George W. Bush and his puppetmaster Karl Rove tried to upstage the Democrats
with a State of the Union Address full of tricks and gimmicks, martian
distractions and rattling sabers.
It backfired. The stunning results from Iowa far overshadowed Bush's lame,
malapropic stump speech. Space travel, gay marriage, steriods in baseball,
these are the burning issues for a Republican Party smug enough to be certain
they can steal any election.
The week's signature GOP moment came from Tom DeLay's Texas, where a woman
who sells vibrators was arrested for possessing more than two. In a state
that's just been redistricted to prevent any Democrats from going to Congress, we
see the GOP as the ultimate Luddites. Are Texas men that insecure? What will
they ban next? Massage oil?
Come November, we can expect Osama bin Laden to be miraculously "found"
whenever Rove decides the timing is best.
A terrorist attack will explode here or there precisely as the Democrats
gather steam. Bush may dump Dick Cheney into a cardiac unit to grab headlines and
expand his base.
Remember, please, that Karl Rove, who runs the Bush apparatus, cut his teeth
as a "Dirty Trickster" for Richard Nixon. Bush's father was elected in 1988
in the infamous "Willie Horton" campaign, the most racist in modern history.
These amoral assassins will fling the lowest available dirt on whoever got in
their way, and nobody has mastered the craft better than Rove. With
unlimited money to spend, your worst ethical nightmare is their bottom line.
But we're seeing a pattern here. Every time Bush jumps in the polls, he
slumps back down.
From the gigantic rush he got after his "trifecta" on September 11, the polls
fell to where they were before the terrorist attacks. From his "Mission
Accomplished" flashdance on the decks of the Abraham Lincoln, back down he crashed
as the bloodshed continued. From the "miraculous" capture of Saddam Hussein
(where is he now?) the polls again plunged as the grassroots Iraqi resistance
goes on. From the "booming" economy we see the Bush bounce going flat as no
jobs materialize and deficits soar while the dollar slumps.
In short, George W. Bush is still George W. Bush: ruthless, corrupt,
untrustworthy, closed-minded, authoritarian, inarticulate, intellectually challenged,
programmed, cynical, dishonest, violent, a draft dodger and a religious
fanatic who believes he speaks to and for God.
Through the Christian Coalition the GOP has a solid activist base of fanatic
puritan fundamentalists unparalleled in US history. They have unlimited
money. And they have control of the mainstream media, whose endless gush of
right-wing bloviaters has just one mantra: "Bush will win, Bush will win, Bush will
win."
But they can be beaten. Here are some of the things that must happen:
1) THE VOTES MUST BE HONESTLY COUNTED: As push comes to shove, there is
only one issue in this campaign: will the votes be honestly counted. As Stalin
infamously put it: it doesn't matter who casts them, only who counts them.
We know that the 2000 election was stolen, and that the GOP would be more than
happy to do it again through rigged voting machines without paper trails, the
computerized disenfranchisement of "convicted felons" and other suspected
Democrats, and whatever else Rove & company can come up with.
2) THE VOTES MUST BE HONESTLY COUNTED: In 2000 Al Gore sat passively and
watched as the White House was stolen. This time, all serious candidates must
hammer at this issue, over and over. Rep. Rush Holt's bill now in Congress to
require a paper trail for computerized voting machines is just a start, but
it's a good one. The Democrats must get that passed or let the nation know why
it didn't, and what that really means if the GOP claims victory in November.
3) THE VOTES MUST BE HONESTLY COUNTED: But it won't be enough just to raise
the issue. In every state there must be campaign committees explicitly charged
with fighting the pre-election disenfranchisements that happened in
Florida and elsewhere. There must be extensive inspection of all voting machines, ballots
and other election procedures. The polls must be monitored. Unless the
Democrats take concrete, effective steps to guarantee a fair vote count, there's
no reason to bother with this election at all.
4-10) THE VOTES MUST BE HONESTLY COUNTED: It may also not be sufficient for
the Democrats alone to do this. Serious petitioning must now be done to the
United Nations, the government of Switzerland or whoever else might serve as a
honest broker, willing to serve an international watch dog function to help
guarantee the coup that began in 2000 is not given four more years to solidify
power.
11) THE HOUSE MUST BE RE-REDISTRICTED: Through redistricting the GOP has
already guaranteed that the Democrats have virtually no chance of ever re-taking
the House of Representatives. In one fell swoop, with typical vicious
cynicism, Rove and DeLay have eliminated a dozen Texas Democrats even before the
election is held. Nationwide, the system is now so twisted Democrats could carry
the composite House vote by a wide margin and still end up vastly outnumbered
on the floor. This was not the intent of the nation's Founders and must be
changed, by Constitutional Amendment if necessary. Millions of us, especially
in urban areas, have been effectively disenfranchised for years. The
Democrats must publicize this curse on the Congress, and then do something about it.
12) PREPARE FOR RACISM & HOMOPHOBIA---The stench from George H.W. Bush's
racist 1988 Willie Horton campaign still taints the presidency. In 2000 the
GOP machine specifically targeted African-American and Jewish voters in
Florida, Tennessee, Arkansas and elsewhere with Jim Crow tactics that threw those
states---and the election---to Bush. This year we can expect similar racism and
the smearing of gays and whoever else might be available to mobilize the
extremist "religious" right. Somebody should replay those Willie Horton ads to
remind the nation who these people really are.
13) ENOUGH ABOUT RALPH NADER, ALREADY: For four years Democrats have
indulged in blaming Ralph Nader and the Greens for "losing" the 2000 election. But
Al Gore won by 500,000 votes. Add Nader's 2.7 million and 2000 represented a
powerful Dem-green mandate, which Bush aborted. THAT'S what the Dems should
have been screaming about for the past four years.
14) BUSH-ROVE WERE GOING TO STEAL THE ELECTION NO MATTER WHAT: Nader's
supporters were not the mindless property of the Democratic party that Ralph
somehow hijacked. And a GOP capable of stealing 16,000 votes in a single Florida
district was more than capable of stealing all they needed, Nader or no.
15) PICK UP THE PHONE: Nader remains the most effective citizen activist
in recent US history. He still draws huge (paying) crowds. He has a phone.
And an office with a door that opens. So do the activists who chose to support
him, and may yet again if the Dems repeat their folly of 2000. A few phone
calls, some meaningful conversation, a search for common ground, some POLITICS,
and maybe the Dems can mobilize at least part of an activist hard core they
absurdly blew off in 2000. There's absolutely no excuse for doing otherwise.
16) FORGET THE CONFEDERACY: Conversely, those folks driving around with
Confederate flags are going to vote for Bush. The old Slave South (Bush's REAL
taproot) is not going to come around. But as Norman Solomon and others have
pointed out, the Hispanic southwest (Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado) is in reach
and needs to be worked on. If, by miracle, Florida or Texas can be got, it's
with Hispanic, not racist white votes. How about New Mexico's Hispanic Gov.
Bill Richardson for VP?
17) REMEMBER THE ENVIRONMENT: Not even the bought corporate media can hide
that Bush has launched a total kamikaze assault on the natural planet. This
is an issue the resonates even with much of the fundamentalist right. Mother
Earth is still right up there with apple pie. Forget the Confederate flag.
Wave the Green one!!!!!
18) REPEAL THE PATRIOT ACT: Bush's one legitimate applause line was that
the Patriot Act is about to expire. Even right wingers like William Safire have
been lining up against it. The Dems startled poor Georgie when they clapped
for that line in his otherwise pathetic State of the Union. Much of the
nation, left and right, feels the same. Use it!
19) REMEMBER WATERGATE AND VALERIE PLAME: Somebody very high up in the
White House, probably Karl Rove and/or Dick Cheney, has committed a serious felony
(and pissed off the CIA) by outing covert operative Valerie Plame. This
cancer is eating away at the junta's core. If there is a single issue to push
push push alongside the economy, that may be it. Think dagger to the
Constitution. Think Dick Nixon, August 9, 1974, getting on that Plame...er, plane.
20) YOU GOTTA BELIEVE: The mainstream mantra that Bush can't be beaten is
only true if we let them steal the vote count again. They've got the money. But
they've got Bush. The "inevitability" of his victory is as deep as the
headlights in his deer.
21) THE HARDER THEY COME: Our theme song. Buy the Jimmy Cliff album.
Dance the dance. "...as sure as the sun will shine.......the harder they come,
the harder they fall, one and all....."
HARVEY WASSERMAN is author of HARVEY WASSERMAN'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
and co-author (with Bob Fitrakis) of GEORGE W. BUSH VS. THE SUPERPOWER OF
PEACE (www.freepress.org).
Is the tide turning?