Brad Friedman on election fraud: Republicans are evil, Democrats are idiots

[dorkulon]

From an http://buffalobeast.com/132/friedman_interview.htm">eye-opening interview with Brad Friedman of http://bradblog.com">Bradblog:

BEAST: How much longer can the country survive these dubious elections before either we address the problem coherently, or people just stop feeling like they live in a democracy?

BF: I think a lot of people already do not feel like they live in a democracy, and justifiably so after after these last two presidential elections. But how long can it go on? It can go on until a Republican perceives that they have been screwed by this system, by these machines, for example. As soon as they feel that a Republican has lost a race because of a faulty, hackable voting machine, that’s when there will be reform. Because they will make sure there’s reform. The Democrats have been screwed out of one election after another. Sarasota is one of the most recent examples—Sarasota, Florida in 2006. 18,000 votes disappear in a Democratic district where the race went to the Republican by 369 votes—Katherine Harris’s old seat, by the way. And what did the Democrats do about it? Absolutely nothing.

BEAST: Despite all this, the Democrats are likely to gain a lot of seats in November. Do you think there’s any chance that they will be able, with a greater majority, to do something, pass a bill, whatever?

BF: Probably not. I mean, even if they had a veto-proof majority in the Senate—remember, for the first six year of the Bush administration, we were told the Democrats couldn’t do this or that because they just didn’t have the majority, that the Republican had the White House and both chambers of Congress. Then they got the majority in both chambers of Congress, and we were told they can’t do anything because it wasn’t enough of a majority. So, oddly enough, the Republicans have gotten everything they wanted, even while they’re in the minority. So, if the Republicans can get whatever they want while they’re in the minority, why couldn’t the Democrats get it when they were in the minority? Why can’t they get it now that they’re in the majority? You know, why are they signing off on giving immunity to the phone companies, the FISA bill?

BEAST: Well, because they’re almost as corrupt as the Republicans, I suppose.

BF: I don’t know, you know? I don’t find them to be as corrupt; I find them to be, uh, you know, once again, pussies. I just find them to be scared to death, incompetent, and they don’t know how to govern, how to fight for the people that brung ‘em to the dance. And so they have just been a failure on that level. But I don’t find them to be as corrupt. I find the Republicans to be evil, and I find the Democrats to be idiots. And there is a distinction, albeit a small one. I realize I’m really grasping for straws there, if that’s the difference between the two.

BEAST: It’s like the difference between Dr. Frankenstein and Igor.

BF: Exactly . So I really have no reason to believe they will do anything differently until I see them do it. When they do it, I will be delighted, and I will be happy to laud them for it. But I’ll believe it when I see it.

Read the whole thing. Brad smacks down the whole ACORN scam and highlight the various tactics the GOP is using to steal the election. But his point, that the Dems still don't have a coherent strategy to stop the Repugs from doing this, is a good one. Why, after 8 years of these shenanigans, can't we get our collective shit together and put an end to GOP election fraud?

[OneGrassRoot]

1. K&R n/t

[aquart]

2. That about sums it up, yeah.

Dr. Frankenstein and Igor. Especially when you consider that Igor was the doctor's loyal helper.

[dorkulon]

4. Yeah, I thought that was a pretty good metaphor actually.

We need to find a brain and put it in our own heads.

[napi21]

3. I'm ashamed to say it, but the Dems HAVE acted like pussies for the last 2 years!

We have a few bulldogs. But a very few! They remind me of the parents who won't diciplin their kids because "they'll hate me"! I dream that will change when they get a super majority, but....most dreams don't ever come true!

[dorkulon]

5. Even when Rush Holt tried to float a bill on the voting subject, it was fatally flawed

because it allowed these uncheckable touch screen machines to be used. The Dems don't actually even understand the issue.

[greyseal5]

6. Yup

This is why once Obama wins, we have to clean our own house. The Pelosis and Reids have to go.

[lonestarnot]

10. Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[Laelth]

7. Democrats govern well, as the Clinton years show.

That's the only real beef I have with Friedman's analysis. The Republicans are diabolical, to be sure, and the Democrats have shown remarkable cowardice. But now that Barack Obama has shown us how to harness the power of the grassroots through online campaign financing, perhaps the Democratic Party can finally break the chains of big-money donors and do the right thing for the people.

That's my hope. Obama has shown us the way. All politicians are bought, and they are beholden to the people who bought them, but, for the first time in history, Obama (if he becomes president) will have been bought by us, the people, of the United States. He will be beholden to us.

This is, truly, a revolutionary election.

The United States is a LIBERAL Country.

:dem:

-Laelth

[dorkulon]

14. None of that matters if the GOP counts the votes.

Brad is entirely right with regard to hackable, unreviewable voting machines. The Democrats have done virtually nothing about this, and it has the potential to wipe out everything else the Democrats are doing.

[Laelth]

18. I agree.

I want hand-counted paper ballots for all federal elections before 2010. I am angry that Democrats have not done more to fix this problem, but, there's almost nothing that can be done about this problem this year. It's too late to fix the mess this election cycle.

-Laelth

[bertman]

8. I agree with Brad 100%. And I've been a Democrat for 40 years.

Laelth, I don't think it's that the Democrats govern so well as they don't try to sabotage the government for their financial gain like the Republicans do. On the other hand we did get some seriously ignorant governing in the form of NAFTA, the telecom consolidations, and the repeal of Glass-Steagal while our main man Big Dawg was in the White House.

I'm going to do my best to get involved at the local level and try to change the party. I had never done that before--just sent money and voted Dem. Now I want to get rid of the "centrist" rep we have who thinks voting Republican is okay for a Democrat.

I'm tired of the DLC running the show. Howard Dean is the Man now. If he can't get it done I'm going to go Independent. This shit is getting old.

And if this voting machine thing doesn't get dealt a death blow when Obama gets elected, well America and the Democrats will get exactly what we deserve.

[lonestarnot]

11. I'm with you!

I am going to be watching and not let up when Obama takes office, if he takes office. Their asses need to be kicked into shape and know who put them where they are. And they better have it done before the next election. No more fucking vote flipping on any of those damn stupid machines!

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Democracy? that ended in 2000

the rest is the kind of cartoon I grew up with

I EXPECT my vote not to count, but damn it, they will have to steal it

[dailykoff]

12. If only they WERE just idiots.

They know the score, or some of them do. Think of Harry Reid's convention speech--boring, but right on the money. But that's not how he votes.

[dorkulon]

15. Reid sounds like an idiot to me:

I was on the air the other day with Harry Reid, who was crowing about how lucky they were in Nevada because they had paper trails on their touchscreen systems. I mean, the very same voting systems, Sequoia Edge with Veri-Vote Printer, you can see being hacked, including the paper trail, on a UC Santa Barbara video that was put out just two weeks ago, showing exactly how to hack those machines in such a way that even if you bothered to count 100% of the paper trails—and they never count any of them by the way, but even if you did—they would match the internal numbers perfectly, even though the election was hacked. And here you’ve got the Senate Majority leader saying that “We’re lucky in Nevada because we have these machines.” Are you kidding me? These guys are absolutely clueless.

[natrat]

17. clueless smooth talking crook like most of them

[GreenTea]

13. Kick!

[nyc 4 Biden]

16. kickin for the truth