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[bryant]

Newsweek reports that the Department of Homeland Security is looking into ways to postpone the November Presidential election in the case of an Al Qaeda attack.

But the success of March's Madrid railway bombings in influencing the Spanish elections—as well as intercepted "chatter" among Qaeda operatives—has led analysts to conclude "they want to interfere with the elections," says one official.

Forcing a delay in elections is every bit as much interference, if not more so, as an attack which causes people to change their vote. This is so obvious that I have trouble believing that it's escaped the Bush administration.

Soaries, a Bush appointee who two years ago was an unsuccessful GOP candidate for Congress, wants Ridge to seek emergency legislation from Congress empowering his agency to make such a call. Homeland officials say that as drastic as such proposals sound, they are taking them seriously—along with other possible contingency plans in the event of an election-eve or Election Day attack.

Contingency plans are good. Legislation that could delay the election is bad. Sure, if something happens to LA the day of the election, it would be good to hold the results until the voters of Los Angeles can vote -- but it does not make sense to keep the entire country from voting in a situation where they could reasonably get to the polls.

Comments

[ogier30.livejournal.com]

The sense I'm getting is that "they" are laying the ground work to postpone or put off the elections, and will push the idea the more Kerry gains in the polls. Stuff like this is simply testing the waters for a larger proposal in the interests of National Security to prevent the change of a Wartime President in Wartime.

I hope I'm wrong, though.

[ivan23.livejournal.com]

Been expecting this. The only thing that surprises me is that they leaked it to the media, and I suspect the only reason for that is because they expected to have the soldiers back home by now to deal with the "radical lunatic fringe" who would oppose such a measure.

[head58.livejournal.com]

If the whole election is postponed, doesn't this mean that the terrorists have gotten what they wanted? Disrutping democracy (because, well, they hate freedom and all).