The Editorial Board is simply amazed by the amount of absurdities that arose from the first day of the Student Government election.
We expected a response to the article about the e-mails that may blow the lid off a possible summer Student Senate conspiracy. We expected it because UF students would be crazy to overlook such egregious accusations. Like we said Tuesday, the possibility of someone having made up the e-mails is just as appalling as if the allegations were true.
What surprised the hell out of us was the Gator Party's over-the-top reaction to the article. The documents we received carried some heavy information, so they have a right - and an obligation - to be concerned.
The ruling party's retorts effectively showed its level of concern, but more importantly, they were pretty damn funny.
The Alligator office received four phone calls Tuesday morning reporting that a handful of our newsstands had been emptied out, and this issue wasn't even the Weekend Kickoff special.
Well, that doesn't sound fishy at all, now does it?
Our reporters and editors must have really been on their A-games to be able to churn out a paper that was so perfect that the Alligator racks on Frat Row, at the Levin College of Law and at the Graham, Tolbert and Hume residence halls were all scraped clean before noon. Something's afoot.
Our newspaper racks don't clear out before 4 p.m., much less before noon. Hell, freshman year we didn't even realize that papers were made available before Krishna lunch ends.
That's why we're having a bit of trouble understanding how our paper stands went from fully stuffed to completely bare before thousands of UF students had gotten out of bed or had a cup of coffee.
It just baffles us as to why someone would want to keep the average student from reading the news.
The way we see it, if someone falsely accuses you of something, you should probably just come right out and provide an alibi to absolve yourself of any wrongdoing. That didn't happen.
Instead, the Gator Party treated the student body with a bombardment of "Lies" fliers, with the title in an ever-so-cheery blood-spatter font.
On the reverse side of the fliers, there was a melodramatic list of "Lies" and "Truths" that triumphantly concluded with "Lie: The Orange and Blue Party. Truth: The Gator Party."
Simply brilliant.
We knew the Gator Party wouldn't like the allegations in Tuesday's article, but that isn't the reason we printed it.
When a political party holds the reigns that control a multimillion-dollar budget, any hint of foul play must be brought to the attention of the people it represents. If we weren't here to spill the beans, then who would?
Obviously, the SG political parties wouldn't because they're too wrapped up in winning Senate seats to remember the purpose of the positions, and when they get called out on it, they respond in fascist fashion.
Following our newspaper delivery driver down Archer Road to hijack the papers he distributes as soon as he drops them off won't prevent the news from getting to people. We still have a Web site.
UF students don't deserve to remain in the dark as their government, a "democracy" dominated by one party, continues to conduct its business in the shadiest of manners.
Freedom of the press, people - it's a beautiful thing.
