Can the GOP Steal The Election Again? You Betcha!

October 8, 2008 at 01:37:23 Promoted to column top on 10/8/08: Can the GOP Steal The Election Again? You Betcha! by Ernest Partridge Page 1 of 3 page(s) www.opednews.com

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John McCain's campaign is imploding as the presidential candidate lapses into incoherence and petulance, and his running-mate becomes a national laughing-stock. In the face of an impending economic meltdown, the Democratic candidates, Obama and Biden, appear to be the only adults in the contest. Meanwhile, the GOP's erstwhile dependable allies, the corporate media, are displaying moments of journalistic integrity. This presents a problem for the Republican ticket for, as Stephen Colbert aptly observed, "reality has a liberal bias."

And so the polls show an expanding lead for Obama over McCain, with no clear indication that the trend might reverse.

Conventional political "wisdom" tells us that Barack Obama and Joe Biden may be on the road to a substantial victory in November.

Sorry, folks, but I'll have to rain on this parade.

Have you forgotten? Private Republican corporations count and compile the votes with secret and unverifiable software! Just as they did in 2000 and in 2004, and we all know how that turned out.

Accordingly, the stark fact remains: the Republicans might "win" this election, regardless of the preference of the voters. The culprits who rigged the previous elections are fully aware that they might face hard time in the federal slammer if President Obama's Attorney General is ordered to investigate past elections. Thus they are acutely motivated to use their considerable resources to keep Obama out of the White House.

And that's just the beginning: the GOP is waging a multi-front war on our democracy. As Mark Crispin Miller describes the situation in a recent e-mail:

The ground has been prepared for yet another stolen race, Bush/Cheney's party having made enormous strides in sabotaging our election system (while the Democrats just sat there, whistling). Now, from coast to coast, it's far more difficult (for Democrats) to register to vote, and far more difficult (for Democrats) to cast their votes, while countless (Democratic) voters have been stricken from the rolls, through purges carried out by the Department of Justice.

Thus Bush's government has legally diminished the electorate (the Roberts Court approving every step). Meanwhile, the regime also continues to suppress the (Democratic) vote illegally, either through voter "caging" prior to Election Day--or, far more effectively, by fiddling with the numbers electronically at every level, and/or simply dumping countless names (of Democrats) from the electronic voter rolls, and/or putting far too few machines in (Democratic) polling places, and/or disinforming (Democratic) voters as to when and where to cast their votes, and/or simply scaring (Democratic) voters into staying home.

Happy talk notwithstanding, the situation facing the Democrats is desperate. But it is not hopeless.

However, if the Obama-Biden team is to win, it must win big. Less than 60% of the actual popular vote puts the contest into "The Diebold Zone," whereby a McCain-Palin win becomes plausible in the public mind, and the "paperless" GOP voting machines and their secret software take care of the rest.

That "big win" is within reach, but only through determined and energetic activity by the supporters of the Democratic candidates, and through brilliant tactics and inspiring leadership by the Democratic candidates and their managers.

In particular:


Registration and Turnout

The coordinated Republican effort at massive disenfranchisement can and must be overwhelmed.

If, as is likely, the GOP succeeds in keeping as many as five million Democratic voters from the polls, the Democrats in turn must register and send to the polls, ten million more. In addition, the word must go out that no one can assume that his or her vote is secure. Citizens must be urged to validate their registration status immediately. They can do so by contacting their Register of Voters, or by following this link.

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http://www.crisispapers.org

Dr. Ernest Partridge is a consultant, writer and lecturer in the field of Environmental Ethics and Public Policy. Partridge has taught philosophy at the University of California, and in Utah, Colorado and Wisconsin. He publishes the website, "The Online Gadfly" (www.igc.org/gadfly) and co-edits the progressive website, "The Crisis Papers" (www.crisispapers.org). His book in progress, "Conscience of a Progressive," can be seen at www.igc.org/gadfly/progressive/^toc.htm .

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