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Georgia was stolen. AKA: you can't be a hero if your party is not heroic.
Author: Raine
Date: 07/31/2008 09:30:22
I am not kidding here. If you are on a team that does great things, then yes! celebrate! Be a cheerleader! But you can't be the hero of a party that does unheroic things. That is not how sports are played... And politics - they are one and the same, as some in the media have said. The problem is: the results of politics are FAR more critical. So - let's begin....
Let's talk about Heroes; let's talk about politics.
Let's talk about how the GOP treats our heroes for a moment. For just a brief moment, let's talk about Max Cleland. In case you did not know, he is a Vietnam vet...He is the honorable and former Senator from the state of Georgia. He did not win re-election and Saxby Chambiss assumed his seat. Basically, he was *swifboated*. The following ad is largely attributed to his *failure* to win his election campaign:
This was the ad that his opponent, Saxby Chambliss ran a few weeks before the election. People keep saying that this was the ad that did him in... I do not agree. Not anymore. This election was stolen. Max--- Mr. Cleland... was swiftboated before the term even existed. No kidding.
We are now finding out that what was a bit suspicious to many Georgians (as well as Thom Hartmann, Greg Palast, and Bev Harris... to name a few) is pretty damn true. Republicans stole that election. Strong charges, I know...
From the Populist in 2003:
The past fews days have opened up a serious story going on down here in Georgia... it seems as tho the '02 elections REALLY were stolen. A few mentions have been made on our Message Board, but This Story blew me way. Seems as tho the Secretary of State at the time (the same Secretary of State bolded above) knew what was going on. there is more at the link, but - in case you are wondering about that patch: it exists. Bev Harris at Black Box Voting has it. That patch exists, and it isn't some urban myth. It was used in Fulton and Dekalb Counties, 2 HEAVILY Democratic areas in Georgia. That was it, those 2 counties. the heaviest Democratic counties in the state.
Back to Max... Mr. Cleland --- Please keep in mind that Mr. Cleland is not just a Vet... he is a REAL hero. the following is from a man who served with him...
Mr. Cleland lost both legs and his arm. In 2002, he lost his senate seat -- I will say again--- he did not lose -- it was stolen, This is a story about how Republicans treat Vets.This is a story about how Saxby Chambliss, as a representative of the Republican party treats our veterans, and our civil servants. This is how they treat our TRUE heroes. This is a story of power and control and the rest be damned.--- according to the GOP --- Saxby questoned Mr. Cleland's service. Did you know that Saxby NEVER SERVED? The dude isn't even from Georgia... Check THIS out... Good to know you care McCain.
Max Cleland did not lose because of a political ad. I propose the media would like you to believe that. To this day... more than 6 years later, they would like you to believe that an ad can make people swing like that...(go back, take a look at those numbers) People are not stupid. Max Cleland didn't lose... his seat in the senate was stolen. The GOP STOLE from a War Hero. THAT is how they treat Vets. They steal from them, and you wonder why John McCain didn't vote for the GI bill. He doesn't consider himself a vet anymore.. He just uses his status as a political toy to dangle to people who think this makes him a hero. He is using those very patriotic Americans. In reality, he has become a Karl Rove Republican, just like Saxby (who, actually started out that way from the gate, thanks to the *patch* and Diebold. Oh btw - he is up for re-election...)
We MUST be vigilant becuase Georgia '02 was a test run. A "beta theft" as it were... Ohio in '04 further pushed the ultimate plan along. We know how they treated another vet (John Kerry) in that election. It would be funny if it wasn't so consequential that John McCain wants his service to not be questioned... he only wants us all to honor it... Well, I don't. I just don't. I respect his service... but I do not honour it. Not when the republicans - his fellow party members - treated Max Cleland the way that they did, not when I know they stole that election. Honorable people don't do that. Honorable people don't treat people that way. And John McCain is not being honorable.
John McCain never talks about what happened to his fellow Vietnam vet, Max Cleland, because John KNOWS that his party will try AGAIN to steal the election.
What he doesn't know is that if we, collectilvely, get out the vote in the massive numbers that we are seeing with the support of the Obama campain no Republican can ever steal our votes again. That is the greatest gift we can give to a man that gave 3 limbs for our country. It is time to do something really heroic; it is time to vote for our true heroes, the ones who truly sacrificed for all of us. It doesn't matter if they served in the military or not, it matters if they fought, lived, died for this country we call the United States of America.
Do it for Max Cleland. Do it for everyone who lived honorably, and truthfully and nobly. Get the vote out. Make voting as viral as a youtube video... be a hero. Ads don't steal elections - the GOP does.
No more stolen elections. This must NEVER happen again.
:peace: and :heart:
Raine
Let's talk about Heroes; let's talk about politics.
Let's talk about how the GOP treats our heroes for a moment. For just a brief moment, let's talk about Max Cleland. In case you did not know, he is a Vietnam vet...He is the honorable and former Senator from the state of Georgia. He did not win re-election and Saxby Chambiss assumed his seat. Basically, he was *swifboated*. The following ad is largely attributed to his *failure* to win his election campaign:
This was the ad that his opponent, Saxby Chambliss ran a few weeks before the election. People keep saying that this was the ad that did him in... I do not agree. Not anymore. This election was stolen. Max--- Mr. Cleland... was swiftboated before the term even existed. No kidding.
We are now finding out that what was a bit suspicious to many Georgians (as well as Thom Hartmann, Greg Palast, and Bev Harris... to name a few) is pretty damn true. Republicans stole that election. Strong charges, I know...
From the Populist in 2003:
Opinion polls in Georgia on the eve of the 2002 general election showed Democratic incumbent Gov. Roy Barnes leading by 9-11 points and Sen. Max Cleland ahead of his Republican challenger by 2-5 points, so it was a shock on election night when the returns showed Barnes losing to Republican Sonny Perdue, 46 to 51 percent, a swing of as much as 16 points from the last opinion polls, and Cleland losing to Saxby Chambliss by 46 to 53 percent, a last-minute swing of 9-12 points. Pundits credited a surge of "angry white men" punishing Barnes for removing the Confederate symbol from the state flag, but the London Independent noted in a special investigative report on Oct. 14 that a demographic breakdown published by the Georgia Secretary of State showed no such surge of white men; the only subgroup showing a modest increase in turnout was black women.
There were also big, puzzling swings in different parts of the state, the Independent noted. In 58 counties, the vote was broadly in line with the primary election. In 27 counties in Republican-dominated north Georgia, however, Cleland unaccountably scored 14 points higher than he had in the primaries. And in 74 counties in the Democrat south, Saxby Chambliss garnered a whopping 22 points more for the Republicans than the party as a whole had won less than three months earlier.
The big difference was that in November 2002 Georgia was the first state in the country to conduct an election entirely with touchscreen voting machines, after lavishing $54 million on a new system that promised to deliver the most secure, most up-to-date, most voter-friendly election in the nation's history. The machines, however, were found to be poorly programmed, full of security holes and prone to tampering. With thousands of similar machines from different companies being introduced at high speed across the country, Andrew Gumbel wrote in the Independent, "computer voting may, in fact, be US democracy's own 21st-century nightmare."
The past fews days have opened up a serious story going on down here in Georgia... it seems as tho the '02 elections REALLY were stolen. A few mentions have been made on our Message Board, but This Story blew me way. Seems as tho the Secretary of State at the time (the same Secretary of State bolded above) knew what was going on.
Georgia Secretary of State Cathy Cox’s office faxed documents to the then-president of Diebold Election Systems Bob Urosevich listing a series of issues that occurred shortly before the November 2002 election.
Documents provided to RAW STORY by a whistleblower close to Cox’s office show that one of the key problems Georgia officials were trying to resolve was related to an unauthorized patch installed on machines prior to the election.
In one document, Cox’s office asked Urosevich for confirmation that a “0808 patch was applied to all systems; confirmation that the patch was not grounds for requiring the system to be recertified at national and state level; as well as verifiable analysis of the overall impact of the patch to the voting system”
Back to Max... Mr. Cleland --- Please keep in mind that Mr. Cleland is not just a Vet... he is a REAL hero. the following is from a man who served with him...
The 2nd of the 12th Cavalry was engaged in a combat operation at the time of this incident. Max Cleland was with the Battalion Forward Command Post in heavy combat involving the attack of the 1st Cavalry Division up the valley to relieve the Marines who were besieged and surrounded at the Khe Shan Firebase. The whole surrounding area was an active combat zone (some might call the entire country of Vietnam a combat zone). (Is Iraq a combat zone?) Max, the Battalion Signal Officer, was engaged in a combat mission I personally ordered to increase the effectiveness of communications between the battalion combat forward and rear support elements: e.g. Erect a radio relay antenna on a mountain top. By the way, at one point the battalion rear elements came under enemy artillery fire so everyone was in harms way.
As they were getting off the helicopter, Max saw the grenade on the ground and he instinctively went for it. Soldiers in combat don't leave grenades lying around on the ground. Later, in the hospital, he said he thought it was his own but I doubt the concept of "ownership" went through his mind in the split seconds involved in reaching for the grenade. Nearly two decades later another soldier came forward and admitted it was actually his grenade. Does ownership of the grenade really matter? It does not.
Maury Cralle'
Battalion Executive Officer
2d/12th Cavalry Battalion
1st Air Cavalry Division
During the assault on Khe Shan
Mr. Cleland lost both legs and his arm. In 2002, he lost his senate seat -- I will say again--- he did not lose -- it was stolen, This is a story about how Republicans treat Vets.This is a story about how Saxby Chambliss, as a representative of the Republican party treats our veterans, and our civil servants. This is how they treat our TRUE heroes. This is a story of power and control and the rest be damned.--- according to the GOP --- Saxby questoned Mr. Cleland's service. Did you know that Saxby NEVER SERVED? The dude isn't even from Georgia... Check THIS out...
John McCain of Arizona said of one ad, "It's worse than disgraceful, it's reprehensible;" Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska said the ads were "beyond offensive to me."
Max Cleland did not lose because of a political ad. I propose the media would like you to believe that. To this day... more than 6 years later, they would like you to believe that an ad can make people swing like that...(go back, take a look at those numbers) People are not stupid. Max Cleland didn't lose... his seat in the senate was stolen. The GOP STOLE from a War Hero. THAT is how they treat Vets. They steal from them, and you wonder why John McCain didn't vote for the GI bill. He doesn't consider himself a vet anymore.. He just uses his status as a political toy to dangle to people who think this makes him a hero. He is using those very patriotic Americans. In reality, he has become a Karl Rove Republican, just like Saxby (who, actually started out that way from the gate, thanks to the *patch* and Diebold. Oh btw - he is up for re-election...)
We MUST be vigilant becuase Georgia '02 was a test run. A "beta theft" as it were... Ohio in '04 further pushed the ultimate plan along. We know how they treated another vet (John Kerry) in that election. It would be funny if it wasn't so consequential that John McCain wants his service to not be questioned... he only wants us all to honor it... Well, I don't. I just don't. I respect his service... but I do not honour it. Not when the republicans - his fellow party members - treated Max Cleland the way that they did, not when I know they stole that election. Honorable people don't do that. Honorable people don't treat people that way. And John McCain is not being honorable.
John McCain never talks about what happened to his fellow Vietnam vet, Max Cleland, because John KNOWS that his party will try AGAIN to steal the election.
What he doesn't know is that if we, collectilvely, get out the vote in the massive numbers that we are seeing with the support of the Obama campain no Republican can ever steal our votes again. That is the greatest gift we can give to a man that gave 3 limbs for our country. It is time to do something really heroic; it is time to vote for our true heroes, the ones who truly sacrificed for all of us. It doesn't matter if they served in the military or not, it matters if they fought, lived, died for this country we call the United States of America.
Do it for Max Cleland. Do it for everyone who lived honorably, and truthfully and nobly. Get the vote out. Make voting as viral as a youtube video... be a hero. Ads don't steal elections - the GOP does.
No more stolen elections. This must NEVER happen again.
:peace: and :heart:
Raine
