Monday, October 18, 2004
Exporting Florida
The Former Soviet Union Giving the Republican National Committee a Run for Its Money0 comments
It looks like the emerging former Soviet countries have been looking closely at politics as played by the GOP here in the U.S., and have decided they like this new American approach to democracy.
MOSNEWS: Belarus Referendum Backs Third Term for Leader Lukashenko, Opposition Notes Vote Rigging
They've tossed over Karl Marx and have opted to follow the Other Karl—they're now using the Karl Rove playbook, chapter and verse. It works so much better, they find.
Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, accused in the west of being a tyrant, won overwhelming approval in a referendum to run for a third term in office.
Lidiya Ermoshina, head of the Central Election Commission, said 77.3 percent of registered voters had backed Lukashenko’s proposal to remove a constitutional provision limiting him to two terms, Reuters reported. The vote will enable him to run again in 2006.
This is SO-o-o-o American.
On Sunday, with exit polls still incomplete, the president, confident of victory, promised to serve his people better if they voted "yes" and told the West to keep criticism of his rule to itself.
As of Monday, official results showed that Lukashenko had won while polls by independent organizations gave more contradictory results.
Lukashenko called the plebiscite in the former Soviet republic bordering Russia because he wants to remove a constitutional provision limiting him to two terms. That would enable him to run again in 2006.
Just like Rudy Giuliani tried to do here in New York City after 9/11. The Rude was in the last four months of his sleazy, term-limited administration when 9/11 hit. He got such good press for those couple of weeks, that he thought it a wonderful idea if he could set aside the City Charter (our constitution) and allow himself as many more terms as his wonderfulness would warrant. Of course, those were the same term limits he fought so hard to enact, thinking it would allow him to pack City Hall with HIS guys. Needless to say, New York said, "Nice press conferences, Rudy. Thank you for your service. Now, cop a walk!"
Now, he's shilling for the RNC.
I wonder if Rudy was on retainer for the Belarus election.
As voting ended, exit polls gave a confused picture as to whether the president secured the 50 percent of registered voters needed to change the constitution and not merely 50 percent of the votes cast, Reuters reported.
Reuters cited a poll conducted by the Gallup organization showing Lukashenko falling short, with 53.9 percent of those casting ballots backing him, but only 48 percent of all voters in the country of 10 million.
A second study, commissioned by election authorities and carried out by the pro-government Ekoom Institute said 74.6 percent of those who voted supported the change.
"This Rove's Guide to Politics is great! It's such a fast read, and it's so easy!
Let's see...
48% = 77.3%.
Always.
It says constitutional safeguards against tyranny in any of its forms are simply potholes along the road to offering the people the strong leadership they would tell you they really desire if we allowed you to talk to them."
A journalist with Russia’s state-owned Channel One television, Pavel Sheremet, was detained by police in the Belarus capital Minsk on Sunday evening, Russia’s news agency Interfax reports.
The agency quoted Belarus Interior Minister Uladzimir Navumaw as saying that Sheremet was detained for "petty hooliganism involving a violation of public order." The minister said that Sheremet "had a fight with a group of skinheads."
"The circumstances of the incident are currently being clarified, an official police record of the incident is being filed, and the details of the incident are being established," Navumaw said.
Sheremet was detained in the vicinity of Minsk's Savetski district executive committee and was taken to the district interior directorate, Navumaw said.
Belarus news agency Belapan has reported that a court will consider Sheremet's case on Oct. 20.
Soon after news of Sheremet's arrest was circulated, the Belarus opposition organization Charter-97 reported that the reporter had been taken to a hospital with a head injury.
Pavel Sheremet, the head of Channel One's special projects department, is known for his TV reports and books sharply critical of Belarusian President Alexandr Lukashenko. Working as a Russian TV correspondent in Belarus in the late 1990s, he spent several months in a Belarusian jail ...
So...the reporter, who gets jumped by "skinheads" supporting Lukashenko, gets arrested and HE'S the reprobate.
"Of course.
See? Easy. "
The only things missing are Katherine Harris, Jeb Bush and James Baker.
posted by Gotham 1:29 PM
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