What Happened in Ohio (William Raspberry, WP op-ed)

[huckleberry]

By William Raspberry
Monday, January 10, 2005; Page A17

I don't usually let other people do my thinking for me, but I confess I'd been waiting for Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) to tell me what to think about the voting irregularities that marred the November elections in Ohio.

Bloggers have been burning up the Internet with tales of manipulation and fraud. A representative of the company that supplied some of the voting machines (and whose corporate chief had promised to deliver the state for President Bush) supposedly was caught fiddling with some of the machines. Heavily Democratic -- but not heavily Republican -- precincts were plagued by a shortage of voting machines. Votes cast for challenger John Kerry showed up on the screen as votes for Bush. Black and poor voters -- likely Democratic voters -- were harassed and otherwise discouraged. And there were scores of similar allegations.

snip

Presumably Conyers is being careful not to draw conclusions because he wants Congress to have a look. But we're talking about a Congress whose members often pass important legislation without bothering to read it. What makes him think anyone is going to read his report unless he waves it about like a smoking gun?

Instead, he and a few other Democrats offered a formal challenge to Thursday's ceremonial counting of the electoral votes from November, forcing a brief delay in the official certification of President Bush. The point, he said, was to "maximize the seriousness of the issue," not to overturn the election results.

Well, I don't want to overturn the election, either. But I would like to know if public officials and private citizens engaged in a significant and concerted effort to steal the election in the event the wrong person seemed to be winning it. And if so, I'd like to know who the miscreants were, what they did and what heads are going to roll.

Because if all we get are a few hearings and empty promises, it's a safe bet it'll happen again.

more at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61930-2005Jan9.html

[rockedthevoteinMA]

1. Nice Find! n/t

[smartvoter]

2. Great letter. Seems to support those of us who think we pursued the right

course on the 6th. nt

[Patsy Stone]

3. I Hear a Symphony...

"In many cases these irregularities were 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."

What ARE They Hiding? Can't wait to find out! Goody.

"Well, I don't want to overturn the election, either. But I would like to know if public officials and private citizens engaged in a significant and concerted effort to steal the election in the event the wrong person seemed to be winning it. And if so, I'd like to know who the miscreants were, what they did and what heads are going to roll."

"Because if all we get are a few hearings and empty promises, it's a safe bet it'll happen again."

I'm off to write this man a nice Thank You note...

Thanks for posting this!

[mod mom]

24. rumors in columbus are the repugs will make Blackwell their fall

guy and make Jim Petro the candidate for gov. I will be so happy to see Blackwell in jail, and don't think he'll keep his mouth shut about who else is connected. If I were Blackwell, I would watch my back side because there are repugs out there who will not want him to speak.

Ohioans need to focus on other possible candidates like Jim Petro.

[Patsy Stone]

30. Let us pray! He's going to be very popular in prison. n/t :)

[Goldeneye]

4. Very good Media coverage.

Better late than never...

[flyarm]

5. thank you mr raspberry!!

and thank you for posting hucklebery!! fly

[shraby]

6. He has an email addy with the article

I just thanked him.

[Botany]

7. Better late than never

Sounds like we have one more person who is ready to join the .........


BOXER REBELLION!


I live in Ohio. I saw and heard vote fraud first hand. And somehow I think it is not
limited to Ohio.

BTW way to go Mike Moore!

[Laurab]

8. It's not really late....I don't think

I think it's really only the beginning. The possibility of fraud probably would never have been given credence prior to the "Boxer Rebellion". It was taken from "conspiracy theory" to "possibility" on that day IMO, and I'm really hopeful that this is just a small sample of what's to come. Next step, according to my admittedly biased logic - "possibility" to "probability".

[Botany]

10. And from probabity to fact!

Strap on you tin foil hats and set your phasers to kill ..... bush is going down.

O.K. maybe that is the wine talking but I have this crazy feeling that bush is going to
go down fast.

Conyer's Report = tip of iceberg

my own little story....

http://www.thousandreasons.org/opinion/010505.html

:kick:

[Laurab]

15. You're one step ahead of me...

But I agree, and I don't even drink!

[seito]

9. Excellent

Well worth the registration

[IndyPriest]

16. You know, I have tried three times to register with the WP and

not been able to. Tonite? Voila! Works like a charm. Now what's with THAT? Did they finally review my FBI file and figure out I was not THAT big a threat to the country??

And yes, worth the registration!

[loudsue]

21. No, IndyPriest...we KNOW you're a threat...

A BIG threat to the country!! We just let you register with the Wa. Post so that we can get more EVIDENCE against you!!

Love always,
The FBI :hi:


:loveya: Just kidding! :loveya:

:kick::kick::kick:

[IndyPriest]

11. Was this a letter to the editor, or a full op-ed piece?

It's terrific in either case, but seems like it would have added punch if it was a boxed, highlighted article. Anybody know?

[Eric J in MN]

12. It's an op-ed. He's a regular columnist at the Wash. Post (nt)

nt

[Eric J in MN]

13. He seems to be mixing up Diebold and Triad. Unless Triad

is related to Diebold. Anyone know?

[Amaryllis]

18. Related in that they are all in bed together! It's a regular orgy.

[fearnobush]

14. Kick - It about time.

What are we all a bunch a freaking idiots MSM?

[RaulVB]

17. Nice surprise (n/t)

[Carolab]

19. I wrote to him.

Thanked him and sent him some links.

Thanks for letting us know!

[thanatonautos]

20. Mr. Raspberry deserves a big thank you ...

he's certainly got mine.

Dear Mr. Raspberry:

I would like to thank you for your excellent
column of January 10, 2005. So many mainstream
media commentators have fallen asleep at the
switch in following what actually happened
in the election of 2004. After the events
of 2000, I would have hoped that the press
would have tried extra hard to shine as much
light as possible on the problems which exist
in our voting system. Sadly, the approach
has been to just let all questions slide.

John Conyers and the House and Senate Democrats
who objected are the only ones in power who are
remotely concerned with what is undoubtedly one
of the most important problems facing the United
States. Unfortunately they are in the minority
and will have a very hard time forcing action.

If any voter loses his or her right to vote,
or if the vote is tampered with, it must be everone's
concern. That's the fundamental contract on which
our nation is based. Government must be by the
consent of the governed.

You are a welcome voice in the wilderness.

I hope you will not remain the only one talking
for much longer.

Thanks again.

[loudsue]

22. Here's the 'thank you' letter I sent him:

I am SOOOO glad someone in the mainstream media is FINALLY reporting what well-over 50% of this country already knows....THIS ELECTION WAS STOLEN, and there was fraud, disenfranchisement, and just plain intimidation all over the place.

I know several people who had to vote Kerry 3 and 4 times, when the machine would keep switching votes to Bush. This happened in too many states for it to be a "glitch". "Glitches" would be ACCIDENTS computers make, and statistically, they should even out. But when ALL of the "glitches" I've heard or read about favored Bush, then that's not "statistically" possible! Something ELSE had to be going on.

There are affidavits in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Kansas, .... I can't think of any of the others right now... but WAY too many to be an "accident" or a "glitch".

Computerized voting machines -- 90% of which are owned by 4 companies, ALL with ties to the Bush campaign -- are NOT an accident. Why do all the republicans refuse to pass a bill in congress that calls for a paper ballot that can be re-counted in the event of a recount? Democrats put the bill into committee last year. Republicans wouldn't even let it out of committee. And they have ALREADY said they will have a "filibuster proof" congress after the 2006 elections.

My question is... how do they KNOW this???? You guessed it! They count the votes!

Again: Thank you for your article! I'm so glad someone in the media is finally speaking up about it.

[Ken065]

23. Great article!

I suggest everyone write to thank him for the coverage.

Here's mine:

Mr. Raspberry:
Thank you for recognizing the election problems in your most recent column. We need more journalists like yourself to investigate what happened in November 2004. The silence in the media surrounding what happened in Ohio and around the country is deafening.

It amazes me that there was almost no coverage of the Jan. 6 objection in Congress to the Ohio electoral vote from a group of concerned Democrats. This was only the second time since 1877 that an objection had been raised. Yet that merited no coverage?? Not even on political junkie shows such as NBC's Meet the Press??

It seems that the corporate-run media are beholden to this administration, and the latest revelation about Armstrong Williams confirms this thinking. How many more like him are there in the "free press"? The media is on a dangerous slope to irrelevancy if its objectivity becomes any more tainted. The availability of unbiased information from around the world, and the ease of sharing and discussing this information with others through the Internet will expose those trying to keep secrets from the public.

I praise you for your insight and questioning of the status quo. Please continue to question, to follow-up and to publish. Our country and our democracy depend upon it.

[newyawker99]

33. Hi Ken065!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[SueZhope]

25. Thanks huckleberry great article

I could not help but notice that your name is huckleberry
and you found an excellent article from Mr.Raspberry

its all berry good!!!:)

[liam97]

26. You know what really gets me

that MSM is willing to write the obituary of this struggle but did all they could to help it to fail when it could have really changed the outcome of the election!!

[ecoalex]

27. The reps have it locked up for a long long time

face it after 2 electorial coups, it's over, the progressive era of America. Enjoy having lived some of it. With the christian right nazis, and the immoral reps with rovesque strageties, they do own all the voting machines, media , it'll be at least 40-50 years of reps control.Game , set, match.

[chorti]

28. I love when a huckleberry quotes a raspberry!

[tngledwebb]

29. Changed my mind.

This is Raspberry's MSM stylee full on- ie don't think we can change the outcome this time, but we should be careful...stolen elections hurt EVERYBODY. Gotta find the miscreants in this isolated case, and heads should roll. Yeah, right.

[Darknyte7]

31. Sent a thank you email... n/t

[icehenge]

32. Sent a thank you note also /nt