Mark Crispin Miller Warns: Dems will not be allowed to win this election

[BurtWorm]

http://www.washingtonspectator.com/articles/20061001elephant_1.cfm

OUR RIGGED ELECTIONS
The Elephant in the Polling Booth
By Mark Crispin Miller | October 1, 2006 (page 1/3)

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.

[villager]

1. Get out your "Vendetta" masks

and prepare to gather at "Parliament..."

[sunnystarr]

39. I already purchased 5 masks

I want my family ready.

[villager]

47. where?

n/t

[windbreeze]

76. Please tell me where you found them

I want to buy them for my family too...
windbreeze

[arcane1]

56. Vendetta masks?

that one went over my head. :shrug:

[villager]

59. As in "V for Vendetta!"

[jayfish]

60. They Look Like This

Jay

[Richard Steele]

61. ...

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2006/03/30/vendetta_wideweb__470x301,2.jpg

[Cha]

75. What did hastert the bastert ever

do to foley to deserve such a fate? }(

[tblue]

66. But we still GOTTA VOTE or they won't HAVE TO STEAL anything

First we get the vote out. Then we go after the count. Is that the plan?

Did MCM have anything constructive to say, as in what the hell we're supposed to do besides be afraid, be very afraid? Alright, we're afraid. Now what?

[Maraya1969]

68. Thank you for making that point. It is useless to just say they are going

to steal it again. We will fight to get it back. I am NOT GIVING UP! And I question the people who walk around saying there is no hope. I wonder if they are working for the other side and trying to convince people there is no hope so they will not try.


Lead, follow or get out of the way.

[AndyTiedye]

2. Kicking and Recommending

[Richard Steele]

50. All votes are equal...

...but some are more equal than others.

[Tuesday_Morning]

3. "This time, just say no."

That's it.

[NRaleighLiberal]

4. I've been thinking for a long time that these criminals will NOT

go away with out a huge fight (re crime). Power is their lifeblood - they've stolen it before, they will think they can do it again. what may be different this time is the growing attention on the large swing in the polls due to "merit" (meaning that the scandalous misadministration is finally starting to turn sour with the polled majority). So a very unexpected result in November would raise much more attention than in the past.

[AtomicKitten]

5. dashing to see him speak tonight

http://www.democracyaction.org/calendar/view_entry.php?id=655&date=20061005

[BurtWorm]

6. Lucky you!

:toast:

Tell him we said hi!

[AtomicKitten]

62. I have officially assumed the fetal position.

be afraid, be very afraid

[aquart]

7. The worst thing that could happen to the Republicans is to win.

But they don't know that yet.

[vickitulsa]

11. I've begun to believe this may be true -- and it gives hope!

The discombobulation on the Repuke team is so profound at this point, I can't see any way that they can recover enough and confuse enough voters to permit their smokescreened plays to work. Not. This. Time.

I remember thinking as the "tide" began to turn late on election night 2004, when the exit polling disagreed with the early results so widely, that if only we had a more solid and well understood way of providing truly solid and accurate exit polling of some sort, maybe it would no longer work for the criminals to simply hack the vote, with the media following their lead so quickly the public is once again fooled.

THE MEDIA MUST BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE this time as well, IMO.

But if the Repukes "win" THIS TIME, I just don't think the public will accept it ... it will be the final straw, the last blatant, desperate stab at thievery of our right to VOTE and have our votes COUNTED HONESTLY ... the uproar and outrage would be almost instantaneous, IMO, and the public would refuse to be quieted easily.

Most Americans who are NOT profoundly devoted to either party have finally grown sick and tired of the bullsh*t and the in-your-face criminality in government. The fact that our so-called "elected representatives" in government have been clearly IGNORING the desires of the people and failing to act on important legislation or defiantly going directly AGAINST the people's wishes (as with the torture bill) is certain proof that those in power, mostly incumbents, have no fear that they CAN be ousted from their seats of power by the VOTERS!

What more do people need to convince them that the elections are being rigged and stolen?

And they are PISSED. ABOUT. THAT.

[helderheid]

30. thank you!

[Irreverend IX]

77. Some of these races are so one-sided...

That if the Republicans win, it'll drive home to Americans that something is seriously wrong with our vote-counting system. If Katherine Harris wins her race, will anyone in Florida believe it was legitimate? The GOPers are getting pounded in many states, and if they don't have a real close poll margin going into the election, people are going to call bullshit if they win.

Even in races where a theft is believably pulled off, the Democratic majority of voters will be frustrated with their inability to get rid of Repub leaders, and the GOP's inevitable poor leadership once re-elected will only deepen the people's resentment. If they "win" in 2006 they'll just be preparing themselves for a bigger backlash in '08.

[Canuckistanian]

12. Wow, apocryphal

But I agree. If Republicans score a status quo, let alone a gain, it will be incredulous.

And if it happens country-wide, it will be explosive.

A Repub majority in either house WILL be questioned.

Let's hope it will come to a rational conclusion.

[vssmith]

33. Aux barricades!

[Mme. Defarge]

69. I thought that was MY line.

[vssmith]

70. Pardon

[philly_bob]

8. Be ready for anything. /nt

[Kurovski]

9. And if they do, will people realize they did it for THE FOURTH TIME?

Will they realize it for even the first time?

Will the press not stand for it this time? Will something break the hell through? Will Kerry, Dean, the Clintons, Gore, Kennedy, or Carter finally say. "This is it, no more?"

K&R Edit: "FOURTH"

[IndyOp]

10. Think about the fact that Keith Olbermann was the ONLY coverage

of the Ohio election challenge in 2004 and think about his honesty and courage lately in his 'special comments.' Mark Crispin Miller's piece in the Spectator, Lou Dobbs coverage on CNN, students at Columbia seizing the stage today... these give me hope.

I think the only question is whether the CITIZENS care more about the result of this election than the GOP leaders -- the 'top' eschalon -- the ones that Joe Scarborough and other sane Republicans want to see lose.

:kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick:

[bbgrunt]

35. exactly. Without some national leader, the frustration

will be palpable, but I doubt--since all these elections are local---that there will be any one point to focus on.

[SeanQ]

13. One of two things will happen

Either the voice of America will be heard, and we can start hoping for serious change and some accountability, or as this post suggests, they will steal another election. To keep power, this theft will have to be even more blatant the the past few.

I think I might be more surprised if they don't than if they do. :(

But the question then comes, if (when) they steal another election, what will we do. We've seen what they have pushed through over the past few months. They can now jail any of us who protest the theft as 'anti-American terrorist supporters' and waterboard confessions out of us to use in military tribunals. What wont they push through after the are 're-elected', in order to secure their power?

The real question is, what will you be willing to do to wrest this country from the new dictators? Where will the new Green Dragon Tavern be?

[BurtWorm]

14. But you know something? We witnessed the thefts in 2000 and 2004

right in front of our eyes, and though a lot of us who were paying close attention went apeshit over the blatant injustice of it, the media served did its job and threw a blanket over it before the anger could spread. I fear that Americans for the most part are becoming acclimated to a politics in which it's all decided for them, whether they like what's decided or not.

[SammyWinstonJack]

46. You forgot '02 midterm election. They stole those as well.

[BurtWorm]

54. Yes they did.

The bastids.

[GreenTea]

15. Miller is absolutely right. If anyone thinks differently, than do some

of your own simple research...there a lot of info out there...the corporate media will never talk about this so most don't believe it...This is real.

http://michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=733

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marty-kaplan/how-to-hack-a-diebold-vot_b_26301.html

http://www.2020hindsight.org/2006/09/14/diebold-machines-are-virus-prone

http://context.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2006/03/03/120.html

http://www.bradblog.com/

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/10432334/was_the_2004_election_stolen

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/11717105/robert_f_kennedy_jr__wil

[EFerrari]

21. You bet it's real. We have to be willing for people to disbelieve

us and just keep telling the truth anyway.

:kick:

[faithnotgreed]

16. kicking

[Peggy Day]

17. I saw him Mark Crispin Miller tonight in SF Roxie Theatre

It was good. One thing he said that I liked is that the media is responsible for non coverage of the voting election fiasco. Maybe we should go to the media to protest stolen elections. Physically go there. That's a really good plan.
Why can Ukraine get it and we don't?
State of Denial could be about election discussions too. It was nice to be in a room with people that know what I know, and can actually talk with me about it.

[EFerrari]

22. Peggy Day, I was working the daily ERD thread when

that election in San Diego went bad.

Our Chronicle was the first to report that there were no problems.

lol

But, I posted to their blog that the machines were flipping votes like crazy -- so any citizen could read what really happened.

We can do this.

[bdamomma]

52. welcome to DU Peggy Day

yes the Ukraine got it, but apparently we don't (some of us do) our bellies are too full still. But I hope Americans will rally up if this unspeakable crime takes place again.

[NVMojo]

18. he's probably right ...

[Tom Rinaldo]

19. Which is all the more reason to redouble our campaign efforts now

The news cycles over the last two weeks have not been at all friendly to Republicans. Public perceptions are key, either and/or to somehow winning the elections this November and to winning the subsequent post election battle for our Democracy.

The Republicans have not been able to frame the public political debate the way they and their media allies intended to this fall. Reality, a sex scandal, and some welcome spine shown by some leading Democrats and, yes, Keith Oberman, has pulled the message rug out from under them. This is a critical development for us, because the Republican game plan all along was to sell a version of reality that had national security and "War on Terror" concerns dominating media coverage of the elections, all presented with Bush Administration spin. Then, if election results showed Republicans holding onto Congress, that would be argued to explain why the public stuck with the Republicans and let them "win": "The public watched and listened to an extensive public debate that repeatedly presented Democrats to be weak on terror, and decided Democrats could not be trusted to govern". This is the pre-packaged line, and Republicans and the media and Republican friendly polling firms were all pushing it. The Bill Clinton counter attack on FOX, the National Intelligence Estimate, and the Bob Woodward revelations set back their campaign, and now the Foley scandal and Republican cover-up is dominating the news.

The pre arranged line to justify why Americans returned Republicans to power after all, the line that would provide cover for any election theft, always started and ended with the Republican base, out of concern for Terror and weak kneed Democrats, returning to Bush in time to swing the Elections. Given the planned media manipulation, that could sound just plausible enough to paper over enough election result doubts for Republicans to get away with it. But now confidence in the Bush Security Team actually HAS been shaken, and more important, large elements of the Republican Values Voter Base ARE legitimately disgusted with Republican Congressional Leadership, and they are vocal about it and hard to hide.

We have an actual chance to pull off victory now, if all of us get out there and do the hard grunt work needed to get Democrats elected, to create a buzz, a sense of momentum that is personally experienced by typical day to day Americans talking in Supermarkets and at the Office. Voters need to be talking about how they themselves or people they know personally are abandoning the Republican Party to vote Democratic this November. That is what will make a Democratic victory real to America, and more difficult to steal out from under us. When the people themselves know that the mood of America has shifted strongly against the Republican War and Sleaze Party, then a media attempts to say otherwise rings very false. That's why we have to do the phone calls and door knocking and envelope stuffing and letters to the editors. Everyone and their uncle needs to know before Election Day that the Republicans are being repudiated by their own neighbors.

But let's say the Republicans steal the election anyway, despite their cover story being blown. That possibility is why we need to redouble our efforts, with actual voters, to win now their support now. We need an electorate convinced that Democrats are going to win in November, so convinced by their own anecdotal evidence of friends neighbors family and coworkers abandoning Republicans this time around, that they will be highly receptive to an election fraud message from us after Election Day, should that in fact become reality.

All roads lead to the same strategy, we need to campaign hard for Democrats now, we need to solidify conventional wisdom that the Republicans will suffer massive losses in November. It is essential to everything that will happen next.

[CarbonDate]

20. Not this time.

Have you noticed that GE's on our side this time? Olbermann, Matthews, and even Joey the Scar are backing a Democratic victory in November.

It's going to happen this time. The Republicans have gone too far for even the powers that be. TPTB won't let the Republicans steal this one. FOX News will, of course, be FOX News, but that's about it. The tides are turning.

[ldf]

79. which means that

if ge is on our side, and we win because of it, we have lost, because THEY we still be in control.

i'll take it, it is surely better than the reality of now, but it will be a bitter victory.

:shrug:

[SoCalDemGrrl]

23. Yelling and Screaming did alot of good in Mexico -NOT! We're screwed

[EFerrari]

24. The situation in Mexico is on going.

:)

[CarbonDate]

25. You're right; let's just quit.

:eyes:

[saracat]

26. STFU Mark Crispin Miller is a defeatist! He is just not crdible.

Why doesn't he just crawl back in a hole and hide? Everywhere people are working their butts off and elections ARE being scrutinized, and Miller says nothing will change.He is an insult to every Democrats working for change.He needs to be fired.His megaphone is nothing but negativity and we don't need it.Why doesn't he do something constructive like work on a campaign?

[Marnieworld]

31. Really?

Do we now have paper ballots in all electronic machines? no.Are all elections public and auditable? No. Is it still possible for a small number of people to hack the vote in real-time, regardless of turn-out? Yes.

I will for one be shocked if the Dems take any power away. Shocked. They have the means and the motivation to steal it and there aren't mechanisms in place to stop it. He's just stating reality as much of a bummer that it is. We can only fight reality not what things were or how we'd like them to be. My thinking is that he is trying to prepare us to fight afterwards- to plan and prepare for the aftermath now. To use this situation which, when votes were verifiable, would equal automatic political landslide for the Dems but somehow it's more likely than not based on all of the evidence, will not be. Perhaps this is working his butt off to him and working for Change. Exposing all of this is very constructive and has been highly instrumental in educating people about the very real problems of the system as it is. We need people like him in addition to thos working the campaign. We should remember that we are on the same team.

[jarnocan]

73. I know some people say vote absentee ballot to be sure

it's counted, but I think some places could also make those disapear. Of course nothing is 100%

[nashville_brook]

38. fired? huh?

"crawl back into a hole..."

lets talk about crawling back into a hole. where was KERRY after the Ohio debacle? where'd my money go that i gave for his "recount" effort.

your righteousness is really icky.

[conscious evolution]

64. bullshit

Every time he brings the issue up more and more people hear him and take notice of what is going on.
Time after time \,when I have brought election fraud up,people do not even realize it is a problem(excepting people who are active on boards like this).Because of the criminally complicit media in this country ignoring or slandering those who do bring it up(You know-"those CRAZY Conspiracy theorists" :tinfoil hat: )the vast majority of people do not even realize it is an issue.

As far as I'm concerned,he is more than welcome to keep raising this issue.The more people shouting from the rooftops the better.

[civildisoBDence]

80. I don't trust anyone who uses three names...seems so pompous and

self-aggrandizing. If history wants to remember you by three names, fine and dandy.

Mark Miller writes, "It seems the only citizens who still have any faith in (Bush) are those who think God wants us to burn witches and drive SUVs." Now THAT'S funny...but he left out people who believe Jesus rode to church on a dinosaur (credit to Tina Fey.)

Newsprism

[civildisoBDence]

81. Why not use the thumbprint signatures banks use when you cash a check

on paper ballots? A national database of the prints would make vote fraud nearly impossible, and the prints could be kept totally private and never used for any other reason, negating any privacy issues.

The cost would be small compared to the benefit.

I'd raise my ink-stained thumb with pride in America--right now I can only raise my middle finger in shame.

Newsprism

[a la izquierda]

27. I don't get a defeatist attitude from this post.

Working on a campaign does nothing if votes will simply be stolen. You can work until you drop dead from exhaustion, but at the end of the day, if the votes are tampered with, what good did it do?
Now, I'm not saying DON'T work on a campaign. I'm saying that logically, if the problem is vote tampering, what's the point of working on a campaign? It might make you feel good, but the outcome certainly won't. That's why Stalin's quote makes perfect sense. Until our election system is completely overhauled (or monitored from the outside), the Republicans can win if they want to and campaigning may not do a whole lot of good. But, I'm going to campaign anyway, with the hopes that it WILL turn out well in the end.

[HootieMcBoob]

28. That's my greatest fear as well - however...

I agree with Randi Rhodes that the the only way to keep that from happening is to turn out voters in such overwhelmingly large numbers that there would be no way that they could possibly pull off another stolen election.

[BurtWorm]

32. We need to know who's being disenfranchised before the election.

What's going on with Florida's "felon" sweep scam, for instance? We need to know what numbers we need to replace the ones pre-disposed of by the GOP.

[helderheid]

29. Recommended! Keep your eyes on the ball folks.

[mirandapriestly]

34. Of course they are going to steal it

and everyone better get ready for it. There is nothing to stop them from doing so, and there is too much at stake. We are dreaming if we think that "knowing" about it is going to prevent it.

[GreenPartyVoter]

36. Well, duh!

[helderheid]

37. LOL!

:rofl: :cry:

[GreenPartyVoter]

40. It's freaking depressing tho, know how much the country wants a change but

won't be allowed to have it. And how so many people will take the voting 'results' at face value.

[helderheid]

41. So long as we have a complicit media.

:cry:

[GreenPartyVoter]

43. Yah, that too *siiigh*

[helderheid]

44. hug

:hug: I need one. I am feeling scared.

[GreenPartyVoter]

45. Me too *hugs back*

[bdamomma]

53. I feel scared for the whole world, but we have to dig deep inside

ourselves that if we are to survive we must unite, and confront this beast.

[nashville_brook]

42. wake up and smell this paragraph....

This is why they've gerrymandered Texas and (less visibly) Virginia—and also why they've packed the Supreme Court with comrades disinclined to outlaw gerrymandering (unless it's Democrats who try it). This is why they are dead-set against repealing state laws disenfranchising ex-felons—and also why they've used the "war on drugs" to jail as many likely Democrats as possible. (This would also help explain the post-Katrina diaspora, and especially the out-of-state internment of over 70,000 Louisianans.) And this is why the Bush Republicans push e-voting machines in every state, and program them to flip votes cast by Democrats into votes "cast" for Republicans, and systematically provide too few machines to Democratic precincts, and keep on arbitrarily removing Democrats from voter rolls, and "challenge" would-be voters at the polls, and simply throw out countless ballots of all kinds, and spread disinformation on Election Day. These are just some of the devices that were used not only in Ohio to ensure Bush/Cheney's "re-election," but in every state where they could pull it off—on both coasts, in the Midwest, and throughout the South.

[go west young man]

48. There is no doubt in my mind they will steal it again.

They will fix the races that are close so that they just squeeze by with a majority in both chambers. That is why Bush and Cheney are so confident. The fix has been in for a long time. Their goal at this point is to ward off the investigations that would come with a Democratic majority, buy some time and then continue on their global imperialistic plan. Nothing will change.

[Janice325]

51. If nothing will change, what do you propose we do?

Roll over and play dead?

[hsher]

55. REVOLT

www.yourmorningleibowitz.blogspot.com
A Daily Show comic strip

[bdamomma]

49. It may come to a true uproar if the repigs try treasonous things

to stay in power, we will not be able to remain quiet any longer.

[BlueEyedSon]

57. Did y'all get your daily dose of the Plaid Adder?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2326203&mesg_id=2326203

[jayfish]

58. SELF DELETE -NT-

[Atman]

63. What's frightening is that the freeps don't even deny this is how they win

They joke about it. They think it's all very funny, and we're just whining because WE don't control the aparatus. Soul-less bastards with no concept of democracy.

.

[The Count]

65. He said that in 2004 too. Oh, wait he was right about that too...sigh...

[Stand and Fight]

67. I'm ready for a fight this time around. Enough! n/t

[Casablanca]

71. The Repubs could decide to not hack the machines this time.

First, it would give the impression that the issues raised about voting machine accuracy over the last three elections aren't true, or at least aren't serious, and it would give the appearence of justifying the Dems who advised us to "not go there" (challenge the election results) after the 2004 selection.

Second, it would give a lot of Democrats who have not been effective at advancing or defending their agendas two years to be held accountable for not being able to repair the damage the Republicans have created over the last six.

Third, the Supreme Court, the Imperial Executive, and the GOP-held circuit courts could be counted on to contain any major threat to the corporate Republican agenda for two years. Another reason is that Bush and the corporate media can distract much of the public any serious investigations by calling a bombing campaign on Iraq, North Korea, Afghanistan, Somalia, etc..

Fourth, one legitimate election for the Dems will make illegitimate 2008, 2010, and 2012 elections not seem so suspicious.

Even with these potential advantages for the Repubs, it would still be a risky strategy for them. If Rove thinks the Democrats won't use their temporary advantage (and given the Dems recent track record, why wouldn't he?), it would be a smart tactic. If the Democrats develop a spine and stop negotiating with the Dark Side, it will make things much worse for him and his employers. If there are just one or two fighters among the Dems, they can be easily marginalized with the help of the complicit Dem leadership.

I think would be a solid gamble from Republican's point of view, but one I'd still like to see the Dems make them lose.

[jarnocan]

72. maybe that's why he signed the WCW call.

"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." from the above origional post

We do not have standards for verifiable elections, so of course. They have fought hard against restoring our democracy. As far as I am concerned ABSOLUTELE OUR www,WORLDCANTWAIT.net a sex scandal is not going to save US, it likely will healp but don't get complacent. We have to fight this on many levels. through grass routes groups -like WCW, or other org's coordirnate a plan to demand verifiable elections and if anything goes wrong just sound a major alarm and people from around an area respond and- I'm not sure what but ist down and refuse to move???? Any other ideas? and really the mask might be a good symbol to use. http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=worldcantwait&s=rec more wcw photos

[Cha]

74. Agreed!

Mark Crispin Miller's antennae are working perfectly on the pulse of America.

[flyarm]

78. its already happening with the polls..the polls are cooked! its how

they do it..they cook the polls starting in Aug...and make so many races close..which is bullshit..when we see national polls in 60% opposed to *..and rethugs..and yet all state senate and congressional polls show neck in neck..its bullshit..

from fla..where we have seen this time and time again!

fly