CommonDreams: The Stolen Election of 2004

[marmar]

Published on Friday, March 2, 2007 by CommonDreams.org
The Stolen Election of 2004
by Michael Parenti

The 2004 presidential contest between Democratic challenger Senator John Kerry and the Republican incumbent, President Bush Jr., amounted to another stolen election. This has been well documented by such investigators as Rep. John Conyers, Mark Crispin Miller, Bob Fitrakis, Harvey Wasserman, Bev Harris, and others. Here is an overview of what they have reported, along with observations of my own.

Some 105 million citizens voted in 2000, but in 2004 the turnout climbed to at least 122 million. Pre-election surveys indicated that among the record 16.8 million new voters Kerry was a heavy favorite, a fact that went largely unreported by the press. In addition, there were about two million progressives who had voted for Ralph Nader in 2000 who switched to Kerry in 2004.

Yet the official 2004 tallies showed Bush with 62 million votes, about 11.6 million more than he got in 2000. Meanwhile Kerry showed only eight million more votes than Gore received in 2000. To have achieved his remarkable 2004 tally, Bush would needed to have kept all his 50.4 million from 2000, plus a majority of the new voters, plus a large share of the very liberal Nader defectors.

Nothing in the campaign and in the opinion polls suggest such a mass crossover. The numbers simply do not add up.

In key states like Ohio, the Democrats achieved immense success at registering new voters, outdoing the Republicans by as much as five to one. Moreover the Democratic party was unusually united around its candidate—or certainly against the incumbent president. In contrast, prominent elements within the GOP displayed open disaffection, publicly voicing serious misgivings about the Bush administration’s huge budget deficits, reckless foreign policy, theocratic tendencies, and threats to individual liberties. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0302-21.htm

[Benhurst]

1. Recommended #3

[Peace Patriot]

2. Until we understand just what occurred on Nov. 2, 2004, we will fail at every strategy

we devise, to recover our democracy and our country.

We MUST restore transparent vote counting. We MUST remove rightwing Bushite electronic voting corporations from our election system. Everything else is a "sound and fury, signifying nothing." If we don't have the power of the vote--the mechanism of our sovereignty as a people--there is nothing we can do to stop the war and to restore common sense and lawfulness to our government.

Please see my comment (#1) on false political analysis--analysis that attributes Kerry's loss in 2004 to rightwing political blather, without mentioning that Bushite corporations took over our vote counting system during the 2002-2004 period, and "counted" all the votes with 'TRADE SECRET," PROPRIETARY programming code.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3142226

[bleever]

3. Just once, I'd like to see a strong defense of this election

instead of the same old bromides and interpolations and non-denial denials.

I won't hold my breath.

[MarjorieG]

7. Lack of Kerry support within Dem party prevents defense.

John Kerry has tried to address what he thinks was done right by his campaign, as well as what was wrong. Given that 2008 was to be Hillary's year, explains why Begala, other hopefuls, dismissed the campaign immediately, therefore the possibility of error in results.

As a prosecutor, and not favored by media who wanted Bush (because he was better for their business/consolidation), he didn't have the proof to begin to contest. Provisionals disappeared (maybe that call from Mary Matalin to her boss after pillow talk with Carville that Kerry was camping out), and then we have Bill Richardson who refused Kerry a NM recount, a good start to show pattern (a state needs to agree to a recount, and both Blackwell and Richardson refused) to even address Ohio. And on.

In other words, the smart and decent man who would bring progressive change, earlier on campaign finance reform than even Wellstone, who angered both sides of the aisle with the investigations of the 80's (which Clinton closed the book on, giving us another shadow government today), and who could not be pure enough for progressives, mightily underestimating what it takes for a national win, could NOT get the support when it counted.

The election came close and really a win, I believe, because of the activism, astonishing the beltway. Regardless of the 2004 results, we need to keep at this, and not just for the presidency. Good government happens locally, and with all the congressional races.

We don't have enough of a majority to do anything but position the Iraq war for 2008. We have chairmanships, the mic, but not the votes.

Most importantly, do as I do, spend every waking minute on election reform. It's very uphill, and the Holt Bill will not rid us of DREs, pretending it is fixable.

[babylonsister]

4. It's nice to see some vindication. All the efforts by Dems are recognized.

Now, wouldn't it be great if this became a cause celebre?

[wisteria]

5. I believe that Senator Kerry won that 2004 election, Knowing that all this manipulation and

disenfranchisement was obvious and no one in the media took it seriously says a lot. The media and corporate America are choosing our leaders and until we demand that our votes be handled and taken seriously, the types of things that they got away with in 2000 and 2004 will just get worse and worse.

[glitch]

8. I also believe a good part of 2006 was stolen. We should have a more powerful majority

one that could effect change more easily. They couldn't get away with a full theft, too many eyes. But they could neuter the results. IMO.

[DemReadingDU]

6. morning kick

On the other hand, with Bush still in the White House, most Americans now realize they were duped into voting for these incompetent rascals in 2004 and voted for Democrats in 2006.

[YvonneCa]

9. The 2004 Election FACTS have to be made public...

...and they have to be investigated, just like other important issues the Democrats are looking in to. Unfortunately, as some have said, it's an uphill battle, because some in the Democratic Party establishment don't want this public.

Once the FACTS are out there, the American people can decide what needs to be done. I am confident that they (We, the people) want the best election system in the world. Our system ought to point the way and set the standard for other new democracies. The last few Presidential elections have been an embarrassment, at the very least. Even Former President Jimmy Carter has said as much.

Now that the other deficiencies, deceits, mismanagements...and possibly crimes...of this administration have finally become public (with the media kicking and screaming all the way to publication), I believe more than ever that they are/were capable (at the minimum) of rigging the 2004 Election. I'm 99.9% convinced it was stolen from Senator Kerry. But uncovering the truth about what happened can't come from Senator Kerry...the effort has to come from 'we, the people.' I really hope that happens...for all our sakes.

:patriot:

[Herman74]

10. While there are stupid people in this country, I doubt that...

...they are in the majority (at least not in Ohio). Consequently, the question posed here:

How can 59,017,382 people be so dumb?

http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2005/True-Blue-Lapham1jan05.htm

is the wrong one to ask. (Though, I concede, I have often asked it myself).

[Raster]

11. At this point in time ANYONE or ANYTHING that does not entertain

the possibility of a crooked 2004 AND does not openly advocate honest, thorough investigation is an accomplice and a collaborator. No matter the justification, no matter the motivation.
:kick:29!

[JAbuchan08]

12. There should be an "all time greatest" page

to keep this sort of information in supply.

[Peace Patriot]

13. It's a good article, but author Parenti dances gingerly around the matter of

touchscreens, optiscans and central tabulators (which he doesn't even mention)--all owned and controlled by rightwing Bushite corporations, and he doesn't even get to this subject--the entirely fraudulent vote counting SYSTEM, fast-tracked all over the country by both criminal Republicans and corrupt, fearful or stupid Democrats--until half-way through the article. The first half of the article dwells mostly on the details of Ohio vote suppression, something that can glaze readers' eyes over. If people like Christopher Dodd, Terry McAuliffe, Donna Brazile, and James Carville, want us to look at anything, it's at these details of blatant Voting Rights Act violations, not at the fraudulent vote counting system that they permitted to be put in place all over the country.

Parenti talks about the weird and inexplicable discrepancy between the exit polls and the "official count" in many states, but then he only mentions touchscreens as having "trade secret,' proprietary programming code. Touchscreens are particularly bad because they have no paper trail, but they are by no means the only problem. Optiscan elections can also be easily stolen if there is an insufficient check of the ballots against the electronic totals. Optiscans are ALSO run on "trade secret" code with the results fed to central tabulators run on "trade secret" code. And the pathetic 2% audit currently proposed by Congress will do very little to prevent stolen elections, with the theft occurring in the central tabulators. And recounts will continue to be expensive and difficult to obtain. In Venezuela, they handcount FIFTY-FIVE PERCENT of the ballots against the machine totals, in an OPEN SOURCE CODE system. Now THAT is an audit!

This is the corporate fallback position: that touchscreens are bad, and optiscans are okay. It is the official position of the Democratic Party. At a time when we should be PURGING these Bushite corporations from our election system, the Democrats are going to give them many more billions of our taxpayer dollars to "fix" the election that they deliberately broke. With a paper trail and a 2% audit! The Democrats are into the boondoggle money, is all I can figure. And some of them are such corporatists--Christopher Dodd comes to mind (one of the chief engineers of the 'Help America Vote for Bush Act" of 2002--along with Tom Delay and Bob Ney)--they really don't care about democracy any more. (Dodd is a real snake in the grass, by the way--even worse than Hillary, because you can't hear his rattles).

Anyway, Parenti is playing games with this crowd of traitorous or greedy Democrats--by implying that only the touchscreens have the secret code, and that getting rid of them will solve the problem. He rightly points out that we have another problem of rightwing fanatics infiltrated into our election system, who think nothing of destroying Democratic voter registrations, or shorting black districts on voting machines. This is not a minor problem. But WHO is counting the votes, and HOW they are counting--or not counting--them is a much bigger problem and potentially a much easier problem to solve get rid of ALL secret code; get rid of the secret code makers; handcount the ballots). Vote suppression needs Voting Rights Act enforcement. We can't get Voting Rights Act enforcement--and indeed must suffer a criminal as our federal AG--until we can elect honest, law-abiding officials who will see that the law is enforced. And it appears that the only way to get transparent vote counting is grass roots pressure at the state/local level, where ordinary people still have some influence. Congress is hopelessly entangled with Diebold and ES&S, as many of them are with the out of control "military-industrial complex."

[The Wizard]

14. Free and fair elections

have as much to do with secret ballot tabulating done with proprietary code as Dick Cheney giving sworn testimony under oath.

[mass.man]

15. 2004 is history

Isn't it time to forget about past elections and concentrate on 2008? This kind of endless dreging up of conspiracy theories and stolen elections makes us all look like tinfoil hat wearing, fringe wackos.

[MelissaB]

16. You've got to be fuckin' kidding me!

[ProudDad]

17. "Those who cannot remember the past

are condemned to repeat it," from Reason in Common Sense, the first volume of George Santayana's The Life of Reason.

That's why it's relevent. Both the Dems and the repukes have been stealing elections for years. Chicago's Daly machine. Box 13 that got Lyndon into Congress. And the crowning glory of election thefts; Florida in 2000 and Florida/Ohio in 2004. Florida in 2006. These are FACTS. These elections were stolen...

You want the next one to be stolen too?


Welcome to DU, hope you enjoy your (short?) stay :shrug:

[wisteria]

19. We continue to make the same mistakes and repeat history if we don't learn by it.

I personally would like it acknowledged that Senator Kerry won that race in 2004. I don't consider myself any different than those who want justice for VP Gore too. Until we admit the flaws and crookedness of our elections the types of elections we have witnessed in recent years will continue and get worse.

[Kerrytravelers]

20. Aw. Our little mass.man has had a meltdown.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x380696#383689

[autorank]

18. Great post and check out this resource (well two)

Amazing set of documents, narrative on Stolen 2004
Beginners Guide (2004): Broken Democracy Resource
...and for regular updates and a broad section of resources
ELECTION FRAUD NEWS