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Edited on Thu Oct-23-08 10:34 AM by antifaschits
California, Oregon, Idaho, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida.
In each of these states, GOP operatives have attacked the voting rights of US citizens. While they have done it before, especially in the last two presidential elections, never has there been such a concerted, coordinated effort throughout the nation. To top it off, John Boehner (pronounced boner), the House Minority leader called on President Bush to cut all funding for ACORN, the vote registration group that has added more than a million voters to the roles.
ACORN? They have to turn in all registrations, even for Mickey, Michele Malkin, even George Bush. They tag the bad ones, and segregate them for the officials. And Boehner wants them to stop? It is not just ACORN. We are witnessing the biggest Keep Dem Votes Out operation ever. Luckily, we appear to have been ready for this.
Suits have been filed (the Indiana litigation tops them all - throw out all votes already cast in three black areas of Indiana? Are you serious?), pressure has been applied, even certain federal courts and one federal court of appeals have weighed in. Surprisingly, the Supremes kicked the 6th Circuit in the teeth, and it now seems that absent some new legal attack, people will get to vote early as intended.
We still face problems with suppression, illegal culling of voter rolls, baseless attacks on individuals by paid political GOP operatives, and worst of all, a Diaboldical enemy in the very technology that was forced onto the states. West Virginia, Texas and Florida have confirmed that their machines were flipping some votes to McCain from Obama.
Put into perspective, Boehner's call was not unexpected. While Boehner was an ass, is presently an ass, and will remain in perpetuity, an ass, it is unlikely that in today's political environment, even a craven and soulless person like George Bush would take such a step. Even if he did, it would no longer have much of an impact. First, most of the registration has been done, and all over the country, hundreds of thousands have already voted, either absentee, by mail, or through early voting.
In Cook County alone, an estimated 190,000 have already voted, far more than ever before in any election. There are lines in courthouses and city halls throughout the region, 12 days before the general election! Secondly, if Bush stopped ACORN now, and cancelled their registrations en masse, I suspect that martial law would have to be declared due to the fires set at all federal buildings around the country. This time people will not take it sitting down.
In Florida, the land that made chad famous, 750,000 people voted early, with a majority apparently voting for "that one." North Carolina? similar story. Same with Ohio, especially where GOP suppression efforts were concentrated. Gone are the 4 hour lines on election day, (because the GOP refused to provide enough machines). That has been replaced by lines of people waiting to vote Democratic, sometimes waiting an hour just for the chance to vote early.
In the backdrop of these attacks, something else is happening. If there will be as huge a turnout as it now seems, and one of the largest sweeps in the history of our country, the GOP will find itself toothless, powerless, frustrated, and eventually, the target criminal indictments and more. I wonder if they realize how huge the stakes are, and how their current actions are digging their own collective graves. People will look at their efforts at voter suppression, and insure that these criminals can never do it again.
May I be among the first to grab a shovel to fill in the hole, once the GOP corpse has been inserted.
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