Is this the part where Bush tells the media “I am not a thief.”? Because the smell is creeping up and up and getting just a little rank. Unfortunately, you can’t unblock a plugged up sewage pipe without running the router down it to clear the blockage. And that’s more and more what its looking like Americans need to do. It’s time to call in the plumber.
Do we need to be concerned here in Washington state? Well I say we need to be concerned everywhere. We need to be vigilant. And we should expect the worst. It’s when you don’t expect it that it catches you by surprise.
Today Bob Herbert wrote in the New York Times a column about “Those Pesky Voters” that picks up on that upstart Robert F Kennedy Jr who just couldn’t let bygones be bygones. A week ago Kennedy wrote a lengthy article in Rolling Stone Magazine entitled “Was the 2004 Election Stolen? Republicans prevented more than 350,000 voters in Ohio from casting ballots or having their votes counted — enough to have put John Kerry in the White House.” Kennedy heavily documented efforts by the Republican Party in Ohio to throw the election to Bush.
Bob Herbert in the NY Times asserts that
“…Mr. Kennedy, in his long, heavily footnoted article (“Was the 2004 Election Stolen?”), leaves no doubt that the democratic process was trampled and left for dead in the Buckeye State. Mr. Kerry almost certainly would have won Ohio if all of his votes had been counted, and if all of the eligible voters who tried to vote for him had been allowed to cast their ballots.”
Kennedy is one of those who just won’t let what happened in Ohio in 2004 be gone. You’ve got to admire the guy because most folks have let Ohio go. You see we just don’t want to believe that something stinks. We’ve been taught since grade school that the integrity of our voting system is something that makes America so special and great.
The story we are told as we are growing up, and learning the pledge of allegiance and about Abraham Linciln and George (I can not tell a lie) Washington and other patriotic things, is that in America we play fair. We don’t cheat. We are the shining example to the rest of the world of what democracy is and where free open fair elections occur. We have fought wars and people have died defending freedom and democracy. We are the shining beacon for people around the world, for citizens freely being able to vote to determine their future. Unfortunately it is just another one of those myths. Because like everything else, a free and fair election only works if everyone agrees to abide by the same rules. And it seems that the Republicans make up their own rules and ignore the ones they don’t like.
With the Republicans and their corporate ruling class, its reverse Robin Hood. They rob from the poor to give to the rich. To continue to do that they need to stay in power. One way they do this is is becoming more obvious, they also rob our elections. The Florida Secretary of State in 2000 that helped to throw the national election to Bush was a Republican named Katherine Harris. Just by coincidence she also Co-Chaired the Florida Bush- Cheney campaign. The Ohio Secretary of State in 2004 was Ken Blanchard (currently running for Governor of Ohio) , who was also a Republican who just happened to be a Co-Chair of the Ohio re-election campaign for Bush-Cheney.
Isn’t is just asking for trouble when a Secretary of State is part of a partisan campaign and also counting the votes. I think there is an ethical conflict here. It is now documented by the evidence that some Republicans definitely have a problem with separating their job from their partisan beliefs. The Office of Secretary of State should be representing all voters and maintaining the integrity of the election process. When they cross the line in trying to manipulate the voting process to support their partisan beliefs, like Blanchard and Harris did, it’s time to kick these people out of office.
The Republicans right now control the Federal Government, the Presidency, the US House of Representatives, the US Senate and have appointed the majority to the US Supreme Court. They have no incentive to investigate either of these elections because it puts their majority status at risk.
Its going to take a groundswell of anger and action at the grassroots level to change things. It’s going to take the independent bloggers and grassroots advocates and others to toss the bums out. Most of the mainstream media haven’t responded because they are owned by a few corporations. Think Fox News is going to investigate. Think the right wing hatemongers on talk radio care? No, the mainstream media’s job is to keep the people calm and support the ruling class.
Isn’t it some joke that Bush is trying to convince us we’re fighting for freedom and fair elections in Iraq while Republicans have done their best to rig the elections in our country. Would they really care what kind of elections they had in Iraq if they didn’t also have oil that the big corporations want?
