October 7, 2008

John McCain’s campaign is imploding as the presidential candidate lapses into incoherence and petulance, and his running-mate becomes a national laughing-stock. In the face of an impending economic meltdown, the Democratic candidates, Obama and Biden, appear to be the only adults in the contest. Meanwhile, the GOP’s erstwhile dependable allies, the corporate media, are displaying moments of journalistic integrity. This presents a problem for the Republican ticket for, as Stephen Colbert aptly observed, “reality has a liberal bias.”

And so the polls show an expanding lead for Obama over McCain, with no clear indication that the trend might reverse.

Conventional political “wisdom” tells us that Barack Obama and Joe Biden may be on the road to a substantial victory in November.

Sorry, folks, but I’ll have to rain on this parade.

Have you forgotten? Private Republican corporations count and compile the votes with secret and unverifiable software! Just as they did in 2000 and in 2004, and we all know how that turned out.

Accordingly, the stark fact remains: the Republicans might “win” this election, regardless of the preference of the voters. The culprits who rigged the previous elections are fully aware that they might face hard time in the federal slammer if President Obama’s Attorney General is ordered to investigate past elections. Thus they are acutely motivated to use their considerable resources to keep Obama out of the White House.

And that’s just the beginning: the GOP is waging a multi-front war on our democracy. As Mark Crispin Miller describes the situation in a recent e-mail:

The ground has been prepared for yet another stolen race, Bush/Cheney’s party having made enormous strides in sabotaging our election system (while the Democrats just sat there, whistling). Now, from coast to coast, it’s far more difficult (for Democrats) to register to vote, and far more difficult (for Democrats) to cast their votes, while countless (Democratic) voters have been stricken from the rolls, through purges carried out by the Department of Justice.

Thus Bush’s government has legally diminished the electorate (the Roberts Court approving every step). Meanwhile, the regime also continues to suppress the (Democratic) vote illegally, either through voter “caging” prior to Election Day–or, far more effectively, by fiddling with the numbers electronically at every level, and/or simply dumping countless names (of Democrats) from the electronic voter rolls, and/or putting far too few machines in (Democratic) polling places, and/or disinforming (Democratic) voters as to when and where to cast their votes, and/or simply scaring (Democratic) voters into staying home.

Happy talk notwithstanding, the situation facing the Democrats is desperate. But it is not hopeless.

However, if the Obama-Biden team is to win, it must win big. Less than 60% of the actual popular vote puts the contest into “The Diebold Zone,” whereby a McCain-Palin win becomes plausible in the public mind, and the “paperless” GOP voting machines and their secret software take care of the rest.

That “big win” is within reach, but only through determined and energetic activity by the supporters of the Democratic candidates, and through brilliant tactics and inspiring leadership by the Democratic candidates and their managers.

In particular:

Registration and Turnout

The coordinated Republican effort at massive disenfranchisement can and must be overwhelmed.

If, as is likely, the GOP succeeds in keeping as many as five million Democratic voters from the polls, the Democrats in turn must register and send to the polls, ten million more. In addition, the word must go out that no one can assume that his or her vote is secure. Citizens must be urged to validate their registration status immediately. They can do so by contacting their Register of Voters, or by following this link.

Publicizing the Electoral Integrity Issue

The looming probability of another stolen election must be made vivid in the public consciousness. To date, the corporate media has refused to investigate and report election fraud, and the Democratic Party, amazingly, has behaved as if it either doesn’t know or doesn’t care that it has been robbed of election victories time and again. All this, despite the fact that electoral irregularities have been staring us in the face: the “butterfly ballots” and “holocaust survivors for Buchanan” in Palm Beach, Florida in 2000, the “lost” 16,000 democratic votes in the 2006 Florida 13th District Congressional election, the Diebold President’s “visit” to Atlanta just prior to the 2002 election that cost the highly favored Max Cleland his Senate Seat, the destroyed and “lost” evidence in the 2004 Ohio election, and much, much, more.

In the face of such irregularities, and despite the media embargo, much of the public is suspicious of the electoral process. A September, 2006, Zogby poll disclosed that less than half of the American public was “very confident,” and about a third “not at all confident,” that George Bush won the 2004 election “fair and square.” This suspicion must now be amplified and transformed into a demand that the next election be “fair and square.”

Validating the Vote

Independent exit polls must be employed in battleground states that use paperless “direct recording electronic” (DRE) voting machines. In these states, the Attorneys General and the Secretaries of State must secure evidence such as computer hard drives, ballots, registration rolls, etc. and make it abundantly clear that destruction or hiding of such evidence will be prosecuted, as will any vote rigging that might be disclosed by such evidence. (In Ohio, the unexplained and illegal destruction of the 2004 voting records of 55 of the 88 counties, and the disappearance of crucial computer hard drives, have gone unpunished. This lost evidence alone might have proved the theft of the Ohio electoral votes, and with them the theft of the national election).

There are other means of exposing and deterring election fraud which, unfortunately, are unlikely to be employed this close to the election. . In randomly selected precincts a few DRE machines might be removed and examined for accuracy, or voters might be asked to vote both on the DRE machines and on paper ballots with the totals subsequently compared. Independent and parallel means of totaling (“compiling”) and transmitting election returns would uncover illegal alterations of the vote.

Absent these effective modes of validation, it is essential that a massive number of Democratic poll workers and poll watchers (equipped with video cameras) be on hand on election day.

The Stakes

John McCain has repeatedly betrayed an inadequate and confused knowledge of foreign affairs, as he refers to non-existent countries and non-existent borders, confuses Shias and Sunnis, and fails to recognize leaders of allied nations. His “economic policy” consists of recitations of discredited slogans.

Given John McCain’s age and physical condition, it is likely that if the Republican team wins in November, Sarah Palin will one day become the President of the United States, either during or following McCain’s term of office. As Palin proves almost every time she opens her mouth, no candidate in U.S. history has been less qualified for that office. Still worse, her repertory of bizarre religious beliefs is downright frightening. Beliefs in witchcraft, “Young Earth Creationism,” the “end of days,” a denial of anthropogenic climate change, absolute prohibition of abortion and stem-cell research – all of these are profoundly discordant with the problems faced by a great power in the twenty-first century.

A Political Realignment

The traditional Republican power base of financiers, business people, corporate managers, etc., has seen control of their party slip into the hands of religious zealots and market dogmatists. The religious fundamentalists recruited by the Republicans to supply the votes required for political clout have taken over the party to the point of installing one of their own as the Vice Presidential candidate.

As a result, many influential conservative Republicans have declared outright that they can not align themselves with the religious right, and with Sarah Palin in particular. Among these apostates are George Will, David Brooks, Charles Krauthammer, Kathleen Parker and David Frum,.

No doubt, there are many more, some of whom will be heard in these final four weeks before the election. Many of these individuals are caught in a difficult dilemma, as they realize that in spite of what might be good for their party, the election of McCain and Palin, might not be good for the nation, its economy, and its international reputation. Those who place their loyalty to their country above their loyalty to their party may soon step forward and be heard: while the Republican Party, they might say, can survive defeat in November, the United States might not survive a McCain, and, eventually, a Palin presidency.

Summing Up

As election day approaches, the public clamor for change in Washington must become sufficiently intense that the media can not ignore it, and the Republicans dare not resist it. There must be an intensity of rejection of the party in power combined with uniting behind a reformer that has not been seen since FDR’s election in 1932. Given the breadth and depth of corruption and lawlessness in the Bush/Cheney regime, the unpopularity of the Iraq war, and the collapse of the economy, such a time might again be upon us.

The usually pessimistic David Michael Green concedes as much:

It’s been a bumpy ride, 2008 has. This election should have been an earthquake, a hurricane, a tsunami – pick your natural disaster metaphor (or combine them for exciting new variations!) – just waiting for the calendar to run out and make it official.

In the end, it looks like that’s how it will be after all. One gets the sense now that the laws of physics are finally reasserting themselves, and modest measures of sanity are stubbornly reclaiming their inevitable places. This is true both in the proximate sense, as Election 2008 now appears to be coming in for a landing, but also more broadly, as the last year or two perhaps mark the end of an era in American politics.

It remains to be seen if Barack Obama can survive the smears about to be dumped on him, and emerge in the public mind as a plausible instrument of hope and renewal. If so, it is just possible that an overwhelming outpouring of public support just might overcome another Republican attempt to steal the election.

At this moment, a month away from the election, the issue is very much in doubt.

Copyright 2008 by Ernest Partridge

For more information on this issue:

A Compendium of Voter Fraud Links (Imagicke)

Ernest Partridge on Election Fraud

Velvet Revolution interviews GOP Cyber security expert Stephen Spoonamore who explains how the 2004 election was stolen in Ohio, and how it could easily be stolen again in November. Fascinating — and very scary. (40 minutes).

An Exclusive Interview With a Former Diebold Contractor.

Homer Simpson tries to vote for Obama on a paperless “direct recording electronic” voting machine.

September 30, 2008

The Bailout. Dave Lindorff: The Power of “No” and the Need to Keep the Pressure on Congress, The Smirking Chimp. Also, David Swanson: Bailout Round II: A New Share of Lipstick, The Smirking Chimp.

Bailout Failure. Kos: Congress Did the Right Thing Today, Daily Kos. Also Meteor Blades: Bailout Defeat Offers Opportunity, Daily Kos.

Debates: Presidential No. 1. Joseph Romm: Obama’s Can’t-Lose Debate Strategy. The Huffington Post.

Debates: Presidential No.1. Joshua Holland: Six Short Takes On Why Obama Came Out Ahead in the Debate, AlterNet.

Dissent. Norman Solomon: Finally the Story of the Whistleblower Who Tried to Prevent the Iraq War. The Smirking Chimp.

Domestic Spying/Beyond the Law. Think Progress: Addington Signed Gonzales’ Name to Re-Authorize Warrantless Wiretapping Program. Think Progress. Also Declan McCullagh: FBI’s Net Surveillance Proposal Raises Privacy, Legal Concerns. CNet.

Economy. Hank Kalet: The Pyramids Crumble. Common Dreams.

Electoral Fraud. Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: “Votes Are Being Stolen, Now, by Hundreds of Thousands”. Daily Kos. Also Greg Gordon: Election Officials Telling College Students They Can’t Vote. McClatchy Newspapers. And Mark Crispin Miller: Spoonamore Reveals The Plan To Steal The Next Election, Democratic Underground.

Fascism. Naomi Wolf: Has Sarah Palin Been Picked as the Titular Head of the Coming Police State? AlterNet.

Fascism in America/Military. Glenn Greenwald: Why Is a U.S. Army Brigade Being Assigned to the “Homeland”?. Salon.com. Also Digby: Dispatches from Torture Nation. Digby Blog.

Financial Bailout. Dave Lindorff: What Nobody’s Saying: The Bailout Will Kill the Dollar, The Smirking Chimp.

Financial Bailout. Joshua Holland: Meltdown and Bailout: Why Our Economic System Is On the Verge of Collapse. AlterNet.

Financial Bailout. David Swanson: We Can Stop Paulson’s Plunder. The Smirking Chimp.

Financial Bailout. David Cay Johnston: Journalists, Start Your Skepticism. Poynter Online. Also Meg White: Bailing Out Wall Street: Another Front in the GOP Economic War Against American Working Families. BuzzFlash. And Dean Baker: Bush Brings WMD Line to Wall Street. truthout.

Financial Bailout. Matthew Benjamin: Hundreds of Economists Urge Congress Not to Rush on Rescue Plan. Bloomberg News. Also Mike Whitney: Mushroom Cloud Over Wall Street. Information Clearing House.

Financial Bailout. Digby: Long Term Capitol. Digby Blog. Also Kos: “Crisis” Bill Was Months in the Making. Daily Kos. And Anonymous: [Satire on How to Finance Bailout]. The Nation.

Financial Bailout. Glenn Greenwald: David Brooks Thinks He Sees a “New Establishment” to Run Economic Policy. Salon.com. Also Madis Senner: You Cannot Push on a Piece of String, Mr. Paulson . Dissident Voice. And Dan Lieberman: The Great Bailout. Dissident Voice.

Financial Bailout. Digby: Serious People [Roubini's Thoughts]. Digby Blog. Also Nouriel Roubini: Is Purchasing $700 billion of Toxic Assets the Best Way to Recapitalize the Financial System?… . RGE Monitor. And Mike Whitney: Mushroom Cloud Over Wall Street. Information Clearing House.

Financial Bailout. Digby: Stopping the Bleeding. Digby Blog. Also Glenn Greeenwald and Digby: What Are the Dangers for Democrats in Supporting a Bailout? And Why Are They About to Do It?. Salon.com.

Financial Bailout. Thom Hartmann: How Wall Street Can Bail Itself Out without Destroying the Dollar. OpEdNews. Also Paul Krugman: A $700 Billion Slap in the Face. The New York Times. And Der Spiegel: Merkel Says Washington Helped Drag Europe into the Credit Crisis. Der Spiegel (Germany).

Financial Bailout. Hilzoy: The Final Bill, Washington Monthly. Also Digby: Enablers, Digby Blog. And Glenn Greenwald: Bailout Follows the 10 Normal Principles
for How Our Government Functions, Salon.

John McCain. Rosa Brooks: Keating 5 Ring a Bell?. Los Angeles Times. Also John Judis: Putting Country Last . The New Republic. And George F. Will: McCain Loses His Head. Washington Post.

John McCain. Nicholas Kristof: Impulsive,Impetuous,Impatient . The New York Times. Also Frank Rich: McCain’s Suspension Bridge to Nowhere. The New York Times.

John McCain/Veterans Issues. clammyc: McCain’s Voting Record: He Does Not Support Our Troops and Veterans. Veterans for Common Sense. Also Dean Baker: McCain Would Privatize Social Security. truthout.

John McCain. Steven Rosenfeld: Republicans Allege McCain Covered Up His Collaboration with the North Vietnamese While a POW. AlterNet.

McCain/Palin. Carl Bernstein: The Palin Pick — The Devotion of McCain. The Huffington Post.

Media/Financial Crisis. Eric Boehlert: The Campaign-Obsessed Press Never Saw Wall Street’s Calamity Coming. The Smirking Chimp.

Media/Liberals. Sam Boyd: Channel Changer. The American Prospect.

Obama Campaign. R. J. Eskow: Five Ways Obama Can Nail the Next Debate . . . And Still Be Obama. The Huffington Post.

Sarah Palin. Matt Taibbi: Mad Dog Palin. AlterNet.

Sarah Palin. James Rainey: Palin Talks to Couric – and If She’s Lucky, Few are Listening. Los Angeles Times.

Sarah Palin. Glenn Greenwald: Correction on Sarah Palin. Salon.com.

Sarah Palin/Religion. Michelle Goldberg: Sarah Palin, 21st Century Theocrat. AlterNet.

Sarah Palin. Rachel Weiner: Report: McCain Aides Complain That Palin Is “Clueless”. The Huffington Post. Also Fox News [AP story was spiked quickly]: Conservatives Begin Questioning Palin’s Heft . Brad Blog. And Kathleen Parker: Palin Problem: She’s Out Of Her League [And Should Resign]. National Review.

Regressives (Right Wing. ). David Michael Green: America’s Elephant In The Room. The Smirking Chimp.

Right Wing. Alicia Morgan: Conservatism – The Elephant in the Room. The Smirking Chimp.

Torture/John McCain. Digby: Dispatches from Torture Nation . Digby Blog.

“Air America Radio” features Al Franken, Jeneane Garofalo, Randi Rhodes, Mike Malloy, Jerry Springer, Chuck D, Laura Flanders, Robert Kennedy, Jr., to name just a few. Equally impressive are the guests: John Kerry, Al Gore, Hillary Clinton, Richard Clarke, John Dean, Paul Krugman, Robert Reich, and many more.

We’ve listened to many hours of Air America, and our primary complaint is that it is keeping us from our work — hard to tune out. See for yourselves!

“AAR” was launched on Wednesday, March 31, 2004 on six AM stations. Now (July, 2005) there are more than fifty. Even so, isn’t much of the US, not to mention areas beyond our borders, outside of the range of AAR?

No Way! Air America can be accessed anywhere with through the internet, and through Sirius satellite radio — which, of course, means anywhere!

We urge you to tune in and, much more, to support the sponsors, since Air America, as a commercial venture, lives or dies on ratings and sponsor support. Jot down the sponsors and contact them.

Here’s how you find Air America on the internet and, if you are within reach of a signal, on your radio.

Log on to www.airamericaradio.com. There you will find a listing of the stations — call letters and frequencies — and instructions for accessing the programs via the internet. This website also provides a program schedule.

Our preferred internet access is Air America Rado Place, where you can download, listen, and perchance record your favorite Air America programs at your convenience by logging on to the archives.

Of course, you will need an audio player and loudspeakers — standard equipment for most computers. Speakers are available from Radio Shack or Best Buy for less than $20 on up, or you can connect your computer’s audio outlet to the “AUX” tap in your Hi Fi amplifier. If you have a cassette recorded attached to your amplifier, this latter method has the added advantage of allowing you to tape the programs, which you can then listen to in your car.

An audio program, “Windows Media Player,” comes with most Windows operating systems. (You will find it under Programs/Accessories/Entertainment). In addition, free downloads of RealOne Player and Apple QuickTime Player are available.

Another outstanding gateway to progressive talk radio is The White Rose Society which has tremungous archives of liberal/progressive programs by such notables as Thom Hartman, Peter Werbe, Enid Golstein, Guy James and Mark Levine. These too can be downloaded for listening and recording at your convenience.

The progressive website “Make Them Accountable” has an extensive list of liberal talk shows on its page: “Unconservative Listening,” though these are not directly linked to the audio streams. The page also includes novice-friendly instructions on getting started with internet radio, recording programs, etc. (And by the way, http://makethemaccountable.com happens to be one of our favorite sources of progressive news and opinion. We visit it every day. Highly recommended).

Not much to report about progressive TV. The best, and virtually only, liberal outlet is Free Speech TV, inconspicuously placed in the broadcast boondocks, Ch. 9415 Dish Network. The highlight FSTV program is Amy Goodman’s “Democracy Now,” which is accessible at your convenience on the internet at www.democracynow.org. Democracy Now is also on DIrecTV, Channel 375. Now and then you might catch a liberal author, celebrity or conference on CSPAN. On the networks, about all we have is David Broncacio’s “Now” and occasionally “Frontline” Fridays on PBS. (How we miss Bill Moyers!).

There is an urgent need for a progressive cable news station — so far unfulfilled. How about it, George Soros, and all you “decadent Hollywood liberals”?

Crisis Papers editors, Partridge & Weiner, are available for public speaking appearances