Wreck the vote -- left and right

Have you noticed the pattern? When Democrats complain of election fraud, they refer to such matters as stolen absentee ballots, trashed registration forms, faked-up "felon" lists or outright voter intimidation. Mere accusations? Nope -- proven facts. (If you doubt, just follow the links in related stories below.)

When Republicans complain, they usually refer to two things: Vandalized election offices and improperly filled-out registration forms.

Drudge links to one "vandal" story today -- an incident in the small town of Hollister, California. (Where the cited newspaper has just endorsed Kerry, incidentally.)

Think for a moment: Vandalization of this sort could be done by anyone. The results do not benefit Kerry in any way. To the contrary: Such dirty work can only help Bush, since these incidents foment rage against Democrats.

We've already seen hard proof (the Parlock tale; see earlier posts) that Republicans have staged "attacks" against themselves in order to rally their troops and to demonize the opposition.

Simple logic and past experience inform us who is really responsible for the rash of office attacks and stolen signs. Let us now apply the same logic to the other big Republican complaint: According to their propaganda, fraudulent voter registration forms have "flooded" into state offices.

If rightists can point to just one instance of (say) a registration form filled out in the name of a dead person, they can justify placing Republican "guards" at polling places, where they will intimidate likely Democratic voters. (As the movie said: "You can usually tell 'em by the color of their skin.")

These "guards" will issue dire warnings of stiff jail sentences if potential voters do not cough up two forms of identification -- which poor people usually don't carry. That's why they use check-cashing stores instead of banks.

Even rumors of improper Democratic registration forms (and so far, rumor is all we have) will provide an excuse for election-day thuggishness.

Republican strategists know the power of rumor. Remember how effectively they used the myth of the Cadillac-driving welfare queen? Unproven allegations that Democrats have registered cadavers serve much the same purpose.

And even these allegations turn out to be backed by proof in a few instances -- who to blame? Better question: cui bono? Who benefits? Only Republicans will benefit -- because what they really want is an excuse to send out the stormtroopers.