As presented on Common Dreams.org:
Published on Tuesday, October 18, 2005 by the Free Press (Columbus, Ohio)
Why Can't the Left Face the Stolen Elections of 2004 & 2008?
by Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman
If some of its key publications are any indicator, much of the American left seems unable to face the reality that the election of 2004 was stolen. So in all likelihood, unless something radical is done, 2008 will be too.
Misguided and misinformed articles in both TomPaine.com and Mother Jones Magazine indicate a dangerous inability to face the reality that these stolen elections mean nothing less than the death of what's left of American democracy, and the permanent enthronement of the Rovian GOP.
As investigative reporters based in Columbus, Ohio, we witnessed first-hand, up close and personal, exactly how the 2004 election was stolen, and how it will most likely be done in 2008. In the precinct in which Harvey Wasserman grew up, and in the one where Bob Fitrakis now lives, we saw the well-funded, profoundly cynical and deadly effective mechanisms by which the Bush-Cheney-Rove-Blackwell GOP machine switched a victory for John Kerry to an easily-repeatable defeat for democracy.
That Kerry and the spineless Ohio and national Democratic Parties have been complicit is a crucial part of the problem much of the left also seems unwilling to face. But if you live in Franklin County, Ohio, and watch the Republican and Democratic Parties run joint pickets against progressive candidate, and cut backroom deals allowing incumbents of either party run unopposed, you may miss the full scope of the disaster.
(snip)
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1018-22.htmThis opinion piece goes on to warn that until we all come to terms with the reality of the election fraud of 2004, we are going to be condemned to being ruled by the likes of Jeb Bush.
As one who helped to get out the vote in Ohio with ACT--a major effort as far as time, money, family sacrifices--my reaction was to shiver with fear and loathing! The election fraud was obvious to anyone there willing to see. The greatest sucker punches to me, however, were not what the opposition did (that I expected!) rather they came from denial on the part of some of my coworkers and some of the left media afterwords, and the rapid-fire concession by Kerry that I heard in the van going back to NYC the next day!
My hopes for anything remaining that in any way resembles a democracy are fading as time passes and such denial feeds into the continuing corporate/DLC agenda.