Why have I not covered vote fraud lately? Partly because Brad Friedman and others have done such a remarkable job. And partly because -- okay, I admit it. I just don't want to think about it.
I want to proceed under the hallucination that we are going to win this one.
In order to give that delusion verisimilitude, I remind myself that Berlusconi lost in Italy, despite the use of voting machines. In truth, though, that situation was quite different. Exit polls are still common in Europe, and they remain trusted. Only so much humbuggery can occur.
The situation is different here.
So what will we do if we awaken the morning after only to discover that Karl and the gang have heisted yet another one?
At the risk of seeming like the guy calling for a formation of a cricular firing squad, I believe that our first duty is to make sure that all progressives are on board in this fight. 2004 is not 2006. Two years ago, talk of election theft struck many people, even many Democrats, as pure conspiranoia. Times have changed, and we have learned much.
In other words: No forgiveness and no soft attitude toward the mainstream-oriented Dems -- Kos, Atrios, Franken, Marshall, the Nation gang -- if they can't wake up and smell the vote theft.
What other tactics would you suggest, if the morning-after headlines read not the way we hope but the way we fear?
9 comments:
Rove keeps saying he's got the real numbers. What if he's not really after THIS election? What if he's really after the next one?
If Congress goes to the Democrats, what positive outcome can emerge, seriously? What repairs to civil liberty, repairs to the economy, repairs to foreign policy are going to occur? I'm suggesting things will not change as much as we'd like. Instead, all the bad things (continued from the momentum of Bush's bad policies, included predictably pissed-off Muslims around the world) will be blamed on the Democrats. I mean, come 2007, the Prez would have been able to save us from the (somewhat inevitable) tragedies that await us if only, IF ONLY, the Congress was stacked with his own kind. When 2008 rolls around, it will be "clear" who's at fault -- the Democrats. If we want to continue the valiant drive against Jihadists and taxes, we'll have to go back to the Republicans. The Democrats will be the dog to kick, and Bush's successor will reign.
That is my fear. No, I don't have the numbers. I hope Rove really doesn't either.
Thanks for the great work, Doc.
.R.S.E.
No forgiveness and no soft attitude toward the mainstream-oriented Dems -- Kos, Atrios, Franken, Marshall, the Nation gang-
I lost patience with the likes of them some time ago. What do they think, it won't happen if you ignore the problem? If you cover your eyes, the monster won't see you? Or do they think it's all just a conspiracy theory, and since the msm doesn't like ct's, it's best not to mention them in case CNN won't like it? WTF?
Are they real progressives, or a distracting pressure valve? Kos et al kept saying "if we highlight election fraud, our people won't come out and vote." Shit, people, if you are trumpeting the fraud and trying to do something about it, you mobilize millions of people for the cause, you get something done about it. It's too late now. They've had two years to do something. Instead, heads in the sand all over the left blogosphere.
Don't know what to do. But, I'll be there.
These guys will never get it. You can read a million words of conventional campaign analysis on TPM, and not a single one about the simple expedients which make all the analysis moot (i.e., anyone can hack in a machine in 10 seconds or less). JM and company even ignore obvious evidence of theft in the public sphere (voter suppression, etc.). They just pretend that their own analysis is somehow primary.
For that matter, you still have liberal Democrats looking for reasons why Gore "lost" -- this in an election where there's no dispute Gore won the popular vote.
It would take a conspiracy to steal the vote, and since conspiracies don't happen in America (according to JM & Co.), no one can be stealing elections.
What do you do with these guys, and their terminally conventional minds? If these guys were artists, they'd be Norman Rockwell and Lawrence Welk. Too bad they dominate the discussion.
Americans are so self-involved sometimes they forget they don't live in a vacume and meanwhile the rest of the world goes about its business of manipulating whatever is possible to garner a bigger slice of the power and wealth pie.
What does that have to do with the question at hand?
First, US government does not change foriegn policy every time the balance of power between Dems and Repubs changes. US government changes its tune when the change is forced upon it by the rest of the world and by express agreement from the Business sector that tends to correct coarse when conditions demand it. I think the time has come for the US to consider changing tunes and the Big Bad Cowboy Act is not cutting it anymore so getting a Democratic Congress will make it easier (it won't look like defeat as much) to do that. This does not mean defeat for Carl Rove. He has proven that he realizes how important the face in front of the curtin is, but he also knows that the changes he has made behind the curtin are hard to undo in a short time, and after all his aim has always been to effect such changes.
Second, if Americans want real change to accure in the political landscape of US, they need to keep in mind the fundemental changes that Rove minded people are planning ( dismanteling all social saftey net programs and keeping a tight hold on American people and reducing regulations and taxes on the uber-upper class). If Dems win back Congress and I think they will, all that is gained is a new face in front of the curtin. What Americans need to do once they have voted the Dems in is to start pushing for change. That's when the real fight starts. Call, E-mail your representative, keep tabs on their votes, encourage and support websites and groups that hawkishly keep an eye on the Democrats, demonstrate and push for impeachment and ivistigations of the key US officials. Another words, scare the hell out of politicians(Dems as well as Repubs). There is nothing scarier than an angry citizenry to the powers.
If Dems do not win this November, don't lose heart, that just means that the powers behind the curtin are stupider than we imagine and haven't realized the time for change (however superficial)has arrived which puts them at a dis-advantage (if you can't even act in real time to correct coarse, how can you win the game). The same kind of pressures mentioned above will work on the Repubs (even more, since they won't have Dems to blame).
So for what it is worth, I think getting Dems elected only shows the powers that Americans are angry and if everyone just goes home and considers the battle over, nothing will change (it will look like a tantrum at best). Dems or not, the real fight begins after the elections are over.
I have a few ideas, but they'd probably land me in a Halliburton detention center. Certain types of "civil disobedience" comes to mind, but alas, the average pasty, bloated white majority are afraid of any type of confrontation, especially physical.
If the Republicans maintain control of both houses, the best course of action might be renewing your passport.
Ropes. Tree.
Joe - don't follow this link to hear laura rozen on the radio ;-)
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