we're supposed to believe that even with the city in dire financial straits, people voted to let the Mayor contract out the jobs of city workers, which everyone knows will cost more. His own election was questionable, and the Registrar of Voters here is a habitual scoff-law. Whenever the Secretary of States sends out directives on securing the voting machines or other elections procedures, he just says that it wouldn't be convenient and ignores them. So far the courts have repeatedly refused to enforce the laws. The Republicans who control the voting machines can allow a Democratic majority in Congress for two years because Bush holds the veto. They can allow a Democratic Secretary of State in California for two years because they still have a Republican Governor. As long as they hold the real power, they can allow a few meaningless "wins" in order to keep those voting machines in place for 2008. When you go to a casino, you know that some people will win, but the house always has an edge or it would go out of business. It is those wins that keep people coming back. But the Republicans don't do anything without a quid pro quo. Before even allowing any Democratic "wins" at all, they got pledges from Pelosi and Conyers not to try to impeach Bush or to stop torture or end the war. The Democrats can posture about lobbyists, health care, and perhaps even raise the minimum wage a buck or two, but they have pledged not to try to oppose the Republican power structure. The Democrats are already getting bigger donations from corporations and the military-industrial complex for helping to maintain corporate control of government. Ask your Democratic legislators to stop torture as a U.S. policy now, and you'll soon see that they are either unwilling or unable. Now let's see which incompetent crony Bush will select to replace Rumsfeld. Colin Powell, perhaps? I suspect that Powell is basically a decent person, but every time they threaten to kill his wife and family, he caves in and does whatever they want him to do. I can't say that I blame him, as I'd probably do the same in his position, but for every day the war continues, a lot more civilians than just one man's family are killed in Iraq. Your analysis is spot on, Rob. This is the old shell game. The Republicans are running the game and the Democrats are the shills who get to win once in a while so that the marks and suckers can get fooled into thinking it might be an honest game. It never is, but like P.T. Barnum said, there's another sucker born every minute.

by Mark E. Smith (21 articles, 30 quicklinks, 100 diaries, 1325 comments) on Wednesday, Nov 8, 2006 at 11:38:29 PM

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1. Didn't Virginia use the kind of electronic voting machines that leave no paper trail? 2. How does one conduct a recount when there's no paper trail?

by Lilith's Spirit (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 99 comments) on Thursday, Nov 9, 2006 at 6:55:57 AM

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you hit the nail on the head. the problems are still there despite the 'good news'. that must not be forgotten in the rush to pat ourselves on the back. if voters really care about the state of our nation, they must turn to sweeping and meaningful election reform: junking the electronic voting machines and outlawing vote suppression, intimidation and other turnout-limiting tactics. greg palast estimates that 4.5 million votes were 'lost' to Democrats through various strategems including voter IDs and vote purging. what about the races which were closer? what about the 91,000 would-be Virginia voters who were rejected in an all out GOP (as acknowledged by Ken Mehlman, head of the RNC)attempt to skew and control the vote? if they'd been slightly more successful, Virginia would have rested safely in the red column and the makeup of the Senate and history would be different. think about it. it only takes a 'little' in a lot of places to add up to a lot.

by Joan Brunwasser (206 articles, 3757 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 751 comments [4 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Thursday, Nov 9, 2006 at 7:07:35 AM

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Good point. I didn't even think of that. The administration also may be making nice to the Dems because it wants it on its side if it decides to invade Iran.

by Russ Wellen (58 articles, 1029 quicklinks, 66 diaries, 335 comments) on Thursday, Nov 9, 2006 at 8:07:39 AM

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Bush said he had a mandate. Bush said he wasn't going to waste his political capital. Well then...what goes around comes around if the new majority will use what they now have, with perhaps a brief window of opportunity. If they, the Democrats, sit on their hands after this, then what's the point? Even though I'm a Green, I was glad to see the elections turn out the way they did. Two years to sink or swim, and the swimming had better be with the tide/current, which firmly shows "we the people" are sick of the Bushit.

by Mark Petersen (9 articles, 73 quicklinks, 4 diaries, 50 comments) on Thursday, Nov 9, 2006 at 8:30:16 AM

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Yes, I agree completely. Election reform should be the top priority of the 110th Congress. Clearly, voters' confidence has been shaken to its very core. We must restore total confidence in our election system, covering all aspects of the election process and it must be done NOW, without delay. Time is of the essence. 2008 is just around the corner. The 2006 election, as you described in your article, highlights the importance and need for strong remedial action. And I agree, paper is the way to go.

by Mike Browne (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 17 comments) on Thursday, Nov 9, 2006 at 9:42:51 AM

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Even Glenn Greenwald normally a great defender of the constitution has made that statement. It is CRITICAL that voting machine problems and other forms of vote rigging such as the spoiled ballot scam and roll purges are exposed and eliminated. I agree STRONGLY that the reason the Allen et al were told to shut up was because: A: When in 2008 there are close call elections the Republicans can point to their "ethical" behavior here B: any serious recount would show all the footprints of fraud. Districts with more votes for one side than people on the roll, districts who All failed to register votes at all. Etc. Fortunately it is unlikely that Black Box or Greg Palast will just go to sleep. They will check the results as best they can but the Democratic house should support them with a real enquiry when they show up with some evidence as they will. It is vitally important that these calls are not suppressed with the "Shut up you won what are you complaining about" mentality. Keep pressing for vote accountability!!! It is also worth pointing out that with your country half way to hell in a hand basket and only a month or so after the constitution itself was rendered obsolete by the Military Commissions Act which few people seem to have even read and still think applies only to non citizens only FORTY PERCENT of US citizens bothered to vote. You can't have a democracy of no one shows up. Is it really true than less than half of American care who rules them? I doubt this. The problem is that as a result of gerrymandering and media promotion of silly "missing white woman" stories in advance of real issues of concern to everyone the electorate is so lacking in information that many don't really know which way to vote because they don't know which party let alone which candidate supports issues they agree with. Everything is boiled down to tiny wedge issues like gay marriage, abortion war in Iraq and terrorism without ever investigating the underlying issues. Last night I compared the coverage for example of the Shelling of an extended family in Palestine by the Israelis. On Newsnight in the UK the first image was of a pile of dead children. On CNN and FOX all you see is a couple of shots of broken masonry and what looked like a bent bit of bucket. Now Hamas has talked of the end of the ceasefire. In the UK having seen the newsnight report we can understand why they might feel that way. In the US it looks like belligerency. This is just one example, but the problem is constant in both local US issues and foreign policy issues the American media ensures that Americans have no real idea what is going on and what matters and what doesn't. The 2004 election 60 percent of Americans believed Saddam was in some way responsible for 9-11 and that he had WMD this was 2 years after it was well known to everyone else on earth with any kind of reasonable news service that he had no WMD and no one else on earth EVER thought he had connections to Al Qaeda because we all knew that Saddam was a Secular Arab leader (evil bastard yes) but HATED by al Qaeda and he HATED them to all of us informed of the issues it was like saying Jim Jones was in league with Charles Manson Yes they were both crazy murderous loons but they would have hated each other!! Until you can pass legislation that forces the media to report news instead of tabloid pap you are not going to have enough people informed enough to care enough to vote and that makes stealing elections even easier.

by Aubrey (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 19 comments) on Thursday, Nov 9, 2006 at 12:11:29 PM

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