Saturday, April 29, 2006

Voting Counts? No, Vote Counters Count.

So here’s the thing. I was watching the Daily Show and it mentioned that W.’s low approval numbers are still higher then his father’s. That got me thinking. What W. has done to this country will set us back nearly a generation; the debt he’s run up, rebuilding New Orleans( if the federal government EVER gets to rebuilding it), our continued dependence on oil( which we can also blame on Reagan, and Bush the Elder), the stretching of the executive branch's powers at the cost of the legislative branch and the rights of the citizens of the U.S., and just W.’s contempt of everyone who doesn’t agree with him slash make less then a million a year. He’s done all that and more… and his numbers are STILL better then his Dad’s?

Which leads me to another thought… What are the Democrats chances this fall of getting control of the house and/or the senate?
Slim to none.
I say that because as I’ve learnt in 2000 and 2004, but the Dems haven’t, it’s not who votes who matters, but who counts the votes that matters. The last sentence was very pithy, and not very original. I’ve seen it on several web sites today as I’ve looked into information about Diebold. The Democrats could and should have done something about voter reform in 2000 and 2002, they didn’t. Heck several people have suggested that IF Gore had challenged the votes of ALL of Florida and not just the counties where he knew he was robbed, he would’ve had a better legal challenge against W. and prolly would’ve won… But Gore acted like a baby in 2000 and then the Democrats ignored the people demanding voter reform… and thus in 2004, there was a difference between exit polls and ‘election results’ in Ohio.

Democracy is too important to leave in the hands of corporations. We shouldn’t allow states to hire outsiders to purge the voter lists or to count the votes. We shouldn’t, but our government/ the Republicans who Diebold 'elects' does….

The Democrats should have their best chance of defeating Republicans this year. However I still put the odds of the Republicans keeping their power at over 60%. The votes are counted by a republican company and the Republicans still own the news cycle thanks to Fox News (now an official branch of the government as shown by Tony Snow). Heck, Rove has been ‘demoted’ so that he is being paid by tax payers to help the Republicans win the mid-term elections AND he hasn’t lost his security clearance.
Depressing but true.