The Osama tape

[sandnsea]

Why don't any of you ever question the timing of the Osama tape? With all the election fraud conspiracies and wire tapping and BFEE, why doesn't the most obvious thing ever come up for discussion. Where'd the Osama tape come from and how long did they have it. That's what happened. That and the media lies.

You want your country back, you better focus on the ones who stole it. The BFEE and their media lap dogs.

[AntiCoup2K4]

1. The tape was a fraud.

Granted, they had a better casting director this time, and it wasn't as obvious as the short, fat, not even Arab looking "Osama" who supposedly "confessed" to the 9-11 attacks in the badly produced tape of November 2001, but any close observer could see that the guy in the second (Oct 2004) tape was no 6"5" Arab either. His shoulders were too narrow for a man of such height, and his upper half wasn't above the podium enough. And the tape was deliberately blurred to make facial features less obvious, but the shape of the man's face was wrong.

Considering the "message" on the fake tape really didn't say anything specifically threat related, I don't believe it changed anyone's vote. Chimp had lost chunks of support in every single subgroup of conservatism, and so I maintain that it was mathematically impossible for him to win in 2004, and I don't believe he did. I believe elctro-fraud voting is taking a much larger toll than any of us realize.

Just because the "official" Diebold numbers claim that Chimp beat Kerry 51-49 in any given precinct, does that mean the actual votes were just a simple reversal of that, with Kerry up 51-49?

Yes? No? Maybe? Point is, with no fucking way of verifying the votes, the actual numbers could have been 60-40% in Kerry's favor and as long as a Diebold cheat card is programmed to give a 51-49 result in favor of the repuke candidate, how the Hell would you ever know the difference?

[sandnsea]

3. Which means what??

That we need to keep educating the public on the machines because they aren't transparent? We'd need to do that no matter the election results. I wish we'd stick to that instead of alienating people with conspiracy talk, but oh well.

And yes, the tape had a huge impact, if you know the strategy of the last days and the media blitz against Bush that was in the works and had been unleashed. The tape was a monkeywrench in that process. It caused all those fence sitters, who are really nothing more than herd voters, to pause. And that's where Ohio was at, I talked to people on election day who said they didn't know who they were going to vote for. So there you go.

[Dunvegan]

2. The thing that most struck me about the tape...

...was that Osama, supposedly on the run from cave, to shack, to hidey-hole...looked like it was shot in a makeshift studio...and bin Laden looked like nothing less than Al-Qaeda's "anchorman" in that film.



The other thing that bothers me about this tape is it's timing just before the election.

I was working the phones for the Kerry campaign a couple of weekends here in San Francisco.

They were one weekend calling swing-state elders...They gave me a call list of over 65 voters from the city in Michigan where I grew up.

I was dismayed to find that a large number of prosperous-sounding elder's were angry to be called by the Kerry campaign...and this anger sounded (from their comments) to be fuled by hightened fear of terrorism...fear so well instilled that they were angry to even be spoken to by someone from Kerry's campaign.

Perfectly rational sounding people that answered the phone, suddenly began shouting or responding in an agitated and alarmed fashion about their fear of losing the tough shield they said Bush was...and if they answered my one poll question (What is youe main election issue?) many were scathing in loudly saying "Terrorism!"

Intrestingly enough, those who were elderly Kerry supporters actually framed the same issue differently...they would correct me on the list (Economy, Medical Care, Terrorism, Social Security) and say, "Not 'terrorism' but 'the war in Iraq.' That's my concern. That's why I'm voting Kerry."

Interesting. The fear in so many voices were different from anything I'd ever heard from fellow Americans. The quality of this fear caused those scared of terrorism to actually be angry anyone at all was anything but pro-Bush. That another American could support anything other than Bush scared them...and they resented it...and resented the very existance of the Kerry candidacy (or so several told me.)

This fear of terrorism had elderly Americans actually afraid of the two-party system...and any challenge to Bush.

I think they would have probably been in favor of an imperial presidency (Bush only) had I asked them.

A DHS "orange alert" and Osama's daytime soap opera...and voila. Right before the elections.

Well...{tinfoil hat}...Osama was originally a CIA asset, after all....{tinfoil hat off}

{Edited to add tinfoil hat thought: Does Osama's nose really look right in that anchorman tape?...tinfoil off again.}

[rockymountaindem]

4. And some people still wonder why Kerry lost.

I saw the same thing here in Colorado Springs. One person (a former HS teacher of mine who had previously identified as "left-leaning") even told me that he thought even having an election in "time of war" was dangerous, and that all us Democrats were treasonous and endagering everyone's safety by promoting out candidate.

I saw and knew of many people like this. Some are even my friends. How can you argue with people who think that way?

It's easy to look back at the changed political landscape one year later and ask how Kerry lost, but things were very different and much more difficult for us back then. People, rightly or wrongly, were terrified and thought only Bush could protect them. I, too, heard their combative tone. It was sad to hear them hide behind Bush, invoke Osama, and then call us cowards.

[sandnsea]

8. Compounding the situation

Is when you live in a bluer area and didn't hear that sort of thing and consequently underestimate its power. Makes it alot harder to understand the dynamics of the election.

I also completely missed the "vote your values" bus tours. Somebody here posted when they hit her church and she was near hysterics. I even argued with her that it wasn't that big of a deal, I didn't see it as anything other than what happens in every other election. But I didn't realize there was mega buses and voter registration and all the rest. Didn't hear a peep about it, until AFTER the election. *sigh*

So yeah, I think there's lessons from 2004. Just not the ones we're wasting our time wringing our hands over.

[HR_Pufnstuf]

5. The theory of the tape.

By putting Osama up on TV, the Repubs very effectively consolidated their Christian base just 3 days prior. Genius move whoever floated the tape.

[CJCRANE]

6. Al-Jazeera was asked to hold the tape back for several days

and only released an edited version just before the election.

If the full version had been released and discussed it would've been very damaging to Bushco, but not to Kerry.

[CJCRANE]

7. Excerpt:

"...the policy of the White House that demands the opening of war fronts to keep busy their various corporations - whether they be working in the field of arms or oil or reconstruction - has helped al-Qaida to achieve these enormous results.

And so it has appeared to some analysts and diplomats that the White House and us are playing as one team towards the economic goals of the United States".

I guess they never showed that clip on the TV news...