I was tipped off that callers to The Ed Schultz Show were misreporting my coverage of the tainted results as reported by the San Diego County Registrar from the Busby/Bilbray U.S. House special election in California’s 50th congressional district last week. (All BRAD BLOG stories on the topic here.)
I was able to get through to Schultz’ producer (thanks, Homey!) who was able to get me on the air with Big Ed to straighten out the record after a few minutes explaining it to Ed off air. After understanding what the hell is going on here, Schultz — who has previously declined to deal with E-Voting issues in large part — seemed to be ticked off when he learned that security for the Diebold voting machines used in the election was irreparably breached by sending the machines home with poll workers, in violation of California guidelines, prior to the very close and very important election.
He’s called for an explanation from Schwarzenegger and wonders if Sen. Barbara Boxer has yet rung in on this (she hasn’t, as far as we know — though we have heard that there’s been quite a bit of buzz today “inside” the DNC on the whole matter…More on that later if we’re able to get confirmable, and therefore publishable, specifics.)
You can listen to the Schultz segment in full (about 13 minutes) here:
— Brad discussing Busby/Bilbray on The Ed Schultz Show [MP3]…
P.S. Lou Dobbs just covered the issue of Electronic Vote Fraud concerns for the 6th straight day. We’ll try and get up the video, or at least a transcript of today’s report later tonight.
Glad to see Lou Dobbs weigh in on e-voting this evening. He’s outraged – which I hope means that he’ll be on this issue every night like he has with other things.
Great job on Ed’s show today. Ed is slowly becoming aware of voting machine problem. He thinks Republicans may still be winning without cheating. We know better.
Ed is a liberal who appeals to moderates. He is a great ally.
Barbara Boxer and Arnold side by side against that machines! Sounds good to me.
Yeah, I know.
Too good.
Thanks anyway Ed!
I heard the interview also and I’ll say it again, great job Brad! Yes Ed can be a huge ally he can also be a complete lunkhead, but I still like to listen to him.
Yep. Good work Brad, even on not enough sleep. Awsome.
It’s amazing that he gets any sleep . . . . .(:-)(:). . .
I get to listen to Ed fairly often due to my driving practices and his time slot. I’m not happy about it, but am eventually saved by Al Franken. Ed rarely touches the “taboo” issues such as election fraud, other than to tell callers he’s not going to engage in the speculation. This is the first time he’s really gone anywhere substantially near it.
I wish they’d put Randi back on 3 to 6. 🙁
{ed note: Dupe deleted at Homey’s request.}
We have covered voting machine issues for 2 1/2 years now. I know that it frustrates many of you that we don’t cover voting machines for 3 hours every day. We are a news oriented show, not a cause show; we cover voter fraud when it’s in the news. All of us are still mad as hell that the DNC & DCCC didn’t go dollar for dollar and volunteer for volunteer with the Republicans in the 50th district. When the Democrats don’t even fight for the seat how can you expect them to fight over voter fraud? For all of you who don’t think the Ed Schultz Show is Liberal enough, I invite you to come to Fargo and see how we produce a show that has more listeners than any other in Progressive talk. You couldn’t be bitching about us if you weren’t listening.
Brad was great on the show today and we will have him back soon.
Holmey – Well Said & I listen regularly ….. It’s a difficult balance to get the truth out to the unwashed & …
Could you please clarify:
Was it only touchscreen machines that were allowed to go home with poll workers, or was it also the tabulators (“readers”) of the optiscan ballots?
Were touchscreen machines only used for handicapped voters (one of the letters from poll workers says that the machines he took home were only for this peurpose; see this page: https://bradblog.com/?p=2932 ) Obviously, handicapped voters need to have the same protection of their votes as anyone else so in principal, whether or not touchscreen machines were used only for handicapped voters is irrelevant. But if only touchscreen machines were sent home with pollworkers, and touchscreen machines were only used for handicapped voters, the number of votes which could have been tampered with is quite small. This doesn’t change the fact that federal laws were violated but would mean the effect on the 50th district would be much smaller.
Robert Kennedy, JR., is on Colbert — coming up!
Great job on interview with Schultz, Brad!
New programming for comments is the best I’ve seen yet!
Holmey,
Ed has done an “I’m not going to go there” numerous times when callers have wanted to talk about election fraud (NOT voter fraud, please make the distinction.) Ed is not liberal enough for me, and I understand that he appeals to a wider audience than folks like Mike Malloy and Randi Rhodes. I am glad that his message reaches a wide audience who might not otherwise be paying attention to some important issues, but Ed stops waaay short of calling out these thugs in the Bush administration for the criminals that they are. I have been listening to him for as long as he’s had his noon to 3 time slot here in Seattle, and I have yet to here him come near saying that elections are being purposefully fixed (even if he has said that there are things that need to be looked at with electronic voting machines.)
I’m just saying that he ain’t my guy. I’m not “anti-Ed” by any stretch, but he doesn’t take it where I believe it needs to be taken. With his listenership at this point, God knows I wish he would. I’m happy for him and his ratings, but all Limbaugh and O’Reilly bloviate about are their ratings – I want Ed to be unafraid to go in the direction that the evidence points in: a widespread concerted effort to manipulate, steal, American elections, and thus criminally subvert democracy. Take it there Ed, that’s where it lies. It’s not like folks don’t have the goods. RFK is for the most part only reiterating evidence that folks like Bob Fitrakis have been exposing since November 3rd ’04.
R.Kennedy Jr. just on Colbert, he was great. Colbert acually mentioned Diebold twice…YES. America is waking up, finally.
Brad: Thanks for going on Schultz and setting the record straight. It is stunning that there are so many intelligent, educated, informed people in this country who still DON’T HAVE A CLUE ABOUT THE ELECTION PROBLEMS!!!
I’m glad that you have more fortitude than the rest of us. My head hurts from all of the banging against the wall that it receives.
Brad is working harder then you think. He was on a radio show here in Utah too that was great, but wasn’t posted on the blog. He must be doing things that nobody even realizes.
Someday he and people like pioneering Greg Palast, and almost countless other brave and truthful journalists will have mainstream, profitable organizations with big staffs.
Lord knows we need it yesterday! (fancy lettering)! …
Being a moderate independant, I like Ed Schulz the most of any talk show. The right wing stuff is too far right and air America is too far left. Ed sits were most of America sits. In the middle. Go Ed!
Jo-Joy,
What is too far left? As it has turned out, those who have been labeled loony left (the ones who have been on top of election irregularities since the 2000 election, w/ voter purges and shifted votes) have turned out to be correct more often than not, and then those stories (because of their truth) eventually make their way in some watered down fashion to the MSM to be given the brush-off.
Ed is not on the leading edge of the fight to preserve our democracy. He is not breaking new stories and investigating like Randi Rhodes and Greg palast. He is, as you say, in the middle….where it is safe, and where most Americans feel safe because they are not confronted with brutal realities. I’m not at all saying that there isn’t a place or a need for Ed Schultz, and if he brings people towards a progressive mindset then super. I just think he’s very tepid, and if you like that sort of thing more power to you.
Soul Rebel #19:
I,too, am glad that Ed Schultz fills in that gap of the people in the middle.
However, for me, it is frustrating to see the “safe” platforms that ignore the really disgusting realities of America under the spell of the Republican party. Our government has been sliding into a faux democratic-republic for decades and it continues to disintegrate.
Eddy talks about issues like “the working poor” and “tax breaks for the rich”. But, unless we truly have a system where we can vote the crooks out of office, a system that can investigate the crimes, and a system that allows all voices to be heard, we are powerless. We sit in the despair and hopelessness of it all and wallow in misery.
NOTHING is as vital as our right to vote. Without clean elections, EVERYTHING is controlled by the people with money and power — with total disregard for the “will of the people”.
So to the Eddies and Als of the world, I’m begging you to STOP telling me what’s wrong with the world unless you are helping me to CHANGE it. I need my vote.
When I “spread the word” to others in my community, I need to know that their vote will count.
When I knock on doors and beg people to go to the polls, I need to know that there is a process that won’t make it all a waste of our time.
If I choose to send $25 to a candidate (instead of buying food for my children), by all ethical and moral standards, I need to know that that particular candidate will stand up for the moral cause of the very act of voting — all other issues are noise without the vote.
I’m so sick of the sports analogies and people being afraid of the perception of “sore losers”. This isn’t a f#cking game! There are people bleeding real blood. There are lives being ruined and our government is disappearing. This isn’t a “race” by sports standards. We are a civilization that is crumbling like the buildings of ancient Rome.
And we are all complicit in the destruction of our world if we don’t protect our votes. Everything else is just a diversion.
I agree so very strongly with RAM (#20) because I want to bring more people into the process, including the 50-100 million eligible Americans who are currently NOT voting or taking part.
But, I can not work to bring more people into the process if it is only so their votes can be switched in total contrast to all polling and make it obvious to them that the system is broken and they have wasted their valuable time.
Poor people (mostly black) who could hardly afford to do so, stood in line for EIGHT HOURS IN THE RAIN to vote in 2004 in Ohio’s poorest (Democratic!) districts. That was CRIMINAL! The person responsible for that should have been punished for that crime (execution would have worked for me, or, at the very least caned or stoned).
How many were they? Tens of people? NO. Hundreds of people? NO. TENS OF THOUSANDS of poor people for whom losing a days pay was a MASSIVE SACRIFICE were cheated out of their Democracy and the person responsible not only goes free, but hopes to lead the state. That is not irony — that is just UGLY!
THIS MUST END! Every American who stands idly by while these crimes are committed is complicit.
There will be RIOTS in November if this is not addressed. The populace will simply DESTROY the machines.
THIS MUST END!
Charlie L
Portland, OR
Charlie L #21: well said!
IT IS TIME TO START MARCHING IN THE STREETS, IF WE CANNOT GET THIS THING TOGETHER! I am sick to death of this crap, and of the WIMPY DEMS who do nothing to help us! It is time for “WE THE PEOPLE” to take matters into our own hands, literally!
Charlie L: The 50-100 million Americans not voting…what about the electronic machines?
I keep saying, that high profile actors, musicians, and Dems are silent on the e-vote election thefts, and that is really disappointing. People with the means, not helping. When Rossi lost to Gregoire, he made her pay dearly, by dragging it out for months. At least I admire the Republicans for that, even though I don’t admire what they actually do in office. You know, condone torture, spy on us, murder Iraqi’s and American soldiers in wars based on lies, ruin our environment (and theirs too, ironically), etc…etc…
Ed Shultz he reminds me of John Wayne (the good one) for some reason and think his heart is in the rite place.
With Ed in Mind…..One of the better things LBJ Did was say:
It’s probably better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in . . .
Oops!
Don’t know how I turned on the italics for every post after mine but lets see if I can turn it off.
(off with the italics),(off I say)!
# 21 Charlie L
“There will be RIOTS in November if this is not addressed. The populace will simply DESTROY the machines”
Hey I’ll bet they sent those poll workers home with machines because they were afraid someone might blow them up if they new where they all were. Or perhaps they thought a Dem Hacker might get in somehow to where all the machines were stored and reprogram them. Either option would have been good by me.
I’ve just had a thought that somehow they had to split the machines up as only one or two machine’s they are Trojans so if you examined one you might not find a thing because its not one of the Trojans.(not that anyone is allowed to look at any of them) Now I really have no technical knowledge which is obvious, but this would be a great mystery who done it if only it were not reality.
I’ll bet Brad and Co have lots of theories about these machines which they can’t print here. When you are not allowed to look at these machines it does look highly suspicious and the mind works overtime for good reason.
Brad did a great Job in the interview, was heaps better than Ed. Ed at least let him speak and was somewhat supportive.
Brads getting the message out and sounds very credible and professional.