Republicans Demand "Prove My Vote Counts, Now"

[understandinglife]

On 3 Nov 2004, Republicans awakened to the shocking prospect that the Democratic candidate for President had a 3 million vote lead and sufficient electoral votes to win the election.

After a few days of fact gathering it became increasingly obvious that numerous Republican voters were denied access to ballots and various academic groups began reporting studies that justified immediate investigation.

Disgusted by the reports of massive and systematic disenfranchisement of Republican voters in OH, by the discovery of discarded ballots in FL, by evidence of miscounts in and by numerous reports that Dem controlled vote tabulation companies likely had access to central tabulating databases in numerous States, the leadership of the RNC and every Republican member of the Senate and House of Representatives demanded a nation-wide hand count of every ballot.

RNC organizations in every State rallied to support their fellow citizens in OH, FL and elsewhere.

Claims from Dem partisan election officials in OH and elsewhere of `frivolous Republican maneuvers' were answered with searing, derisive responses from the Republican leadership.

Fox News, CNN, ......, began running, every 10 min, RNC and 527 sponsored ads with the simple, powerful message "Prove My Vote Counts, Now."

Interviewed on all the talk shows, prominent Republicans essentially delivered the same message ".....screw that 3M vote mandate stuff the Dems are spewing; just screw it! How do we know the Dems didn't program a bunch of machines to swap a few votes here and a few votes there and, oh my, we've got a 3M mandate -- bullshit, bullshit......"

Unrelenting, the Republicans badgered every interviewer and every Dem talking head with their demand that every vote would be counted and verified and, as one spokesperson put it, `the Dems can have all the wimpy observers they want in the room so we can prove it to them as well as all our fellow citizens that counting the vote accurately is the beginning, middle and end of what Democracy means.'

Republican pundits and strategists were uniform in their framing of the Constitutional crisis. Their message was simple and incessant - we must demonstrate to our base our unwavering commitment to an accurate count of the vote otherwise all the obvious reforms we will be pushing in the next 2 years, and beyond, will be compromised by the fact that we didn't take a stand now.

<end sarcasm, begin serious message>

Get with the program everyone -- focus, suck it up and behave like a Republican between now and 13 December 2004 and just watch what you can accomplish.

Give it a try. If nothing else you might actually find a few individuals emerge with the leadership skills to win by a landslide, legitimately, in 2008.

Promote "Prove My Vote Counts, Now" in every venue, with every member of Congress, with all members of your State Government, with your friends, your neighbors, with the media. Be the steamroller; not the pavement.

Reference to original call to action:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/11/20/105320/33

Thanks.

"It's about America" -- the one on life support and in need of immediate, unflenching, heroic treatment (even if it means wearing an elephant suit for a few weeks)

[Career Prole]

1. Excellent point. If only... *sigh*

Edited out "n/t" to add welcome to DU! :hi:

[understandinglife]

5. Thank you! and ...

...I'm an unrelenting sorta guy; much prefer the steamroller to the pavement.

We can do this if we all want to. It is that simple - do, or not.

Peace.

[geo]

32. *** RELATED THREAD ***

Hi all,

Ironically, the tables have turned, and Republicans do want every vote to count... in Washinton.

Please read this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x72332

Let's "unite" with Republicans and remind them just how important a fair, accurate and transperent election is to our democracy, and also how much we value consistency and equal protection.

Let's get 'em.

Warmly,

- George

[understandinglife]

36. So very consistent with their 'steamroller' methodology....

....nothing gets in their way that they don't attempt to pave, absolutely nothing -- except perhaps Us?

Peace.

[geo]

43. Steamrollers & Asphalt

"Time to be the steamroller, not the asphalt," as I saw one write in another post. :)

- G

[understandinglife]

47. Seems that Patricia Axelrod knows how to drive a steamroller...

....and is very much in need of attention and support in Nevada. And, it is way more about the validity of the entire election than how many EC votes are represented by NV -- as most folk here know.

Check out, for details:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x73391

[geo]

49. she sure does....

however, I was a little concerned when I heard someone mention that she was the plaintiff from hell and wanted to only give officials grief in any way she could, legally based or not. Stil, I have some faith that a woman with her background has good reason to believe that what she is doing is more than just wasting a judges time. :) Warmly, - G

[understandinglife]

51. I think I detect massive exhaust fumes from the Republican...

....steamroller.

How about all of you?

Been several hours since the GAO story broke and if you google on 'GAO investigates 2004 Election' and permutations thereof your return is a measly few hits....

Now that takes effort, don't ya think?

"Prove My Vote Counts, Now" -- I'm a waiting....how about you?

[The Flaming Red Head]

2. Nah, they'd just drug Kerry and hire a hooker and a photographer

And stage another phony impeachment.


They don't have the real grass roots support like the Democrats.

[Kralizec]

3. Yup. I am tired of people on the left being so lazy and scared. We still

have a chance to NOT be scared all the time, but only if you ACT NOW. Otherwise, we WILL have to be scared to talk about stuff like that. At least try please.

[understandinglife]

6. Yes; just get folk to stop acting like they're asphalt....

....jump the steamroller driver and call a "HALT, we are going to count every vote, however many times it takes, to be sure."

If we do that, even if Bush wins, we will have established that we'll call him and the neocons on every single thing they do that violates our Constitution, our ideals and our programs.

It's time.

Peace.

[Turn CO Blue]

4. Cool letter. Excellent points. n/t

[understandinglife]

7. Thank you! (n/t)

[Turn CO Blue]

8. There was a protest in Denver today, and I missed it...

I'm so disappointed. I would have totally taken off work to go...but it seems so hard to find information about someone taking actual "action", at least ahead of time. I want to blow off some steam in a large group of like-minded individuals.

I don't want to be the pavement anymore; I'm in a steamroller kind of mood! And I don't want to just sit in front of the computer anymore, either. I need to DO something!

[understandinglife]

10. Wonderful....so, I suggest...

....you contact everyone you can and push the "Prove My Vote Counts, Now" message.

It is simple and starts with just a few questions:

1. American citizen, do you know if your vote was counted as you intended it to be?

2. American citizen, do you know that 30 % of you used a technology that has no verifiable record of how you intended to vote?

3. American citizen, would you put your money in a bank or use a credit card that didn't verify, penny by penny, the status of your account?

4. American citizen, pick up the phone and call your friends, your Congress representatives, your newspapers, your TV/radio stations, your President and ask `Prove to me my vote was counted the way I intended it to be; Just Prove it.'

Please help mobilize all responsible leaders and organizations to call for a "Prove My Vote Counts" Campaign.

Please encourage all those with skill and zeal and dedication to our Democracy to create ads, with appropriate imagery, and get them on the net.

Please encourage those who have the infrastructure to raise funds to do so with urgency so we can get the ads shown during 'prime time' and 'early morning radio'?

Please contact Oprah and Larry King and Olbermann and others in the broadcast media and request that they take 5 min during their program and ask those questions just once?

We can get every vote counted, verifiably, now.

We can, if we want to.

This Is Our Nation. Today that Nation is in crisis. Time to get folk onto the steamroller called "Democracy."

Thank you.

[understandinglife]

25. What motivated this bit of satire is that for several days....

I've been unable to stop thinking about what the Republicans would do if on 22 Nov 2004 they were in exactly the same position the Dems and Kerry are in.

By exactly, I mean exactly; just switch the party and names, in every thing you've read since 2 Nov 2004, in all the reports from OH, in everything.

And, since I'm rather slow, I can't say 'in a flash it came to me'; it did take a few moments of reflection, but the outcome was "They'd act like Republicans"!

They'd carpet bomb the Dems from now until 6 Jan 2005. They would not stop until they found some way to get every vote counted and counted and counted until they either won or, at least, PROVED TO EVERYONE THEY GAVE A DAMN about the outcome.

And, so that's how the little ditty posted here happened.

I must say, though, that I am fully aware of how little one person can do when the millions and millions of citizens who should be demanding an accounting of their vote clearly care much less about the American version of the democracy franchise than those Ukranian Liberals. How ironic it must be for them that the the trusty 'model' of the franchise seems all to ready to let the neocons pave it.

Democratic ideals and actions can co-exist: but without one, the other is just talk, and we've got all the sources of global warming we need.

[Pooka Fey]

9. We're too damn nice to everybody. Great post.

[understandinglife]

12. Nice works when you are dealing with nice people....

...when you are dealing with steamrollers, better to either be a much, much bigger steamroller '-)

In this case, if we mobilize the 55+ million Americans who 'voted' for Kerry and a bunch of those 58+ million Americans who 'voted' for Bush and may be having second thoughts -- after Fallujah, Gonzales, 'privatizing ss'....and all the ohter good news of the past 20 days -- we can become a very, very big steamroller!

Thanks.

[truehawk]

17. More like the 49,567,677 who voted for *

[understandinglife]

18. sorry to be dense [i'm known for that sometimes]...

..but, what is the meaning of *

Have much to learn.

Thanks.

[RevCheesehead]

20. = he who must not be named

the recently non-reselected President.
The B-word

[googly]

22. * stands for Bush win in 2000 with a footnote that it was the

Supreme Court of the US (SCOTUS) who was responsible for Bush winning.

[understandinglife]

24. Thank you both....sorry for being so dense! (n/t)

[Carolab]

11. I just did my part (again)

Wrote to my representative in Congress AND to my Democratic Senator.

I hope everyone else is continuing to write theirs.

I also have been e-mailing material to my Attorney General.

People, if you are not "being the media" you are not doing your part.

[understandinglife]

13. OK, now that's getting the 'DO' into high gear; Thank you!!

[understandinglife]

14. And, perhaps we can get folk to be inspired by those Ukranians!!

Liberals who definitely refuse to be rolled over -- unless they are intentionally blocking a bus load of 'double voters'!!

Or, maybe we can get folk to just focus on that fellow who stood in front of a tank in a rather large square in Beijing.

Do it!

[RevCheesehead]

15. We need MoveOn.org to do "Count My Vote"

AND major flooding of "Voter Suppression."

Do they still have money?
Can we get this information out?

It seems to me that if the media refuses to address this topic, then we should find a way to swamp the air with MoveOn ads - or something like it - to let this topic get the attention of people everywhere.

[understandinglife]

16. I urge everyone reading this to contact MoveOn...

....and have them consider just what you suggest.

They could also sponsor a contest and fund raise by showing the best submissions. With the situation in the Ukraine as an exceptional current comparison the creative folk would undoubtedly produce some poignant messages.

If MoveOn recieved bunches and bunches of requests they might just decide to focus on this core, critical issue.

Press on!

Thank you

[RevCheesehead]

19. KICK for the West Coast n/t

[goclark]

21. West Coast Here and kicking

[understandinglife]

23. Appreciate the interest....and let's keep spreading the word...

...."Prove My Vote Counts, Now"
Thank you.

[goclark]

37. Sure will keep this going

[understandinglife]

38. Just hoping that soon we get a boost from those...

...with the bandwidth to bring the issue to our fellow citizens.

Thank you.

[goclark]

39. Good point!

Don't know much about bandwidth.

How is it best achieved?

[understandinglife]

42. By getting folk like Oprah ........

...to demand "Prove My Vote Counts, Now"....

[liberalcenter]

26. I always ask myself.

What if it was Soros?

What if it was Clinton?

[understandinglife]

28. Yeap. But, you know, the most important question every...

....one of us should be asking is "What if it was me?"

Would we roll over; would we watch our franchise get paved by the neocons.

What is missing in so much of the talk, analysis, whatever, is the simple reality that we are each accountable; it is Our franchise and if we don't defend it, it really doesn't matter what Kerry or Clinton or Soros or anyone else does. It begins and ends with what each of us DOES.

Let's stop waiting for some fantasy moment when Kerry rides in on the white horse and saves the day. Why should he ever bother if all of us just rolled over and 'planned' for 2006.

Our choice, now.

That steamroller you hear is about to pave the franchise with a one way, my way, totalitarian layer of concrete that will take decades if ever to blast through.

Peace.

[MominTN]

27. Act like a Democrat

A suggestion from an older TN democrat I read in the paper... He said "to stand up on your two hind legs and act like a Democrat!"

[understandinglife]

29. Right about now, I don't care what the political...

....affiliation is of any member of the franchise as long as they assault the steamroller rather than just acting like concrete and asphalt........

Let's just realize We are the franchise and if each of us does not 'stand up', it's over.

Peace.

[Stand and Fight]

30. Kick!!!

Great post! I could not agree more ardently with you!



:kick:

[understandinglife]

31. Well, 'Stand and Fight' I'm sure you will do just that....

...and thank you!

We will prevail.

[breadandwine]

33. FLASH BULLETIN! Blogger calls march on Fox NOW!

Combined protest against Fox and the rigged election —

The objective is specifically to challenge the wall of silence on the rigged election by news outlets like Fox and make a breakthrough —

Please spread this around, check it out and kick it —

A blogger has posted an extremely detailed, specific call to protest the rigged election AND the suppression of the truth ABOUT the rigged election by Fox News — a combined event mass march protest to be held in New York City — AT — Fox headquarters on 6th Avenue —

Main protest chant —

“Rupert Murdoch, tell the truth! Fascists rigged the voting booth!”

Nobody thinks of marching against a news organization in the streets. This is going to be a shot heard round the world.

Very comprehensive protest plan with very helpful travel details, the works —

See blog on this,

“A Call To March On Fox —

For refusing to tell the truth about the rigged election!” —

http://acalltomarchonfox.blogspot.com/

Discussion thread in General Discussion Forum — please help keep this kicked —

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=2688242

“A Call To March Against The Rigged Election”

Please spread these links around to help us organize this.

Please join that discussion there and help keep it kicked. Marching on Fox starts at post 117. But read the whole discussion. And read the blog. Discussion also discusses an earlier blog on marching against the rigged election and media. Second blog being discussed is on a specific, detailed call to march on Fox specifically as a key initial part of this protest against the rigged election. Fox is a key ENABLER of the rigged election. They’d never get away with election rigging on such a vast scale if it weren’t for news suppressers/distorters like Fox. Read both blogs.

Tremendously detailed comprehensive blog —

It gives the exact location in New York City of all of Rupert Murdoch’s empire, New York Post, Fox News, News Corporation (Murdoch’s big parent company — it owns almost everything else he’s got) — all of that — it’s all in a single building on 6th Avenue between 47th Street and 48th Street in mid-Manhattan. Murdoch’s own office is in the building too. We can be chanting against him right outside his window. All their offices are not on very high floors either — as low as the second floor — they’ll see and hear us and have to pass us on the way in. All those blow-hard Fox talking heads lying about the election — we’ll be in direct shouting matches with them as they come and go. And Fox itself is on the SECOND Floor. How good is their studio soundproofing in there????? Everybody at Fox is going to be bitching that they can’t get any work done. There’s no way they can hush this up.

Since it’s a vicious circle — news organizations like Fox suppress our protests, making them seem futile, therefore the proposal is to combine objectives and protest Fox AND the rigged election TOGETHER right outside Murdoch’s building and tie the two evils together — “Murdoch suppresses the truth about the rigged election!” — and invite other New York news organizations, many of whom DETEST Murdoch, to cover it. (You didn’t know New York news people and news executives hate Murdoch? Blog goes into that a lot.)

Blog has many links to anti-Murdoch resources and video of Bill O’Reilly telling everybody to shut up, shut up, shut up, over and over. What a sewer rat! Right on camera! He looks really mean and drunk in one of the film clips. Jack Daniels? And he’s on camera hotly lecturing us, “It is our duty as all loyal Americans to shut up.” The video nails him good — and Fox. Blog gives other video links too.

Tired of being told to shut your trap? Open it. March against Fox and the rigged election in New York City.

But the idea is to put it all together, to protest and denounce Fox outside their offices for leading the COVER-UP of the election heist. It’s a shot across the bow to the rest of the media that they better start telling the truth about the election, or they’ll get protests like the one at Fox. All the national news media are based in Manhattan. They can’t say this protest was too out of the way to get to.

Blog also has links to downloadable anti-Fox flyers, petitions and other resources against Fox that could be distributed at the protest march.

Blog goes into tremendous detail about the strategy, the advantages of starting protests in New York as opposed to other cities (huge liberal population would augment people coming from out of town), and it’s the news media capital of the world. Very friendly terrain. New York Democratic congressmen are demanding investigation of the stolen election. No rednecks in the population or the government, no paranoid security apparatus like you have in D.C.

Blog includes complete “mother lode” total orientation guide to using New York subways with downloadable maps you can enlarge, how to use mass transit to get from Amtrak’s Penn Station to the march, how to use mass transit to get from the airports to the march.

Let’s make it happen!

Keep kicking that thread so everyone will hear of this!

[understandinglife]

34. Thank you for posting this information....

....and I urge all of you to study Ignatz' latest analysis:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x69829#69836

Keep attacking the neocon steamroller; much better than waiting to be part of the pavement!

Peace.

[understandinglife]

35. Truly inspirational, Just look at those Ukranians....

....and it's the top story on NYTimes, online!

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/23/international/europe/23CND-UKRA.html?hp&ex=1101272400&en=824922d4036ac304&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Oh for the day when we see our fellow citizens refusing to have their franchise destroyed.....

[Kellis]

40. Excellent Post

Thank you so much!We need people like you on our side.Im going to start emailing even heavier now-EVERYBODY everyday!!!!

Ukranians have the right idea-I wish WE would have an uprising like they are!

:kick:

[understandinglife]

41. Thank you and we just need to keep pushing the message....

....We are the one's who must be accountable to each other and act to save our franchise.

We will prevail.

[understandinglife]

44. Breaking News: GAO Will Investigate 2004 Elections

http://www.commonblog.com/

Part of the press release:

We are pleased that the GAO has reviewed the concerns expressed in our letters and has found them of sufficient merit to warrant further investigation. On its own authority, the GAO will examine the security and accuracy of voting technologies, distribution and allocation of voting machines, and counting of provisional ballots. We are hopeful that GAO's non-partisan and expert analysis will get to the bottom of the flaws uncovered in the 2004 election. As part of this inquiry, we will provide copies of specific incident reports received in our offices, including more than 57,000 such complaints provided to the House Judiciary Committee.

"The core principle of any democracy is the consent of the governed. All Americans, no matter how they voted, need to have confidence that when they cast their ballot, their voice is heard."


Let's make that 57,000+ complaints go into the millions as we join with our fellow citizens and DEMAND -- PROVE MY VOTE COUNTS, NOW!!

"It's about America" -- currently on life support and in need of immediate, heroic and sustained treatment; paging Dr GAO to the ICU!

[Kellis]

45. I just saw this elsewhere at DU.

This is good news!!The MSM have got to take this seriously now and start covering it(like they should have been all along!)

:kick:

[understandinglife]

46. Brad Blog just picked it up...

http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00000982.htm

Push, Push, Push --- "Prove My Vote Counts, Now" and the GAO should have millions of complaints, because none of us are going to be shown if and how our votes were counted....and that means the franchise is fundamentally broken.

Logical conclusion -- Invalid Election.

With that message, we become the drivers of the steamroller.

[understandinglife]

48. My message to Congressman Nadler on the GAO investigation.

Thank you for your courageous actions Congressman Nadler.

I urge you and your colleagues to focus on a simple, fundamental flaw in our franchise of Democracy.

Specifically, ask yourself, your colleagues, in fact, ask everyone these 3 questions:

1. Did you vote?
2. Do you remember for whom you voted?
3. Do you know IF and HOW your vote was counted?

Fact is, no one can answer #3 with any reasonable confidence.

We have conducted a fundamentally flawed election.

The responsibility is each of ours to exert our right as an owner of the franchise. We demand an audit.

Refuse to certify the results until the audit is complete.

And, re-vote if the audit demonstrates that accounting the vote cannot be certified.

Please consider adopting the following message and broadcast it to every member of the franchise:

"Prove My Vote Counts, Now"

Until that happens, we have not elected anyone.

Thank you.

[understandinglife]

50. Have sent a similar letter to Senator Feingold: Any other...

...specific Congressional leaders do you think should receive this letter?

Thanks.