmistakable evidence of vote counting fraud. It is worth mentioning in particular, that when it comes to electronic vote counting, the very design of some of the vote counting technology makes it virtually impossible to prove that fraud occurred. To validate Ohio's election results has been no alternative but to look to the exit polls, and the exit polls showed quite clearly that Kerry won.

Richard Staehli



I appreciated [Joe Strupp's] article about Robert Kennedy's piece and the pathetic apologists of the Ohio Press in trying to deflect and deny their egregious failures to protect the voting rights of Ohio citizens.

Even if we grant that all of the problems faced at the polls were somehow unforeseen and accidental, the mere fact that Kenneth Blackwell was BOTH in charge of the elections while being the head of the Republican Campaign in Ohio should have been enough to have the press take a very hard investigative look into improprieties and conflict of interest.

Now Mr. Blackwell is running for governor. Will the Ohio press continue to roll over for him?

Sue Cohen
Rockville, Md.


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Coulter Keeps 'Em Writing

Did I miss something? Is it wrong now to push for change when the death of a loved one causes you to see the need for that change?

If so, let's be thorough: when trashing and insulting the women who, when their family members died on 9/11, began to call for reforms and oversight of our national security apparatus, let's also go after the women (and men?--or, as seems the case given Coulter's tone and choice of epithets--maybe this only applies to women) who call for cancer research, when their loved ones die from that disease. Mothers who speak out against drunk driving are obviously in this same pattern, right?

Did the 9/11 women say they shouldn't be criticized because their views are based on their husbands' deaths? I haven't seen that in any of the coverage.

I have only seen Coulter (and others who say they disagree only with her tone) criticize these women not on the basis of whether their views are sound and well reasoned, but in an ad hominen-like manner, on their standing as spokes-people. Yes, they gained that standing because their loved ones died, but that is not unique to them. Clearly the difference is in what they say. If their message was one of support for Bush and the war and so on, I expect Coulter would view and describe them differently, but she wouldn't get the attention and controversy that she (economically) thrives on.

And lastly, isn't Bush playing on the very same victims whenever he refers to 9/11 to justify his policies? Why does he get to 'wave the bloody shirt' but the women who washed that shirt, or at least hung their clothes in the closet with it, cannot do so?

S. Hathaway



Dear [9/11 Advocates]: Thank you for your tireless work; and, my sympathies for your unimaginable losses. This Coulter woman should be sued for slander and stopped by the courts. It is a shame Mr. Lauer gave her air time. Please ask for equal time to respond and ask the newspapers to let us know when it will be aired.

Miriyam Gevirtz



Indeed, Ann Coulter's cruel and unwarranted attack on the honor and integrity of the 9/11 Widows, is not only slanderous to the widows but also to their husbands and to every other person who lost a dear one on 9/11. She has minimized and ridiculed the huge pain these brave women have suffered. It was for them we went to war, for heaven's sake!!!

It is a reflection of our times when people such as Ms. Coulter, Michael Savage, Rush Limbaugh, Shawn Hannity and others feel completely at ease knowingly and deliberately libeling and slandering people (they disagree with) on their shows, web sites and books without fear of any consequence. These so called "great americans" have lost their sense of shame if they ever had it. Libelous and slanderous talk has become so routine it makes it appear an acceptable practice. Where is the FCC in regard to libel? Publishers and the networks that employ these talking heads gain financially from the attention they provoke. I hope the 9/11 widows sue the pants off Ann Coulter and her publisher.

Eduardo Alanis
Temple, Tex.



It seems the Left is reacting to Ms. Coulter's exposure of the Left's "pity persons" the same way the world's Muslims reacted to the Muhammed Cartoons. Must have really struck a "truth" nerve. You go girl!!

Ronald Hamric
Pine, Ariz.