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Stolen Election 2000

Regime Change at the NY Times: Bush Was SELECTED
17-Oct-04
Stolen Election 2000

It looks like there has been a Regime Change at the NY Times! On 11-12-01, the Times front page read: "Study of Disputed Florida Ballots Finds Justices Did Not Cast the Deciding Vote." In fact, that study - the Media Consortium recount of 175,000 NEVER-counted ballots - showed the opposite, namely that Gore won under 6 of 9 scenarios. Today, in its endorsement of John Kerry, the Times finally acknowledge the TRUTH: "the Supreme Court awarded [Bush] the presidency." Better late than never...

Bush Paid off Florida Election Theft Helpers in 2000 with Jobs - in 2004 with FEMA Funds?
12-Oct-04
Stolen Election 2000

Right now, millions of FEMA money is being channeled to residents of Miami-Dade County in So. Florida where there was little hurricane damage. A pay off in advance to help Bush steal election 2004? Think that's far-fetched? Think adgain! The Miami Herald discovered in 2002 that Bush had lavishly paid off FLA operatives who helped him steal election 2000 with plum federal jobs: "Although they now serve Bush in sharply different roles, they are among more than 50 political appointees {this is OBSCENE!] found to have served as [GOP] troops in the frantic Florida recount battle that followed the Nov. 7, 2000, election. Political patronage has long been a reward for campaign loyalty. But the distribution of plum jobs to those who worked in Florida after the 2000 election suggests that that service became a kind of political merit badge that carried a special benefit." And now Bush may be using a Florida tragedy as a source of payoff.

Award-Winning Investigative Film Exposes Stolen Election 2000
08-Oct-04
Stolen Election 2000

"Globalvision has re-released its award-winning COUNTING ON DEMOCRACY documentary on DVD complete with an 2004 update warning that the voting rights violations exposed in Florida in the 2000 election could happen again. Michael Moore... plans to be in the Sunshine State with his cameras on election day to insure that the 2004 election will not be stolen. Palast says the 'black out list on black voters,' a purge list of allegedly convicted felons is still being used to discriminate against black voters. He lashed out at the US press for not covering the story. Congresswoman Corrine Brown said there are double standards in election procedures with the US government criticizing other countries for electoral abuses still in effect in Florida. She was censured by the Congress for calling the 2000 election a coup-d'etat and said that Al Gore won the popular vote in Florida."

FLORIDA, the Election Play
05-Sep-04
Stolen Election 2000

Dale Reynolds writes, "This play dramatizes the events that lead up to the US Supreme Court's 5 to 4 decision to make George W. Bush President of the United States. FLORIDA is based on investigative reporting and eyewitness accounts, including testimony from actual participants in these events. Some of FLORIDA's characters have been created for dramatic purposes, and some are people you will recognize, such as GREG PALAST, KATHERINE HARRIS, and JEB BUSH. Some, such as LEO (CASINO) HARRIS, are portrayed as the real life heroes they were. FLORIDA is a drama based on what happened there, before, during, and after November 7, 2000. FLORIDA, The Election Play, was first read in London (please see Readings on the BACKGROUND page) and these readings have resulted in a devoted cast of actors to carry out projects for FLORIDA. We will be recording, probably in September, 2004, a radio and CD version of the play. "

Theresa LePore Loses Her Job - But Not Until January
01-Sep-04
Stolen Election 2000

"The county election supervisor whose confusing ballot design contributed to the turmoil of the 2000 presidential election became the butt of late-night talk show jokes and the target of death threats. Now, she's lost her job. Theresa LePore, the inventor of the butterfly ballot that was scrutinized during the presidential recount, lost her re-election bid to remain Palm Beach County elections supervisor. With all 692 precincts reporting, challenger Arthur Anderson had 91,134 votes, or 52%, while LePore had 85,601 votes, or 48%... Speaking of a 'continuous erosion' in confidence in the voting process, Anderson said he ran against LePore to protect 'the right to have our votes count,' and had urged adding printers to voting machines to ensure a paper trail in case of a recount. LePore has said she thinks printers are unnecessary... Despite the loss, LePore will remain in office until Jan. 3 and will oversee the November election in the county."

Key Facts Challenged in the Documentary 'Unprecedented'
25-Apr-04
Stolen Election 2000

Nancy Kuhn writes: "I've been most anxious to view the DVD 'Unprecedented-the 2000 Presidential election,' because I spent 15 years volunteering on numerous election campaigns when I lived in Florida. Because of my own personal experience I know the disputed territory and the election laws that were deliberately broken by Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris in 2000 extremely well. I've finally seen 'Unprecedented' and I've found 2 claims made in this documentary that are totally false."

NY Times Reports Illegal Florida Vote Purge - Three Years After Killing Story
24-Feb-04
Stolen Election 2000

When the NY Times editorialized against the Phony Felon Purge of 2000, Danny Schechter called investigative journalist Greg Palast to read it to him. "'What? ' he shouted at me on the phone.' You must be kidding.' He couldn't believe it because the New York Times refused to carry the story at the time when it might have done some good. It didn't even report on the Civil Rights Commission's findings it references in the editorial, only on Republican OBJECTIONS to those findings. You would think that the 'MASSIVE PURGE' they cite in 2004 might have been news fit to print back in 2000. The Washington Post carried Greg's article on the subject but not until June 2001. The NATION ran it and followups earlier. CBS News wouldn't run it, Greg was told by a staffer, because Harris office denied it. Huh?"

New York Times Reports Illegal Florida Vote Purge...Three Years after Killing Story
19-Feb-04
Stolen Election 2000

Greg Palast writes in an intro to an article by Danny Schecter at MediaChannel.org: "The New York Times has uncovered Katherine Harris' wipe out of thousands of voters ... only three years after killing the story exposed by the BBC TV and the Guardian. Here, 'News Dissector' Schechter, formerly of ABC's 20/20, asks how the Times could editorialize on a story they never ran in the first place. And note the Times still can't bring itself to say that the color of illegally purged voters is ... Black." It's taken the Media three years to finally report on the Vote Purge -- and four years to cover the Bush AWOL story. Contrary to the RNC spin that AWOL-gate is just "old news" for voters, most Americans never even heard of it until the last few weeks!

James Baker Tells Russians: 'I Fixed Florida'
13-Dec-03
Stolen Election 2000

From a Greg Palast article about how Baker's Saudi clients will profit enormously from Baker's work in restructuring Iraqi debt: "Why is our President so concerned with the wishes of Mr. Baker's clientele? What does Bush owe Baker? Let me count the ways, beginning with the 2000 election. Just last week Baker said, 'I fixed the election in Florida for George Bush.' That was the substance of his remarks to an audience of Russian big wigs as reported to me by my somewhat astonished colleagues at BBC television."

Dems Denounce Stolen Election in Florida
08-Dec-03
Stolen Election 2000

In Florida, Democratic candidates "spent much of the day sharing the one emotion that has often bonded the party since Bush beat Gore here in 2000: anger. It started with the recount, intensified with Bush's tax cut and reached a steady peak with the debate over Iraq. Howard Dean was first to tap into this discontent, and many Democrats believe it has fueled and sustained his pace-setting campaign. The candidates and party activists blamed Bush, the Supreme Court and GOP Rep. Kathleen Harris for stealing the election from Gore in 2000. 'Al Gore won the state of Florida in 2000, and we should never forget it,' said Democratic Chairman Terence McAuliffe... To this day, Democrats maintain they rightly won Florida and insist a full statewide recount would have delivered the presidency to Gore. 'We had more votes. We won, and we are never going to let the United States Supreme Court choose the president of the United States again,' said Sen. John Edwards (N.C.)." Amen!

BLOCKBUSTER! Diebold Machine 'Errors' Caused TV Networks led by FOX to Call Florida for Bush
24-Oct-03
Stolen Election 2000

"If you strip away the partisan rancor over the 2000 election, you are left with the undeniable fact that a presidential candidate conceded the election to his opponent based on a second card (card #3) that mysteriously appeared, subtracted 16,022 votes from Al Gore, and in some still undefined way, added 4,000 erroneous votes to George Bush, then, just as mysteriously, disappears. Black Box Voting reveals for the first time that it was the Volusia and Brevard County anomalies that caused TV networks to call the election for Bush. An internal document from CBS, combined with timelines and interviews from Agence France-Presse and internal Diebold memos show that: - A replacement set of votes was uploaded on the Diebold machines (then called Global Election Systems) in Volusia County about one hour after the original votes... - According to CBS, the erroneous 20,000 votes in Volusia was directly responsible for calling the election for Bush." Read Chapter 11 of Black Box Voting!

Florida Fights Back: Resisting the Stolen Election
23-Oct-03
Stolen Election 2000

"What really happened in Florida during the 2000 Presidential election? Grassroots filmmakers Jeannine Ross and Bruce Yarock tell you the whole story, not just the one you've seen on t.v. or in any other film about the election. From guerilla protest footage to confrontations with politicians to interviews with investigators, this film tells you the greatest story never told! Where would we be now if we had an investigation of the 2000 Presidential Election? Go back to the scene of the crime to hear the evidence and watch the people's resistance." Check out this important new film featuring Greg Palast, Vince Bugliosi, and Bob Kunst, with Carol Roberts, Terry McAuliffe, Peter Deutsch, Bob Fertik, Lou Posner, Rose Thomas, Janet Reno, Donald Trump and many more (maybe even you!).

Media Wakes Up to Dem Rage over Stolen Election 2000
19-Sep-03
Stolen Election 2000

Christian Science Monitor reports, "The nation's political landscape is being revisited by a specter many thought had been permanently laid to rest in the wake of 9/11: the Florida recount. With the fate of the California recall election now in the hands of the courts, and late-night comedians once again joking about hanging chads, the finale of the 2000 election is suddenly reemerging as a potent force in US politics - one that is casting a shadow over current contests, and could prove a key factor in 2004. The effect is seen most overtly in California, where Democrats are deliberately evoking the Florida recount, linking it to the recall as part of a pattern of Republican coup attempts... 'The Democrats are angry,' says [Prof. Jack Pitney]. 'The recall is a blue-hot issue; the Texas redistricting is a blue-hot issue. And of course, [Howard] Dean is the blue-hot candidate.'" According to the NY Times, 38% of Americans still believe Bush is illegitimate.

Another Rethug Gets Off Easy - Palm Beach Commissioner Fined over 2000 Recount Violations
16-Aug-03
Stolen Election 2000

AP reports: "The Florida Elections Commission fined a Palm Beach County Commissioner $2,000 Wednesday for taking excessive contributions during an effort to oust three Florida Supreme Court justices who ruled for Al Gore during the 2000 presidential election recount. Mary McCarty, R-Delray Beach, could have paid up to the $450,000 recommended by the commission's attorney. She chaired the Committee to Take Back Our Judiciary, which took donations that exceed the state's $500 limit during its brief campaign to oust justices Harry Lee Anstead, Leander Shaw and Charles Wells. "This is about who gave and who got," said Eric Lipman, the panel's assistant general counsel. "Someone has to take responsibility. She chose to sign on as chair." McCarty was fined $1,000 apiece for election law violations that her committee accepted excessive contributions, including a $150,000 loan, and for signing an incomplete financial report." Guess all those new prisons aren't for Republicans...

NY Times Admits Dem Voters are Furious at Bush - 38% of Americans Believe Bush Stole the White House
04-Aug-03
Stolen Election 2000

Robin Toner writes, "While Democratic leaders in Washington debate strategy and demographics for the 2004 election - the wisdom of campaigning from the left, right or center - something far more visceral is at work in the first caucus state, and in other Democratic redoubts. There is a powerful disdain for the Bush administration, stoked by the aftermath of the war in Iraq and the continuing lag in the economy. There is also a conviction that Bush is eminently beatable and a hunger to hear their party's leaders and candidates make the case against him - straight up, from the heart rather than the polling data... For the past two and a half years, after all, a fairly consistent 38% of respondents in The NY Times/CBS News Poll have said that Mr. Bush was not legitimately elected president." That's incredible, considering the entire corporate media - especially the NY Times - has lied about Stolen Election 2000. E-mail rotone@nytimes.com and invite her to visit http://democrats.com/2000

How Jeb Bush Defied Court Orders and Disenfranchised 50,000 Voters
29-Jul-03
Stolen Election 2000

Greg Palast writes, "Jeb Bush's operation denied over 50,000 citizens their right to vote. Given that 80% of registered voters actually cast ballots in the presidential election, at least 40,000 votes were lost. By whom? ... We can confidently state that this little twist in the voter purge cost Al Gore a good 30,000 votes... Three decades ago, Governor George Wallace stood in a schoolhouse door and thundered, 'Segregation now! Segregation tomorrow! Segregation forever!' but failed to block entry to African-Americans. Governor Jeb Bush's resistance to court rulings, conducted at whisper level with high-tech assistance, has been far more effective at blocking voters of color from the polling station door. Deliberate or accidental, the error ridden computer purge and illegal clemency obstacle course function, like the poll tax and literacy test of the Jim Crow era, to take the vote away from citizens who are Black, poor and, not coincidentally, almost all Democrats."

Silence of the Media Lambs: How the US Media Scrubbed Greg Palast's Stolen Election Exposes
27-Jul-03
Stolen Election 2000

Greg Palast writes, "If profit lust is the ultimate problem blocking significant investigative reportage, the more immediate cause of comatose coverage of the election and other issues is what is laughably called America's 'journalistic culture.' If the Rupert Murdochs of the globe are shepherds of the New World Order, they owe their success to breeding a fiock of docile sheep -- snoozy editors and reporters content to munch on, digest, then reprint a diet of press releases and canned stories provided by government and corporate public-relations operations. Take this story of the list of Florida's faux felons that cost Al Gore the presidential election... [Palast offered the story to CBS during the heat of the recount.] The next day I received a call from the producer, who said, 'I'm sorry, but your story didn't hold up.' And how do you think the multibillion-dollar CBS network determined this? Answer: 'We called Jeb Bush's office.' Oh."

How Katherine Harris Stole 22,000 Votes from Al Gore
25-Jul-03
Stolen Election 2000

Greg Palast writes, "In the months leading up to the November 2000 balloting, Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, in coordination with Governor Jeb Bush, ordered local elections supervisors to purge these 57,700 from voter registries. In Harris's computers, they are named as felons who have no right to vote in Florida. Thomas Cooper is on the list... convicted of a felony on January 30, 2007. 2007? You may suspect something's wrong with the list. You'd be right. At least 90.2% of those on this 'scrub' list, targeted to lose their civil rights, are innocent. Notably, over half -about 54%- are Black and Hispanic voters. Overwhelmingly, it is a list of Democrats. Harris declared George W. Bush winner of Florida, and thereby president, by a plurality of 537 votes over Al Gore. Now do the arithmetic. Over 50,000 voters wrongly targeted by the purge, mostly Blacks. My BBC researchers reported that Gore lost at least 22,000 votes as a result of this smart little blackbox operation."

Palm Beach Museum Turns Butterfly Ballot into a Brain Teaser
18-Jul-03
Stolen Election 2000

"A new display at the South Florida Science Museum helps explain Palm Beach's infamous role in the presidential election three years ago by letting children and adults try out the now-retired punchcard ballot on an authentic Votomatic III... 'Many people just walk by it and shake their heads and you can see the flood of memories come back,' said Jim Rollings, the museum's executive director. 'But the out-of-towners come up and they really want to look it over to see if the ballot is as confusing as it was made out to be.' Just for those who easily forget, a sign next to the four-legged stand where sample paper ballots can be inserted explains: 'Many voters claimed that they were confused by the instructions, by the design and by the physical motion needed to punch through the voting cards.'" How about getting Madame Tussaud to make a wax statue of Katherine Harris?

Stolen Election Criticism Energizes NAACP Convention in Miami
15-Jul-03
Stolen Election 2000

Miami Herald reports that Al "Sharpton challenged the NAACP -- and his fellow candidates -- not to forget the 2000 presidential election recount in Florida. 'I was here four years ago when democracy was mugged and the citizens were robbed right in the state of Florida,' he said. Indeed, the recount battle that may have been overshadowed on the political landscape by Sept. 11 and the Iraq war was clearly a fresh issue at the NAACP Convention -- and the candidates were quick to show they understood the racial implications of a divided U.S. Supreme Court putting Bush in office. Graham, who called himself a 'son of the segregated South,' also drew stirring applause when he referred to the 2000 election, telling the audience that he hails from the state where the election was 'decided on stolen votes.'" Urge your favorite candidate to denounce the Stolen Election in EVERY speech!

Exposed: Diebold Touchscreen Voting System Keeps Three Sets of Books!
09-Jul-03
Stolen Election 2000

Bev Harris writes: "Now, think of it like this: You want the report to add up ONLY the ACTUAL votes. But, unbeknownst to the election supervisor, votes can be added and subtracted from vote ledger 2, so that it may or may not match vote ledger 1. Her official report comes from vote ledger 2, which has been disengaged from vote ledger 1 [that originally received the incoming votes]... From a programming standpoint, there might be reasons to have a special vote ledger that disengages from the real one. From an accounting standpoint, using multiple sets of books is NOT OKAY. From an accounting standpoint, the ONLY thing the totals report should add up is the original votes in vote ledger 1. Proper bookkeeping NEVER allows an extra ledger that can be used to just erase the original information and add your own. And certainly, it is improper to have the official reports come from the second ledger, the one which may or may not have information erased or added."

Martin Luther King III and Greg Palast: 'Jim Crow Revived in Cyberspace'
09-May-03
Stolen Election 2000

"In 1963, Dr. King's determined and courageous band faced water hoses and police attack dogs to call attention to the thicket of Jim Crow laws -- including poll taxes and so-called 'literacy' tests -- that stood in the way of black Americans' right to have their ballots cast and counted. Today, there is a new and real threat to minority voters, this time from cyberspace: computerized purges of voter rolls. The menace first appeared in Florida in the November 2000 presidential election. While the media chased butterfly ballots and hanging chads, a much more sinister and devastating attack on voting rights went almost undetected. In the two years before the elections, the Florida secretary of state's office quietly ordered the removal of 94,000 voters from the registries. Supposedly, these were convicted felons who may not vote in Florida. Instead, the overwhelming majority were innocent of any crime, though just over half were black or Hispanic."

Will Jeb's Florida Destroy Evidence of Stolen Election -- for a Future Rewrite of History?
01-May-03
Stolen Election 2000

AP reports: "Another dispute is brewing over Florida's chaotic 2000 presidential election: Should the 6 million ballots, hanging chads and all, be destroyed or saved because of their historical significance?' Many election supervisors in Florida's 67 counties want to get rid of the ballots because they take up so much space. Miami-Dade's are in taped-up cardboard boxes stacked to the ceiling of a warehouse, while Palm Beach County's 2000 election records sit on three 5-by-5 foot pallets, each of them 6 feet high. 'If someone wants to have all these, they better know what they're getting into,' said Theresa LePore, the elections supervisor responsible for Palm Beach County's infamous 'butterfly' ballot. She once joked a bonfire would be best way to get rid of the materials."

'Don't Ask Me, I'm an Election Thief' - Jeb Refers Student to the DNC to Learn about the Electoral College
21-Apr-03
Stolen Election 2000

"Steve Norton, a junior at Upper St. Clair High School near Pittsburgh, was looking for help with his honors class in American history. His topic was the Electoral College. And he thought he knew who could give him some sharp insights: ... Jeb Bush (R). So he wrote Bush for help. 'I am going to explain the pros and cons of the Electoral College,' he told Bush in a March 2 letter, 'using examples such as George W. Bush's election and compare the U.S. to other countries. Bush replied April 8, 'To help you with your research paper on the Electoral College, I have forwarded you [sic] letter to the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in Washington, D.C. The DNC will have all the information you need on The Electoral College'... The DNC wasn't surprised by the Bush referral. 'We understand why Governor Bush wasn't able to answer the student's question,' DNC Chairman Terence R. McAuliffe said. 'When you've got the Supreme Court, you don't have to understand the Electoral College.'"

Republicans Want 'To Keep Voters Confused': New York Officials Reject Plan to Fix Voting Machines
18-Apr-03
Stolen Election 2000

Stephanie Saul reports: "The city won't fix its broken voting machines after all, and one elections commissioner alleged it's because Republicans want to keep voters confused. The Board of Elections yesterday reversed a plan that would have repaired devices on the 7,000 machines, which people accidentally left without voting. One Democrat joined with the five Republicans on the board to block the machine repairs. 'The Republicans understand it's in their interest to keep voters confused,' said Manhattan Democratic Commissioner Douglas Kellner, who spearheaded efforts to have the machines fixed. The broken devices are believed to be the cause of an estimated 60,000 lost votes in the 2000 presidential race, according to a Newsday analysis."

Robin Cook Links the Stolen Election to Bush's W-ar
19-Mar-03
Stolen Election 2000

During his resignation speech, the Labour Party's Robin Cook declared: "What has come to trouble me most over past weeks is the suspicion that if the hanging chads in Florida had gone the other way and Al Gore had been elected, we would not now be about to commit British troops." We couldn't agree more!

Zimbabwe's Mugabe Wants Sanctions against Bush for Stealing the 2000 Election
25-Feb-03
Stolen Election 2000

BBC reports, "Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has launched a scathing attack on the 'born-again colonialists' of the US and the UK... He also questioned the legitimacy of George Bush's 2000 election victory, saying Mr Bush was in no position to lecture Zimbabwe on democratic elections. The US and the UK have heavily criticised Mr Mugabe, saying his re-election last year was marred by fraud and violence... 'The US, awakened to the implications of being the sole superpower, joined by Britain as a born-again colonialist, and other Western countries have turned themselves into fierce hunting bulldogs raring to go, as they sniff for more blood, Third World blood,' Mr Mugabe said... 'Is it not ironical that Mr Bush who was not really elected should deny my legitimacy, the legitimacy of President Mugabe, established by many observer groups from Africa and the Third World. Who, in these circumstances, should the world impose sanctions on? Robert Mugabe or George Bush?'"

Norquist Credits Florida's Muslims as the Decisive Vote
24-Feb-03
Stolen Election 2000

According to GOP influence peddler Grover Norquist, "Bush [got close enough to steal the election] because of the Muslim vote. The what? That's right, the Muslim vote. There are roughly six million Muslim-Americans. Hard data on their voting habits is surprisingly hard to come by, because national polling groups do not yet include 'Muslim' as a full-fledged religious category (Protestant, Catholic, Jew, and 'other'). But according to surveys by national Muslim groups, Bush won more than 70% of Muslims who voted. In Florida, that totaled 55,000 people, who, according to an exit poll by the Tampa Bay Islamic Center, favored Bush over Gore by 20 to 1. According to this exit poll, Bush got 88% of the vote to Gore's 4%, with 8% voting for Nader. The margin of victory for Bush over Gore in the Muslim vote was 46,200, many times greater than his statewide margin of [theft]. The Muslim vote won Florida for Bush." Muslim votes were counted - but not the votes of blacks and elderly Jews.

Terror Suspect Gave Bush his Margin of Theft in Florida
22-Feb-03
Stolen Election 2000

Before he was arrested as a top terror suspect, Newsweek reported that Sami Amin al-Arian "is one of the country's leading advocates for repeal of secret-evidence laws (his brother-in-law was jailed for more than three years on allegations an INS judge dismissed in December). When Bush decried the use of secret evidence during the campaign, the elder Al-Arian campaigned vigorously for the Republican at mosques and Islamic cultural centers. 'We certainly delivered him many more than 537 votes,' he says, referring to Bush's margin of victory in the election." Not only did Bush steal Florida, he stole it with the help of an accused terrorist! Ever the opportunistic hypocrites, Bush and Ashcroft have since shredded the Constitution to INCREASE evidence secrecy with the likes of Patriot Acts I and II! Impeach Bush Now!

The Myth of the Texas Miracle in Education
15-Jan-03
Stolen Election 2000

Here is a shocking example of media bias during the 2000 campaign. On August 19, 2000 - just before the start of the fall campaign - Professor Walt Haney of Boston College published a peer-reviewed article documenting "The Myth of the Texas Miracle in Education." Since this "miracle" was Bush's ONLY claim to having accomplished ANYTHING in his life, you might think the debunking of this myth might have warranted a tiny bit of media attention - perhaps on the order of the attention given to Al Gore's claim that a child had to stand in a crowded Florida classroom. But guess what - this article received NO coverage, and the myth lives on...

News Organizations Consider Ending Voter News Service
06-Jan-03
Stolen Election 2000

Jim Rutenberg writes: "The major television news networks and the Associated Press are seriously considering dissolving their decadelong partnership in the Voter News Service, the Election Day polling organization that was at the heart of the problems they had in reporting the results of the last two national elections, network executives close to the discussions said. At the very least, the partnership probably will scrap the multimillion-dollar upgrade of the service's computer system, its main component, which has been fraught with technical problems, the executives said. The dissolution of the partnership would leave in doubt the news media's plans for covering the primaries and the general election with a little over a year to go before the presidential campaign's first test in Iowa." Hooray - maybe the media will actually wait for all of the votes to be counted!

Stolen Election 2000 - the Web Site
10-Dec-02
Stolen Election 2000

On December 10, 2000, Supreme Injustice Antonin Scalia treasonously abused his judicial power by ordering an immediate halt to a statewide recount in Florida. Two days later, the Felonious Five betrayed America by discarding 175,000 UNCOUNTED ballots, thus appointing their fellow Republican, George W. Bush, as President. Democrats.com has carefully preserved all of our Stolen Election 2000 Web pages, so history will have a complete record of how George W. Bush stole the Presidency in the year 2000 - and how grassroots Democrats across the country fought heroically for the cause of Democracy.

Remember 12/12/2000 - The Day the Supreme Court Betrayed America
10-Dec-02
Stolen Election 2000

The Committee to Restore The Rule of Law writes, "It has been two years since five members of the Supreme Court of the United States decided to select George W. Bush as leader of the free world, trampling on the right of the People to choose their elected representatives, and president. Since that time, we have been under constant terror by an administration out of control. The opposition has been silenced, our fears validated. In these times, when it appears as though our voices are not being heard, we must remember. We the People MUST never forget... On Thursday, 12/12/2002, in commemoration of Bush vs Gore and its unconstitutional, politically-driven majority opinion, let us all reflect the power given us, the People, by the U.S. Constitution. Let us vow to never forget until enough Americans rise up against this tyranny, and the Rule of Law is restored. We the People MUST never forget."

More Historical Revisionism? CNN Underreports Gore's Popular Vote Victory Over Bush
07-Nov-02
Stolen Election 2000

CNN.com writes: "Nationwide, Gore bested Bush by slightly more than 330,000 popular votes, but electoral votes [actually the Supreme Court, which stopped the vote counting] chose the president." According to the National Archives, Al Gore received 540,520 more popular votes than Bush ( http://www.archives.gov/federal_register/electoral_college/popular_vote_2000.html ) Tell CNN to honestly report Al Gore's popular vote victory over Bush - e-mail cnn@cnn.com !

The Five Worst Republican Outrages in Stolen Election 2000
24-Oct-02
Stolen Election 2000

As we approach the midterm elections, it's important to remember how the Republicans rigged the last presidential election. Wayne Barrett in the Village Voice provides a partial list of the crimes, including Jim Baker's Florida legislative coup; Republican legal pleas for manual recounts; the "bourgeois riot"; Bush resistance to a real final vote count; and the ultimate judicial coup d'etat by the Supreme Court. The Felonious Five soiled itself for posterity by interfering in the states' rights issue of voting, arguing that counting the votes would be injurious to democracy.

'Unprecedented' Brings Back the Anger over the Stolen Election
23-Oct-02
Stolen Election 2000

David Cogswell writes, "The film is a good summary of the election fraud of 2000. It does a remarkable job of summarizing the whole ugly mess in about an hour. Oh God, it's a miserable experience seeing it, seeing those swindlers, the smarmy Bush boys and that hideous Katharine Harris -- close up and personal and ... sweaty. Though it was only an hour long, the hardest thing was to remain seated. As the rage surged through my blood, the reflexes in my knees kept firing, wanting to straighten and shoot me up out of my chair like a missile. Seeing it all go by again in compressed form brought all that poison back, or perhaps stirred up the poison that's been sitting there for two years. Therein lies the value of going through the deep nausea of recalling it: it enables you to exorcise it." Order your copy at http://democrats.com/unprecendented ($30).

Florida Felon Tom Spargo Faces Punishment in New York
18-Oct-02
Stolen Election 2000

New York Law Journal reports, "When election law expert and longtime Republican activist Thomas J. Spargo was caught on film participating in a noisy political demonstration, nobody close to politics was particularly surprised... [But] at the same time he was stumping [no, RIOTING!] for George W. Bush and chanting with other Republican supporters at what amounted to a boisterous sit-in, Spargo was serving as a part-time judge in the rural Albany County town of Berne. Judges are not supposed to get involved in politics. Now, Spargo is a state Supreme Court justice, and the Commission on Judicial Conduct is hot on the tail of the onetime feisty election law litigator and political firebrand. The commission has accused Justice Spargo of multiple ethical breaches for his political conduct." We demand "Justice" Spargo's impeachment, his disbarment, and hard time in jail!

A New Primer on Stolen Election 2000
01-Oct-02
Stolen Election 2000

Tammy Ballard writes, "I have put together a primer about the stolen election. It is a compilation of excerpts from articles dealing with the subject from 12-12-2000 right up to now. My primer does not just expose the purge, or the illegal absentee ballots that were counted, or the mob, rather it exposes all of the above in one little manual and then some. My belief is that the electorate must know how the last election was hijacked in order to make an informed vote at the polls. It may even encourage some nonvoters to vote. I have written it in such a way as to encourage the reader to use the internet as a news alternative." (Note: this is a LARGE file - please be patient)

Floridians Won't Forget: 'Unprecedented' Debuts in Florida with Special Guest Appearances by Greg Palast
16-Sep-02
Stolen Election 2000

"Unprecedented" is the riveting story of the battle for the Presidency in Florida and the undermining of democracy in America by filmakers Richard Ray Perez and Joan Sekler. It paints a disturbing picture of an election marred by electoral injustices, sinister voter purges, and suspicious irregularities. Special guest speaker Greg Palast, author of "The Best Democracy Money Will Buy" is making personal appearances at the screenings. Hear Greg on webcast live on Tuesday, September 17, at 1:30 EST on "Radioactivity with Rob Lorei" from www.wmnf.org/

AP Corrects One Lie About Gore's Victory in Florida, But Then Manufactures a New Lie
08-Sep-02
Stolen Election 2000

On 9-3-02, Democrats.com challenged an AP story which said the media recounts showed Bush winning Florida. Thanks to YOUR complaints, the AP published a rare correction: "The story should also have noted that some scenarios showed Gore coming out ahead." But then the AP undercut its correction with this nonsense: "Gore would have finished ahead by the barest of margins had he pursued and gained a complete statewide recount." As everyone but the AP knows, the Florida Supreme Court ORDERED a statewide count of uncounted votes on 12-9-00 (as required by Florida election law), and workers assembled at county offices around the state and began counting - until the Felonious Five on the US Supreme Court ordered a halt to the count because they knew Al Gore would beat their fellow Republican - which the media recount proved. Once again, E-mail feedback@ap.org and tell the AP to stop its Orwellian rewrite of history!

Setting the Record Straight on the Stolen Election
04-Sep-02
Stolen Election 2000

Professor Lance deHaven-Smith writes, "Q: Did Florida officials faithfully execute the state's election laws? A: No. The NY Times and The Washington Post discovered evidence that Florida's governor, secretary of state, and speaker of the House, all Republicans with close ties to George W. Bush, used their offices to manipulate the election controversy and secure Bush's victory. During the controversy, they collaborated ... with the legal and political advisers of George W. Bush to: (1) put pressure on the state's top law firms not to work for Gore; (2) bend the rules on absentee ballots to allow improperly marked absentee ballots to be counted; (3) block, stall or discredit manual recounts; and (4) create fears of a constitutional crisis so that the U.S. Supreme Court would intervene. Q: Will changes to state election laws that were enacted in 2001 prevent the same problems from recurring? A: No. In fact, the badly named Florida Election Reform Act is in many respects a step backward."

Florida Faces 2000 Election Fraud, Will Settle Lawsuit with the NAACP
30-Aug-02
Stolen Election 2000

Catherine Wilson writes for the AP: "The NAACP's lawsuit over Florida's disputed 2000 presidential election appears headed for a close as the state and two counties the only remaining defendants have agreed to a settlement…Joe Klock, an attorney for the state, told U.S. District Judge Alan Gold that all parties promised to file final papers by Friday for approval. Attorneys would not discuss terms of the settlement. The class-action lawsuit filed by the [NAACP] and other civil rights groups argued voters were disenfranchised during the on Nov. 7, 2000 election; it included allegations that blacks were kept from voting in some counties…Provisions of those settlements included sweeping modifications to voter registration, voter-roll maintenance and polling practices. They also required counties to improve election day communications between precincts and election headquarters and in some cases guaranteed foreign language-speaking workers would be at the polls to assist voters."

NAACP v. Katherine Harris is Likely to be Settled Before Trial Begins
27-Aug-02
Stolen Election 2000

"Lawyers representing Florida's black voters in a federal voting rights lawsuit arising from the bitterly contested 2000 president election may be close to settling the case with the Florida secretary of state, two other state agencies and the election supervisors of Orange and Hillsborough counties... The plaintiffs seek a range of remedies to ensure registered black voters are not prevented from voting in the future," but did not seek punishment for the crimes committed by Katherine Harris, Jeb Bush et al in 2000. "The lawsuit claims that there were a disproportionate number of ballots in black precincts without votes counted for the presidential election. It also claims that black voters were wrongfully purged from the official lists of eligible voters, voter registration applications of black voters were not processed properly, and registered black voters encountered unjustified barriers to voting at their precincts."

GOP Spends $1 Million to Study How Gore WON
07-Aug-02
Stolen Election 2000

USNews reports, "The RNC has spent nearly $1 million to find out what Gore did right and the Republicans did wrong in 2000. 'The weekend before the 2000 election we had a pretty good feeling,' Hazelwood says. 'Then Election Day happened, and it was, 'Oh, my gosh, what happened?' ' The Republicans were shocked by what the Democrats have since forgotten: Gore, as 'horrendous' as he was, garnered 543,000 more votes than George W. Bush. It wasn't supposed to be that way, not according to the polls. So the Republicans studied the last 72 hours of the election and came to one overall conclusion. 'The Democrats have a better voter turnout operation than we do,' Hazelwood says. The Republicans had, over the years, become victims of their own success... The Democrats were left with bodies, especially the bodies of labor union volunteers going door to door. 'The Republicans have the technology,' says Donna Brazile, Gore's campaign manager... 'We do knock-and-drag, and they do right-click.'""

Jeb Disenfranchised MORE Non-Felons
06-Aug-02
Stolen Election 2000

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports: "The Florida Department of Corrections is investigating an error that may have disenfranchised a number of eligible voters in four counties in the past four years. A handful of probation officers in Broward, Monroe, St. Johns and Orange counties relied on an unofficial document to instruct offenders on probation that they've lost certain civil rights, even if the offenders had their adjudication withheld as part of a plea agreement. That instruction was false... The error incensed local political and community leaders still sensitive to the issue of disenfranchised voters... At this point it remains unknown whether the 44 probation officers gave the wrong information to enough offenders before the 2000 election to have influenced its outcome.'" Just one more reason to defeat Jeb Bush!

Bush's Miami Recount Riot was a Paid Conspiracy
05-Aug-02
Stolen Election 2000

During the Florida recount, Bush "put on the payroll about 250 staffers, spent about $1.2 million to fly operatives to Florida and elsewhere, and paid for hotel bills adding up to about $1 million... The Miami [rioters] who were paid by Bush recount committee were: Matt Schlapp, a Bush staffer who was based in Austin and received $4,276.09; Thomas Pyle, a staff aide to House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, $456; Michael Murphy, a DeLay fund-raiser, $935.12; Garry Malphrus, House majority chief counsel to the House Judiciary subcommittee on criminal justice, $330; Charles Royal, a legislative aide to Rep. Jim DeMint, R-S.C. $391.80; and Kevin Smith, a former GOP House staffer, $373.23... Bush’s operation paid for the hotel where the Republican protesters celebrated after the Miami riot at a Thanksgiving Day party. At the party, the activists received thank-you phone calls from Bush and Cheney, and were serenaded by crooner Wayne Newton, singing 'Danke Schoen,' German for thank-you very much."

In a Blow to Jeb, Federal Judge Orders Stolen Election Lawsuit to Proceed
03-Aug-02
Stolen Election 2000

The AP reports "A federal judge has rejected state attempts to avoid trial over presidential election problems that kept blacks from voting in Florida. The state asked for a summary judgment to kill the lawsuit by the NAACP and other civil rights groups without a trial. But U.S. District Judge Alan Gold ruled Wednesday that they had met the standard for pursuing their lawsuit."

The Media Stole Election 2000 - And Is Now Scrubbing Its Own Guilt
02-Aug-02
Stolen Election 2000

When it comes to All Things Gore, no one demolishes the lies and myths better than Bob Somerby of the Daily Howler. In this typically brilliant column, Somerby analyzes the brand new myth of Gore's "self-created demon" - that "Gore was so angry at Clinton that he weirdly refused to do the thing which would have won him the race," namely take credit for the successes of the Clinton-Gore administration. As Somerby points out, this new myth - "Official Press Corps Story #2" - completely contradicts "Official Press Corps Story #1," that "Al Gore will do and say anything to win." Somerby then perfectly describes how the pundits and the voters all believed that Gore WON the first debate, until Karl Rove conspired with right-winger reporters like Frank Bruni to concoct the Big Lie that Al Gore treated Bush with contempt, as manifested by The Sigh. You go, Bob!

Enron and Halliburton Paid for the Stolen Election in Florida
31-Jul-02
Stolen Election 2000

"Nearly $14 million magically poured into the Bush/Cheney Florida recount effort - four times the amount raised by the Gore/Lieberman camp. The money flowed in so fast... that Bush campaign officials... were dumbfounded... The Bush campaign took in $13.8 million, most in large contributions. Listed among those large contributors were Bush and Cheney's two most reliable genies - Enron and Halliburton... As soon as a recount was announced, Bush forces moved quickly. Money was no object. They dispatched over 100 lawyers to Florida and Texas, booking hundreds of plane tickets, rental cars and hotel rooms. Among the expenditures listed was a payment of $13,000 to Enron Corp. and $2,400 to Halliburton Co. for the use of their corporate jets and other unspecified services. 'Eighteen months after the election, we find that the (Bush) administration literally flew into office on the Enron corporate jet,'" said the DNC. All the Bush scandals are coming together - Impeach Bush Now!

Bush's Florida Election Stealers Got TOP Jobs in the Most Corrupt Administration in History
15-Jul-02
Stolen Election 2000

During the Florida recount, "John Bolton, [now] undersecretary of state for arms control, [burst] into a Tallahassee library on behalf of the Bush-Cheney campaign to stop a recount of Miami-Dade County ballots. Matt Schlapp, a former congressional aide, is currently White House special assistant to the president and deputy director of political affairs. In November 2000, he was part of the supposedly spontaneous window-pounding protest at Miami-Dade County Hall that brought to an end the first recount of Miami-Dade ballots. Sue Cobb, a Coral Gables developer, today is the U.S. ambassador to Jamaica. Twenty months ago, the generous Republican donor volunteered... as part of the legal team that contested recounts in Miami-Dade. [These three] are among more than 50 political appointees found by The [Miami] Herald to have served as troops in the frantic Florida recount battle that followed the Nov. 7, 2000 election." Impeach Bush Now!

'Counting on Democracy' Documentary on Florida Debacle Will Debut on Public Television
14-Jul-02
Stolen Election 2000

"Restoring confidence in the electoral process means looking first at Florida. That's what Faye Anderson has done as producer of Counting on Democracy. Her documentary about the Florida presidential election is to air soon on public television... Ms. Anderson, a New York-based writer and former national vice chairman of the Republican National Committee's New Majority Council, notes that... the problem of equal access to the polling place is an American problem... That's part of the reason she says her feature-length 'untold story of the Florida presidential election,' narrated by Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, is not a rehash of the election debacle. 'Instead, it provides the context, analysis -- and voices -- that were missing from most media accounts.'"

Florida Voting Rights Lawsuit Is Going to Trial
27-Jun-02
Stolen Election 2000

The lawsuit filed by the NAACP and other civil rights organizations against Florida for the widespread disenfranchisement of minority voters goes to trial August 26 - right before Florida's fall primaries. It'll be fun to once again watch Katherine Harris squirm on the stand, as she did in front of the Civil Rights Commission, practicing her Marie Antoinette-style form of plausible deniability. The only thing missing will be watching Jeb, the architect of the election theft, do the same. Winning the award for most delusional liar in a supporting role, a spokesperson for Katherine Harris is quoted in the Miami Herald as saying, "We remain confident that Florida's national leadership in election reform will be vindicated in the ultimate outcome." We hope Jeb and Katherine's brand of "election reform" - a thoroughly appalling way to define denying people their right to vote - gets VILIFIED, not vindicated, as it deserves to be!

Karl Rove's Biggest Fear is that Democrats Will Refuse to 'Get Over' Stolen Election 2000
24-Jun-02
Stolen Election 2000

At Democrats.com, we're proud to declare that we will NEVER "get over" Stolen Election 2000. And how can we? Apart from the fact that the 2000 election was the biggest crime against Democracy and our Constitution in history, we have a completely practical reason: If we let them steal one election, what will stop them from stealing EVERY election? We have "kept anger alive" despite the belief by Democratic Party leaders that we should "get over it." But even Karl Rove agrees with us that anger over Election 2000 could be the motivating force for a huge turnout by Democrats in 2002, which could sweep Republicans out of power. Here is the last slide in Rove's now-famous PowerPoint (click on the very last slide). "Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Harlem) drew cheers when he hailed Clinton as 'the last elected president of the U.S.' and said, 'It is our job to say we're not getting over Florida.'" Hey Democratic leaders, are you listening?

Democrats.com Letter to the United States Commission on Civil Rights Regarding the 2000 Presidential Election in Florida
18-Jun-02
Stolen Election 2000

Writes Nancy Kuhn: "The purpose of this letter is to bring to the attention of this commission an outline of the very extensive and strong evidence that Democrats.com is compiling in our extensive investigation of the 2000 Presidential election in Florida and to relate this evidence to the issues outlined in the commission's press release that announced this 6/20/02 hearing in Miami."

BuzzFlash Interviews Greg Palast
06-Jun-02
Stolen Election 2000

"Greg Palast: I just got a letter from Katherine Harris - Cruella herself. Maybe she read my book right?.... I want to make sure we have all her titles correct. She's not just the Secretary of State. Let's not forget that she was campaign chairwoman for the Bush for President Campaign. She's never complained that there might be a bit of bias in how she handled the purging of the Florida voter registration rolls which she was in charge of. Katherine Harris wrote that 'Mr. Palast erroneously claims that my predecessor and I removed lawful voters from the Florida registration rolls when in fact, the legislature mandated that we remove these people.' Well, yes, but Katherine Harris wrote the law, and she implemented it. The law says remove ex-felons. It doesn't say to remove a bunch of innocent black people. Excuse me -- read the law again. It says ex-felons, not people who are innocent, but may vote for Al Gore."

Democratic Senators Tell Ashcroft to Explain Why No Charges Are Filed in the Flordia Voter Purge
01-Jun-02
Stolen Election 2000

Tom Edsall writes, "Key Democratic senators contended yesterday that the Justice Department did not address the most politically sensitive issues in the 2000 presidential election in Florida, particularly allegations of illegal purges of voter lists and the denial of voting rights to minorities... The Democrats' complaints were prompted by a [letter to Pat Leahy from Ralph Boyd, the assistant AG] for civil rights. Boyd wrote that there were 'very few voters who actually were prevented from voting' in Florida. [The Justice Department charges do not involve Katherine Harris, whom many civil rights leaders and Democrats accused of encouraging voting-rights denials, by hiring a firm that produced a controversial list of voters to be purged]. 'This investigation seems to be more about wallpapering over the troubling records of [Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris] than it is about seriously addressing what happened in Florida,' said Jenny Backus, [Gore's spokeswoman] during the Florida recount."

Senate Democrats Demand Answers from Ashcroft about the Florida Voter Purge
31-May-02
Stolen Election 2000

"Senate Democrats on Thursday asked AG John Ashcroft to explain why the Justice Dept chose not to file lawsuits in nine cases it was investigating for possible voting rights violations. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and four other Democrats requested in a letter that Ashcroft supply them with the jurisdictions involved, the violations alleged and the reasons for closing the nine cases… Senate aides said those writing the letter - including Democrats Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, Bill Nelson and Bob Graham of Florida, and John Edwards of North Carolina - want to know how many of the cases are in Florida. Disputes over the election outcome and numerous claims of voting rights violations in Florida…'I am deeply concerned that the department apparently has chosen not to address the critical issues in Florida: the widespread purges of voters and the poor voting equipment that heavily affected African-American communities,' Edwards said." You go, Democrats!

Greg Palast Calls Justice Dept. Lawsuits in Florida a 'Sham'
29-May-02
Stolen Election 2000

Greg Palast's continuing reports on the Florida felon purge "are devastating: disclosing e-mails and internal Florida state documents indicating that Harris' office KNEW the purge swept away the civil rights of innocents - and changed the outcome of the election. Counsel for the US Civil Rights Commission has said that Palast's reports provided, "The first hard evidence of systematic violation of civil rights.... Palast says, 'The US Justice Department's suit is a sham - the beneficiaries of the voting disaster, Bush's agencies, have figured out a way to do the least possible political damage to candidates Katherine Harris and Jeb Bush. They have aimed their fire at blameless county officials when the disaster was created in Tallahassee - a disaster for Black voters, though a blessing to the highly partisan Secretary of State's office. I fear this is an attempt to undercut the suit by the NAACP against Harris and others more directly responsible.'"

Ashcroft Scrubs the Stolen Election in Florida - We Demand Senate Judiciary Committee Hearings!
29-May-02
Stolen Election 2000

After receiving 11,000 complaints from Florida voters, Ashcroft's Justice Dept sent a letter to Congress with its conclusion: "The Civil Rights Division found no credible evidence in our investigations that Floridians were intentionally denied their right to vote during the November 2000 election," according to Asst AG Ralph Boyd. That is PURE BUSHIT! Even worse are the headlines on CNN (Florida voting rights not denied, Justice finds), the NY Times (DOJ: Floridians Weren't Denied Vote), and the Washington Post (Report: No Intentional Rights Denial). What about the 8,000 Floridians who were scrubbed from the voter rolls in the fraudulent felon purge, and could not cast a vote? What about the 175,000 voters whose votes were never counted because of the Supreme Court? What about the DOZENS of crimes committed by Florida election officials (see http://democrats.com/floridagate ) ?? We demand hearings on the Justice Dept's coverup of Stolen Election 2000 by the Senate Judiciary Committee!

Ashcroft Whitewashes the REAL Crimes in the Stolen Election
28-May-02
Stolen Election 2000

Marie Cocco writes, "The Justice Department says it plans to file suit against three Florida counties for voting-rights violations [in the 2000 election debacle]. None involves the mayhem created by machines that couldn't read votes properly...None involves the infamous statewide purge of alleged felons from the rolls - a purge so flawed [that even county officials were purged as felons]. None of this figures in the Justice Department's Florida effort, though...Last year, when the U.S. Civil Rights Commission found widespread disenfranchisement of African-Americans and other minorities in the Florida vote, the report was dismissed as partisan hogwash by the [Republicans on the panel]. Meanwhile, a broad voting-rights lawsuit brought by the NAACP [that charges Katherine Harris with disenfranchising] thousands of African-Americans in Florida moves forward...Justice is slowly being served, despite the Department of Justice."

American Election Law Emphatically Supports the 'Intent of the Voter' and Recounts
25-May-02
Stolen Election 2000

"The public [has been] bamboozled about American election law, by bogus pseudo-legal arguments relentlessly reprinted in newspapers and aired on television... Regarding elections, the numerous pages of Volume 29 of the C.J.S. make one central principle clear: in this country, the law is usually on the side of the voter, including the voter who makes a mistake. The principle that the voter's intent is paramount, in counting votes, is restated at least ten times, in language accessible to every citizen, with scores of legal cases as examples. As a corollary to this central principle... the volume on 'Elections' also includes a further section of twenty pages on 'Recounts.' Hardly surprising: as both law and common sense dictate, and the C.J.S. explicitly states, elections, to be valid, must include provision for recounts. Any valid election process - like any valid judicial process - must include provisions for (1) recording, and (2) checking the record." So writes Margie Burns.

Justice Dept. Lawsuits in Florida Don't 'Pass the Smell Test'
25-May-02
Stolen Election 2000

St. Pete Times reports, "After an 18-month investigation, nearly 11,000 complaints, discussions with AG Bob Butterworth's office and even a review of the NAACP's complaint logs, the federal government has determined that only certain minority voters were wronged. They were Hispanics in Orange and Osceola counties and Haitians in Miami-Dade. Not a single word from Justice about Katherine Harris' flawed purged voter list [or] the high number of discarded 'overvotes' in areas with high concentrations of black voters, such as Jacksonville... 'It doesn't pass the smell test,' says state Democratic chairman Bob Poe. 'What is their political agenda? To make inroads and score points with non-Cuban Hispanics and Haitians.' Poe said he would contact members of the Senate Judiciary Committee... and urge them to probe deeper into the Justice Department's legal strategy in FL. [And] the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights announced it would come back to Florida June 20 for a daylong hearing in Miami."

Justice Dept. Investigation Screws Florida's African-American Voters One More Time
24-May-02
Stolen Election 2000

The Republicans - led by Jeb Bush, Katherine Harris, and Clay Roberts - stole the Florida election by disenfranchising thousands of African-American voters. Their primary tool was the intentionally fraudulent "felon" purge, in which African-Americans were disproportionately included. It was a "high-tech lynching," to quote Supreme Injustice Clarence Thomas (from the Anita Hill hearings), a 21st-century version of Jim Crow laws that disenfranchised Florida's black voters for a century after Reconstruction. The Justice Dept. recently announced legal action against 3 Florida counties, but 2 of those - Miami-Dade and Osceola - focus on language problems facing immigrants. If there is NO JUSTICE over the felon purge - including CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS - there will be NO PEACE - at least from Democrats.com!

Democrats are Waking Up to Ashcroft's Cover-up of the Stolen Election
23-May-02
Stolen Election 2000

On the "morning after" the Justice Dept announced vague plans to maybe someday sue 3 Florida counties for election 2000 voter disenfranchisement, Democrats woke up feeling used. According to Salon, "Florida Democratic Party spokesman Ryan Banfill warned that the lawsuits may be little more than 'window dressing to provide some political cover for the president and his brother,' Jeb, who is running for reelection as Florida governor this year... 'I saw yesterday they mentioned voter purges. Well, that means they should be looking at [Secretary of State] Katherine Harris. But the fact that her office is not part of this suit makes us think this may not go as far as it should. If they're talking about voter purges, they should be talking about a lot more than three counties,' Banfill said." EXACTLY - and they should be talking about CRIMINAL PROSECUTION of Jeb, Katherine, and Clay Roberts.

Salon Crows About Breaking Felon Purge Story, But Ignores the CRIMES
22-May-02
Stolen Election 2000

Damien Cave and Anthony York write that on 12/4/00, "Salon broke the story [written by Greg Palast] of how Florida contracted with a private firm to purge its voter rolls of felons and other people ineligible to vote, but in the process used faulty information to cast thousands of eligible registered voters off the rolls as well. The voter purge hit minorities particularly hard in Florida, where 31% of all black men are denied the right to vote due to the ban on felons voting. [The U.S. Civil Rights Commission] picked up the Salon investigation in its own report on Florida's 2000 voting woes, which concluded that minority voters rights had been violated... Salon talked to some of the people involved in voting rights cases... to get their reaction to Tuesday's announcement." Unfortunately, not ONE of the people interviewed points out that the intentionally fraudulent purge was a CRIME, and that the architects of the purge belong in JAIL, and the beneficiary - Bush - should be IMPEACHED!

AT LAST!!! 18 Months Late, the Bush Administration Admits the Florida Election Was Criminal
21-May-02
Stolen Election 2000

Washington Post's Tom Edsall reports, "The Justice Department disclosed yesterday it will file suit in three Florida counties charging voting rights violations in the 2000 presidential election... [They] expect the counties and municipalities to admit wrongdoing and agree to take steps to prevent recurrences of problems in the 2002 elections... Boyd said the allegations include improper purges of voter rolls, 'disparate' treatment of minorities in the voting process, failures to provide required voter registration material in certain public places and inaccessible balloting for disabled voters. Boyd's announcement is the first formal action taken by the Bush administration to deal with the politically explosive controversies that surrounded the 2000 election in Florida. The suits would not seek to overturn the presidential election's results, which ultimately were decided by the U.S. Supreme Court." 41,000 Ex-Felons are still prevented from voting by Jeb's machine.

Just How Did Bush Get Into Position to be Asleep at the 9-11 Switch?
19-May-02
Stolen Election 2000

Eric Alterman writes in The Nation, "How in the world did George W. Bush ever get close enough to invite [the right wing] Supreme Court to give him his 'victory'? [Bush's] political views were well to the right of most voters on almost everything... By any conventional calculation, Bush should have lost in a landslide. [The answer] is that the so-called liberal media... failed to inform the public of the two candidates' political and ideological differences, and the implications those differences held for the nation's future. [The NY Times treatment of the election like a] junior high popularity contest signaled to the rest of the media that contentless coverage would be the order of the day. [The press followed] its campaign masters like a litter of newborn puppies. They wait open-mouthed for Karl Rove or Karen Hughes to drop a tender morsel of warmed-over baloney into their mouths, wagging their tails in appreciation after every feeding."

King George II Bonds with the Kings of Asia
03-May-02
Stolen Election 2000

Michael Kinsley writes in Slate, "Is anyone else bothered even a little bit by the idea that the war on terrorism has somehow put the United States in the business of installing a king in Afghanistan? Reinstalling, actually... Doesn't our president [sic] understand that there are two different kinds of nations in the world? There are nations where the rulers are determined by heredity—where the person in charge is in charge for no better reason than that his or her father was in charge before him. Then there are nations where the rulers are determined by democracy—where the person in charge is in charge because he or she got the most votes in an election among the citizens. And in this great divide, the United States stands proudly on the side of …of …Oh, never mind." Hey Michael - you're close to the truth, but why don't you just come out and say that Bush stole the election?

Has Musharraf Learned 'Election Legalization' Techniques from Bush?
30-Apr-02
Stolen Election 2000

Lest we forget, Pakistani "president" Pervez Musharraf seized power without any election in a 1999 coup, so he is not a legally elected leader. And the referendum held in Pakistan on 4/30 to "decide" if he should stay in power for five more years is unconstitutional because Pakistan elects its presidents through its parliament, which represents the people. Here's where Musharraf has taken a few pages from mentor Bush. To "legalize" the referendum, he simply got the Pakistani supreme court to declare it legal! ( http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_576749.html ) Next, he set up tens of thousands of polling places and personally arranged for the transport of voters to the polls (people who refused to allow their vehicles to be commandeered were beaten up). And, we bet, just like the Bush folks in Florida, he will make sure the results are what Musharraf - and Bush - want them to be. This is much worse than Zimbabwe, which Bush and the world condemned. So where is the outrage??

NPR Finally Examines Duval County's 27,000 Uncounted Votes, and Completely Misses the Point
21-Apr-02
Stolen Election 2000

NPR's Juan Williams visited Jacksonville, FL, in the heart of Duval County, where 27,000 votes went uncounted on Election Day 2000. Of those, 16,000 (60%) were cast by blacks, who voted over 90% for Gore - more than enough to change the outcome of the election. But the Republican Supervisor of Elections, John Stafford, refused to tell black leaders about all the uncounted ballots until it was TOO LATE to file a challenge. Was there a conspiracy to spoil ballots cast by black voters? No one is seriously making that allegation. But was there a conspiracy to keep black leaders from finding out about the 27,000 uncounted ballots? Absolutely! John Stafford, like Katherine Harris, belongs in jail.

Before Criticizing Gore, Timesmen Should Acknowledge the Truth - that Gore Was Robbed!
20-Apr-02
Stolen Election 2000

Al Gore brought 2,500 delegates to their feet at the Florida Democratic convention, but that isn't good enough for the oh-so-jaded white male pundits. Bill Keller of the NY Times could barely wait a single paragraph before trashing Gore in the newspaper that STILL refuses to admit that AL GORE WON FLORIDA. Before the pundits start advising Al Gore and the Democrats, we have one simple demand - that they acknowledge that Gore won - both nationally and in Florida - and that Bush stole the Presidency. If they can't acknowledge that Democrats won the LAST election, why should we bother listening to their advice on how to win the NEXT one? Write billkeller@nytimes.com

What Katherine Harris SHOULD Have Said
19-Apr-02
Stolen Election 2000

Margie Burns writes in Buzzflash, "Here is what the Florida Secretary of State should have said, on November 10, 2000: 'As you also know by now, citizen reports and affidavits indicate that tens of thousands of ballots have been discarded as overvotes and undervotes, frustrating the will of the voters. The undervotes alone, caused by machine malfunctions that we have had before, could change the outcome of the election. As you also know, Florida election law calls for a manual recount where one is appropriately requested and could change the outcome. This state has recounted votes as recently as the last election. I call on all counties in Florida, declared for either candidate, immediately to begin a hand recount of disputed ballots where one is requested, in accordance with procedure mandated by state law, and to carry on the recount with all deliberate speed until it is completed.'" And if pigs had wings...

Jeanette Wallis Resumes Her Cross-Country 'Walk for Democracy'
12-Apr-02
Stolen Election 2000

Like many other progressive efforts, Jeanette Wallis suspended her cross-country "Walk for Democracy" from Seattle to DC on 9-11. But Wallis returned to the road on 4-1, picking up where she left off in Utah. "I've had to put my faith in people, that they would take care of me. I'm operating on the assumption that people are good." And that assumption has proven true for the most part. "Americans are so generous," Wallis noted. "Citizens can make a difference," she said. "Democracy is up to us. It doesn't exist without us." Wallis said that no cross country activist has ever seen the president after arriving in Washington, D.C. "That says a lot about our system," she concluded.

Transcript of Greg Palast Appearance on Politically Incorrect
11-Apr-02
Stolen Election 2000

Greg Palast was on Politically Incorrect Monday. Palast has done groundbreaking investigative work into the criminal purge of voters from Florida's registry, Bush Family dirty deals and Bush officials spiking the FBI investigation of the bin Laden family last summer. Palast made some great points on Politically Incorrect, despite having to contend with Floyd Brown, a GOP operative who engineered the Willie Horton ads and various smears of Clinton. Like a typical Republican hypocrite, Brown leveled ad hominems at Palast as a "conspiracy kook", even though Brown himself was key in whipping up the Whitewater conspiracy theories that wasted $40 million in taxpayers money. Brown's operation also pushed the thoroughly discredited conspiracy theory that Clinton was responsible for the death of one of his law students. Meanwhile, Roshumba made inane statements playing down the election theft and commending the appointments of Condi Rice and Colin Powell. Can you say Clarence Thomas?

Blaming Al Gore - The Latest Crime of the Stolen Election
08-Apr-02
Stolen Election 2000

"The latest crime of the stolen 2000 Presidential election is blaming the victim of the stolen election - Al Gore - for the numerous illegal acts committed by the Bush campaign and its surrogates in their broad daylight theft of the Presidency. Both the evidence that Democrats.com has collected in its extensive investigation of the stolen election, and the election laws and procedures of the state of Florida, prove this 'blame the victim' attack to be totally wrong." So writes Nancy Kuhn.

Thanks to Michael Moore's 'Stupid White Men,' Millions of Americans are Learning How Bush Stole Election 2000
30-Mar-02
Stolen Election 2000

In his BuzzFlash interview Michael Moore says, "The chapter that's received the most attention in the book - and I'm kind of surprised... - is the chapter "A Very American Coup"... We know all those facts about Florida and what Katherine Harris did, and the private firm that took African-Americans off the voting rolls and prohibited them from voting. But I've been surprised in this first week how many average Americans were not aware of all of the trickery and deceit that took place in the year before the election to fix it for George W. Bush. And if people read that - I mean, you should see some of the letters I've received - they have the sickest feeling in their gut... They cannot believe that the Bushes got away with this. And they're sick about it because they're Americans, because it goes against everything we believe in. Because they have people in their families who died for this country, for that very basic of rights, which is the right to vote and have your vote counted."

Theft of the Presidency Day 495: Concord Monitor Breaks Media Silence on Felon Purge
18-Mar-02
Stolen Election 2000

It has taken 495 days, but an American newspaper has FINALLY acknowledged that 8,000 or more voters were illegally disenfranchised in Florida. In an editorial entitled "Stolen Votes," the Concord (NH) Monitor writes: "No matter how successful George W. Bush proves to be as president, a pall will forever hang over the 2000 election. In national scrutiny of the way Americans cast and count their ballots, many states were found wanting. The chief among them was Florida, where the outcome, with the help of the U.S. Supreme Court, gave Bush his victory over Al Gore... Had thousands of voters not wrongly been turned away from the polls, the outcome in Florida probably would have been different and Gore, not Bush, would be in the White House. Most of the disenfranchised voters were black." The editorial cites Greg Palast's most recent article in Harpers Magazine. Send your letters of appreciation to letters@cmonitor.com

Ashcroft Hires Florida Felon Purgers to Oversee Voting Rights!
17-Mar-02
Stolen Election 2000

Ashcroft has NEVER released the results of his investigation into crimes committed in Florida in 2000 - and now he's putting the criminals in charge! "Of the two political operatives hired, one is a former employee of the Voting Integrity Project, which ran the disputed purging of Florida voter rolls of alleged felons during the 2000 election, and the other is a former senior counsel for the Center for Equal Opportunity, an organization that has been sharply critical of preferential affirmative action policies. They will be part of a voting-rights task force Ashcroft announced last year, to be headed by a political appointee... Civil Rights Assistant Attorney General Ralph F. Boyd Jr... acknowledged hiring Hans A. von Spakovsky, a former board member of the Voting Integrity Project, and Hugh Joseph Beard, former senior counsel for the Center for Equal Opportunity, as career lawyers in the voting rights section." We demand a Senate investigation!

The Stolen Election in Times Square
15-Mar-02
Stolen Election 2000

Under the headline "The Stolen Election in Zimbabwe," the NY Times denounced the "ugly travesty" of an election in Zimbabwe. Is there anyone on the planet who can read this editorial without being reminded of the Stolen Election in Florida - aided and abetted by the Times, compounded by the Big Lie headlines following the recounts that PROVED Gore Got More? Let's all write the Times asking that they show the courage of their "convictions" and tell George Bush to resign because of the "deeply flawed" election in Florida! And ask them to report the story they've completely buried: that Katharine Harris/Jeb Bush ordered the purge of ex-felons and people with names similar to felons - to reduce black votes. If the Times can agonize over Clinton taking gifts with him from the White House, they can break their silence on the Bushies stuffing votes in the trash. Let's flood them with letters - if they get several thousand, maybe they'll print one (letters@nytimes.com)

Bush Declares, 'We do not recognize the outcome of the election' - and Neither Do We!
14-Mar-02
Stolen Election 2000

At his press conference on 3-13-02, Bush was asked: "Do you officially recognize the Zimbabwe elections?" Here's Bush's reply: "Zimbabwe. We do not recognize the outcome of the election because we think it's flawed. And we are dealing with -- and we are dealing with our friends to figure out how to deal with this flawed election." Yes, the election in Zimbabwe was fatally flawed - just like Florida. And if the election in Zimbabwe should be overturned because of those fatal flaws, then so too should the election in the United States! We challenge one member of the Washington press corps to ask Bush how the Zimbabwe election was different from Florida - and why Bush has not resigned in recognition of the fact that he LOST Florida.

Theft of the Presidency Day 481: Greg Palast Reveals More Details on Katherine Harris' Felonious Felon Purge
04-Mar-02
Stolen Election 2000

After 18 months of research, Greg Palast has obtained the "scrub list" that Katherine Harris and her predecessor sent to county officials to remove "felons." Highlighted examples include "David Butler," a name which appears 77 times in Florida phone books; Thomas Cooper, flagged for a conviction in 2007 (!); Rev. Willie Dixon, scrubbed despite a rare official pardon; and Johnny Jackson Jr., who never went to Texas but matched the name of a Texas felon; and Wallace McDonald, who was scrubbed for the misdemeanor of sleeping on a bus-stop bench in 1959. "Of the 'matches' on these lists, the civil-rights commission estimated that at least 14 percent - or 8,000 voters, nearly 15 times Bush's official margin of victory - were false." No corporate media outlet has ever reported on the felon purge - because it proves Jeb helped George steal Florida in a "high-tech" stolen election.

Theft of the Presidency Day 474: Another Statistical Analysis Shows Gore Won Florida
25-Feb-02
Stolen Election 2000

On 7-15-01, NY Times reporters David Barstow and Don Van Natta Jr. documented how the Bush campaign pressured numerous Florida counties to count illegal overseas military ballots. A thorough statistical analysis of this data estimates that Bush gained 286 votes as a result of this massive fraud. Without those 286 illegal votes, the Florida Supreme Court would have declared Gore the winner on 12-8-00, when it overruled Katherine Harris and accepted the results of partial recounts from Palm Beach and Miami-Dade and cut Bush's lead to 154. These 286 votes also put Gore over the top in most of the media recount scenarios.

Judge Decides Katherine Harris Will Face NAACP Lawsuit!
20-Feb-02
Stolen Election 2000

"Katherine Harris, Florida's former secretary of state, wanted a lawsuit against her thrown out, but a judge has decided to let the case go trial. The NAACP and four other groups filed suit against Harris (pictured), a former state election chief, and the county elections supervisor. The suit charges that black voters were disenfranchised during the 2000 presidential election." Thanks to all our members who turned out in support of the NAACP's suit!

President's Day Action: Urge George W. Bush to Resign
14-Feb-02
Stolen Election 2000

President's Day is February 18. Since stealing the Presidency 13 months ago, George W. Bush has plunged the nation into permanent war, permanent debt, and permanent loss of our precious freedoms - unless Bush leaves the office he never won. Let's celebrate President's Day by urging George W. Bush to RESIGN and give Al Gore the office he truly won - sign the petition!

Will the Bush Justice Dept Bring Criminal Charges against French Bank Represented by Bush Recount Attorney?
14-Feb-02
Stolen Election 2000

"The Bush administration is weighing whether to bring criminal charges against a French bank being defended by a prominent Washington lawyer who helped the president in the Florida recount." Attorney General Bill "Lockyer, a Democrat who is seeking re-election, sued the French bank, Credit Lyonnais, seeking $2 billion in damages, alleging that more than 300,000 policyholders were harmed by the bank's actions…Representing the financial institution is George Terwilliger, a former deputy attorney general in the first Bush administration and one of the legal strategists who helped George W. Bush during the Florida recount. More recently, Terwilliger was considered for the post of FBI director. He has been a vocal defender of the president's plan to use military tribunals in prosecuting the war on terrorism… In an interview Sunday, Terwilliger declined to say whether he has met with Justice Department officials about Credit Lyonnais."

Florida: On Friday, Show Your Support for 'NAACP vs. Katherine Harris' Lawsuit in Miami
12-Feb-02
Stolen Election 2000

"This critical lawsuit challenges voting irregularities that occurred in Florida during the November 2000 election. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of the NAACP and Black voters in the State of Florida On February 15, 2002, the defendants (Katherine Harris, State Elections Chief Clay Roberts and County Election Supervisors), will ask U.S. District Judge Alan S. Gold to dismiss the case. Fellow Floridians, we were ALL disenfranchised. Stand up by being there to support the efforts to make sure another election fiasco does not occur. Friday, February 15, 2002 - 9:30 A.M. U.S. District Courthouse 301 N. Miami 10th Floor, Courtroom 10 Miami, Florida. BE THERE! SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FLORIDA!! Or it WILL happen again!"

John Dean Says the Stolen Election of 2000 will 'Haunt Future Elections'
30-Jan-02
Stolen Election 2000

Salon.com columnist John Dean writes, "Many observers believe that the 2000 presidential election story is over and dead. I don't. Rather, I think these events are going to return to haunt future elections, not to mention the Senate confirmation hearing of the next nominee to fill any vacancy on the United States Supreme Court. For example, after reading these books, I would not be surprised to discover that Enron's political largess was somehow involved in the Florida vote-counting debacle." OF COURSE Enron was involved in the stolen election in Florida. George Bu$h is the Enron (bogus)POTUS, and he's done his best to deliver -- including a $250 million Enron tax rebate, even though Enron paid no taxes!

January 20 Marks First Anniversary of Bush's Installation - Fly Your Flags Upside Down
17-Jan-02
Stolen Election 2000

The criminal Bush-Cheney administration took office one year ago on January 20. Fittingly, Bush was sworn into office by the Chief Injustice of the Supreme Court, William Rehnquist, symbolizing the takeover of the Presidency by our unelected Judiciary. If you're still angry about the Stolen Election of 2000 - and we just get angrier with every passing day! - then fly your flag upside down this week, to symbolize America's distress at the destruction of our Democracy.

Read 'We Will Not Get Over It: Restoring a Legitimate White House' - It's About All of US!
12-Jan-02
Stolen Election 2000

Finally! Here's a book about the pro-democracy movement that arose following the Theft of the Presidency by George W. Bu$h. This book is about all of US - the true patriots who have fought for Democracy in the face of a criminal Republican Party, a corrupt media, and a cowardly Democratic Party. "They wrote letters, organized rallies and marches, signed petitions, formed Internet sites and groups, and did whatever else they could to register their disapproval of what the court did. They worked for needed electoral reforms so that all Americans' votes could be counted in future elections. 'We Will Not Get Over It: Restoring a Legitimate White House' covers their story, which has been largely ignored by the media. The roughly 100,000-word book was written by journalist Jackson Thoreau and social worker Sharon Thoreau." This is an eBook that you can print on your own printer - $5 donation requested.

Theft of the Presidency Day 427: Gore Won the Popular Vote by 543,895
09-Jan-02
Stolen Election 2000

Using data from revised state totals, the FEC now has the definitive official results of Election 2000. In the popular vote, Gore beat Bush 50,999,897 to 50,456,002, a margin of 543,895. Gore had the second highest vote total in history, behind Reagan in 1984. The only reason Bush occupies the White House is because he stole Florida's 25 electoral votes with the help of Jeb Bush, Katherine Harris, and the US Supreme Court. We will never get over it!

The Public Cause Network Reports on 'A Systematic Deception of the American Voter'
08-Jan-02
Stolen Election 2000

Writes Wm Wilgus: "The REAL story of the Election 2000 Presidential Race is about the media deceiving large numbers of voters, how the media was manipulated into deceiving those voters, why the media was manipulated into the deception, who did the manipulating, where the money that enabled the manipulation came from, and who the manipulator's accessories were. The deception was about one candidate being a liar, unscrupulous [oblivious to or contemptuous of what is right or honorable], and the flunky of another person…The candidate on whose behalf all of this was done is George W. Bush and the persons who did it were the 'back room boys' in his campaign organization. Every campaign has them, of course, and they're referred to as the 'Oppo', short for the 'opposition research department'. Dubya's Oppo (headed by Barbara Comstock and her deputy, Tim Griffin) was very well financed; and since they had quite a bit of help damaging Al Gore's image, were very effective."

Send a Letter to Congress Calling for the Censure of the Felonious Five!
08-Jan-02
Stolen Election 2000

"A Draft Resolution of Congressional Censure Against United States Supreme Court Justices Kennedy, O'Connor, Rehnquist, Scalia, and Thomas for Their Betrayal of the American People and the United States Constitution Displayed in the Decisions of Bush v. Gore...Add your own personal thoughts about the Bush v. Gore outrage to the following letter, print it out, sign, and send to your members of Congress. It's that easy." Send the letter drafted by Eric C. Jacobson and David Harnden-Warwick at Censure the Five. Also, you can read Mr. Jacobsen's recent article that was published in the Los Angeles Daily News by clicking on the 'Media' link on the lower left hand side of the page.

Media Distorted Florida Court Ruling To Invent Bush Victory
31-Dec-01
Stolen Election 2000

"In its ongoing effort to aid and abet George W. Bush's illegal occupation of the White House, the corporate-owned, pro-Bush media sunk to a new low in their desperation to hide the truth that Al Gore got the most votes in Florida and clearly won the 2000 presidential election…The problem was that the media consortium didn't like the results of what NORC found. And even when the consortium applied the rules each of the 67 counties said they would have used in determining the intent of the voters, the result was inescapable: Al Gore won...The truth is, there are no scenarios that George W. Bush would have won under had the U.S. Supreme Court not stopped the counting of legal votes in Florida." So writes Nancy Kuhn in Online Journal.

The New Yorker Tiptoes Around the Stolen Election
18-Dec-01
Stolen Election 2000

In The New Yorker's "Talk of the Town" column, Hendrik Hertzberg writes: "There is no longer any doubt that more Florida voters intended to vote for Gore than for Bush: according to the Times, some eight thousand Gore overvotes, net, were lost because of bad design (the notorious "butterfly" of Palm Beach) or confusing instructions (the two-page Duval County "caterpillar" ballot, which directed voters to "vote all pages"). But those votes were irredeemably spoiled, and the consortium did not consider them. In terms of those votes that were arguably valid, Florida— still—is too close to call." Sorry, Hendrik, but Al Gore won. Yes, the Electoral College should be abolished, but those responsible for stealing the Presidency - including the Supreme Court 5 - should be held accountable.

End the Media Blackout of the Stolen Election - Call a Talk Show This Week!!
10-Dec-01
Stolen Election 2000

Democrats.com has tried to break through the media blackout of the Stolen Election. With your help, we were on several liberal radio talk shows this week for the first time. But most shows still refuse and none of the TV networks (including C-SPAN) or newspapers will cover our events. So to end the media blackout, we need YOU to raise your voice and make yourself heard. Please call EVERY talk show you watch or listen to, and make a simple statement, such as: "This week is the first anniversary of the infamous Supreme Court decision that appointed George W. Bush as President, even though he lost the election nationally and in Florida. I am a member of Democrats.com, and we refuse to accept the Stolen Election of 2000, and the undemocratic appointment of a President by 5 Republican judges. Please tell your listeners that millions of Americans feel this way, and we will sweep Republicans out of office in the next election." Write a letter to your paper also. Thanks!

We Must Never Forget (1)
10-Dec-01
Stolen Election 2000

"We must never forget. We must continue to point the finger at the Emperor and remind him and everyone else that he is morally bootless, unburdened by the restrictive nature of ethical clothings, bankrupt of wit and overflowing in unshirted indecency. He will fight us, no doubt, but what good are the implements of power in the hands of one so stupid and against so implacable a foe? We cannot be defeated, we have right on our side. We did not throw off the yoke of one King George, only to have it replaced by another. Like William Lloyd Garrison, we will not repent, we will not recant and we will not relent... and we will be victorious!" So writes Morris Smith in Democratic Underound.

Theft of the Presidency Day 397: Even Palm Beach's Poll Workers Had Problems with Punchcard Machines
09-Dec-01
Stolen Election 2000

Here's a story that could have changed the outcome of the recount - if it had been reported in November 2000, rather than December 2001. The punchcard machines in Palm Beach County were so error-prone that even experienced poll workers had trouble running tests on the machines before the polls opened. Theresa LePore insists the poll workers were trained to replace malfunctioning machines, but not a single one did - despite the fact that 261 of the county's 531 precincts had malfunctioning machines. These machines produced 10,311 ballots without a Presidential vote, over 5,000 of which had some kind of dimple. This is just one more piece of evidence that the problems in Florida were not "stupid voters" as the Republicans screamed, but rather "stupid machines," "stupid ballots," and "stupid officials." But don't expect the Republicans or their national media slaves to correct their lies.

On December 12, Hold a Candlelight Vigil for American Democracy
04-Dec-01
Stolen Election 2000

We now know that Gore really did win Florida, and the Supreme Court really did help Bush steal the Presidency. That makes it more important than ever to protest the Supreme Court's subversion of Democracy on December 12, the anniversary of Bush v. Gore. Major events are planned for Washington DC, New York City, Tampa FL, Orlando FL, Eugene OR, Oakland CA, Los Angeles CA, and Santa Ana CA. Let's make December 12 a national event, with candlelight vigils from coast to coast! Use our local chapters of Democrats.com to organize locally. Visit this page, find your state and county, join the group, pick a place and time, and spread the word! We suggest 6 pm at the nearest Federal courthouse, to make the connection to the Supreme Court. Bring your copy of "Betrayal of America," plus all of your buttons and signs from the past year. Tell the local press you will be there, and tell them to cover the news that millions of Americans refuse to "get over" the theft of the Presidency.

Participate in a Bush v. Gore Anniversary Event Near You!
03-Dec-01
Stolen Election 2000

Here is our latest list of Bush v. Gore anniversary events on December 12. We urge you to participate in the one near you! Washington DC: Protest Opposite the US Supreme Court, 1-5 pm ... New York City: Rising from the Ashes: Towards Democratic Victories in 2002 and 2004, 6-8 pm (free), followed by a Reception and Film Festival at 9 pm ($5)... Norfolk VA: Death of the Voter Rights Act Demonstration, 6 pm at the Federal Courthouse... Tampa FL: Voice of Freedom Protest Jeb Bush 6:30-9 am at Tampa Marriott Waterside... Orlando FL: Death of Democracy March and Candlelight Vigil, 6:30 pm ... Denver CO: Silent Vigil, 12:00-12:30 pm, Federal Court House... Oakland CA: (A)Wake for Democracy, 5 pm... Los Angeles CA: (A)Wake for Democracy, 6:30 pm... Santa Ana CA: Candlelight Vigil and March, 6-8 pm... Eugene OR: Ring the Bells for Liberty, 4:30 pm... Our hats off to all true patriots!

Gore Vidal Exposes the New York Times' Lies that Claimed Bush Won The Media Recount
03-Dec-01
Stolen Election 2000

Gore Vidal deconstructs the Times' disingenous reporting that Bush won the NORC recount, not Al Gore. "The most depressing aspect of this whole story is how little interest the people seem to have in the unconstitutional usurpation of a presidential election by a rogue Supreme Court majority. It is also striking how little moved they are by the rights we are so rapidly losing in the never-to-be-won war against never-to-be-defined 'terrorism.' The current confusions of the New York Times are not so much that paper's usual problems with honest reporting but what looks to be a perfect indifference to the welfare of this Republic, as opposed to corporate cheerleading for the new homeland that November 2000, not September 2001, made possible. Meanwhile, Vice President Cheney, in his 'undisclosed' bunker, is no doubt wondering whether or not to postpone the certain-to-be-divisive presidential election of 2004. After all, homeland security comes first."

So Bush Did Steal The White House
30-Nov-01
Stolen Election 2000

"Now, Judge Lewis's memo undercuts both the tone and the content of those news reports. It is certainly not clear anymore that the state-ordered recount would have favored Bush. It also appears likely that the interference by the U.S. Supreme Court was decisive. Based on the new evidence, the major newspapers look to be wrong on both these high-profile points. Beyond Gore's narrow victory from the recoverable ballots, the news organizations concluded – but played down – that Gore lost thousands of unrecoverable ballots because of flawed ballot designs in several Democratic strongholds. Gore lost other votes because Gov. Jeb Bush's administration disqualified hundreds of predominantly black voters who were falsely labeled felons. The New York Times also reported that Bush achieved a net gain of about 290 votes by getting illegally cast absentee votes counted in Republican counties while enforcing the rules strictly in Democratic counties." So writes Robert Parry.

Gene Lyons: 'Count the Votes, Not the Lawyers'
26-Nov-01
Stolen Election 2000

"Next time some knucklehead complains about the left-wing press, ask him to explain the spin placed on the Florida election recount by the media consortium that sponsored it. The press interpreted the results to enhance President Bush's 'legitimacy' and explain away the Supreme Court's shameful decision to prevent the votes from being counted. 'Study of Disputed Florida Ballots Finds Justices Did Not Cast the Deciding Vote,' headlined the New York Times. 'In Election Review, Bush Wins Without Supreme Court Help,' said the Wall Street Journal. CNN.com wrote 'Florida Recount Study: Bush Still Wins." The Los Angeles Times reported that 'Bush Still Had Votes to Win in a Recount, Study Finds,' and the Washington Post 'Florida Recounts Would Have Favored Bush.' In plain fact, the numbers by themselves showed almost the exact opposite: had every legal Florida vote been counted, Al Gore would be president." So writes Gene Lyons.

Conason: One Year Later, The 2000 Election Is Still A Sham
24-Nov-01
Stolen Election 2000

"Context is amply provided, along with clarity and color, by Jeffrey Toobin's 'Too Close to Call', a book that deserves study by anyone who professes to care about American democracy. As Mr. Toobin explains, that nasty fracas on Thanksgiving eve was only the most violent expression of the Bush campaign's thorough manipulation of the post-election process. Striving for fairness, Mr. Toobin doesn't hesitate to draw attention to the grievous shortcomings of the Democratic campaign and its candidate. Mr. Gore comes off as a sincere but hapless figure, in thrall to the opinions of newspaper editors who never cared for him...The story of the 2000 election...tells us that our fundamental right to self-government has been corrupted and still awaits restoration. And it tells us something we need to remember about a President whose enthusiasm for government secrecy, military tribunals and other such constitutional affronts was foreshadowed in his leap to the White House."

Theft of the Presidency Day 376 (2): Palm Beach Post Declares Gore the Winner
18-Nov-01
Stolen Election 2000

Randy Schultz is the first Media Consortium representative to flatly declare the truth. "The wrong man became president of the United States in January. That isn't an opinion. It's a fact." He places the blame firmly on Theresa LePore. "Let's dispel one myth. The county's Democratic and Republican parties didn't 'sign off' on the butterfly ballot, as Mr. Bush's spinmeisters got away with claiming last year. The parties don't have to approve the ballot. Democratic officials never saw the ballot in the voting machine. The elections supervisor just has to get the names right and in order. Other supervisors told The Post that Ms. LePore never showed them her plan for putting all the candidates on two pages, and that if she had, they would have warned her about confusion." But blaming LePore is a copout; the Bush campaign could have allowed a revote - or a fair recount - but they were determined to steal the Presidency.

Theft of the Presidency Day 376 (1): Can We Debate the Stolen Election While Fighting a War? Absolutely!
18-Nov-01
Stolen Election 2000

"When will we reformers start to demand, without apology, that our political leaders treat November 7 with at least a measure of the seriousness they have accorded September 11? We do not diminish the dead, nor the struggle to protect the living, when we say that this country is strong enough to face tough questions about the legitimacy of its leaders and its democracy even in a time of war and uncertainty. Rather, we prove a national strength and resolve that run deeper than personalities, to the very heart of the American experiment. [Women's suffrage heroine] Alice Paul would tell us that, in challenging leaders in a time of war to make real their talk of democracy, we practice the truest patriotism. In an oral history, conducted toward the end of her long life, Paul recalled the "radical" sign that stirred so much controversy outside the White House during World War I. It read: "Democracy should begin at home." So writes John Nichols in In These Times.

Theft of the Presidency Day 375(1): Why The Media Consortium's Big Lie Does Not Make Bush 'Legitimate'
17-Nov-01
Stolen Election 2000

The Media Consortium's "proclamation" that its recount shows that Bush won has produced considerable confusion. Here's an excellent concise refutation of the consortium's Big Lie. "Gore didn't actually get what he asked for. He requested a liberal standard of voter intent, but Palm Beach - acting on the advice of Katherine Harris's lawyer - imposed a narrow standard instead. More importantly, Gore did belatedly ask Bush to agree to a statewide count, and Bush refused the offer. But even if none of this were true - even if Gore had never asked for what the Florida voters deserved - it would not make what happened any less of a travesty. The important rights at stake, after all, are those of the voters, not those of the candidates. And the voters have a right to the most accurate determination of their intent possible - regardless of which candidate has the better legal staff." Always remember - it's OUR votes!

Theft of the Presidency Day 374(1): Economist Retracts Bush Victory Call
16-Nov-01
Stolen Election 2000

In a story entitled "An election correction," the Economist issued the following correction: "In the issues of December 16th 2000 to November 10th 2001, we may have given the impression that George Bush had been legally and duly elected president of the United States. We now understand that this may have been incorrect, and that the election result is still too close to call. The Economist apologises for any inconvenience." We call upon EVERY media outlet to do the same!

Bugliosi Says It's Still Time to Impeach the Supreme Court Five
16-Nov-01
Stolen Election 2000

"Obviously September 11 dealt a solar plexus blow to this whole movement.... But I think that in the dispassionate light of the future, history is going to be harsh on us. We already know the moral bankruptcy and the destitution of character of these five Justices. They have proven that. But if we Americans meekly allow what the Court did to stand, without demonstrating our absolute outrage, what does that say about our character? I think history is going to be harsh not just on the Supreme Court but on the American people for allowing this to happen without marching in the streets. History will say we should have been in the streets." So declares Vincent Bugliosi in an interview with The Nation's John Nichols. You go, Vince!

Theft of the Presidency Day 373 (2): Despite Media Lies, Americans Don't Believe Bush Won
14-Nov-01
Stolen Election 2000

On November 6 - even before the media recount proved that Al Gore won Florida - a Gallup poll showed nearly half of Americans still did not believe Bush won "fair and square." "Americans have not changed their minds about what happened in the election and its aftermath. The poll shows that today 50% of Americans say Bush won the presidency fair and square, while 32% say he won it on a technicality, and 15% say he stole the election. These numbers are little changed from those found immediately after the Supreme Court decision in December that effectively halted the vote recount and made Bush the winner. At that time, 48% said Bush won fair and square, 32% said he won on a technicality, and 18% said he stole the election. These results are also remarkably similar to those obtained in a Gallup poll this past July." If the media would stop lying and tell Americans the truth, there would be a political revolution in America.

Theft of the Presidency Day 372 (4): The 'Conspiracy Theorists' Were Right about the Media Coverup
13-Nov-01
Stolen Election 2000

"If the U.S. Supreme Court had given the state enough time to fashion a comprehensive remedy or if Bush had agreed to a full-and-fair recount earlier, the popular will of the American voters – both nationally and in Florida – might well have been respected. Al Gore might well have been inaugurated president... But this outcome was not the favored hypothetical of the news organizations, which apparently wanted to avoid questions about their patriotism. If they had simply given the American people the unvarnished facts, the reality that the voters of Florida favored Al Gore might have bolstered the belief that Bush indeed did steal the White House. That, in turn, could have undermined his legitimacy... The national news media also showed little regard for the fundamental principle of democracy: that leaders derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, not from legalistic tricks, physical intimidation and public-relations maneuvers." So writes Robert Parry.

Theft of the Presidency Day 372 (1): How Bush Lost Florida But Won In The Supreme Court And The Media
13-Nov-01
Stolen Election 2000

"Gore beat Bush in the national popular vote by over a half million votes. Secondly, Consortium interpretations of the voting data conclude that thousands more people voted for Gore in Florida than Bush. The problem for Gore is that many more votes in his favor were declared invalid than similar votes for Bush. Third, discounting such invalid votes, Consortium interpretations conclude that Gore still beat Bush statewide in Florida by a thin margin of under 200 votes. Which brings us back to the Supreme Court decision." So writes Jerry Politex in BushWatch.

Theft of the Presidency Day 372 (2): Media Recount Spin is a 'Spectacular Abdication of Journalistic Integrity'
13-Nov-01
Stolen Election 2000

"Still trying to figure out which recount standard to apply? Try this one: Al Gore won Florida by approximately 30,000 votes and there were 30,000 excuses for not counting them... What we come away with from Florida is a Man running the country who we know wasn't elected. Every time he pays off one of his backers, every time he alienates one of our allies, every time he tries to exterminate the legacy of his predecessor we are reminded and it cannot go away. With each increment of descent into chaos we find all exits from Florida blocked. What a spectacular abdication of journalistic integrity, to admit clearly on the one hand that the people of the state of Florida chose Al Gore, and at the very same moment to unilaterally mask that with misleading headlines." So writes Marc Ash in Truthout.com

Democrats.com Declares Gore the Winner, Launches 'Democracy in 2002' Campaign
12-Nov-01
Stolen Election 2000

Following the long-awaited recount of Florida's Presidential ballots, Democrats.com declared Gore the winner of the 2000 election and launched a "Democracy in 2002" campaign to sweep Democrats into office across America in the next election. According to Democrats.com co-founder Bob Fertik, "It has taken more than a year, but we have finally learned the truth about Florida - that if all of the votes had been counted, Al Gore would be President. The only reason George W. Bush was sworn into office is because his campaign adamantly refused to count all of the votes. To put it simply: George W. Bush stole Florida with the help of his brother, Governor Jeb Bush, his campaign co-chair, Secretary of State Katherine Harris, and a partisan Republican majority of the U.S. Supreme Court. The 30,000 members of Democrats.com are proud to declare that we will NEVER 'get over' the Stolen Election."

Theft of the Presidency Day 365: Miami Herald Changes Its Story Again, Now Blaming the Ballot Design
07-Nov-01
Stolen Election 2000

For a year, the Miami Herald has been blaming voting machines - primarily punchcard systems - for most of Florida's 175,000 uncounted votes. Suddenly, a year later, the Herald has changed its story, and now blames "poorly designed ballots." "Those troublesome ballots, used in 18 counties, had presidential candidates broken into two columns or spread over two pages." Well, duh! The whole world knew about Teresa LePore's "Butterfly Ballot" on November 8, 2000. This and the other confusing ballot designs were ILLEGAL and should have been vetoed by Secretary of Katherine Harris, but she was too busy taking first class trips around the globe to enforce Florida's election laws. Just one more reason why Harris should be indicted, not elected!

Celebrate V2K Day 2001 on November 7!
02-Nov-01
Stolen Election 2000

This Wednesday, November 7th, will be the one year anniversary of President Gore's victory over former Governor George W. Bush. Just as Americans celebrated "VE" day in 1945 when peace had finally come to Europe but war still raged in the Pacific, we're asking Gore supporters to celebrate "V2K Day" as the first step toward total victory in 2004. There are five simple actions you can chose from to celebrate V2K Day 2001!

The NORC Data Will Show That Al Gore Won Florida
01-Nov-01
Stolen Election 2000

Researcher Paul Lukasiak has compiled the DEFINITIVE analysis proving Al Gore won Florida. Lukasiak shows: 1) over 10,000 Gore votes were lost through bad ballot design, 2) 45,000 more people went to the polls in Florida to voter for Gore than for Bush, 3) Gore lost over 500 net votes because some election officials illegally refused to count prescribed legal votes, 4) selective 'hand counting' in mostly Republican controlled counties gave Bush an extra 3000+ votes, 5) Bush's 'victory' was based solely on the illegal use of different standards for counting ballots within counties themselves as well as statewide, 6) Katherine Harris deliberately ignored both the State Constitution's guarantee of equal protection, as well as the specific statutory requirement that she personally ensure that election laws were applied consistently throughout the state. Send this article to every reporter you know!

Media Cover-Up Of The Gore Victory Part Four: Democracy, General Electric Style
23-Oct-01
Stolen Election 2000

"Shortly after George W. Bush declared his candidacy for president in June of 1999, General Electric Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jack Welch was contacted by Bush political advisor Karl Rove. Welch later informed associates that Rove told him a Bush administration would initiate comprehensive deregulation of the broadcast industry. Rove guaranteed that deregulation would be implemented in a way that would create phenomenal profits for conglomerates with significant media holdings, like GE... Welch told several people at GE that the conversation with Rove convinced him that a Bush presidency would ultimately result in billions of dollars of additional profits for General Electric. Welch believed that it was his responsibility to operate in the best interest of GE shareholders, and that now meant using the full power of the world’s biggest corporation to get Bush into the White House" - including NBC News. So write David Podvin and Carolyn Kay.

Jeffrey Toobin's 'Too Close to Call' Documents the Stolen Election in Florida
18-Oct-01
Stolen Election 2000

Jeffrey Toobin's new book, "Too Close to Call," is an in-depth review of the Florida recount battle. "The wrong man was inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2001, and this is no small thing in our nation's history," Mr. Toobin writes. "The bell of this election can never be unrung, and the sound will haunt us for some time." According to NY Times reviewer Janet Maslin, "In practical terms, this means a demonstration of how, while Vice President Al Gore and his aides 'were hunched over their calculators, the Republicans were breaking bar stools over their heads.'" Check it out!

Katherine Harris FINALLY Admits that Manual Recounts are Required
11-Oct-01
Stolen Election 2000

When Democrats wanted Florida election officials to manually examine ballots that were rejected by tabulating machines, Republicans SCREAMED that machines were infallible, while humans were completely incompetent. Republicans pushed this outrageous propaganda campaign all the way to the US Supreme Court, which used this Big Lie to block a state-wide manual recount. Now, a year later, Katherine Harris admits that manual recounts are IN FACT superior to machines. Harris' new rules simply lay out what law-abiding counties SHOULD have done in the LAST election. And many Republican counties did so - and Harris accepted those manually counted votes - but Harris deliberately refused to let Democratic counties in South Florida count the same votes, so she could STEAL the election for Bush. This is why Harris belongs in jail, not Congress.

The NORC Florida Ballot Study, Part Two: The News that Would Have Been
25-Sep-01
Stolen Election 2000

Before the terrorist attack, September was destined to be a difficult month for George W. Bush. Allegations about the 2000 election and his legitimacy were about hit the news... pressure was mounting for formal investigations into election law violations in Florida... Dick Cheney was under increasing criticism about not releasing the names of the people who influenced energy policy... Newsweek published excerpts of "The Accidental President"... a major report was about to be released about the devastation landmines were bringing to innocent people, highlighting the treaty the U.S. has still not signed... international dissatisfaction was growing about the increasing U. S. arrogance and isolation... thousands of protesters were planning to link their arms around the White House... And, as George W. traveled to Florida to celebrate increased test scores at a Jacksonville school, an allegation arose that the scores were bogus. Then Fate intervened...

Bush Says 'They Hate our Democratically Elected Government'
21-Sep-01
Stolen Election 2000

During his speech to the nation, Bush asked, "Why do they hate us?" And he answered: "They hate what they see right here in this chamber, a democratically elected government. Their leaders are self-appointed. They hate our freedoms, our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other." Our democratically elected government? Unfortunately, our questions about Bush's "victory" remain unanswered. Perhaps some day Bush will answer them.

Hey Ari, You Really Don't Want to Go There
18-Sep-01
Stolen Election 2000

On Monday, Ari Fleischer called Belarus' elections "severely flawed" and said "Aleksander Lukashenko, Europe’s last dictator, [stole] the elections from the Belarusian people." Ari, we're avoiding partisanship during our national crisis, but let's just put it this way: you really shouldn't start a discussion about stealing elections.

Newsweek Breaks Media Silence on Angry Democrats
09-Sep-01
Stolen Election 2000

In this week's cover story, Newsweek's Howard Fineman breaks the media silence on the rage felt by Democrats over the Stolen Election. "Most voters have put Florida 2000 out of their minds, but not hard-core Democrats, who blame the high court and the Bush family for Gore's loss. 'People say I should stop talking about it,' says DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe. 'But I'll tell you what: our people are still mad.' The Florida fiasco shows the need for uniform national election rules, he says. Until Bush agrees, McAuliffe says, he'll mouth off." Right on, Terry! Meanwhile, the media is eagerly awaiting Al Gore's Iowa speech on September 28 - will he denounce the Stolen Election? Whether he does, or doesn't, we certainly will. Because in the end, it wasn't about Al Gore - it was about the right of the American people to choose their leader through their votes. Memo to the media: "It's the voters, stupid!"

KMA, GOP!
09-Sep-01
Stolen Election 2000

"Now that the cumulative weight of the evidence from the journalists, researchers, legal scholars and authors has mounted, the verdict is in. It is unanimous and it is loud and it is clear: the Republican Party stole the presidential election of 2000. The Republicans stole it six ways from Sunday -- the faith-based GOP's favorite day of the week -- and now they have history to answer to... It was, in short, a naked power grab, as unseemly as anything that occurs with regularity in Africa, Asia and Latin America, those areas we used to dismiss as Third World 'banana republics.' The crime is so vast and so well-documented that no amount of dissembling, rewriting and Sunday morning punditry can paper it over. It's on the record, an indelible blemish on the American soul." So writes Alan Bisbort in American Politics Journal.

Florida Republicans Complain About E-mail Use by Democratic Official
03-Sep-01
Stolen Election 2000

The Republican Party of Florida is up in arms because Leon County Commissioner Cliff Thaell, a Democrat, used his county e-mail address to post a single letter of support for gubernatorial candidate Pete Peterson. This is the same Republican Party whose Governor and Secretary of State used their offices in countless ways to steal the Presidency. Tell reporter David Twiddy (drtwiddy@taldem.com) you are outraged - and want a FULL investigation of the abuses of Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris' offices to steal the presidency.

Rev. Jesse Jackson Urges Sen. Joe Lieberman to Investigate Florida
31-Aug-01
Stolen Election 2000

According to Rev. Jesse Jackson, "It is time for Sen. Joe Lieberman to use his new position as chair of the Senate Rules Committee to examine some of these questions. We need to know the truth about Florida. And Lieberman owes it to the large number of supporters - particularly African-Americans - who worked so hard for his election; to the millions across this nation who came to the polls to vote for him as vice president; and to the thousands and thousands in Florida who tried to cast their votes for him only to be denied the chance. The 2000 election is no longer about Bush vs. Gore. The unfinished business is to redeem America's democracy - to expose the fraud and the failures, to remedy the abuses and to expand the opportunity to vote. Count every vote - every vote counts. It is up to Congress to insure that this simple promise is met." We agree!

White House Thief Complains About Election Crimes - In Belarus, Not the U.S.
29-Aug-01
Stolen Election 2000

Even though he stole the Presidency, Bush has the unbelievable arrogance to criticize upcoming elections in Belarus. Bush is complaining about suppression of the opposition media - but the U.S. doesn't even HAVE a serious opposition media, thanks to Republican control of the airwaves. Meanwhile, Bush is locking up journalists and star wars critics, and pushing an "Official Secrets" act through Congress. Let's ask Belarus to investigate Bush's stolen election!

Theft of the Presidency Day 289: Florida Legislator Wants Criminal Investigation of Theresa Lepore
28-Aug-01
Stolen Election 2000

"A Democratic state representative from Palm Beach County is calling for a criminal investigation of county Election Supervisor Theresa LePore, whose 'butterfly ballot' and malfunctioning voting machines might have swung the presidential election to George W. Bush. Rep. Irv Slosberg of Boca Raton filed an eight-page complaint July 26 with Sheriff Ed Bieluch... It alleges that LePore's unconventional facing-page ballot and some particularly troublesome punch-card voting machines used by the county violated state election law. 'I don't think this is a conspiracy,' Slosberg said. 'I think it just has to do with Theresa LePore and the way she's running her office. She's a nice lady, but she's drowning.'" Slosberg wants an investigation of Lepore's purchase of cheap "Data-Punch" knockoffs of the Votomatic machines, as well as election day use of machines that were known to be malfunctioning.

Theft of the Presidency Day 284: GOP Operative Adam Goodman Charged Katherine Harris $12,000 for Recount Work to 'Rock the World'
26-Aug-01
Stolen Election 2000

Katherine Harris has insisted that the three GOP operatives who ran a partisan "war room" out of her non-partisan office were "volunteers." But once again Katherine Harris has been caught lying, because she agreed to pay one of them - Adam Goodman - $12,000 for his work during the recount. And Goodman's correspondence leaves no doubt as to the nature of their relationship: instead of trying to objectively apply Florida election law, he and Katherine were working to "rock the world" - GOPspeak for stealing the election for Bush. Harris refused to pay Goodman from her political funds, because his work for her was in her "official" capacity. This means Harris intentionally used her office to hire a GOP operative to help her steal the Presidency. We demand an investigation!

NYU Professor Mark Crispin Miller Refuses to 'Get Over It'
23-Aug-01
Stolen Election 2000

"If Mark Crispin Miller is right, the White House is occupied by a right-wing cabal, fronted by a man so sure of his dynastic ascendancy that he does not even bother to adhere to the rules of common English, so complacent in his privilege that he flaunts his ignorance as if it were the ultimate mark of superiority. If Miller is right, this man was not elected president in any legal or moral sense. If Miller is right, a sophisticated right-wing propaganda machine, operating with the aid of corporate-influenced big media, has brainwashed Americans into believing that he was. If Miller is right, the presidency of George W. Bush dealt democracy a potentially murderous blow, a blow that left millions of voters mentally and emotionally stunned, unable to truly comprehend the enormity of the Supreme Court's decision nine months ago. If Miller is right, these voters are just coming to, and once they are fully conscious, there's going to be hell to pay." Of course Miller is right!

Greg Palast On The Meria Heller Show
21-Aug-01
Stolen Election 2000

Greg talks about the pressure of Barrick Gold Mine (George Sr.'s old buddies) on his expose of their dealings with Bush and loss of Human rights; culminating in the REMOVAL of his article from his AMERICAN website. This is a HUGE story about losing freedom of speech here in AMERICA when it concerns a U.S. website. Greg also talks about how the "committee?" has decided to "move on" as far as the Florida vote recount is concerned. Yet, there are 180,000 votes that still have not been counted the FIRST time. As Democrats.com has already said Florida is getting ready for another pre-election purge - get active. Stay tuned - all shows archived at www.Meria.net.

How the Repug's Stopped the Recount in Dade County on November 22
20-Aug-01
Stolen Election 2000

Arthur Buonamia, District Chairman of the Miami Democratic Executive Committee, tells his eyewitness account of the morning of the stopped recount in Dade County, when he was one of the people actually DOING the recount. Buonamia exposes the radio stations 1140 am, 670 am and 710am which carefully orchestrated the inciting of the radical right wing Cuban exile community in collusion with the hired thugs from the Repugs. Arthur blows the lid of this supposed spontaneous protest to stop the recount. This action only took place WHEN cameras were rolling. What were staffers of Trent Lott and Tom DeLay doing there? Listen to truth of the mob action on the 19th floor of the Clark building and realize this ELECTION WAS STOLEN while the media and the police looked the other way. Buonamia is interviewed by Meria Heller.

What is NBC Hiding About Election Night Call?
15-Aug-01
Stolen Election 2000

In February, NBC News President Andrew Lack[ey] promised under oath to provide Congress with a videotape of GE CEO Jack Welch telling NBC to call the election for Bush, even though the election was too close to call. Now NBC refuses to release the footage. What is NBC hiding? We demand the truth about NBC's role in the Stolen Election!

Election Center, a Nonpartisan, Nonprofit Election Watchdog Calls for Investigation of 2000 Election
13-Aug-01
Stolen Election 2000

A report put together for Election Center, a nonpartisan, nonprofit electionsd watchdog group concludes that allegations of racial discrimination against voters in the 2000 election are serious enough to warrant a full investigation by the Justice Department. "Since the allegations are so serious and can have such a major impact on any proposed congressional legislation affection elections, it is critical that the Justice Department appoint investigators immediately." The task force of three dozen election officials who compiled the report also made recommendations for election changes that would improve the system.

Theft of the Presidency Day 271: Katherine Harris Lies About Partisan Activity During Recount
10-Aug-01
Stolen Election 2000

Poor Katherine Harris! The mere suggestion that she stole the election reduces her to tears. But when it comes to proving her innocence, she leaves us high and dry. Under cross-examination, she now admits that her much-touted "firewall" between official duties and politics ONLY referred to the 36-day recount. But even THEN she had 3 GOP operatives working in her office - Mac Stipanovich, Adam Goodman, and her unnamed campaign manager, whose AOL name is GOPspinner - a 100% pure partisan hack! PLUS "there may have been communication over legal strategies between Harris' legal team and top members of Bush's legal team." SAY WHAT??? Were Harris' lawyers CONSPIRING with Bush's lawyers to STEAL the election? We demand an investigation!

Theft of the Presidency Day 270: Justice Department Rejects THOUSANDS of Florida Voter Complaints
09-Aug-01
Stolen Election 2000

In a major report, local election officials called on the Justice Department to thoroughly investigate complaints from Florida, especially those documented by the US Commission on Civil Rights. In response, the Justice Department said it had received THOUSANDS of complaints, but had thrown all but TWELVE - probably all of the complaints filed by Republicans. We demand oversight hearings from the Senate Judiciary Committee!

Theft of the Presidency Day 269 (3): Harris Disks Show LOTS of Political Activity, Proving Harris is a Liar
08-Aug-01
Stolen Election 2000

Here are some of the political activities conducted on Harris' computer. 1) On 1/29/00, a speech written for a Republican meeting that declared: "We are READY TO LEAD!" 2) On 3/14/00, a set of campaign talking points for George W. Bush. 3) On 11/14/00, an examination of the campaign finances of FL Supreme Court Justice Barbara Pariente - who was reviewing important election cases. 4) A list of contributors to Harris' 1998 Democratic opponent, Karen Gievers (undated). Item #3 proves that Harris lied when she declared: "no partisan political activity transpired in my office during the recount period." And from #1, here's the clincher that perfectly sums up Harris' role in stealing the election: "I am a bit biased - after all - I co-chair the campaign effort of George W. Bush." Thanks, Katherine - we'll engrave that on your jail cell door.

Theft of the Presidency Day 269 (1): Katherine Harris Was Determined To Reject Palm Beach Recount
08-Aug-01
Stolen Election 2000

The Florida Supreme Court ordered Katherine Harris to accept the Palm Beach recount until 5 pm on Sunday November 26 or on Monday at 9 am. But at 1:30 pm on Sunday, GOP operatives in Harris' office had already written speeches rejecting the court-ordered recount as "unlawful" and declaring Bush the winner, according to documents from her computers recovered by The Palm Beach Post. At 5 pm, Harris in fact rejected the recount because it was two hours from completion, even though Harris could have accepted the completed returns the following morning. On December 9, the Florida Supreme Court overruled Harris and ordered her to include 383 additional votes for Gore in Palm Beach and Miami-Dade, reducing Bush's lead to 154 and ordering a state-wide count of undervotes. That's when the Felonious Five of the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in to declare Bush the winner, contrary to all applicable law and the US Constitution. It is now clear that the Republicans were DETERMINED to steal Florida.

An Exercise in Futility: AP Search for Evidence in Cruella De Harris's Office 9 Months After Fact
08-Aug-01
Stolen Election 2000

Although in theory we support any efforts to unmask Cruella De Harris's treachery in the 2000 election, the current effort is not only phony, it is doomed to failure. Does anyone in their right minds seriously think that after 9 months Harris has knowingly left a SHRED of evidence on her computers? Secondly, does anyone with any knowledge of the corporate media really believe that the Associated Press, which is conducting the search, is UNBIASED. Yeah, right. They are as close to being an honorary Bush PR office as they can be without actually moving their headquarters into the West Wing. So, if anything is turned up in this search, it will be by pure accident and careless handling of the evidence (i.e., someone didn't hide it fast enough).

'Ethics' Committee Buys Buyer's Lies
05-Aug-01
Stolen Election 2000

The House Ethics Committee believed Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN) when he claimed he knew nothing about the forwarding of military e-mail addresses to Florida Republican operative Rob Carter to wage a propaganda war against Al Gore. But we don't believe it for a second. We demand Buyer take a lie detector test, just like Republicans have demanded of Condit. This is an extremely serious charge - politicizing the military to win an election. We also demand the prosecution of Buyer aide Michael Higgins, who pressured the Pentagon into turning over the e-mail addresses. We also demand the prosecution of Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY) and the Congressional aides who staged a riot in Miami to interfere with the administration of the election.

Did NBC Distort its Coverage to Elect Bush? We Demand the Truth!
05-Aug-01
Stolen Election 2000

According to Media Whores Online, "Reliable sources have informed MWO that Jack Welch and Tim Russert attended last autumn's Al Smith Dinner in New York together - and that Russert, on the back of his lapel, was cleverly wearing a Bush for President button. Russert has reportedly tried to shrug off the incident in private, but has failed to discuss it publicly. MWO has also been told that either during or after the campaign, Republican Welch chewed out his employee, NBC News correspondent Claire Shipman, for being too favorable to Gore." If this is true, it's further proof that the TV networks rigged the election for Bush - and should have their broadcast licenses revoked. Demand the truth from NBC executives Andrew Lack (andrew.lack@nbc.com) and Cory Sh ields (cory.shields@nbc.com).

Theresa LePore Does it Again - Move On, Theresa!
01-Aug-01
Stolen Election 2000

There she goes again! Theresa LePore recently "wiped out computer files showing how each ballot was punched in the presidential election, removing that information from the public domain even as scholars and journalists continue to analyze the results of Florida's presidential voting... The erasure is an unexpected blow to advocates of election reform because of the data's historical value. By wiping out the records, the elections staff also may have violated Florida's strict rules against destroying public records." C'mon Theresa - why don't you resign already and put Palm Beach - and America - out of its misery? We demand that Katherine Harris order the immediate safeguarding of ALL public records concerning the 2000 election - including the records of state offices (including Jeb's) and all county offices.

Waxman's Deadline Passes for NBC Election Night Tape
01-Aug-01
Stolen Election 2000

"Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) wants NBC News to surrender to him alleged in-house NBC videotapes that reportedly show presidential-election-night interference with news operations by General Electric Co. chairman and CEO Jack Welch in support of then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush... NBC president and CEO Andrew Lack has repeatedly denied the Welch allegation, both in sworn House testimony Feb. 14 and in two letters to Waxman subsequent to his House Energy and Commerce appearance. But Waxman has kept pressing Lack and complaining that his denials have been evasive... The Waxman-Lack dispute could come to a head Tuesday. In a July 11 letter to Lack, Waxman requested that NBC review his questions a second time and report its finding by July 31. An NBC source was checking whether Lack would have anything more to say to Waxman by the deadline." Don't let up, Henry!

Bush Wants to 'Move On' through Amnesia
29-Jul-01
Stolen Election 2000

Following the NY Times expose on Republican absentee ballot fraud, Ari Fleischer told Americans to "move on." But according to Todd Gitlin, "Moveon.org called on Congress to censure Mr. Clinton before moving on, acknowledging the president's moral culpability while distinguishing it from legal culpability. By contrast, the current White House call to move on beyond the Bush campaign's tactics in Florida blames no one for the apparent failures of the Florida election system, preferring amnesia." Moreover, Bill Clinton ultimately took responsibility for his actions and apologized - while Bush refuses to even acknowledge that he stole the election, let alone apologize for committing the worst crime against Democracy in American history. When will the media demand an explanation from Bush?

1/3 of Chicago Area Voting Errors Were Caused by Defective Equipment
29-Jul-01
Stolen Election 2000

About 6% of Chicago area ballots (123,000) lacked a recordable "for" for President in 2000 - twice as many as in 1996. As in Florida, the voters were initially blamed. But in May, the election equipment manufacturer, Election Data Corp. of CA, admitted that HALF of the plastic templates they sold were slightly off, which probably accounted for 1/3 (39,000) of the spoiled ballots. Company officials tried to keep this a secret, but the Chicago Tribune obtained it through an FOIA request. We're checking to see if this defective equipment was used in Florida...

Theft of the Presidency Day 257: Fraud in the Panhandle
27-Jul-01
Stolen Election 2000

Online Journal researchers Elizabeth Jordan and Oliver Dawshed have done a preliminary statistical analysis of Florida voting patterns. They conclude that the most likely site for election night tampering was north Florida, especially the Panhandle. Ballot spoilage in Escambia County was clearly systematic. Excess ballot spoilage alone accounted for about 500 net Bush votes. Minting ballots from overvotes, as Lukasiak's work suggests, amounted to perhaps another 200. In 11 other Republican counties (Bay, Bradford, Calhoun, Columbia, Dixie, Gulf, Hamilton, Jackson, Suwanee, Union, and Washington), voting patterns consistent with fraud were observed. Precincts in some counties had discard rates of over 20% of ballots cast. A simple model suggested that 7,100 ballots may have been destroyed in these 11 counties. Fraud has not yet been excluded in a half-dozen other counties. The evidence to suggest a statewide criminal investigation is compelling.

Bush Dreams of Dictatorship
27-Jul-01
Stolen Election 2000

On 12/18/00, "Bush declared If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." During the campaign, Bush responded to Zack Exley's GWBush.com parody site by angrily declaring, "there ought to be limits to freedom." Now that Congress refuses to buckle to his will, he "joked" that "a dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier." Frankly, we don't find this "joke" the least bit funny from the man who STOLE the presidency, and still refuses to admit it. Since the Felonious Five control the Supreme Court, what would stand in the way of Bush actually declaring himself dictator? Bush should be universally condemned by the media for this "joke."

LePore Demands Prosecution of Poodle Voter, Not Real Criminals
22-Jul-01
Stolen Election 2000

Theresa LePore designed the butterfly ballot that resulted in nearly 20,000 "overvotes" and cost Al Gore the presidency. Yet neither she, Katherine Harris, nor any other election official has been prosecuted - YET - for their misdeeds. But when someone played a joke on LePore and successfully registered a poodle, LePore goes running to the local prosecutor and threatens a felony indictment. Hey Theresa, why don't you go after the REAL criminals who stole the 2000 election?

Rep. Peter Deutsch (D-FL) Wants to Know 'Who Violated the Law'
20-Jul-01
Stolen Election 2000

In an interview with Anthony York of Salon, Rep. Peter Deutsch (D-FL) explained his ethics complaint against Rep. Steve Buyer (R-FL). Buyer used his position as chair of the House Armed Services Personnel Subcomittee to obtain the e-mail addresses and phone numbers of active duty sailors whose illegal votes had been disqualified. He then fed that information to the head of the Republican propaganda campaign to viciously portray Al Gore and the Democrats as anti-military. "My hope is that the investigators on the [House Ethics] committee can determine how information made its way from Congressman Buyer's office to the Florida Republican Party. What did occur was that the law was violated and that official resources were used for personal use. The question is, 'Who violated the law?' No one is denying that the information was used by the Republican Party of Florida…Whoever violated federal statutes hopefully will be dealt with in the appropriate manner."

Theft of the Presidency Day 249 (1): Steve Buyer (R-IN) Conspired With Tillie Fowler (R-FL) and Republican Operatives to Politicize the Military
19-Jul-01
Stolen Election 2000

On Monday, Rep. Peter Deutsch (D-FL) filed an ethics complaint against Rep. Steve Buyer (R-IN) for demanding e-mail addresses of active duty sailors for the Republican propaganda campaign to demonize Democrats over military absentee ballots. Now Buyer says he was acting on behalf of Rep. Tillie Fowler (R-FL). But Fowler was working with Rob Carter, the mastermind of the Republican propaganda campaign. We demand an ethics investigation of Fowler as well!

Theft of the Presidency Day 249 (3): NYT Investigative Reporters Discuss Military Absentee Ballot Scandal with Terry Gross
19-Jul-01
Stolen Election 2000

Terry Gross, host of "Fresh Air" on NPR, is one of the best interviewers on the radio. Gross interviewed NY Times reporters David Barstow and Don Van Natta Jr. at length about their recent expose on Bush's overseas military ballot fraud. GOP spinmeisters have insisted the 680 illegal ballots would NOT have affected the outcome of the election. But the reporters make clear that Gore would have won if either: a) all of the overseas ballots were thrown out, following previous court precedents involving tainted absentee ballots, or b) if Katherine Harris had given a similar "benefit of the doubt" to Palm Beach officials, whose 174 additional votes for Gore were rejected because Harris refused to accept them the following morning.

Katherine Harris Refuses Access to Computer Records
17-Jul-01
Stolen Election 2000

According to the NY Times, political henchmen J.M. Stipanovich and Adam Goodman illegally ran a Republican "war room" out of Secretary of State Katherine Harris' office, using office computers. The Times reported that Harris' lawyers "now say many of the records have been erased, a potential violation of Florida's public records law." According to the St. Petersburg Times, Harris now insists "no public records were erased," but she still refuses to let reporters examine the computers. What is Harris hiding? We demand the release of ALL of Katherine Harris' records about the stolen election!

Bush Owes Gore an Apology for Challenging His Patriotism
17-Jul-01
Stolen Election 2000

During the military absentee ballot dispute, the Bush campaign viciously attacked Gore for briefly trying to disqualify illegal military ballots. According to E.J. Dionne, "What we now learn is that the Bush campaign wasn't defending all military ballots. It was defending them selectively, depending on whether they were cast in Republican or Democratic counties. The Times reports that on one day, 'in three South Florida counties, Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach, boards rejected as illegal 362 of 572 overseas ballots.' The Times adds: 'Most -- including many military ballots -- were thrown out without a word of protest from Mr. Bush's lawyers.' Bush wasn't defending military voters. He was defending Republican voters." Bush owes Al Gore - and the nation - an apology, Big Time.

Dems Plan to Subpoena Katherine Harris' Records
16-Jul-01
Stolen Election 2000

According to Sunday's expose by the NY Times, Republicans ran an illegal "war room" out of Katherine Harris' office during the recount battle to steal the election. According to DNC spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri, Dems will subpoena Harris' records. "It's outrageous," said Palimeri. "The secretary of state was running a Republican war room out of her office with the presidency of the United States at stake? It's just outrageous. The media has become anesthetized to this type of activity from the Bush campaign and aren't paying as serious attention we think this story deserves." [Note to Salon: Bush's margin of victory was 537 votes ACCORDING TO HARRIS, but the Florida Supreme Court reduced that lead to 154 on 12/8. Subtract Bush's 292 illegal overseas votes, and Gore wins by 138.]

The Florida Election Was 'Fundamentally Corrupt'
16-Jul-01
Stolen Election 2000

"The truth is that because election officials in Florida were so unprepared for so close a vote, we will never know who would have won the fair and legally mandated recount that the conservative Republican majority on the Supreme Court stepped in to prevent, lest their man end up on the losing end. But we do know, because of the Times reporting and previous evidence that augments it, that the Bush forces were unwilling to allow an honest accounting to take place... the Times has done a journalistic service in forcing us, once again, to face up to an ugly, but increasingly incontrovertible fact: The 2000 election was stolen; not from the hapless Gore and Lieberman ticket, but from the democratic process itself. We are all the poorer for it." So writes MSNBC columnist Eric Alterman.

Theft of the Presidency Day 246 (3): Washington Post Distorts NY Times Expose
16-Jul-01
Stolen Election 2000

On Sunday, the NY Times exposed a criminal conspiracy to steal the Presidency. But the review by the Washington Post deliberately avoids all mention of criminal activities. E-mail ombudsman@washpost.com and tell them to stop the coverup, and to start seriously investigating the criminal conspiracy in Washington and Florida to steal the Presidency.

Theft of the Presidency Day 246 (1): Democrats Outraged by Fraud Revelations
16-Jul-01
Stolen Election 2000

In the wake of the NY Times expose, Democrats called for further investigations and possible prosecutions. In Washington, Rep. Peter Deutsch (D-FL) called for an ethics inquiry into Rep. Steve Buyer's (R-IN) politicization of the military. "It's shocking. It's scary. And it's also illegal and a violation of his trust as an elected official. When you think it can't get any more shocking, it gets more shocking." In Florida, Democratic state chair Bob Poe said "We have to look at trying to see if criminal action needs to be taken against Katherine Harris, particularly for the destruction of public records." Hey guys, don't make the mistake of treating the various crimes in isolation. Deal with the whole terrifying fact that there was a CRIMINAL CONSPIRACY TO STEAL THE PRESIDENCY!

Theft of the Presidency Day 246 (2): NY Times Editorial Board Trashes Its Own News Division
16-Jul-01
Stolen Election 2000

On Sunday, NY Times investigative reporters David Barstow and Don Van Natta Jr. exposed a comprehensive Republican plan - run from Katherine Harris' office - to steal the Presidential election by misleading, pressuring, and even intimidating county election officials into counting ILLEGAL Republican absentee ballots. This plan included ILLEGALLY using Congressional offices to ILLEGALLY enlist active duty military personnel into a partisan Republican propaganda campaign. This conspiracy by top officials to use their power to break numerous laws constitutes FRAUD - and represents the most heinous attack on American Democracy since the Watergate break-in. Yet the Times' editorial board reduces this FRAUD to Democrats being "outhustled and outmaneuvered," as though crystal-clear election laws - and laws preventing the politicization of the military - were simply a game. This is an outrage! E-mail letters@nytimes.com and tell them to "Respect their Reporters and Call a Fraud a Fraud!"

Get ready for the Next Battle in the Republican Spin and Propaganda Exaggeration War (SPEW)
16-Jul-01
Stolen Election 2000

In his often-reprinted "Coup d'Etat: A Practical Handbook," U. S. intelligence expert Edward Luttwak says that lack of reaction on the part of the people is all a coup needs to stay in power: "This lack of reaction is the key to the victory of the coup..." In his discussion of how coup leaders and beneficiaries exploit their "monopoly" of the mass media to discourage resistance to the coup, Luttwak speaks of making constant use of the "motif of isolation." This strategy must emphasize that "isolated" resistance is the product of the obstinacy of a few misguided or dishonest individuals. Furthermore, it must emphasize that law and order have been re-established which "should have the effect of making resistance appear as dangerous and useless." Now, considering these strategies, look at the White House reaction to the New York Times's findings.

Theft of the Presidency Day 245 (3): NY Times Finds Fraud - But Denies It!
15-Jul-01
Stolen Election 2000

As with previous exposes about the Stolen Election, NY Times editors twisted their conclusions to deny the facts uncovered by their own reporters. The Times says it "found no evidence of fraud" - but its reporters found that Republicans "mounted a legal and public relations campaign to persuade canvassing boards in Bush strongholds to waive the state's election laws." This was fraud - a conspiracy to persuade election officials to break the law. The conspiracy included threatening election officials with federal prosecution if they failed to count illegal ballots. And it included illegal contacts with active duty military personnel to politicize the recount and demonize the Democrats. Worst of all, this conspiracy operated out of Katherine Harris' office - the person who was responsible for ENFORCING Florida's election law! E-mail letters@nytimes.com and tell them to publish the truth - that Bush won through FRAUD!

Theft of the Presidency Day 245 (5): Jeb Helped Engineer the Stolen Election - and Lied About It
15-Jul-01
Stolen Election 2000

"When it became clear that the disputed Florida election could deliver the White House to his brother, Gov. Jeb Bush immediately recused himself from any official role in the recount, promising to avoid even the 'slightest appearance of a conflict of interest.' ... Despite that hands-off policy, the Florida governor's office in Tallahassee made 95 telephone calls to the George W. Bush presidential campaign, its advisors, lawyers and staffers during the 36-day recount period, records show... The governor visited the state GOP headquarters in Tallahassee that functioned as the Bush campaign command center for the recount at least once, for example. He also dialed into at least one conference call with campaign operatives, aides said." The bottom line is this: Jeb Bush used his power as Governor to help engineer the stolen election - and continues to lie about his role. We demand an investigation!

Theft of the Presidency Day 245 (2): Congressional Republicans Criminally Manufactured PR Blitz Accusing Democrats of Trashing Military Votes - We Demand Prosecution!
15-Jul-01
Stolen Election 2000

Over Thanksgiving, House Republicans led by Steve Buyer (R-IN) - then Chairman of the House Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee - manufactured a campaign of lies and slander against Democrats. Their campaign included actions that were clearly and unambiguously illegal. First, "It is a cornerstone of American military tradition that the armed services remain apolitical. Military regulations prohibit service members from participating in political activities." But Buyer enlisted service members in a campaign to attack Democrats. Second, "House ethics rules and federal law forbid Congressional officials to perform political work with government resources or on government time." But Buyer engineered the attack on Democrats from his government office on government time. We demand the prosecution of Steve Buyer and everyone else involved in this despicable campaign!

Theft of the Presidency Day 245 (1): NY Times Exposes GOP Absentee Ballot Fraud That Stole 292 Votes for Bush - Just Enough to Win
15-Jul-01
Stolen Election 2000

A 6-month investigation by the NY Times reveals that the Bush campaign and Florida Republicans mounted a massive legal and PR blitz to count ILLEGAL overseas absentee ballots from Republican counties, while disqualifying all questionable ballots in Democratic areas. The effort included illegal enlistment of active military personnel in a PR campaign to demonize Democrats, and the intimidation of election officials into counting illegal votes. This criminal effort was run out of a Tallahassee "war room" in the office of Katherine Harris, which in itself was criminal. Now Harris' computers have been "scrubbed," adding "obstruction of justice" and "coverup" to the list of Republican crimes. The overseas absentee effort added 292 votes to Bush's margin, which were ultimately decisive - without these votes, the Florida Supreme Court would have declared Gore the winner by 138 votes. We demand Bush's resignation!

DEMOCRATS.COM EXCLUSIVE: Absentee Ballot Counting Fraud Found In Escambia County
12-Jul-01
Stolen Election 2000

According to an investigation by Democrats.com, a close analysis of the Miami Herald's overvote data provides overwhelming evidence of the fraudulent counting of absentee ballots in heavily Republican Escambia County. George W. Bush beat Al Gore in Escambia by a nearly 2 to 1 margin at the polls (62%-38%), but won absentees by nearly 3 to 1 (73%-27%). The "smoking gun" for fraud is the fact that the Herald data contains not ONE single overvoted ballot in which there were only two marks for President, which is inconceivable when data from comparable counties is analyzed. There is clearly sufficient evidence to launch a criminal investigation into the way in which ballots were counted in Escambia County. A criminal investigation would fall under the jurisdiction of Florida's Attorney General or Escambia County's state attorney. But there are also important grounds for the federal government to launch its own investigation under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

DEMOCRATS.COM EXCLUSIVE: Absentee Ballot Counting Fraud Found In Escambia County
07-Jul-01
Stolen Election 2000

According to an investigation by Democrats.com, a close analysis of the Miami Herald's overvote data provides overwhelming evidence of the fraudulent counting of absentee ballots in heavily Republican Escambia County. George W. Bush beat Al Gore in Escambia by a nearly 2 to 1 margin at the polls (62%-38%), but won absentees by nearly 3 to 1 (73%-27%). The "smoking gun" for fraud is the fact that the Herald data contains not ONE single overvoted ballot in which there were only two marks for President, which is inconceivable when data from comparable counties is analyzed. There is clearly sufficient evidence to launch a criminal investigation into the way in which ballots were counted in Escambia County. A criminal investigation would fall under the jurisdiction of Florida's Attorney General or Escambia County's state attorney. But there are also important grounds for the federal government to launch its own investigation under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

An Open Letter To Attorneys General Of The United States, And The State Of Florida
29-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

The evidence of deliberate and conscious acts on the part of Duval County Supervisor of Elections John Stafford designed to disenfranchise black voters continues to mount. The data presented amounts to a prima facie case of criminal disenfranchisement--the laws detailing the proper method of counting votes is clear, the law detailing the proper criteria for counting votes is clear. Stafford had an absolute legal obligation to count ALL the votes in his county, and there is an absolute presumption under the law that he knew what the law said.

Right On! Oregon Attorney Campaigns To Impeach The Supremely Felonious Five
27-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

"A former member of Congress launched a campaign to impeach the five conservative Supreme Court justices who voted to stop the presidential ballot recount in Florida last year -- but admits it's a long shot. Charles Porter, an 82-year-old attorney in Eugene, said the Supreme Court ruling was so clearly influenced by politics that under the Constitution there may be grounds to impeach the justices for bias…The chairman of the [Oregon Democratic] party's Executive Committee, Jim Edmunson, agreed Saturday to sponsor the proposal for a vote at the party's central committee meeting on July 22. If it passes, the state party could recommend other states pass similar resolutions. " As Edmundson says, "the idea is to draw attention to the problem." Ultimately, only the US Congress can impeach the judges. Porter stated that "a lot of people think the Supreme Court is all powerful. Well, they are if they're handing down decisions. But not if they're violating the Constitution."

Republican Election Worker in Cleveland Faces 7.5 Years in Prison for Changing Gore Votes to Bush
21-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

"Five elderly Clevelanders last fall entrusted their votes to an election worker whose job was to assist them in marking their ballots. Unbeknownst to them, their votes for Al Gore were marked as votes for George Bush, according to the Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office. Now the man accused of not recording their votes according to their wishes is under indictment. John V. Jackson, who was a temporary worker at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, was indicted yesterday on felony charges that he tampered with ballots in last fall's General Election." Jackson could get 18 months in prison for each count - 7.5 years total. In that case, Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris should get about 1 MILLION years for all of the ballot tampering under their watch!

NY Times Is Wrong on Civil Rights Commission
17-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

The New York Times continued its disinformation campaign on the Stolen Election with an editorial that wrongly attacks and belittles the work of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Tell the Times to tell the truth: letters@nytimes.com

Why the Popular Vote Mattered - And Still Does
17-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

If three or four conscientious Republican electors had known before December 18, the day the Electoral College met, that the margin of Al Gore's victory in the popular vote was greater than John F. Kennedy's in 1960 and Richard Nixon's in 1968, would it have made a difference? Would some electors have switched their vote to support Gore, the people's choice for President of the United States?That's a question that has haunted me for the last six months.

Who Was the 'Little Bird' in the Florida Felon Purge?
17-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

Nixon had his "Plumbers." Woodward and Bernstein had "Deep Throat." Lucianne Goldberg had her "Elves." And at the heart of the Florida Felon Purge conspiracy is a "Little Bird" who told George Bruder of Database Technologies to multiply his initial contract bid - by 100! Who was the "Little Bird"? Was it someone who wanted to quietly and invisibly use the felon purge process to disenfranchise black voters by the thousands? Was it someone close to Jeb or George?? Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth, it's time for you to do your job and launch a thorough investigation!

Felon Purge Contract Was Bogus from the Start
17-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

In 1998, the state legislature mysteriously allocated over $4 million for a future felong purge. Why was it so expensive? Whoever knows the answer won't talk about it. We demand an investigation!

Citing Disenfranchisement of Black Voters, New ACLU Ad Assails Election Day Fiasco, Calls for Reforms
17-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

In a new advertisement assailing the nation's failure to ensure all citizens the right to vote, the American Civil Liberties Union is pointing to "a day in American history when black people counted less than white people." That day, the new ACLU ad says, was November 7, 2000. The ad cites the example of Jermaine Terry, a Florida man who was told that his name had been taken off the voter list when he arrived at the polls last Election Day. One particularly troubling aspect of state laws that disenfranchise ex-felons, the ACLU said, is their impact on black men. In Florida, 31 percent of adult black males cannot vote as a result of felony disenfranchisement, almost three times greater than percentage of black males disenfranchised nationwide. "Every vote should be counted accurately, every vote should be counted equally, and no one should be denied the right to vote based on the color of his or her skin," said ACLU President Nadine Strossen.

Get Ready for the Next Battle in the Republican Spin and Propaganda Exaggeration War (SPEW) - Part I
15-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

In its recent book, "The Miami Herald Report: Democracy Held Hostage," the Herald points to machine problems as the real unsung culprit. I had reached the same conclusion after having the opportunity to look at ballots: machine problems played the major role in ballot spoilage that resulted in enough undercounted ballots to have given Gore the election. Let's "move on" to determining if rampant machine problems were a reflection of benign indifference and incompetence - or felonious actions on the part of election officials.

With Cameras Running, Bush Discusses the Stolen Election
14-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

Shrub has NEVER discussed how he stole the Presidency - and the US media has never asked him to do so. But during a photo op with Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson - with the cameras running - Bush admitted "I wasn't exactly a landslide winner this time around." Hey George - you weren't the winner at all! Referring to the successful Clinton-Gore administrations, he also admitted, "I was running against peace and prosperity and incumbency." Hey George - why didn't you have the "character" and "integrity" to give Clinton and Gore the credit they deserved during your campaign? And when will the US media ask Bush to explain how he can be President if he lost the popular vote nationally - and lost Florida too?

Still Mad About Florida? Welcome to the 'SilenCED Majority'
14-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

This is the first poll we've seen that asked how people feel about Florida (scroll down to question 19). "When you think about how the votes for president were counted in Florida this past year, would you say you are more: Angry, or more (58%); Satisfied (28%); Neither (11%); Not sure (3%). Break that down by party, and you discover that 81% of Democrats are "angry or more" - but also 58% of Independents and 36% of Republicans. Amazingly, this is a FOX poll. Remember Nixon's famous "Silent Majority"? Those of us who won't "get over it" are the SilenCED Majority!

Florida House Democratic Leader Demands Investigation of Stolen Election
14-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

State House Democratic Leader Lois Frankel said the Civil Rights Commission's report provided "enough ammunition to justify investigations into voting irregularities" in Florida. Frankel sent a letter requesting formal investigations to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth, Gov. Jeb Bush, Secretary of State Katherine Harris and legislative leaders. The Justice Department claims to be investigating, but John Ashcroft's record of denying civil rights to blacks as Governor of Missouri should disqualify him from any investigation.

If You Set Aside The Voters, Bush Won the Presidency
12-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

NY Times columnist Gail Collins writes, "Explaining the Bush administration's enthusiasm for nuclear power plants, Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill recently said: 'If you set aside Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, the safety record of nuclear is really very good.' Mr. O'Neill has an ear for the Bushian dialectic, having recently spent a great deal of time beating the drum for the tax-cut package, which was a great idea if you set aside the fact that it wouldn't stimulate the economy and we couldn't afford it. His boss is off on his first trip to Europe, where this administration is very popular, if you forget about questions of defense, foreign policy, capital punishment and the environment... [Bush] is the guy with the mandate, if you set aside the irregularities in Florida and the fact that he lost the popular vote." Right on, Gail!

The 2000 Election Catastrophe: EVEN MORE Letters from Our Readers!!
12-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

When we asked what our readers thought about the Florida election debacle, we were thrilled by the outpouring of letters! It is plain that people are angry - and getting angrier by the day! The next step? Action! So stay tuned...

Florida Officials Owe the Public a Meaningful Response to Civil Rights Commission Report
11-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

"Some state Republican officials, including Gov. Jeb Bush, chose to dismiss the report out of hand because commission chairwoman Mary Frances Berry and some other members supported Democrat Al Gore's presidential campaign. That's not good enough. The report's specific findings and recommendations deserve a detailed response from the governor, Secretary of State Katherine Harris and other relevant state officials... The report also details significant flaws in the Florida vote that should be familiar to anyone who has paid attention since November. It reinforces the evidence that thousands of Floridians were denied their right to vote as a result of outdated equipment, inaccurate voter lists, inadequate access and other flaws. The report also documents the extent to which poor and minority voters were disproportionately disenfranchised." So writes the St. Petersburg Times.

Florida Columnist Declares, 'The Election in Florida was Stolen'
11-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

"In case you missed it, the recent presidential election in Florida was stolen. There are many who believe otherwise, and for those apologists and the truly misinformed, I have three words: "Get over it!" It shouldn't take a rocket scientist or a critical report by the U.S. Civil Rights Commission to confirm that the disenfranchisement of Florida's voters last November fell more harshly on black voters... The commission, as the report correctly stated, didn't find conclusive evidence that Bush, Harris or any other member of the Bush administration conspired to produce disenfranchisement. However, anyone who's lived in Florida and has kept his or her head out of the sand knows state leaders didn't need to hold a meeting to produce the desired results. They did nothing. That's what the report said." So writes Sun-Sentinel columnist Douglas C. Lyons.

The 2000 Election Catastrophe: Where Do We Go From Here - MORE Letters from Our Readers!!!
11-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

When we asked readers to tell us what they thought about "getting over" the stolen election and what should be done to right this huge, history-bending wrong, the response was immediate and powerful! It is obvious that the "indifference" of the public is a myth intentionally created by the corporate media to build a wall of smoke and mirrors around their phony president. But your letters unmask the lie and show that a massive ground swell of rebellion against the crimes committed by Bush and the Supreme Court is gaining momentum! Power BACK to the People!!!

When It Comes to Disenfranchising Voters, Trent Lott is an Expert
09-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

"Once but alas no more to be Senate majority leader Trent Lott kicked up quite a stir last weekend when he wrote to his Republican colleagues that the Democrats' control of the Senate 'lacks the moral authority of a mandate from the voters.' Some huffy folks rushed to remind Lott that the same might be said of the current White House occupant, a second-place finisher in the popular vote who reached the Oval Office by way of a controversial Supreme Court ruling. Hush your mouths! The Republican minority leader is eminently qualified to opine on the matter of politicians who wield power in Washington without the moral authority of a mandate. After all, Trent Lott hails from Mississippi -- a state that wrote the book on morally bankrupt political systems." So writes Washington Post columnist Colbert King.

Constitutional Expert Concludes that Supreme Court Intervention in Election Derailed U.S. Constitution - a Crisis that Must be Resolved
09-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

"There is a potential scandal here, of a magnitude greater than Watergate or anything Bill Clinton did," says Constitutional expert David Kairys of Temple University. By opposing hand recounts, says Kairys, the Bush campaign knowingly pushed their case to the conservative, highly bush-biased justices on the Supreme Court. "If a liberal Supreme Court majority handed Gore the election in similar circumstances, we'd be in impeachment hearings now for Gore and the majority justices and construction crews might be rebuilding the Supreme Court...We had a constitutional crisis, and it was Bush v. Gore. History will not be kind." Alright, Daschle, et al, it's YOUR TURN to initiate hearings - hearings that may repair some of the damage. What do YOU think? Send your comments to bustingout2001@hotmail.com!

The 2000 Election Catastrophe: Where Do We Go From Here? Our Readers Speak Out
09-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

Are you sick of hearing "Just get over it" from every Republican drone and conservative media pundit you encounter? They just don't get it - a CRIME has been committed here. No one has asked us to "just get over" the Oklahoma bombing or any other crime of national proportions. Even some third world dictatorial countries we assume ourselves to be superior to wonder why we have allowed this travesty to continue without complaint. But Bush and company want everyone to pretend it's business as usual and, outrageously, the press and our own representatives in Washington are joining in the masquerade! Here's your chance to give the world your take on this crime.

Republican Rhetoric Can't Conceal Florida's Election Failures
08-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

"This is the bottom line. Florida voters who were entitled to vote, who wanted to vote, who tried to vote, had their vote taken away. Republican leaders can try to distract the nation by sniping at the way the preliminary report of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights was leaked. They can throw misleading labels at it, claiming its harsh criticism of Florida state elections officials shows partisanship. But the misdirection won't work, because the facts can't be denied. Thousands of Florida voters were stripped of their rights. A staggeringly disproportionate number of those were poor, elderly or black." So writes the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

Theft of the Presidency Day 208 (2): New York Times Declares War on Civil Rights Commission
06-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

The New York Times abandoned all pretense of objectivity and launched an outright attack on the US Civil Rights Commission for daring to expose Florida's disenfranchisement of black voters. The news section of the Times adamantly refuses to report on any of the HUNDREDS of grassroots protests against the thieves who stole the Presidency - George W Bush, Dick Cheney, Jeb Bush, and the Supreme Court. But the Times can't ignore the report of an official government body - the US Civil Rights Commission. So instead they are engaging in a direct partisan effort to discredit the report. Once again, the Times news pages are showing their complete and total enslavement to Karl Rove and the Republicans. This comes as no surprise to anyone who actually visits the Times - right inside the front door is a wall with a massive photo of Bush taking the oath of office. This sends an unmistakable message from the bosses to the reporters: Bush is OUR president, and we will NOT question his legitimacy.

Theft of the Presidency Day 208 (1): Civil Rights Commission Finds Florida's Minorities Were Disenfranchised
05-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

"Florida's conduct of the 2000 presidential election was marked by 'injustice, ineptitude and inefficiency' that unfairly penalized minority voters, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has concluded in a report that criticizes top state officials -- particularly Gov. Jeb Bush and Secretary of State Katherine Harris -- for allowing disparate treatment of voters. Unequal access to modern voting equipment and 'overzealous efforts' to purge state voter lists most harshly affected African Americans... Fifty-four percent of votes rejected during the Florida election were cast by black voters... African Americans accounted for 11 percent of voters statewide... African Americans were nearly 10 times as likely as whites to have their ballots rejected. Poor counties populated by minorities were more likely to use voting systems that rejected larger percentages of ballots than more affluent counties." So reports the Washington Post.

Theft of the Presidency Day 208 (3): Nightline Will Distort Florida Facts Again Tonight
05-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

Back in March, Nightline blamed Duval County's black voters for their overvotes - without ever reporting how the ballot instructions that said to VOTE EVERY PAGE - while the Presidential candidates were spread over TWO PAGES. Tonight (June 5) they are doing a show on the Civil Rights Commission's stinging report about the "injustice, ineptitude, and inefficiency" of Jeb Bush and Katherine Harris. Of course, Republicans don't want to talk about how Jeb and Katherine STOLE the election. So Karl Rove concocted this bogus story about the Commission's report being leaked - and the massive Republican propaganda machine has made this topic #1 on the talk shows. Once again, Nightline is fronting for Karl Rove, instead of reporting the REAL news - the damning conclusions of the Commission's report. Tell Nightline (niteline@abc.com) to report the news, not the Republican propaganda.

St. Petersburg Times Spins Upcoming Recount for Bush
04-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

The St. Petersburg Times reviewed the various recount efforts, and recognized that Gore could have won. But they give the benefit of the doubt to Bush, citing the GOP canard that "some Florida Panhandle residents might have skipped voting because television networks projected Gore as the winner of the state before polls closed." This is the GOP version of the "stupid voter" theory - that Panhandle voters were so stupid they believed the TV networks rather than the instructions from their election boards. Once you get beyond the clear ballots themselves, any further "theorizing" about the outcome is dominated by the 50,000 vote margin in overvotes that Gore lost because of faulty or illegal ballot designs and outdated voting equipment.

Many Illegal Military Ballots Were Counted in Florida
03-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

After Election Day, Republicans screamed incessantly about Democratic efforts to make sure overseas military ballots were legal, including being postmarked before Election Day. According to the Washington Post, Bush received 17 votes that were postmarked AFTER Election Day in 4 counties alone. “Matthew Hendrickson, a sailor aboard the cruiser USS Ticonderoga, mailed his overseas absentee ballot from Puerto Rico on Nov. 13, six days after the Election Day deadline,” the Post reported. “He knew the presidential race was undecided and he wanted Bush to win. Records show that Duval County included his vote in its results.” Scores more were counted after arriving without postmarks in elections offices between Nov. 8 and Nov. 17, the deadline for overseas absentee ballots to be received.” The overseas military ballot scandal was just another big lie from Karl Rove - but a particularly vicious and scary one, because it was designed to portray the Democratic Party as anti-military.

Theft of the Presidency: Day 78 (2)
01-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

According to the Orlando Sentinel, a critical factor producing overvotes was a ballot design that split the 10 Presidential candidates over 2 columns - called a "wraparound" ballot. This design violated a "cardinal rule" of ballot design - never to split candidates in a single race by column or by page. The "wraparound" ballot was created by Katherine Harris' office, and was adopted by 14 of the 15 optical-scan counties examined by the Sentinel. This design error cost Gore 564 votes - enough to erase his 537-vote defeat.

Theft of the Presidency Day 204: Washington Post Documents Katherine Harris' Crimes
01-Jun-01
Stolen Election 2000

The Washington Post has made a significant contribution to the unfinished investigation of Florida's stolen election. The Post documents various important instances of official misconduct, including: 1) 18 of 67 counties broke Florida law by never performing the mandatory machine recount; 2) Osceola County broke Federal law by not printing Spanish ballots; 3) Katherine Harris' office designed the confusing "wraparound" ballot; 4) "countless" motor voter registration forms were not processed; 5) Escambia and Manatee counties simply disabled the "instant check" feature on their optical scan equipment, causing huge error rates; 26 counties broke Florida law by not counting overvotes with write-ins; 6) Bush gained at least 176 votes among illegal military absentee ballots without postmarks and other requirements. The Post points the finger at Katherine Harris, who utterly failed to carry out her legal responsibility to "maintain uniformity" in the conduct of elections.

Washington Post Belatedly Discovers Fraudulent Felon Purge
31-May-01
Stolen Election 2000

The Washington Post has joined the small group of US newspapers that have suddenly discovered the fraudulent felon purge. The Post adds two new bits of info. 1) A clear warning from ChoicePoint to Florida officials on 5/26/2000: "Let's remember there is a liability issue in our erroneously identifying individuals as felons or deceased. We need to be very careful in who we label as what. If we are unsure the default should be to NOT label them as anything." 2) A confirmation from Clay Roberts that the state knowingly and intentionally disenfranchised voters by ordering a sloppy match. "The decision was made to do the match in such a way as not to be terribly strict on the name," Roberts said, using the passive "mistakes were made" voice. Hey Clay - EXACTLY WHO made that decision - and WHO was consulted? Whoever they are belong in jail for conspiring to deprive citizens of their civil rights - and to steal the Presidency.

Black Leaders Denounce Florida Felon Purge
29-May-01
Stolen Election 2000

Gore campaign manager Donna Brazile said, "There was a systematic disenfranchisement of people of color and poor people. I think in all the years I've spent organizing, I've never seen anything like it." Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) said something went awry with the felons list, even if it could not be proved. "You won't find any memos. This kind of documentation is hard to come by. It doesn't lend itself to any kind of scrutiny." Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) said "There was a deliberate, systematic effort to weed out all possible African-American voters and to use this thing about people being felons, sending out mailings. The whole thing was a deliberate effort to suppress the black vote... There's no question. There's a long history of the Republican Party doing this. They knew there was going to be massive input from black voters in Florida during this election, so they wanted to find a way to suppress this pent-up feeling on the part of the black electorate in Florida to turn out."

ChoicePoint Blames Florida Officials for Fraudulent Felon Purge
29-May-01
Stolen Election 2000

No doubt afraid of massive lawsuits for disenfranchising at least 1,100 voters - and helping Bush steal the Presidency - ChoicePoint is pointing the finger at Florida officials. ChoicePoint "wanted to compare its felons lists with several other databases, including property tax records, to correct any inaccuracies. But the state of Florida did not let the company do so." ChoicePoint also "recommended to the state that county elections supervisors undergo training to help them work with the felons database. Florida turned down the offer." Clay Roberts, director of Florida's Division of Elections, says these actions would not have prevented voter disenfranchisement. Tell that to a jury, Clay!

Theft of the Presidency Day 200: Palm Beach Post Documents 'At Least 1,100' Fraudulent Felon Purges
28-May-01
Stolen Election 2000

Under contract with Florida election officials, ChoicePoint "produced a list of 42,389 'probable' and 'possible' felons before last year's election. The list identified thousands of legal voters as criminals, forcing them to prove their innocence before they could cast a ballot." 6,500 of these "felons" were not exact matches - due to instructions from state elections lawyer Emmett "Bucky" Mitchell, who belongs in jail. 5,400 appeals were filed, and over 2,500 were upheld. But "at least 108 law-abiding people were purged from the voter rolls as suspected criminals, only to be cleared after the election... Florida officials cut from the rolls 996 people convicted of crimes in other states, though they should have been allowed to vote" - due to instructions from Janet Keels, head of the Office of Executive Clemency, who also belongs in jail. The Post's data is incomplete, so the 1,100 tally is low - and the real total could still be in the "thousands." But even 1,100 votes could have allowed Al Gore to eclipse Bush's 537-vote margin.

San Francisco Examiner Blames Felon Purge for Stolen Election
28-May-01
Stolen Election 2000

Assessing the now-mainstream reports of the false felon purge, the San Francisco Examiner went straight to the point. "The whole episode smells awfully fishy and does little to assuage the suspicion among Democrats that Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and other state officials pulled some serious strings to keep presumed Gore supporters from voting. The emphasis on butterfly ballots, overvotes, undervotes, and dimpled chads in the wake of the Florida election fiasco wasn't the smoking gun in the 2000 election after all. It turns out that a professed effort to purge voter rolls of felons, which instead resulted in law-abiding Americans having their right to vote stolen from them, swung the deal." We demand an investigation!

Petition to Senate: Investigate Voting 'Irregularities'
26-May-01
Stolen Election 2000

"To the Senate: thoroughly investigate all the voting irregularities, alleged fraud, intimidation, and criminal acts against voters in the 2000 election by state officials, police, election boards and/or their workers, and individuals, whether they be government employees or not - not only in the state of Florida, but in other states where such acts were reported as well... In the event it is determined that criminal actions had been committed, we further petition the Honorable Senate to press charges against any and all such persons responsible. If criminal charges are brought against high-ranking public officials, we demand the Senate, along with the House of Representatives, initiate impeachment proceedings immediately upon learning of such criminal actions." Sign the petition!

'The Rape of Democracy' Is a Movie Waiting to be Made
23-May-01
Stolen Election 2000

Imagine Vincent Bugliosi, author of the new best-seller "The Betrayal of America," as the chief prosecutor in "The Rape of Democracy," a film about the infamous Election 2000 Coup and the betrayal of America by a junta of 5 black-robed Republican judges. If we put our imaginations to work, perhaps this movie could be made...

Los Angeles Times is First Corporate Media Outlet to Report Florida's False Felon Purge
21-May-01
Stolen Election 2000

Five months after investigative reporter Greg Palast broke the Florida felon purge story in Salon.com, a mainstream US media outlet has finally covered the story. The report by Lisa Getter in the Los Angeles Times adds no new facts, and fails to examine the legal or political implications of this scandal. But the story proves what we have been saying all along: that Florida election officials illegally deprived thousands of voters of their sacred right to vote - and these voters were disproportionately black and Democratic. A crime was committed, and we demand the prosecution of those responsible!

McVeigh Gets 2nd Chance, Gore Doesn't
17-May-01
Stolen Election 2000

"Consider two big news headlines from last week: 'FBI failed to deliver 3,000 pages of documentation to McVeigh lawyers.' 'Florida election errors cost Gore the election.' Guess which headline created a stir that led to talk of reopening the case at hand? Here's a hint: It wasn't the one involving the question of whether the choice of the American people for president was reflected in the results of the Nov. 7, 2000, election." So writes John Nichols in the Capital Times of Madison, WI.

Petition to the UN: Investigate America's Stolen Election
17-May-01
Stolen Election 2000

"We, the undersigned, understand that it is the policy of the United Nations to investigate national elections in any country where there is evidence of vote-tampering, corruption, partisan impropriety, political coup, or religious/ethnic discrimination. We would like to request that the United Nations please initiate an investigation of the 2000 Presidential election in the United States of America." Sign the petition!

The Betrayal of America: How the Supreme Court Undermined the Constitution and Chose Our President
16-May-01
Stolen Election 2000

During the course of American history, wrongful events have occurred that challenged the very core of who we are as a people; and certain Americans have stood up and spoken out against these wrongs: Tom Paine, Edward R. Murrow, Daniel Ellsberg. Now Vincent Bugliosi takes his place in this special pantheon of patriots with his powerful, brilliant, and courageous expose of a crime committed by the highest court in the land. When an article he wrote on this theft of the presidency appeared in The Nation magazine, it drew the largest outpouring of letters and e-mail in the magazine's 136-year history, tapping a deep reservoir of outrage. The original article has been turned into a book, and backed by amplifications and court document citations: it makes for fascinating, chilling reading. Let's make this #1 on Amazon!

GORE WON - IT'S TIME TO PROTEST THE STOLEN ELECTION!
11-May-01
Stolen Election 2000

We have waited 185 days for all of the votes to be counted. Now we know the truth: Al Gore won Florida. That means Al Gore, not George W. Bush, is the legitimate President of the United States. On Saturday, Democrats.com will join with our pro-Democracy allies in New York City to protest the media distortions at USA Today, the Associated Press, and the New York Times. We are also calling for Bush to resign. Organize a local protest!

Republicans Leaving their Party in Droves over Stolen Election
10-May-01
Stolen Election 2000

Here's a story the right-wing media won't cover: "Democrats have gained more than six times as many new voters as Republicans in Palm Beach County in the six months since the Nov. 7 presidential election. Including new registrants and party-switchers, Democrats have added 5,663 voters since George W. Bush and Al Gore appeared on the butterfly ballot. Republicans have added 926 voters in that time. The number of voters registered with no party or minor parties has increased by 4,982. A total of 3,996 voters have changed party affiliation since Nov. 7, with Republicans seeing a net loss of 372 voters in the shuffle and Democrats a net gain of 676. Switchers included 782 Republicans who defected to the Democratic Party and another 370 who switched from the GOP to no party affiliation. Democrats saw 490 leave for the GOP and another 343 switch to no party. Among voters who had no party affiliation on Election Day, 747 have since signed up as Democrats and 381 have joined the GOP."

LePore's Iran-Contra Connection
10-May-01
Stolen Election 2000

The Wall Street Journal of December 1st, 2000 page one states: "'Madame Butterfly' Theresa Le Pore wasn't always an embattled Palm Beach ballots chief. In the 1980s she moonlighted as a flight attendant on private planes owned by Saudi weapons dealer Adnan Khashoggi, a middleman in Reagan administration arms sales to Iran." Here's a great site for conspiracy fans.

Theresa LePore of Infamous Butterfly Ballot Fame: Was She Working for the GOP All Along?
10-May-01
Stolen Election 2000

Back in November, we all wondered how the butterfly ballot, which just SEEMED intentionally fixed to throw the race to the GOP could have been designed by a DEMOCRAT. We were confused a bit suspicious. Now the other shoe has dropped. Ballot designer Theresa LePore has come out of the closet and officially declared herself a non-Democrat (she says she's now an Independent, but we aren't buying it). She belonged to the GOP in the 70s, then switched to Independent, then to Dem in 1996 just when the GOP really started playing dirty. She says she switched back to the "Independent" because the Dems were mean to her. Well, Theresa, maybe it's because NOBODY likes a double agent!

CNN Challenges Jeb about Felonious Felon Purge - and He Lies!
09-May-01
Stolen Election 2000

Jeb Bush went on CNN to discuss changes to Florida's election law, and anchor Carol Lin asked Jeb about racial discrimination against black voters. "I don't think that there was any overt discrimination," Jeb said. Lin pressed him on specific complaints from black voters: "being rejected at the polls, lists that were supposed to contain names of felons and yet also contained names of legitimate voters who were not able then to cast their ballots." Jeb said "many of those questions that you just posed have been looked at by the Justice Department and by the attorney general's office in our state. And they have been rejected as -- in terms of not having any kind of systemic effort to restrict people's right to vote." Jeb is LYING! Neither the Justice Department nor the Florida AG have examined the Felonious Felon Purge. We demand a full report by CNN about Jeb's lie - and about the Felon Purge itself, which has NEVER been reported on CNN!

McAuliffe Says 'They Stole that Election'
09-May-01
Stolen Election 2000

On Monday, the Democratic National Committee went to Palm Beach for the first of four hearings on election reform. DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe was blunt: "There is nothing we can do about the last election. We won that election, and they stole that election," he said. "President [sic] Bush tells us to get over it. Well, we're not getting over it." Right on, Terry!

Theft of the Presidency Day 178: Election Officials FIXED 10,000 Defective Ballots
07-May-01
Stolen Election 2000

According to the Orlando Sentinel, "One of the best-kept secrets in Florida's disputed 2000 presidential election is that thousands of ballots that ultimately counted were never even filled out by voters. With no outside scrutiny, county officials on Election Day made new copies of at least 10,000 mismarked or torn absentee ballots that the counting machines initially couldn't read." This exposes the Big Lie at the heart of the Bush campaign's legal arguments, which were ultimately embraced by the Republican majority on the US Supreme Court - that ballots should NOT be inspected by humans to determine the intent of the voter. In fact, certain ballots - absentee ballots - were routinely inspected if they were rejected by machines, and carefully duplicated so they could be counted. We're sure the Republican legal team knew about this common practice before they argued their case in court - and if so, their lawyers should be disbarred.

Theft of the Presidency Day 177: Racism in Florida's Optical-scan Ballots Cost Gore nearly 1,500 Votes
07-May-01
Stolen Election 2000

Last week, Florida abolished punch cards and mandated optical-scan (SAT-style) ballots, with tabulators in each precinct to instantly check for errors. According to the Orlando Sentinel, optical-scan systems were manipulated in ways that had a racially discriminatory effect. Escambia County simply disabled the instant-check feature - and in majority-black Precinct 76, which gave Al Gore 93% of its vote, 16% of the ballots were thrown out. In Columbia County's majority-black Precinct 26, 17% of the ballots were rejected - yet election officials insist nothing was done wrong. In Bay Count's majority-Democratic Preinct 23, 15% of ballots were discarded - and election officials don't even care why. Overall, 64 optical-scan precincts with the highest discard rates produced 3,300 lost ballots. These precincts are 50% black and 72% Democratic. By extrapolation, Gore lost 1,452 votes in these precincts. We demand an investigation!

For the NY Times, the Truth About Florida's Felon Purge is Not 'Fit to Print'
06-May-01
Stolen Election 2000

It looks like the NY Times is working with Karl Rove to "scrub" the truth about Florida's illegal felon purge - and to keep its readers ignorant. For the second time in two weeks, the Times editorial page has obliquely mentioned the purge. But there has not been a single news article about it, explaining the facts. And this editorial dismisses it as "an error" - when it was in a fact a criminal conspiracy by Florida's top Republicans to prevent thousands of minorities from voting, and that conspiracy succeeded in stealing the Presidency. We demand the truth!

Open Letter to a Freeper about the Stolen Election
04-May-01
Stolen Election 2000

Michael Rectenwald, founder of Citizens for Legitimate Government, decided to answer FreeRepublic.com "freeper." "If you think our site is a joke, then here's the punch-line: we don't 'get over' a coup. Sorry, but it is YOU who are in dire need of information and help. You are either brainwashed by the media, or in a serious state of denial, or both. Your 'president' is a complete fraud and probably a coconspirator in the largest voting scandal in US history." You go, Mike!

NAACP Tells Americans Never to Forget Florida's Stolen Election
01-May-01
Stolen Election 2000

Speaking at NAACP Detroit Brach's 46th Fight For Freedom Fund Dinner, branch President Rev. Wendell Anthony urged an audience 10,000 strong to turn up the heat on the Sunshine State and let it radiate through the country in a resounding message of election reform. "We don't want our people to take that election as the final blow," he said. "We have the right to question the Supreme Court." The Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), who chairs the Democrats' Election Reform task force, declared "There will be no punched card system in America if I have anything to do with it."

New York Times Obliquely Acknowledges Florida's Felonious Felon Purge
30-Apr-01
Stolen Election 2000

On December 4, Greg Palast broke the story of Katherine Harris' felonious purge of so-called "felons" in Salon. That story was Salon's "Political Story of the Year." Palast has done additional reporting on the story for The Nation, the UK Guardian, and the BBC, and uncovered important details about the conscious and criminal efforts of Florida's top election officials to remove eligible voters from the voter registration lists. Amazingly, this story has NEVER been picked up by any mainstream US news organization. The ice may be cracking, however - the New York Times obliquely cited the story in an editorial complaining about the lack of progress on election reform. Memo to the Times: why don't you tell your readers about Palast's explosive story? Is it not "fit to print"? Or are you afraid that this one simple story would cause Bush's entire house of cards to collapse?

Democrats File FEC Complaint Over Bush-Cheney $8 Million Recount Fund
27-Apr-01
Stolen Election 2000

The Democratic National Committee filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission on Friday, accusing a Bush-Cheney committee set up to manage the Florida vote recount of evading a new federal law on political spending. Bush-Cheney raised $8 million, which paid for lawyers and the rent-a-rioters who were flown down from Congressional offices in DC. Bush-Cheney claims it does not have to disclose how it spent the $8 million.

Sanders Sauls Accepts Free Republic Invitation - and Unleashes Storm of Criticism
24-Apr-01
Stolen Election 2000

Judge N. Sanders Sauls was criminally wrong on December 4, 2000, when he ruled that there was no "reasonable probability" that the outcome of the election could be changed by counting 14,000 uncounted ballots from Palm Beach and Miami-Dade. In fact, Gore gained 784 from the Palm Beach Post's undervote count in Palm Beach alone - which would have made Gore the winner in Florida. As a reward for helping Bush steal Florida, Sauls is being honored by the Freepers in June, along with Katherine Harris. This has produced a storm of criticism from Florida newspapers. If you think it's wrong for a sitting judge to embrace a site that tolerates death threats against Democrats, join Media Whores Online in filing a complaint against Sauls with the Florida Judicial Qualifications Commission.

Meria Heller Interviews Greg Palast
22-Apr-01
Stolen Election 2000

Recently, Meria Heller interviewed Greg Palast for an hour. Palast is passionate about Democracy and knows the truth about how Bush stole the Presidency - a dangerous combination! That's why you won't see Palast on American TV, but you can listen to him here.

See Greg Palast's Expose on a local PBS Station
21-Apr-01
Stolen Election 2000

Greg Palast reports on the purge of African-American voters from the Florida election rolls - the purge that cost Al Gore the White House -on "The Calling," the new PBS series. See the local listings schedule here (scroll down to the bottom).

Freedom Forum to Hold Debate on Media's Role in the Stolen Election in NYC on April 26
21-Apr-01
Stolen Election 2000

Debate on First Amendment and ethical issues arising from TV coverage of the presidential election. Co-sponsored with New York City Bar Association's Committee on Communications and Media Law. Panelists: Steven Brill, Media Central and Brill's Content; Nancy Maynard, former co-owner, The Oakland Tribune, and author Jeffrey Toobin, New Yorker and ABC News. Moderator, Floyd Abrams, Cahill Gordon & Reindel and Columbia Journalism School.

Greg Palast Reveals More Explosive News from Florida
19-Apr-01
Stolen Election 2000

Investigative reporter Greg Palast broke the story about Florida's illegal felon purge, which certainly cost Gore the election. In an interview with Michael Rectenwald, founder of Citizens for a Legitimate Government, Palast revealed some new details from his coming PBS documentary, "The Calling." This includes more proof that Katherine Harris knowingly approved of "loose" matching standards for felons, which violated the civil rights of an unknown number of legal voters. He also disclosed that Jeb Bush's Clemency Board has been illegally scrubbing its files, including one letter dated 9/18/2000 of which Palast has a copy. Once again, we demand an investigation!

Democrats.com Readers Respond to Nightline Report on Duval County
06-Apr-01
Stolen Election 2000

What did our readers think of the Nightline show on black voters in Duval County? Read their own words.

Racism on Nightline
03-Apr-01
Stolen Election 2000

After a virtual three and a half month media blackout on the Florida election story, on March 28th the ABC News show Nightline did a piece about what happened in Duval County. Actually, what Ted Koppel and his cohorts did was a shameful whitewash of what happened in Duval, reinforcing racist stereotypes of African Americans as incompetent voters who immediately and irresponsibly labeled every problem as a "race issue" without any justification.

Bush=Milosevic
02-Apr-01
Stolen Election 2000

Here is one of the charges against Slobodan Milosevic, according to the BBC: "Following the Yugoslav presidential election in September, the Federal Electoral Commission tried to deprive Vojislav Kostunica of victory by claiming that he received less than the required 50% of the votes cast. Five members of the commission are now facing trial for the falsification of results. The chain of command behind the ballot rigging could well lead to Mr. Milosevic." Substitute Al Gore for Vojislav Kostunica, and the US Supreme Court for Yugoslavia's Federal Electoral Commission, and you get the picture of what happened here - and who should be punished.

DBT Says Florida Blocked Verification of Felon List
02-Apr-01
Stolen Election 2000

DBT Vice President James Lee said his company wanted to verify the felon list against property tax lists, telephone number lists and change of address lists, but Florida officials refused. "The list of voters DBT supplied to the state (to be used to delete felons) did include the names of people who were eligible to vote. The state officials knew this would be the result," Lee said. This is an intention denial of voting rights, and responsible officials should be prosecuted. We demand an investigation! Black Caucus Members Hold Election Hearing in Georgia

Are Florida's Black Voters Paranoid - or Disenfranchised? Nightline Should Go Back and Get the REAL Story
29-Mar-01
Stolen Election 2000

Nightline and Ted Koppel presented the absurd notion that it is the responsibility of the Democratic Party to make sure that corrupt and/or incompetent GOP officials do not steal elections, and that if the Democratic Party does not make a Herculean effort to prevent the corruption of the election process by the GOP, the American people have no right to expect fair elections. Scapegoating the Democrats, and scapegoating black voters when the real culprits are GOP election officials who did not do their jobs (or did them illegally), is not merely absurd, it is an outrage.

Illegally Denied Votes Helped Shrub Steal Florida
27-Mar-01
Stolen Election 2000

In the face of an open-and-shut civil rights law suit, Jeb Bush's administration has quietly changed a controversial voting policy that illegally removed as many as 2,834 names from the state's voting rolls last year. Florida denied automatic voting rights to citizens from other states who had their voting rights under those state laws. By one estimate, Gore would have received over 90% of those ex-felons who chose to vote, so this illegal policy alone may have allowed Shrub to steal the Presidency.

Status Report On Probe Of Election Practices In Florida During The 2000 Presidential Election
21-Mar-01
Stolen Election 2000

"Voter disenfranchisement appears to be at the heart of the issue. It is not a question of a recount or even an accurate count, but more pointedly the issue is those whose exclusion from the right to vote amounted to a 'No Count.'" So writes the U. S. Commission On Civil Rights.

Democrats.com Exclusive: Interview with Mary Frances Berry, Chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
21-Mar-01
Stolen Election 2000

Berry summarized the problems in Florida by saying, "Some very bad things happened to people who were trying to vote - many of whom were registered and didn't get to vote... a lot of those people were disabled, a lot of them were African Americans, quite a few needed language assistance, some were elderly voters and Jewish voters. A lot of them were people who were trying to vote for the first time and the system seemed not be open to solving their problems or figuring out a way to solve their problems."

Even the CIA Knows Shrub Isn't the President
16-Mar-01
Stolen Election 2000

Those of us who reject the legitimacy of Shrub have an unexpected ally - the CIA. Visit their homepage and you'll find a prominent link for the "World Factbook." Follow that to the U.S. Government and you'll discover the true President of the United States - and it ain't Shrub! ($5 says it's scrubbed by Monday...)

How Do Republican Thieves Live With Themselves?
16-Mar-01
Stolen Election 2000

During a panel on "The Future of Hollwood," Miramax chief Harvey Weinstein lit into Bush media adviser Mark McKinnon, who was in the audience. "You only won the election by copying Clintonian tactics," Weinstein barked. "And, by the way, you didn't win, and I don't know how you live with yourself." The audience was stunned - primarily because the 54 million Americans who did NOT vote for Bush have been biting their tongues, instead of speaking out. Right on, Harvey!

Feds Investigating Florida Voting Rights Violations
16-Mar-01
Stolen Election 2000

The Justice Department leaked word that it is investigating violations of the federal Voting Rights Act and the National Voter Registration Act during the November election in Florida. The investigation focuses on Hispanic voters, who were illegally required to produce two kinds of identification. No word whether Jeb and Katherine, the architects of the Republican voter disenfranchisement strategy, are targets of this investigation.

Are We Angry over Florida? You Bet!
15-Mar-01
Stolen Election 2000

In Florida, Shrub finally got a clue: "Some of the Democrats here want to keep revoting the election." Damn straight! Paul Begala said that when he gives speeches, people vent to him about Florida. He doesn't expect the intensity to lessen any time soon, especially as Democrats try to regain control of Congress in November 2002. "Democrats are going to be increasingly angry, and the angry party wins the midterm elections," he said.

Protests Greet Bush In Jacksonville
14-Mar-01
Stolen Election 2000

As Bush made his first visit to Florida since last fall's controversial election, Jacksonville Democrats and civil rights leaders rolled out a welcome mat filled with demands for voter reform and criticism of his tax cut plan. The noon rally Monday in Hemming Plaza downtown was one of three such events planned to coincide with Bush's trip to the home of the hanging chad. U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown organized the local event, which also was attended by labor and religious leaders. Other rallies were held in Orlando and West Palm Beach.

Bush's Florida Victims Remember His Crime
12-Mar-01
Stolen Election 2000

Shrub returned to Florida, the scene of the crime where he stole the Presidency with the help of Jeb and Katherine Harris. Shrub wants Florida voters to forget his crime, but they greeted him with street protests as well as TV and radio ads. As Rep. Corrine Brown (D-FL) said on January 6, "We will NEVER get over it. We will take it to our graves!"

Tell the Media - Gore WON!
12-Mar-01
Stolen Election 2000

The manual recount of Palm Beach ballots by the Palm Beach Post gave Al Gore 784 votes from undervotes and 6,607 from overvotes - 13 times what he needed to overcome Bush's 537-vote victory in Florida. When the Miami Herald reported on February 26 that Gore gained only 49 votes in Miami-Dade, every major news organization and talk show proclaimed that "Gore Lost." But now we know Gore WON - and we demand that the media give this the attention it deserves. Call talk shows and write your newspapers to demand massive coverage of the Stolen Election.

Katherine Harris is 'Booed Lustily' by 19,150 Racing Fans
07-Mar-01
Stolen Election 2000

Here's a story you won't read elsewhere - from the Daily Racing Form: "Katherine Harris, Florida's Secretary of State who was a central figure during the disputed presidential election, was booed lustily by the 19,150 at Gulfstream on Sunday as she presented the trophy following the Rampart Handicap. 'I've never been booed in my life,' Harris told reporters in the winner's circle." That's because horse fans can tell the difference between the winner and the loser! (Notice the next story about Awol Honey - kinda nice nickname for W, isn't it?)

No Tom Davis, We Will NEVER Forget How You Stole the Presidency
07-Mar-01
Stolen Election 2000

"The public memory is very short," said Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), who chairs the Republican National Congressional Committee and will try to keep the evil Tom DeLay in power in 2002. "You saw how quickly impeachment faded from people's minds." No Tom, we have NOT forgotten the impeachment travesty. And we have NOT forgotten the endless lies, investigations and harassment of the Clintons. And most of all, we have NOT - and NEVER WILL - forget the Stolen Election.

Did Bush Illegally Manufacture Overseas Military Votes After Election Day?
06-Mar-01
Stolen Election 2000

Salon reporter Jake Tapper has dropped a bombshell. "According to a knowledgeable Republican operative, the Bush camp even discussed a strategy that, if implemented, would have broken the law: organizing a post-election get-out-the-vote drive among overseas military personnel who had registered to vote but had not cast ballots by Election Day." Tapper adds, "Was this plan, a blatant act of voter fraud, ever carried out?...whoever was involved isn't talking." As is their usual Goebellian M.O., the Republicans were quick to accuse the Gore team "of pondering an illegal post-election drive." But later, "the Bushies had shamelessly pulled a 180 on the overseas ballot issue." Rather than pointing out this slimy change in tactics, "the media's focus was on Gore's mad rush to disenfranchise American soldiers." Which was just another lie that the GOP had spoonfed the media whores.

Did Illegal Military Ballots Elect Bush?
05-Mar-01
Stolen Election 2000

According to Salon's Jake Tapper, only 446 overseas military ballots were received by November 13, two days after a Republican team discussed encouraging military personnel to cast illegal ballots. By November 16, "that number had swelled to 2,575. By the next day, it was 3,733." Were these ballots all sent before Election Day, or is this evidence that Bush illegally solicited ballots after Election Day? Also, the article describes how Bush operatives pressured county election officials into counting questionable military ballots, resulting in Bush gains of 300-400 votes - greater than Bush' 154 vote margin of victory. Did Bush win on ILLEGAL ballots???

Petition to Senate: Investigate the 2000 Election
03-Mar-01
Stolen Election 2000

The Republican Congress can't stop investigating Clinton. But it's high time they started investigating something important - namely, what went wrong in the 2000 election. Sign the petition!

Nurse Ratchet - Come Get Karl Rove!
02-Mar-01
Stolen Election 2000

Karl Rove, the chief architect and propagandist for the stolen election, has crossed the line into insanity. He not only believes his man won the election - he thinks there was a "realignment" making Republicans the dominant party in the United States. Stuart Rothenberg is way too gentle in pointing out that Bush lost. Hey Stuart - the margin was 540,000, which is nearly five times larger than JFK's victory over Nixon! What's the difference between Bush and the New York Giants? The Giants don't think they won the Superbowl.

Why Is America's Best Investigative Reporter Living in Exile?
02-Mar-01
Stolen Election 2000

When Greg Palast broke the news that Florida's election was stolen through a fraudulent purge of "felons" from the voter rolls, the story made the front pages - in England. But here in the U.S. - where 280,000 people were victimized by this crime - this story NEVER made the national news. Palast gives some of the reasons - but somehow neglects the single most important reason, which is that the corporate-owned media WANTED Bush to steal the election. That's why they continue to repeat the lie that Bush won Florida.

Florida Democrats Put Heat on Katherine Harris
23-Feb-01
Stolen Election 2000

Democratic lawmakers on Thursday demanded an investigation into Database Technologies, which was paid $4 million by the state to purge felons from Florida’s voter rolls before last fall’s election. "By most accounts, this contract was an unmitigated disaster, which led to Floridians being denied the right to vote, and millions of taxpayer dollars wasted or misspent," wrote Democratic Leader Tom Rossin of West Palm Beach. He left out one other consequence - Bush stole the Presidency.

Congressional Hearings on Election Night Coverage Missed the Main Point
19-Feb-01
Stolen Election 2000

"If there was a call on Election Night that truly transformed political reality, as Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) noted, it was the second call of Florida -- for Bush. It was made despite the fact that the bulk of the outstanding ballots were from Democratic areas. Once Bush was declared president, the politics of the recount were tilted powerfully in Bush's favor. Absent that call, there might have been a real and complete recount in Florida." So writes columnist E.J. Dionne in the Washington Post.

Florida Felon Purge Was Deliberately Sloppy
17-Feb-01
Stolen Election 2000

Testifying before the US Commission on Civil Rights, Database Technologies executive George Bruder said Katherine Harris' office didn't care about the accuracy of the list of felons they compiled for removal from the voter rolls. "What we did was as per specifications of the division of elections," Bruder said. "They wanted false positives on search parameters to cast as broad a net as possible." While many counties refused to use this inaccurate list, the elections supervisor in Miami-Dade thought it was "mandatory" to use the list. As a result, an unknown number of valid voters - disproportionately black - were unable to vote.

BBC's 'Theft of the Presidency' Report Available on the Web
16-Feb-01
Stolen Election 2000

Investigative journalist Gregory Palast's report on the Bush/Harris election scam can be downloaded until February 22. The 13 minute film covers Palast's expose of Database Technologies, the firm hired by Katherine Harris and Jeb Bush that purged thousands of Florida voters - mostly African-American - from the voter registry. A highlight is Harris' Director of Elections, Clay Roberts, bolting from the cameras exclaiming, "If y'all want to hang this on me that's fine!" The program announcement promises, "For the first time: 'secret and confidential' details of the agreement between the State and the computer firm ... which show exactly how Al Gore was cheated out of 23,000 votes."

Transcript of BBC Investigation
16-Feb-01
Stolen Election 2000


Civil Rights Commission to Grill Database Technologies over Florida Felon Purge
16-Feb-01
Stolen Election 2000

Database Technologies Inc. will come under scrutiny from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Katherine Harris paid the company $4 million to compile a list of felons, but the list was inaccurate, and contained many common names that resulted in the removal of fully qualified voters. The panel is rushing to publish preliminary findings and recommendations by the end of March to impact the legislative session, which starts in less than three weeks.

How TV Killed Democracy on Nov. 7
15-Feb-01
Stolen Election 2000

"Suppose that a first cousin of Al Gore had been running one of the network news teams issuing election night projections. Suppose that, having previously recused himself from a columnist job, saying his objectivity would suffer from family loyalty, this cousin had chatted with Gore six times on election day. Suppose that the same cousin had been first to declare Gore as the winner in Florida on election night, helping coax the rival networks to follow suit, leading George W. Bush to call up Gore in order to concede, thereby helping create a presumption that Gore was the duly elected president of the United States long before all the votes had been counted. Can anyone reasonably doubt that the pundits would be working themselves into a nonstop lather charging 'the liberal media' as accessories to grand larceny? Can we imagine, say, Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel right-leaning barking heads dropping the subject?" So writes Todd Gitlin.

Civil Rights Commission Visits Miami on February 16
12-Feb-01
Stolen Election 2000

The US Commission on Civil Rights is traveling to Miami on Friday, February 16. Among the allegations to be examined: persons were improperly purged form voter roles due to erroneous reports of felony convictions; voter lists did not include names of persons who had registered; properly filed voter registrations were processed too late for names to appear on voter rolls; polling places were closed early; polling places were moved without notice; some ballots were defective and confusing; officials failed to provide language assistance as requested; and officials failed to provide access to the polls for persons with disabilities. Call C-Span and CNN to make sure they cover it this investigation, which is far more important than Dan Burton's!

'Moving on' and other 'Republican' Fantasies
11-Feb-01
Stolen Election 2000

"Democrats can never accept the legitimacy of this Pretension. We can never accept the substitution of 'order' for 'legitimacy' as was suggested by Chief InJustice Rehnquist recently, and has been a parroting point for GE/NBC hack Chris Matthews. Elections are not simply a substitution of ballots for bullets. An election in a Republic is the expression of the will of the People, it is our franchise, it is our birthright. It has been trampled upon by the 'Republican' party and pistol-whipped into meaninglessness by a blatantly partisan court. What has happened here is a coup d' etat. Where do you 'move on' from there? Seizure of the State is an act of treason, and should be dealt with as such." So says Dane Cobb, Publisher of coldmountain.net.

How Do You Rectify a Grave Injustice
10-Feb-01
Stolen Election 2000

Amidst the journalistic drivel of the craven suck-ups, Eric Alterman's commentary on election 2000 stands out as a beacon of light exposing the truth. In this article, "Sorry Wrong President," Alterman speaks for us all when he writes: "As the new Florida counts appear to demonstrate even more clearly than before, George W. Bush and the Republicans hijacked the 2000 election with the help of their discredited accomplices on the US Supreme Court. They have no right to traditional forms of democratic deference, particularly when pursuing an unpopular extremist agenda. An honest media ought do everything possible to insure that no one loses sight of the astonishing circumstances through which Bush acceded to the presidency. Get over that."

Congress to Examine Election Night Coverage
08-Feb-01
Stolen Election 2000

On Valentine's Day, the House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold hearings on the election night projections by the TV networks. Republicans want to attack the networks (and their exit poll consortium, Voter News Service) for calling Florida for Gore 15 minutes before the polls closed at 8 pm EST. But it's the DEMOCRATS who need to demand answers as to why VNS and the networks called Florida for BUSH at 2 am, when the results were way too close to call. The erroneous call for Bush created a presumption among the public that Bush won - which the right-wing media exploited relentlessly to delay and ultimately stop a recount. CNN's own internal investigation makes this exact point. We know about Bush's cousin John Ellis at Fox - did the networks conspire with the Bush campaign to steal the Florida election? We demand answers!

Lessons from the Past: How Hitler Destroyed Democracy in Germany
08-Feb-01
Stolen Election 2000

South Florida resident Pam Loertscher was outraged by media coverage of the stolen election. So she reached back into history and found frightening parallels in the legalization of dictatorship by the German Parliament (the Reichstag) in the Kroll Opera House on March 23, 1933.

America's Stolen Election Baffles the World
07-Feb-01
Stolen Election 2000

I've been traveling overseas for the past few weeks on business, visiting Jamaica, Davos Switzerland, Cairo and various parts of Egypt. Everywhere, people want to know about the recent US elections. Here are a couple of recent conversations.

More on the DNC Coming Out Swinging
05-Feb-01
Stolen Election 2000

"It took some time, but McAuliffe becomes the highest ranking official to imply the obvious: this election wasn't won by George W. Bush, it was stolen. Furthermore, he has put Bush on notice that the DNC will treat him in the same manner that Clinton was treated. We can only hope that means they will open up the kennel doors and let the hound dogs loose. Can James Carville be far behind? We hope not. There are two main aspects of political competition. First and foremost is the win-loss column: Who won an election, who lost? Who won the battle over a piece of legislation, who lost? Who won a confirmation fight, who lost? Secondly, there is the battle to define the terms of the debate. In this conflict, the Democrats have been almost mute, with the exception of Bubba Bill, over the last decade."

Bush Protests Will Continue on Superbowl Sunday
20-Jan-01
Stolen Election 2000

Citizens for Legitimate Government will fly over Super Bowl XXXV in Tampa on on January 28th. This follows a Rose Bowl fly over on January 1, with a banner reading "Bush Lost--Protest 'Inaugural' in DC." According to CLG spokesman Michael Rectenwald, Bush's "presidency is not legitimate. Our Super Bowl banner will remind the people of the real political score, and the Florida venue will make our message all the more potent. Running out the clock is an acceptable tactic in football, but not in a Democracy."

Bush Stole the Presidency - Deal With It!
19-Jan-01
Stolen Election 2000

Dave Chandler, Publisher of www.earthside.com, has written an excellent Manifesto for Resistance to the Bush Regime. "Let's fight the good fight, let's fight for a Free America."

445 Law Professors Protest Supreme Court's Blocking of Florida Recount
12-Jan-01
Stolen Election 2000

We are 445 Professors of Law at 104 American law schools, from every part of our country, of different political beliefs. But we all agree that when a bare majority of the U.S. Supreme Court halted the recount of ballots under Florida law, the five justices were acting as political proponents for candidate Bush, not as judges... By taking power from the voters, the Supreme Court has tarnished its own legitimacy. As teachers whose lives have been dedicated to the rule of law, we protest.

Just how they did it -- Florida's purge of African American Democratic voters
04-Jan-01
Stolen Election 2000

Not satisfied that 31% of black men in Florida are not allowed to vote because of a ban on felons, Secretary of State Katherine Harris employed a firm with strong Republican Party ties to remove as many as 173,000 Floridians from the voter rolls without any due process, notification, or legal recourse.

Clarence Thomas Lies Again - This Time to Children (Shame!)
14-Dec-00
Stolen Election 2000

Remember how Clarence Thomas lied during his confirmation hearings about sexually harassing Anita Hill? And his sworn testimony that he had never expressed a personal opinion on abortion and Roe v. Wade, making him the only right-wing ideologue in the country with no opinion on the most contentious issue of our time? Now Thomas is lying again by saying politics had nothing - NOTHING - to do with the Supreme Court's chain saw massacre of Al Gore and American Democracy. Worse yet, he told this lie to children, which deserves a special punishment all its own. Maybe the reason Clarence Thomas never speaks in oral arguments is because he might be held in contempt of court for lying. Come to think of it, now that the Republicans made lying an impeachable offense, it might be time to go over every one of Thomas's words with a fine-tooth comb...

London Newspaper Reports Possibility of Massive Vote Fraud in Miami!
13-Nov-00
Stolen Election 2000

Yes, the Times of London is reporting that the Gore campaign is seeking an FBI investigation of potentially massive vote fraud in Florida. The allegations revolve around thousands of ballots that were allegedly corrupted before voters even used them. Stay tuned!

Democratic Activists Take Vote Campaign Online
10-Nov-00
Stolen Election 2000

Democratic Party activists (that's us!) have started an online campaign to challenge the results of the election in Florida and claim the U.S. presidency for Al Gore. Democrats.com has helped collect over 3,000 affidavits from Palm Beach voters who say a controversial ballot duped them into voting for the Reform Party's Pat Buchanan instead of Gore. We're also collecting an online petition calling for a revote. And we're encouraging activists to take to the streets.

Democrats.com Launches TrustThePeople.com to Make Al Gore our Next President
09-Nov-00
Stolen Election 2000

Democrats.com launched TrustThePeople.com to help Democrats organize to make sure Al Gore is sworn in as President of the United States, as the people voted on Election Day. In our first day, we collected over 1,000 affidavits from Palm Beach voters who believe they cast a vote for Buchanan by mistake. We also launched a nationwide petition campaign demanding a revote in Palm Beach - so tell everyone you know to sign it!

 


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