By Joe Conason
Rebuked and humiliated by American voters on Election Day, the right-wing noise machine continues to blare as loudly as ever, currently devoting special attention to the Minnesota Senate recount. From the Wall Street Journal editorial page to Fox News Channel, the message echoes the post-election strategy of incumbent Republican Sen. Norm Coleman by discrediting the recount in advance. The National Republican Senatorial Committee issued a disgusting, McCarthy-style press release that sought to connect Mark Ritchie, the state official who will oversee the recount, with the Communist Party -- not exactly Minnesota nice.
Evidently Coleman and his allies fear that his notional lead of less than one-tenth of one percent will evaporate if all the votes are counted. The stakes are high, of course (although perhaps not quite as high as conventional wisdom insists). That is why the barrage of propaganda about the aftermath of the Minnesota race has intensified and expanded far beyond its borders.
Coleman's opponent Al Franken, the writer, comedian and former radio personality also happens to be a friend of mine. So readers should take that acknowledgment into account as they assess the facts and views presented here. Certainly I don't see any reason to stand by and let the likes of Sean Hannity bulldoze Franken and the voters of Minnesota when my perspective is no more slanted than theirs.
As soon as the initial election results came in, showing that the race would be close enough to trigger the automatic recount mandated by Minnesota law, Coleman began campaigning to stop that normal and fair process. He claimed to be concerned about the cost of the recount and publicly asked Franken to "let the healing begin" by waiving the recount and conceding the election.
The recount has yet to begin, but the ordinary post-election precinct canvassing has already reduced Coleman's putative lead from more than 700 votes on Election Night to 206 votes as of yesterday. It remains to be seen whether Coleman will follow his own advice should Franken take the lead when the canvass is complete -- or whether his worries about healing and expenses were pure smarm.
In any case, the Coleman camp is clearly worried and has turned up the noisemakers to discredit both the canvass and the recount. Nearly every movement of a few votes into Franken's column has elicited shrieks of "fraud" from the incumbent's friends. In each case, those shrill complaints have been thoroughly discredited by independent observers.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2008/11/17/franken/print.html
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