Censoring the California Ballot Mess: the Rabidly Dishonest Left

While it merrily prints letters denouncing Secretary of State Ken Bennett for an alleged ballot counting mess, the Arizona Republic has censored reporting on the "ballot counting mess" in other West Coast states. Washington like Arizona had about 50,000 votes to count as of last night (11/20). California is the big story with 1.5 million ballots left to count. San Diego County has more votes left to count than the entire State of Arizona. 758,857 of the uncounted California votes are provisional ballots, as of 5 pm, 11/20.

Being a lot better than California and as good as Washington State may be nothing to brag about, but we aren't going to improve much on ballot counting as long as we allow people who order vote-by-mail ballots to show up on election day and say they need to vote in person, "because the dog ate my ballot."

It is ironic that one letter writer denouncing the Secretary of State invokes Mr. Bennett's unfortunate involvement in the President Obama birth certificate controversy. The fuss over ballot counting in Arizona proves that the "progressive" left is every bit as rabidly dishonest and unreasonable as the "birthers" who bullied Mr. Bennett into asking Hawai'i about the President's birth certificate. Lets hope Mr. Bennett shows more spine this time and vigorously defends himself and Helen Purcell, a decent civic minded woman, who has been most unfairly maligned during this controversy

Moreover The Republican isn't alone in its "unique" approach to the issue.   On 11/21 The Los Angeles Times ran story on Arizona:

"Arizona ballots finally counted -- Latinos ask, Why so long?"  

The Times story by Cindy Carcamo said not a word about the California ballot mess:  1.5 uncounted California ballots, including  758,857 uncounted provisional ballots, as of 5 pm, 11/21.  Nor did it mention that Washington State, which had been running neck and neck with Arizona, still had 25,000 uncounted ballots to count as of 11/21 and was still counting ballots as of 11/22.  The ballot counting issue is only of interest if the "progressive" left can use it to advantage against a so-called Red state.   Nevermind that five of the nine people elected to the House of Representatives for Arizona this year are Democrats.

Ed Montini 's Snotty Secession Column

Dear Ed,

You owe a lot of Arizonans a big apology for a remark you reprinted in you column today about Arizona already having seceded.

The Tea Party crowd and their equivalent on the "Progressive Left" can insult each other as much as they want. It's a free country, but you don't need to endorse it.

There are those among our "Progressive Left" who are are every bit as bigoted and rabidly dishonest, notably Jeff Biggers and your contributor, as Donald Trump and the Birthers. It's time people started acknowledging that fact about the "Progressive Left" instead of endorsing them, "aren't they cute." This morning you should be defending poor Helen Purcell: who's been viciously maligned by the "Progressive Left."

It's intellectual bankruptcy simply to denounce as unpatriotic anyone who disagrees with you. If someone was able to get enough signatures to put a secession proposition on the Arizona ballot, and that's highly doubtful, the "No" vote would be over 99%.

Speaking as someone who's served this great country thanks for spitting my in face on Sunday morning. Things haven't changed much for the "Progressive Left" since the Vietnam war.

----------------------

They walked the rounds in on us
methodically adjusting the range
just like we'd been trained to do.
TANKS! Sweet Mary, Mother of God!
They have TANKS.
-- Battle for the Dong Ha Bridge, 1972

Kiplings Arizona: Carmona This, an' Carmona That!

You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all:
We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.
For it's Carmona this, an' Carmona that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!"
But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot;
An' it's Carmona this, an' Carmona that, an' anything you please;
An' Richie ain't a bloomin' fool -- you bet that Richie sees!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Republic and Republican love veterans, as long as they vote and run Republican.  Cross the party line and they'll get trashed you in the blink of an eye. 

More Cocktail Courage and Dinner-table Heroism

It is a complete and total embarassment to journalism and the Arizona Republic that Doug MacEachern's partisan "analysis" of the incident in Libya got published. We have known for a day or two now thanks to the New York Times and Associated Press that America responded immediately to the attacks in Libya. In addition to the fog of war, the Obama administration's response to this incident has been muddled by CIA Director David Patraeus trying to keep it secret that there is a CIA combat force in Libya. The CIA combat force responded within 25 minutes to the attack on the Benghazi consulate. The Americans at the consulate were already dead when they arrived. The two Americans killed later weren't State Department security personnel. They were CIA combat team members who were killed by a hit and run mortar attack. The CIA took command of a predator drone from the Air Force immediately when the consulate was attacked and had it over Benghazi in a hour, but the attack was over and there was nothing to shoot at. A very large CIA combat commando force, not State Department security as MacEachern calls it, arrived from Tripoli in six hours and evacuted the surviving Americans and the Benghazi CIA combat team. Now that the political opportunists in the Cocktail Courage and Dinner-table Heroism crowd have forced the CIA to reveal the presence of its combat force in Libya, American servicemen are in danger more than ever. Thanks a lot, guys.