Blogged by Brad from the still-long and still-winding (and still very hot) road…
“They’re dumb as shit.”
— Donna Brazile to Rolling Stone for an article this week, discussing her frustration with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and making the party understand the need to be vigilant during Election 2006.“Fuck you.”
— Donna Brazile to an Election Integrity Advocate at the annual DNC gathering last weekend in Chicago after being asked where the party was in Ohio after Election 2004.
Such were the contradictions and dysfunctions on parade last weekend in Chicago where I was invited to address a panel on Electoral Integrity at the DNC’s annual gathering of state party chairs. What a mess.
The Rolling Stone piece referenced above, by the good Tim Dickinson, is not currently online. But it’s from the Aug. 24 issue of RS on newsstands now. It asks “Will Democrats Fight Back?” The answer, as Dickinson reports, is a decisive maybe, probably not, things don’t look so good, we hope so but kinda doubt it.
While it’d be nice to give you an encouraging report from the DNC meeting of how the Dems have finally figured out what the hell is going on here — how they are going to get out in front of this electile dysfunction thing, take the offensive, become proactive and lead the way in becoming the party which stands for vigilance, Electoral Integrity and the assurance that every vote will be counted and counted accurately — I can’t give such a report.
Yes, there are some good things going on there. One of the most notable being Greg Moore who is now the Director of the DNC’s Voting Rights Institute. He gets it. Moore was responsible for all of the Election Protection-related events over the weekend. It seems he’s been fighting heroically from inside the power structure to wake the Dems up as to what is going on. He’s the one responsible for the historic DNC statement a few weeks ago calling for a full handcount in the illegally administered Busby/Bilbray U.S. House Special Election in California’s 50th congressional district. But it’s clearly been a difficult fight. And last weekend’s events made that crystal clear…
Though I am still on the road this summer and was scheduled to speak last Saturday to the Illinois Ballot Integrity Project in DuPage County, I was invited at the last minute to address a group of DNC attorneys and state party chairs at the Chicago Hilton downtown at the exact same time on the exact same day.
It was a tough call frankly. Should I speak to the citizen patriots who are actually fighting the good fight on the ground and making sure that things get done? Or should I take the opportunity to try and bang some heads at the DNC, let them know what’s going on, and at the same time try to figure out what they could possibly be thinking just 80 days out before what is likely to be the next electoral train wreck in this first full year of the Help America Vote Act? This year, thanks to HAVA, there is new, untested, unreliable, innaccurate vote counting machines employing secret software set to count our votes. These machines now litter the countryside of our once great democracy. So is there some secret, unknowable reason that the bulk of the folks at the DNC seem to be out to lunch about what is going on here?
I chose the latter option: To speak to and find out what the hell is going on with the DNC. It would likely be the only chance to do so. At least in person. And at least prior to November.
…ELECTION INTEGRITY: THE ISSUE THAT MUST NOT BE NAMED…
There were two main Election Protection-related gatherings over the weekend. The first was on Friday where Moore rolled out the DNC’s Election Protection plan to all 50 state party chairs. I was invited as an “observer” to that event, along with a few other activists. Among them, Progressive Democrats of America Executive Director Tim Carpenter and Chairman of the Board Mimi Kennedy were both on hand to speak, and were instrumental in seeing that activists would be invited to the weekend’s proceedings bringing activists together with party officials.
The Friday event, a charming DNC aide instructed me as it began, was “off the record” so I don’t have too much to report on it for the time being. Not that I noticed any particular secrets that shouldn’t be shared. The focus was generally on what the DNC plans to do to help state chairs deal with issues that occur on Election Day, their 1-888-DEM-VOTE hotline number, and other items already rolled out publicly in press releases (and covered quickly by The BRAD BLOG several weeks ago.)
Given that I was on both a speakers list and a press list for the weekend, if there had been anything that shouldn’t really get out publicly, there wasn’t much security to keep that from happening. None, in fact. I can’t imagine an RNC convention running with so little security, particularly if they felt they had some sort of information they didn’t want to release publicly to the press, etc. But I guess the DNC is a trusting party…Which may explain some of the problems they have in understanding that our electoral system is not built on trust. It’s built on checks and balances and vigilance. Like our constitution.
The program for Election Day itself is much needed. It’s a good program. But as I’ve been arguing on these pages, and all over the Hilton last weekend, the time for Election Protection is now. By November 7th, it’ll mostly be too late.
For “balance”, a far more optimistic take than mine on the DNC’s Election Protection plan, as rolled out officially on Friday, is posted here by the PDA folks. They are encouraged. I hope they are more right than I am. I guess I’ll be the bad cop again for now. Someone’s got to be.
The real purpose of my presence at the gathering would come on Saturday at an Election Protection round-table where I was asked to speak, along with a few other Election Integrity Advocates, to DNC attorneys, state chairs, activists and other interested parties.
The DNC, apparently, wouldn’t even allow Moore to include the Saturday round-table on the official listing of the day’s scheduled events! Thankfully, it was announced at Saturday morning’s large general meeting of the party by Jennifer Brunner, the Democratic candidate for Ohio Secretary of State. But other than that quick announcement, it was up to the activists present to pass out fliers inviting folks to the round-table.
More on the round-table in a moment.
…GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS AT THE GENERAL PARTY MEETING…
The large gathering at which Brunner was invited to speak was the main, official party session keynoted by Howard Dean. In addition to Brunner and addresses by other party notables, the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee presented their proposal for changing the primary dates for ’08 to frontload them for earlier decision-making for the party’s Presidential candidate.
More notable to my ears, however, were several new recommendations the committee made, for paper “trails” in voting systems, audits, and many of the other initiatives called for in Rep. Rush Holt’s (D-NJ) proposed HR 550, the so-called “Voter Confidence and Increased Accessbility Act of 2005” which is currently co-sponsored by some 200 congress members of both parties. Holt’s bill has been stymied so far by Republicans on the House Administration Committee (chaired by HAVA’s lead-sponsor/author, Ohio Republican Bob Ney, until he was forced to step down after being named in four different Abramoff-related indictments). The bill has so far been prevented from even coming up for debate in that committee.
While I’ve got several concerns about that legislation if it should ever see the light of day, I’ll leave them be for now, and simply point out that the DNC itself seems to be lining up behind it — if the new platform recommendations, which passed easily at the gathering over the weekend, are any indication.
Far more troubling for the moment, however, was a line included with the above recommendation for “Internet Voting on Inter-Party Elections.” Say what?!!!
Yup, that’s what they said, I believe. I have no idea if that currently refers to Democratic primaries, party caucus votes, or what. I hope to find out more in the future, but either way, I’d say that item was damned troubling no matter what it referred to. Whether primaries or caucus votes, knowing how easy it is to hack things on the Internet, it would seem that moving towards such voting is exactly the sort of thing these guys ought to be fighting to move away from! Are they out of their minds? Maybe. We’ll see what I can learn about all of that once I’m back in town and on full time blog duty again.
…ELECTIONS AT ‘HIGH NATIONAL SECURITY RISK’ AND ‘DEMOCRACY UNDERMINED BY THE PRESENCE OF TYRANNY’…
Rev. Jesse Jackson was one of the speakers at the Saturday morning general session and, aside from Dean, seemed to receive the most attention from media and others. Jackson’s still a rock star at any such event, and the good news is: he was the one (aside from Brunner) who bothered to speak about Election Integrity in his speech. Dean didn’t say a word about it. The bad news was that his speech was shortened on the fly, and the following — from his official speech which I obtained prior to the address — was truncated for time more than I wish it had been:
Republicans did whatever it took to win. The were relentless in the trenches. In contrast, our team conceded and took the players off of the field.
In Ohio, it was the manipulation of machines and schemes of voter suppression — a declaration from the CEO of Diebold that he would deliver Ohio (and other states), no matter what it would take.
It wasn’t the absence of faith but the presence of tyranny that undermined democracy.
Because we have private companies, with secret vote-counting programs that are not auditable and not checkable, with electronic machines, we can’t check our own votes. This has to change. Our voting machine companies have less accountability for proving the proper operation of our vote counts than the gambling machine companies do in Las Vegas for their profits.
There is a lesson to be drawn from Ohio and Florida: So long as state’s rights control elections and elections are controlled by state officials, partisan Secretaries of States should not be empowered to determine the outcome of elections. It would be like a World Cup match where the owner of the home team appointed the referree, and had the power to declare the winner of the match. The credibility, integrity and accuracy of our elections are at risk. High national security risk. Code Orange.
…WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE THINKING?…
Throughout the weekend events, I did my best to meet and greet the various Dem operatives, consultants, candidates, hangers-on and state leaders to get a sense of what the hell they were thinking. Why are they, seemingly, not making Election Protection a top priority for the Democratic Party — seeing as how it’s the Dems (actually, the voters, but you get my drift) who are most likely to be screwed during this year’s Rise of the Machines?
A couple of responses were telling.
One was from a state leader who said there were no problems with elections in his state because they used “paper ballots.” I asked how those paper ballots were counted. “Optical scanners,” he said, “some made by Diebold, some by ES&S. But at least we have a ‘paper trail’,” he assured me.
“Since we’ve now learned about the massive inaccuracy of optical scanners, how many of those optically scanned ballots are actually audited for accuracy in your state?,” I asked. “Well…we’re working on getting something like that in our state…” he said.
“So, in other words, you have no idea if you have any problems with your elections because you don’t actually know if they are accurate at all?,” I asked.
“I guess so…,” he said before turning to his friend for help in the line of questioning.
Another, more heated, conversation (two of them actually) occurred with a DNC political director in one of the country’s major regions. He was remarkably unconcerned about the accuracy of elections with all of the new, untested and innaccurate machinery now in play for November. At least he was unconcerned about the elections in his own region. But was he really?
The more we spoke, the more it became clear that his rhetoric seemed to be built on the premise that discussing electoral integrity out loud would discourage voters from voting. If they felt their vote wouldn’t be counted, they might not show up to vote at all.
The suppression-by-discussion-of-facts line of thinking is one that I’ve heard more and more over the last several weeks and months. The twisted and tortured logic seemingly at play in that thinking makes my head simply want to fall off whenever I hear it discussed. What world are these guys living in?
The thinking here seems to be that if we don’t tell voters the truth about the way their votes are counted (or not) they will be more likely to show up and vote. Only to then have their votes not counted accurately or at all, of course. (My head is about to fall off again, just writing about this.)
Perhaps it’s just me, but I think the American Voter can handle the truth. Then again, I don’t consider them to be absolute idiots, so perhaps that’s the difference.
In fact, the discussion with that particular politico would lead me to realize one of the main points I’d try to hammer home during the Saturday round-table discussion: It’s the lack of discussing Electoral Integrity which, in fact, supresses the vote! Americans that I hear from are plenty ticked off that the Dems are doing little, if anything, to take the lead in fighting for Electoral Integrity — in particular, in regard to the Electronic Voting Machines — and that anger more than anything, and the ensuing “a pox on both of their houses” notion that Dems fear, may well be what keeps folks from voting!
As today’s Zogby poll shows, Americans have heard about the problems, they get it, and avoiding the conversation is, in my opinion, counter to the best interests of Democracts and certainly democracy as a whole.
In other words, Electoral Integrity — and the fight for it — I will suggest, is a winning issue for Dems. And that was a case I’d try to make to those in attendance during the Saturday round-table…
…THE ‘SECRET’ SATURDAY ELECTION INTEGRITY ROUND-TABLE…
I’ll try to contain my frustration. I’ll even try to focus on the good that I hope will eventually come out of last Saturday’s round-table. Even if that “good” may be little more than a thought bubble occurring to one of the DNC attorneys on November 8th — The Day After — when they think to themselves, “Now what was it those crazy loons were trying to tell me back in Chicago last August?”
I was privy to what could be seen as a first hand close-up of everything that is wrong with the DNC’s thinking when it comes to Election Protection. Frankly, I think it starts with the old-school attorneys who have been there for decades and are either too disinterested, or too entrenched to have any clue about what is actually going on on the ground. The younger ones in attendance listened to my sterling and brilliant presentation with interest and recognition. They took notes, seemed to smile and nod in agreement, and even laughed at my hysterical jokes.
The old-timers, however, the ones that currently seem to call the shots, did little more than grin smugly as if they were being held hostage and forced to listen to the tale of a UFO abductee.
Mountains of scientific reports, be damned. One primary election meltdown after another this year? Forget it. The fact that there’s not a computer scientist or security expert in the country (or the world) who would go on record to state the machines we’re now using to count our votes in the most essential element of our democracy — the vote — are actually secure for use in an election? Never mind that. The only thing to worry about is disenfranchisement on Election Day and a “close election,” whatever the hell that means these days to these knuckleheads.
They are no more worried about stolen elections now, with billions of dollars of proven-hackable machines being used for the first time around the country, than they were when the entire country used paper systems which could at least be recounted and/or easily reveal malfeasance with any kind of close scrutiny.
The DNC needs a whole lotta new lawyers.
Not that they don’t have thousands of them on standby should there be any need for them, we were told. Just as they had in 2004. And we all know how well that went and how useful those “thousands of attorneys” were back in Ohio.
At one point, I finally asked the lead “old-school” attorney where the hell all of these lawyers were. I told him that I’d been reporting on prosecutable elements of the electoral dysfunction across the country for at least the last two years. I said I’ve got mountains of evidence and whistleblowers and unrefutable reports and yet I’ve never heard from them once. And finally, I explained, we came to the clearly illegally administered Busby/Bilbray CA50 U.S. House election on June 6th, and yet still we couldn’t get a single attorney from the DNC to join the fight for accountability. It was left up to citizen patriots on the ground to find an attorney, and raise the funds to pay for it all, one $10 and $20 donation at a time (Your donations are still needed, by the way! The contest in that election goes to trial this Friday! Please donate via VelvetRevolution.us! Please?)
So where were all those much-vaunted “thousands of attorneys” after the CA50 election was run on decertified voting machines? Well, the lead attorney said, we can only go into help fight during recounts “for very close elections. The election in San Diego wasn’t close at all.”
Never mind that just 4500 votes out of 150,000 separated the two candidates on Election Night. Never mind that the machines were illegal and decertified for use by the time the election began, after they were sent home for days and weeks prior to the election with poll workers, and thus, all votes cast on them were illegal votes. All I wanted to know was why this guy had any confidence in the results as reported? What proof did he have that they were in any way accurate? As is, I told him, it’s completely impossible for either he, or I, or the corrupt San Diego County Registrar of Voters Mikel Haas to prove the results are accurate in any way. Period. End of story.
Of course, when you’re out to lunch, it’s difficult to understand all that went on while you were away from the office. This guy seems to have been out of the office for at least the last two years. How else to explain that he seemed to be simply and completely uninformed about what the hell I was talking about?
He stuck to his “we can only show up in close elections” line.
As the tension in the room grew thicker, an activist from New York spoke up to tell the story of a recent election in which a local Democratic candidate had won on Election Night by a single vote, triggering an automatic recount. After the automatic recount, the election was found to be a straight tie and would be decided by a coin toss. The Republican candidate was accompanied throughout by not one, but two, attorneys from the RNC. The Democratic candidate was on her own, received no legal assistance from the party, and eventually lost the seat during the coin toss.
“Oh, that’s not good,” the attorney admitted during the one moment all afternoon in which he had no snarky retort to the facts he seemed to be hearing for the first time.
But the moment in which I had to restrain myself from walking across the room and punching him in the nose (or, as PDA’s Tim Carpenter corrected me: “…from walking across the room and punching him non-violently in the nose”) was when an activist in attendance from Oregon spoke up about election concerns in her state. The attorney laughed and said dubiously (and obnoxiously,) “What are you talking about?! You’ve got all mail-in ballots in your state. You don’t have any problems with machines!”
With a cold hard stare, the activist replied: “We still have to count them.”
…A FOOT IN THE DOOR…
You may or may not be pleased to hear that I didn’t punch anybody in the nose, at least violently. Though I believe I did manage to push things as far as I could at the Saturday round-table without being disrespectful to our host (Moore) who had fought tooth and nail for the meeting to occur at all. As mentioned, he’s a champion. I learned from others that Moore had wanted Saturday’s meeting to occur the previous day, in the big room, with all 50 state chairs instead of the super-secret, off-the-record session that was held instead. Whoever the Powers That Be are, however, they would have nothing of it. And, of course, they managed to keep the Saturday event from even being listed on the agenda at all, as previously noted.
But at least we managed to get the message through to some of these folks on Saturday. It was clear that it was the first time some of these people were even hearing any of this stuff. So lets say we managed to get at least a foot in the door, even if we’ve yet to bust it wide open.
“What was it those crazy loons were trying to tell us back in Chicago last August?…”
You’ll note I’ve not called out any of the “bad guys” by name in this article. As much as I’d love to. But I continue to be hopeful that something good will come of all of this and that somehow common sense will prevail. Someday, I hope, we’ll be able to work with these folks. So, in truth, I don’t wish to publicly shame any of them. They know who they are, if they are reading this, and hopefully they will understand that I come not to destroy them, but to help them. And all of us. As best as I can.
All in all, I’d rather have been in DuPage County on Saturday, meeting with and speaking to the folks who are courageously fighting for Electoral Integrity in real time where the rubber meets the road. Right now. And, of course, this November. Those are the folks who are going to make the difference, if any is possible, this November.
The fight for Election Integrity must begin now as I told the folks on Saturday. If you wait until Election Day, it will be entirely too late. Which is just one of the reasons the fight in CA50 is so important.
But every path is built one stone at a time. So I’ll have to take some comfort in the hopeful idea that one stone has finally been laid with the entrenched, if currently clueless, Powers That Be within the Democratic National Committee. I’ll have to hope that those who get it — and there are several — will eventually win the day.
We’ll get this whole mess straighted out by 2008, right? We can only hope. But for now, it seems that may only happen if the Republicans find their ox “gored” between here and there by these god-forsaken machines. The GOP isn’t afraid of being called sore-losers or conspiracy theorists. They’ll fight for their elections, even if they have to steal them to do it.
The DNC has yet to figure out that Election Integrity is the cross-over issue of all cross-over issues in this country. At this time, they should be the party that stands for Transparency, Accountability and the Assurance that every single legal vote in America will be counted and counted accurately. Every vote. Democratic, Republican, Green, Libertarian, whatever. To me, that’s a winning issue. To many of the entrenched Powers The Be at the DNC, however, that seems to be just another distraction from…whatever the hell it is they’re doing.
Donna Brazile seemed to be singing a different tune in her comments to Rolling Stone, but the message from too many of the folks at the DNC seemed to be a big “Fuck You” to all of us.
Oh, and I should add that she reportedly followed the “Fuck you” to the Election Integrity Advocate with a “where the hell were you twenty years ago?”
The Election Integrity Advocate replied in kind: “I don’t know, but 40 years ago I was across the street getting beat up by the Chicago police.” The weekend’s gathering was held in the same hotel, apparently, as the infamous 1968 DNC Convention where protesters had hit the streets to make their points to the DNC, only to meet the business end of Mayor Daley’s police brigades.
Such as this is 2006, the citizens of Chicago were mostly enjoying quiet weekends elsewhere apparently. The streets outside the downtown Chicago Hilton were quiet as could be.
Just like when John Kerry said and i quote,”every vote will be counted.” He had war chests full of money that could have been used to investigate. The OHIO DEMOCRATIC PARTY stood in the backround far far away from what Secretary of State and Co Chair to the Bush/cheney re-election campaign Kenneth Blackwell and co. did to rig and obstruct the recount brought about by the David Cobb (Green Party Presidential candidate)and the Libertarian Presidential candidate who requested a recount.
As the Ohio Free Press covered all the evidence of electronic fraud and massive humanistic fraud in the election and subsequent recount, Kerry was silent.
The OHIO DEMOCRATIC WEB SITE showed the recount produced 385 votes gained for loser Kerry.
For people who read the mass media printed material read the archieved Rolling Stone article (www.rollingstone.com ) by Robert Kennedy Jr. who spells out ALL THE WAYS THE 2004 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION WAS STOLEN IN OHIO which came out 3 months ago. Blogs were on top of the stolen election when it occurred.
DEMOCRATIC PARTY..NO COMMENT
JOHN KERRY..NO COMMENT
Word up: New OHIO legislation now makes it nearly in for a candidate to afford an election recount unless they have moneybags of cash like the DEMOCRATIC PARTY who virtually DID NOT get involved less Kerry’s lawyers who showed up to court on a few blatently obvious fraudulent obstructions which the Green party uncovered.
Most of the Democratic party of enablers in Washington are part of the Republican party dubya’d the REPUBLIDEM PARTY.
Dial: REP UBL-IDEM
It looks like we are on our own. I think we should all attend the Cleveland voting integrity convention at the end of September. We need to organize and be ready for the next stolen election.
Nothing Brad reports surprises me. Voting is an act of faith, comparable to a religious observance. Voting is not comparable to other civic acts, like obeying speed limits and returning library books on time. A citizen who takes the leap of faith and goes to the church of democracy…the polling place…is already in a state of religious self-delusion (they are persuaded that their unique vote counts…when common sense would tell them that aggregations of votes count, not individual votes). Now in this mindset it becomes easy to believe other religious malarkey, for instance that all election officials are wise and qualified to do their jobs, or that the machines used to accumulate and tally votes are as trustworthy as a Sunday school teacher holding the collection plate.
I despair. I truly do. Are DNC leaders deluded? Are they cynically awaiting their turn to control the counting process? Do they consider the fight for secure elections unwinnable? Any of these things would mean that this is Chile and it’s 1978. Good Lord!
Are DNC lawyers part of a zionist conspiracy theory???
Isn’t Amerikkkan Democracy a beautiful thing?
Did they play pin the balls on the donkey ? ? ?
No balls that’s why they want to have a Republidem lady speaker of the house and a Republidem lady candidate for President. That way Nascar fan will vote for anyone but ms. no balls.
Nancy Pelosi last night on Letterman: Wrong war wrong time.. She obviously DID NOT attend the Downing Street Memo hearings in the John Conyers Jr. held in the basement of the Capital ABOUT HOW BUSH PLANNED TO GO TO WAR PRIOR TO 911, have an opinion about the Al Gore movie AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH about our atmosphere ready to take a final breath, OR READ THE ROBERT KENNEDY JR. ARTICLE ABOUT RIGGED OHIO, OR EVER GET A WORD ABOUT THE THE FRAUDULENT BILBY-BUSBY ELECTION HELD IN HER OWN STATE.
No balls only bushit enablers.
i would like to ask the representative of House from CA Nancy Pelosi in the same party as Michigan state representative John Conyers Jr. when is a good time for the #1 super power to use the strongest most advanced military in the world to attack a country based on complete lies. Bombing them 6 months prior to the invasion and killing over 250,000 civilians so far, why are these lying murderers still in power? Why have they not been impeached and faced criminal charges as terrrorists?
Brad
Its good to hear from you. Was starting to worry like an old mom. We do know though that you desperatly need “some” down time so don’t worry out loud.
The Doormatcratic party are raising more money than ever before from “not wealthy” citizens who are desparate for change. I think their hard earned money would be better spent helping activists like yourself challenge the machines and their so called results.
Personally I do not think the democrats are Dumb which makes them gutlessly complicit. Lets hope for a very quick change in the power structure within the DNC.
It seems to me that the Democrats in power, and those in the Democratic Party power structure, who still refuse to pay attention to the need to safeguard our vote throughout the country but on the precinct level, knowing everything that we know today about the last two national elections, and the results of all of the scientific reports that are out there …. It’s crude to say this but I have to conclude that these Democrats are either stupid or corrupt (by which I mean obligated in some way to big govenment military-corporate and Republican interests).
And I really think that it is impossible that anyone could be that stupid.
But what Brad is suggesting in this piece is that the Democrats are just lazy. They may be stupid and corrupt or not, but in any case they are too lazy to look at new conditions and take any action to address them.
Either that or they are too intimidated to call out that their pockets are being picked. Like a woman who is so frightened at being raped that she is afraid to call the police.
Pretty much covers it. 🙁
Here’s how the Dem’s
loseHAND OVER the E-Vote issue to the Republicans.AS FOLLOWS:
CA-CHING ! ! ! !
Hey Brad
maybe probably hopefully..you’re kickin ace!
At least you made a few good contacts this weekend and maybe you can help put something together someday with some other like minds when the time is right. You went and found out the inside story. Gooooooooood work!!! Don’t let the truth get you down. Can you imagine how George Washington felt during one of the cold winters at war against a superior British force? His ill equiped army was fatigued and exhausted however, as leader of the U.S. army he refused to give up. He was fighting for “we the people” against a stronger force with unlimited resources. Sound familier. One thing these corrupt and complicent people in power lack is strong leadership qualities. It’s not that difficult for Americans to see through the half baked crap these politicans are serving up. Inform the masses and we take back our country. The questions get asked and the issues cannot be avoided.
An Election Administrator writes:
This is a Butfor.
Butfor the internet, and the ability to communicate broadly with one another outside the controlled media spectrum.
Butfor the efforts of Brad and so many other people who are investigating and reporting to us what they discover.
Butfor the history of Germany in our memory, and in the memory of at least a few members of the judiciary branch.
Butfor all of these things, and a few more, we would be in a worse shape than Chile or really any country ever in the history of human existence. A fascist dictatorship with nuclear weapons and the willingness to use them to control the world.
Ideologically, that’s what the administration factually is. But they are precluded from carrying out their intentions fully by the Butfors.
Is there any stronger evidence that the DNC and the RNC are different parts of the same beast?
I personally think it undermines your credibility slightly as a journalist for not naming names.
How can we fight if we don’t know who we’re fighting?
Donna Brazile has never impressed me. She is a republican of the old school.
Where are all the liberals?
Vote against the two major parties. That will be the safest vote. Defy the machines, both electronic and “democratic”.
Brad,
I hope you now realize what I’ve been up against for the past 5 years. Getting the DNC to do anything outside their “status quo” is nearly impossible. I’ll never go to another DNC event.
Thank you Brad, for trying to talk some sense into those folks at the DNC. I’ll admit, I’m a bit shocked to learn of their lack of knowledge and interest in our stolen elections. But like Grizzly Bear Dancer in #12, I will not believe it was a waste of time. Mean’time, we’ll just keep on keeping on. One day at a time.
WinterPatriot please don’t take offense at this, because I did enjoy your posting and the others who filled in while Brad was very busy, but Hot Damn, I missed Brad. I’m so glad he’s fighting the good fight on this one particular issue.
Don’t dispair! Visit http://www.votenow2006.com .
Parallel elections will provide the candidate the link back to the voter to contest a suspicious election.
Join the $5.00 for democracy campaign at http://www.clintcurtis.com . Volunteer to call people in the 24th district to get out and vote for Clint.
He’s my hero!
Superman of the underdogs!
Thanks –to Brad’s impeccible research abilities — for bringing Clint Curtis’ story to the blogosphere so that I can be part of the solution to TRANSPARENT ELECTIONS in the 24th District. Perhaps my elected official will actually represent me. How novel.
Feeney.Hiss. Clint – Rah! Rah! Go Clint!
jj
Check out this article and video from Lynn Landes and scoop about vote scrutiny. I was at DK and put these on Eric Massa’s diary, he’s running for congress. I think I’ll also send it to the candidates running in my state. Now if they’d just read the article and watch the video maybe they’d learn something http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0608/S00236.htm http://www.ecotalk.org/VotingSecurity.htm
After all that has been said and done. All the sacrifices made by Brad and others. To read this is truly disheartening. Not suprising, nor unexpected, just painful. This is the same DNC that handpicked Bob Casey Jr. to run against Rick Santorum. Some of you might not know anything about Mr. Casey. Here’s a clue, he thinks Sam Alito was a great choice for the Supreme Court. Nough said. I’ll hold my nose when I pull the lever, and then have a stiff drink and prepare for the next round. We may not yet be able to influence at the level we would like, but we must keep pushing. The fact that Greg Moore fought to include election activist is a major coup. We can not sit idle and expect the DNC to be our watch dog come Nov. Maybe it’s time to start cross posting with other Election Activist groups that are planning and training poll watchers and such, independent of any political party. It may have felt good at the time to have given a few chosen Party Elite a bloody nose but you played it right Brad. It will be much sweeter to continue gaining influence and be around to watch the SOBs fired. I hope everyone who reads this post, goes away mad, not sad. We must prepare ourselves to “Roll in the mud, the blood and the beer”! Euphemistically of course.
#18……..JuliePatchouli
First, thanks for the link. Groups who are organizing and pushing back should be shared with all, in hopes we can all find an avenue of direct action.
I have a friend who sometimes refers to her daughter by your handle. If you are of the same ilk as the one I know, you are indeed a fighting activist. Thanks again
The Democratic Party and the DNC have a very reasonable and sensible approach to the election fraud dilemma,…
KKKarl Rove,.. dick cheney and the rest of the fascists over at bu$$hco will be so overcome with remorse and guilt that they would not even think of gaming this coming midterm election in 2006. If not then there is always reason to hope for a good clean,.. honest an corruption free election in 2008,.. or maybe 2010,.. if not then there is always hope for 2012,.. or 2014 could be a good year,.. to clean up this mess.
Just keep your chin up,.. do not despair,.. we will bring integrity back to the election process ,.. but don’t forget Rome was not built in one day,.. these things take time.
By the time they get their asses in gear to remedy this problem,.. the concept of Democracy will be only a faint and quaint memory. The Neo-Nazis and Fascists will have gained such a strong foot hold we will never be able to get rid of them. What does the Democratic Party want to see,.. a revolution in the streets ? That is one of the few precious options remaining to remedy this fascist takeover of our government.
Thank you Brad!
For not “going along to get along” when things are so obviously off course. It’s way past time for Democrats to stop “walking softly”, hoping for things to change! A little verbal abuse never hurt anyone, and will be the only thing that will help. Since all these lawyers are on Prozac anyway, they probably didn’t care!
I recently heard some of Jimmy Carter’s famous “malaise” speech, that has been characterized endlessly as proof that Carter was not a good leader. To the contrary, it was a very well delivered, timely, essential recognition of what great disaster would befall America if we were to “stay the course”, (as Bush likes to say)! I would say he’s been vindicated!
It wasn’t enjoyable to read your post, but I’ll take the hard truth any day, over the dribble we Americans have to endure from these IDIOT PUNDITS, (learned persons), and “LEADERS” who talk tough and NEVER do anything to change things or even claim ELECTIONS WE HAVE WON.
It’s the same everywhere. We’re having an Anti-War/Bush protest in Salt Lake next week and a couple of the people on the committee quit because they didn’t agree on inviting CINDY SHEEHAN to speak at it! They said she, and our own Mayor Rocky Anderson, were “polarizing figures”!
The wonderful Mayor of Salt Lake said it’s his duty to speak at the rally outside City Hall when the president visits Utah’s capital saying it would be “cowardly” and “unpatriotic” to stay silent. He also said “I don’t respect people who see things headed in the wrong direction and because of their high sense of deference or because of their membership in the [national] culture of obedience they keep their mouths shut.”
Guy James:
Thank you for being one of those unafraid to speak out. Love your show!
From some of what Brad has said I think its possible the DNC are waiting for overwhelming disparity between polls, voter turnout and election results to challenge the results. Like Brad says this may well come too late. With whats already in place republicans really only now need the shutting down of the net for it to become almost impossible to counter without a miracle.
I do however believe in miracles especially when good people are involved.
Democrats you must face this now or history will remember you as the party who would not defend your own country. Show America you will defend it.
“It is like paradise and hell. They throw our petitions in the dustbin. They have everything. We have nothing… If we protest, they send soldiers. They sign agreements with us and then ignore us. We have graduates going hungry, without jobs. And they bring people from Lagos to work here.†– Eghare W.O. Ojhogar, chief of the Ugborodo community in Delta State (of Nigeria)
Sound familiar ?
Link
Well, maybe Alex Jones is right. Maybe the “Democrat Party” (NewSpeak for Democratic Party) is really just “the controlled opposition.”
Ah, Brad, you have tons of what it’s gonna take, my friend, and although I fully understand your reticence about naming names, at some point it might be good for some of these myopic/struthious McGoos to hear from 6 or 7 of us. Until such time, bro, keep a stiff upper lip and all that. It ain’t over until we’re all packed away in Haliburton camps…
Hoping to help make a change, I recently attended a local Democratic party get together in Alabama. They were a nice bunch of people, not well organized, but seeming to be on a good track to improve. So much for that pipe dream. Within a month the “officials” were posting their agenda which includes teaching the Bible in public schools and opposing a womans right to choose. And they have been engaging in an email argument with each other that has even the local high school Democrat club distancing themselves from the “officials”. Sounds like they are cut from the same cloth as the national “officials”.
I am eternally grateful to Brad, Winter Patriot, and the great commenters here for hope for our country. Something will count our votes. Someone will say who won. I sure won’t be voting Republican OR Democrat.
WRITE TO YOUR DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMEN IF YOU LIVE IN A STATE THAT HAS THEM. I SENT THIS EMAIL TO SENATOR KENNEDY.
“Dysfunction at the DNC†is an article on Brad Blog (bradblog.com/?p=3308), a Site committed to elimination of rigged, stolen election via Diebolt and other electronic voting machines. (You are aware, I am sure, that these machines flipped 300,000 voters in Ohio in 2004, keeping Bush/Cheney in the White House.) Brad Friedman writes with dismay that the DNC DID NOT address this issue in any meaningful way at this meeting. Only discussed was monitoring on the day of elections, NOT the use/elimination of these machines. Every time I receive an appeal from the DCCC for a donation ( I made two $50 ones recently), i write back that I consider my money is being thrown away UNLESS they vigorously address this situation of stolen elections via rigged machines. Why should I pay to help generate votes for the Republicans to steal. Please use your very considerable influence in the Democratic party to insist they deal with this issue of voter fraud via stolen elections. I believe it is the only way — but very significant danger — that the Democrats would not gain control of at least one, if not both, the House and the Senate.
To all disheartened “Bradonians”. I think a quote by Howard Zinn is appropriate at this time .
“And to look at history and understand that when change takes place it takes place as a result of large, large numbers of people doing little things unbeknownst to one another. And that history is very important for people to not get discouraged.”
Keep up the good fight.
Christie,you inspired me to Email Feinstein! Here’s how I mdified your letter:
Dear Sen. Feinstein,
Dysfunction at the DNC†is an article on Brad Blog bradblog.com/?p=3308 a Site committed to elimination of rigged, stolen election via Diebolt and other electronic voting machines.
You are aware these machines flipped 300,000 voters in Ohio in 2004, keeping Bush/Cheney in the White House. Brad Friedman believes the DNC DID NOT address this issue in any meaningful way at the DNC in Chicago. Only discussed was monitoring on the day of elections. No other aspect was addressed, not the use, nor the elimination of these machines. Every time I receive an appeal from the DCCC for a donation I indicate that I consider my money is being thrown away UNLESS the Democrats vigorously address stolen elections via rigged machines. Why should I pay to help generate votes for the Republicans to steal? Please use your very considerable influence in the Democratic party to insist that the Party deal with voter fraud via stolen elections.
The November elections are coming up so fast, and they matter a very great deal to those of us who are counting on a Senate and House filled with Democrats to help extricate our country out of the currrent crisis. Please take a stand on behalf of clean, transparent elections.
Brad, thankyou for journeying into the belly of the beast and letting us know that they are all asleep at the switch. Its very sad, but I’d rather be aware of what’s going on. That way we can all work on fixing the situation.
GWN your Howard Zinn quote was exactly what I needed this morning to pep me up and lift my spirits out of the toilet 🙂
…sometimes we think we are not being heard but “they” say for every person who complains there are ten who feel the same way but don’t say anything. I wrote to two companies advertising on our TV programs. The commericals were annoying and one was insulting to the poor. They never responded to me but within a couple of weeks I never saw the ads again? Coincidence maybe, maybe not.
Hounding (I know many of you already do this) the sponsors of MSM propaganda and companies that contribute to the Republicans will have more of an affect/effect? than writing to politicians.
Just a thought…
Correction: Hounding (I know many of you already do this) the sponsors of MSM propaganda and companies that contribute to both parties
Republicanswill have more of an affect/effect? than writing to politicians.I’d really appreciate it if some of you guys who are way smarter than I am would check out this angry and, to my mind, right-freakin’-on article by Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone. It woke me up, pissed me off & fired me up. But (being insecure) I crave validation from others of you in the cruelly-maligned “blogosphere”.
Some excerpts:
“Establishment Dems treat their political party like a house in the fucking Hamptons. Who died and made these people gatekeepers to anything?”
“… the Democratic Party has been operating for two decades without the active participation of its voters.
It raised money by appealing directly to companies in private fundraisers, and it used the commercial media to enforce its policy positions, in particular its desire to “clearly reject our antiwar wing,” as Al From put it a few years back. It’s a simple formula for running one-half of American politics; you decide on John Kerry two years before the presidential vote, raise him $200 million bucks, and let CNN and the New York Times take care of any Howard Deans who might happen to pop up in the meantime. The same greased track is being prepared for Hillary Clinton right now, and we can be quite sure that guns are already being aimed at Russell Feingold…”
“…Hillary’s Senate primary opponent Tasini [is] being shut out of debates by New York’s NY1 TV channel (owned by TimeWarner) which is insisting that qualified candidates not only reach five percent support in the polls (Tasini is at 13 percent and rising) but raise or spend $500,000. Said NY1 Vice President Steve Paulus: “All Tasini would need is for each [New York state registered voter] to send him a dollar. Right now, with the money he’s raised, he does not represent the party he claims to represent.”
So a war chest is now the standard for representation? In order to get on television, you need a dollar from every voter? (Are we electing a Senator or holding a Girl Scout raffle? What the fuck?) And this is decided by… an executive for a corporate television station?…”
This shutting out of Tasini was news to me. Taibbi talks about alot of other stuff, too. Please check it out.
link
Well, Brad, I did warn you about the DNC before you went, but, like the others, I guess it was worth it.
So, what’s wrong with the “Democratic Party?”
Option 1: They are bought and paid for by the same giant transnational corporations that own and operate the Repuglican Party.
Option 2: They fear the corporate-controlled media and its right-wing/neo-con/Republican biased spin. They are afraid if they go after election fraud they will be “Deaned” en-masse and lose whatever hpe they have for 2006 and 2008.
Option 3: They are “inside the beltway” born and bred, coming out of elitist institutions and don’t trust “the people” at all, whether they be progressive bloggers, working-class red-staters, or southern bigots.
You know, in the end, it doesn’t matter WHICH turns out to be true.
Brad,
Thank you from the bottom of my heart. You’re out there fighting for all of us. Even in the face of such a PITIFUL, DEPLORABLE response from the DNC, you give me hope.
I CAN’T GIVE UP WHILE YOU ARE OUT THERE BUSTING YOUR ASS!!!
#31 GWN,
Thanks for that Howard Zinn quote. In that spirit, there’s this:
THE DRAFT GORE PETITION:
“Dear Vice President Gore:
Americans from every corner of our nation are calling on you. Please listen to our plea and run for the Democratic nomination for the presidency of the United States in 2008…”
I still really want him to run. I’m sorry, pardon my French, but f*ck Hillary.
I hope some of you, hell, I hope ALL of you sign it!
Of course, my fantasy is Brad being his running mate, but…as a secret agent I’m sure he’d be too busy.
link to petition
Could it be that the DNC actually likes what the RNC is doing?..Good be just fine by them, after all they are profiting by being included in the Congress “cash cow” too..and their pitiful whine about it all makes it look like they protsting the status quo..(all the way to the bank) maybe its okay if the Rpublicans steal the elction, and doesn’t upset the delicate balance, (legal money laundering) as long as the Dems get their cut….why else would they be so damn stubborn about ignoring the “stealing” of democracy..after all it isn’t hurting them any…I think all incumbents should be thrown out on their butts..and replaced by politicians who actually have ethics and genuine concern for their country and its citizens
What bushit are they going to start teaching kids in school? Oh i get it tell them a fairy tale about how U.S. government works now. Nothing against Santa although if he was really out there i think he would have something to say about the polar ice caps melting from the GLOBAL WARMING CRISIS ignored by the the oil barrons in control of the White House and Congress.
I would hope 7th grade teaches uphold the principles of truth and show our youth how U.S. election use hackable machines in which the outcome in 22 states WILL NOT even have a verifiable paper trail to declare the real winner of popular elections.
That we now have a 2 party corporate system which is really 1 party self serving to their big money corporate contributers known as lobbies. Run by bad actors and actresses who try to misrepresent our new fascist regime by giving the false impression we still have a Democracy.
230 years after leaving the old rule of kings and queens in the dust, our new form of government has stripped the fabric of our right to have legitimate elections where our elected officials are determined by who “we the people” want to represent us.
Instead, along with all the current destructive efforts of the Bush administration as well as the private rights of Americans which has stripped away in the duby’d “terror war” they created out of their 911 attack, the power of “we the people” has been reduced to that of the real power of current royalty in modern England’s government. Virtually nothing! British royalty acts mainly as a figure head of their government only. In U.S. government, WE can vote but in the end it doesn’t fcking matter anymore.
AIPAC is the answer to the question that wasn’t asked. Donna Brazille is from New Orleans. That little fact may explain her slight change of behavior, but still, I’ll go with AIPAC. Thanks for the courage and tenacity, Brad.
Okay, I’m not a Democrat, so I’m a little hesitant to make a point here but, aw shucks, here goes anyway.
It sounds to me that the DNC does not believe the election integrity thing is real, but they need the existence of people like Brad to use for foottroops just in case an election goes squeaky close a la Florida 2000. They are more interested in activists’ warm bodies and TV face time when a squeaker comes along than the message Brad et al are putting out.
Sorry, but it seems you’re not being believed, just used. Maybe that’s a tad too cynical. Maybe they have a fatalistic view of the judiciary.
Brad’s revelations from the DNC explain alot. The Democratic Party Platforms have always seemed so out of sinc with what the grassroots are concerned with. How many times I find myself watching a missed opportunity with their simple-minded itty bitty talking points that appear so passionless. Pelosi and Reid speak so quietly and genuinely afraid of ruffling feathers. Give me an Al Sharpton any day. If I see Joe Biden on Hardball one more time, I’ll scream.
If this party wants to win an election, they have alot of pent-up energy and anger to tap into if they’ll allow some “outsiders” in.
No wonder I hear so much about 3rd parties.
#35 — Joan — What is so, so sad is that Tasini represents the views of New York Democrats for the most part. More so than Hillary Clinton. He thinks so, and I do too. I believe if we took the time to do some poll research, it would be clear.
But it is irrelevant, apparently. What a statement – “Right now, with the money he’s raised, he does not represent the party he claims to represent.” If he had Time Warner and all kinds of corporate contributions behind him, then he’d represent the party?
Democrats need to notch up their rebellion quite a few notches in the face of such outrageous and revealing statements.
I clicked on “link to petition” in comment #37, which was presented as a Draft Gore petition. I filled it all out including a substantial and heartfelt note to Al Gore under Comments. When I clicked on “Submit” I got back a confusing notice that basically said “Invalid Petition.” What is the story?
I think petitioning Al Gore to be the candidate and petitioning the DCCC to nominate him are great ideas. Can we pursue this approach?
However, the Brad Blog is dealing with THE crucial issue. We must get rid of these Diebolt and other electronic voting machines. If we do not, we are fooling ourselves that any of our other efforts matter. Please write to any and all Senators, Congressmen, state election officials, newspapers, radio and TV stations that you can about this crucial issue. Remember, each contact from one individual is assumed to statistically represent perhaps 1000 people.
Man, we should call these DNC lawyers “Public Advocates.” not because that’s what they are, but that’s how effective they are at getting the job done.
Some advice for the Dems.
You have a big problem with the MSM.
Did you notice when Feingold was appearing in the Media pushing the censour issue Bush’s popularity fell to below 30 %. He did not let the MSM push him around and was effective in reducing Bush’s popularity.
You need a certain type of person with a certain attitude to get past the MSM bullshit. Feingold so far has shown the most promise in this aspect.
If he chooses to and with the backing of your party he has the ability to lead an all out offensive against rigged elections before November. Let him test the waters now and measure the public reaction.
He would make a good candidate for 2008 when compared to Hillary for the following reasons. Maybe they would be running mates.
1) There are still a proportion of men “and women” who will not vote for a feminist type woman. They would probably vote for Anne Coulter though as she supports reducing womens rights. You need the difference in votes to be irrefutable so you cannot afford to loose any part of the electorate.
2) He will appeal to smart voters because he seems smart and they will understand what he is saying.
3) He will appeal to not quite so smart voters because he’s nice looking 🙂
4) He will not let the MSM get past him.
5) He shows some passion which you are all either hiding or no longer have.
6) He seems to have integrity. “You can only really tell when the chips are down.”
You may have been recently devasted by the lieberman defeat leading to the MSM branding you as the antiwar party and feel this label will hurt you.
Have you noticed the polls. This is no longer working. Putting forward a withdrawl that would bring in the UN peackeeping forces I believe would be a popular and effective exit from Iraq.
If there are others in your party who can hold their own in the biasd MSM bring them out in force and let them speak.
Thanks for your efforts, Brad. I have no doubt that election fraud will be a big issue this election – the Pubs will make a stink about it.
I agree with EPPIE (#47). I think the Repuglicans are planning on making a few of their races close ones that they LOSE, so that they can challenge the “voter fraud” and make it look like electoral fraud is an issue that “goes both ways.”
The whole idea that electoral fraud is not a partisan issue is CRAP and one of the reasons that I gave up on BBV in late 2004/early 2005 when they kept saying “keep it non-partisan.” Maybe they had already been told by the Democratic Party that they were not going to get behind any efforts, but that didn’t change the fact that it WAS partisan.
Guess what folks — ONLY ONE PARTY HAS STOLEN TWO PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS through fraud, immoral, and illegal actions. ONLY ONE PARTY HAS STOLEN COUNTLESS CONGRESSIONAL SEATS THROUGH ELECTORAL FRAUD. And, whether for lack of effort, lack of resources, or just good-naturedness, that party has NOT been the Democratic party.
REPUGLICANS STEAL ELECTIONS, DEMS DON’T.
To miss this little point will lead you down a dozen very dangerous rabbit holes.
Boy – I go away for a couple days and come back to all kinds of new people and many with links to other blogs.
Looks like Brad’s been spreading the word far and wide. This is great! 😉
I’ve got a lot of catching up to do I see!
There are about five instances on this thread where the Ohio vendor of electronic voting machines is referred to as DIEBOLT,.. the correct name of that company is DIEBOLD. No big thing,.. but,.. a criminal enterprise should not enjoy the luxury/confusion of its name being misspelled.
Link to DIEBOLD info.
BB-2
A full fledged street revolution was started during your absence,.. Welcome Back !
“Won’t You please Come To Chicago….”
Brad,
On one hand You shoulda punched him.
Abbie would have wanted it that way.
But Abbie was all about immediate (street) credibility
On the other, maybe it will sink in
or the fuckers will die off
Eventually
But having met both you and your
awesome Folks in Nashville
I know why you didn’t deck him
As we say down south
“Your Folks didn’t raise no “Idjots”
PS_
We really did levitate the pentagon
You had to be there
Wiley
Wiley #52 said:
“PS_
We really did levitate the pentagon
You had to be there”
Well that explains everything! The plane actualy flew under the pentagon and only the tip of the tail hit it making that little hole!
When fascism pounces, it isn’t at all subtle about it. But its so-called opponents, the DNC, don’t like to witness violence and gore, so they fastidiously turn their heads.
My God!!! We’ve entrusted our collective fate to panty-waists!!!!!!!
Peg C said:
Panty Waist