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congressional elections? And when you look at the whole picture over the last several years--starting with that unprecedented 49% on the very day of his 2nd inauguration, and the on-going fall after that--it's just devastating, and should mean a Democratic sweep of Congress.
I would discount Gallup. I remember a chart showing all the polls and Bush ratings (sorry, don't have the url), and Gallup ALWAYS had a higher Bush rating than all the other polls. They are an outlier. Something wrong with those polls--probably manipulations in the questions.
The real question is, with 60% of the American people disapproving--over a very long period time--and the "very disapproving" category on the rise, why are Bush and Cheney so arrogant, in outrageous policy proposals (on torture; Bush mentioning Soc Sec again; and saber-rattling at Iran, etc.), and both of them last week confidently predicting wins in Congress?
Is this just hubris? Or is it confidence that Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia will do the job they were paid billions of our taxpayer dollars to do--a 5% to 10% "thumb on the scales" for Bushites, warmongers and corporatists?
I have an older friend who was haunted by Bush's and Cheney's arrogance and self-confidence in spring '04--he said it spooked him; they were acting like they can't lose--my early warning that a stolen election was planned. (I didn't know much about Diebold back then, except that our soon-to-be-swiftboated Calif Sec of State Kevin Shelley had sued Diebold and banned their touchscreens, and had provided us with a paper ballot option, all prior to the '04 election. I thought, well, at least our votes are safe here in the west. I didn't know what the bad guys had in store for Shelley, as punishment for his going after Diebold.)
I think they WILL fiddle the November elections. They have the capability--they set it up to be non-transparent, unverifiable and EASILY fiddled (one hacker, a couple of minutes, leaving no trace)--and they are without scruples or morality of any kind. Also, this will likely be their last chance to steal more of our money, burn more hard drives and shred more memos, put more bad, bad judges in place, and other future protections (torturing and killing people who know stuff about them?), and possibly destabilize and invade Iran and get control of their oil. If the American people get back control of their election system, it's going to be a long couple of decades or more before Republicans are put in power again. They will have to reform, and they may even die as a party, when the full story of this horrendous regime comes out.
What can we do about Stolen Election III?
MASSIVE ABSENTEE BALLOT VOTING! FLOOD election officials with MOUNTAINS of Absentee Ballot votes. If enough people do it--if all those who despise the Bush Junta (60% to 70%!) will vote by AB--the short reign of these diabolical voting machines will be OVER. The rigged system cannot withstand such a large "vote of no confidence" by the citizenry. We need to FORCE reform.
We probably cannot prevent a fiddled vote this fall, but by a huge BOYCOTT OF THE MACHINES, we might be able to save the '08 primaries and general election from Bushite corporate-controlled vote counting.
Bradblog has a proposal for an Emergency Paper Ballot Bill--that he wants to push through Congress quickly--so that, at least everyone will have a paper ballot option when the machines (inevitably) break down--(Maryland was a mess, thousands of people disenfranchised). It's a great idea. But I don't think the Diebold Congress (1st Congress elected by TRADE SECRET, PROPRIETARY vote counting software, owned and controlled by Bushite corporations) gives a fuck whether we ever vote again or not. They know where the power is, and it's not with the people. Further, this situation--who is counting our votes, and how--is so outrageous, they should have acted before this. The news about these machines is not all that new. The recent Princeton report was preceded by the Johns Hopkins report and others, more than a year ago. But Congress preferred to concern itself with flag-burning. And they're very busy right now trying to figure out how to let Junior torture more people. I'm not at all against putting it to them. But don't count on having a paper ballot this fall, by their edict. Better get one for yourself right now--apply for an Absentee Ballot! (--some states it's easy, some not; there are deadlines; check local rules).
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