NEW MCM: Our Rigged Elections

[mod mom]

x-posted in ER-so that others can be exposed it as well:

OUR RIGGED ELECTIONS
The Elephant in the Polling Booth
By Mark Crispin Miller | 10/01/2006

To say that this election could go either way is not to say that the Republicans have any chance of winning it. As a civic entity responsive to the voters' will, the party's over, there being no American majority that backs it, or that ever would. Bush has left the GOP in much the same condition as Iraq, Afghanistan, the global climate, New Orleans, the Bill of Rights, our military, our economy and our national reputation. Thus the regime is reviled as hotly by conservatives as by liberals, nor do any moderates support it.

So slight is Bush's popularity that his own party's candidates for Congress are afraid to speak his name or to be seen with him (although their numbers, in the aggregate, are even lower than his). It seems the only citizens who still have any faith in him are those who think God wants us to burn witches and drive SUVs. For all their zeal, such theocratic types are not in the majority, not even close, and thus there's no chance that the GOP can get the necessary votes.

And so the Democrats are feeling good, and calling for a giant drive to get the vote out on Election Day. Such an effort is essential-and not just to the Democrats but to the very survival of this foundering Republic. However, such a drive will do the Democrats, and all the rest of us, more harm than good if it fails to note a certain fact about our current situation: i.e., that the Democrats are going to lose the contest in November, even though the people will (again) be voting for them. The Bush Republicans are likely to remain in power despite the fact that only a minority will vote to have them there. That, at any rate, is what will happen if we don't start working to pre-empt it now.

Even though this election could go either way, neither way will benefit the Democrats. Either the Republicans will steal their "re-election" on Election Day, just as they did two years ago, or they will slime their way to "victory" through force and fraud and strident propaganda, as they did after Election Day 2000. Whichever strategy they use, the only way to stop it is to face it, and then shout so long and loud about it that the people finally perceive, at last, that their suspicions are entirely just-and, this time, just say no.

-SNIP

http://www.washingtonspectator.com/
http://www.washingtonspectator.com/printArticle.cfm

[mod mom]

1. Updated link-sorry about that.

[SheilaT]

2. This is what I've been saying

ever since the middle of 2002. They came to power in a coup and they are not going to give up that power. It's why I'm so crazed at all the threads that smugly assume we'll take power this November (actually it would be January) and start planning in detail what we'll do next.

Complacency is the worst thing that can happen to us. And don't even think about an October Surprise, because they don't need one, given their ability to control the votes. We need to be willing to riot in the streets.

[mod mom]

3. I have heard from an attorney involved in the 1988 campaign that NH was

fixed for H.W. wide swing from Dole to Bush in the primary.

[mod mom]

4. Look what happened in '88 with Sununu's help:

But some New Hampshire conservatives remained distrustful of Bush. Many had been shocked by Reagan's 1980 selection of Bush as a running mate after he had battled Reagan for the GOP nomination, calling his tax-cutting plans "voodoo economics."

Bush was also opposed by The Union Leader, whose criticism was unrelenting, despite his having appeared as featured speaker at a Washington, D.C., tribute to the late William Loeb, the newspaper's longtime publisher. Loeb had called Bush a "wimp." Eight years later, the newspaper had not changed its opinion.

-snip

Robertson's showing (IN IOWA) was a shocker, as was Bush's disappointing third place.

But a week later, New Hampshire Republicans would give Bush a 15-point victory margin over Dole, who would then complain about last-minute TV ads placed by Bush (with Sununu's help) that painted Dole as pro-tax.

-snip

http://unionleader.com/article.aspx?articleId=79cd006a-04a7-4520-a2f4-e702dcd3af89