[lbo-talk] Alexander Cockburn: 9/11 nuts have relocated to Stolen Election

[Michael Pugliese]

http://nyc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/133052/index.php
> ...The truly bad news is the 9/11 nuts have relocated to Stolen  
> Election. My inbox is awash with their ravings. People who have spent  
> the last three years sending me screeds establishing to their own  
> satisfaction that George Bush personally ordered the attacks on the  
> towers and that Dick Cheney vectored the planes in are now pummeling me  
> with data on the time people spent on line waiting to vote in Cuyahoga  
> county, Ohio, and how the Diebold machines are all jimmied. As usual,  
> the conspiracy nuts think that plans of inconceivable complexity worked  
> at 100 per cent efficiency, that Murphy's law was once again in  
> suspense, and that 10,000 co-conspirators are all going to keep their  
> mouths shut.

Do I think the election was stolen? No more than usual. The Democrats are  
getting worse at it and the Republicans better. Back in 1960 it was the  
other way round. The best documented stolen election in history is  
probably the one that put Lyndon Johnson in the US Senate. Next came the  
one that gave JFK the White House. So, for sure there's vote suppression  
in Ohio and Florida. I don't think it made the crucial difference.

"Stolen election" is one way to divert attention from the fact that the  
Democrats had a lousy candidate and gave up on most of the country,  
investing everything in two or three states. Small wonder they lost the  
popular vote, not to mention other minor details ,like the US senate.

http://www.inthesetimes.com/theittlist/site/ittlist/ind/im_so_tired_of_election_fraud/
> ...I’m so Tired of Election Fraud (4:50 pm)

So many excuses for the losing Democrats. Rigged ballot boxes, long lines,  
voter intimidation, exit polls, etc. So many reasons to move on and focus  
on the real reasons Republicans won. (Hint: The election wasn’t stolen.)
http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2004/11/10/voting/index_np.html
There’s no way Bush cheated his way to a popular victory. Maybe, if you’re  
really paranoid, he swiped a state here or there, and maybe it could have  
turned the corner in the electoral college, but in my heart and mind, the  
popular vote is the one that reflects the will of the people (like it was  
in 2000). There’s Democrats and Republicans overseeing almost every aspect  
of the process (not to say touchscreen machines couldn’t fool them both),  
and 4 million votes is a LOT of votes to cherry pick.

For two, the election is over. Honest progressives defending centrist  
Democrats like Kerry isn’t going to change anything. There’s no way. Maybe  
we just like being disappointed. It would be so much more gratifying to  
see our energy being put to use to further the good radical causes.  
Anyhow, if you really miss long drawn out election recounts, turn your  
eyes to the Washington state governor’s race. The slimy Republican is up  
by a mere 200 votes, with the official recount underway.
-- 
Michael Pugliese