Washblog

Those gee-whiz letters are the carrot in the political equation.  We spend way too much time bearing the stick, but never showing the carrot.  Politicians know what happens when they piss us off, and they've ALWAYS got someone hollering at them, but they don't get a lot of praise from us, even when they deserve it.  Reichert may be a schmuck, but praise for a good vote is NEVER wasted.

Switzerblog'll knock you out!

by switzerblog on Thu Jun 01, 2006 at 09:46:02 PM PST

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Hi Noemie.  Thanks for posting about the Rolling Stone article.  I get so pissed off thinking about this stuff, I kind of have to calm down before writing.

There's one aspect that really pisses me off. I think I told you about Jerome and Markos' book tour stop at the Labor Temple. I meant to blog about it, but wasn't anxious to kick the hornet's nest a second time.

I couldn't believe how "flat" their schtick was. About 70 people showed up (I counted).  They claimed 100 or so. Some friends of mine, including Richard Borkowski held a panel on election integrity in the Labor Hall March 7th, a few weeks earlier. The room was packed. I counted 170 (they claimed 200, haha). Bev Harris, Paul Lehto, and Richard all spoke. The Q&A was lively. The audience was into it.

Listening to Markos and Jerome, I felt really diffident. Geeks talking to geeks. Yea. They really killed my buzz. When they were reciting all the errors past of the Democrats, like their theory that the party is traumatized by the defeat of McGovern, my friend Pat (an old time Democratic activist) leaned over and said none too quietly "Know it all little shits."  (I love Pat for those kinds of outbursts.)

So Richard gets up to the mic during the Q&A. He's got this great mannerism of stirring the pot. He turns to the crowd and asks "How many people here think 2004 was stolen?".  I guessed about 50% of the room raised their hands. My girlfriend says it was more like 70%.

So then Markos starts a talking. Read Conyers' report. Not convinced there was any fraud. Thought the lack of voting machines was a much bigger problem. Blah, blah, blah. Jerome stood their nodding his head.

My girlfriend thought it was good for Markos and Jerome to see that we think there was fraud.

I personally think they've got their cherished pedastools and their coveted conventional wisdom and they're unwilling to acknowledge the obvious. Risk being called a "black helicopter type", as I've been labeled.

I had mostly gotten over it. They do some good things. Like pushing the (patently obviously correct) 50 state strategy. And providing a semi-nice forum for us election integrity activists a place to rendezvous. (Though being called a BevBot and troll-rated by some little TU shits, with an approving Markos egging them out, kind of pisses me off some.)

And I really did enjoy the get together the following day at Marymoor Park. Very much more their speed. The discussion was great. And meeting everyone was great.

Then this Rolling Stone article comes out. Restarting the obvious. Again.

How does Markos respond? He ignores it. Two of the diaries do make it to the recommended list. And the screaming harpies are held back. But it's not front-paged. It's not endorsed. It's not even acknowledge (that I saw).

Markos read the Conyers' report. Whoop-te-doo. As though that's the end of the story. There is SO MUCH information available about the stolen election. You'd have to be willfully ignorant or something to not know what's going on.

Another thing about Markos' little non-answer pissed me off.  Somehow I managed to miss Georgia10's Armando's Challenge, Or The Informed Citizen's Guide To The 2004 Election  until a few months ago.  (My interest in dailyKos wax and wanes.)

I just can't conceive of scenario where Markos, Jerome, and Armando haven't at least heard about this work. Georgia10 is a fantastic writer. She does fabulous work.

I guess I should be pleased that Markos put Georgia10 on the front-page, despite the fact she's a tin-foiler like me.

by zappini on Thu Jun 01, 2006 at 10:29:37 PM PST

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I've gotten various criticism for working with Republicans, Greens, Libertarians, etc.

While handing out flyers for our Fixing Election event, this liberal guys says "Toby Nixon!? Why'd you include him!?" I said, "Fine. If not Toby, then who?" "Huh?" he asks. I continue "Election integrity is non-partisan. If we're going to get anything done, we have to work with all sides. So if not Toby, then who would have you have me talk to? Just give me a name, I'll call them." After a pause, "Yea, okay. There is no one else. I'm just sick of hearing him talk."

(Note: I actually like Toby Nixon. He's done good work on election integrity. He always follows through. He's a very good speaker. I don't know anything about his positions beyond this one issue, so can't comment.)

Then my two best friends here on WashBlog, Ivan and Belltowner, all but accused me of a being a traitor. Um, yea. I wish these guys had a hobby or something.

There's an important point here that I hope everyone eventually gets. I think the GOP stole the 2004 Presidential. Our local GOP thinks the Dems stole our Gubernatorial 2004. And here's the kicker, I can't prove them wrong. I firmly believe there was funny business in Snohomish and Yakima with the electronic voting machines. People may recall Paul Lehto's lawsuit. (I've heard some plausible explanations for the vote switching that don't include fraud. Regardless, I remain very concerned that King County is following Ohio and Florida into the abyss. And any electronic voting and counting machines is one too many for me.)

So now both sides don't trust our elections. Head's up everyone: lack of confidence in our elections is a huge problem. The consent of the governed, will of the people, etc.

I'll do what I can to ensure Democrats win elections in a fair fight. But at the same time, I'll do everything I can to ensure that our elections are fair, open, and verifiable. Not just for me. But so that everyone has confidence in the results.

So, to anyone who has a problem with my new Republican friends, I encourage you to get over it. They deserve a functioning democracy just as much as the rest of us.

by zappini on Thu Jun 01, 2006 at 10:50:46 PM PST

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Folks, this is important.  We need to contact all our local media and our representatives and encourage them to please read the damn article and comment on it publicly.  We need to challenge this phony President and get him the f out of there.

Anyone who has a good rant on this subject, please send it to me at tahomaactivist@yahoo.com for publication on my blog - The Tahoma Activist

http://tahomaactivist.blogspot.com

by Tahoma Activist on Fri Jun 02, 2006 at 10:32:16 PM PST

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meme is that it isn't very useful, politically.

I'm going to get the next Rolling Stone, and read that article.  But let me be clear: the Democrats don't win elections because they don't have the infrastructure, and they stopped reaching out to white/lower middle class voters.

Zappini and others like him accuse people like me of not caring about elections, but it's not that simple.  Focusing on the issue isn't going to produce Dem majorities.

It's more important to get more people to vote for Democrats.

by Belltowner on Fri Jun 02, 2006 at 07:35:52 PM PST

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