RNC to DNC: In 2006 the glue will set and cement the fix

[Filius Nullius]

The inability of the DNC and Democratic officials to respond to three stolen elections is mystifying. The party seems to be just waiting for Bush and his henchmen to deliver the coup de gras, which will almost certainly happen in 2006. When the Repubicans get to a 60-percent majority in the Senate in 2006, they can override any filibusters. In fact, I believe they can legally do away with the filibuster forever when they reach 60%. When that happens, it is point, set and match, and Democrats in this country may as well fold up their tents and go home...for good.

Pardon the trite sports analogies, but is it going to be three downs and out in 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006? The Democratic leadership gives every appearance of being ready simply to punt on what is potentially one of the most egregious violations of constitutional rights in U.S. history. Are we just going to sit idly by while the Republicans drive down the field for the winning score in the 2006 midterms (uh oh, I did it again)?

Once that happens and they eliminate the filibuster, they will probably claim that ballotless direct-recording electronic voting machines are so accurate that it is pointless, not to mention bad for the country, ever to contest elections. They will then proceed to pass legislation that adopts ballotless machines as the national standard and forbids challenges to elections. Then the Democratic leaders who fiddled around while the country burned will say, "Woops, too late, so sorry!"

If the Democratic leadership doesn't address this, they run the risk that the Democratic Party will become to the Republicans what the Washington Generals were to the Harlem Globetrotters (I don't seem to be able to help myself), i.e., hopeless, perpetual losers (I started to say chronic losers, but it is much worse than that). It will become the party that exists for the sole purpose of organizing and running elections in order to put a fig leaf on Republican domination of the political process.

In other words, you had better get it in gear and do something about this while you still have a chance.

[Vincardog]

1. Paper Ballots Hand Counts NOW Demand it.

[cprise]

2. Democratic leadership has become a dream job.

Tons of attention, popularity and lucrative opportunities but none of that messy "wielding power" stuff.

[1956]

3. on my really depressed cynical days

I believe that the Republicans will basically find a way to do away with elections altogether( "because-Gosh it makes all o'ya'll so mad!!)and then just have positions "appointed" or have the courts "decide" on thier choices of course. It really is a nightmare scenario, but if we don't keep fighting all the current governmental takeovers, we're headed right for it. Of course, on the other hand, most Dems don't want to vote at all until it all gets fixed!!! ARGHH!

[cprise]

5. Why would they take away the appearance of democracy

...when they already have all the power at the national level?

And its not 'Republicans' that wield the power, it's corporatists. They'll be happy to let Democrats (or some other empty brand) take over the reigns when it is convenient and safe for them.

[Wilms]

6. Excellent point.

I wondered if that's what happened in '92.

(Don asbestos suit.)

[cprise]

7. This didn't happen in 92 IMO

What happened then was an internal Democratic Party coup, where a corporatist won popularity with a strong message of opportunity and justice: The dog-n-pont show called Universal Healthcare (that he instantly killed by handing to his WIFE), idle talk of abolishing 3rd world debt, and building NAFTA into something great like the EU (but they got the juice, we got the kool-aid).

We didn't realise that the "third way" was just 1920s laisse-faire. And they say that 60s liberalism is antiquated...

Clinton/Gore encouraged growth in technology, but in a way that left all the lasting benefits in the hands of the wealthy. They allowed our already right-leaning press to be bought up by industrial conglomerates (massive, intrinsic conflict of interest there) such that they are just mouthpieces attached to gigantic greed-machines. As soon as Clinton deregulated the media market, they nailed him down with scandal after scandal. He may have only talked about left-wing economics on ocassion, but now he wasn't going ANYWHERE for sure.

I remember the week GW Bush was sworn in, CNN yanked their Environment section off their website.

Once the commercial press could blot out reality with meaningless noise, another arm in the neocon revolution (the banking services industry - e.g. Diebold) set its sights on controlling the other end of the public consent cycle: and so we have blackbox voting.

So between commercially-controlled voting, and commercially-controlled news, the American people are caught in a web of lies, distraction and a brave "new era" in voting where computers have shown exit polls to be fundamentally inaccurate... only in large swing states of course.

[Wilms]

8. Great analysis.

I had wondered what the story was in the background of that election campaign.

Poppy was getting hammered in the polls, but that "October Surprise" was simmering up through the summer, too. I'd see little stories tucked onto page 19 or something in the Saturday LA Times. Then, in early September, it hit the LAT front page and I thought, "hmmmm".

A few weeks later, poppy turns buying a fishing rod & reel into a photo-op. And I thought, "hmmm", again. "Ain't that the American symbol for retirement?"

Not that I was sorry to see 'he who spawned shrub' leave. But it seemed contrived.

Thanks for the thought cprise.

[cprise]

9. Thanks. Interesting about the poppy imagery.

One other important thing about the 3rd Way:

This is a political philosophy that embodies the formula:
DEMOCRAT = REPUBLICAN - 2

I am not just making the usual crankish observation of "Republican Lite" you always see on DU. Triangulation explicitly redefines one's own party relative to "the reference party".

This is when Democrats ceased to have any capacity to lead. Money played a role in making this approach seem attractive, as well as a desire to hide yourself in the shadow of a would-be attacker.

Problem is, it provided cover for the Republicans too. They could keep getting nastier and the Dems would trail along, helping the Republicans to seem comparatively normal.

It would be interesting to see if this dynamic emerged in other laisse-faire environments, such as Weimar Germany.

[Kip Humphrey]

4. Citizen-certified exit polls for every key Senate race in '06 - make it so