This is a post, too long for a comment, to the front page fraudster post.
Markos, I respectfully disagree. And when I say "respectfully disagree" I'm not using boilerplate language. I truly respect you and your opinion, though I cannot subscribe to it. I know that most of you what said is inapplicable to me, since I never had the intent of putting Kerry in the white house with my diaries, but I still would like to respond more to the people who posted comments in your thread.
As you yourself have evidenced, there come a point when you just need to be blunt. What I'm writing below is not necessarily directed at you, but to community in general.
Here we go.
Reading the Kos thread, many of the comments made me feel like the entire group of posters were being chastised:. "Oh, I'm so glad you put those wacko liberals in their place! They were getting so annoying and
embarrassing...!"
Let's get some things crystal clear here.
All of you know where I stand on front page status and the election and Kerry. I made a poll a while pack on whether to move all the Ohio stuff on a separate blog. The results were that I should keep the stuff here, so I did.
Now, many of those kissing Markos' feet because he spoke out about the fraudsters have probably not even followed the election diaries. I know this for a fact, because many of the comments are so ill-informed. And it's pretty damn audacious to slam an entire segment of the Kos community when you haven't even taken to the time to read through their work.
If you had read the diaries, not just my diaries, but the diaries of TorqueDeville, Rincewind, ctsteve, jmknapp, ReneeinOhio and countless others, you would realize that none of us has focused on putting Kerry in the White House. If you had taken the time to read the thousands of comments in all the "Ohio" and "Election" diaries, you would realize that almost NO ONE expects that Kerry will be in the White House.
Fuck, we talk about reality-based community, yet so many here are living in their own misinformed oblivion.
Let's get reality-based, shall we?
The reality is that lumping all of us into "fraudsters" or "wacko liberals" is remarkably stupid. There are three types of people that I've seen following the election issue. (1)the vast majority of people believe this was a dirty election, that widespread intimidation/suppression/irregularities occurred, but the numbers are just not there to put Kerry in the White House. So when you see an "Ohio" or "Election" diary, if you bothered to click on the link, you would realize that almost all the people discussing the issues there are doing it to seek justice and the truth, NOT for a Kerry presidency. (2) the second type of people following the election, a smaller percentage, are those who honestly don't know if there was fraud, and that if there was, and it's uncovered, it might put Kerry in the White House. This is a very very small percentage, and they are usually skeptical but holding out hope. (3) the final group, the one which apparently too many people think represents ALL of the people following the election, is a very very very small handful of people who honestly think there is enough evidence to date to prove Kerry won the election.
Is it fair to spit all this vitriolic animosity towards an entire group of citizens who are investigating the election, when it's only so few who make such an outstanding claim? Of course not. So what we have Markos doing is posting about "fraudsters", and although the contents of his post are applicable only to maybe a couple dozen people on this site...what do we get...? Hundreds of comments interpreting Markos' post as being generally applicable and "taking down" all the Election people.
And riddle me this: how can we lobby for election reform unless we have a comprehensive record of what need to be reformed?
How can we go to Congress with a straight face and say "Hey, can you pass this bill for a paper trial....yeah, the last election apparently went smoothly, but we still need it..." No. It is imperative that we document every single case of intimidation, every instance of "vote hopping", every registration form that was torn because only then can we go to Congress, with a fucking truck full of documents and affidavits and say "Look at this mess! Now fix it!"
And that is why investigating possible fraud and documenting the irregularities in this election is so critical. While all of you have been glossing over the diaries, thinking "What the fuck, they're STILL talking about that?" we've been meticulously trying to do the job the media SHOULD be doing and documenting the stuff that you'll be using when you go begging for reform.
Markos wrote that it's been two months and there's been no evidence of fraud. You know, for a bunch of students, mothers, fathers, professors, and other normal folk, I think we've done a damn good job of uncovering disturbing facts that would have gone unnoticed had we not stepped forward. But it's remarkably frustating when you have no one standing by your side. It's remarkably frustrating when the only Congressmen looking into the election are repeatedly reminded by Olbermann that it's not a Congresional inquiry, but that Conyers' investigation is fundamentally the equivalent of a bunch of Representatives getting together at Starbucks.
It's remarkably frustrating that we do not have subpoena power. That we don't have the power to make anyone testify. That we are working with essentially the right AND the left against us, with pathetic resources--but despite all this frustration, we have endless determination to hold those who violated so many people's right in Ohio accountable.
The reality is that the comments in that thread and generally the attitude towards the election investigation show how the Republicans have won. They're kicking us when we're down, and we're lapping it up like some masochistic GOP lapdogs.
The Republicans WANT to make us look like conspiracy theorists, not just the Kerry-in-the-White-House people, but they want anyone who touches on the issue of intimidation or suppression or ballot fraud to be labeled as a whiner. President Bush just asked the Ohio court to throw out Arnebeck's lawsuit. He won't even let the guy have his fucking day in court, saying the case resembles "a poorly drafted script for a late night conspiracy-theory movie." So there you go. Despite the fact that Arnebeck's lawsuit focuses on intimidation, suppression, despite his lawsuit was the one glimmer of hope of getting the subpoena power we need to get Blackwell to testify about his abuse of power, the President has taken out the whip and said that no, not even a "conspiracy theorist" will have his day in court. That's the Republican mantra, folks. To quote Blackwell, the election was "tremendously successful," no need to look, just move on and pay not attention to those "fraudsters" looking for truth. That's the GOP game, the mantra they wanted us on the left to be hypnotized by.
And, as evidenced by the comments in Markos' thread and in other threads on this site, we've fallen into their trap. Because at a time when we should be galvanizing those who are investigating possible fraud, intimidation, and suppression, everyone is saying "Shhh....stop making that noise! You sound like a crybaby. You're drawing too much attention! Kerry lost, get over it. Move on to 2008."
Every time someone says that, it's like a bitch-slap straight from GOP headquarters. You're doing the work for them. Telling us that we're wasting our time investigating the 2004 election is exactly what they want you to do. Do you know how hard it is to focus on the 2004 election when you have the wingnuts AND your own fellow liberals telling you to give up and move on? And that's exactly what they want. Because the GOP knows that the Dems are at a point where they think they have to watch their image, so they'll do anything not to rock the boat, not to seem "obstructionist," to be more appealing to Joe Blow who lives in Idaho and watches NASCAR all day.
But we have to stop playing their games, and it should end right here and now with this election. Who the fuck cares what the Republicans think of us? Or the SCLM? When the hell did the quest for the truth become a fucking popularity contest?
Is this what you're afraid of?
Well wake the fuck up.
We're going to be labeled crybabies regardless of whether we complain about this election. We're labeled crybabies when we call for a raise in the minimum wage, we're labeled sore losers when we fight against judges who think they're Jesus, we're labeled whiners when complain about 100,000 civilians dead. "Suck it up, Dems, that's the price of war, grow up."
The Republicans have won. Like bullies on the playground, they've backed us into a corner and instead of fighting back, we're afraid we'll look like pussies if we call the teacher or tatty-tale. And on top of that, they're taking our milk money too. Fuckers.
My point, if there is one in all of this, is that we need to stop all these meta-diaries, all this "front page! No front page!" shit. We're navel-gazing when what we SHOULD be doing is looking the GOP straight in the eye and saying "You're going to be held accountable, and we have the full force of the Democratic Party behind us on this."
Is election reform a non-partisan issue? Hell yes. We fight for the right of liberals AND conservatives to vote. That's what makes us Democrats.
But the reality is that we can't fight for election reform without pointing out the fact that Republican Party has made our electoral system its bitch. How can we ask Congress to prohibit public officials from serving on political campaign unless we point to Katherine Harris, Kenneth Blackwell, Terry Land, Matt Blunt, and Glenda Hood? How can we ask Congress to give us a paper trail unless we state WHY we need a paper trail--namely, because Diebold's glitches and ES&S's malfunctions all have favored Republicans? How can we ask Congress to extend the voting period unless we point to the discriminatory allocation of machines which caused the long lines in the first place?
Let's not be naïve. Let's be reality-based. Let's realize that the GOP stopped playing nice a long time ago, and that they are getting off on all our infighting, that they're salivating at the prospect that the Dems themselves are telling the fraudsters to shut up.
Markos wrote: " Was there fraud? Sure. There always has been. Was the GOP ready to steal the election if necessary? No doubt. But they didn't have to steal this one." What is the scariest part of that quote? That we as a party have let the GOP put itself in a position where it can "steal an election if necessary." They've bullied their way into actually being able to steal a national election. And that's what those investigating the election are screaming into the void: "How the hell did we as a nation let this happen, where one party is in a position to steal an election and no one gives a damn anymore?"
Markos, you write that the "wacked out conspiracy theories hijacked the issue, taking it away from the obvious travesties -- the long lines in Democratic precincts, attempted voter intimidation, etc." That's unfair. There are many of us that have focused solely on the long lines, actual voter intimidation, and other travesties in this election.
Adlai Stevenson once said "My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular. When demagoguery and deceit become a national political movement, we Americans are in trouble, not just Democrats, but ALL of us."
The GOP has made demagoguery and deceit its trademarks, and when those who seek to expose that and its effect on our electoral process are deemed to be fringe-liberals, then we truly are in big trouble.
One final note, which touches on the themes of this admittedly rambling post. January 6th is do or die time for every citizen who is interested in electoral reform and in restoring the integrity of our election. On that day, as we listen to our representatives, our leaders, we will see if any of them make even a passing reference to this, or to the fact that we desperately need paper trails. Let them cast their votes for Bush. But if no one but the Conyers Brigade addresses these issues, then, Eugene, then is when democracy will be dead.
Update [2005-1-3 23:46:11 by georgia10]:: I removed a hyperbolic simile, in retrospect, it was inappropriate, and edited to ensure that people don't think I'm flaming Markos.