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Departments Election Issues The Last Battle So that's it, then. Like John Kerry says, it's time to get over it. Move on. Get on with our lives and our jobs -- let the healing begin. Sounds good, John. But I don't intend to budge until all the votes are counted, because when I started this journey I committed for the long haul. Jumping ship to avoid putting the country through the "agony" of investigating and challenging another sordid election coup de`etat would never occur to me -- especially if I had 17,000 lawyers fired up and ready to do battle. If, as you said, this was the single most important election in our lifetime -- our one last shot at salvaging democracy -- it looks like you could have, as a minimum, hung around until the results were in. Maybe you'd have to stand in line for two hours in a frigid, blowing rain like I did, John, to understand the determination to do whatever it takes to cast a vote in Jim Inhofe Country where Democratic votes don't count. Or, maybe you should mingle among the millions of others throughout the nation -- the youth, women, Hispanics, Blacks, et al, that you alone inspired to endure gruelling hours in long lines because you awakened them to the truth that four more years of George Bush would make their lives, their jobs and healing impossible? I can only imagine the elation Ohio voters felt -- many of them doggedly standing in line until 1 a.m. Wednesday to cast their votes -- when your running mate John Edwards told a crowd of supporters in Boston that ya'll were in it, as former president Bill Clinton likes to say, until the last dog died. Edwards was speaking on your behalf, John, when he said you "would wait until all the votes are counted before deciding whether to concede the election or claim victory." Looking back, I wonder whatever could have provoked such an outburst, especially at 2:30 in the morning. Maybe it's because Edwards really IS a man of the people, or maybe it's because he's the only member of your team who was gonna be out of a job if you lost, but I believed him when he said, "It’s been a long night, but we’ve waited four years for this victory. We can wait one more night. We promised," Edwards said, "that every vote would count and that every vote would be counted. Tonight, we are keeping our word, and we will fight for every vote. You deserve no less.” Edwards was telling us once again that "Hope is on the way" and, for a few hours anyway, we had reason to believe him. Until you showed up, John, with tears in your eyes and a white flag in your hand. Like many Americans, especially those from Ohio, I am stunned and heartbroken. Not that you lost the war, John, because nobody could possibly have waged a braver war nor a more heroic one -- but that you surrendered rather than fight that last crucial battle. According to USA Today you gave up Wednesday morning after your aides updated Ohio's voting numbers and told you it was "almost impossible" for you to win. Almost impossible? In your very gracious 21-minute concession speech you flatly stated that we can't win this election. "Those slim chances weren't worth deepening the division in our country," you said, before bowing out with a plea to the president to "show more compassion." My God, man -- have you forgotten this president's particular brand of ghoulish compassion that got us into the deep division we're currently floundering around in? When you consider four more years of Bush compassion, how "fat" does a chance have to be before you'll risk taking it? If democracy is worth fighting for until the polls open, it's a no-brainer that it's even more so after they close. Fortunately, there are those who, unlike you, will not give up until every vote is either counted or the reason it wasn't counted are clearly known. Take Greg Palast, BBC correspondent and author of New York Times best seller, "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy," for example. Although run out of the country for exposing the truth about the vicious 2000 fiasco, Palast has never been deterred by the fear that getting the truth out is "almost impossible." He has been in our faces for four years -- literally, the mouth that roared. On Monday, Palast pointed out that you and Edwards were already down by almost a million votes before a single vote was cast. Aren't you even curious about that, John? And, today, in his Tom Paine.com article "Kerry Won," Palast shows that you not only won in Ohio, but in New Mexico as well! Wow -- isn't that special...you should have stuck around for a couple of days, John. Since you've probably got some extra time on your hands until the Inauguration, you might be interested in reading an in-depth background piece on the trials and tribs of Bev Harris and Andy Stephenson (BlackBoxVoting.org) over the past four years as they engaged in bloody battles with Ohio's Diebold Election Systems' CEO Walden O'Dell in a futile effort to interest the media and the public in the prospect of another election coup -- or non-violent overthrow of the government. Harris, a tireless investigator and author of "Black Box Voting: Ballot Tampering in the 21st Century," says that no less than 37 states installed the Diebold voting systems even though they knew beforehand that Diebold offered no paper trail for votes, and were also aware that O'Dell was a Bush Pioneer who raised more than $600,000 for the Bush/Cheney campaign and promised in 2003 to "deliver Ohio's electoral votes to the president next year." Others, such as EarlG and SoCalDem over at Democratic Underground.com, are relentlessly fighting that last battle even though you have left the building, John. These guys point out the obvious -- "in EVERY STATE that has paper audit trails on their (sic) EVoting, the exit poll results match the actual results reported within the margin of error." They say also that "EVERY STATE that has EVoting, but no paper trails has an unexplained advantage for Bush of around +5 percent when exit polls are compared to actual results." Every state. Think about it, John. Sometimes fighting that last battle, no matter how lengthy or bloody, is well worth it. You would have been a good president, John -- even a great one. When I look at you I see an honest, caring American patriot, and I am proud of the man who returned from Vietnam with a fistful of medals -- the Silver Star, the Bronze Star with Combat V, three Purple Hearts, the Presidential Unit Citation for Extraordinary Heroism, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, three Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medals, and the Combat Action Ribbon. When I think of the past, I can't help but think you must have done something right. When I look into the future, I can't help but wish this had been one of those times... Sheila Samples is an Oklahoma freelance writer and a former civilian US Army Public Information Officer. She will accept praise and atta-boys at rsamples@sirinet.net. Complaints and death threats should be directed to her cousin, Junior Samples, at BR-549. © 2004 Sheila Samples |
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Recent Election Issues Articles Ohio's official non-recount ends amidst new evidence of fraud, theft and judicial contempt mirrored in New Mexico Impossible Phantom Votes in New Mexico
The 2004 Presidential Election: Who Won The Popular Vote? An Examination of the Comparative Validity of Exit Poll and Vote Count Data Ohio GOP election officials ducking notices of deposition as Kerry enters stolen vote fray Another third rate burglary Hacking the vote in Miami County Update from the Ohio Frontlines Lawsuit Before the Ohio Supreme Court Kerry votes switched to Bush and ballots pre-punched for Bush Uncounted votes in Cuyahoga County Provisional ballots in Cuyahoga County Uncounted votes in Summit County Uncounted votes in Hamilton County Default settings in Mahoning County Ohio electoral fight becomes 'biggest deal since Selma' as GOP stonewalls Observations from an election observer TV Networks Officially Refuse to Release Exit Poll Raw Data; Mainstream media finally displays true colors Election results in Southwestern Ohio Voting Rights Groups 'Block' Talk of Machine-Free Elections Statistics from Warren County The greatest story never told The United States of Ukraine?: Exit Polls Leave Little Doubt that in a Free and Fair Election John Kerry Would Have Won both the Electoral College and the Popular Vote Certifiable election results Sinclair Broadcasting's Long History of Journalistic and Corporate Deception Ohio vote count battles escalate amidst new evidence of potential criminal activity American democracy hangs by a thread in Ohio Startling new revelations highlight rare Congressional hearings on Ohio vote New Ohio voter transcripts The One-Two Punch of Racism: Whitewashing the Voter Fraud Issue Rigging the vote in Lucas County
Uncounted votes in Montgomery County Why history demands an Ohio revote Ohio election fraud uproar blasting to new level Dirty work at the Philly polls Voter Suppression: STEALING VOTES IN OHIO URBAN AREAS (full documentation) In Ohio 2004, it's the People versus the Party of Hate & Terror and the Party of Duck and Run...but will the Democrats now stand and fight? Warren County, Ohio: most successful voter registration drive in American political history, or stuffing the ballot box Jesse Jackson demands Ohio presidential recount, blasts GOP election officials, and says Kerry supports the process Kerry Supports Ohio Vote Investigation, Jackson says Hope for the Homestretch Favoritism in the suburbs New Ohio voter transcripts feed floodtide of doubt about Republican election manipulation Election officials gave wrong information about provisional ballots - revealed in affidavit. US tells Ukraine to recount votes on fradulent election! Not counting the votes Stealing votes in Columbus Making every vote count How a Republican election supervisor manipulated the 2004 central Ohio vote, in black and white More Ohio voter suppression testimony prompts upcoming legal filing for statewide recount Ohio Presidential Results to be Challenged Franklin County, Ohio voting machine assignments, and other information Coalition's Support of Voting Machines Causes Confusion
Hearings on Ohio voting put 2004 election in doubt Closing the Circle: The Corporatization of Elections Subordinating nation's secular values to zealots' will The Public Hearings and Rally About Election Fraud in Columbus, OH this weekend, Sat. 11/13-Please pass widely! Slip-sliding away in Columbus Green and Libertarian Presidential Candidates to Demand Ohio Recount An End To Mourning November 3rd action The Bible, The Constitution, and the James Carville Experiment Basic report from Columbus Waiting to vote Confessions of a political Know-Nothing in the wake of the 2004 elections Let the spin begin Back Stabbers Cost Kerry in Ohio! The Last Battle Republican America! Republican Forever! Is there inner-city election suppression in Franklin County, Ohio? Michael Moore in Columbus No love in the Heartland: Kerry gets mocked in Pa. school election Ten reasons for Greens to vote for Kerry Twelve ways Bush is now stealing the Ohio vote GW Bush Before the Iraq War
MISOGYNY Foreign Policy Forecast: If Bush Wins | If Kerry Wins Hope for the homestretch FactCheck.org says Cheney got it wrong Do the Hokey Pokey Hope for the homestretch Addressing Republican issues with John Kerry Gallup Polls- Conditioning for Vote Rigging? Too Many Cameras and Not Enough Truth: John Kerry Dodges the Press Nader 2000 Leaders United To Defeat Bush Shut up and color: the politics of bullying Kerry, Nader and the Greens need to kill the circular firing squad Don’t Believe the Hype; Terrorist Warnings Just Another Way Bush Will Steal Election President of Greater Stark County AFL-CIO speaks out on Bush’s visit in Canton, Ohio I'll Follow Kucinich to Kerry, Sorry Ralph Badnarik Doubles in Recent National Poll ‘A green world is possible’ planned in New York City during the Republican National Convention An open letter to progressives: vote Kerry and Cobb A street fighting man? How Kucinich can win Scary, Scary John Kerry With all deliberate stupidity: US self-isolation makes Iraq a virtual non-issue in the elections so far To support or not to support; the Nader question Halliburton, VP Cheney's Former Company Faces Second Criminal Probe In Four Years The Lone Ranger of Righteousness The Wrong Side of History High Noon in America The Truth is Out: Kucinich is the choice of progressives Dean and Kucinich Bush Should Be Facing 'A Long, Hard Slog' On The Campaign Trail, But Dems Too Busy Fighting With Each Other Read Election Issues Articles by Year: |
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