As presented to DNC Chairman Howard Dean this morning, the DNC Voting Rights Institute has finally released its long-awaited report entitled “Democracy at Risk: The 2004 Election in Ohio”.
We’re currently reviewing the report, which is available for download in full or by sections at the DNC website.
Donna Brazile, the chair of the Voting Rights Institute introduced the report at a press conference this morning as reported by The BRAD BLOG late last night. In her opening statements she said that the report “was five months in the making and represents an exhaustive review of public documents.”
The BRAD BLOG has obtained Brazile’s complete opening statement, available here. Here are some of the highlights from that statement [emphasis added]…
Our study addresses legitimate questions and concerns raised in Ohio, including questions about voting machines – How effective were they?
Why were there enough machines in some counties and not in others? Why were there so many more provisional ballots cast in Ohio than in other states of comparable size?
2.8% of all ballots cast in Ohio were provisional ballots, as contrasted with only 0.9% in PA and 0.3% in FLA.
Why were people standing in line for hours and why weren’t they showing up on the rolls after so many new voters registered? Why did young people have so many hassles voting?
…
Our report concludes that more than one-quarter of Ohio voters had problems at the polls. Far more troubling, twice as many African American voters reported problems at the polls than did white voters.
…
African American voters reported waiting an average of 52 minutes before voting while white voters overall reported waiting 18 minutes.
…
African American voters were far more likely to have their registration status challenged and to report experiencing intimidation at the polls than other voters. 16% of African Americans reported experiencing intimidation at the polls as opposed to 5% of whites.
…
Counties using touchscreen machines had far more problems than voters in other counties.
…
Nearly one-quarter of Ohio voters report that their experience in 2004 has made them less confident about the reliability of elections in Ohio. 71% of whites reported being very confident their vote was counted as opposed to 19% of African Americans.
…
Election reform is a bipartisan responsibility and a bipartisan concern. The Democratic Party will continue to work with Members of Congress, state lawmakers, local election officials and community leaders to make sure that all voters maintain confidence in our system of elections.
…
Among the recommendations made in our report, is the request for a commitment on the part of the Democratic Party to monitor election reform in all fifty states and the district of Columbia, including the codification into law of all election practices; the adoption of clear standards for the equitable distribution of voting equipment and the assignment of poll workers; the adoption of uniform standards for voter registration and the monitoring of same; the implementation of statewide voter lists; the adoption of uniform standards for the issuance of provisional ballots and enforceable rules for counting provisional ballots; to adopt legislation which limits identification requirements to first time voters at the time they apply for voter registration or the first time they vote, whichever should first occur, and to adopt and enforce procedures to guarantee that identification requirements are not abused as a voter suppression tactic; to encourage the adoption of precinct-tabulated optical scan voting machines; to abstain from using touchscreen voting machines unless or until they are perfected such that they are no longer vulnerable to fraud—and even then, to discontinue the use of touchscreen voting machines that do not have a reliable voter verifiable audit feature; to discontinue the use of punchcard systems; and to require voting equipment vendors to disclose source codes so that they may be examined by third parties and ensure that voting procedures are transparent at every level of the voting process; to push for legislation requiring that all equipment used by voters to tabulate votes must not be used for any other purpose; to encourage states to adopt “no excuse required” standards for absentee voting; to encourage states to make it easier for college students to vote in the jurisdiction where their school is located; to develop secure and effective voting procedures for registered voters living overseas; to make voter suppression a criminal offense in every jurisdiction; to improve the education of poll workers and to educate voters where, when and how to vote; and to prohibit partisan officials who volunteer to work for a candidate from overseeing or administering that candidate’s election.
Well now – my socks are knocked off — because I never saw Brad double-post before!! LOL!!!
I must say, the DNC report is disappointing, but wasn’t expecting much.
Rock On Truth Seekers — we will win this fight, somehow.
Whoops — the double-post is gone — you’re fast, Brad!
Yaaaawwnnn!
Any other developments with Downing Street?
Thanks, Brad. Your timeliness is an inspiration.
Regarding the DNC release…man, oh man. I wish it was worth the 12MB of disk space it’s now taking up.
Nothing about TRIAD technicians changing hard drives or posting "cheat sheets" ,what a crock.
12MB of TP
What a effing disappointment, eh MMIIXX.
GO CONYERS!!! He’s the man – He’s got the plan!
The rest need to follow his lead. Sorry Dems — until you follow Conyers, I don’t follow you.
The Velvet Revolution is Here!
WAIT, wait…So the white, wealthier communities could afford more voting machines while the middle and lower class white/african american communities couldn’t? The atrocities that have occured from this logical resultant of events.
I’m also going to go out on a limb and say…There are definately more middle and lower class peoples than upper class peoples of ohio. The economy there blows…This may explain why the queue time is also different for certain counties….
Now if people purposely put more machines in counties pro-bush and less in pro-kerry than that would "knock my socks off." Or if people were hired hackers to change the vote, than ok something happened.
Hi guys,
Forgive me if I missed it (haven’t posted for a while), but I didn’t see any mention on the Bradblog of attorney John Bonifaz’ Resolution of Inquiry, which I believe is in the works. Am I right about that?
This is from the People’s Email Network….
http://www.thepen.us/downingstreet_np.htm
…which has a form to sign in support of investigating the Downing St minutes & documents, at the bottom of which is this:
"A resolution of Inquiry has also been proposed as follows:
Whereas considerable evidence has emerged that George W. Bush, President of the United States, has engaged in a conspiracy to deceive and mislead the United States Congress and the American people as to the basis for taking the nation into war against Iraq, that George W. Bush, President of the United States, has manipulated intelligence so as to allege falsely a national security threat posed to the United States by Iraq, and that George W. Bush, President of the United States, has committed a felony by submitting a false report to the United States Congress on the reasons for launching a first-strike invasion of Iraq: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary is directed to investigate and report to the House of Representatives whether sufficient grounds exist to impeach George W. Bush, President of the United States. Upon completion of such investigation, that Committee shall report thereto, including, if the Committee so determines, articles of impeachment."
I know this is not news to anyone here…but GOD it just looks so damn good in print. SO damn good.
btw, CafePress has some ‘Thank You John Conyers’ bumper stickers & other good stuff…’Demand the Truth-go to AfterDowningStreet.org’ too.
GodDAMN I hope he runs for president.
Kira,
Speaking of Conyers… to justify my OT entry, I am still waiting to see if the WaPo publishes Conyers’ letter. *Dream On*, but there is an ~ 7 day spin cycle at WaPo in publishing "letters", and some of the internet commentary I’ve read has only come out in the past few days.
I just posted some links that I think are worthy of a read, over on the "Milbank WaPo" thread.
Agreed, so far the Dem report doesn’t say anything new, or a least nothing "new" that I haven’t already learned by reading BB and links. Best hope is that the issue will find a wider audience as a result of the new report.
VG
Donna Brazile can not be trusted in the least.
I have already phoned the DNC and told them they better enjoy my past contributions because it will be a long time before they get anymore of my hard earned money.
To say no fraud was present is an absolute outrage. People I have no idea where the hell we go from here. We can’t count on Democratic orginizations to stand up for us. We have to watch guys like Durbin ( who I admired like no other) make a complete ass out of himself appoligizing.
Brad, you and the Velvet Revolution better get your collective brain cells moving on stepping things up. We have fantastic weather this summer and we can’t put together a massive march to shut down Washington? The message has to get out there and it has to be done by going around the corrupt corporate media. Having at least 1 million people shutting down Washington CAN NOT be avoided.
Come on already, start thinking, start putting something of substance together. Sitting back and becoming collective keyboard jockies isn’t cutting it anymore.
Fuck that pig Brazile and Fuck this report!
VG, Bushw@cker and others — if you want to hear a plea –only vocally (no country involved) –listen Pink’s Dark Side of the Moon track #5.
VG — My comments were in no way to conflict with yours. Rock on, Valley Girl! I love ya!
What’s the new party since the Democats have ultimately decided on capitulation?
Anybody got a name?
I’m in whenever you do.
DNC Releases Long-Awaited 2004 Ohio Election Report AND ROVE COMES IN FOR THE BLOCK
DEMO’S THUMBLE ROVE INTERCEPTS –TOUCH DOWN
WHAT MEMO WHAT REPORT WHAT LIES
Downing Street Memo
GREGORY: As you well know, critics of this war have seized on what’s being called now the Downing Street Memo, based on meetings that Britain’s Chief of Intelligence had with American officials about the war. One issue that comes up in that memo and subsequent memos is British concerns about the fact that the White House in their view wasn’t adequately thinking about what happens after the regime falls.
ROVE: I’m glad you brought that up because I want to put that in context. First of all that is the British — a Brit making a comment about what he perceived to be U.S. policy. But remember the time frame, it is months and months and months before the balloon goes up in Iraq. And in those intervening months there was plenty of time planning for post-war efforts, vast amounts of planning. You never know exactly how a war is going to plan out. Napoleon once said, ‘vast numbers of refugees enormous problems with food aid’- did not happen. Vast uprising- didn’t happen. That we would see a vast uprising by hundreds of thousands of Iraqis- didn’t happen. War is ugly, but a lot went very well with this effort and in part it was because the United States government and our coalition partners used the months to plan for any eventuality.
GREGORY: But if you’re talking about the number of troops necessary, the level of American casualties, the force and intensity of the insurgency…did the president mislead the American people about the cost of the war or was he just simply surprised by what happened?
ROVE: I would go back to the president’s statements over the last several years and I would defy you to find one speech which he talked about Iraq where he doesn’t say there would be difficult times ahead, that we had a long road to hope that a great deal of sacrifice was going to be called for by both the American people and by the Iraqis to achieve this goal. Look, we do not underestimate the ferocity and the anger and the viciousness of the people that we face. We are in a war. Some people may treat it as a law enforcement matter and be worried about indictments from the U.S. attorney from the southern district of New York. But we recognize this administration and the American people we are in a war and the only way you have a successful outcome in the war is to aim for a complete and total victory, which is exactly what we’re doing.
LINK FOR ABOVE ROVE INTERVIEW
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8306049/
:angry: :plain: 🙁
well that didn’t work – supposed to be "Smiles", although none were actually smiling. Although I haven’t had time to read the whole thing, what I’ve been seeing is very disappointing!
SNAP!!!
MMIIXX #13 from the same "Turd Flower"/Gregory interview!
Bush’s brain spinning his arse off on "Hardball" DSM, Iraq, Bolton, Hagel and Gitmo.
Rove confirms the accuracy of Chuck Hagel’s stunning reported comments on Iraq "The reality is that we’re losing in Iraq." etc, etc, in the following passage.
GREGORY: You’re talking about the goal, there’s also question about the way the war is being run, prosecution of the war and you’re hearing from both sides of the aisle more calls for an exit strategy. This week Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, a Republican, was quoted as saying “America is losing in Iraq” and he says the White House is “completely disconnected from reality about the war.” Your reaction?
ROVE: I respectfully disagree. This president talks every week with the commanders in the field by a video link. He gets briefed by the front line every single week. He meets virtually every single day with the sec of defense who talks with him about the progress of the war in Iraq. He meets with the national intelligence director every single morning to receive a briefing. With all due respect to Senator Hagel, I understand he has strong feelings about this, but this president is in connection, is in touch with the men and women who are on the front line of this war who are making the decisions and making the recommendations about our policy.
So no claims of misreporting here!
JIMMO said "US NEWS SAYS HE SAID THIS ON SATURDAY, BUT NOT A SINGLE MORNING TALK SHOW DISCUSSED THIS TODAY, PROBABLY BECAUSE HAGEL HAS ALREADY CHALLENGED WHAT HE SAID VERSUS WHAT US NEWS PRINTED HE SAID”.
Sorry poor old disconnected JIMMO, you’ve just been ROVED!
I have just made an OCR word file of section VII on voting fraud, after one comment said that there was nothing about voting fraud. I wanted to be able to read that part carefully, and so I did. Actually, there is a lot about voting fraud in the report, including comments that obliquely address JKB’s Ohio behavior. The problem, of course, for many of us still hopeful that the election fraud of 2004 (not to mention 2000) will be exposed is that the DNC report does not "name names", and that it doesn’t suggest any remedy for the 2004 election. I can’t blame any truthseekers for being angry on that account. Nonetheless, I would say that we shouldn’t dismiss this report out of hand.
Sorry, I should have said:
it doesn’t suggest any remedy for the 2004 "election".
Don’t get me wrong- I’m angry too.
Election reform – step one:
State Elections Officials can NOT also be chairman of re-election committee for a candidate ! !
One more comment on the pig Donna Brazile. Here’s the most recent comment this corrupt pig said about Howard Dean,
"Privately, people have said they don’t want Howard Dean to become the story because we have more important issues to talk about," said Donna Brazile, who managed Al Gore’s presidential campaign in 2000.
"But publicly we will continue to give Howard Dean our strong support," she said.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITIC...an.attacks.ap/
This comment from the person who was in charge of the Ohio Voting fraud issue. This women should be hung out to dry and pushed from the party.
BTW, you corrupt pig, if you’re secretly looking in, lay off the fucking Oreos!
OT
Pentagon begins building teen database for recruiting
RAW STORY
The Defense Department began working Wednesday with a private marketing firm to create a database of all U.S. college students and high school students between 16 and 18 years old, to help the military identify potential recruits in a time of dwindling enlistment in some branches, the Washington Post reports Thursday. Excerpts follow:
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/P...r_re_0622.html
re: "recruiting" database
Can you feel a draft?
The Republican National Chairman responded the whole report is "fiction." http://releases.usnewswire.com/...e.asp?id=49234 That means all these people interviewed were lying? Ohio’s Secretary of State Blackwell had his usual spokesperson Carlo LoParo (does anybody know his background?) tell us the report is a personal attack against him because he’s running for governor. http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconj...e/11959244.htm What would happen to a Republican who said, "These problems are important to everyone; let’s get together and take a look"?
Unless I’m missing something, this report gets the G.O.P. off the hook (with anyone who takes it at face value) regarding election fraud. So what is the RNC worried about? Its already horrible image?
African Americans were disproportionately victimized by long lines, registration difficulties, dirty tricks, and other efforts at disenfranchisement. Everyone knows these things happened (even The New York Times talked about it!), so to describe the report as "fiction" is insulting to anyone who was affected.
The fact that Blackwell is upset, given that the report chose to neglect the fraud he orchestrated, proves that his own political ambititons are all that matter to him. But if I were his campaign manager, I’d say, "Ken, there’s nothing here that people don’t already know. You’re a sleaze. So what? Sleaze is a matter of moral relativism in this state. What’s important is that you got away with stealing Ohio for Bush, and this report doesn’t go there."
The 2004 election in Ohio was a fraud. The DNC report is too much politics, woefully weak on the law. It does not sufficiently emphasize illegalities. As politicians, DNC operatives believe that exposing the fraud would not change the outcome. Well, do tell. That just proves that politics without justice stinks to high heaven. Watergate exposed did not change the 1972 election, but neither did our system of justice bury its head in the sand. The president resigned rather than face an impeachment trial. The DNC should get some lawyers out there. Starting with prosecutor John Kerry. And they should have the guts to prosecute anybody–from whatever party–who broke the law on Nov. 2 and into the night. Anybody.
Well said, Richard. At least Democrats are consistent…Kerry said on Nov. 3 that there wasn’t enough evidence to change the outcome, so he quit. He didn’t see how he could win, so he simply quit…Democrats were afraid of the "sore loser" tag, so they quit, too.
The great irony is that Kerry DID WIN. In pro football, they now have instant replay to rectify errors by officials, all of whom are presumed to be honest. But in presidential politics, where election officials are often dishonest (Florida in 2000, Ohio in 2004) we’re living in the pre-instant replay era, when football coaches whose teams lost on account of bad calls were supposed to "…take it like a man, and move on."
This mindset might be O.K., if Gore and Kerry had lost because of honest mistakes by election officials. But crooks got away with fraud, and that isn’t O.K. The great tragedy of this Casper Milquetoast report is that it will leave the door open for election fraud for years to come. Count on it.
So Brad, when are you going to compile an Ohio election counter-report and hand deliver it to Howard Dean?
All Dean has to do is read the Conyers report. As far as I know, he hasn’t done so, nor has he referred to it in his public statements. That report was delivered to Congress about six months ago, and it says everything the new report says…plus it provides evidence of election fraud, which the DNC has gone to great lengths to dissasociate itself from.
I like Dean, but until he addresses election fraud (not voting problems, ELECTION FRAUD) nothing else he says will really matter.
Howard Dean is losing me fast on this 2004 Ohio election. Dean said he didn’t want to bring up the past , but to concentrate on avoiding such problems in the future. That is politics talking in a legal vacuum. Think about it. Let’s apply that to Enron: "we don’t want to bring up the past; let’s concentrate on avoiding such problems in the future," and Ken Lay walks Let’s apply that to the war in Iraq: "We don’t want to bring up the past; let’s concentrate on avoiding such problems in the future," and Bush invades Iran. I ask the Democrats: What chance will your approach have against a lawless opponent who labels you evil and sets out to destroy you by whatever means?
For Dean to say, "Let’s not argue about how we got to Iraq, let’s make the best of it" is understandable,
if only to the extent that Democrats have to accept part of the blame for our being there. They could have asked the tough questions of Bush three years ago, but chose not to, so as not to appear unpatriotic. Likewise, the mainstream media swallowed the Bush story hook, line, and sinker, and are also culpable.
But the 2004 election is entirely different. In the first place, elections are an exercise in democracy, not merely a competition between Democrats and Republicans, or between winners and losers. The voter is paramount, not the candidate. The process is at least co-equal with the outcome in importance.
Bush doesn’t believe this, obviously. But that’s no excuse for Democratic passivity regarding election fraud. If the public interest isn’t enough for them to take up the issue, then a sense of misplaced loyalty should be. Most Democrats supported Bush on Iraq, in the interest of keeping a united patriotic front…but what did it get them? Nothing except a second stolen election!
Richard is exactly right; you don’t respond to lawlessness with cooperation. All that does is make you look foolish and weak, which is exactly how the Democrats look at this moment.
Howard Dean has the gumption to call a spade a spade. He must know the 2004 election was stolen, but for some inscrutable reason he hasn’t seen fit to utter the word "fraud." Possibly he wants to slowly reform the go-along-to-get-along culture at the DNC, which is still basically a fund-raising organization, like the RNC but with less reciprocity in the form of $$$$$$$$.
Beware Brazile
Scroll down to the second section, or read it all. Interesting info there.
Yay! I had a whole bunch of links to post yesterday, but was unable to do so. Now maybe I’ll scare ’em up again…it’s good to be back!
DNC Report….Oy
Somehow it seems like there’s an evil force moving through our society, controlling people, events, outcomes. It feels like darkness is descending on America. It makes me sad and very mad, but like most people I don’t know precisely what to do about it. An organized effort has always been needed, but what do you do when your party slip-slides away into the darkness without even a peep. Even many Republicans must be feeling this way.
MarkH #34
It’s hard not to feel that way but one thing we all have to remember is that darkness can not exist where there is light. We are the lightworkers and our light will intensify as our numbers grow. Allow yourself to feel those moments of anger and sadness, then let it go. Come to places like this, dailykos, CCN, wherever lightworkers are gathered together fighting the good fight and be inspired and motivated to fight on.
I believe we are here at this time for a reason. I believe on some level we have prepared our entire lives for this fight and I believe we are the majority in this world.
The dark energy of those in power know their days are numbered – things are going to get uglier and uglier as they struggle to hold on to their power.
Trust and KNOW that as we who seek truth, peace and love grow in numbers, the darkness will be confined into a small, dank, dark room where we can then shut the door and lock them in.
And so it is.
Thanks, Jen! I’ve been feeling so awful since the last two posts here. I’ll try to hold on to some light — hug my dog & my husband. :weak smile:
dang it, blog ate my post
my longer message was going to say the DNC announcement doesn’t sound THAT bad, as some here are saying. Just because they aren’t screaming "Fraud!!" doesn’t mean the recommendations are bad. If you look at what they are advocating, at the end of the day, I think having a moratorium on e-voting, going back to paper, and addressing that Blacks get shafted by a huge bag of dirty tricks, that would do us a lot of good.
I live in a neighborhood that I bet has more African-Americans than most of you. We voted at a church. We had paper ballets. The area is conservative. Lines were not long. About 6 voting booths. You hardly ever see folks at the Democrat booths during the primaries.
Just like my experience means nothing so does this report. It proves nothing. Some peope are just stupid and take longer to vote or cannot follow simple instructions. Some lines are longer due to a number of reasons, not just because there are fewer machines.
I agree with #3 – Yaaawwnnn.
"Some peope are just stupid and take longer to vote or cannot follow simple instructions" — nice.
Seems I heard that about the retired Jewish folks down in FL in the 2000 sElection when Republican masquerading as Democrat LePore created the ballot designed to make them vote for Anti-Semitic Buchanan.
Some spinmeisters tried to say those voters were stupid or too old to make the choice they wanted.
That was nothing but baloney.
Earth to Donna Brazile: What the voters did in 2004 had little to do with the outcome. The election was stolen. It didn’t matter whether Democrats were seen as "feckless" or not.
Repeat…the election was stolen. Until Donna Brazile and her ilk recognize that, the Democratic party will be utterly irrelevant.
I agree with Robert. Read the Conyers report, as he said. For good reportage read the Toledo Blade, especially ROBERT KOEHLER: ELECTION 2004 A ‘SHIV TO THE GUT OF DEMOCRACY’ The DNC has all this stuff but chose not to call the play. Go figure.
I agree with Robert. Read the Conyers report, as he said. For good reportage read the Toledo Blade, especially ROBERT KOEHLER: ELECTION 2004 A ‘SHIV TO THE GUT OF DEMOCRACY’ The DNC has all this stuff but chose not to call the play. Go figure.
This milquetoast report will likely in a few months just be taking up space and getting dusty on the shelves of document libraries. There are hundreds, thousands of such reports. Usually the report is the end result, and nobody really thinks it won’t be, although they stupidly pretend for awhile. It’s a bureaucratic and political ritual. Sorry, but it sounds to me like, "This isn’t going away. We’d better give them something." But it is much more than that. It appears to be an attempt to bury the issue.
What about the thousands of hours of research done by others? What of Conyers report? What about statistical studies? What about all the documentation in the Fritakis book and elsewhere?
So, in regard to where do we go from here…all the thousands of hours of documenting *did* happen – inundate them with it. Don’t give them any more slack than you do the Republican stonewallers. Don’t expect anybody to get you out of this job you have to do.
#12 – Kira – How about "Green Party"?
Ten key values that we don’t just talk about:
Social Justice
Community-Based Economics
Nonviolence
Decentralisation
Future Focus/Sustainability
Feminism
Personal and Global Responsibility
Respect for Diversity
Grassroots Democracy
Ecological Wisdom
This report basically kicks sand in all of our faces.
The only thing I can hope is that the Dems actually have a plan–some REASON they chose not to expose the fraud, like maybe:
1) Back room deals with Republicans. Dems have the goods on them now and are using that for political leverage. Possibly even cutting a deal to get a Dem prez in ’08 in exchange for who knows what.
2) They stupidly believe that exposing the fraud will bring about their destruction at the hands of the slavering republican attack dogs.
3) They are playing it coy so as to let the thugs think they can get away with it, but are actually working on a plan to make sure it doesn’t happen again (yeah, right…)
4) They are just head-in-the sand idiots.
******
In the meantime, here’s a challenge to "the 6 or 7"– I just bought the Fitrakis book DID GEORGE W. BUSH STEAL AMEROCA’S 2004 ELECTION? (www.freepress.org) and sent it to Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter. I challenge each of you guys to plunk down the $25 for a copy and send it to any quasi- sympathetic magazine or newspaper editor you know. Below is my letter to Alter:
Dear Mr. Alter,
I am greatly enjoying your columns on The Huffington Post.
Per our recent e-mail discussion, I am sending you this hot-off-the-presses book, DID GEORGE W. BUSH STEAL AMERICA’S 2004 ELECTION?
While at first glance this book is a bit daunting, and I understand how busy you are, I implore you to find a few minutes to at least skim it. A quick perusal alone paints a jaw-dropping picture of the chicanery that went on, and is continuing, in Ohio. It is staggering. Secretary of State Blackwell should be in prison, not running for governor.
The book also includes the complete Conyers report.
In addition, I am enclosing a DVD called “Video the Vote.” It’s 24 minutes, but even if you only watch the first five, you’ll see for yourself exactly how the voter suppression alone probably cost Kerry Ohio and thus the presidency. I bet it will change your mind about Kerry being “simply outworked on the ground.”
Mr. Alter, I have tremendous respect for you, and I hope that these materials give you food for thought. I understand that raising these issues in a national magazine like Newsweek is not easy. Speaking the truth seldom is.
Best regards,
If your house were robbed, your silverware and jewelry were stolen, your personal safe broken into and all your money and securities removed, you would certainly call the police.
If, after surveying the carnage, the police said to you, "There’s no evidence of a crime here. But let’s talk about things we can do to prevent it from happening again," what would your reaction be?
Would you say to the cop, "You’ve give me some good ideas."???? Or would you say, "Go find the S.O.B.’s that just changed my life!" ????
What’s really surprising here is that it took them that long to make it all up.
Couldn’t they get Al Franken and Fat Bastard to spin it in half the time?
Honestly, Rob, the Democratic party deserves to lose every election. I find myself in agreement with several trolls on that point.
It’s mind-boggling, really. Six months ago the leading Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee presented Congress with a 102-page report that showed convincingly that that state of Ohio was stolen by the Republicans.
Now, the Democratic National Committee accepts a report that without refuting the Conyers report on its merits, effectively says its claims are groundless. There was no fraud, only certain discomforts encountered by certain voters, mostly African Americans.
Are intelligent people expected to take this at face value? Howard Dean is a physician, for heaven’s sake! Would he accept a report that smoking doesn’t cause cancer, simply because a person with an agenda said so? Or would he refute it by saying, "We already know differently." ??????
It’s almost as if somebody came along with a research report claiming that Nicole Brown Simpson committed suicide. Or that Ray Lemme did, for that matter.
What a difference between how you report the story and how the NYTimes reports it: "Ohio Vote: Woes, Yes; Fraud, No."
Once again the administration gets a pass on aggravated assault against the Republic, and continue to create their own reality.
Related: http://www.hairytruth.blogspot.com
Notice how quickly the Times cited this report, and its finding of "no fraud?" They haven’t covered Conyers’ report at all.
They’ve also censored every one of the columnists. There can be no doubt about it. I’ve written to Maureen Dowd, Paul Krugman, and Bob Herbert, all of whom are certifiable liberals, asking "Why don’t you ever mention two stolen elections in your columns?" All three of them detest Bush. All are willing to go after him on both personal (Dowd’s specialty) and political (the other two) matters.
But the election is taboo. None of the three has responded to my questions. Their silence is proof to me that the Times has thrown a blanket over the entire news and editorial staff. Just like Pravda during the Cold War…protect the government at all costs, the truth be damned. It can’t be accidental.
But a report denying fraud they cover, of course.
Let’s start a third party…call it the patriots….draft Tim Robbins for Pres. nominee. Platform 1. fair elections 2. fiscal responsibility 3. use taxes to do public works like Roosevelt. Our infrastructure is messed up enough from republican rule, that could go on a while….oh, Jim Hightower said let’s put the party back in the republican party. Molly says let’s put the party in the patriot party. Democrats are too lame to resurrect even the idea of party.
Misquote: Jim Hghtower said let’s put the party back into the democratic party.
The Democrat Party would be better off if it was not the socialist, communist, and Left kook fringe party. But, that is what it has become. And, at the same time, if you hate the fact that the Republican Party has been hi-jacked by the Right, which it hasn’t, well, who is winning elections? Who has ideas? And who has no ideas?
If George W. Bush is winning elections, then a man who steals an Oscar statuette may call himself the best actor of the year.
If the illegal invasion of a sovereign country, a coverup of 9/11, the nomination of a certifiable sex fiend and crackpot to the United Nations, the dismantling of Social Security, and abandonment of all fiscal discipline qualify as ideas…then Kaiser Wilhelm is Immanuel Kant.
Paul seems to be in the dark, RLM. He has no clue what true Socialist or Communist ideologies are. He doesn’t have a clue that he’s part of a right Kook fringe party, either. Truly one who is left behind — eat our dust, nutter kook.