It’s amazing how irresponsible some members of the so-called “Mainstream Media” can be. Even while they sniff at us lowly “bloggers” and “Internet-only news sites” for what many of them see as a lack of journalistic integrity, failing to provide proper context for stories and reporting information without properly vetting or confirming it first.
It’s hard to argue with those criticisms towards many Internet blogs and news sites. But it’s equally hard to stomach it when we’ve seen so many similar failings from the Mainstream Media themselves. And when they screw the pooch — from their much larger media platforms — the consequences can be much more disastrous.
Case in point, the now infamous failings of the New York Times’ Judith Miller in her reporting running up to — and arguably helping America towards — the war in Iraq based on highly suspect or out and out misinformation. I don’t wish to pile on there, but it’s a case where the Mainstream Media failed to properly vet anonymous sources, give the appropriate context, and the results were, to say the least, somewhat disastrous for this country. That is just one such example, and an easy one to point to for context.
And then we have MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, who, as we pointed out several days ago, ran a disastrously irresponsible piece on his MSNBC run “Bloggermann” site. So disastrous, in fact, that even a Countdown producer we spoke with about it refused to stand by the report above and beyond saying “This was Keith Olbermann’s writing. He didn’t work with me or anyone else on this.”
As we reported, the most reprehensible failing in Olbermann’s original quick hit piece on Clint Curtis (scroll down to item #4 at this link) was that he allowed an unnamed anonymous source, (described as “the attorney for the firm for whom Mr. Curtis worked”) to suggest that Clint Curtis “has previously threatened the firm and its top officers, in writing, and that they were sufficiently concerned to file a police report as a result.”
We pointed out in our reply to what amounted to little more than a smear piece by Olbermann that at the very least, since this anonymous attorney claimed there was a threat “in writing”, that Olbermann should have reviewed that purported “writing” before passing on the information from an anonymous source. (By the way, that would have been at least the third response on these matters from either Yang Enterprises Inc. [YEI] or their Attorneys, but the first time they’ve bothered to mention a written threat and/or police report in re: Clint Curtis…make of that what you will).
Neither did Olbermann bother to even check with the Oveido Police Department — where YEI is located — to confirm if in fact such a report had been filed.
It probably now goes without saying, that Olbermann didn’t bother to get comment from Curtis at all on any of the matters he reported on, though one would think that a responsible journalist would have at least attempted to do so before posting such scurrilous allegations.
Well today, Olbermann decided to comment again on his blog, to what he described as “a handful of e-mails” complaining about his coverage last week on this story. That comment is linked here (scroll down to the bulleted text).
Since I’m busy working on actual reporting of the rapidly moving events in this whole troubling story, I’ll allow the bulk of his comments, sorry as they may be, to stand on their own. (See the red “Special Coverage” sidebar at right, for the key articles published by The BRAD BLOG on the Clint Curtis/Tom Feeney/Yang Enterprises Inc. matter so far.)
But two items are very noteworthy, and I’d be remiss if I did not point them out. With vigor…
1) Olbermann makes no attempt at explaining, or apologizing for his egregious journalistic lapse in passing on unconfirmed slurs, accusing someone of written (and therefore confirmable) threats from unnamed sources as described above. He doesn’t answer to those charges in any way, and we’d suggest there’s likely a good reason for that. There is no excuse for such reprehensible dereliction.
For the record, we have attempted for the last week since Olbermann’s short article, to confirm such a report made with the Oviedo Police. While their Public Information Officer was out sick for the bulk of last week, the staffer he asked to look into it has so far not turned up such a report. That PIO, now back on the job, continues to look into the matter however, and we will report what, if anything, is found from the Oviedo Police.
We will, as well, attempt to contact Michael O’Quinn the “outside general counsel” for YEI who has previously commented on the record in this matter, to see if he may have any further information to provide. We hope to find out if, for example, if the “police report” was filed in a jurisdiction other than Oviedo. As we’ve pointed out several times — though most others, including Olbermann, have failed to — O’Quinn is both a YEI attorney and the former law partner of, and current campaign contributor to — along with the Yang’s — Congressman Tom Feeney (R-FL) who is at the center of this swirling controversy. Context for you. As it should be.
2) In regard to the unsubstantiated “disgruntled employee” charge that Olbermann helped continue to float — again with no evidence to support it — and the “Farewell Card” given to Curtis by the company at the “Farewell Party” thrown on his behalf, Olbermann said this:
Fair enough, sir.
Though we wonder, did the CEO of ESPN at the time sign such a card to you with anything like the phrase “Good luck and the door will be open for you when you need”, as the CEO of YEI did on Curtis’ card?
Also, did the CEO of the ESPN hand you a check on the way out the door as “traveling money” and as thanks for staying on six weeks after your resignation date as a personal favor to them while they found someone else to fill your job?
Just curious.
Feel free to let us know in your next column in which you explain why you’re not reporting on this story, but do us the favor of answering to the charges we made against your work in the first place.
Until then, I hope the responsible members of the “Mainstream Media” — and I’d suggest that includes the bulk of them — might hold their pens before smashing up “the blogs” and “Internet-only news sites” exclusively for failing to cross all their T’s and dot all their I’s. If we are guilty of that — and many of us no-doubt are — I hope you’ll remember to note your “Mainstream” brethren who are equally, if not more, guilty to that same charge.
In the meantime, we will again take the opportunity to note that in the three weeks and thousands of words we’ve published here on this affair since first breaking this story, we’ve yet to have a single word pointed out to us as either demonstrably untrue or incorrect in any way.
The BRAD BLOG is justifiably proud of that record as long as it continues to hold up. Particularly given the wide range and enormous scope of this story. We only wish that Olbermann and several others could say the same for themselves.
(More actual reporting coming soon on this developing story…)
…CONTACT…
Keith Olbermann, MSNBC’s Countdown
Email: KOlbermann@MSNBC.com
Hi ya wacko lefty conspiracy nuts! It’s all falling down around you isn’ it! You look like puppies all chasing your own little tails all over while we all laugh at your antics.
You will NEVER catch us. We are smarter than you.
Go ahead, try to find the votes. They are buried.
Drunk again Jim?
Brad, this is the most interesting story on the web, but in order to be taken seriously you need to proofread your copy a few times. I’m specifically relating to the 12/27/04 Bloggerman response you just filed. It’s riddled with typos which are distracting.
As for this Attorney Jim character, he’s obsessed with your site. You know you’re bugging people when they cling to every word, comment on every piece, but only in that schoolyard manner of sticking their tongue out at you and saying, "I know you are but what am I."
People like this know that your audience is growing. If there was no audience, no increased readership, there would be no thrill for them. Enjoy their presence, hope that more of them show up. Truth floats in a sea of BS. If there weren’t people like this willing to frame the facts with fury, you’d know there was no juice in your story.
I’m hanging on your every word man.
Good work.
I think Attorney Jim must be the hit-man hired to murder the guy in the motel in Valdosta, Georgia after he got too close to the truth about Feeney et al.
How else to explain the level of fear Jim is expressing in his troubled emails?
The truth will come out, Attorney Jim. Make no mistake. As George W. says, "You can run but you cannot hide."
Thanks for the kind words, Alfred.
We’re guilty as charged in not proofing our material enough times before posting to look for typos. Once or twice through is sometimes good enough, but an editor would of course, be a lovely luxury that we don’t currently have.
On the other hand, we have readers like you who frequently Email some of those typos to us. Please feel free to do so any time! Much appreciated!
Especially when we’re quickly rushing out replies to silly columnists who insist on setting back, instead of advancing the story.
I wish I had more time, and a staff as big as MSNBC’s to help 🙂
As one of the e-mailers who stoked Olbermann’s ire, I can’t help adding that I was too polite. Did everyone see his "news"cast tonight? He effectively tossed all evidence of fraud and chicanery in Ohio into the dumpster, while pretending to give the issue airtime, thus further cementing shut the minds of most Americans to the possibility that this election was rigged. Wonder whose little doggie Keith O. really is?
Keep at it Brad. There’s a whole world hanging in the balance.
I was steaming watching Olbermann tonight!I thought he was the only msm out there to take us seriously.Boy was I wrong.Then I went to your comments line on this story only to read attorney jims.What a joke. Why are you even on this blog? You should go to your neo con blog,where your crap is appreciated.Keep up the great work Brad! We’re counting on you to keep us informed! Thanks Laura
Olbermann is the same as the rest, the bottom dollar corporations call the angle to the stories.
As much as Keith tries to convince us he is on-side, another 20 grand added to his contract to STFU would be more than enough to make him shut it. Sad but true.
Brad, don’t hold your breath waiting for any "real" investigation into what you are reporting. Capitalism speaks volumes for these Bozo’s, investigative news is sadly a dying art form.
Canada is on your side USA.
Jim, you are another Bozo. :crazy:
It is a possibility that Mr. Olbermann’s producers are under attack from Bush goons. As it may have become difficult for MSNBC producers to hold the fort, Mr. Olbermann may be trying to sugar quote things.
If you look into the Olbermann past achieves his reporting was more objective. Past couple of weeks he is dribbling the issues with going backwards and forwards. With rest of his national media colleagues in ABC, CBS etc. is shamelessly silent, Mr. Olbermann is isolated and looking for room to maneuver. Any national figure that speaks against the Bush administration has been seen being chased by the ‘White House Dogs’. Bull Dogs! Greyhound! White House Wolves too! If you think I am wrong ask Richard Clarke, Paul O’Neil, etc.
So this ‘voter fraud of 2004’ has to be united front effort. When guys like Olbermann or other bloggers are chased by the ‘White House Dogs’ someone else should pick up the ‘baton’. Brad the ball is on your court, keep going with it for now.
Meantime Republicans are quiet. When an issue of such an enormous magnitude has kept the ‘good’ Republicans silent means something is smelly and rotten inside this voter fraud issue. Did any reporter asked John McCain as to why is it so smelly in Ohio? This is a voter fraud Tsunami. ‘Good’ Republican’s silence speaks for itself!
Olberman is going the way of Richard Clarke, John O’Neil, and The Valerie Plame scandal. To destroy the message, destroy the messenger. Keep working at it Brad, we appreciate all you do. Attorney Jim is is absolutly no attornery. He lives in a run down trailer somewhere in Florida, sucking on cheap wine while he types at his computor, LOL
I have been feeling the same way about Keith Olbermann for the last couple of weeks…like he’s "gone over to the other side." I emailed him last week after his Clint Curtis blog. I asked him why he so readily accepted the comments of Tom Feeny and the lawyers for Yang. I would expect anyone accused of fraud to say the things they said. It doesn’t mean they are telling the truth. And I said that most whistleblowers are called "disgruntled employees." I was one of the ones who asked him why he didn’t have Curtis on the air. I think his excuse for not having him on was very lame – that it would be no better than having the Swift Boat Vets on. I seem to recall that he DID have the SBV’s on his program. They certainly were on Hardball, Scarborough, etc, etc, etc, endlessly.
I thought Olbermann was very objective at first, but he has given too much misinformation and one-sided accounts over the past couple of weeks to have any credibility anymore.
I first noticed the change in him after he posted his blog about Bev Harris threatening his staff. He said something like "you have no idea how hard it has been to cover this election fraud story." If he stopped covering the story, people would wonder why. By discrediting the story, he can pacify the Bush administration’s supporters while not arousing the suspicions of those who expect him to continue to cover the story.
Yes, the odor is almost overwhelming. I just want to share with all of you an e-note I received from the NYT in response to a letter of protest on their silence.
"Dear Ms. Clark,
Several hundred other readers have raised similar concerns requesting more coverage on this issue. Mr. Okrent asked me to let you know that he does not believe The Times’s coverage of the voting in Ohio is over; please stay tuned.
Sincerely,
Arthur Bovino
Office of the Public Editor
The New York Times"
Now, I want to tell you of the letter I received from my VERY progressive democratic congressman (whom I just helped to reelection) in response to my e-note requesting him to challenge the electors on January 6. It says
"Thank you for contacting me regarding your concerns with the election process. I appreciate hearing from you on this important matter."
(A bit of nattering about e-voting, making election day a national holiday, "and other important election reform matters" to be debated in Congress to protect and enhance our most fundamental right in a democracy…")
And then: "Thank you for sharing your concerns with me. I appreciate the opportunity to represent you in Congress."
With "warmest regards," Rep. Mike Michaud of Maine signed off.
Either the Democrats (and the media) are being very deep indeed and keeping word of an upcoming ambush from reaching GOP ears, or we are being sold "up the river."
Care to speculate which it is?
Daily vigil from 12:30-1:30 p.m. at Senator John Kerry’s house.
For info please visit: http://electionsmoking.blogspot...ification.html
Good question, Peg. And this is just my opinion but I think the sale was completed a long time ago.
Peg, you want to see the real leadership of this country? Look in the mirror.
The prominent politicians, media people, academics– ALL of them have surrendered to the golden handcuffs.
It’s an incredibly dangerous situation. This world is facing real dangers ranging from global warming to recession. (Not to forget the guys from Al Qaida, but considering that Mama Nature just finished killing ten times as many people in a few minutes as Al Qaida has managed in a few years, let’s keep our priorities straight). And the only real leaders we have are grassroots people.
We don’t have any reason to trust our leadership, or even to believe the political part of it was duly elected. If we had a national leadership, it would be doing everything it could to clear up exactly what happened in the election. Not just the CBC, but everyone. Even Blackwell. It’s stupid beyond belief to place the whole nation at risk this way.
Let’s be fair to Olbermann. He’s no greater a coward than most of the politicians, media people, academics, and so on. And for that matter, it’s not fair to ask people to be heroes. Whatever the precise facts behind people like Clint Curtis and Bev Harris, they are incredibly brave just to enter the buzzsaw that we call the MSM. Ask Gary Webb or Bob Parry what passing through the buzzsaw is like.
We need to be like ants, each one picking up a bit of the weight and not asking people to be consumed by doing right. We need to support the doers, not just with words, but with cash.
Fundamentally, GOP is a combination of the radical Baath party and the Talibans. Psycho graphically, GOP insecurity is very similar to the Baath Party. And their lack of progressive & liberal thinking can be defined as Talibans driving Cadillac. Or ‘Republican-Talibans’??
The GOP has been caught tapping the phone lines of the Democratic Party on several occasions. They have spies in the Democratic Party. So for the Democrats to orchestrate a ‘commando action’ on January 6th may not surprise the GOP. The other and more probable option for the Democrats is to march into the senate with their trumpets blowing. This ‘probable’ possibility becomes again ‘improbable’ because democrats simply do not have the “balls” (Brad! excuse me for the language) to look into the eyes of the GOP thugs and say, "We don’t support a fraudulently elected President! Screw You!"
js, you know we can’t ask Gary Webb anymore right? A couple of weeks ago, deemed suicide. 2 gunshot wounds to the head.
You will NEVER catch us.
We are SMARTER than you.
You are all LOOKING in the wrong place for the votes.
I just gave you 3 hints and you still cannot figure it out. Like I said, we are smarter than you.
Here’s a link to a very fluffy story on the Gary Webb situation, for anyone that missed it.
As far as al Qaeda and Hurricanes killing people, George DUMBYA has already outdone them both.
As far as Olbermann is concerned, it is standard procedure in military/intelligence psy-ops, or if your a savvy political personality or organization, to get out ahead of a story to discredit or destroy the person or cause being advanced against you or your criminal activity. I would certainly weigh Keith Olbermann’s actions against these standards in possibly trying to protect others while discrediting others. Especially since his employer is connected with America’s vast Military Industrial Complex and comes in the number 2 slot behind FOX News for Bush/Republican coddling. Spinning the story your way before it becomes full throttle mainstream is part of working for the White House, Pentagon, and CIA public influence and information exploitation departments. They have multimillion dollar budgets too!
Obviously, the Clint Curtis/Tom Feeney story has far ranging implications involving both past and recent elections. Considering the Military Industrial Complex and Christian Dominionists have working ties with the pro-Republican companies making and maintaining our electronic voting machines, a full exposure of their ties and conduct in relation to our elections could spoil the best laid plans.
How all of these alleged voting problems fall in favor of George DUMBYA and Republicans is telling. It is telling because these are the personalities and parties advancing the cause of the growing Military Industrial Complex and their Christian Dominionists.
As I warned in a post in BRAD WORLD yesterday, our greatest threat is the merging of Christian Dominionists with the most powerful military on Earth, and that is excatly what’s happening!
When you believe you’re taking your orders from GOD, murdering tens of thousands of people in Iraq, destroying the global environment, preparing for Armageddon, or suppressing the rights and freedoms of others, and doing so by fraudulently and illegally manipulating elections, in America and abroad, it is just considered AOK! Because it’s in the service of GOD, not humanity!
Therefore, violating international laws, torturing prisoners, snubbing international institutions, and avoiding the sanctions of an international criminal court or Kyoto Treaty is in "GOD’s" service! All of a sudden, the word of and service to GOD justifies violating or ignoring "human" laws, rules, morals, or standards.
From the Iraq War to Voting Fraud, I would suggest my friends you view what is happening around us in this light, even if only as a partial consideration. Afterall, George DUMBYA, TRICKY DICK Cheney, and their financial benefactors in the oil and gas industry, the monetary sector, and the Military Industrial Complex may just be using Christian Dominionists as a political tool to retain power to advance their continued greedy interests in exploiting the human and natural resources of the world.
I would rather be facing a greedy George than a Christian George, because at least we could relate to his actions at a human level. But if he now considers himself and his Presidency as divine providence in a Christian based purge of our government and society, and a further mandate to pursue religious prophesy in an endtimes struggle over the Middle East and a vision of a photo op with a second coming of Christ…beware!
When one of our own General’s at the Pentagon appears in uniform at right-wing Christian services and declares that George DUMBYA was chosen by GOD to be president…well…let’s all be in shock and awe! Chosen by GOD? Or chosen by electronic voting machines tied to the Republican Party, the Christian Dominion movement, and the Military Industrial Complex? Let’s have an expose on this at NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX!
So Freebird: whats the matter? Did mommy & daddy MAKE you go to Sunday School and now you are rebelling?
Grow up.
Attorney Jim! To steal something and get away is not smartness. Such people are termed in the society as CRIMINALS.
I don’t think Keith Olbermann has nefarious intentions. I do believe he has had some trouble sifting through the facts effectively.
Take, for instance, the alleged "disgruntledness" of Clint Curtis. I think Olbermann is right that the kind of polite goodbye that Curtis got is no good evidence that Curtis wasn’t "disgruntled." On the other hand, it should be obvious from the last four years of violent Bushism that a charge of "disgruntledness" means nothing. It means nothing when applied to Joe Wilson, Paul O’Neill, Richard Clarke, etc., and it means nothing when applied to Clint Curtis. It should simply be ignored.
The only reason the rest of us can’t ignore charges of "disgruntledness" is the failure of the mainstream media to ignore them. If Clint Curtis’s charges are too undeveloped for MSNBC, which may be so, then so also are Feeney’s and YEI’s.
There is one more fact, however, that needs to be considered, which is that Tom Feeney is on record expressing his disdain for Floridian "democracy." This needs to be considered alongside the general rule that past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. In 2000, Feeney led the effort to have the Florida legislature overturn the presidential election. Therefore, for the question of whether or not to accept election results, the burden of proof rests on Tom Feeney and others like him, to show they have not rigged Florida’s vote.
Jim is nothing more then a troll. If you have spent any time at all on usenet, you KNOW had to handle trolls. They thrive off attention, good or bad. If you ignore them they rapidly wither and die from the lack of feedback. Personally, I’d have already banned him being as how he’s an obvious troll AND he’s wasting space copying and pasting massive amounts of text.
Don’t feed the trolls. 😎
Thanks for this comment, TS. You are exactly right.
May it please the court, I plead guilty to having fed this troll, and I’m ashamed to admit that I have done it more than once.
I will stop feeding him in the future and I do hope that all the other regular contributors will join me. Then, like Karl Marx’s vision of the state, he may just wither away to nothingness. Here’s hoping.
LOL Trolls keep us Gremlins busy. You are right but I don’t believe this attorney Jim Troll is going anywhere. If he does, he’ll re-emerge as a Troll in different clothing.
And sorry attorney Jim, didn’t go to Sunday School, which is why I am not brain washed and mentally pre-programmed to vote for Republicans like our spanking new pre-programmed electronic voting machines. No need to rebel except against those like yourself who need infologic assistance and the corrupt Christian and corporate war masters of America! 🙂
Brad,
Perhaps you should trace Jims IP?
Least he is past denying the fraud!
I get the feeling AL the votes are fake! WE need to LOOK at them, of course we arent allowed to. But I think the Votes in OH are all made way before Nov 2nd, and the REAL ballots driven away in the night.
We will NEVER find them is right! But we can see and prove the FAKE votes with orders to look at them.
Ohio citezens NEED to demand a look at those votes NOW. THere is no leagal reason you cant see them.
Keith Olbermann is a liberal but maybe he is smart enough to realize that it’s all just a leftist kook fringe conspiracy. When you guys do not like the news, then it is another conspiracy. A conspiracy hiding a conspiracy hiding a conspiracy. I would have never believed how far the left has put their faith in conspiracies. Maybe Keith has realized that all of you guys are kooks!
It seems you guys also have issues just because this president has a strong faith in God! Who do you really hate?
A theme song for you kooks – "Their coming to take me away…to the funny farm."
If Brad really wants to make some money on these blogs, he should write a book. He can be the #1 expert on the so-called election fraud. He can be the poster child for Bushhaters. And, he can be rich, because he has a huge kook fringe audience!
"Average" liberals won’t donate any money to natural disasters or help the homeless but they will buy a book!
Good comments Attorney Jim.
"It seems you guys also have issues just because this president has a strong faith in God!"
No, Paul. We have issues because he claims to have faith in God and yet his policies are so evil.
LOL…right on Winter Patriot.
Paul, I’m sure the 19 men who flew airplanes into the Pentagon, World Trade Centers, and a Pennsylvannia field also had a strong faith in God. I’m sure they were screaming Allah on the way down. Funny how all these right wing Christian types who claim to have a strong faith in God also have no problem allowing the murder of tens of thousands of human beings in Iraq!
Maybe your God’s are the problem, or better yet, the blind faith you have in religions and those who claim to talk to God, yet also have their own sinister motives.
GOD is not a Democrat or a Republican…
"This presidential election is over," said John Kerry’s attorney in Ohio on Monday evening. He was speaking for both Kerry and Edwards in answer to questions Keith Olbermann was posting as to how involved is the Democratic Party with charges of fraud and illegitimacy. The attorney goes on, "There are many conspiracy theorists opining these days. There are many allegations of fraud. But this presidential election is over. The Bush-Cheney ticket has won. The Kerry-Edwards campaign has found no conspiracy and no fraud in Ohio, though there have been many irregularities that cry out to be fixed for future elections. Senator Kerry and we in Ohio intend to fix them. When all of the problems in Ohio are added together, however bad they are, they do not add up to a victory for Kerry-Edwards. Senator Kerry’s fully-informed and extremely careful assessment the day after the election and before he conceded remains accurate today, notwithstanding all the details we have since learned." http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6210240/
You may wish to read both of Olbermann’s entries from Monday. Scrolling through the earlier one, written around noon, past the wonderings about Kerry, you’ll find he addresses the Clint Curtis situation. Four hours later Brad Friedman answered him with this entry. All of this debate is interesting, but it does not appear anything is going to happen with Curtis to change the actual election result…and that is my only concern at the moment.
The Ohio Recount is complete, and the major papers are carrying the story. What you’ll find in most places is an Associated Press piece, but The New York Times goes further yesterday morning with a bylined article that is more complete. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/...cs/29ohio.html "CINCINNATI, Dec. 28 – A recount of the presidential election in Ohio that was finished on Tuesday showed that President Bush won the election here by about 300 fewer votes than initially recorded. The recount of Ohio’s 88 counties showed that Senator John Kerry gained 734 votes, with Mr. Bush picking up 449 after elections officials allowed more than 1,100 previously disqualified ballots to be counted in the second tally."
The article concludes with quotations from the Green, Libertarian, and Democratic parties, which seem to indicate they are content with the process and results, and the matter is complete. "Representatives in Ohio for the Green presidential candidate, David Cobb, and the Libertarian candidate, Michael Badnarik, said on Tuesday that the recount achieved one of their goals, to scrutinize Ohio’s election process. While they said they never expected to change the results of the presidential vote in Ohio, they said they wanted an overhaul of Ohio’s election system."
Again, future election reform is an old and long story in this country, but the matter at hand is Bush for another 4 years (at least as the Constitution still states the length of term this morning)…and so, with the recount done in this key state and with Kerry emphasizing again he has no interest in contesting anything, is there any hope left? As of yesterday David Cobb’s site still was feisty as heck http://www.votecobb.org/ and Internet message boards are filled with calls to protest demonstrations in the streets for the next month. But is there anything we can do besides hit the bricks?
Well, there’s that lawsuit in the Ohio Supreme Court brought by 37 voters challenging the election. On Monday Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell was invited, I guess, to deliver his deposition. He said No thanks, that he’s a high-ranking official who can’t be bothered with "frivolous" lawsuits. The Associated Press story is carried online at ABC News http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireSt...C-RSSFeeds0312 and concludes, "Attorney General Jim Petro, representing Blackwell, said the voters ‘are not trying to actually contest the presidential election but are merely using this litigation to cast public doubt on the voting system of the State of Ohio without a shred of evidence.’ On Dec. 21, officials learned lawyers for the voters planned to issue subpoenas to several high-ranking officials, including Blackwell, Bush and the president’s political adviser, Karl Rove, according to Petro. The state Supreme Court ‘should halt their ability to subpoena any person until such time as they make a good faith showing for the reason to take any deposition,’ Petro said in the court filing." The Bush Administration was scheduled for deposition both Tuesday and yesterday, but an attorney for Bush said the subpoena wasn’t filed correctly and nobody showed up then either. I guess one way to find out whether or not you are "high-ranking" is to ignore a subpoena from a Supreme Court somewhere and see if anything is done about it.
What about Congressman John Conyers, ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee who conducted a couple of forums, one of them in Columbus, on voting irregularities, particularly in Ohio? Republicans dominate the Committee, and not one attended the forums. That fact probably explains his cautious tiptoeing around topics of fraud and conspiracy. As this accessible story explains http://www.metrotimes.com/edito...ry.asp?id=7146 , Salon did an interview with him last week. It’s here http://www.salon.com/news/featu...12/21/conyers/ but if you don’t have a subscription you need to watch a few pages of ads to get to it. It doesn’t take long, even with dial-up, but essentially what he says is a conspiracy requires some person somewhere to issue orders to obstruct or corrupt a process like an election. Does Bush have anyone around who would do such a thing? Conyers wants to go nowhere near naming Republican names.
"Do you believe that there was an orchestrated attempt to steal the election?
"Well, you know, orchestrated attempts don’t always require a conspiracy. People get the drift from other elections and the way [campaign leaders] talk about how they’re going to win the election. When you have the exit-polling information discrepancies that occurred in 2004, where the odds of all the swing states coming in so much stronger for Bush than the exit polls indicated — they say that that is, statistically, almost an improbability.
"[People] are saying, ‘No, no, no, that doesn’t mean much.’ But it means a lot. It feeds this growing, [but] not provable feeling among millions of Americans that this was another unfair election.
"Do you have that feeling?
"Sure, I have a feeling that whenever we can come across ways to make elections fairer or work better or improve the process or simplify the regulations or make voting more available to people who have language problems or disabilities, we have a responsibility to do it. We’re trying to improve the system. I’m not trying to attack the outcome. What we need is a system where there are only a few of the kinds of the tens of thousands of complaints that we already have."
Here’s what I think: an "orchestrated attempt" needs an orchestra and a conductor. Yes, some orchestras operate without a conductor, and maybe—just maybe that happened here. But would any of you please tell me something? In these nearly 2 months since the United States election, have you heard or read any complaints at all from Republicans in prominently GOP precincts that they had to wait in lines for hours to vote? That there weren’t enough machines in their polling places? I haven’t, but maybe I’m not looking in the right place. If Republicans had no problems like this, why not? Is it random, is it coincidence? Is it possible someone somewhere made a decision as to which precincts got enough machines, based on statistical prediction, and which didn’t? Did Boards of Election get phone calls through Election Day with requests from precinct officials for more machines from an emergency stockpile states like Ohio had available? If so, is there a record of those calls…and how they were answered and served?
What worries me more than anything is if Americans don’t care. It’s all too complicated to bother with, and besides what can any of us do about it? The press will not investigate with vigor. Self-proclaimed high-ranking officials ignore subpoenas. Police enforce according to who’s making the call. The military is called out to protect corporate ventures. Is citizenship in the United States finally beyond the average Joe, by his own admission?
Milton Mayer, an American journalist of German/Jewish descent, wrote an account in 1955 of the slow takeover of his country during the early 1930s by the Nationalsocialist Party. The book is called They Thought They Were Free, and includes many interviews with citizens who watched it happen and describe it step by step. One of the most oft-quoted sections is a chapter entitled "But Then It Was Too Late." It would take you just a minute to read it, and it’s available online. http://www.thirdreich.net/Thoug...Were_Free.html Thank you.
WOW!
Thank YOU, jazzolog.
I’ve taken the liberty of building links from the URLs which you provided, in the hope that more people will make the effort to read the articles you have mentioned.
Olbermann’s coverage
NY Times: Ohio Recount Gives a Smaller Margin to Bush
AP story at ABC news site: Ohio Official Refuses Interview Over Vote
Metro Times: JC’s crusade
Salon interviews Conyers: Investigating Ohio
They Thought They Were Free: But Then It Was Too Late
Thanks again for all this.
Thank you Winter Patriot—and for the hyperlink to your own blog. One of these days I’ll read the ReadMe for this site and figure it out. Happy New Year!
Brad,
I am a progrssive Democrat, to the core. Some time when you have the time, I will fill you in.
I really like your website and your journalism, BUT, the language on your last entry is atrocious!! PLEASE, let the cutter mouth Republicans do their bad language thing, not the Democrats.