Bush administration hails Chavez defeat

[rodeodance]

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

Bush administration hails Chavez defeat

By Pablo Bachelet, McClatchy Newspapers

Mon Dec 3, 12:25 PM ET

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration on Monday hailed as a victory for democracy the rare electoral defeat handed to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on proposed changes to Venezuela's constitution.

With the final vote tally showing the changes losing by a margin of 50.7 percent to 49.3 percent, the defeat reinvigorated a Venezuelan opposition humbled by 11 straight election defeats.

''We congratulate the people of Venezuela on their vote and their continued desire to live in freedom and democracy,'' Gordon Johndroe , a White House National Security Council spokesman, said in an e-mail to McClatchy Newspapers .

The Bush administration kept a low profile during the campaign, wary of transforming an event into a U.S.- Venezuela confrontation. Chavez, the U.S. most vociferous opponent in Latin America , regularly casts his opponents, both in Venezuela and abroad, as U.S. stooges.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/2772169;_ylt=AqyuyU56pokUqSEpCIlrueus0NUE

[Hydra]

1. And does Bush hold real elections here?

Help! I'm trapped in the twilight zone!

[99th_Monkey]

2. Bush's "low profile"? HA! So McClatchy isn't hip to Operation Piers"

apparently not. what a misleading statement. they should be ashamed of themselves for characterizing Bush's stance that way.

[gatorboy]

3. Pakistan..Not so much.

[mac2]

5. Bush fair elections?

Not here in the Americas. He's the leader of the Western Hemisphere. He wants the Chevez oil fields and wealth..resources like here. He is a robber of all things including our freedoms.

To think the Congress can't get rid of this crook (just like his father) is outrageous. Look at the black spot in your own eye Georgie before being a critic of others.

[Ignis]

22. *snort* Our double-standard on elections is laughable, isn't it?

:hi:

[onehandle]

4. In other news, Republicans are working tirelessly to steal California electoral votes.

The White House is ok with that, too.

[mac2]

CA to be Republican

Well it worked with all the disasters in the Gulf area why not California? Turn Blue to Red by having disaster after disaster. Criminals and murderers have not roamed the earth such as these many centuries back.

[LSparkle]

6. At least Chavez will accept the will of the people

instead of trying to STEAL elections, a la KKKarl.

[mac2]

7. Chavez and the will of the people

He talked them into democracy now it's hard to be anything else. He should hand over control to a like mined leader (if they can be found). They certainly can't be found in America.

On one hand I see democracy working. On the other hand it is hard to imagine such a strong and courageous leader to replace him.

[LSparkle]

16. Democrats don't like term limits ... Rethugs do

We appreciate that it takes time for leaders to work their way up from the grassroots -- and once they're there, if the people want to keep sending them back to power, so be it. The Rethugs want term limits because they FEAR that very kind of leader, one who's loved by the public and trusted enough to be returned to office again and again. Rethugs prefer a revolving door of figureheads.

[diva77]

8. How 'bout those Smartmatic machines in Venezuela?

Could electronic voting have had anything to do with influencing the results of this election? Just want to raise the possibility...but the history of Smartmatic is a little confusing to me...

http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/8/19745.html

[stillcool]

12. I think their requirements are different...

in regards to 'open source'?...otherwise there's this....

Observers from 39 Countries to Guarantee Clean Referendum Vote
November 30th 2007, by ABN

Caracas, 29 Nov. ABN.- The National Electoral Council (CNE) announced that observers from 39 countries will guarantee a clean voting process during the referendum for constitutional reform to be held this Sunday, December 2nd.
http://venezuelanalysis.com/newsbrief/2927

54% of Venezuelan ballot boxes will be opened to backup electronic results
December 2nd 2007, by Prensa Web RNV

More than half of the ballot boxes containing the physical votes of the Referendum Sunday December 2nd will be opened to verify the electoral process, announced Supplemental Rector of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Humberto Castillo, during a special broadcast on Venezolana de Televisión (VTV).

According to Castillo "what used to be a black box is now a transparent box since 54% of the ballot boxes will be open." He stated that the results will reflect the will of the people.

Nearly 100,000 witnesses of both tendencies will participate in the referendum observing the process, reported the Bolivarian News Agency (ABN).

Castillo indicated that the mechanisms of guarantee applied to this election are above international standards, and he expressed that the horseshoe shape of the polling station will facilitate voting: "We have increased the number of centers and the process will be rapid, efficient and will move along quickly.”

He warned that any accusation of fraud "will clash with reality and will go nowhere. It is political rhetoric and will have no support in the majority of the country."

3,000 national and international journalists accredited
A total of 3,000 national and international journalists were accredited by the National Electoral Council (CNE) to cover the constitutional reform referendum taking place Sunday, December 2nd according to CNE Rector Germán Yépez, who also mentioned the participation of national and international observers

[diva77]

18. seems impossible to observe anything if it happens inside a computer, also

what good is opening only 54% of ballot boxes if the election was 51 to 49?

[stillcool]

26. This might help:

http://www.rethinkvenezuela.com/downloads/electricvote.htm
HOW THE MACHINES WORK

The SmartMatic technology utilizes a simple, touch-screen system. The voter selects his preferred candidate by touching the box with his candidate’s name and the associated party logo. Once the selection is made, a screen will appear, again displaying the candidate’s name and requesting the voter to confirm his selection. Once confirmed, the machine prints a paper receipt, which the voter may check for accuracy before depositing it in a locked ballot box. Under an agreement between the CNE and participating political parties, a full 55% of the paper receipts will be audited after the presidential vote to ensure that their numbers match the electronic vote tallied.

The electronic data is encrypted and sent to the National Counting Center for a nearly instantaneous vote tally. The official vote count is announced after the paper audit has taken place.

The process outlined above was utilized in the 2005 National Assembly elections, which were observed and approved by international observers from the Organization of American States (OAS) and the European Union. In its final report on the 2005 elections, the OAS noted that voter privacy was respected and that all Venezuelan’s right to a secret ballot was upheld.<2>

PROTECTIONS AGAINST FRAUD

Venezuelan elections authorities have invested in a unique technology to ensure that no party can manipulate the computers in order to affect the outcome of the vote. The source code necessary to access the machines is split into four equal parts, which are then divided among stakeholders, including a representative from the CNE, opposition parties, pro-government coalitions and international observers. In order for any change to the coding of the computers to be implemented, each of these parties must be present and access the machines simultaneously. For legitimate purposes, such as testing the machines and auditing the vote, each party will have access to the computers, but any unauthorized tampering is rendered impossible.

THUMBPRINT MACHINES

Venezuela has enlisted a separate technology to ensure that voters do not cast multiple ballots at different polling stations. Computers at the entrance of polling stations record the thumbprints of each voter as they enter. The thumbprints are stored in a centralized database, and observers are automatically notified if a voter has previously cast a ballot at another polling station. The thumbprint machines are separate from the electronic voting stations, so that the database records only who has participated in the election, not how an individual casts his vote.

[diva77]

32. I am not a computer expert but there are a plethora of computer experts that

argue that computers are inappropriate for conducting elections. Amongst the many arguments: No way to detect easter eggs in the firmware. Malicious code may be planted via memory card, etc. etc.

Why stop with an audit - why not just count the votes in their entirety? Especially with a close race -- since there is no right or wrong answer with an audit, why deprive the citizenry of the tallies of the actual votes recorded ?

I don't see all those "security" measures with computer voting as an acceptable substitute for good old fashioned hand counted paper ballots at the precinct level with citizen oversight.

[stillcool]

33. I guess if you can not trust..

your government to secure the voting apparatus, there is no other way. As far as Venezuela, they have open-source-codes, as well as paper ballots, and they count 54% of the votes by hand..as opposed to the what is it 3% in this country? Just because we do not have the political will to secure electronic voting..doesn't mean it can't be done.

Not that it matters..but...

http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~engl100/stats.htm

John Edwards Supports "Open Source" for Voting Systems
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 27, 2007

GRANITE BAY, CA -- John Edwards has become the first presidential candidate to support "open source code" for election systems. In a letter dated June 21st addressed to Alan Dechert, the Edwards campaign stated that, "To ensure security, these machines should be programmed with an open source code for complete transparency, and election results should be safeguarded by voter-verified paper records."

Currently, software used in election systems remains the proprietary property of vendors. This situation has created a continual problem when anomalous results have been reported and independent experts are denied the ability to review how the systems work. A growing body of critics oppose this privatization of the voting system.

"Open source" means that the computer instructions written by programmers are publicly available. Open source software is rapidly replacing proprietary software in other applications, including the Internet and military applications.

"We congratulate Senator Edwards for taking a leadership role in the fight to restore public oversight of the voting system," said Alan Dechert, president of Open Voting Consortium.

Open Voting Consortium (OVC) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit California corporation that seeks to bring about a fully public voting system. OVC has offered free consulting services to all the major presidential candidates -- Republican as well as Democratic. OVC has not endorsed any candidate for president and is unlikely to do so.

-

[Peace Patriot]

37. Many U.S. states handcount ZERO percent of the votes; even the best states count only

ONE PERCENT. Venezuela counts a whopping 55% of the ballots. The voter verifies that the paper printout of his/her vote is accurate, deposits the paper in a lock box, and 55% of these are counted and compared to machine totals. And in addition to this extensive audit--which goes way beyond minimal statistical needs for detecting fraud (which range from 5% to 10%)--and in shameful contrast to our own highly riggable system---Venezuela uses OPEN SOURCE CODE, with this hefty audit. OUR machines are run on 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY CODE owned and controlled by rightwing Bushite corporations!

In summary, our system is as non-transparent, as riggable and as corrupt as it is humanly possible to make it. Venezuela's system is just about as transparent, unriggable and non-corrupt as they could make it.

0% to 1%. That's what we do.

People don't realize how bad this is, and what it means. And they have not asked the critical question: HOW DID IT COME ABOUT? In the answer to that question lies all our woes--the war, the slaughter of half a million to a million innocent people to get their oil, the shredding of the Constitution, torture, the $10 trillion deficit, massive theft of our treasury, fascist spying and police state measures, and on and on. Short answer: Virtually our entire Democratic Party leadership voted FOR Bushite-controlled 'trade secret" vote counting, and helped fast-track it across the country during the 2002 to 2004 period, insuring Bush/Cheney's election and the future elections of pro-war, pro-corporate, so-called 'Democrats' in Congress.

0% to 1%! Ask WHO is responsible for this! It wasn't just Tom Delay and Bob Ney. Nope. Christopher Dodd was one of the chief architects of it, and they all went along without asking any questions or raising their voices to warn the public. We were betrayed by our leaders!

This system is OUTRAGEOUSLY bad. Non-transparent elections are NOT elections. They are tyranny. That's what we have.

-----------------------

In answer to someone's comment upthread, yes, the best system--the system that is hardest to rig--is 100% paper ballots, hand-counted at the precinct level, with results posted at the precinct level. That way you have lots of eyes on the vote counting, and it is conducted at human speed. With riggable electronics, and zero or minimal auditing, thousands of votes can be changed in seconds, invisibly. The only reason to use electronics is speed of reporting. And speed kills, as we know. In any case, if you have BUSHITE CORPORATIONS running your elections, you damned well better be doing a 100% audit. Instead, they and their Democratic colluders decided to require NO audit. Some states went ahead and required 1%. Are we dumbfucks, or what? Actually, I don't think the American people had much of a chance, with this one--the news of this rigged system was so black-holed, even by our own party leaders. And now that people are starting to find out, a big movement is underway to change this. But it got so entrenched so fast--with a $3.9 billion electronic voting boondoggle from the Anthrax Congress--same one that passed the Iraq War Resolution; same month, too--October 2002 (and closely related to it)--that the reformers are having a hard time.

[HuffleClaw]

9. but bush's continued illegal assault on the american constitution goes unnoticed

while the media complacently parrots bush lies about what is going on in venezuela...

[treestar]

10. Maybe Hugo should just issue a signing statement

Chimperor can't say that's undemocratic, how can he?

[Megahurtz]

11. Did the Admin rig the vote?

:sarcasm:

[unpossibles]

13. maybe

:shrug:

[Deja Q]

30. Dunno. But Chavez shouldn't rant; countries influences others' votes all the time.

And that's assuming the US did meddle -- and, since other countries do influence the votes in other countries (but our politicians don't mind bedding such external influences anyway) all the time, one just has to lump it until everybody grows up.

[rAVES]

14. The result in Venezuela didnt bother me at all...until I read this.

What a hypocritical bullshitting little Troll..

Democracy and Freedom... Nazi boy hasnt the first clue what those word's mean.

*is spitting pissed*

[dantyrant]

23. Seriously man

It would be funny if it weren't so insulting to have to listen to.

It takes a special kind of chutzpah to steal an election and then pose as a defender of democracy.

[AlertLurker]

15. "...their continued desire to live in freedom and democracy,''

But, according to the * MISAdministration, isn't Chavez a dictator? Don't Venezuelans currently live in a third world totalitarian hell?

Make up your friggin' MINDS!!!

[mlevans]

17. Jealously, plain and simple.

Dubyah just envies Chavez his approval ratings and list of accomplishments.

[Lost-in-FL]

19. At least Venezuelans get to vote...

in clean elections unlike here where the Supreme Court elects our President.

[rockybelt]

20. Yeah they kept a low profile

because they were "probably" trying to rig the elections like they did here. They, in their darkest hearts, wanted Chavez to win so they could say, Look at the evil dictator-he stole the election and now we must bomb them too!

And what does Chavez have to say about the election? Chavez: OK

[fascisthunter]

21. Bush Could learn Something Here

if only he "had a brain".

[Zorra]

24. When Bu*h leaves office, the entire world will be dancing in the streets.

It will go down as the largest world-wide celebration in history.

[rpannier]

27. Now that's not totally true

I'm sure at Kellogg, Brown and Root Corporate offices and at the royal palaces throughout the Arab world their will be candlelight vigils.

[AlphaCentauri]

29. LOL

[santamargarita]

25. Screw that Fascist Pig!

Yes, Bush is a Fascist Pig! Just like his grandfather...

[AlphaCentauri]

28. Has Bush think about election reform.

don't think so it could be so pro democracy

[rpannier]

31. You are being sent to the your room with no supper

You used bush and think in the same sentence. For shame

[burrowowl]

34. Hope Bu$h

doesn't get the idea to do another CIA coup given this hugh mandate!

[pinniped]

35. I wish some jerk never taught monkeyboy to pronounce that stupid word (demockracy).

Moran.

[1932]

36. WWBD? Organize a right wing riot? Get the Supreme Court to help him out?

Get the media to lie about the results?