Dé já vu all over again - anybody remember 1974?

[Democrat 4 Ever]

In the middle of the Watergate Scandal Nixon was re-elected - by a landslide no less and yet he did not serve out the second term. (And just to jog a few youngsters' memories - his elected VP didn't finish out the term either - there once was something known as divine karma!) When Nixon won the second election the GOP treated him like he was the greatest thing since sliced bread. All the while the GOP knew - KNEW - he was a crook. And didn't care as long as they had the White House. The rats jumped ship when they realized they could go down with the administration. (Think we saw a brief prelude right before this year's election when all the pundits and elected officials thought that Kerry was going to pull it off. They tried to suddenly play nice. Evidently they weren't in on the fix.) I'm thinking the same thing is going on again with this administration. They know it is riddle with crimes but this time they are going to rush through everything on their agenda and damn be the consequences. Like 1974, BushyCo fully expects the public to go back to sleep and not push for answers on the mounting voting, war, lies (take your pick!) scandals. But we weren't sleeping in 1974 and we aren't sleeping now.

While the Dems do not have the majority to force an investigation in Congress or to hold an impeachment trial once the crimes of BushyBoy's cabal come to light I do not think we can let up for one minute to expose this gang of thugs. In 1974 it wasn't the Democratic Party that held Nixon's feet to the fire - it was the press.

That means it is going to take independent reporting, á la Woodward and Bernstein to bring this nightmare to an end. It is the complete basis of our democracy and the republic and we can not let this go away. We go asleep on these issues and the evil will seep like a damp fog into every aspect of our lives - they are already on the move. What Rove & Co. has done is a thousand times worse than anything Nixon and his White House Gang could dare to envision. I'm convinced there is a Pulitzer waiting for someone who has the balls to follow through.

Right now America needs a hero. One that can investigate and push and write and get it in print. And that hero needs 56,000,000 voters to demand it. This one voter is game. What can I do? What can you do? Let's get busy.

[Skittles]

1. I remember 1974

but I also remember back then we had a REAL PRESS who ASKED QUESTIONS and DEMANDED ANSWERS. I agree with you that what is needed is that hero who can investigate and get the ball rolling on this evil misadministration.

[krkaufman]

4. Ummm... and a Democratic Congress, too, right? n/t

[no_hypocrisy]

14. Theoretically, we COULD have a democratic congress if a few brave

individuals change their affilitation from the republican party, such as Lincoln Chaffee, Chuck Hagel, Olympia Snow in the Senate.

I don't know how much it would take to impel them to do this.

[pantouflard]

19. Wasn't Hagel the first to try out the vote-hacking scheme?

I think I read in Bev Harris' book that he is involved with one of the eVoting companies...

[demodonkey]

5. There's still plenty of press people out there who would...

Go through hell & high water for a Pulitzer and a place in the history books

[Fiendish Thingy]

10. Yes, but unfortunately their editors/publisher won't let them...n/t

[demodonkey]

2. I remember 72-74 well -- NOW feels a lot like THEN

[havocmom]

13. Now feels worse than then

cuz THEN we had investigative reporters and we didn't have computers changing votes and creating votes which were never cast. Now we have parrots reading WH and DOD press releases and hidden proprietary source codes along with officials who sign off on tests on voting systems which were failed or never even done.

We also got to see news from the front in Vietnam and the coffins coming home.

I do recall the morning when the news blurb about a break-in at the DNC headquarters in the Watergate was first mentioned. I was driving and let our a holler, thinking that Nixon was now toast. Very confused that the nation didn't seem to grasp the significance of the break in right away and depressed that it took so damned long to chase the rats outta the WH.

The current batch of rats have more at stake and will cling harder than we can imagine. Anyone who thought this past election would be fair and square was very naive and/or delusional. These guys will not give up and be polite. They do not have the same wiring as most of us have. They know no quilt or shame and NOTHING is beyond them.

[goclark]

3. Reporting for duty!

[HysteryDiagnosis]

7. there once was something known as divine karma!

saying that the force will take care of these thugs... and so it will.

We need Ellesberg, Hersch and the lot to get busy... as I am sure they already are.... this is gonna be a show that I am ready to witness.. can't say they don't have it coming either....

[pretzel4gore]

6. tell all your local media they're bushevik whores

and there's going to be hell to pay....

[kikiek]

8. You're right. If there is enough evidence it can't be ignored.

[still_one]

9. At least Nixon apponted Ford as VP before he left

Problem is we get Hassert if bush and cheney are gone

Anyway, I don't think 1974 will happen again because we no longer have an independent press

[Fiendish Thingy]

11. The internets are our only hope... n/t

[Doctor Panacea]

12. It was different then

Yes, I remember 1974 very well. However, the political and social and psychological dynamics of the country were very different then. Nixon did not have the rabid following that the Chimp does. I live in a part of the country where people think that the Chimp is their personal protector against some EVIL FORCE lurking out there, longing to persecute them for being Christians.

None of that crap attached itself to Nixon. Nobody ever thought that he wore a halo.

[wildflower]

15. What about John Edwards?

Though it would be difficult right now with what Elizabeth Edwards is going through.

-wildflower

[agingdem]

16. Where are you going to get these independent reporters?

[Danger Duck]

17. The only definitive

grounds for impeachment that I can think of, hung over, on a Sunday morning, is if there is some sort of link to voting machines that were programmed to overcast Republican votes. Don't jump on me for saying that is the only ground, but as of right now, he's not going to get impeached for anything that happened preceding this election. Don't hate me because I'm realistic/cynical.

My question, and I have not asked it, so point me in the right direction if it has already been answered, where were the infinite lawyers on the Kerry Campaign, in regards to these machines? Have they already been examined, is there a bi-partisan method of evaluating the votes, what precautions were taken prior to the Election in regards to these things?

[luzdeluna]

20. lawyers were ordered 50 feet away

One of my lawyer friends just got back from Fla.

She says at noon the courts sent around an order that the lawyers had to say 50 feet away from the polling sites and could not approach voters.

She also said that people were not being given provisional ballots when they asked for them.

She reported the situation but nothing was done.

She is pretty upset.

LDL

[rndmprsn]

18. Haha...i was one year old in 74

but ive studied this period much...and i agree with the sentiments, i just hope that the RW inestment into conservative think-tanks and RW media is not so great as to cancel out all the failure...they have so far.

in 74 i don't think anything existed as dangerous to republic as RW media and conservative think-tanks that have figured out how to frame issues and policies and control the message and language?

peace

[Ivan Sputnik]

21. Thoughts

A hero would be nice right about now.

But even without one, a recession or the continuing disaster in Iraq could swing things our way by 2006, in terms of congressional elections. Not that I'm hoping for these things, but they are entirely within the realm of possibility.

Also, I suspect that Bush has made himself a LOT of enemies over the last four years -- always dangerous for a politician. I suspect that there are even more than a few Repuglicans who secretly despise him. Some kind of scandal could erupt in the second term -- it's been known to happen. If things get bad enough, some kind of coalition between Democrats and "moderate" Republicans could even come together.

A hero? Most of the hard-hitting reporting today seems to be coming from book and magazine writers, not newspaper reporters or TV "journalists." (Think Seymour Hersch at The New Yorker on Abu Ghraib.)

[Booster]

22. Let's draft Will Pitt for this assignment.