Another Stolen Election?

"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
-- H.L. Mencken (1880-1956)

"A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of enormous public debt ... If the game runs sometimes against us at home we must have patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at stake."
--Thomas Jefferson (1798)

So, it was fairly clear that the 2000 election was stolen and was hardly a legitimate presidency. Although, no one seemed to get too worked up about that one. But, did it happen again?

I spent way too much time in the Bush-Cheney placard/bumper sticker areas of California this election cycle, which pretty much encompassed anywhere 90 miles east of any beach and a large part of the central coast (even though Santa Barbara County, surprisingly, went for Kerry, SLO county went for Bush). The cultural divide and idiocy of the electorate cannot be underestimated. The alternative media sources I've seen so far have suggested that even w/ some irregularities being reported, the votes that really mattered in terms of electoral college swing votes came from precincts that didn't even use touch-screen machines (can't find the link to the article I wanted).

I think it's a bit of delusional lefty wishful thinking that the Republicans have this vast apparatus in conjunction with Diebold capable of stealing every election they were up for. What's that ak bar allahambra's razor deal? Simplest explanation is usually the correct one? I just think Karl Rove did a better job of getting their base out to vote to counter the gains made by Democrats, who ran a really piss-poor campaign. And, a large portion of the population are scared, ignorant sheep who get misinformed edutainment news from the likes of Bill O'Reilly.

Personally, I've yet to meet one Bush supporter (or, more often, anti-Kerry advocate) who knows anything about neo-con values or policies. It was all about superficial crap (only bad thing anyone could ever come up w/ Clinton was that he got sucked off in the White House) and Rove's branding of Kerry as a flip-flopper and shady character worked superbly. Not to mention that Kerry doesn't LOOK like a president (apart from the old white guy thing) and he talks too edumacated. Bush is the dude homies want to hang out with, maybe drink some beers, catch some fish. He's the prom king, the jock, the alpha male. That's really as deep as I think a lot of people get when it comes to voting for a president. Or, maybe, they have their hardcore pet issues, like gun control or abortion and it doesn't matter WHAT else is going on, they're going to vote solely on those issues.

With all that being said, I do find it highly suspicious that the exit polls were so far off. I mean, exit polls are what the UN uses to make sure 3rd world countries have legit elections. I found further amusement in the right-wing talking heads claiming that people were just 'embarassed' to admit they voted for Bush. That is so wrong on so many levels.

Anyway, just stand in awe of all we can look forward to in the next 4 years: Privatized social security. Permanent tax breaks for the rich and corporations. More deregulation. A really cool missile defense system (who cares if it doesn't work?). Ken Lay being pardoned. Jeb Bush in '08 campaign.

C'mon, isn't anyone a little bit curious to see just how far back in time a completely radical right-wing administration, Congress, and Supreme Court can take us? I mean, I still haven't got around to looking up whether one political party has ever controlled every means of checks and balances, but I would wager certainly never one so extremist.


More links:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/111004W.shtml

http://ideamouth.com/voterfraud.htm#FL

black box voting.org