Letter from Kerry?

This was forwarded to my email through a Vote Cobb mailing list for recount volunteers...has anyone else received this? Is it real? :

Here's the Kerry letter that DK referred to...

Does he think he can push meaningful election reform through a Republican House and Senate WITHOUT dramatic action tomorrow? The only thing that can make it happen is public pressure. There isn't going to be enough public pressure if it gets swept under the rug again tomorrow and the media can continue to ignore it.

Ken


From: John Kerry <info@johnkerry.com>
Date: Wed, 05 Jan 2005 11:05:49 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Counting On You to Make Sure Votes Get Counted

Dear Ken,

No American citizen should wake up the morning after the election and worry their vote wasn't counted. No citizen should be denied at the polls if they are eligible to vote. And, as the greatest, wealthiest nation on earth, our citizens should never be forced to vote on old, unaccountable and non transparent voting machines from companies controlled by partisan activists.

Tomorrow, members of Congress will meet to certify the results of the 2004 presidential election. I will not be taking part in a formal protest of the Ohio Electors.

Despite widespread reports of irregularities, questionable practices by some election officials and instances of lawful voters being denied the right to vote, our legal teams on the ground have found no evidence that would change the outcome of the election.

But, that does not mean we should abandon our commitment to addressing those problems that happened in Ohio. We must act today to make sure they never happen again.

I urge you to join me in using this occasion to highlight our demand that Congress commit itself this year to reforming the electoral system. A Presidential election is a national federal election but we have different standards in different states for casting and counting votes. We need a national federal standard to solve the problems that occurred in the 2004 election. I will propose legislation to help achieve this.

Florida 2000 was a wake up call. But the Republicans who control Congress ignored it. Will they now ignore what happened in 2004?

There are nearly 3,000,000 of you receiving this email. We accomplished so much together during the campaign. Now let's use our power to make sure that at least one good thing comes from the voting rights problems of the 2004 election. If we want to force real action on election reform, we've got to demand that congressional leaders hold full hearings. Make sure they hear from you and help hold them accountable.

Speaker Dennis Hastert: 1-202-225-0600
Leader Bill Frist: 1-202-224-3135

And please report that you've made your call right here:
http://www.johnkerry.com/signup/electoral_reform.php

I want every vote counted because Americans have to know that the votes they stood in line for, fought for, and strived so hard to cast in an election, are counted. We must make sure there are no questions or doubts in future elections. It's critical to our democracy that we investigate and act to prevent voting irregularities and voter intimidation across the country. We can't stand still as Congressional leaders seek to sweep well-founded voter concerns under the rug.

Please join with me in calling Speaker Hastert and Leader Frist and telling them that you want action on election reform now.

A recent report from Representative John Conyers (D-Michigan) reveals very troubling questions that have not yet been answered by Ohio election officials. I commend the Democratic National Committee for its announcement this week that the DNC will be investing resources and reaching out to non-partisan academics in a long term study of Ohio voting irregularities. I am only sorry that we haven't seen the same from Ohio Secretary of State Blackwell and GOP officials.

Congress must play a positive, proactive role on this issue. That's why I will soon introduce legislation to reform our election system, ensuring transparency and accountability in our voting system and that all Americans have an opportunity to vote and have their vote counted.

Please remember to let us know that you made your call when you're done. We're hoping to ensure House and Senate leaders' offices hear our demand for action on election reform in meaningful way. Please take a moment to let us know you have made your call here: http://www.johnkerry.com/signup/electoral_reform.php

Thank you,

John Kerry

P.S. Thanks to all those who participated in our USO "phone home" campaign last week. The totals are coming in from the USO, and they are thrilled with your generosity and support for our brave men and women in uniform. We will send you totals as we get them.
Paid for by Friends of John Kerry, Inc.
We apologize if you received this message in error. Click here to unsubscribe from our mailing list.

Friends of John Kerry, Inc., P.O. Box 34640, Washington DC, 20043, U.S.A.

You have let me down.!!!
You said "Despite widespread reports of irregularities, questionable practices by some election officials and instances of lawful voters being denied the right to vote, our legal teams on the ground have found no evidence that would change the outcome of the election."

You have missed the point entirely. It's not that it would have made a difference in the outcome of the election. It's that there are people who sacrificed for you. There are people who fought for you and who stood out in the rain for hours in Ohio only to be disenfranchised. Their vote might have not have turned the election but it damned well better count for something. And you are telling them that you are not willing to fight for them.

I have a sign that I got in a rally in Philadelphia that said "Fighting For Us"

What happened to that sentiment?

You have lost soooo many supporters and soiled our democratic process and the faith that I and many others had in our electoral system.

Thanks.

John Kerry does not want to be president. To be honest, I can't blame Kerry for not wanting to be president. Who in their right mind would want to take over the giant mess that Bush created in the past 4 years? No one I know.

Heck, I doubt even Bush would want to be president if he were to read a newspaper instead of relying on that liar, Condoleeza Rice, to give him the news.

To be honest, we cannot have asked for a better person than Bush to be an example what happens when Republicans are in control. If America can survive the next 4 years, we can expect the Republicans to be disgraced and discredited for a long time to come after those 4 years.

..did he claw his way into the nomination? Why did he push Dean and others out of the way? Why did he run? Was he "saving" the other candidates as well?

And if he's thinking about running again in 2008, all I can say is no f*ckn way! :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown:

P.S. Hi The Night Owl, nice name!

Kerry bash thread #8 and counting...

I would give him another shot, too, especially since * is going to go down in flames sometime within the next couple of years and the whole political landscape will be changed. (I can dream, can't I?)

Why do you name-call someone who chooses to find fault with him?

What you're talking about. If you were insulted, I apologize.

Gee thanks!

I'm pretty sure that's in the rules as not allowed.

Otherwise, I'm sure he could call you a name, THEN apologize, if it would make you feel better.

The funny thing is that in the really old days, he was something else. When he spoke for the VVAW he was the patrician boy at the head of the most anarchic and absolutely crazy bunch of guys who have ever formed a political "group". He was on fire though - no stretch at all. It was a blast to watch him.

My guess is that the fires went out a very long time ago.

Come-on people. This has already been discussed at length here today at DU. Kerry is one hell of a smart prosecutor and Senator. He really is the Teflon Kerry. Read between the lines. There are many reasons for doing this. Be involved, but don't appear to be involved. This email comes the day before the electoral college and he is fervently asking people to call and stand-up for election reform. Why? Because . . .

"Tomorrow, members of Congress will meet to certify the results of the 2004 presidential election. I will not be taking part in a formal protest of the Ohio Electors."

---In other words I can't contest it wouldn't look right, but other Senators can and should. Call them, have them contest!

"Despite widespread reports of irregularities, questionable practices by some election officials and instances of lawful voters being denied the right to vote, our legal teams on the ground have found no evidence that would change the outcome of the election.

But, that does not mean we should abandon our commitment to addressing those problems that happened in Ohio. We must act today to make sure they never happen again."

--- In other words, my legal team couldn't uncover all the fraud. Blackwell et al., have stonewalled the process and blocked any meaningful investigation. We have all found evidence, plenty, just didn't have the cooperation we need to find enough but we know it is there. Act today to make sure it never happens again. Call them, have them contest!

"Please remember to let us know that you made your call when you're done. We're hoping to ensure House and Senate leaders' offices hear our demand for action on election reform in meaningful way. Please take a moment to let us know you have made your call here: http://www.johnkerry.com/signup/electoral_reform.php

Thank you,

John Kerry"

---In other words, call them and have them contest and get the ball moving for meaningful election reform in a very big MSM kind of way.

Kerry is brilliant. He has our back, and we got his. So keep making the calls, emails, FAXs, whatever it takes to ensure the contest happens. Then go to his website and sign in. Do it now.

I watched it twice tonight and heard it with ears renewed. There IS a message there -- listen closely and you will feel it in your gut!

As a side note -- does anyone else see a "person" walking around behind the curtain on Kerry's left? That really freaked me out tonight because I didn't see that the first time I watched it when he first sent it out. Not that there is any implied hidden meaning in the figure in the background, just a weird thing I noticed about that clip tonight.

After a second look, this letter is more encouraging than it at first seemed...and you got to love the timing...

Cause that disenfranchisement thing hits pretty close to home for me.

I love Kerry, but we don't speak the same language. He is from the North after all...I need you to interpret. I get it now. Sen. Subtle he is!

>>"Tomorrow, members of Congress will meet to certify the results of the 2004 presidential election. I will not be taking part in a formal protest of the Ohio Electors."

---In other words I can't contest it wouldn't look right, but other Senators can and should. Call them, have them contest.<<

So I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and follow through on his request. I didn't try to call Frist and Hastert on the phone because I understand everybody's voice mail is full in Washington tonight. I wrote letters which I'll fax to them tomorrow morning (I don't have a fax machine here). Here's the one to Hastert:

January 5, 2005

Dear Rep. Hastert:

I read the following tonight in the New York Times, in an article about tomorrow's challenge to the electoral votes:

"They are really just trying to stir up their loony left," John Feehery, a spokesman for Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, said of the Democrats.

I think “loony left” is a pretty insulting description for those patriots who have been working with such dedication to uncover the truth about what really happened on November 2, 2004, but you and Mr. Feehery are of course entitled to your opinion.

However, as one of the citizens presumably included in that description, I assure you it’s much too late to worry about anyone trying to stir us up, because we already ARE stirred up and have been since November 2nd. Many of us have been following the unfolding story of the election “irregularities” in Ohio and elsewhere for the past two months, becoming more and more outraged with each new revelation of documented voter suppression and probable machine tampering.

Therefore we are demanding serious election reform, and this time we won’t be bought off with placebos like the “Help America Vote Act” with proprietary software, no paper trails and no way of auditing the machines. Equally unacceptable are flagrantly corrupt and partisan election officials like Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell. If election reform means doing away with computers entirely and going back to paper ballots and hand counting, then so be it. My point is that the public now knows what an honest and transparent electoral process looks like and even more important—what it does NOT look like! We know the difference, and over the next few months we will be watching very closely how both houses of Congress deal with this situation.

Today I received an e-mail from Senator John Kerry which went out to the 3,000,000 supporters on his e-mail list. This e-mail reads in part:

I urge you to join me in using this occasion to highlight our demand that Congress commit itself this year to reforming the electoral system. A Presidential election is a national federal election but we have different standards in different states for casting and counting the votes. We need a national federal standard to solve the problems that occurred in the 2004 election. I will propose legislation to help achieve this.

It’s a sad commentary on the divided state of our country that meaningful election reform has become a partisan issue, the province of the “loony left,” but I guess that’s the level we’ve descended to. So I guess it would be unrealistic to ask you to support Senator Kerry’s legislation when he introduces it in Congress. What I am asking you and the other House Republicans to do is not obstruct it, not water it down, sabotage it or let it die in committee, because we the people are watching and we will KNOW if you try to do any of those things.

Since it’s the very foundation of our democracy—namely our right to vote and have our votes counted—that is at stake here, there is simply no other issue that is more important to us. Some of us have been so shocked by the dirty tricks enumerated in the report Rep. Conyers and his supporters will present to Congress tomorrow that we can never again go back to apathy as usual.

Very truly yours,
xxxxx

if you read between the lines, he's kind of telling us keep up the fight, it seems. I'm just not sure. I'll be interested to see what happens tomorrow.

"I urge you to join me in using this occasion to highlight our demand that Congress commit itself this year to reforming the electoral system."

what occasion is this he speaks of???

-tomorrow's Challenge of the Electors-

"Coward"

No balls - Although I cannot stand anything Bush and Co stand for, at least they fight for what they believe in and Win. If not one Senator stands tomorrow, I am going straight to the elections office and changing my registration from Democratic (life long) to Declines to State. I'm done with these spineless corporate saps!

point?

Subject: "Counting On You to Make Sure Votes Get Counted"
Very interesting.