WASHINGTON – Barack Obama is officially the next president of the United States, Congress declared Thursday in fulfilling its centuries-old constitutional duty to certify and tally the electoral college vote from each state.
Republicans joined Democrats in a standing ovation as Vice President Dick Cheney, in his role as president of the Senate, announced from the podium that Obama had achieved a majority of votes and would be the 44th president on Jan. 20.
By JIM ABRAMS, Associated Press Writer Jim Abrams, Associated Press Writer – Thu Jan 8, 5:23 pm ET.
Congratulations from ObamaConspiracy.org!
Here is the Floor Summary from the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives for this historical joint session of Congress to certify and tally the electoral votes.
Here is one of the comments on one of the anti websites.
“Is anyone besides me a bit disturbed by the fact that Mr. Cheney adjourned the Joint Congress meeting immediately after the EC votes were talled and announced, not soliciting objections/challenges or allowing anyone to step forward to raise challenges? I am shocked at the frequency that the laws are cast aside and the rogue elected officials are not called on these violations.”
My understanding is that if someone had an objection they would have stood up to be recognized?
I just remembered the Floor Summary above will eventually disappear as Congress moves thru their schedule so here is the link to the pages in the Congressional Record where the event is fully transcribed.
Congressional Record
111th Congress – First Session
January 08, 2009
Pages H75 – H76
Well, as you know, Vice President Dick Cheney (and his cronies over at FactCheck.org) has been a vocal supporter and campaign contributor to Barack Obama. FactCheck.org first came to national prominence when Cheney mentioned them and their supposed “independence” during the Cheney/Edwards Vice Presidential debate in 2004. Everybody knows this.
Yeah, I noticed a stream of similar sentiments being voiced in the comments section of a few sites too about this.
I guess hunting down the C-SPAN coverage of the entire event is the only way to stifle something like that. I watched it as it happened and there were ample opportunities for proper objections/challenges to take place. The darn thing is pretty much a scripted event and Cheney himself knew when to read his comments and play his part. Unfortunately most folks aren’t familiar with Congressional procedure and assuming something like that must be “solicited” from the membership is just plain wrong. The membership knows when and how to raise a point during a session without having be afforded the opportunity – the opportunity is always there regardless if procedure is followed and the House/Senate Rules are adhered to.
I’d like to point out that there was a rumor that a GA. Representative was going to be one of the possible objectors who would raise a point of order.
Never happened.
Here is a point where any objection could have been raised during the joint session of Congress to certify the electoral college vote:
On page H76 of the Congressional Record, the Vice President states:
Any member of either the House of Representatives or the visiting Senate knows quite well when “Without objection” comes at the beginning of a statement from whoever happens to have the floor at that moment, it is the signal at which any objection should be voiced, heard and dealt with. Since no such objection is reflected in the record, no member of Congress had any objection to the proceedings.
The petition must be submitted in writing first.
Mary:
They simply won’t accept that fact, nor any other fact for that matter! 🙂