Very true statements, by a former President, regarding Elections & Fraud

[Land Shark]

"If any intelligent and loyal company of American citizens were required to catalogue the essential human conditions of national life, I do not doubt that with absolute unanimity they would begin with "free and honest elections."

--Remarks on the Tariff and On Voting Rights, From the Second Annual Message to Congress, by President Benjamin Harrison, on December 1, 1890. (italics added)

President Harrison continued in the next sentence:

"And it is gratifying to know that generally there is a growing and nonpartisan demand for better election laws; but against this sign of hope and progress must be set the depressing and undeniable fact that election laws and methods are sometimes cunningly contrived to secure minority control, while violence completes the shortcomings of fraud." --President Benjamin Harrison, December 1, 1890.

President Harrison makes the realities of election fraud fairly clear, combined with the #1 importance of free and honest elections, does he not?

One day soon I hope our political discussions at the presidential level and the congressional level are as honest as President Harrison's remarks to Congress were in 1890.

[stellanoir]

1. It's kinda sad that one has to set the "wayyy back" this far

into history to find this all important issue addressed.

Cool quotation though.

Speaking of the eloquence of former president's. . .

http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres32.html

I can't believe they have those four bimbo's pictured next to him on that site.

Sheesh

[Land Shark]

2. There may be more modern quotes, I didn't start with * and go backwards...

[IndyOp]

3. Yep. Do you listen to Thom Hartmann? He daily has a line he

says -- variants on something to the effect of "Yes, we in the radical middle are going to push for communism - a 100% tax rate on the super rich, a 10-hour work week for the rest of us! Yeah! Okay, we'd settle for a clean election. Really we would."

:hi:

Thom's show plays 24/7 here: http://www.whiterosesociety.org/Hartmann.pls

[mod mom]

4. "cunningly contrived to secure minority control" and with this comment we have the SOTU in ER

[pnorman]

5. Benjamin Harrison was the second of three in US history,

to win the Electoral vote, while LOSING the popular vote. I'm not sure if it has any bearing on this, but it's worth noting.

pnorman
On edit: I generally double-check my fading memory in things like this, but neglected to do so this time. But here it is, although a bit late:
........................................................................
After beating John Sherman for the Republican presidential nomination, Harrison was elected President of the United States in 1888. In the Presidential election, Harrison received some 90,000 fewer popular votes than incumbent President Grover Cleveland but carried the Electoral College 233 to 168. Although Harrison had made no political bargains, his supporters had given innumerable pledges upon his behalf. When Boss Matthew Quay of Pennsylvania heard that Harrison ascribed his narrow victory to Providence, Quay exclaimed that Harrison would never know "how close a number of men were compelled to approach...the penitentiary to make him President."
........................................................................

Quay exclaimed that Harrison would never know "how close a number of men were compelled to approach...the penitentiary to make him President." :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Land Shark]

6. agreed. another book says that Harrison was "too idealistic to recognize

that votes were purchased on his behalf" (or a very similar quote) to make Harrison president. But even if you deem Harrison cynical rather than idealistic, the quotes above are spoken by someone WHO KNOWS, imho.

[pnorman]

7. I had hoped that there was no judgemantalism against Harrison implied in my posting.

"Idealistic and/or naive" would be how I'd have rated him. And unlike the third in that set, he seems to have had the "humility" appropriate to one who had LOST the popular vote. None of that "God chose me to ...." stuff!

As I said, I was merely double-checking my assertion, when I ran across that IMPOSSIBLE TO IGNORE quote. I recall seeing it before several times before, but had forgotten the context.

pnorman

[Land Shark]

8. i should have said "even if ONE deems him..."

i wasn't really intending to refer specifically to you and your intent, just making a general point that Pres. Harrison is a good speaker to make this particular quotation. So in that light, I think we are seeing it generally the same way.