Blogged by Brad from St. Louis…
Last night’s event out here in Kirkwood, sponsored by Missourians for Honest Elections, was terrific. A packed house, and a bunch of fired up folks — hopefully ready to go out and fight for their democracy — by the time we were done, I do believe. Speaking of “fired up,” I was particularly honored to have ace bloggers, reporters, muckrakers Thomas Charles and Howard Beale from the Fired Up! Missouri blog in the house.
As well, between my remarks and the Q&A period, I was informed that a full contingent of officials from the City of St. Louis Board of Elections had come out as well. Though I offered them the opportunity to respond at the top of the Q&A to any of my comments, e.g., “tell me where I was full of it,” they all declined, saying instead they had “just come to listen.” After encouraging them to bring a lawsuit against Diebold (the voting machine vendor foolishly relied upon in the city of St. Louis) for fraud, we moved on to some great questions from the very enthusiastic group of folks who turned out on another sweltering St. Louis evening. Afterwards, one of the Republican members of the St. Louis City BoE bothered to come up, introduce himself, and swap business cards. Which is very much appreciated.
I’m told that the Democrats on the board are also appointed by Republican Governor Matt Blunt (former SoS and ACVR founder/scammer Thor Hearne’s partner in crime), so it’s said that they may or may not be actual Democrats. I’ll stay agnostic, since I don’t know either way, and just appreciative that they bothered to come and at least one came by afterwards to make contact.
On the other hand, Thor Hearne, Paul DiGregorio (former St. Louis County Election Director, turned EAC Chair, turned Voting Company chief), and John Diehl (current St. Louis County Election Director) declined to show despite the invitation sent to them to speak at the event along with me. Oh, well.
The biggest honor of the week for me here in St. Louis, no doubt, was an invitation I received by phone on Tuesday afternoon to come in and meet with the Editorial Board of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the once-great paper founded by Joseph Pulitzer in 1878. It’s now the city’s only major daily.
The hour and a half chat on Wednesday, with some six or so folks, including commentary editor Eric Mink, editorial writer Jim Gallagher, letters editor Jamie Riley, editorial cartoonist R.J. Matson, and reporter Jo Mannies (the last remaining reporter to whom vote-suppressor Thor Hearne will speak, apparently), was a good one. They had tough questions for me, which I’d like to think I handled well-enough and, as you may have guessed, I had some tough questions and/or challenges for them in return. Specifically, in reference to their dearth of coverage on these most important issues, particularly here in Missouri, where Thor (whose first name they all sang out in chorus when I mentioned “one of the nation’s top ‘voter fraud’ guys lives right here in St. Louis”) lives, and in the state regarded aptly by Greg Gordon of McClatchy as “Ground Zero” for the GOP in the 2006 Election.
By the way, everyone here seems to know Thor in some way and has a strong opinion about him. Most not necessarily kind.
Little time for more details right now, other than I was struck by the words, plastered on the wall across from the elevator doors, in the lobby of the old Post building downtown where we met. The words greet everyone as they leave the elevator, just above the promotion for the Post’s “Millionaire Money” promotion (see photo below.)
Given some who have charged me with being less than polite from time to time in my reporting, the 1904 quote from Joseph Pulitzer was notable for its bluntness and lack of “diplomacy.” If I’m “coarse” enough to follow in his tradition, I will wear that label proudly. Here’s the photo of the quote, but if it’s difficult to read, so the text of Pulitzer’s comments are reprinted below it:
“Our republic and its press will rise or fall together. An able, disinterested, public-spirited press, with trained intelligence to know the right and courage to do it, can preserve that public virtue without which popular government is a sham and a mockery. A cynical, mercenary, demagogic press will produce in time a people as base as itself. The power to mould the future of the republic will be in the hands of the journalists of future generations.”
— From North American Review, Written by Joseph Pulitzer in 1904
I’ve got absolutely nothing to add to that.
or to know the difference between ‘right’ and ‘right-wing propaganda’
Thanks for your ‘courage’, Brad. Without it, I shudder to think how little I would know of the hijacking of our votes!
Keep being our ‘intelligence’ — you are truly a journalist for our time!
If they were assisted by taxpayer money, since take the money and run is the new regime theme, they probably belong to Big Brother’s party, and have plea-bargained behind the scenes for a way out of jail without a public pardon.
There is only a slight chance that they are what they appear to be.
Did you notice that Pulitzer said something strange?
If you notice the quote carefully, it says that the press is to be “mercenary”, which means “working or acting merely for money” or “a professional soldier hired to serve in a foreign army” (Dictionary).
For some reason I am reminded of “the force” of Star Wars fame, and that it has a dark side.
Yes, a Blackwater mercenary side does exitst with the press force (a.k.a. the MSM).
Dredd: You could be right about a dark force undertone in the statement. But it looks to me that rather than saying a press SHOULD be mercenary, Pulitzer was warning us of the dark force (Murdoch) that we have today:
While you’re in St. Louis be sure to call on and extend our best regards to “Thor” Hearne – when it comes to fascist electioneering fraudsters – he is the first to come to mind.
We so miss his gestapo tactics and his Nazi election protection group – American Center for Voting Rights. A big juicy kiss on the forehead for that Nazi/Fascist/rabid anti-democracy/bu$$h’s lawyer pig.
I could be wrong but I think Pulitzer’s use of the word “mercenary” implied a company and/or company employee reporting news only for the money… you know… corporate profits, big pay check, book writing deals, illicit stuff… such as special favors/gifts/trips, under the table and back room money etc.
Basicly companies and employees not interested in the “truth”…just power and the all mighty “dollar”.
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Brad-
I see your vision.
The Pulitzer quote moved me… gave me chills… and now has a special place on my wall.
Continue to keep the faith… its our country and we will take it back from the Neoconservatives.
Thanks for your excellent reporting !!!
G
Ram #3, G #5
Yes, it seems that Pultzer was describing two sides of one coin. The press in this analogy is the coin.
When it does its duty to America it is described as:
But on the other side of the press, the propaganda side in bed with (“embedded”) government is:
Now you know who they are talking about when they “appeal to the base”.
Since the press is evolving into the inclusion of blogs and bloggers, we become charged with Pulitzers admonition too. Its on us too now to do journalism in the American way.
Dredd #6:
I don’t think I quite understood what you were saying the first time around. Much clearer picture now.
As for bloggers, I get very suspicious at times. At Daily Kos, there are some diarists that work for campaigns and flat out make that clear from the beginning. There are others that might disclose it once and then ‘assume’ that everyone knows.
The bigger the name and participation, the more money the bloggers can demand. And some are just on some kind of ego trip. Sometimes I may get too critical and just entirely dismiss what is being said as propaganda.
I don’t think we have to worry about Brad (do we?). When I met him in Phoenix, I was not shocked that he was such a down-to-earth, approachable guy — he comes off that way in his blogs.
But it isn’t the personal charisma that has me hooked. I’ve been reading Bradblog (and listening to bradcasts) for a loooong time. I get the truth here — long before the MSM picks up on it. I can’t imagine Brad ever telling us “Diebold has fixed their problems; we can all leave them alone now” — no matter how much money they offer him.
BTW, Dredd, I also have a lot of respect for your comments — keep ’em coming!
It was great meeting you Brad in Kirkwood. As things settle down once school starts, I hope to read more of your Blog. I would like to remind you and any Missouri readers to look for Showmethevote.org to come on-line soon. Once we have the green light to collect signatures, Phil Lindsey or myself will keep you posted of our progress.
I’m still drafting my letter to Dennis Hastert and be assured you will be sent a copy. I find it “Necessary” to give him a piece of my mind this time. As far as the quote in the Post Dispatch headquarters goes, I remember seeing Nathan Hale’s quote under his statue back in Washington, D.C. Now I wish I could clone myself to get the work done that is needed. I too regret I have but one life to give to retrieve my country from evil.
Bless you, Don. And glad you found us! Was great meeting you as well!
And Ram, yes, you should “worry” about me. You should worry about anybody in the media who tells you anything. Make ’em prove it. I try to do exactly that.
Beyond that, I work for no one. At times, I wish I did. I could use the money (the expenses on this Democracy Road Tour are killing me, as is the new radiator we had to put in the BradMobile here in St. Louis) 🙁
But democracy first, we’ll figure out how to pay for it later.
Feel free to pitch in any time with any extra change. It all helps.
I do worry about you, Brad. I worry that your vehicle might break down in the middle of nowhere.
Since I want to feel part of what you are doing, I’ll send you some cash on Friday (payday) — might pay for a gallon or two of gas.
What were the tough questions the Post-Dispatch editors asked?
They were “tough” questions, though not particularly difficult for me to answer at this point.
Questions like:
“Aren’t all voting systems, even paper-based, vulnerable to tampering?”
“Wouldn’t a system that include recountable paper trail records handle most problems?”
“Have any elections ever been hacked?”
“If you were King of the World, what voting system would you recommend?”
…etc.
Funny, I’m thinking King of the World wouldn’t recommend any voting system….
I’m such a smartass lately… maybe it’s the moon.