So Dark the Con of Ken:Blackwell Sins In '04 Coming Back To Haunt Him

http://www.freetimes.com/story/285

So Dark the Con of Ken
Blackwell's Sins In '04 Are Coming Back To Haunt Him

Published June 7th, 2006

Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell rigged the 2004 election for President Bush, says an article written by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the latest issue of Rolling Stone. So it's not exactly breaking news. Ohio reporters have exposed the various ways Blackwell intentionally suppressed votes that would have gone to Democratic candidate John Kerry. But Kennedy packages every nefarious tactic into one tight article that leaves any intelligent reader asking, "Duuuuude! What the fuck?"...

Are we really that stupid? The Ohio Republican Party thinks so.

"Oh come on, it's a bunch of garbage," says Ohio GOP spokesman John McClelland, about the Rolling Stone article. "It is a bunch of fiction. We don't spend a lot of time talking about conspiracy theories." McClelland says research by Democrats even shows there was no effort to suppress Ohio votes in 2004.

"That is untrue," says Democratic National Committee spokesman Damien LaVera. "What we found is there were significant problems with the vote in 2004. They're trying to manipulate the findings. Republicans believe the fewer people who vote the better it is for their party. Whether it's voter ID laws or Blackwell's tactics, the fact is they work to keep the turnout down. It's not good for democracy and it's not good for the country."...

Fuck him... seriously. If this guy can't take RFK jr. serious, I will lose any respect for Ed. The threat alone should be enough for his attention. Anyone proposing the opposite obviously likes the system the way it is, which has got to make you wonder.

Schultz is a screaming idiot ..... I had to turn him off when it was apparent that he
did not understand that an unknown, pro gay African American, liberal, women running
down ticket for state Supreme Court GETTING MORE VOTES THEN JOHN KERRY IN 12 COUNTIES
was the fingerprints of election manipulation.

The women did this in conservative and rural counties?

isn't "whiners" one of rightwingers' favorite slur words for non-rightwingers?I can't believe how much he sounds like Limbaugh to me,I still sometimes think he's Limbaugh when I hear him for a minute.

So Ed Schultz is one step away from my "ignore" list...actually I rarely listen to him.

The people who said he was a troll initially were probably right. My error in thinking that
he had an ounce of sincerity. If he said there's nothing there, he's working for the Republicans.

Amazing...we're going to do some real internal house cleaning, or at least we better.

I'd like the angriest guy in the world to run the Democratic Party if we ever regain power, for about
90 days. Just clean fucking house...get all the names of capitulaters and quislings, publish a big
list, and let people take credit for their calumny.

I'm really tired of getting shot in the back as I advance, if you know what I mean. Sick and tired of
it.

Here's an example. The very worst lobbyist on Capitol Hill, imho, is Harris Miller, lobbyist for Diebold and the other voting scam manufacturers and a huge proponent of outsourcing high tech jobs.

Guess what, he's running for the Democratic nomination for Senate in Virginia?

How can a guy like that run in our party. If he runs against Allen as a Republican in that primary,
hey, fine, makes sense. But this was allowed and he got endorsements from a bunch of "Democrats"
in Virginia.

Fortunately, Webb's campaign is hyper, running like there's no tomorrow. Of course, Millers ex clients are counting the votes.

Wonder what will happen?

San Diego, here we come!

a meeting where ther were asked to be spokespeople for the DEMS (I really should have bookmarked this thread, if anyone has access please post) Anyway, Randy said no way and Ed said yes.

If this is true, it could explain this reaction to the RFK Jr story. The Dems don't want it out because it makes them look bad for not fighting (and of course the repukes don't want it out because it shows them as criminals) So if Ed is taking talking points, it could explain his reaction. He has admitted that he has not spent much time reviewing, so why offer an strong opinion?

"That is untrue," says Democratic National Committee spokesman Damien LaVera. "What we found is there were significant problems with the vote in 2004. They're trying to manipulate the findings. Republicans believe the fewer people who vote the better it is for their party. Whether it's voter ID laws or Blackwell's tactics, the fact is they work to keep the turnout down. It's not good for democracy and it's not good for the country."...

What is this... the party is getting some backbone and standing up to the thieves?

Knock me over with a feather.

http://www.freetimes.com/story/324

Letters
Published June 14, 2006

NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG

Last week's City Chatter repeated allegations made against Secretary of State Ken Blackwell regarding the 2004 presidential election ("So Dark The Con of Ken"). Many of these accusations have been made before. As vice chairman of the Ohio House Elections and Ethics Committee, I have had the chance to hear some of these allegations and find some answers.

Additionally, I participated in the election and can say from firsthand experience that there absolutely were problems with the 2004 election, but most of those problems were associated with mechanical problems, vagaries, and human failings not affiliated with any political party or candidate...

Editor's note: While it's tempting to dismantle Rep. Trakas's letter line by line, we'll stick to the two most important points. First, he claims that the 2004 election in Ohio suffered only from "mechanical problems, vagaries and human failings not affiliated with any political party or candidate." Strangely, however, virtually all of those "vagaries" benefited one candidate: President Bush. As writer Christopher Hitchens, no fan of John Kerry's, put it in Vanity Fair in March 2005: "But what strikes my eye is this: In practically every case where lines were too long or machines too few, the foul-up was in a Democratic county or precinct, and in practically every case where machines produced impossible or improbable outcomes it was the challenger who suffered and the actual or potential Democratic voters who were shortchanged, discouraged, or held up to ridicule as chronic undervoters or as sudden converts to fringe-party losers … Whichever way you shake it, or hold it to the light, there is something about the Ohio election that refuses to add up."

Secondly, Rep. Trakas is either lying or displaying gross ignorance when he claims that "these allegations have been thoroughly investigated and found to be not true." The only thorough investigation of the 2004 Ohio election — conducted by the Democratic staff of the House Judiciary Committee, at the request of Congressman John Conyers — found "massive and unprecedented voter irregularities and anomalies in Ohio," many of them "caused by intentional misconduct and illegal behavior, much of it involving Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, the co-chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign in Ohio." The full report is available at www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/ohiostatusrept1505.pdf.
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