Democratic political strategist Fertik issues "An Open Letter to Kerry"

[mdb]

Political Strategist Fertik Issues Stirring Appeal, "An Open Letter to Senator Kerry on Irregularities, Fraud, and Conspiracies"

An excerpt from his letter:

2) How much fraud would it take to "add up to a victory for Kerry-Edwards"?
Dan Hoffheimer implies that the fraud we document must add up to 118,458 votes - one more than Bush's "official" margin - before John Kerry would challenge Bush's "victory."

But this is a ludicrous standard. The effect of certain kinds of fraud can be roughly estimated by academics and statisticians - such as the estimated 15,000 - 95,000 votes lost to Kerry due to the shortage of voting machines in Columbus. More broadly, the total impact of the various frauds can be estimated by Kerry's 3.2% victory according to the networks' exit poll.

But Bush's lawyers and Republican judges all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court would never accept any statistical estimates, no matter how scientific. In 2000, they wouldn't even allow 175,000 uncounted ballots to be counted!

In an honest political system, widespread fraud is grounds for nullifying an election and holding another one, regardless of the precise quantification of that fraud.

Election fraud drives a dagger directly into the heart of democracy. If the citizens of a democracy do not believe the election was fair, then the government chosen by that election has no legitimacy in the eyes of its citizens or the world.

Election fraud by the ruling party is especially poisonous, because the ruling party controls the investigative bodies that alone have the power to determine how widespread the fraud was, and how high up the chain of command it went. That is why volunteers are conducting the investigation in Ohio - because Attorney General John Ashcroft is a partisan hack.

http://blog.democrats.com/kerry-letter

Also at -- http://www.nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com/

[jn2375]

1. Great letter, don't give up!!!

[SharonRB]

2. This is great

I didn't read the whole article, but this certainly was the case in Ukraine. They revoted and the actual winner won the second time around. Also, I think Hoffheimer is wrong when he says that the fraud must add up to 118,458 votes. For each vote that went to Bush that should have gone to Kerry (where the machines "defaulted" to Bush and weren't corrected), you can subtract two votes from the difference, not one. I'm not sure exactly how many new votes we'd have to come up with to make up the difference, but it is something less than 118,458.

[msongs]

3. this is opinion...and you need provable facts.....

opinion: "such as the estimated 15,000 - 95,000 votes lost to Kerry due to the shortage of voting machines in Columbus"

Certainly a reasonable person could see that a machine shortage might reduce the number of votes. The exact numbers are merely opinion and not legally consequential I would think

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

[Helga Scow Stern]

7. That number is not opinion, but can be easily calculated, as has been

demonstrated by Markus Q.

[euler]

28. Please profvide link then n/t

[EFerrari]

42. Disagree. You have to raise reasonable, credible questions. n/t

[mzmolly]

4. Two very excellent points.

"In an honest political system, widespread fraud is grounds for nullifying an election and holding another one, regardless of the precise quantification of that fraud.

Election fraud drives a dagger directly into the heart of democracy. If the citizens of a democracy do not believe the election was fair, then the government chosen by that election has no legitimacy in the eyes of its citizens or the world."

[Nothing Without Hope]

9. Yes, he has made these important points very clearly

And I -- like so many others -- have been at a loss to understand why Kerry hasn't spoken with these points clearly in his words. Instead, he has taken care to distance himself from the possibility of overturning the results of the election. Either this is part of his secret (from us at least) "strategy" or I think he has really missed the boat this time.

[mzmolly]

17. I think Kerry holds a different view. One point was that no matter how

much fraud it's too much. I don't know if Kerry believes there was fraud.

[Nothing Without Hope]

20. If so, I wonder what it would take to convince him? n/t

[mzmolly]

22. Whatever would hold up in court I imagine? Speculation is what we have

right now, along with a few differing conspiracy theories.

We still have to answer many questions before we can say without a doubt there was fraud.

Thankfully John Conyers and the House Judiciary DEMOCRATS are investigating fully.

[Nothing Without Hope]

24. Let's hope that solid evidence is found

Crossing fingers that not all tracks of the computer manipulations were covered. Racist voter suppression and total compromise of the recount are already clear.

[mzmolly]

32. I hope that every injustice is uncovered regarding this election.

Going forward, I know that Kerry, Dean and others are promising work towards standardized voting procedures in 2008. Every vote should be cast in the same manner in every precinct across this nation. Further, a paper trail is essential.

[Nothing Without Hope]

36. Oh yes, I agree with all of that.

I also hope that fraud is proven and that the people who benefitted from it are at a minimum ejected from office. Unless there are consequences for these crimes, of course the power-seekers will keep breaking laws and stealing elections. What else can stop them? They're laughing at us all.

[mzmolly]

44. I fully agree.

:hi:

[berniew1]

5. Does anyone know how to contact Fertik

Send his this summary of documentation on vote machine fraud in
Florida, Ohio, and New Mexico
http://www.flcv.com/fraudpat.html

[loudsue]

10. Here is his e-mail: [e-mail]

Send it to him! Great idea!

:kick:

[PATRICK]

6. I have an even worse feeling

That the RNC is taking notes how to challenge a 'fraudulent' election and will make it stick the next time some Dem manages to tsunami over Diebold. The media will pump it up as if all we have originated this year never happened- and thanks to the unpreparedness or submissiveness or plain lack of imagination by the DNC they too will think that it will be something new. Then the DNC will go meekly defensive and navel gazing into another night.

Being competent in politics means never having a blogger say "I told you so".

If WE can't make this work for reform, THEY will to put another lie into practice.

Include that in your letter to whatever career politicians out there who are not on the corporate gravy train. Can we get them even to have 20-20 hindsight? The vision thing is not so hot for them in any direction and at present their silence indicates blindness.

If the leadership absolves itself from simple accountability as to failure to see it will destroy the entire top of the party and split the ranks. The tentative efforts to retrieve some semblance of truth from a few Ohio issues is not enough. ONE word that they don't see fraud or vote suppression as an issue OR that the blinkered exit polls
indicate something very rotten in Digital Diebold Graveyard and the DNC will have effectively finished its long excruciating act of political harakiri- whose noble strength is somewhat less than impressive for those of us still willing to make a go of truth and justice and- oh yeah- that American way.

[loudsue]

8. Bob Fertik & Democrats.com ROCK!!!!

I'm glad to see him taking the news to Kerry/Edwards this way.

:kick::kick:

[Nothing Without Hope]

11. German speakers - isn't his name similar to "fertig," meaning "ready"? nt

[TexasChick]

14. Yes, it does. n/t

[Nothing Without Hope]

23. Thanks! It seems appropriate

It's been a long time since my German classes, but I thought I recalled that one. He does seem "ready" to face this issue with a strategy. I hope Kerry reads it with an open mind.

[TexasChick]

27. I know what you mean. Took 3 years of German in high school and don't

remember a lot of it. I guess that old adage is true: "If you don't use it, you lose it!"

[Nothing Without Hope]

29. Unfortunately also true of democratic checks & balances

As we are learning to our cost. What the writers of the Constitution feared has come to pass.

[TexasChick]

31. Exactly! Scary as hell, isn't it? But, what so scary is the complacency

in this country allowing it to happen! Another member posted a thread last night and I read his blog. Part of it said a Demoractic senator (can't remember her name) said that we only have 6 of our original 25 Bill of Rights left. Now, if that doesn't keep you awake at night, I don't know what will. The people in this country is what's pissing me off, actually just the tards in the country who voted for these fascists. Truly sickening. Why don't they just also take a trip to Washington and just piss on the graves of the men and women who fought for our freedoms and say "Eh, we love the Chimp that's in the WH now. Um, yeah, thanks for your sacrifice, but hey, we are scared little sheeple and we are willing to give up our freedoms for the Chimp-in-Chief!" :puke:

[Nothing Without Hope]

35. All too true. Here are some quotes for you

I like to collect them and think about them to clarify my thoughts about things I care about. Sometimes I put one where I can see it often during a day to put the ideas embodied in it firmly in my mind. It's so easy to forget the important long-term insights and principles in the little details of daily life.
-----------------------

I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the rights of the people by the gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations. -James Madison, fourth US president (1751-1836)

A lot of people mistake a short memory for a clear conscience. -Doug Larson

"Fear defeats more people than poverty, ignorance, superstition, ill health or lack of mental ability." -Albert Wiggam

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." -- Martin Luther King Jr.

"If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."
--Samuel Adams

The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppose. -- Frederick Douglass

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." - Edmund Burke

[femme.democratique]

12. Great letter, lets hope Kerry reads it....

...I hope Kerry is foaming at the mouth about the Chimp taking so long to respond to the tsunami disaster...

[nmoliver]

13. but we must understand ...

... the fascist strategy to deal with this problem:

<<If the citizens of a democracy do not believe the election was fair, then the government chosen by that election has no legitimacy in the eyes of its citizens ...>>

is to see that the citizens don't know, or that the media ignores and downplays it and therefore its importance is minimized, then forgotten.

This is exactly what happened after Dec 2000. Everybody knew that Gore really won the election, but people were persuaded to consider the matter unimportant. *'s illegitimacy wasn't even raised as an issue during Campaign 2004. Kerry kept referring to him as "the President" throughout the campaign and in all 3 debates.

<<... or the world>>

Now, the rest of the world - that's another story.

[Pithy Cherub]

15. Outstanding and motivating letter.

This letter may have a dual purpose of imploring Kerry to lending more visible vital support in the exposure of election fraud and its consequences. Secondly, it also is a rallying cry to those citizens of democracy inside Congress that now is the time to make your voice heard. Congress usues statistics for rationalization all the time and this data is iminently suited to them.

Here is hoping for a momentous positive impact!

[bunny planet]

16. This is a great letter. Of course we didn't have tapes of people being

attacked by dogs and thugs wielding sticks, to prevent them from voting like the Ukraine did and Kerry has not been poisoned (although they probably would poison him if they could)........... we can still cast the pall of illegitimacy on His Fraudulency on January 6th, if we can't prove out and out fraud before then (maybe we can though!) I really think there will be a big protest in the Congress on 1/6/'05.

[Nothing Without Hope]

18. Compare this letter with what Kerry's attorney emailed to KO

In his Dec 27 blog entry, Keith Olbermann quotes from an email that Daniel J. Hoffheimer, whom he describes as his lead attorney on the ground in Ohio, sent to him in order to clarify Kerry's stance on the 2004 presidential election:

"I would caution the media not to read more into what the Kerry-Edwards campaign has said," Mr. Hoffheimer advised us by e-mail, "than what you hear in the plain meaning of our comments. There are many conspiracy theorists opining these days. There are many allegations of fraud. But this presidential election is over. The Bush-Cheney ticket has won. The Kerry-Edwards campaign has found no conspiracy and no fraud in Ohio, though there have been many irregularities that cry out to be fixed for future elections. Senator Kerry and we in Ohio intend to fix them. When all of the problems in Ohio are added together, however bad they are, they do not add up to a victory for Kerry-Edwards. Senator Kerry's fully-informed and extremely careful assessment the day after the election and before he conceded remains accurate today, notwithstanding all the details we have since learned."

I didn't like reading this, for a lot of reasons.

KO's blog is at
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/6210240
Scroll down for the Dec 27th entry. (Today's entry is a blistering indictment of the decisions made by Indonesian officials not to warn of the tsunami waves in order to protect their tourism income.)

[Jo March]

19. Contact Kerry and other Congresspeople yourself

1. Go to http://thedeanpeople.com

2. Click on Here's What to Do - Now!

3. Scroll down the page until you see this section:

"Faxing to them would be the next best. Either local or DC office
should do, but the DC staff is usually more important to the boss. You can
use our Action Alert page to send a pre-made fax that you can
customize."

4. Click on the Action Alert Page link and follow the instructions from there.

It's that easy!

I have done this several times now using different zip codes from various places where I've lived. I used zips from AL, KY and TN. I think that I'll put in zips at random and just send emails left, right and sideways!

On edit: I used 02458 to get Kerry and Kennedy

[rox63]

21. Inspired to write my own letter to Kerry

At the end of Fertik's letter is a link to Senator Kerry's web site, where you can write your own letter to him. (You are limited to 1,000 characters in the form.) I decided to go ahead and write him the following somewhat brief letter, including a link to Fertik's letter.

Senator Kerry,

I've been one of your MA constituents for most of my adult life. I've voted for you in every election I could legally participate in, despite coming from a conservative family backgound. I contributed to and volunteered for your 2004 presidential campaign.

A lot of people (myself included) suspect that the Republicans finally found a "better" way (than in 2000) to steal the Presidency this year. The stories of voter suppression, pre-punched ballots, machines flipping votes, and voting machine tampering are running wild. The mainstream media have succeeded in suppressing the story, so that most people outside the affected area haven't even heard of these outrages.

In case you haven't seen it, please read this letter from Bob Fertik, posted on Democrats.com.

http://blog.democrats.com/kerry-letter

We need to know that you hear us, and that you will do all you can to make sure our votes count. Our democracy depends on it.

[Vinca]

25. Remind Fertik this isn't the Ukraine.

We might need another vote, but the monarchy won't allow it.

[nashville_brook]

26. damn good! question: where's Jimmy Carter on this? n/t

[SueZhope]

30. thanks , he also has a new entry for today

http://blog.democrats.com/node/2235

in his blog he quotes Georgia10 at DailyKos :
how can we force the President of the United States
to testify about a blow job, yet a Secretary of State doesn't
think he should testify about how he ran an election?

Georgia10..thats perfectly put!!!

[mdb]

33. Democracy is not a priority. But Clinton's personal life was.

Why are they all running?

"Cliff Arnebeck, John Bonifaz et al would like to expose the whole fraud iceberg - which is precisely why Ken Blackwell, George Bush, Dick Cheney, and Karl Rove are running from subpoenas".

Sure does bring more meaning to Bush and the administrations saying of "You can run, but you cannot hide".

[Patsy Stone]

34. And Dr. Rice...

Do you recall the title of that August 6th PDB???

"I think it was, um, uh, Bin Laden Determined to Strike Inside the United States?"

georgia10's posts are always great.

Remember, no one from this cabal ever wants to testify about anything. Unless they have to, can bring a buddy or phone a friend.

What are they hiding?

[SueZhope]

38. so very true....Testify

and be questioned ?
Oh no, we can not question the rulers of the land.
Those that question ....are well you know wearing those funny :tinfoilhat:

check this out it says it all:
http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/04/12/con04566.html

[Patsy Stone]

40. Oy! My head hurts... n/t

[genius]

37. Excellent letter

Bob does great work.

[snot]

39. Sorry, just posted in wrong thread

[mikelewis]

41. He should have left off the last line - though completely fucking true

I pray to god every night that Ashcroft comes down with a constant and incurable form of disease that gives him bouts of explosive Diarrhea, that fucker.

[Patsy Stone]

43. Amen n/t