What is that all about? When Charles Bleich complained that he could not getthe ballot aligned to punch
Posted in General on 24. Aug, 2010
What is that all about?” When Charles Bleich complained that he could not getthe ballot aligned to punch his preferences, he was told: “Thirty eight states do it this way. Just vote.”Some Republicans in Florida now think they have the solution. Plans are under way to call a special session of theRepublican-dominated legislature in Tallahassee to seize control of the whole process. The legislature would name its own electors to participate in the electoral college that must finally name the new president That would be brilliant.
Why not just bypass the voting public altogether?It is no wonder one father in the queue for the ballot-count tour in Palm Beach had second thoughts about exposing his 14-year-old daughter to this débâcle in democracy. When a Republican protester bellowed, “Felony in progress! This is a crime”, he covered the girl’s ears “You’re too young; we can’t expose you to this,” he said He was joking But really none of this has been a laughing matter.. Want to know why the US presidential election is dragging on so long? It’s the ratings, stupid. Want to know why the US presidential election is dragging on so long? It’s the ratings, stupid.
The American networks and cable news stations are having a field day with the unending partisan wrangling in Florida, reporting the highest viewing figures and the strongest demand for advertising space since the height of the Clinton impeachment imbroglio two years ago.CNN, the grandaddy of 24-hour rolling news, which had been struggling to keep its audience, has seen its viewing figures triple in the past fortnight.
NBC says its morning Today Show registered the highest ratings in the history of breakfast television in the week of the election – some 8.4 million viewers per day.Even the internet has benefited, with news sites reporting record traffic. ABC’s online service, for example, had 27 million hits on election night, more than double the previous record set when Kenneth Starr, the White House special prosecutor, released his report on the Monica Lewinsky scandal to Congress in September 1998.As with the Lewinsky case, in which a White House intern’s allotted 15 minutes of notoriety stretched out over 15 months and beyond, or the O J Simpson trial, in which a relatively straightforward murder case dragged on for more than a year, the media has not merely reported on the proceedings.There is ample evidence that the headlong rush to coverage is actually helping to prolong the agony further.The reason is that government in has moved in effect from Capitol Hill to the television studio, with every congressman and political consultant gravitating towards the warm glow of the lights, and every issue, no matter how trivial or legalistic, becoming the object of enormous public scrutiny.In any normal election, Florida would probably have conducted manual recounts without fuss and then declared an uncontested winner. This is what is happening in Washington state in a crucial but untelevised Senate contest that has gone down to the wire. Thanks to 24-hour television, the Republicans have managed to launch a full-scale legal onslaught on the very notion of those recounts, and whipped up the public indignation needed to press their case convincingly.The result is a situation in which there is something for everyone, albeit at the expense of America’s democratic health. The public gets a great show, the networks get great ratings and the politicians can indulge in what the Italians elegantly call protagonismo – allowing their vanity before the television cameras to trump the public interest.Whatever else happens, previously obscure figures such as Katherine Harris, the Florida Secretary of State with the scary make-up, know they are now media stars with global name recognition.The ability of television to create instant experts has bordered on the comical. CNN has been using a pudgy, suntanned Republican called David Cardwell as a “legal expert” at the recount in Palm Beach County; when news of Dick Cheney’s heart attack came in, Mr Cardwell suddenly deputised as a medical expert since he too had had an angioplasty a decade ago.Bizarrely, the story has conspired to add the kind of tabloid-style twists that television networks love.Mr Gore’s election night concession-turned-retraction was one highlight. Mr Cheney’s sudden illness was another, causing CNN to bare its tabloid soul as it displayed a plastic model of the vice-presidential candidate’s heart in full-colour close-up.Jay Bulworth, the renegade fictional senator dreamt up by Warren Beatty, had an explanation for this unseemly circus.
The people who own the networks also own the politicians; it’s all part of the same business-driven calculation. Certainly, media and entertainment companies almost doubled their political contributions this year ($28m, against $16m in 1996). Little did they realise what value they would be getting for their money.. Ten days of painstaking counting and examination, mountains of ballot cards, blistered fingers, strained necks and raw nerves.