OMG! ABC evening news just now -- Sequoia voting machines = Chavez!

[scarletwoman]

It went by really fast, so I can't really reproduce it verbatim -- but just before cutting to commericials, the news reader dropped this little tidbit:

(note, this is ONLY a paraphrase) "Remember Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela who called President "Satan" at the UN this summer? Voters already worried about electronic voting machines may have a new reason to feel uneasy -- the Sequoia company, which is one of the largest electronic voting machine manufacturers in the U.S., has been bought by a Venezuelan company."

Did anyone else catch that? It went by quite quickly -- but, wow! It was so WEIRD!

sw

[SouthernBelle82]

1. As far as I know

Chavez doesn't even own any voting machine company's. All of them are independent from the government.

[scarletwoman]

6. Of course not. The weirdness is that the news guy opened with a reference

to Chavez, and then made a one sentence mention of Sequoia being bought by Venezuelans. It was a jaw-dropping moment for me -- like, first do the obligatory scare thing about Hugo Chavez, then move on to a news item that has absolutely nothing to do with Chavez. The only connection between the two statements was Venezuela.

As I said, it was just weird -- WAAAAAAAAY weird...

sw

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. And the Republicans are terrified because they're afraid that Chavez

is going to make sure the machines take an honest vote count?

[Mythsaje]

3. Well, in that case, maybe we should take a close look at ALL

voting machines.

:evilgrin:

[Kurovski]

9. Indeed.

:evilgrin:

[rodeodance]

4. the story was in LBN yesterday

[Kurovski]

5. Sequoia has been owned by a Venezuelan Co. for some time now

Why are the nitwits at ABC suddenly treating it as news?

"Smartmatic purchased Sequoia in March last year. Smartmatic's controlling shareholder and CEO, Antonio Mugica, is a dual Venezuelan-Spanish national. He and another partner, Alfredo Anzola, also control Bizta, which received a $150,000 investment from the Venezuelan government in return for a 28 percent stake in the software company. The government sold its stake before the recall referendum, and after the Miami Herald reported the investment, which sparked complaints that the Chávez government had a stake in the machines that were to count the votes for and against him."



http://www.vcrisis.com/index.php?content=letters/200605100326

[scarletwoman]

10. Beats me. To be honest, I didn't know that about Sequioa - so it WAS news to me.

I mean, none of this makes any difference to me -- I am absolutely against electronic voting machines, I don't care WHO owns them.

I am also a supporter of Hugo Chavez, so invoking his name as some sort of bogeyman has no effect on me.

It was the juxtaposition that was so jarring. I'm all for the SCLM ("so-called liberal media") bringing up stories about how utterly insane it is to use privately-owned secret-source paperless electronic voting machines. I think that the more times it's brought up the better.

But coupling it with a gratuitous (and purposefully sinister) reference to Chavez -- who has absolutely no bearing on the actual story -- was just so fucking strange.

What was the message supposed to be? "You're right to be concerned about voting machines, especially because Hugo Chavez is a scary man"? Or, "Don't trust Sequoia machines, but all the others are okay"? Or, "Give up on voting because it's all out of your control"?

I posted this because I sincerely wanted to know if anyone happened to catch this news byte. It totally blew my mind, I just wanted to know if my perception was shared by anyone else.

sw

[Kurovski]

14. I missed it, but I have seen Chavez being referred to as a

"dictator", and other such pieces of misinformation on the news shows.

Well as someone else mentions, if it gets the Repubs up in arms over e-voting, that'd be great.

However, if it's to have folks wary of the outcome of a Democratic sweep we could have some problems.

I can't wait until we're rid of the machines. And we WILL be rid of them.

[WinkyDink]

21. I'd go with the "However"....

[fudge stripe cookays]

17. Because there is an election in a few days...

And when Democrats inevitably win the few seats we will, they can point fingers and say WE stole the election.

Mark my words.

[OzarkDem]

30. And they plan to exploit it

Will we see a revival of all the GOP Congressional staffers posing as outraged voters at local BOE's?

Oh, please, we've seen that one before.

[Jackpine Radical]

19. Why are they treating it as news?

First, to lay the groundwork for court decisions reversing the upcoming Dem victories.
Second, to use the claim of interference in our electons as a pretext for attacking Venezuela, which happens to have two attributes the Neocons find intolerable: Immense oil reserves that the neocons don't control, and a socialist government that intends to keep it that way.

[scarletwoman]

22. Thanks. Your analysis is spot on -- and rather depressing.

My first thought was that maybe Venezuela is safer with our military tied down in Iraq. Then I quickly realized that it makes no difference, the Venezuela take-down will be strictly black ops with hired mercenaries.

sw

[upi402]

7. Are you sure it wasn't George W Chavez???

; )
If it was the junta members of the old government I am worried. I don't trust the media news at all. They add an element of truth or fact and then spin some BS like a whirling dervish.

[C_U_L8R]

8. hahahaha yeah right

good god these republicans are really pathetic
they haven't even lost yet and already they are making up bullshit excuses.
Oh whatever !!!!!!!! Hahahahahhahaha

[scarletwoman]

18. Oh, THANK you! I believe you hit the mark!

I just couldn't figure out what point the PTB were trying to make with that little news bit. I assume that whatever messages are sent via the corporate media are the messages that the Rulers want us to assimilate -- I just couldn't figure out the hook in this one.

I believe you've nailed it, however. It's entirely possible that the numbers of voters going to the Democrats this time may be enough to overcome Republican vote-rigging, in which case they may be testing an alternative fallback narrative.

Thanks again, this is just what I was looking for! :applause:

sw

[BeFree]

11. ABC is only two years behind DU

This has been news for years now. So, why bring it up now? Cause ABC feels like total shit heads for not covering the story until now.

As someone who has been following the election machine's rise to power for three years, the coverage of our plight is welcome. If the Publicans lose, and they damn well should, and they blame the loss on the voting machines, that will be great, because then there will be a majority of people wanting to examine the machines. In fact, if the Dems win, and we'd better, I will still be calling for an end to electronic rule of vote counting.

[edhopper]

12. Don't you get it?

Investigate a voting machine company with no evidence of wrongdoing, but make sure the owners don't like Bush.
Then when the Diebold and other RW machines hand the election to the GOP, deflect any talk of machine fraud by saying both sides have questionable companies on their side.

[EFerrari]

15. You got it. n/t

[scarletwoman]

20. Thank you! Your comment is exactly what I was looking for!

I truly was flummoxed by this one -- it was obvious that there was a propaganda message in there somewhere, I just couldn't figure it out what it was.

sw

[edhopper]

13. Don't you get it? *dupe*

Dupe, sorry.

[SoCalDem]

16. Well.. remember in '00 how all the media was all over the connection

between Hagel & ES&S and Diebold & republican corporations and "Bush Pioneers"..and jebbie's purges and stuff??


oh wait..


that never happened, did it??


move along..nuthin' to see here, folks :puke:


The silver lining??

Maybe we can get Hugo to buy Diebold and ES&S too :evilgrin:

we'd be back to paper & sharpie pens in a heartbeat :)

[helderheid]

23. tune into CNN NOW

[scarletwoman]

25. Can't. I don't have cable. Can you summarize? (nt)

[helderheid]

37. here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2502946&mesg_id=2502946

[Judi Lynn]

24. Here's the last thread which ran in LBN concerning the loathesome attempt

to link Hugo Chavez to electronic voting machines:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2584410#2584410

Nice propaganda try. It won't take with people who have bothered themselves to read beyond the crap cranked out by propaganda merchants hoping to cripple Latin America's attempt to gain self-determination after all these desperate years.

[scarletwoman]

26. Wow! Thanks for the link! I totally missed that yesterday!

I'm really glad I posted -- I honestly couldn't figure out what the ABC news bit was getting at. I'm so grateful for all the DUers who showed up here with some good answers!

sw
:loveya:

[Gabi Hayes]

27. CNN doing the same thing...singling out Smartmatic, from what I saw:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2512850

[NotGivingUp]

28. they know the dems are gonna sweep it so this will be their

reason to say the elections didn't count and refuse to hand over power.

[scarletwoman]

29. Thanks. I do believe you're correct. I knew I was missing the real angle when

I first saw this. It just caught me so off guard.

sw

[SammyWinstonJack]

32. As opposed to saying our votes didn't count and letting the Supreme Court

hand over power in '00? The media and the repubs didn't care about election fraud in the past three elections, and now that it looks like the DEMS will take over, they suddenly are paying attention to election fraud and voting machines? If there wasn't a possibility of DEMS winning back Congress, we wouldn't be hearing about this right now, would we?

[NotGivingUp]

35. they are pushikng it BIG TIME on ALL the networks.

[Beelzebud]

31. When Dems win this year, the Repukes will be crying foul.

And they'll use this as their excuse.

Get ready for it.

[KoKo]

33. will Pitt posted earlier today...that they would "Blame Chavez." Link:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2509324&mesg_id=2513173

[scarletwoman]

34. Sheesh. Just when I think I'm too paranoid & cynical, along comes more shit

to demonstrate that I'm obviously not nearly paranoid and cynical ENOUGH! :banghead:

sw

[Reader Rabbit]

36. There was an article in The Oregonian about it today.

My eyeballs nearly rolled out of their sockets. Why the fuck don't these losers give a damn when the owners are Republicans?

Liberal media, my ass.