WP: Conn. Race Could Be Democratic Watershed

[krkaufman]

(Wasn't sure this fit the LBN criteria...)

Conn. Race Could Be Democratic Watershed
Loss by Lieberman May Embolden Critics of War

By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, August 6, 2006; A01

FARMINGTON, Conn., Aug. 5 -- The passion and energy fueling the antiwar challenge to Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman in Connecticut's Senate primary signal a power shift inside the Democratic Party that could reshape the politics of national security and dramatically alter the battle for the party's 2008 presidential nomination, according to strategists in both political parties.

An upset by Lamont ... could excite interest in a comeback by former vice president Al Gore, who warned in 2002 that the war could be a grave strategic error. For at least the next year, any Democrat hoping to play on the 2008 stage would need to reckon with the implications of Lieberman's repudiation.

Although there are reasons beyond Lieberman's strong support for the war and what critics say is his accommodating stance toward Bush that have put him in trouble, the results will be read largely through the prism of what they say about Iraq and Bush's popularity.

Should Lieberman lose, the full ramifications are far from certain. One may be to signal immediate problems for Bush and the Republicans in November, but another could be to push Democrats into a more partisan, antiwar posture, a prospect that is already adding powerful new fuel to a four-year-long intraparty debate over Iraq.

[Erika]

1. Gore also pushed a lockbox for Social Security

to assure it's solvency. The GOP laughed at him.

Who's laughing now?

[skids]

2. Or woodshed. Take your pick. n/t

[felman87]

3. I'm laughing

but only because I'm stuck in the middle of all this shit. (Bush-led America? We're fucked!)

[Peace Patriot]

4. We're only fucked as long as we want to be, because there is a very

simple solution for getting us un-fucked--maybe not easy to achieve, at this point, but simple enough--and it's called transparent vote counting.

Right now, we have virtually all the votes in the country being "tabulated" by two rightwing Bushite corporations--Diebold and ES&S--using TRADE SECRET, PROPRIETARY programming code, in new electronic voting systems, with virtually no audit/recount controls.

If that isn't a prescription for tyranny, I don't know what is.

The prescription was engineered by the biggest crooks in the Anthrax Congress, Tom Delay and Bob Ney (abetted by Bilderberg 'Democrat' Christopher Dodd), with $4 billion in funding intended to corrupt and destroy our election system from one end of the country to the other, which it very successfully did.

DIEBOLD: Until recently, headed by Wally O'Dell, a Bush-Cheney campaign chair and major fundraiser (a Bush "Pioneer," right up there with Ken Lay), who promised in writing to "deliver Ohio's electoral votes to Bush-Cheney in 2004"; and

ES&S: A spinoff of Diebold (similar computer architecture), initially funded by rightwing billionaire Howard Ahmanson, who also gave one million dollars to the extremist 'christian' Chalcedon Foundation (which touts the death penalty for homosexuals, among other things). Diebold and ES&S have an incestuous relationship; they are run by two brothers, Bob and Todd Urosevich.

These are people who "counted" most of the nation's votes in 2004, under a veil of corporate secrecy.

They are entrenched now, as is the culture of secrecy around elections that they inspired. They used all kinds of tactics, including lavish lobbying of legislators and election officials, to fast-track the purchase of their crappy, unreliable and extremely insider- hackable election theft machinery.

Our Democratic Party leadership is not innocent in this vile, corrupt, democracy-killing development, and their MIND-BOGGLING SILENCE about it has made it extremely difficult to get it changed, but they were not the initiators of--that stench belongs to Delay, Ney and Dodd--and some may have remained silent out of fear and possibly some out of ignorance.

So, we are facing Stolen Election III in November. There is no way that the counts will be accurate. There is virtually no way to verify the counts. What do we do?

Well, we can say "we're fucked." Or we can get creative and plan a protest for November that involves everybody--all voters among that 65% to 70% of Americans who have despised the Bush junta for over a year now--that involves voting and will help turnout, that's easy to do, and that has the potential to bring this rigged election system to its knees: A massive citizen rebellion in the form of Absentee Ballot voting.

Flood election officials with MOUNTAINS of paper ballots and force them to deal with it. DON'T VOTE ON THEIR RIGGED MACHINES. Boycott the machines. Let their expensive, shiny, new, election theft machinery sit idle!

If enough people do it--and many are (it's up to 50% in Los Angeles)--it will be a massive citizen "vote of no confidence" in this rigged system, that will CREATE the conditions for immediate reform. The surge is AB voting is because people don't trust the machines. They want a PAPER BALLOT, HAND COUNTED. Many don't know that an AB vote is not "safe" (they're generally just scanned into the rigged electronics), but that doesn't matter. Accurate counts are NOT possible this fall. Many wonderful things are happening in the election reform movement, but none will mature quickly enough to un-rig this election. This citizen protest--if successful--will cause a CRISIS in the election theft industry, and FORCE reform. We have to jumpstart this reform NOW.

Disaffected voters will now have a reason to vote. Voting will be changed into a positive protest, instead of a passive act of despair. The corporate news monopolies have been leaking the election fraud story out very slowly (biggest scandal in our democracy--ever) so as to suppress the vote. We must counter this! The only way to do so is to turn voting into a protest aimed at un-rigging the system. THAT will motivate people!

It's the Montgomery bus boycott, Gandhi's salt tax protest, and the Boston Tea Party all wrapped up in one. It's NON-COOPERATION with rotten, fascist election theft machinery. We vote--but we protest at the same time.

If it's big enough, it will cause talk. It will produce news. It will panic election officials and get them to the table with knowledgeable election reformers.

It's very American. It suits the times, and our mood as a people. We're beaten down, demoralized, and, above all, DISENFRANCHISED. We know street protests don't work. These fascists are DEAF to the people of this country. They could not be more oblivious to our needs and desires. They are thieves and war criminals. And the Diebold Congress does nothing. It spends a week on flag-burning. Jeez, if THAT doesn't convince you that these clowns were not elected, I don't know what will!

Bumpersticker: Bust the Machines--Vote Absentee!

Spread the word!

[INdemo]

5. Why cant the leading Democrats in Washington understand this?

They act as if its a simple problem with a simple solution..I just dont understand why Democrats haven't been screaming for 2 years.
The Democrats have had two years to fix this problem so I dont expect any real action now with less than 90 days to go before the fall election..

[marions ghost]

7. they know

it's a complex problem...huge in fact. And nobody really wants to deal with it. Election reform is an ugly duckling. For one thing public opinioindicators tells them that many people are in denial that elections were stolen. Also support among the party leadership around the country has been lacking because they were complicit in the voting machine boondoggle (read what HAVA is really about). Many were duped into thinking that electronic voting machines owned and operated by Republicans were safe enough. Nobody wants to admit they were so badly hoodwinked. So because of this general paralysis about the problem, legislators can afford to make it a lesser priority, especially with so much else to cope with. If more citizens who vote indicated they were upset about it, there would be more reaction.

[Peace Patriot]

6. Be alert. While CT doesn't have e-voting, they may have central

electronic tabulators (I'm not sure), and they may have other rigging methods newly devised. There has been a surge of last-minute Democratic voter registrations, apparently. That does not necessarily help Lamont. And it could be crap--phantom voters (for Lieberman). PUT NOTHING PAST THE BUSHITES! NOTHING!

WaPo NEVER has good motives on the anti-war movement or the anti-Bush movement. They are lying sacks of warmongering, war profiteering shit. DON'T TRUST THEM! At this point, I wouldn't believe ANYTHING they said. Question everything, every fact, every analysis. Look for what the Bushites are up to--and also the War-compromised Democrats. And look for what WaPo itself is up to.

For instance, they are playing this much like the Busby/Bilbray CA-50 election--calling it a bellweather, building up expectations, and then--boom--in that case, Diebold just outright stole it, in my opinion--and their pre-written post-election, Rovian "talking points" begin. Same with Kerry. So, look out! A 10% surge isn't that big, in circumstances of the opposition's overwhelming financial and cloak and dagger power, and its history of criminality.

Be prepared for the depressing, demoralizing, falling-off-the-cliff feeling of the fascist boot kicking you in the stomach, late on election night. Just...be prepared. Don't WASTE TIME on disappointment, anger, recriminations--hightail it to the registrars' offices and secure the ballots! Don't take "no" for an answer. A recount is a MUST.

Max Cleland and his supporters went through it. Kerry and his supporters went through. Busby and her supporters went through it--and others. The proponents of the election reform initiatives in Ohio went through it (60/40 flipovers of the vote! 60/40!--e-voting, no paper trail) . We've had TOO MANY UNEXPECTED LOSSES. Don't fall for it! Get a recount!

WaPo is also playing this as a CHANGE in public opinion--an unexpected development of strong antiwar feeling in the country. They don't say it outright, because they can't defend it. There has been no change. The American people have opposed this war from the beginning (56% opposed, Feb. '03--I'll never forget it; it was my first clue to the coming stolen election). And WaPo and the entire Beltway establishment (with rare exceptions) has IGNORED and DEFIED the overwhelming wishes of the American people on this matter.

So you can't tell me that they're going to START heeding our wishes NOW--even if Lamont wins. Their playing up the ramifications and ripples--ALL POLITICAL--nothing about STOPPING THE WAR. All about political positioning. And the War Democrats have a position--a gradual withdrawal. Meanwhile, Israel has set up prime conditions for "Gulf of Tonkin II"--a manufactured incident that gets us into a widened Mideast war without the NEED for justification. EIGHTY-FOUR PERCENT of Americans oppose any U.S. participation in a widened Mideast war. But that's right where Bush is headed.

A Lamont victory might be PERMITTED by these fascists and warmongers as an outlet--let off some steam, let the people feel relief and victory--then, BAM, we're in. And WW III is upon us. And all the OTHER elections are fiddled (--so easily, with Diebold/ES&S "trade secret" code).

Don't think that they will not outmaneuver you even in victory. The Bush Cartel has not wasted six years and $10 TRILLION and many billions in political cash to be removed from the Middle East. Neither they, nor the War Democrats, are going to be moved one inch on their positions. THE MOST we can expect is the Kerry-Murtha plan for a PHASED withdrawal to Kuwait, Qatar and other points in and near Lebanon/Syria/Iran, and Israel. The region is now a TINDERBOX. One match lit and....

The WaPo article puts a lot of effort into framing. Pay attention to their framing. The TEMPORARY fallback position on the war has long been in place--six months or so now. It is the launching pad for all-out war.

The article is riddled with hints that simply not doing war--not doing "The Project for a New American Century"--is weak, is too leftist. They DO NOT TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION--nor admit--that THAT is the MAINSTREAM AMERICAN POSITION. Pull out of Iraq. NO MIDEAST WAR.

This is NOT a "leftist" opinion. This is the PREVAILING opinion--and it's huge. Or, I guess I should say that the overwhelming prevailing opinion on the the war IS leftist--not to shy from the word. OUR position is the mainstream. But that position is not permitted. It is treated as a mere ripple through the political waters. But mark my words: The War Democrats and the Bushites are agreed upon THEIR course--either now, or soon. We, the people, are going to be overruled again.

And we do NOT have the strength of transparent elections to exert our rightful influence. This is the realistic situation in which Lamont will be scuttled by a stolen election, or will win but with a war majority in tact in Congress.

Long term, Mr. Lamont and his amazing supporters--on the ground in CT, and around the country--are going to save this country. There is no question in my mind about that. Whether we win or lose in CT--and I credit NO loss in these political circumstances (the people have spoken, time and again--they want OUT, they want the war to END--and any election that does not reflect that is stolen)--Lamont's campaign is the new "shot heard round the world." It is a revolution in the making. It is a steep mountain that we have to climb. I am sure, now, that we will get there, that we will get our country back, that we will restore our democracy. But it will likely take longer than we realize, and we need to prepared for that long haul and what it may bring.

[ihelpu2see]

8. We must all stand up and show that we are not the minority

that the liberal dems in the party who want Universal Health care, the best public schools in the world and a strong yet reserved national defense that we are not vocal ideologues as Joe Lieberman has called us time and time again.