– Former Democratic OH Sec. of State Jennifer Brunner to MSNBC, 10/22/12
To be frank, while it’s no secret that the Center for American Progress has always been an outside extension of the Democratic Party, their important blog site, Think Progress, has served as a crucial, and journalistically sound fact-checker on the excesses, inaccuracies and blatant fabrications of the Right over the past several years.
I have been more than happy to cite their excellent work on a number of fronts over the years and take no pleasure in calling them, their new Senior Editor Judd Legum, and one of their writers, Aviva Shen, out here on The BRAD BLOG for an egregious and, frankly, outrageous journalistic failure.
It is one thing to make an error. We all do it. It is quite another thing indeed — and what, in my opinion, separates real journalists from hacks — when, once called out with independently fact-based and verifiable evidence of those errors, one sticks to the original error come what may.
That’s exactly what Legum and Think Progress have decided to do, as the email discussion between Legum and me illustrates below. I’m sorry I have to even run it, but, for journalists, credibility is our only currency — (especially those of us not funded by major foundations, as Think Progress is…so feel free to hit the tip jar here!) — and being smeared, without correction, from a respected institution like Think Progress is extraordinarily damaging to all that we do here.
So here’s what happened…
On Monday morning, TP’s Aviva Shen posted an article headlined “Why Romney Isn’t Rigging Voting Machines”. Never mind the fact that neither Shen nor Think Progress have any idea whether Romney is or isn’t rigging voting machines — they present no evidence in the article either way — what is most outrageous are the factually inaccurate smears in the piece, in which The BRAD BLOG (with a link to this article responding to NBC’s Chuck Todd who made a similarly outrageous smear on Twitter over the weekend), as well as Truthout (with a link to this article reposted from FreePress.org by Ohio-based investigative journalists Gerry Bello, Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman) and even Forbes magazine, for chrissakes, (with a link to this this Rick Ungar article) are all called out, smeared in fact, by Shen and Think Progress as “conspiracy theorists”.
The Truthout/Free Press article, as well as the Forbes piece, offer well-supported investigative journalism highlighting the ties between H.I.G. Capital and Hart Intercivic, the nation’s third largest voting machines company. H.I.G. Capital “acquired” Hart in a deal last year, according to the firm who brokered the deal. H.I.G., which is believed to stand for “Hart Intercivic Group”, is run by several very major Romney backers, former Bain employees, and is heavily financed by the investment group created by Mitt Romney’s son Tagg, with his father’s seed money and business associates. Moreover, as the journalists reported, several members of Hart Intercivic’s board (40% of the board, in fact) have made direct contributions to the Romney campaign.
What Truthout/Free Press and Forbes did was called reporting or journalism. I briefly, and quite reasonably, offered my take on some of the Free Press’ coverage after they original broke the news of the ties between the Romneys and Hart Intercivic some weeks ago, as I explained in my polite article responding to Chuck Todd’s smear on Sunday:
I offered my point of view about those concerns earlier this month, explaining that it was not just the private ownership of Hart’s machines by Romney backers which voters should be concerned about, but the private ownership of the similar systems in all fifty states that will once again be used to tabulate the results of this year’s Presidential Election with little — and very often zero — possibility of oversight by the public or even by election officials.
In that same original article, I had also cited the work on the very same issue by former Think Progress journalist Lee Fang, who now writes for The Nation, and explained that:
You can read both of those full articles for yourself — to which Shen’s Monday article at Think Progress alluded in her opening graf this way:
Before you read the emails between myself and TP’s Editor Legum, who stands by TP’s reporting, incredibly, please keep in mind that a) at some point during the day on Monday they quietly excised the reference to Ungar’s article at Forbes without explanation and b) later in the afternoon, after my email thread with Legum, Jennifer Brunner, the former Democratic Secretary of State of Ohio — whose landmark EVEREST study on e-voting in Ohio I cited in my Sunday article, and who I’ve interviewed on several occasions over the years (most recently in August here) — was interviewed about the very same concerns by MSNBC, who, she told: “I think you’d be right to call out Romney and his son for having a financial interest in this company. It doesn’t look good.”
Will Think Progress smear MSNBC as “conspiracy theorists” now as well? How about Karen Finney, the former Communications Director for the DNC, now political analyst for MSNBC, who talked about “Tagg Romney [and] those voting machines in Ohio” on Twitter last night after the debate? Is she also a “conspiracy theorist”?
(Never mind that that all happened on MSNBC/NBC, which also happens to employ both Chuck Todd and Donald Trump, whose “Trump birther garbage” Todd compared “voting machine conspiracies” to on Sunday.)
Anyway, that’s more than enough background. I suspect the emails yesterday between myself and Legum — who, again, still stands by the smear of this website, though apparently not the one against Forbes, which has been removed without explanation — more than speak for themselves…
Sent: Monday, October 22, 2012 1:57 PM
To: Igor Volsky ; Judd Legum
Cc: ‘Lee Fang’
Subject: URGENT: Inappropriate ThinkProgress attack on BRAD BLOG
Igor & Judd –
I initially sent this to Faiz, though hadn’t realized he was no longer there. He directed me to you guys.
Please see the note below ASAP. Also, please note that Aviva also forwards the idea that discussing these matters somehow depresses turnout. She offers no evidence to that end, just makes the assertion. I could send you actual evidence to the contrary, but my main concern is not about her opinion on that, it is on the inappropriate assertions she’s made about our work at The BRAD BLOG. Please see the note below, and I hope you’ll take corrective measures ASAP.
Best,
Brad
==============================
Faiz –
The article posted by Aviva Shen at ThinkProgress, in which I am cited, is inaccurate, inappropriate, outrageous, unsupported by evidence and I would appreciate if you would add a VERY CLEAR correction at the top of the article concerning its unsupported assertions against The BRAD BLOG.
Aviva writes (among other things):
A new conspiracy theory being floated around the liberal blogosphere claims that a voting machine company with distant ties to Bain and Company is planning to fix the election for Mitt Romney before the ballots are even cast. The theory, circulated by Truthout, BradBlog, Forbes, and others, suggests that Hart Intercivic, a company that owns electronic voting machines in Ohio, will program the machines to tally the votes for Romney.
My take on this issue was made very clear two weeks ago in: About that Voting Machine Company Tied to Mitt Romney and Bain Capital… wherein, I explained the threat to election integrity concerning voting systems is not from Romney associates, any more than from George W. Bush associates or from associates of Hugo Chavez (all of whom have varying stakes in voting machine companies), but rather in the full privatization of our once-public election system, and in the fact that the systems now used are proprietary to those corporations as well as technically impossible for the citizenry to oversee.
I further outlined the dangers of such systems in yesterday’s: NBC News Election Expert Chuck Todd: Voting Machine Concerns are ‘Conspiracy Garbage’ which Aviva had the courtesy to link to, but which makes no claims at all that “a company that owns electronic voting machines in Ohio, will program the machines to tally the votes for Romney.”
You know I have long been, and remain, a longtime fan of ThinkProgress. But Aviva’s incredibly inappropriate smear against The BRAD BLOG as asserting a “conspiracy” theory is wholly inappropriate and should be immediately rectified prominently and in no uncertain terms.
If you read the two articles linked above, I believe you will find that they do not resemble what Aviva is charging, in any way.
I do not wish to go the route I went against Chuck Todd in this matter, as I believe you guys were not being as derelict as he was. So I am trying to contact you discretely right here. Moreover, I suspect, now that I’ve pointed these facts out to you, you will do the right thing now that this has been brought to your attention (unlike Chuck who was also given a similar opportunity before I took to the blog instead to make my point.)
If you, or Aviva, have any questions at all — including tough ones on any of these points, or anything else I have ever reported — you know you are welcome to reach me either here or by voice (###-###-####). I am happy to go on record supporting anything I have ever reported. Frankly, I’m somewhat disappointed that Avivia didn’t attempt to do that before lumping me into a conspiracy theory in which I have not participated.
Brad
Brad Friedman
Publisher/Editor, The BRAD BLOG
Sent: Monday, October 22, 2012 2:24 PM
To: Brad Friedman
Cc: Igor Volsky
Subject: Re: URGENT: Inappropriate ThinkProgress attack on BRAD BLOG
Brad:
Thanks for your note. I think that your article very clearly suggests that these voting machines could be rigged in Romney’s favor. Specifically:
“[I]t was not just the private ownership of Hart’s machines by Romney backers which voters should be concerned about, but the private ownership of the similar systems in all fifty states that will once again be used to tabulate the results of this year’s Presidential Election with little — and very often zero — possibility of oversight by the public or even by election officials.”
You then follow with a list of examples, including alleged examples of “gaming elections.” And from your previous article:
So whatever the private Republican company reported, accurately or inaccurately, to be the results that night were generally regarded as the official results of the election.
That is virtually the same threat presented by the private, unoverseeable third-party corporations which now control the election machinery — voting and tabulation systems — itself in all 50 states in the union. Concerns about this matter are justifiable no matter which party you may or may not support.
So, in my judgment, a correction is not warranted.
Best,
Judd
Sent: Monday, October 22, 2012 2:39 PM
To: ‘Judd Legum’
Cc: ‘Igor Volsky’
Subject: RE: URGENT: Inappropriate ThinkProgress attack on BRAD BLOG
You are correct, in that I did “very clearly suggest that these voting machines could be rigged in Romney’s favor”. That is not a “conspiracy” theory, that is a fact very well supported in the evidence that I linked to in my piece to Chuck Tood (including links to California’s Top-to-Bottom review, Ohio’s EVEREST test, studies by Princeton University and Argonne National Labs, etc.)
I also noted, in the same article(s), that the same concerns lie with any private company that has proprietary control of our voting machines, such as Smartmatic, the Venezuelan firm tied to Hugo Chavez and who still has ownership of the Intellectual Property in the Sequoia Voting Systems voting machines used in about a third of the country.
That is very different from Aviva’s completely unsupported allegation that I am “floating” a “new conspiracy theory” that “a voting machine company with distant ties to Bain and Company is planning to fix the election for Mitt Romney”. That is in the very first graf of her article, and is completely without basis in anything that I have reported on this matter.
She further writes that I have posited that “Hart Intercivic, a company that owns electronic voting machines in Ohio, will program the machines to tally the votes for Romney.”
I know you are very busy this time of year, but to say that “a correction is not warranted” in this matter suggests that you have not read either my work or hers very closely. I hope you will review your assessment.
By the way, as far as facts go (that don’t have anything to do with smearing my work), Aviva also notes that:
- “Hart Intercivic is partially owned by HIG Capital”. In fact, the company who brokered the deal, Cabrillo Advisors, reports on their website that HIG “acquired” Hart Intercivic.
- “The rigged machines myth is not only distracting, but harms the effort to get out the vote.” As I noted previously, she offers no evidence to support her assertion that discussing the scientific basis for these concerns “harms the effort to get out the vote”. I have found quite the opposite in my near-decade in reporting on these issues and, if you like, unlike Aviva, can offer at least some evidence to back up that assertion.
Again, with all due respect, and I have much for you, Igor and the work that Think Progress does every day, the article is just blatantly wrong with respect to The BRAD BLOG’s reporting, at the very least, and should be prominently and swiftly CORRECTED to that end.
Once again, please let me know if you have any questions on these matters, any of the points I’ve made in my letters to you, or on any of my nearly 10 years of well-documented and independently verifiable reporting on this issue.
Brad
Sent: Monday, October 22, 2012 2:49 PM
To: Brad Friedman
Cc: Igor Volsky
Subject: Re: URGENT: Inappropriate ThinkProgress attack on BRAD BLOG
Sorry Brad but this email only further convinces me that a correction isn’t warranted.
You admit you “very clearly suggest that these voting machines could be rigged in Romney’s favor.”
We reported that you are “floating” and “suggesting” this will happen.
— Judd
Sent: Monday, October 22, 2012 2:59 PM
To: ‘Judd Legum’
Cc: ‘Igor Volsky’; ‘faiz.shakir’; Lee Fang
Subject: RE: URGENT: Inappropriate ThinkProgress attack on BRAD BLOG
Of course they “could be”. I have long reported that, with an extraordinary body evidence (even showing that they, in fact, have been!) and I otherwise dare you to find either a computer scientist who has worked on a study of these systems, or an election official who has commissioned a study of them that would suggest otherwise!
Aviva didn’t say that I reported they “could be rigged”. She wrote that I reported that “Bain and Company is planning to fix the election for Mitt Romney” and that “a company that owns electronic voting machines in Ohio, will program the machines to tally the votes for Romney.”
If you are able to point to where I’ve reported any such thing, I will happily apologize for bothering you on this matter. If you cannot, the right thing to do is to CORRECT YOUR ARTICLE swiftly and promptly, as any legitimate journalistic organization would do in this matter.
As you know, there are other ways I can deal with this issue, but I’ve chosen, out of respect for you guys and the good work that you do, to handle it this way, in hopes that you do the right thing. That you haven’t already, frankly, and again with all due respect, is rather astounding to me.
Brad
Sent: Monday, October 22, 2012 3:05 PM
To: Brad Friedman
Cc: Igor Volsky
Subject: Re: URGENT: Inappropriate ThinkProgress attack on BRAD BLOG
She wrote that it is a theory which you are “floating” and “suggesting.” Which is exactly what you are doing. Not sure we have any reason to go around and around on this anymore. — Judd
Sent: Monday, October 22, 2012 3:13 PM
To: ‘Judd Legum’
Cc: ‘Igor Volsky’; ‘faiz.shakir’; Lee Fang
Subject: RE: URGENT: Inappropriate ThinkProgress attack on BRAD BLOG
Surprising and very disappointing to say the least.
Must head to TV studio now to do Hartmann, will deal with this publicly instead, I guess. Still hope you revisit in the meantime, since I’m quite sure you are unable to support the notion that I have “claim[ed]…that a voting machine company with distant ties to Bain and Company is planning to fix the election for Mitt Romney” or that I have “suggest[ed]… that Hart Intercivic, a company that owns electronic voting machines in Ohio, will program the machines to tally the votes for Romney.”
There is no question that they CAN, but that you don’t understand the diff between CAN and “will” or “is planning to” is simply remarkable.
For the record, to further help you understand my case, I have never regarded these matters as “conspiracy theory” as Aviva does, because a) It is not a “theory” that this is possible. It has been shown over and again by one scientific report after another and, indeed, has happened. And b) As I have pointed out many many times, it doesn’t require a “conspiracy”. It requires one insider with the proper access and about 30 seconds worth of keystrokes. That too, is based in firm science.
Think Progress — and it’s excellent Climate Progress blog — does not regard the science about global warming from climate scientists as “conspiracy theories”, that you regard the similar science from computer scientists and security experts (which I have linked to from years of independently verifiable and undisputed studies) to be “conspiracy theory” is indescribably disappointing.
Brad
When the Senior Editors of New York Times responded similarly via email, defending their inaccurate and damaging reporting regarding the ACORN “pimp” hoax carried out by James O’Keefe, it only took them six months to eventually concede that I was correct, at least in part, before making partial corrections to nearly a dozen inaccurate stories that I had shown them to be incorrect months earlier. Ironically, Think Progress cited much of our reporting on that issue at the time.
I can only hope it doesn’t take nearly as long for Think Progress to do the right thing themselves, and issue, at this point, not only a CORRECTION, but — after a full day of these inaccurate smears against us highlighted at the top of their very well-read web site — a prominent APOLOGY for this inexcusable journalistic failure.
* * *
UPDATE 10/23/12: My appearances on Thom Hartmann’s TV show last night and on Ed Schultz’ radio show this morning, discussing Romney/Bain control of Hart Intercivic, the Think Progress smear and related “conspiracies” now right here…
UPDATE 10/26/12: At some point, the obnoxious, inaccurate Think Progress piece in question added an undated “UPDATE” explaining that the Forbes piece was removed from their list of “conspiracy theorists” because it “includes a caveat that the author does not believe there will be any intentional foul play with voting machines.” So a belief test is now required to pass muster at TP? So long as you believe the right thing, and are sure to express it — no matter the lack of evidence to support that belief either way — you’re cool? Okay. Got it.
In relatedly idiotic news, Think Progress is now “floating” a conspiracy theory concerning Romney’s conflict of interest with the ship building business, in the wake of his call for more Navy ships.
UPDATE 5/4/2017: Yes, this update is posted five years later. Thought it might be worth it in order to link over to an excellent piece at Think Progress by Jesse B. Staniforth headlined “How easy would it be to rig the next election?”. Ironically enough, Staniforth covers pretty much everything that I’ve reported about the vulnerability of electronic voting and tabulation systems here for the past 15 years. Ya know, the stuff that Think Progress called me a “conspiracy theorist” for reporting years ago — back when it might have helped to inform the public, rather than smear those reporting it.
For the record, five years later, neither reporter Aviva Shen nor Think Progress editor Judd Legum have ever apologized for the smear nor corrected their original article. But I’m glad to see they finally noticed the very serious problem that we still have with our voting and tabulation systems.
Reading the comments (170+) it looks like the majority are well informed on electronic voting but you do have 5-6 comments saying but,Soros, Soros,Soros owns voting machines.
What a slap on the face eh.
Brad: they’re getting like the Huffington Post. Recently, TP (toilet paper?) APOLOGIZED for saying “Israeli Firster”.
http://www.commentarymagazine.c...srael-firster/
So that tells me they bend to complaints that they’re not “official mainstream”. Official Story = protect “officials”.
Brad…conspiracy or not…our country is being shredded by the wingers by any means necessary…The voting machines have been proven to be inaccurate to begin with…and without a paper trail we cannot really know the truth…Instead of arguing about who is or who could, we should be talking about the solution to this dilemma…which is a public counting of the ballots and reporting results locally before sending results in…Brad we are in a battle of the ballot box…we need to take back our electoral process from the private sector…if we are to survive as a real democracy…we the People, have to fight for our rights, and keep these corporate terrorists from whittling away any more of our rights. Keep doing what you are doing, Brad, and thanks for keeping watch…
Apparently Humpty Dumpty has many offspring, people who without reservation believe that words mean whatever they chose them to mean. Seems to me there’s a lot of this going around whether the subject is Iran, the president’s hit list, climate change, our faith-based voting systems, etc. As this latest and incredibly maddening example demonstrates, this sort of magic thinking is not the sole preserve of wingnuts.
Its one thing for Think Progress to have a writer make duh a claim but to have editor back it instread of correct it and to under handily remove their swipe at more established Forbes to better be able to stick to unsubstantiated claims against individual blogger is ridiculous, and infuriating.
To deny possibility that electronic vote count machines could be rigged, hacked, easily, is journalistic malpractice. Seriously, think progress is doing worse than Fox news in this case, they are saying we, the American people, shouldnt be concerned about the security of vote counting computer systems, because they know (based on nothing, no evidence presented) better than Forbes, Truth out, various Sec of States who all have done thorough investigations and all have concerns.
The whole country is having numerous media debates about a very small problem, voter fraud that can occur if voter not ID’d, and legislation is being passed about this small election security issue but Think Progress says that we shouldn’t be concerned about security of uncheckable software vote counting systems?!? And calls Brad Blog and Forbes, and by implication, various Secs of States, conspiracy theorist?!?
Hey Brad…. these days in journalism, “will” is the new “can,” and IOKIYAR or a stooge of the R.
I saw some headline or other (one of many that have enraged me of recent months, or is it years?): went something like “Will taxes be less under Romney?”
Yeah, “will.” Not…If Romney wins, will taxes be less?” Not… “Could taxes be less under Romney?”
I remember thinking, oh, the fix is in, is it? So he won already? More like, they wanted people to get the idea fixed in their minds that he’s already won… and so affect the vote slightly to his benefit.
Never have I seen a recent headline. “Will the economy rebound under Obama?”
So your despicable TP “colleagues” are just following in the other pseudojournalists’ footsteps in helping to promote the Repugs in every way possible. You made your point very, very clearly. That they refused to acknowledge it is incredibly dishonest.
You might ask them who first told them you were such a moral hazard that they needed to slap you down the way they did… it might prove interesting.
Wow. Classic reading comprehension problem. “Can” does not mean “will”. Never has. Never will. Or can, for that matter..
Removing Forbes so quickly indicates the DC corporate media rules his world. Taking the side of the uninformed Chuck Todd indicates Legum is actually a Villager, deep iInside the Village bubble, currying favor for his next job. Dont want to insult the master, you know. What a shame.
For the last year plus TP has held the #1 spot on my news aggregator app on my phone.
Brad Blog has been #2.
I saw the TP piece yesterday and was absolutely HORRIFIED by the smear. I scoured the article here, parsing the language, and came to a swift conclusion. I stand firmly in Brad Blog’s corner.
This is worse than when I found out John Elway is a douchebag, which happenned BEFORE I found out he was a right wing douchebag, btw. Total Dick. But I digress.
Somebody from up high in the Party Apparatchik had to be behind this. To remove Forbes without notice, but leave the rest of the article untouched (am I correct in that?) only reinforces that belief.
This is the same kind of magical thinking that prevented LBJ from calling out Nixon on the Vietnam peace treaty deal. Look where that got ’em. TP and the democratic party should heed your words.
I’m tired of Brad getting no credit when his reporting is pilfered without acknowledgemnt. But to be smeared by an otherwise great (however one-sided and biased) organization, well, that’s just messed up. As The Dude would say, The Dude does not abide. I think I got that right. You get the point.
Strongly-worded letter of condemnation coming their way.
From the Forbes article (which protested over and over again that NO ONE would EVER attempt to hack the vote — at least not those nice folks who bought Hart Intercivic):
Yeah, really, guys. Couldn’t you have kept your ties to Romney under wraps instead of being so goll-darn blatant about it? Now geez, people might actually look up from their grazing and wonder what is going on — not, of course that anything ever was, or ever is, or ever will be!
These are the kind of people TP likes — and that Forbes didn’t blame anybody for anything ever was FAR more important that the facts they reported on!
Because, y’know Brad, you’re a distraction and all, making people worry about their vote. We ALL know that NOBODY would EVER MESS with our Wonderful Democratic Process!
In Corporate Politicians We Trust!
From “Why Romney Isn’t Rigging Voting Machines:”
Um, so yeah, like we didn’t find any emails saying, you know, like, they’re gonna hack the vote, so they just won’t do it, right, and oh yeah, it’s not gonna go down in Ohio in a couple a’ counties, because that’s where the whole problem might be, y’know, but there ISN’T any problem, we keep TELLIN’ ya….
I had the same visceral reaction when I read that TP article. Using TP’s whacked out logic, it’d be like saying “I’ve got the worst neighbors in the world… they plug in and take my electricity at night, use my water spigots when I’m not looking, go through my mail, take my dog’s food to give to their own, and throw their trash over into my yard… They already do so many awful things, I can’t see how they could possibly have the time or desired to break in and steal some things from my house.”
Ed Schultz has a change of heart about discussions of voting machines being a, career killer. He is going all in on discussing Tagg’s machines tonight. This should be interesting.
See what happens if you don’t kiss the toes of the corporate elite/Beltway media complex? j/k.
Keep on keepin’ on Brad.
You’re light years ahead of them on this.
Elway was a douchebag as far back as the 1982 Big Game.
TP has just jumped the shark.
emailed TP through its Climate Progress site and demanded an immediate apology and correction or myself and everyone I know will toss TP and CP in the trash.
Why is TP suddenly the self-appointed thought police for the left? They’ve also taken it upon themselves this week to decide which movies Hollywood actors can appear in or not. Bizarre.
This is at once unbelievable and yet expected.
Mainstream Democrats have stuck their collective heads in the sand over electronic voting machines (owned by whomever) which have been proven to flip votes to Republican candidates, and which have NO paper trails to allow manual recounts. These same Dems also ignore the role of Right Wing media makers in winning elections for the GOP.
Shame on them all, starting with Think Progress, for decimating Democracy.
This is why I cannot bring myself to register as a Democrat. I have been waiting a long time for them to grow a spine, now it looks more like a tail.
Elway was my childhood sports hero! Oh I was so bummed.
I’ll just say I have eyewitness testimony to douchebaggery on a grand scale at a restaurant “tangentially linked” to the one I worked at.
Tangentially linked (my new favorite term) as in owned and operated by the same exact people, 20-ish miles away from one another.
Just sent a message to TP after commenting on the post.
By the reader comments I saw, they didn’t assuage any concerns by anyone who appeared to have a brain who wasn’t a troll, so, I do believe it was one epic FAIL!!!!!!!!!
Perhaps they are being all cocky because they feel that Romney is a liberal plant.
Especially after last night’s debate.
Now that is a conspiracy theory fit for the DOJ.
Shame on you Think Progress!
Brad is on the Ed Schultz Radio show right now.
Thank god. Good job on the segment Brad. Made my day especially after reading harpers yesterday. Hope your on TV tonight.
As I have said several times in the past, and recently: Brad, you’re doing God’s work here.
It truly sucks when your own allies criticize what you’re doing and try to silence you with labels like “conspiracy theorist”. Alas, I’ve had a similar experience–when I first wrote about the DHS coordinating with city police chiefs during the nationwide violent crackdown on peaceful Occupy protests, a prominent Alternet editor called me hysterical and said that I was letting fever dreams get the best of me. Turned out I was right, though. He never apologized, not even privately via e-mail.
I think one has to develop very thick skin when one is reporting on such disturbing material as the possibility of our voting machines–and along with it, our very democracy–being compromised. People will tell themselves all manner of stories and will lash out at the messenger, if need be, in order to avoid facing such disturbing truths. And by “people”, I of course include journalists.
It might also have something to do with a bit of professional jealousy, who knows? But either way, in my view, there should be only one guiding motivation for a real journalist, and that is the desire to shine a light on the truth. And as such, you go where the facts lead you as you pursue that truth, changing your course or doubling down as necessary, but always letting the facts–the data, the science, the indisputable–guide you.
Think Progress has lost its way here. For shame.
Why not reference HBO’s documentary “Hacking Democracy”?
Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYIezJyhGWY
(HTML tags did not work)
The new name for TP is “Think Clueless” when it comes to the pathetic state of election technology in the U.S.eh?
addressing the theory that letting progressives know that vote counting is done in a concealed manner by private corporations will drive down turn out…..if progressives really understood what is happening they would realize the only protection we have against rigged machines is massive turn out…a recent article by bev said that republican voters names were listed twice in the particapating voters list in primaries and 3 times in general elections,while she did not assert that votes were counted twice,i think we get the idea that it is possible….
The CAP and TP have been in the veal pen for a long time. I’m a bit surprised it took this long for them to try to throw Brad under the bus.
I did a quick review of TP site. The article cannot be found by scanning through the posts or looking at the Election 2012 articles. I only refound it by clicking on Brad’s link to the article.
I scanned through some comments and found none that agree with the article at all. Most are incredulous that the article finds no connection and say it is a conflict of interest.
The same person wrote an article about the Ohio postcards with the wrong info on them and implies that this was done on purpose. Very strange.
My opinion is that this is limited to the writer of the article and that one editor. Some of the other articles are very interesting and very left wing. I get no sense that TP is ‘in the bag’ for the right.
Thom Hartmann is very close to TP and I wonder what his opinion is on this. I have a feeling he won’t commit either way. He will have Brad on his show but will not burn the bridge to TP.
It is a shame this has happened because I would think the 2 sites are on the same side. The main point should be, now that it is established that there is a link between the Romney family and these voting machines, what safeguards are in place to prevent the appearance of conflict of interest?
How extremely ODD that TP, of all sites, would cry “conspiracy theory !” when none was ever set forth, and would also attempt to discredit you, Brad, when even a brief perusal of your blog instantly disproves that far-fetched slur.
I suppose it’d be just too terribly “tin foil hat” of me to wonder why — just whose tail did you step on to could elicit such a shrill attack ?
Gustav @ 28,
Yes, it looks like the article’s been removed from the main body of the site. It still shows in the “ELECTION” subsection of the site, currently the third article down.
Dickheads added a lame update, re Forbes pardon.
O/T Question: Is early voting a way to prevent or preclude any electronic voting fraud which might occur on election night ?
IOW … are early voting ballots in some way “pre-counted” ? Or are they also processed and tallied through e-voting machines ?
Last spring the AP mus-characterized, actually reversed, the meaning of some of my testimony to the state legislature, it was quoted in all sorts of newspapers online. But I saw it and called the AP. They changed it within minutes and it was corrected everywhere. My only regret was that in my haste I did not point out that they also did the same thing to another person who also testified on the same bill. We all make mistakes, but we should all be willing to correct them.
Well I guess if the media can somehow conflate vote machine ownership ties with voter registration fraud then they can claim both as a conspiracy theory. And then they don’t have to report anything except, well, you get the drift. They work for the 1%, not us anymore.
The pattern of deception is becoming clearer.
How much of a stretch could it be to even state that Romney’s planing to fix this election in his favor? He’s already done it in the primaries!
I think it’s a good idea to observe very carefully what you’re bucking heads with. If they are using the hackneyed “conspiracy theorist” label to dismiss your descriptions of the precise mechanism for how the election may be rigged, welcome to the phony left/right paradigm. Bucked heads with it in AZ for long enough.
Romney and his supporters have already demonstrated their intent to cheat.
Think Progress does no damage to your site. In the long run, you make your site look a lot better.
To Whom It May Concern,
I received an Emmy nomination for journalism for my coverage of election integrity issues in 2007 for my HBO documentary Hacking Democracy. The film was recognized by the academy for separating out all the conspiracy theory and making plain the journalistic facts.
I would like to state for the record that there is simply no better source than Brad Friedman for consistent and well researched journalism, of the highest standards possible, on the issue of election integrity.
None.
Sincerely,
Robert C. Cohen
producer
Public Interest Pictures
By the way, Brad. The name and email I used for previous comments here have repeatedly failed the character test today when placing this comment. Switched to another name and email and voila! Up it goes. Can you check this and maybe let my name/email pass through the comments section on your site again?
Thanks.
I will run this story on my little program tomorrow. I ran the TP story on Monday. I have read your site since we had am1360 here in San Diego and I met you at a festival at UCSD. I trust your work as opposed to corporate influenced werbsites. Shame on TP. I will think twice before I run any more of their pieces.
Brad,
Positively disgusted here. I am writing solely to thank you and support you first. There is much to say on the topic, there are letters to Chuck Todd, TP etc we can and will write but I just feel like saying to you that you are a great person and vital force in this fight we call democracy.
You work so very hard and you work ONLY for honesty and fairness for all. I am sorry, I thank you, you are appreciated and sorely needed.
I hope this only makes you more determined because it is plain by the attention your getting that you are hitting the right spot.
Push back and push back constantly. Keep your energy up, eat well and last long.
And here’s to Mike Malloy for blowing the horn for you!
Sincerely, Mighty D
Lee is making a terrible error and if anything it will damage his reputation in the long run. I am so surprised with this coming from Lee Fang. I had such respect for him until now. I had always thought of him as a thinking, reasoning, really good investigative journalist. Here, I think he has slipped deeply in his thinking. He has not considered a plethora of FACTS that cannot be refuted. It is bad enough when the right wingnuts smears you and the MSM disses you but this coming from Lee Fang is very disturbing. Divide and conquer. That is the right’sMO and Lee is playing into their hands.
“Recent events show why election theft deserves much more scrutiny than it receives from either government officials or news reporters. Most dramatically, a federal judge has released the 2008 testimony of GOP IT guru Michael Connell, right. The Ohio resident died in a mysterious plane crash that year after anonymous warnings he would be killed if he testified about his work with Karl Rove and others helping the Bush-Cheney ticket win in 2000 and 2004.” Andrew Kreig
http://justice-integrity.org/in...&Itemid=1
Perhaps this testimony should be published?
http://markcrispinmiller.com/20...g-reveals-all/
I know this is old news to Brad, but still very relevant if you are unfamiliar with it.
@Queenvictrola #40 This article is not about Lee Fang,who now works at the Nation.
Notice that the Forbes article that was removed says regarding the voting machines: “each easily susceptible to chicanery that could alter the results of an election.”
Apparently “chicanery that could” is not “chicanery that will” for TP, at least when its published by Forbes.
Its too sad that the democratic party and its affiliated movements are their own worst enemies at times.
Think Progress is just being Think Progress.
Some time ago, I used to blog regularly at Think Progress. There, I found it offensive as we were not allowed to post opinions concerning 9/11 as an inside job. With this, other annoyances and when they changed the blogging format most bloggers, the best, left and went here:
http://tpzoo.wordpress.com/
Thanks Ms Kitty, your first link led me to this one…
“New Court Filing Reveals How the 2004 Ohio Presidential Election Was Hacked”
We all need a refresher once in a while…
Think Progress really went down hill some time back. All facebook buddies now. I no longer visit the site – too weird for me.
That they’ve smeared Brad is no surprise. What do you expect from a site that entertains children?
This is the second time ThingProgress has sought to discredit a story, from what I’ve seen. We’re not giving them money or helping them promote themselves anymore. The incident in Virginia is the most disturbing thing – we catch people, but we don’t prosecute them? keep reporting, Brad.
Yesterday I commented on their story to complain about their treatment of Brad and to impugn their integrity.
Today it’s gone. Sad.
Too bad. This is an important issue.
Remember all those times I complained that this site, rather than focus on this important issue, wastes time on partisan left wing hit pieces and promoting the ridiculous idea that the GOP always cheats? I believe this is called karma, even think progress doesn’t buy it.
Today I commented on their story to show how Brad is precisely accurate, Aviva’s false, and Legum refused to correct.
Well Brad,
I think you are discovering that internet “editors” really aren’t, are more often than not political operatives as opposed to actual journalism editors, and clearly have very poor reading comprehension. Arguments longer than 140 chars are simply beyond their ken.
“promoting the ridiculous idea that the GOP always cheats”
You’re confusing partisanship and journalism. Democrats have a numerical advantage, they don’t have to cheat. Republicans can’t compete on a level playing field. When you report on election fraud, you find many more offenders are Republican. It’s not a partisan thing, it’s a reality thing.
This won’t end well for Think Progress if they maintain this stance. I live in one of those states where the mentioned machines will be tabulating my vote and there is no paper trail denoting how I voted. I don’t get a receipt guaranteeing the machine tabulated my vote correctly. And forget any recall if there’s a near tie in any election.
I’ll just have to rely on republican operatives to tabulate my vote correctly, and it’s quite eye-opening to see Think Progress is supporting that type of system. The Democratic Party is in for a rude awakening if they continue to defend corporate-owned voting machines.
Brad Blog–1 (and counting)
Think Progress–0
Our research backs up Brad’s assertions completely. Too bad more of these webzines, which seem to spend as much energy fund raising as reporting, don’t have the timeliness. accuracy, and depth of Brad’s reporting.
The dems have had their head in the sand regarding the privatizing of the commons such as vote counting since the repubs stole 2000. Repubs have just continued to steal elections since. Just look at GA senate race in 2002 and Ohio pres in 2004.
The party line (and TP is part of ‘the party) says if we talk about it it may depress turnout. Therefore just ignore it and hope we get enough turnout to make it impossible to steal??
What a way to run an airline, eh?
I’ve figured it out, really it’s quite easy to see.
These guys, Chuck Todd and Center for American Progress (has always been an outside extension of the Democratic Party) and Think Progress (has served as a crucial, and journalistically sound fact-checker on the excesses, inaccuracies and blatant fabrications of the Right over the past several years) have received their marching orders.
Discredit folks who speak of vote rigging and other shameful vote fraud scenarios. Why wouldn’t several key DNC mouth pieces want Brad taken seriously when he speaks of these issues? Because the Obama team is going to steal the election, that’s why.
How else could four years of utter failure get reelected?
ThinkProgress has sought to discredit a story, from what I’ve seen. How extremely odd that TP, of all sites, would cry “conspiracy theory ! .
�You know, I�ve got a little secret here,” Romney told a rally crowd of a few hundred supporters. “That is that the Obama campaign thinks Pennsylvania is in their pocket — they don�t need to worry about it. And you�re right, and they�re wrong.
“We�re going to win Pennsylvania. We are going to take the White House.”
“CONSPIRACY THEORY” should be stricken from the English language. It’s always used by OFFICIAL STORIERS” covering up something. The words “OFFICIAL STORY” and “CONSPIRACY THEORY” are essential to each other. One implies the other, even if one is not spoken in the thought or sentence. “OFFICIAL STORY” = story protecting officials. “OFFICIALS” get to say what’s an “OFFICIAL STORY” and what’s a “CONSPIRACY THEORY”, that’s also implied, too. Like they have some god-given religious power ordained to them that they are the ones who tab things “CONSPIRACY THEORY” or “OFFICIAL STORY”. TP is an “OFFICIAL STORY” mainstream site, gatekeeper type site.
It’s actually scurrilous EVER using the word “CONSPIRACY THEORY”. You have no argument when you use the word “CONSPIRACY THEORY”, you usually have no facts and are on the losing side of an argument when you use those words. Don’t they know that? Don’t they know that doesn’t work anymore?
Brad, I have an idea: see my comment #2, TP apologized for using the words “Israeli Firster”. You’re Jewish. Tell TP to retract or else they “hate the Jews”. LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hey, they’re using these ridiculous word tactics like saying “conspiracy theory”! That would be using a similar tactic back against them. Plus, it would be pretty damn funny.
The TP piece was terrible– I happened to run into it earlier today before reading this– but at the same time, I don’t see Brad’s point being significantly different from what TP defines as a “conspiracy theory”. TP has always been very anti-conspiracy, and I think their heads are in the sand completely on this vote machine tampering issue. However, if their basic point is that speculation that Republicans will steal the vote with these Intercivic machines in Ohio is a conspiracy theory, it’s hard to argue with their logic.
I gave up reading TP a long time ago when I realized they had no intention of holding Democrats feet to the progressive fire. IOKIYAD is not an answer to IOKIYAR. Too bad you don’t have the legal team to threaten TP like Forbes most likely did.
ALEX (#62),
You seem to have the same difficulty with the English language that TP has.
Brad has never speculated that the Repubs “will” steal the vote in Ohio.
He rightly points out that Hart Intercivic machines are tied to Romney and that these machines are relatively easy to hack (ask any computer expert); therefore the Repubs could try to steal the vote. More important, it doesn’t matter who owns or operates electronic voting equipment, they are not safe for democracy.
Stating facts, yes. Drawing a quite reasonable conclusion based on facts about what “could” happen, yes. Using this situation to sound the alarm about electronic voting and counting in general, definitely. Hardly a conspiracy theory.
TP seems to want abject grovelling and obeisance to the Republican owners of corporate voting equipment with multiple assurances that they are honorable men in order to qualify as not being a conspiracy theorist.
Alex @ 62-
I think you’re making a similar mistake to the TP guy who responded to Brad. Nobody’s is saying(or at least Brad isn’t)that they’re GONNA steal the upcoming election, but that there is no way to know if it is stolen or not. That’s the point and has been the point all along. To point out obvious conflicts of interest, like one of the teams owning some of the machines that’ll be counting votes only underscores this original, basic premise. It is not a seer’s declaration of what will happen in the future. It’s a realist’s declaration that this is no way to have a democracy.
wingnutsteve,
Wrong again and then wrong yet again.
Not karma. Confusion.
David Lasagna has @#65 is right — There is a huge mack-truck-sized difference between “can” and “will”. Please get it straight.
As any lawyer and lawmaker will tell you (and English teacher will give you a failing grade for) — “can” does not mean “will”. Never has. Never will.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot. Let me use the KISS approach:
1. Our electronically-run elections could be hacked in an attempt to change the actual vote. This is fully within the realm of real possibility (ask any reputable computer scientist).
2. The easiest and most effective hack is by an insider. (D’OH)
3. When electronic voting equipment is owned by people with strong ties to and a strong investment in a particular candidate, the possibility of a hack becomes much more likely.
This is 3rd-grade reasoning. Not rocket science. And most certainly NOT the dreaded unfounded purely-speculative imagination-run-wild “conspiracy theory!”
I was puzzled as to why the Romney people would be so blatant as to acquire the controlling influence in a voting machine company when the prior right-wing owners could be reliably counted upon to rig the vote for him against Obama anyway. Then it hit me — they needed control to defeat Santorum in the G.O.P. primary!! The mathematically impossible “Romney Shift” stole both the Wisconsin and Ohio primaries for Romney.
The GOP *CAN* steal the election. But *TRUST* them, they won’t. It’s a *CONSPIRACY THEORY* to think that. Don’t fix their ability to steal an election, just *TRUST* them not to. How DARE anyone think they would use that ability to do so!
The GOP is INSULTED that anyone would even INSINUATE this! And Think Progress is ALSO INSULTED! It’s not like they’re committing NATIONWIDE VOTER FRAUD or anything like that right now!
NSA Analyst Proves GOP Is Stealing Elections
http://www.ukprogressive.co.uk/...icle20598.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?fe...;v=8K_Rgwo0Ut8
This is so classically the “Arrogance of the Narcissist”
Why did they blatantly invest in voter machines? One with common sense and the ability to look around them at a world not revolving solely for their own pleasure would think “Hey this would cause voter and country doubt no matter if we are honest or not, not a good deal.” BUT the Narcissist is someone that defies common sense, and does things that are perplexing to the normal. They push every chance they can because after all they are next to Gods, They deserve respect and complete idolization even if they have not earned it.
They do things “Because they can”.
They feel untouchable, without remorse, and like we have seen so many times with Romney, able to flip flop in complete opposite directions on issues without a bat of an eye. He is “entitled” to flip if he wants. He is a God, he is untouchable, He is important and the world needs to finally realize how very special he really is.
I happen to have the unfortunate luck to know a very gifted Narcissist. They will do what benefits them and other narcissists they are either afraid of or respect above all else without any sort of conscience. In fact they think it their duty to share their vision of the world to their unlucky victims.
I strongly believe that this guy is VERY dangerous to our country. I mean our political structure is broken. Any politician who gets to any sort of level is corrupt. They have to buy their way up the ladder. But this guy makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck in a big BIG way.
Brad,
Please do not stress about this. In my many years of experience in dealing with this very sort of thing, this is what is called in very small tight circles as “verbal Bartitsu”
Referring to the martial art and self-defense of using one’s strengths against them. The martial art method originally developed in England during the years 1898–1902. In 1901 it was immortalised (as “baritsu”) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes mystery stories.
What you are experiencing is this tactical response to a known strength or factual event. They in no way can agree with you, it would be their heads. Someone has these guys by the balls in all parties. This is a classical tactical movement our government has used against it’s people for a very long time. Flash the strengths of the facts right back at them, use the facts that seem to be undeniable and deflect the attack with something that flusters, confuses or causes fear. Making the facts then appear fuzzy, unreliable. Deflecting the blow with it’s own strength. Common sense gets thrown out. The larger the facts the more the deflection into a “conspiracy” it will become. Terms like “radical”, “extremest” even “terrorist” work the same. These words completely deflect the attack of facts back against the fact giver.
Don’t play the game and be wise to the methods.
Hi Brad,
Don’t let go of that tail, brad! I have never had any use for the American Center for Progress, playing politics has always been their number one priority and you are throwing around too hot a potato for upper crust dems.
Note they put a green horn reporter on this just incase you win.
Your ‘could vs will’ argument would be a lot more sound if you didn’t title your article with such an obviously leading “Is the GOP stealing Ohio?”
Dave @ 74:
If you’re referring to this story of mine at Salon, a) I have nothing to do with the headlines they use, b) They originally had it headlined as “Ohio Republicans Sneak Risky Software Onto Voting Machines”, so I wasn’t even sure what you were talking about until just now when I found that they had changed it at some point and c) It’s their cross-post of my original BRAD BLOG article that had the headline I chose for it “Why Was Uncertified ‘Experimental’ Software Installed on ES&S Tabulation Systems in 39 OH Counties Just Days Before Presidential Election?”
Hope that clarifies for you. And, of course, thanks for your concern.