I saw a comment on youtube that said Franken told Rhodes in '04 that election irregularities

[Divine Discontent]

don't happen. anyone know if that's true? If so, I wonder what would make him say such a thing. Only wanting to know if it was true, not saying it happened. Anyone remember the discussion between the two?



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[EFerrari]

1. I sort of vaguely remember that he discounted the idea

that anything really went wrong in Ohio.

Oops.

[Divine Discontent]

2. hey one of my fave DUers. thanks sfexpat2000 for the answer

And, how could he not see that Blackwell intentionally sent extra voting booths to rural white areas and sent old crap, and little of it, to large metro areas, leaving dozens if not hundreds in lines for hours. Then, the one county locking down for their vote count, and of course, the ultimate - the votes running through the company server that also ran the RNC website, I think in Tenn. Some really disturbing stuff happened in Ohio that election.

[EFerrari]

3. There was a riot at the statehouse over vote suppression

and it got reported for about a minute!

It tells you something about John Conyers that he was willing to go out to Ohio and take testimony. He wasn't afraid to ask questions and to let people tell their stories. He wasn't afraid to look "bad" for following up. I think a lot of public figures were afraid they'd look "bad" -- like Al Franken and David Corn.

In a way, it may turn out to be a good thing that Al went through this process -- long and expensive and stressful as it must have been for him. :)

[Divine Discontent]

4. yes, if he ultimately gets in, this certainly will have changed his mind on voter transparency probs

[mrreowwr_kittty]

5. I remember him talking about his skepticism of election fraud on his show.

I don't think he meant it to disparage people who thought it happened. He just wasn't ready to accept that it happened.

[EFerrari]

8. A lot of people had that reaction. It's hard to wrap your mind around.

Millions of dollars spent on campaigns but we don't know if the votes are counted.

[robinlynne]

6. It sure is true. All the election integrity advocates laughed when he finally woke up a month ago..

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. He discounted all the election advocates as loony

and tin foil hatters

I suspect he might be one of our newest converts

[rvablue]

9. Yeah, when it benefits him potentially, hence why Randi doesn't care so much for him. n/t

[EFerrari]

10. A lot of people have taken some time to get it. I don't fault him for that

as much as I'm glad he's getting it now. It's not over and we need all the help we can get.

[bleever]

13. See, that's why kindness and wisdom will win out.

:thumbsup:

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. Nah she does not care for him for other reasons

he wasn't alone in thinking this was tin foil hattery... after all it could not happen in the US...

We knew better, but it is taking the rest of the country a while and some will never get it

[Jane Austin]

11. I think he was very keen on

not appearing to be a kook.

Like it or not, those of us who thought the election was stolen were considered kooks, and nothing we said was taken seriously once it was known that we thought it was stolen.

He so wanted his show and AAR to succeed, and I'm pretty sure he figured that he would be dismissed if he kept bringing up election fraud.

That's my take on it, anyway.

[Peace Patriot]

12. Sorry, I don't remember that conversation. But I do know that Franken blackballed

election fraud/election reform activists, and forbade all talk of election irregularities on his radio show. I remember that clearly because I tuned him out at that point. The irregularities in the 2004 election were massive, not to mention that the entire election had been rendered non-transparent in 80% of the country with the fast-tracking of electronic voting systems, all over the country during the 2002 to 2004 period, run on 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY programming code, owned and controlled by Bushwhack corporations, with virtually no audit/recount controls.

Franken was taking his orders from the leaders of our party, I figured--the Terry McAuliffe crowd who had colluded on the non-transparent, secretly coded election system. Dkos did the same. I left Dkos because of it, and discovered Democratic Underground, where 2004 election research was being hotly pursued.

Randi Rhodes' show was a haven for the activists and researchers, and did quite a lot of research herself which she shared with her listeners. Thank God for Randi Rhodes. Now many, many more people have become informed on this vital issue, and are beginning to exercise the vigilance as citizens that is needed to take back our election system.

I hope Al Franken learns a lesson from his recount experience in Minnesota, win or lose. 1. Every vote should be counted in the public venue, in every election. 2. Imagine what it is like in Georgia--and in half the voting systems in the country--where Diebold or brethren tell you who won, and there is no ballot TO recount, if you think they are wrong.

The third great point of the election reform movement is to end voter suppression--which was so obvious and so rampant in Ohio in 2004, especially against black voters: discriminatory voter purges; shorting minority and Democratic precincts on voting equipment, creating long lines; repression by voter registration requirements (for instance, voter ID which hits the poor hard, or purging military votes if they are on duty and they move). We have an evil cauldron of Bushwhack vote suppression tactics to clean out of our system, as well as ridding ourselves of 'TRADE SECRET' vote counting. And these bottom line requirements of democracy are very difficult to restore when leftist commentators and our own party leaders ignore them because they are fearful or because they are in collusion.

[EFerrari]

15. It might not be a bad idea to write to Al and point out to him that he's lucky

he didn't have to recount GEORGIA . . . :hi: