Special Report: Terrorism and the election: No postponement, just bedlam

[acmavm]

at the polls and a low turnout on the West Coast is Bush's plan for 'victory'

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/071504Madsen/071504madsen.html

>snip>

July 15, 2004—You have to give the right-wingers credit. The fear tactics they learned from arch-Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels remain at the front of their political playbook. First, they put out the notion that in the event of a terrorist attack around the time of the November 2 election, a postponement of the vote may be necessary. Second, they start talking about the federal government's response to such a scenario. It's the second item we must all be focused upon.

The idea of terrorism affecting the election was first proffered by the Reverend DeForest B. Soaries, Jr, the Bush-appointed chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Soaries is a right-wing former New Jersey Republican Secretary of State who has been living under the small "fanatics only" revival tent of the Christian fundamentalist crowd for some time. Soaries's job is to ensure that there is no repeat of the 2000 Florida fiasco. However, he and his friends in the Bush administration (read that as Karl Rove and Tom DeLay primarily) may have their eyes set on causing a major West Coast electoral disruption in 2004 that will make Florida 2000 look like a minor glitch by comparison.

<snip>

The right wing had a different take on the possibility of an election postponement. Neo-fascist babble mongers like Rush Limbaugh said, "No!" to a postponement of the election. They argued that if a terrorist alert or attack were to occur, the election should go on and only those votes cast should be counted. Bingo! The plan for a second Bush administration became clear as day. And that plan's target is California, with its whopping 54 electoral votes, and possibly Washington State's 11 electoral votes, at stake.

<snip>
Here's the scenario we must be all be prepared for:

If the pre-election internal tracking polls and public opinion polls show the Kerry-Edwards ticket leading in key battleground states, the Bush team will begin to implement their plan to announce an imminent terrorist alert for the West Coast for November 2, sometime during the mid afternoon Pacific Standard Time. At 2:00 PST, the polls in Kentucky and Indiana will be one hour from closing (5:00 PM EST–the polls close in Indiana and Kentucky at 6:00 PM EST). Exit polls in both states will be known to the Bush people by that time and if Kentucky (not likely Indiana) looks too close to call or leaning to Kerry-Edwards, the California plan will be implemented. A Bush problem in Kentucky at 6:00 PM EST would mean that problems could be expected in neighboring states and that plans to declare a state of emergency in California would begin in earnest at 3:00 PM PST.

-MORE-

[Liberal Veteran]

1. Do you know ANYONE who has changed plans for a terror alert?

I don't. Nor will I.

On edit: They could show me video of Osama bin Laden waiting at my polling place with a bomb strapped to himself and I would still go in and vote.

[bluestateguy]

2. That plan for California may not work

California absentee ballots are not really hevaily Republican anymore. They are a little more Republican than the election day ballots, but not much, meaning that they lean Democratic. Also, affluent Californians are not a rock solid Republican block either. In the Bay Area most well to do people dislike the Republican Party, except for a couple of towns in Central Contra Costa COunty. Orange County and the Inland Empire cannot alone put Bush over the top in California. He lost the state by 11 points last time, so that is a lot of ground to be made up, and I don't think it could be done. Washington maybe, but that would not seal the election for him, especially of Kerry wins Ohio or Florida.