'The states of Iowa and the union agree: Bush can be beaten'
By Harvey Wasserman
OpEdNews.Com
Is the tide turning?
George W. Bush and his
puppetmaster Karl Rove tried to upstage the Democrats with a State of the
Union Address full of tricks and gimmicks, martian distractions and
rattling sabers.
It backfired. The
stunning results from Iowa far overshadowed Bush's lame, malapropic stump
speech. Space travel, gay marriage, steriods in baseball, these are
the burning issues for a Republican Party smug enough to be certain they
can steal any election.
The week's signature GOP moment
came from Tom DeLay's Texas, where a woman who sells vibrators was
arrested for possessing more than two. In a state that's just been
redistricted to prevent any Democrats from going to Congress, we see the
GOP as the ultimate Luddites. Are Texas men that insecure? What
will they ban next? Massage oil?
Come November, we can expect
Osama bin Laden to be miraculously "found" whenever Rove decides
the timing is best.
A terrorist attack will explode
here or there precisely as the Democrats gather steam. Bush may dump
Dick Cheney into a cardiac unit to grab headlines and expand his base.
Remember, please, that Karl
Rove, who runs the Bush apparatus, cut his teeth as a "Dirty
Trickster" for Richard Nixon. Bush's father was elected in 1988
in the infamous "Willie Horton" campaign, the most racist in
modern history.
These amoral assassins will
fling the lowest available dirt on whoever got in their way, and nobody
has mastered the craft better than Rove. With unlimited money to
spend, your worst ethical nightmare is their bottom line.
But we're seeing a pattern
here. Every time Bush jumps in the polls, he slumps back down.
From the gigantic rush he got
after his "trifecta" on September 11, the polls fell to where
they were before the terrorist attacks. From his "Mission
Accomplished" flashdance on the decks of the Abraham Lincoln, back
down he crashed as the bloodshed continued. From the
"miraculous" capture of Saddam Hussein (where is he now?) the
polls again plunged as the grassroots Iraqi resistance goes on. From
the "booming" economy we see the Bush bounce going flat as no
jobs materialize and deficits soar while the dollar slumps.
In short, George W. Bush is
still George W. Bush: ruthless, corrupt, untrustworthy,
closed-minded, authoritarian, inarticulate, intellectually challenged,
programmed, cynical, dishonest, violent, a draft dodger and a religious
fanatic who believes he speaks to and for God.
Through the Christian Coalition
the GOP has a solid activist base of fanatic puritan fundamentalists
unparalleled in US history. They have unlimited money. And
they have control of the mainstream media, whose endless gush of
right-wing bloviaters has just one mantra: "Bush will win, Bush
will win, Bush will win."
But they can be beaten. Here
are some of the things that must happen:
1) THE VOTES MUST BE
HONESTLY COUNTED: As push comes to shove, there is only one issue in
this campaign: will the votes be honestly counted. As Stalin
infamously put it: it doesn't matter who casts them, only who counts
them. We know that the 2000 election was stolen, and that the GOP
would be more than happy to do it again through rigged voting machines
without paper trails, the computerized disenfranchisement of
"convicted felons" and other suspected Democrats, and whatever
else Rove & company can come up with.
2) THE VOTES MUST BE
HONESTLY COUNTED: In 2000 Al Gore sat passively and watched as the
White House was stolen. This time, all serious candidates must
hammer at this issue, over and over. Rep. Rush Holt's bill now in
Congress to require a paper trail for computerized voting machines is just
a start, but it's a good one. The Democrats must get that passed or
let the nation know why it didn't, and what that really means if the GOP
claims victory in November.
3) THE VOTES MUST BE
HONESTLY COUNTED: But it won't be enough just to raise the issue.
In every state there must be campaign committees explicitly charged
with fighting pre-election disenfranchisement, as happened in Florida and
elsewhere. There must be extensive inspection of all voting
machines, ballots and other election procedures. The polls must be
monitored. Unless the Democrats take concrete, effective steps to
guarantee a fair vote count, there's no reason to bother with this
election at all.
4-10) THE VOTES MUST BE
HONESTLY COUNTED: It may also not be sufficient for the Democrats
alone to do this. Serious petitioning must now be done to the United
Nations, the government of Switzerland or whoever else might serve as a
honest broker, willing to serve an international watch dog function to
help guarantee the coup that began in 2000 is not given four more years to
solidify power.
11) THE HOUSE MUST BE
RE-REDISTRICTED: Through redistricting the GOP has already
guaranteed that the Democrats have virtually no chance of ever re-taking
the House of Representatives. In one fell swoop, with typical
vicious cynicism, Rove and DeLay have eliminated a dozen Texas Democrats
even before the election is held. Nationwide, the system is now so
twisted Democrats could carry the composite House vote by a wide margin
and still end up vastly outnumbered on the floor. This was not the
intent of the nation's Founders and must be changed, by Constitutional
Amendment if necessary. Millions of us, especially in urban areas,
have been effectively disenfranchised for years. The Democrats must
publicize this curse on the Congress, and then do something about it.
12) PREPARE FOR RACISM
& HOMOPHOBIA---The stench from George H.W. Bush's racist 1988 Willie
Horton campaign still taints the presidency. In 2000 the GOP machine
specifically targeted African-American and Jewish voters in Florida,
Tennessee, Arkansas and elsewhere with Jim Crow tactics that threw those
states---and the election---to Bush. This year we can expect similar
racism and the smearing of gays and whoever else might be available to
mobilize the extremist "religious" right. Somebody should
replay those Willie Horton ads to remind the nation who these people
really are.
13) ENOUGH ABOUT RALPH
NADER, ALREADY: For four years Democrats have indulged in blaming
Ralph Nader and the Greens for "losing" the 2000 election.
But Al Gore won by 500,000 votes. Add Nader's 2.7 million and
2000 represented a powerful Dem-green mandate, which Bush aborted. THAT'S
what the Dems should have been screaming about for the past four years.
14) BUSH-ROVE WERE GOING
TO STEAL THE ELECTION NO MATTER WHAT: Nader's supporters were not
the mindless property of the Democratic party that Ralph somehow hijacked.
And a GOP capable of stealing 16,000 votes in a single Florida
district was more than capable of stealing all they needed, Nader or no.
15) PICK UP THE PHONE: Nader remains the most effective
citizen activist in recent US history. He still draws huge (paying)
crowds. He has a phone. And an office with a door that opens.
So do the activists who chose to support him, and may yet again if
the Dems repeat their folly of 2000. A few phone calls, some
meaningful conversation, a search for common ground, some POLITICS, and
maybe the Dems can mobilize at least part of an activist hard core they
absurdly blew off in 2000. There's absolutely no excuse for doing
otherwise.
16) FORGET THE
CONFEDERACY: Conversely, those folks driving around with Confederate
flags are going to vote for Bush. The old Slave South (Bush's REAL
taproot) is not going to come around. But as Norman Solomon and
others have pointed out, the Hispanic southwest (Arizona, New Mexico,
Colorado) is in reach and need to be worked on. If, by miracle,
Florida or Texas can be got, it's with Hispanic, not racist white votes.
How about New Mexico's Hispanic Gov. Bill Richardson for VP?
17) REMEMBER THE
ENVIRONMENT: Not even the bought corporate media can hide that Bush
has launched a total kamikaze assault on the natural planet. This is
an issue the resonates even with much of the fundamentalist right. Mother
Earth is still right up there with apple pie. Forget the Confederate
flag. Wave the Green one!!!!!
18) REPEAL THE PATRIOT
ACT: Bush's one legitimate applause line was that the Patriot Act is
about to expire. Even right wingers like William Safire have been
lining up against it. The Dems startled poor Georgie when they
clapped for that line in his otherwise pathetic State of the Union. Much
of the nation, left and right, feels the same. Use it!
19) REMEMBER WATERGATE
AND VALERIE PLAME: Somebody very high up in the White House,
probably Karl Rove and/or Dick Cheney, has committed a serious felony (and
pissed off the CIA) by outing covert operative Valerie Plame. This
cancer is eating away at the junta's core. If there is a single
issue to push push push alongside the economy, that may be it. Think
dagger to the Constitution. Think Dick Nixon, August 9, 1974,
getting on that Plame...er, plane.
20) YOU GOTTA BELIEVE:
The mainstream mantra that Bush can't be beaten is only true if we
let them steal the vote count again. They've got the money. But
they've got Bush. The "inevitability" of his victory is as deep
as the headlights in his deer.
21) THE HARDER THEY COME:
Our theme song. Buy the Jimmy Cliff album. Dance the
dance. "...as sure as the sun will shine.......the harder they
come, the harder they fall, one and all....."
HARVEY
WASSERMAN Columbus
Free Press
is author of HARVEY WASSERMAN'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES and co-author
(with Bob Fitrakis) of GEORGE W. BUSH VS. THE SUPERPOWER OF PEACE ( www.freepress.org
).
