FL Senate Candidate Klayman Calls for US Intervention in Venezuelan Recall

[Nambe]

U.S. Newswire

Larry Klayman, Republican U.S. Senate candidate from Florida, today called for U.S. intervention to determine whether or not the recall vote, which affirmed Communist dictator and terrorist Hugo Chavez's hold on the Venezuelan people, was honest and fair. All indications are that the vote was fraudulent, despite claims by former President Jimmy Carter that the vote was honest. ..

"Castro and Chavez have not only fomented a new rise in Communism in Central and South American, but have worked together as terrorists against the interests of the American people. And, the Venezuelan people have been severely harmed. They need to be freed from bondage.

"It is incumbent on the United States to insure that a fraud has not been committed in the recall election. To rely on Jimmy Carter's certification, is to rely on the opinion of a fool. Worse, Carter has just given legitimacy to a ruler, Hugo Chavez, who is a miniature Stalin. If nothing is done, it is likely that Chavez will not only consolidate his hold on power now, but never leave office-Castro style." --Larry Klayman, candidate for the U.S. Senate

[Union Thug]

1. Hey Larry, put down the crack pipe you brain dead nazi goosestepper.

[BrooklynRider]

41. Write to Florida newspapers & media - BE ACTIVISTS!!

[Orangepeel]

51. No! Don't give him the press. This guy is a complete loser.

They won't even let him in the republican debates because he is polling at something like 2%.

[Hawkeye-X]

2. Someone denounce the right-wing moron

and get him out of the race.

Hawkeye-X

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

3. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Carter is a Nobel Prze winner - who is he?

[bearfan454]

29. Damn right CSTT !

These repukes can't stand not controlling Venezuela. Fuck them. Hopefully they never will.

[Nambe]

4. Poster's Note:

The repugs have invaded US Newswire, a rather insugnificant wire service until the Kerry Campaign decided to use it a few weeks ago. Yahoo quickly picked up US Newswire releases and put it on the map. Now the desperate repugs have jumped in, as if the main stream media isn't enough for them. Phewwww.

[meegbear]

5. Is this the same guy who runs Judicial Watch?

That guy's a nutjob.

[shaolinmonkey]

6. Could someone remind Mr. Klayman of all the marvelous

democracies that Reagan/Bush supported. You remember...the ones in Nicaragua and Panama. Yeah, those were the days.

It takes unbelievable hubris to call Jimmy Carter a fool. Who does this guy think he is?

[tom_paine]

18. A Nazi Monster, and as such SUPERIOR to Filthy Little Nobodies

Imperial Hubris, Nazi Hubris...who can tell the difference anymore?

[LauraK]

7. With whos army? Go it alone tough guy.

What an idiot. Florida really needs a big mouth right now.

[Ganja Ninja]

17. Gosh! He forgot all about that.

Sorry Larry, your boy Dubya is busy screwing up the army in Iraq. BWAHAHAHAH! Looks like we'll have to send in the Chickenhawk champaign units.

[wolfgirl]

8. This guy is an

a**! Oops, I forgot, he's a Republican a**! 'nuff said!

[private_ryan]

9. who's a fool?

11 entries found for fool.
fool ( P ) Pronunciation Key (fl)
n.
One who is deficient in judgment, sense, or understanding. e.g suing your own mom.
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=fool&r=67

[Jack Rabbit]

10. The wire service is out of line here -- this is a Klayman press release

Talk about lazy source journalists, this takes the cake.

If Klayman wants to make a fool of himself by calling Hugo Chávez a "Communist dictator," that's his right. However, a news service should not publish a partisan press release unedited and should responsibly put quotes around characterizations that are likely to be disputed. Chávez is neither a Communist nor a dictator. A Left-wing populist, yes, but not a Communist. Furthermore, unlike Mr. Bush, President Chávez has won free and fair elections, including one this week.

[coreystone]

53. If anyone noticed...

the first paragraph is NOT in quotes. This is NOT in quotes on the MoveOn.org "blurb".

MIAMI, Aug. 17 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Larry Klayman, Republican U.S. Senate candidate from Florida, today called for U.S. intervention to determine whether or not the recall vote, which affirmed Communist dictator and terrorist Hugo Chavez's hold on the Venezuelan people, was honest and fair. All indications are that the vote was fraudulent, despite claims by former President Jimmy Carter that the vote was honest.

I don't know whether it is a transcription error, or whether ?????

:think:

[Jack Rabbit]

57. It is a press release from the Klayman campaign

Yet it is put out by a wire service and posted on Yahoo! News as if it were a bona fide news story, just the way it is.

It should be re-written. For example:

Larry Klayman, Republican candidate for the US Senate in Florida, said today that the US should intervene in order to determine whether the recent recall election in Venezuela was honest and fair.

Venezuelans went to the polls Sunday and apparently retained Hugo Chávez as President of the South American nation by an overwhelming margin. International observers, including former US President Jimmy Carter, have declared the election was clean.

However, in a press release from his campaign, Mr. Klayman claims that "all indications are that the vote fraudulent" and said "To rely on Jimmy Carter's certification is to rely on the opinion of a fool."

Klayman also said that Chávez, who has won four elections in Venezuela, is a "Communist dictator" and charged that his benefactor is Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

That makes it clear that the opinions expressed are those of Mr. Klayman, a candidate for public office, and are not necessarily established facts.

[Fovea]

11. Und then ve roll into der Sudatenland.

My gods, what an embarrassment.
The right wing shills have no shame,
or sense of the plausible when they lie
any more.

It is so incredibly Orwellian, I wonder when I will wake up from this bad dream.

[SemperEadem]

12. Venezuela has oil, doesn't it?

we need to mind our own matters and let the Venezuelans choose how they want their country to be governed. I guess now that they've overwhelmingly chosen Chavez, yet again, our government thinks that they are too stupid to know what's best for them--working for slave wages for a US based company.

[stevedeshazer]

19. The fact that they have oil is why Klayman

and other fascists in the US are against Chavez, because he is attempting to redistribute Venezuela's oil wealth from the elite minority white class to the majority of Venezuelans.

The media are the enemy here for happily regurgitating the Republican Party talking points without question.

[bearfan454]

33. You are 100 percent correct

"The fact that they have oil is why Klayman
and other fascists in the US are against Chavez, because he is attempting to redistribute Venezuela's oil wealth from the elite minority white class to the majority of Venezuelans." And that's the way it should be.

[htuttle]

20. How does $6/gallon sound?

If the US continues to fuck with Venezuela, I could easily see the US getting a special price on Venezuelan oil...

We currently import 30% of our oil from Venezuela. Chavez has recently been talking with China about replacing us as their main customer if we step out of line again -- as Mr. Klayman suggests we do. Not only would China buy all they oil they could drink from Venezuela, having them as an ally makes for powerful 'US Marine Repellent'. We make this mistake at our own peril.

[Barkley]

37. How does 6 euros/ gallon sound?

VZ supplies about 15% of U.S. oil imports; we'd wouldn't have much choice but buy it euros -- depressing the value of dollar.

[Sandpiper]

45. Chavez has already warned

That if the US tries to intefere in Venezuela again, the oil spiggots will be turned off.

[Catt03]

13. Judicial Watch....Clinton hater

http://www.klaymansenate.com/about.htm

On his web site


As founder, Chairman and General Counsel, of Judicial Watch, Larry led the fight against the abuses of Bill and Hillary Clinton. Larry played a key role in exposing "Filegate", the scandal where the Clinton White House illegally gathered the confidential government files on key Republicans. Long before the media became aware of suspected Communist Chinese Commerce Department spy, Johnny Huang, a friend of the Clintons, Larry was asking the tough questions, and he was responsible for sparking the biggest scandal in American history, "Chinagate". For this and his work defending the women who were smeared by Bill and Hillary Clinton, such as Gennifer Flowers and Dolly Kyle Browning, to name just a few, and bringing forward the Clintons' illegal fundraising through Judicial Watch client, Peter Paul, Larry won much acclaim while at Judicial Watch. Larry was at the top of the Clintons' enemy list and was threatened repeatedly. It is no wonder that Larry was an outspoken and active advocate for the removal of Bill Clinton from the Presidency.


NUTCASE

[Bandit]

56. He also sued his own mother.

He has never met the lawsuit he didn't like. He has filed them on just about every issue.

[AspenRose]

14. Ask him if he'll allow UN "intervention" with counting the FL vote

in November.

*cue chirping crickets*

That's what I thought.

[stickdog]

15. How about YOUR coming election in Florida, Larry?

Without paper ballots, how can we ever determine that IT will be honest and fair?

[mourningdove92]

16. Terrorists against the interests of the American People?

"Castro and Chavez have not only fomented a new rise in Communism in Central and South American, but have worked together as terrorists against the interests of the American people. And, the Venezuelan people have been severely harmed. They need to be freed from bondage."

totally unbelievable.

[xxqqqzme]

22. yea, we plan 2 B freed from that bondage

in November. Calling Jimmy Carter a fool?!! In his dreams, larry never gets a peace prize. STFU! Go back 2 your rock.

[Ediacara]

21. Communist dictator and terrorist?

What? He didn't throw in child molester too?

[Ganja Ninja]

23. I wonder how it will effect the Hispanic vote when republicans ..

are calling for military intervention in South American Democracies when an election doesn't go the way they would like to go.

[maxrandb]

24. Please, Before I Completely Disown This Country

Tell me that he is NOT the same Judicial Watch A$$hole...Tell me that he is not running on the Republican ticket for US Senator (bad enough if he is a state Sen), and PLEASE tell me he has NO WAY OF WINNING A SEAT IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE!!!!!!

[klook]

25. Klayman Watch

By David Corn, from The Nation
"Did Larry Klayman, the conservative lawyer/provocateur who spent much of the 1990s suing Clinton-related targets via his Judicial Watch and accusing the Bill-and-Hillary crowd of vast corruptions, recently try to skirt campaign-finance law to obtain an illegal million-dollar boost for his back-of-the-pack US Senate campaign in Florida? Klayman is litigious. Newsweek reported in 1998 that he had even sued his mother during a family spat. So let's just lay out the facts, and readers can reach their own conclusions.

"Some background: Klayman started Judicial Watch in 1994 and became famous--in a cable TV sort of way--by filing what seemed like thousands of lawsuits against Clintonites. His work (some might call it shenanigans) was partly underwritten by Richard Mellon Scaife, the right-wing millionaire. And Richard Viguerie, the direct-mail titan of the right, raised money for Judicial Watch. Klayman also represented the Miami relatives of Elián González in a lawsuit against the Justice Department, and he involved himself in the Florida recount mess...."

More: http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040329&s=corn,

[moondust]

44. "...he had even sued his mother during a family spat."

What a guy. A true Compassionate Conservative.

Thanks for the link klook! I got a 404 error with it (due to the comma on the end) but it works without the comma: Klayman Watch

[AspenRose]

50. Talk about your definition of "vexatious litigant!"

Vexatious Litigant:

1. One who repeatedly files unmeritorious motions, pleadings, conducts unnecessary discovery, or engages in other tactics that are frivolous or solely intended to cause unnecessary delay.

(that's part of the CA definition http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/courtadmin/aoc/vexfaq.htm)

2. Larry Klayman

He ought to be disbarred.

[gasperc]

26. Communist dictator and terrorist Hugo Chavez's ?????

are they fucking serious!!!

[daleo]

27. Isn't this guy one of the "get Clinton" nuts?

What a loon.

[RubyDuby in GA]

28. That asshole called Jimmy Carter a fool????

Oh, it's time for me and him to step outside.
It will get ugly.

Fucker. I don't care who he is, how dare he?!?!?!?!

[Merlin]

30. Even the right wing doesn't trust this moron.

Two years ago I ran in to Norman Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute at the Tampa airport. He was struggling with about 3 large suitcases and we talked as we walked. I said to him jokingly, "Geeze can't you just get Klayman to come up with enough funding so you don't have to carry your own bags, Norm? Klayman knows where all the money is!" He said "Yeah, I don't know who the hell funds him. But we won't have anything to do with that nut case!"

[Vladimir]

31. This is a parody, right? n/t

[wicket]

32. Is this the guy from Judicial Watch?

[kwolf68]

34. Arrogance

See the cottage industry the Republicans have setup? They are so confident that their ideology is the preeminent ideology that they don’t merely run Conservative Republicans; they run LUNATIC Conservative Republicans.

This is a good thing friends. The further on the lunatic parade they are the easier it is to defeat them.

While it is scary that billions can be funneled into propaganda ministries, combined with religious quackery and insane morons who border on being completely fascist, the truth of the matter is the Republicans are sowing the seeds of their own destruction.

Will the Democrats pick up the fledgling reputation that is our nation, promote a clear vision that inspires the American people remains to be seen.

[genius]

35. Blank him.

[indepat]

36. Perhaps what was needed was international intervention in the 2000 Florida

election.

[Zorra]

38. Hey, Larry - Got any real evidence at all of fraud?

Chavez Wins Big and the Opposition Refuses to Recognize the Obvious
Aug 17, 2004
By: Gregory Wilpert – Venezuelanalysis.com
snip-------
Opposition websites and statements from opposition leaders are now full of claims that a massive fraud has been perpetrated. The amazing thing about such a claim is that the opposition does not have even the slightest shred of proof or even circumstantial evidence for making such a claim. Their entire claim is based on their own highly questionable exit polls. (The pro-government campaign also conducted exit polls, by the way, which reflect the official results.) So the opposition is now demanding that the vote be audited down to every single paper ballot. In principle, some pro-Chavez electoral officials have indicated a willingness to do so.

In all of this one should keep in mind that the voting machines and the entire voting procedure are designed in such a way that if there had been fraud committed, the point at which it occurred would be detected almost immediately. The system is filled with redundant security mechanisms, including printed ballots, which would immediately show exactly where the vote had been altered.

It appears that the most likely consequence will be that the opposition will divide into a sector that will continue to insist that there was fraud and one that will recognize the reality of their loss and will work with the government. The sector that continues to insist on fraud will probably be made up of small parties that have little to lose, either in the upcoming regional elections or in business with the government, such as La Causa R, Primero Justicia, and Movimiento al Socialismo. The ones that will work with the government or will at least recognize the results, are the chamber of commerce and Accion Democratica, which is one of the few parties that still has a chance to win posts in the regional elections. There is a third sector of the opposition, the radical far right, which is the sector that has sponsored terrorist attacks and paramilitary activity within Venezuela, which will probably use the fraud claims of the small parties as an excuse to re-launch their violent campaign.

Despite all of this, the Chavez government has been re-legitimized and is now stronger than ever. The opposition has now not only lost its military base, due to the coup, its oil base, due to the oil industry shut-down, but now it will have also lost every last shred of credibility if it continues to insist that it won the recall referendum.

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1252

[PROGRESSIVE1]

39. Someone with a shitload of $$$$$$ needs to sue the crap out.....

of him!

[seasat]

40. Dadgum, this primary is becoming interesting.

I actually like the fact that the nutjob Klayman is running for the Republican Senatorial primary here in FL. Our 3 Democratic candidates have some disagreements but they appear minor next to nuts like Klayman and Johnny Byrd. I would rather us face Bill McCollum or Byrd than Mel Martinez and the nutjobs might siphon enought votes from Martinez to keep him from getting the nomination. At least they weaken the Republican party here by exposing what kooks they can be. I think that Martinez or McCollum will get the Republican nomination but I also think that with this idiot Klayman spouting off, it'll weaken the Repub candidate when they face our candidate in the general election.

[Judi Lynn]

42. It would be a shame if Bush's ex-HUD head, Mel Martinez won

since _Bush cut him lose so he could go to Florida and run for Bob Graham's seat in the Senate.

It would be a real shame if _Bush were able to put his Republican right-wing Cuban "exile" in the Senate to replace a very effective Democrat.

Go, Klayman, Go!
Collossal @**hole.

[moondust]

43. Delete

[hatrack]

46. What kind of piece of shit "journalism" is this?

What the fuck is "U.S. Newswire" and why (not surprisingly) have I never heard of them before?

[Ripley]

47. How can this get passed off as news?

The last line of the story says it all:

Paid for by Friends of Larry Klayman.

This is a political ad/infommercial for Klayman masquerading as unbiased news.

Outrageous.

[yellowcanine]

48. Why not send Klayman to Caracas to determine whether the vote

was honest and fair? Maybe Scaife could finanance it. Heck, I's donate to THAT cause.

[Orangepeel]

49. They won't even let this guy in the republican debates

because he is polling at less than 2% or something.

[young_at_heart]

52. Florida is special..........."Bush Country"

If you're from Florida you can do anything you want......The Bush Dynasty rules there!

[Gman]

54. Klayman is a complete ass

This is what happpens when the lunatic fringe right wing thinks its ok to speak up. You get the rantings of a lunatic considered mainstream.

By the way, boys and girls, you are seeing exactly the kind of reaction about Chavez that you will see should Kerry win. They're all the same.

[Zerex71]

55. Lots to talk about in this one.

1. Klayman was head of one/some of the anti-Clinton units, so he was pretty much right alongside that cabal during the 90s.
2. It's none of our %$^& business what happens in Venezuela, because they are their own sovereign country (at least when we're not on Planet Bushworld).
3. Who's the fool? Eminent statesman Carter, or has-been/wannbe Klayman?
4. Venezuela has a huge reserve of oil, so take a guess why we are hearing so much about them.

That's enough to chew on for now.

Mike

[Zan_of_Texas]

58. Okay, start throwing tomatoes, but here are a couple of facts.

1. Judicial Watch was one of the two public interest groups to sue for release of information about Cheney's Energy Task Force. This was a long, looooong, protracted battle. (I'm not saying it doesn't make him litigious or anti-Clinton, I'm just pointing it out.)
http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/04/27/scotus.cheney/

2. Venezuela used electronic voting machines, supplemented by paper printouts.
Four companies -- contractors -- supplied the machines and software and technicians.

I am delighted Chavez won. And I fully understand about oil and Cuba and all the rest. From reports, it seems he had more voters out than the opposition. But, what do I know, I'm not there.

Here's the kicker -- if you believe in democracy, then EVEN WHEN YOUR SIDE WINS (and when some hated opponent is the one whining) you have to be willing to prove it. You have to believe in transparency and honesty and openness in balloting and counting. For all sides.


Unless robust random recounts are applied to paper ballots, and strict auditing of layer reports (meaning, from precinct to county to state, or whatever the political divisions are) are practiced, the stuff can be stolen even with paper printouts -- they're no good if they just go into a locked box and the officials rely on the electronic numbers.

Who supplied the technology? Olivetti made the voting machines.


Plus:
Three companies make up the SBC Consortium that did the rest:

Smartmatic Corp., from the United States, is in charge of all the voting technology.

Bizta Software, from Venezuela, is in charge of the specific software adaptations for the Venezuelan case, and of the audit processes.

CANTV de Venezuela, is in charge of the telecommunications infrastructure, the logistics to deploy and install equipment, and the technical staff.

(info from the SmartMatic website http://www.smartmatic.com/electionsVenezuela2004_03-6.htm )

So, was the election stolen? I have not a clue. Every election body should be able to prove elections are honest beyond a doubt.

We can't prove zip here. Perhaps Chavez can show us how it works.