"I fixed the election in Florida for George Bush." - Jim Baker.

[Jim Sagle]

(Emphasis mine)

http://www.guerrillanews.com/corporate_crime/doc3570.html

Baker Takes the Load
Greg Palast, December 8, 2003

…What does Bush owe Baker? Let me count the ways, beginning with the 2000 election.

Just last week Baker said, "I fixed the election in Florida for George Bush." That was the gravamen of his remarks to an audience of Russian big wigs as reported to me by my somewhat astonished colleagues with BBC television.

It was Baker, as consiglieri to the Bush family, who came up with the strategy of maneuvering the 2000 Florida vote count into a Supreme Court packed with politicos.

Baker's claim to have fixed the election was not a confession. It was a boast. He meant to dazzle current and potential clients in the former Soviet states about his big In with the Big Boy in the White House. Baker's firm is already a top player in the Great Game of seizing Caspian Sea oil. (An executive of Exxon-Mobil, one of Baker Botts's clients, has been charged with evading taxes on bribes paid in Kazakhstan.)

It’s right out in the open now. Whoever your candidate is, go to his/her blog and enter this. Try to get his/her attention.

[thebigidea]

1. I can smell the spin already

"Uh, he means that he FIXED, that is... REPAIRED... uh - the horrible damage Al Gore did to the election by trying to steal it!"

Anyway, he sounds PERFECT for the job of ME Envoy, doesn't he.

[NewJeffCT]

22. I'm sure that is how they will spin it

But, we know he was bragging to potential clients about his contacts.

[Fleshdancer]

2. no shame

They don't care. They're proud of their slash and burn politics, win at all costs approach. Screw the American voters, the neocons are in control now. :grr:

[Walt Starr]

3. Despicable

Instead of trying to hide their crime in 2000, they are now bragging about it.

[Jim Sagle]

5. Well, I guess you showed ME. Your font is bigger than mine!

;-)

[DoYouEverWonder]

8. They really believe

that nothing and no one can stop them anymore. They think they are invinsible and that they live above the law. What madmen.

[Jim Sagle]

17. Makes you wonder what's up their sleeve this time, doesn't it?

I don't think they have any intention of leaving office - even if they lose BIG.

[Jim Sagle]

18. Nana nana na na. I win!

:beer:

[ninkasi]

19. They brag because there are never any repercussions

They lie because they can get away with it. The American people, or a good many of them, are apparently brain-dead, too lazy to keep up with what pitiful amounts of news the media choses to divulge, or are proud of it. In my 60 years, I have never seen another administration who was able to lie so blatantly, yet never get called on it.

What absolutely amazes me is that Bushes policies have harmed so many people throughout the world, and some people cling to the delusion that he's just an amiable country boy. He isn't. He's destroying U.S. reputation worldwide, dragging everybody into wars, gutting the Constitution, and lowering the standard of living here.

I would definitely not want his Karma.

[Bozita]

4. Palast going where no Murikan journalist dares to tread

That's must read stuff.

Thanks.

[Jim Sagle]

6. That's why he had to leave America.

[LifeDuringWartime]

15. he left?

what's the story about that?

[Jim Sagle]

16. When Palast uncovered some very bad dealings involving the Bush crowd

and the Barrack Gold company, he couldn't find an American media outlet. He had to relocate to England.

He's originally from California, and got a Masters at the U of Chicago. He misses America, I'm sure.

[Pastiche423]

21. He and his family

are back in the states.

I went to see him speak in the summer of '02 and they were beginning the move back then.

But it's true that they had to move to the UK when he was investigating the 2000 elections and the mining "accident".

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

24. But Barrick put pressure on the Guardian

& now that story can't be published over here (& as a result "Into the Buzzsaw" isn't allowed to be sold in free old merry England). It was the 2000 election story that sent him over here (plus the story about Bush halting investigations on the bin Laden family before 9-11).

[otohara]

7. No Shit Sherlock

we know it, he it, GOP knew it, THE MEDIA IGNORED IT

[HFishbine]

9. James

I thought you meant Tammy Faye's ex. Might want to use James Baker, we all know who you mean then.

[buycitgo]

14. Jim BaKKer, not Baker

thanks, Jim SaGle, for that.

amazing how utterly co-opted are the media.

what does Tom Paine (here) call them? that's my current favorite.

[UTUSN]

10. This Otta Stay Kicked Permanently n/t

[ibegurpard]

11. No doubt

Should be thumbtacked.

[NewJeffCT]

12. quite a story

everybody knows it's true, but it is good to hear a Republican finally admit it - especially the one who did it.

[Old and In the Way]

13. Same guy who's leading the defense for Saudi Arabia against

the victim's of 9/11 class action suit? Even though 15/19 hijackers were fingered as Saudi's?

Why does Jim Baker hate America?

[robsul82]

20. Oh, sweet Christ.

Good fucking Lord.

Later.

RJS

[Stupdworld]

23. Objection! Hearsay!

Sorry to butt in, but seriously I don't think Jim Baker said exactly "I fixed the election."

The GNN report says the "gravamen" of his comments were to the effect. Furthermore they were secondary accounts to the author of the article from people who were there. So the author wasn't there. Furthermore, the term "gravamen" generally means the substance of a charge or accusation. Therefore Jim Baker may have said something that would lead a person to say "I fixed the election"
but he did not exactly say that.

I don't doubt some serious shenanigans went on, but I don't think any of the Bush cabal are stupid enough to make such a simple confession of criminal activity.

Anyways i think thats how the Bushites would spin it. To a degree, they are right. He didn't say exactly that. I would like to see exactly what Baker said, but I might be waiting a while for that.

Hey if they can get a first hand quote of Baker, then so be it.
But I am not using someone's interpretation of Baker's comments to stick a quote to him he may not have actually said.

25. I was thinking the same thing

I also checked the dictionary meaning of gravamen.
It can also mean "the most substantial part of a charge or an accusation."
I'd like to know what sense of the word Palast was using.

[loudsue]

26. They show up in pairs....Palast isn't one to get it "wrong"....

nice try.


:kick:

28. you misunderstand me

if the "pair" is that there are two of us wondering, that's just chance not design.

I think Baker is (to be polite) not a good sort at all.
I'm not trying to defend him. I just thought that the way the sentence was written regarding gravamen , left some room open for interpretation and that the "fixing the election" did not sound precisely like an exact quote. Maybe it was, I would hope so in order to nail Baker, but it just had this feel of not being an exact quote & Palast did not write that it was an exact quote.

[theshadow]

27. Objection sustained....

and well put. I looked through Google and couldn't find anything to confirm he said words to that effect, and I also doubt the slimy creep would say it publicly. Hate to see people so desperate for this, falling over themselves to accept it with such minimal "support".

[nomatrix]

29. Here is Greg Palast link

http://gregpalast.com/

E-mail him and ask him yourself. His article states

"Just last week Baker said, "I fixed the election in Florida for George Bush." That was the substance of his remarks to an audience of Russian big wigs as reported to me by my somewhat astonished colleagues at BBC television."

Greg is a Journalist. BBC probably has it recorded.

Perhaps if you were to read one book, "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" by Greg.