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How The Bush Gang Stole Its Third National Election in a Row
By William Hare
11/29/04
The 2004 election theft marks the third in a row for the Bush Gang. While much has been written about 2000, unfortunately the pivotal 2002 mid-term elections came and went in a torrent, which was the way that Republican strategists wanted it. The one thing they fear is sober reflection followed by solid investigation. Fortunately they have the complaisant mainstream corporate media looking the other way.
The 2002 mid-term elections were viewed as a grand triumph for George W. Bush since he ostensibly “defied” the tradition that incumbent chief executives suffer losses in such contests. While the corporate media saluted him for his efforts and he received congratulations from “liberal” pundit Paul Begala on CNN’s Crossfire, disturbing trends were observed by those detached enough from mainstream media ozone to investigate.
In Minnesota Democrats were united behind Walter Mondale as a replacement for the recently deceased Senator Paul Wellstone, who had perished in a plane crash, against Democrat turned Republican Norm Coleman. After some tough moments Wellstone had weathered well-financed Republican onslaughts to secure a lead in the polls before his tragic demise. Those same polls found Mondale maintaining a lead going into Election Day, upon which a big surprise was recorded and Coleman emerged the winner.
Republican Senator Wayne Allard was running behind in Colorado with the momentum going in the other direction. When the results were revealed he, like Coleman, had won in a final surge that the pollsters failed to detect. The identical phenomenon occurred in New Hampshire, where popular Governor Jean Shaheen, who had been on Al Gore’s short list for the vice presidency in 2000, appeared on her way to the U.S. Senate. The pollsters were once more revealed to be dramatically wrong as John Sununu Jr. pulled through with another one of those 2002 Republican final surges to nip his opponent at the wire.
The most widely observed case of Republicans seemingly clutching victory from the jaws of defeat occurred in Georgia. This is the state where Karl Rove enticed lackluster Congressman Saxby Chambliss to run against Vietnam War hero and incumbent Senator Max Cleland. Despite shameful television ads showing Cleland alongside Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden the incumbent appeared to have weathered the storm and was ahead in the polls, as was Democratic Governor Roy Barnes. On Election Day the Republicans had scored two more of those amazing come from behind victories in the face of negative poll forecasts as Chambliss and Republican gubernatorial candidate Sonny Perdue both won.
A few perceptive analysts observed the strong showings made by Chambliss and Perdue in polling areas when the widely heralded new Diebold voting machines were in use. They dovetailed this information alongside the fact that similar machines were being used in the other races in which Republicans had scored dramatic triumphs.
John Zogby had proven himself to be one of the nation’s most reliable pollsters in 2000, when he correctly analyzed Gore’s final surge and ultimate victory in the popular vote category, as well as in the Electoral College but for the fraudulent efforts of Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris in Florida and the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court majority in Bush vs. Gore, in which Federalist Society partisans Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas refused to recuse themselves despite conflicts of interest.
It is interesting to note that the usually reliable Zogby along with some of his professional colleagues, who had followed the aforementioned senate races closely, were mysteriously off by margins as high as 10 to 13 percent. These key races made the difference as Republicans took control of the United States Senate and Bush was saluted for his successful barnstorming on behalf of Republican candidates.
Despite all kinds of promises to fix things so that the 2004 presidential election could go off without major hitches, what occurred was a malicious mix combining the worst of the 2000 and 2002 scenarios. When the exit polls proved to be highly errant in key battleground states such as Ohio and Florida the mainstream media simplistically explained that Bush voters had demonstrated a greater reluctance to talk to pollsters than did Kerry supporters.
This argument sounds as convincing as the one Republicans made in 2000 that the reason why so many chads were spat out in Florida did not relate to the age and unreliability of the machines, but because large numbers of voters decided at the last second to not vote for president, resulting in half-hearted stabs at the paper before them. The same media that recited this nonsense repeatedly, as long as James Baker could say it with a straight face, is now attacking Internet critics citing corruption in the 2004 vote as “spreadsheet conspiracy theorists.”
The latest effort in the feeble mainstream media assault occurred today when the Miami Herald published an article contending that Bush really did carry Florida by securing Democratic votes in the traditionally conservative northern tier of the state. CNN Online immediately picked up the story and ran it. The information was meant to refute the contention that Bush’s total was inflated by the new touch screen voting machines used in the Sunshine State. The story covered three small counties with four digit figures as part of a smokescreen dodge to avoid the harsh reality that something was truly amiss in the 2004 Florida presidential count.
When Robert Parry of the ConsortiumNews.com site recently noted that Bush had what appeared to be highly inflated vote totals in the heavily Democratic southern counties of Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade, the Washington Post criticized him and fuzzed up the process by using the same argument posed today in the Miami Herald. Bush had won because of his strength among conservative Democratic elements in the state’s northern tier.
Parry immediately rebutted the article by pointing out that his survey had deliberately avoided the state’s notably conservative north with its smaller population and concentrated on the traditionally vote rich Democratic counties concentrated near Miami. In this connection it has been reported that Bush may have received some 130,000 to 260,000 unaccounted for votes in the state’s southern region. Where did these votes come from?
The reason why the media seeks to shift the focus to the state’s northern section is that it is far easier to bootstrap the Bush victory alongside Karl Rove’s frequently repeated goal of adding some four million votes from the 2000 total from conservative Christian evangelicals. From the clumsy manner in which the mainstream media seeks to take Robert Parry and others to task for pointing out voting discrepancies it is obvious that no solid foundation exists supporting the alleged Bush-voting surge.
On Election Night Ken Mehlman significantly crowed not about Republican gains in the north but in the south, especially along the Interstate 4 tier known as the I-4 Corridor. His effusiveness was sought to spin optimism for a Florida victory, but in focusing on this area the question once more surfaces: Where did this sudden surge of Bush votes come from? Meanwhile in Democratic stronghold Broward County the new Bush-appointed Supervisor of Elections, Brenda Snipes, announced shortly before the November 2 election that over 90,000 absentee ballots had not been sent out. This discovery came after her office had been flooded with calls from concerned voters who had not received their absentee ballots.
Snipes eventually appealed to Secretary of State Glenda Hood in Tallahassee to resolve the problem. What happened? We do know, however, that Hood is wearing Katherine Harris’s old mantle well. She helped Jeb Bush prepare another “felon list” to disqualify African American voters, just as her predecessor had infamously done four years ago. There was another sea of “spoiled votes” tossed into receptacles. Guess where they predominantly came from? If you said African American precincts you are one hundred percent correct.
Greg Palast uncovered the Florida fraud involving Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris four years ago. Significantly, his reporting came from the BBC and not an American outpost, since the mainstream media turned deaf when he came calling. After investigating the 2004 election he announced that Kerry had won both Ohio and New Mexico. Palast noted that the “spoiled vote” discard piles were awesome in both states, with African American precincts singled out in Ohio and Hispanics from predominantly Democratic voting stations debited in New Mexico.
Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell lived up to his anticipated billing by progressives of being the “new Katherine Harris.” An African American, Blackwell followed orders from the Rove machine obediently. In African American precincts Blackwell threw up significant roadblocks. African American areas were provided with woefully small numbers of voting stations.
This tactic insured long lines. The media reported the lines within the context of a huge and unanticipated turnout. That was wrong. Instead, as Ralph Nader noted, what occurred was a pre-designed effort to force African American voters to stand in seemingly interminably long lines to vote. “Due to the long lines many voters became disgusted and left, not voting at all,” Nader explained.
Oh yes, and about those voting machines! There were numerous discrepancies, particularly in Cuyahoga County, bastion of Democratic vote rich Cleveland. That same phenomenon occurring in Democratic South Florida of Bush votes popping up unexpectedly occurred in Cuyahoga County as well. In fact, there were many precincts where there were more Bush votes than registered voters.
Too little has been written thus far about what had to be a major element of Karl Rove’s current theft, not allowing a repeat of 2000, when, through the Supreme Court stopping the Florida vote recount, Bush “won” in the Electoral College while losing the popular vote to Al Gore. Rove set the stage for the vote theft by announcing his target of four million new voters from the Christian evangelical ranks.
The complaisant mainstream media has embraced a stated objective as accomplished fact by reporting endlessly that Bush won by turning out committed voters responding to the urgency of such “social issues” as gay marriage, stem cell research, and trimester abortion. Again, where are the supporting figures? Those “spreadsheet conspiracy theorists” keep unleashing more figures to support their view with regularity.
On Election Night, when a potential Ohio vote recount was discussed, CNN’s Jeff Greenfield noted that Bush held a 3-point edge over Kerry in the popular vote. He cited this lead as a reason why such recounts would be unlikely to succeed.
Greenfield’s conclusion rests on a highly controversial figure. With as many voting machine discrepancies as have already appeared, and with Bush boasting top heavy margins in southern states, the distinct possibility exists that votes were added to his total in “friendly” states. Some of you will recall the so-called “Thanksgiving stuffing” of four years ago when Florida Republicans padded Bush’s figures with late arriving veterans’ votes after the Democrats were once more being accused of being unpatriotic in allegedly turning their backs on the men and women who serve America.
On the subject of machine discrepancies, Ralph Nader lent his support to a recount in New Hampshire after a computer specialist observed that Bush was achieving disproportionately high vote figures in counties Al Gore had won substantially four years ago. While Kerry won New Hampshire by a close margin, Nader was correct in observing that if large numbers of bogus Bush votes are uncovered following a recount this could serve as a warning bell concerning a national pattern.
Nader’s comment prompted me to think back to Election Night, when I observed that John Zogby was reporting that the presidential race in Virginia was too close to call. In Zogby’s subsequent Electoral College forecasts he ceded the Old Dominion to Bush, but the fact that the pollster found the race that competitive at the end indicated that perhaps Kerry would receive more southern votes than anticipated. A thorough analysis of polling figures near the end of the race indicated that in such states as Arkansas and North Carolina, the home state of Kerry running mate Senator John Edwards, the Democrats were running respectably.
The fact that Bush not only swept the south, but did so in such devastating fashion, is contrary to many poll findings, including normally reliable state polling organizations. Adding votes to the Bush total from his strongest region, where such figures were not as likely to be challenged as in other regions, would be a way of padding the Republican candidate’s total.
As for John Zogby’s reaction, he has indicated on his website that, based on his findings, the reported election results appear suspicious. An article on his site written by Colin Shea was called appropriately, “I Smell a Rat.”
Even Bush apologist Dick Morris appears squeamish about events. The veteran political consultant conceded that exit polling has become advanced almost to the point of established science and is scarcely wrong. To justify what happened in the November 2 election he has accused the Kerry campaign of rigging the exit polling results. What a pathetic response. If Rove had any kind of information, or even a suspicion, he would pounce.
What is needed is a comprehensive national recount and analysis. Greg Palast has committed himself to such an effort. So has Bev Harris of the Black Box Voting site. The Green and Libertarian parties are to be commended for their efforts in seeking an Ohio recount, as is Nader for supporting such an effort in New Hampshire.
Veteran historian and political journalist Ronnie Dugger wrote an article entitled “How They (the Republicans) Could Steal The Election This Time”. It was published in the August 16-23 issue of The Nation. I reread it before preparing this article. The only changes Dugger would need to make if he wanted to run it again would be to change his tenses from future prospective to current perspective.
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Comments
I want it to be proven that this isn't just an "internet conspiracy theory". Get the bastards!
Oh, and by the way, how can I e-mail this article to someone?
Thank you!
Posted by: Gail at November 30, 2004 01:48 AM
Thank you, Gail. I would appreciate it if you would send it via e-mail attachment. Many of us want to fight this injustice and not, as so many of the Democratic Party bigwigs would do, move on to focus groups heading toward 2008. I mean, what happens when the elections are rigged? You can have the greatest issues perspective in the world and you will fall short. We need to react more in line with what the folks in the Ukraine are doing.
Bill Hare
Posted by: at November 30, 2004 01:57 PM
Why won't the vast majority of American's open their eyes and take an honest look at what happened with this election?
The Ukranian's are putting us to shame.
Posted by: Maxcat49 at November 30, 2004 02:09 PM
We need to do it for ourselves, Maxcat, and that's what we are attempting to do here on the Internet. When we needed leadership from Kerry and the Democrats after a lot of bold talk about getting all the votes counted and having so many attorneys on hand, what do we get? A concession. Gee, we don't have enough votes. Who can say that with any confidence with all the theft going on and wild action with the touch screen voting machines? This election was a calamity. I too admire the Ukrainians. We need to act more like them.
Bill Hare
Posted by: at November 30, 2004 03:13 PM
We need a statewide recount in Ohio and Florida. Better yet, we need a nationwide recount. This is a travesty to have our vote stolen but the Bush regime. When will the media stop being cowtowed by this administration and work for the people. The media is so scared of Bush and Rove they tuck their tails between their legs and run off like a scalded dog.
Posted by: Dorothy Svelmoe at November 30, 2004 08:16 PM
IT'S APPARENTTHAT AMERICANS HAVE BECOME DRONES.WHY IS IT THAT INCOME TAX RETURNS AND HOW A PERSON VOTED IS KEPT SECRET?THE ANSWER IS--POLITICIANS WEALTH CAN BE EXPOSED AND THEIR ELECTION RESULTS CAN BE CHECKED.HOW IS IT THAT AFTER 5 YEARS TERM -MOST POLITICIANS BECOME $MILLIONAIRS.TAKE COLLIN POWEL--A GENERAL,THEN WORKS FOR BUSH-----WORTH 28$ MILLS.WHAT A SCAM---WAKE-UP GOOFIE AMERICANS!
KNOW ANY POOR POLITICIAN?
KERRY TOOK A DIVE,I DON'T BLAME HIM,WOULD ANY OF YOU --CLEAN UP AFTER BUSH'S MESS?
Posted by: george archers at November 30, 2004 08:57 PM
I'm glad you mentioned the Wellstone-Mondale-Coleman election because so few people really know about that crazy election. I don't know what amazes me the most--the fact that they the Repubs won't stop at nothing to steal an election or the fact that so many people buy into the obvious deception.
Posted by: Delton at December 1, 2004 01:39 AM
What can be done to get a groundswell of support going? All of us sending eamils to all the major news organizations, newscasts and talkshows...would that work. I too am astonished by the number of people who are not as outraged as I am...and, unless I'm wrong, don't seem to care.
Posted by: RP in Texas at December 1, 2004 12:05 PM
Good grief, you people really need to get a life. Stop believing in all this nonsense and get over it. You guys lost, deal with it. Do the rest of us "Normal" Americans a favor and go to Canada with the rest of your socialist, commnunists buddies.
Posted by: Charles at December 1, 2004 02:00 PM
Don't assume everything is peachy in the Ukraine either. If our gov't is supporting "the people's rights" there, you can bet it's Orwellspeak and the candidate was rightfully elected. Also, another way for the sheeple to be subtly persuaded into believing W won the U.S. fair and square. Our taxes are ripe for supporting any coup de tat they see fit. Keep yelling and someone you love may awaken.
Posted by: truthtracker at December 1, 2004 02:32 PM
Charlie wrote: Good grief, you people really need to get a life. Stop believing in all this nonsense and get over it. You guys lost, deal with it. Do the rest of us "Normal" Americans a favor and go to Canada with the rest of your socialist, commnunists buddies.
After this election, you have the gall to accuse "Real Americans" of being Socialists or Communists,...and, you being a flaming Fascist?
Did you say “Normal” ? The Democrats didn't lose...the American people lost and "We will deal with it" But, probably, not in they way you mindless, lemmings would suggest.
As far as leaving, No!...I think,...You Should Go! This country is for those of us that believe in and support Democracy. Not, the Cronyism and Racketeering you Republicans seem to think so much of. You people really need to be rounded up and put on trial, just for being the Stupid dupes that you are, if you are buying into any of this crap!
As a group, you act like a bunch of brainwashed, mindless, lemmings ready to follow your master over a cliff if it suits his purpose.
( Question Not!... Least, Ye Be Questioned! )
Why do you think...That they would install "Paperless Trail" voting machines in the first place???? I suppose you don’t have a Clue?
Posted by: William at December 3, 2004 02:27 AM
I know without any shadow of a doubt, Kerry won.
Ultimately, we will have to do like the people of Ukraine and if that doesn't work then it will be back to civil war, unless of course, Bush pre-empts this with an American version of the Gulag.
Don't take this lightly folks, this could happen here if it is not happening already. Look at Gitmo, etc. Look at the detention of Jose Padilla, an American citizen.
Look at the fall of our dollar. Pretty soon our dollars will be just worthless pieces of paper.
Bush wants America to become third world nation status, a Banana Republic where it's easy to make your enemies disappear, where he can finally become, if not already, a dictator.
All his major corporate buddies, oil and gas partners, Enron felons, and the corrupt Saudi Royal family not to mention his favorite butcher, Ariel Sharon will be the only ones on this planet to benefit from this evil man and his fellow neo-cons and the theft of three elections in a row.
Do you think you middle-class white Americans figure anywhere in that picture. No, you, yes you, don't. They don't care that your children get educated and that you have a job or that you have clean air to breathe. They don't care about you or me.
And if you try to do anything about it, now with the Patriot Act and other legislation they pass under the cover, they can detain you and me for as long as they want and for absolutely no reason.
Why?
Because the only thing they care about is about having their own selfish way because they are evil, selfish humans...
No, I can't call them human. I don't think there is a shred of humanity in them.
Political Strategy.org
UPDATE: 9/20/04
Messsage from Michael Moore
Enough of the handwringing!
Enough of the doomsaying!
Do I have to come there and personally calm you down? Stop with all the defeatism, OK?
Bush IS a goner -- IF we all just quit our whining and bellyaching and stop shaking like a bunch of nervous ninnies. Geez, this is embarrassing! The Republicans are laughing at us. Do you ever see them cry, "Oh, it's all over! We are finished! Bush can't win! Waaaaaa!"
Hell no. It's never over for them until the last ballot is shredded.
They are never finished
-- they just keeping moving forward like sharks that never sleep, always pushing, pulling, kicking, blocking, lying.
They are relentless and that is why we secretly admire them
-- they just simply never, ever give up. Only 30% of the country calls itself "Republican," yet the Republicans own it all
-- the White House, both houses of Congress, the Supreme Court and the majority of the governorships.
How do you think they've been able to pull that off considering they are a minority? It's because they eat you and me and every other liberal for breakfast and then spend the rest of the day wreaking havoc on the planet.
Look at us
-- what a bunch of crybabies. Bush gets a bounce after his convention and you would have thought the Germans had run through Poland again. The Bushies are coming, the Bushies are coming! Yes, they caught Kerry asleep on the Swift Boat thing. Yes, they found the frequency in Dan Rather and ran with it. Suddenly it's like, "THE END IS NEAR! THE SKY IS FALLING!"
No, it is not. If I hear one more person tell me how lousy a candidate Kerry is and how he can't win... Dammit, of COURSE he's a lousy candidate -- he's a Democrat, for heavens sake! That party is so pathetic, they even lose the elections they win! What were you expecting, Bruce Springsteen heading up the ticket? Bruce would make a helluva president, but guys like him don't run -- and neither do you or I. People like Kerry run.
Yes, OF COURSE any of us would have run a better, smarter, kick-ass campaign. Of course we would have smacked each and every one of those phony swifty boaty bastards down. But WE are not running for president -- Kerry is.
So quit complaining and work with what we have. Oprah just gave 300 women a... Pontiac!
Did you see any of them frowning and moaning and screaming, "Oh God, NOT a friggin' Pontiac!" Of course not, they were happy. The Pontiacs all had four wheels, an engine and a gas pedal. You want more than that, well, I can't help you. I had a Pontiac once and it lasted a good year. And it was a VERY good year.
My friends, it is time for a reality check.
1. The polls are wrong. They are all over the map like diarrhea. On Friday, one poll had Bush 13 points ahead -- and another poll had them both tied. There are three reasons why the polls are b.s.: One, they are polling "likely voters." "Likely" means those who have consistently voted in the past few elections.
So that cuts out young people who are voting for the first time and a ton of non-voters who are definitely going to vote in THIS election. Second, they are not polling people who use their cell phone as their primary phone. Again, that means they are not talking to young people.
Finally, most of the polls are weighted with too many Republicans, as pollster John Zogby revealed last week. You are being snookered if you believe any of these polls.
2. Kerry has brought in the Clinton A-team. Instead of shunning Clinton (as Gore did), Kerry has decided to not make that mistake.
3. Traveling around the country, as I've been doing, I gotta tell ya, there is a hell of a lot of unrest out there. Much of it is not being captured by the mainstream press. But it is simmering and it is real. Do not let those well-produced Bush rallies of angry white people scare you. Turn off the TV! (Except Jon Stewart and Bill Moyers -- everything else is just a sugar-coated lie).
4. Conventional wisdom says if the election is decided on "9/11" (the fear of terrorism), Bush wins. But if it is decided on the job we are doing in Iraq, then Bush loses. And folks, that "job," you might have noticed, has descended into the third level of a hell we used to call Vietnam.
There is no way out. It is a full-blown mess of a quagmire and the body bags will sadly only mount higher. Regardless of what Kerry meant by his original war vote, he ain't the one who sent those kids to their deaths -- and Mr. and Mrs. Middle America knows it.
Had Bush bothered to show up when he was in the "service" he might have somewhat of a clue as to how to recognize an immoral war that cannot be "won." All he has delivered to Iraq was that plasticized turkey last Thanksgiving. It is this failure of monumental proportions that is going to cook his goose come this November.
So, do not despair. All is not over. Far from it. The Bush people need you to believe that it is over. They need you to slump back into your easy chair and feel that sick pain in your gut as you contemplate another four years of George W. Bush. They need you to wish we had a candidate who didn't windsurf and who was just as smart as we were when WE knew Bush was lying about WMD and Saddam planning 9/11. It's like Karl Rove is hypnotizing you -- "Kerry voted for the war...Kerry voted for the war...Kerrrrrryyy vooootted fooooor theeee warrrrrrrrrr..."
Yes...Yes...Yesssss...He did! HE DID! No sense in fighting now...what I need is sleep...sleeep...sleeeeeeppppp...
WAKE UP! The majority are with us! More than half of all Americans are pro-choice, want stronger environmental laws, are appalled that assault weapons are back on the street -- and 54% now believe the war is wrong. YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE TO CONVINCE THEM OF ANY OF THIS -- YOU JUST HAVE TO GIVE THEM A RAY OF HOPE AND A RIDE TO THE POLLS. CAN YOU DO THAT? WILL YOU DO THAT?
Just for me, please? Buck up. The country is almost back in our hands. Not another negative word until Nov. 3rd! Then you can bitch all you want about how you wish Kerry was still that long-haired kid who once had the courage to stand up for something. Personally, I think that kid is still inside him. Instead of the wailing and gnashing of your teeth, why not hold out a hand to him and help the inner soldier/protester come out and defeat the forces of evil we now so desperately face. Do we have any other choice?
Yours,
Michael Moore
www.michaelmoore.com
mmflint@aol.com
Driving without a License
Since no notice is given to people applying for driver's (or other) licenses that they have a perfect right to use the roads without any permission, and that they surrender valuable rights by taking on the regulation system of licensure, the state has committed a massive construction fraud.
This occurs when any person is told that they must have a license in order to use the public roads and highways.
The license, being a legal contract under which the state is empowered with policing powers, is only valid when the licensee takes on the burdens of the contract and bargains away his or her rights knowingly, intentionally, and voluntarily.
Few know that the driver's license is a contract without which the police are powerless to regulate the people's actions or activities.
Few (if any) licensees intentionally surrender valuable rights. They are told that they must have the license. As we have seen, this is not the case.
No one in their right mind voluntarily surrenders complete liberty and accepts in its place a set of regulations.
Patriot Act II, "Zombies Bush&Co are seeking broad new authority to allow federal agents without the approval of a judge or even a federal prosecutor to demand private records and compel testimony. "
Continue...
"The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion."
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