Obrador Declares Self New President of Mexico!

Cross posted from Red Hot Cuppa Politics:

So, Obrador has declared himself the new president of Mexico, although he lost by a small percentage during the elections, and the tribunal is not finished settling the election:

MEXICO CITY — Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who finished a close second in the disputed Mexican presidential balloting July 2, ratcheted up the election standoff Wednesday by declaring himself "the president of Mexico."

Cesar Nava, a spokesman for ruling party candidate Felipe Calderón, who won the election by barely a half-percent of the 41 million votes cast, dismissed the claim as "messianic."

The election results are before a federal electoral tribunal, where López Obrador, a left-leaning populist, has brought charges of widespread fraud and demanded a "vote-for-vote" recount ...

Nava's "messianic" tag echoed the criticism of López Obrador's conservative opponents, who portray him as a threat to Mexico's nascent democratic institutions.

"A true democrat respects the majority of the Mexicans, the electoral authorities and a peaceful solution to conflict," Nava said.

López Obrador, waving off suggestions that his continuing electoral challenge is destabilizing the nation, vowed the protest movement he's launched "will stay within the limits of nonviolence."

Well, he's taking a page from the Gore campaign, isn't he? A hand re-count makes you win -- particularly when partisan counters know exactly how many votes they need to achieve.

The Mexican electoral system is one of the best, and soundest in the world. But, I guess that doesn't count when a conservative wins by a small margin.

Meanwhile, the absentee ballot system was declared a flop.

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's first attempt at absentee voting was a flop, collecting a mere 33,111 ballots, but officials hope to make it cheaper and easier for Mexicans to vote from abroad in the next presidential election.

Millions of Mexicans living abroad were allowed to mail in presidential ballots for the first time in the July 2 election, a right migrants living in the United States spent years fighting for.

Electoral authorities counted 32,632 absentee ballots on July 2. Of those, 28,335 came from the United States - home to some 9 million Mexican expatriates. Officials annulled 479 ballots for irregularities

I guess not enough Mexican ex-pats living in the US bothered to vote. Or, maybe too many of them voted for the conservative candidate.

Click to the CoalitionBlog for the latest and freshest on illegal immigration. There's an article in MorningCoffee about how a citizen of Elgin Illinois has demanded his local police do a better job of enforcing immigration laws (after a young girl was killed by a drunk driver). Border Pundit's featuring other small towns that are tackling illegal immigration issues. Brian's writing about how our fearless Congressional gerbils are trying to tackle a "comprehensive" illegal immigration reform bill once again. BTW, Kay Bailey Hutchison was one of the Senators voting against funding the border fence. After she voted to build one. Take a quick look at ChristiKing's pithy article on "America for Sale," if you have a minute.

Incidentally, Kay Bailey Hutchison has a variety of press releases on alot of issues, but I don't see one that rationalizes why she voted against funding the border fence. Have e-mailed, but will be awhile before the responding snail mail arrives. Will follow and let you know.

Finally, FrauBudgie correction about MinuteMen split. Apparently, the MinuteMen split back in June, 2005. Tarantulus of CAII posted a message from a MMP yahoo group member:

Toward the end of the project it was decided that Chris would continue to focus on border security and Jim would focus on interior enforcement. Jimr etained use of the Minuteman Project name. Chris formed Minuteman Civil Defense Corps ... My understanding is that Chris and Jim are currently working together onthe overall project and are each moving the project ahead in theirrespective areas

StetsonTip to Tarantulus, and to Brian -- and my apologies. I hope the group is able to clean up the financial questions. Mistakes can be forgiven, and we need both Gilchrist and Simcox, particularly in the light of the new round Congressional cotillion two-steppin'.

**This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email the coalition and let me know at what level you would like to participate.**