Not outraged. Shouldn't be.

Jeff, have you actually been paying attention?

More ballots cast than existing voters. Steadily increasing numbers of ballots. Stuff that'd make Richard Daley blanche from the brazenness of it all. Everything short of grounds for armed revolt.

Criminy.

Looks like Ohio '04 to me. Or Florida '00. Sorry, Mitch, you guys couldn't be bothered to care then. I can't be bothered to care now.

(And no, Ohio '04 wouldn't have gone to Kerry regardless. But shenanagans there were worth about 1% to Bush. Bush stole Florida '00, but did it within the rule of law. Gregorie appears to be doing the same in Washington. Tell you what--I'll trade ya.)

first; kindly prove (in real person terms, not moonbat terms) that "1%" figure.

second; show me ANY credible allegations of manufacturing of GOP votes. i said 'credible', not kos or atrios. in particular, show me any vote where the number of gop votes increased over time, in violation of the laws of physics.

third; show me where vote manufacturing, which is what gregoire would seem to be doing, is "within the rule of law.

fuck democrats. i am beyond caring if this nation DOES have a civil war. i'm ready to fight you greasy fucks.

You're right, Joe--there were just several counties in Ohio where thousands of votes mysteriously appeared for Bush, only to be confirmed as vapor once the ballots were looked at. And Bush's margin shrunk by 1% from November to now--that's public record. I'm not going to do your research for you.

As for civil war, I'm not looking for it. But what's happening in Washington--the "discovered" ballots are nothing of the sort, simply votes that a hand count found that a machine count didn't. Out of several million votes, the hand count swung by something like 100. Yes, the King County vote grab was slightly suspect, but throw those ballots out, and the Gregoire still wins by 10.

Now, even a perfect vote has some irreducible error; all we can do at that point is follow the law. As much as Florida '00 angers me, the law was followed. The Supreme Court ruled, and we moved aside. We didn't demand civil war. We accepted the rule of law.

In Washington, the courts (and the GOP Secretary of State) have sided with Gregoire thus far. Guess what? If the federal courts change the rulings, then I'll be the first to say she should step down, because that's what the law says.

But Joe, unlike you, I have faith in the law, faith in democracy, faith in our system of government. Yes, Washington is a clusterfuck no matter who wins, because the race is essentially too close to call even now. But our system doesn't allow revotes, and doesn't allow for us to simply share power. In the end, according to the law of Washington State, Gregoire is the Governor.

Oh, one more thing--I've flippantly thrown around Ohio and Florida here. Truthfully, I'm fairly sanguine abou Ohio. Certainly, there are feverish lefties who believe that Ohio was stolen from Kerry. I'm not among them. But the fact is that both Democrats and Republicans can lose close ones. The GOP has made quite a bit of hay over the past four years, telling the Democrats to "get over" Florida. Now, four years later, when your ox is gored, you are calling for civil war.

What is it they say about the mote in your brother's eye?

Oh, one more thing:

Richard Daley was an asshole, and a terrible human being.

But when the dead voted in Chicago, they voted en bloc--and good luck proving they were, in fact, dead.

By Daley Machine standards, Washington is lily-white. I'm a Democrat, and even I believe Illinois was stolen from Nixon in '60. (Not that it mattered--Illinois alone wasn't enough for the Trickster. Indeed, there was some irony in our nation's most crooked future President being screwed by crookedness. Daley and Nixon deserved each other.)

No, Mitch, what's happening in Washington is what happens in every close election--the irregularities and oddities that we can ignore when the race goes by a reasonable margin fall apart.

The truth is that Washington was a tie. If Gregoire had lost, I bet that an intrepid Democrat could've found just as much weirdness in, say, Snohomish as in Seattle. The truth is that Rossi and Gregoire tied, but our system doesn't allow for ties. So Gregoire pulled out a tiny victory, which will give her the Governor's mansion for at least four years. Fair? Maybe not. But the current resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. is there because of a similar result in Florida, what was in effect a tie that Bush won, barely--and the GOPers who are bitching about Washington state would be wise not to forget it.