(no subject)

[heidi]

Someone asked me how to convince people not to vote for Nader.

I wish to ask your expert advice on how to tell the Nader supporters this.

Tell them to email me. Tell them to email your friend in Miami, Florida, who worked tirelessly against the Bush machine as they tried and unfortunately succeeded in steamrolling over the votes of the people, throwing out enough legitimate votes to secure the state. Tell them to email your friend in Miami, Florida, the state where Bush's brother's secretary of state, who was also co-chair of the Florida for Bush campaign committee, scrubbed the voter registry of thousands of purported "felons" based on a flawed list from ChoicePoint, a private company with deep Republican ties, even though many of those listed had committed misdemeanors, not felonies, and others had committed felonies in other states, served their time, and had their voting rights restored. Those thousands illegally denied the right to vote were disproportionately African-American. Tell them to email your friend in Miami, Florida, the state where thousands of people in minority precincts were turned away from the polls, polling locations were moved without previous notice, and polling places "ran out" of ballots, and where a road block was set up by Florida Highway Patrol officers near a black voting precinct in Tallahassee, our state capitol.

Tell them to email your friend in Miami, Florida, who will tell them about the riots by Republicans to cancel hand-recounts of ballots, and the hours I spent on the phone with Palm Beach residents who'd been misled by the balloting process.

Tell them that if they truly see no difference between Bush and either Kerry or Edwards, they should vote absentee ahead of time for whoever they please, and then come down to Florida and volunteer as a poll monitor for the party of their choice, to help everyone in this state, where voting rights have been besieged by the state government, vote at the polls and have that vote count.

If you want to enjoy the right to vote your conscience, then you owe it to every other voter to help them exercise their right to vote.



To be honest, if one lives in DC (which will go Democrat anyway) or in Texas (which will go for Bush anyway) vote for whoever you please. But if the candidates are less than 20% apart the day before the election, then, as a Floridian, as a citizen of a state where thousands did not get to have their vote count last time, I ask you to please vote *to remove Bush from office*.

Bill Clinton said in that speach I attended a few weeks ago that Democrats should fall in line behind the nominee, not fall in love with a candidate. But I don't just limit that to Democrats - it should actually be expanded to anyone who's horrified by things like this and this and this and the duplicity regarding Iraq. Even if you agree with Bush on a few things (and I do agree with him on (: counts) three issues) - the best hope for this nation and the world is to work together to get Bush out of office.

And that is all we can do.

And I know I've just pissed off a bunch of Republicans on my flist, but I want you guys to know, it's not personal to any of you. I just don't want this country to become a theocracy, and I fear that if Bush gets another term in the White House, that will happen.

Comments

[wendywoowho.livejournal.com]

I live in DC, I voted for Nader last time...

...and I'm not doing it again.

Which means I have no clue who the hell I'm voting for, because it ain't gonna be Kerry (and don't even joke about Bush).

But, again, I'm in DC. It matters not.

[sugarjet03.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this. I agree with you completely on the issue. This is going to be my first election (which I am insanely excited about :-)- I've been wanting to vote since 1992, when my mom took me with her) and I'm praying that Bush will get kicked out. I personally adore Edwards, but will vote for whoever wins the nomination. It's time for some change. There are enough people in America that are sick and tired of what's going on. I just hope we can all band together and do something about it.

~Erin

[sugarjet03.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I love your icon! :-D

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

It's gacked from themorningstarr - she let me use it and I'm sure she'd let you, too!

[wordplay.livejournal.com]

To be honest, if one lives in DC (which will go Democrat anyway) or in Texas (which will go for Bush anyway) vote for whoever you please.

Yup, this is why we voted Nader in 2000; it was a done deal here in TX. If he really sticks with it, I may vote Nader again in 2004, I don't really know. I like the idea of supporting Green and, even though he probably won't make their 5%, I do feel like it says SOMETHING. We support Kerry with our money and our public voices, but I'm not sure what I'll do in the voting box.

OTOH - it kind of pisses me off that Nader is not acting as a team player here. I feel like he's just taking a scary situation and making it scarier. I agree with his basic position that the Left is unrepresented in American politics, but somehow it feels like there are more pressing issues at hand at the moment. Even if the Dems aren't as Left as he is, it seems like he should be supporting them as fellow members of the non-Right.

So, yeah, conflicted still.

[wordplay.livejournal.com]

But wait - I just realized that Nader's not running Green, he's running independent. In which case, there's not much of a decision to make - there's no fledgling party to support, so no reason to back him.

So, why is even here, again?

[katrionaa.livejournal.com]

I like Ralph Nader but please. Anyone voting for him thinking they'll send a message is completely missing the point - plus last time they did that they ended up with an ultra conservative president. We had a more liberal message and our candidates kept getting beaten (Mondale and Dukakis and the one whose name I can't remember). I'll take being more centrist and winning the White House any day.

[likebunnies.livejournal.com]

Since you posted it in your Clinton speech wrap-up, I have been preaching that Clinton quote to anyone who will listen. I know a lot of people out there who are still hurting about Dean and don't want to vote for either Edwards or Kerry and I tell them that quote and they think about it and know what has to happen.

I live in Palm Beach County and I really don't want to be considered stupid again by an entire nation because I'm obviously too old and blind to be allowed to vote. My ballot was set up poorly, it didn't line up in the machine and I wasn't allowed to question this because I was standing in a room filled with signs warning me against speaking once I started voting. Funny how those signs were gone by the next election. Yes, I'm still angry.

[hedwig-snowy.livejournal.com]

First, can I 'borrow' your anti-bush icon? :)

Second, you forgot James Baker III and his little role in the 2000 Election. The poor Gore lawyers and political advisors didn't know what hit them, dealing with reality and all. Jimmy just didn't seem capable of telling the truth. I don't mean in a overall sense, but even in a single sentence. He's a pip for someone who was so well regarded by the so-called left-wing media types who crowned him as something 'above the fray' and 'only there to see that right was done'. Ran across a website (after searching 'Baker 2000 Election'). A few interesting things about the Bush family there:

Hmmm...I don't think this guy likes the Bush Dynasty...

With you on the Nader comments. Voted for him in '96, but, after moving to Florida in '99, I voted for Gore in 2000. Wonder if all the Nader supporters, who thought that there was no difference between Al Gore and George Bush, will cling to the idea that they are voting their 'conscience' by voting for Ralph?

You would think that four years of Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld/Ashcroft/Norton (not to mention the lovely Antonin Scalia and his pet 'I got everything in my life from Affirmative Action, but I want it abolished' Clarence Thomas who may soon be joined by Pickering/Pryor (same brain, two guys)) would have made them a little wary of running a campaign that wouldn't have a chance of winning, that could get it's message across in other ways, and is mainly just a spoiler that might just help Dubya get another four years of daily naps and yearly, month-long vacations in August so that his 'buddies' can run things. Nah, probably not.

Now, for what I really think about Bush..... :-)

[siriologist.livejournal.com]

I just don't want this country to become a theocracy, and I fear that if Bush gets another term in the White House, that will happen.

Yeah, but this isn't the real danger of Bush. I don't want the country to become a corpocracy. The religious right is a huge distraction to the democratic party. They are a threat and a real one to our freedoms and rights, however, it's the huge conglomerates that the Bush Administration is giving OUR money to faster than he's destroying our civil liberties. It's that he's making it easier for these companies to be environmentally irresponsible and just plain stupid by exporting the creative brain power overseas so they can make a few extra million for the CEO.

Where are the new innovative technologies going to come from if he allows the corporations to outsource all the engineering (pssst...it's going to make the outsourced country much better off).

This isn't even talking about all the science he's compromised to support his policy goals and the fact that his education secretary thinks the NEA is a terrorist organization.

I think the possibility of this country becoming a theocracy is the least of our worries with this administration. Our economy, entrepanuerial spirit, diversity in innovation, and scientific integrity so overwhelms the threat from the religious right. The worse threat is the purposeful destruction of the middle class for the benefit of the corporate elite.

But then that's just my POV coming from a house where Randy is teaching Indian engineers to do his job in India...how is *that* going to help this countries tax base??? And Bush's economist thinks this is a spiffy idea????? ARGGGGGGGH

PS. Sorry...guess I got a it carried away. I think what Howard Dean said was right, exactly on and I just have to hope that, while Mr. Nadar has some relevant policy issues to discuss, that people will see that in order to be allowed to discuss these issues in the future, that this year we *don't* have to fall in love with the candidate and we *don't* have to all agree with everything that candidate has ever done or said or voted for, because he whether it's Kerry or Edwards or Mickey Mouse, Anyone is better than Bush.

[sundancekid.livejournal.com]

The thing about Texas is, if everyone would vote, it wouldn't be, at all. Too many blacks and Hispanics and liberals who think it can't make a difference who aren't voting. (Not to mention redistricting. But this is neither the time nor the place. :p)

And, Heidi, don't forget that lots of the people who weren't allowed to vote hadn't committed any crimes at all - they had the same names or birthdays or similar SS numbers to people who had. They never did anything.

This is the first presidential election I get to vote in and I'm so excited. *pushes up dork glasses*

[wordplay.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but the redistricting (and oh god you're right to not get started on that b/c that particular rant usually ends in tears or alcohol or both) is part of why people don't vote, so it's all one enormous cycle of disenfranchisement. I don't disagree with you about underrepresented populations in Texas, but I also think that it's not quite that simple. As I'm sure you know, Texas Latino/as are much more conservative than those in other states and S. Texas turned out big for GWB. One population I see really being marginalized is inner-city black voters, both here and in Dallas, and we'll just have to see what John Kerry can do about that. The other is the rural poor, of which Texas is full to overflowing, and I don't know if Kerry will speak to them, either. Edwards could, though. *sigh* This is why Clinton was so good as a candidate and he STILL didn't take Texas, even with Ms. Ann backing him, because he was running against Bush Sr.

And yay for your first election. In my first election ever, I got to help elect Ann Richards, and two years later I got to help elect Bill Clinton. I hope your first is as successful and happy

[photosinensis.livejournal.com]

Okay, first, must counter the point on Texas. Even Texans should vote Democrat. There's a lot of resentment towards Dubya here, to the point that a lot of Republican/conservatives have already decided that they will abstain instead of voting Democrat or helping put Bush back in office.

But yeah. And if you're in Sugar Land (that's the next town over from my hometown), for God's sake, get the hell rid of DeLay. He's a menace, and he isn't what you want in Congress.

[sugarjet03.livejournal.com]

Cool! I'll definitely have to go and ask :-)

[datta.livejournal.com]

According to my friend's mother, who worked with him for years?

Ego.

[ceilidh]

This isn't even talking about all the science he's compromised to support his policy goals and the fact that his education secretary thinks the NEA is a terrorist organization.

When I read that article, I was ASTOUNDED. I'm not an NEA member, cause teacher's unions are illegal here, but if it weren't illegal I would be. God forbid we ask for decent pay and working conditions and for some protection against getting gunned down on playground duty. :-l

[themorningstarr.livejournal.com]

To be honest, if one lives in DC (which will go Democrat anyway) or in Texas (which will go for Bush anyway) vote for whoever you please.

*in Texas*

Hate.

El Paso gets it right and votes solidly Democrat election after election. It's the rest of the state. But then, El Paso (the 5th largest city in the state; 6th if you count Ft. Worth seperate from Dallas) gets crapped on in funding from the state every year. It was even worse before the Court of Inquiry a few years back. But I digress.

My point is that I'll vote absentee (as I'll be in law school at the time), make peace with the fact that my vote for won't count for much here in Texas anyway, then I'll do my part to help campaign for [insert Democratic nominee here] and hope for the best.

[nmalfoy.livejournal.com]

How do you do it? You are the most eloquent, well-reasoned person I know (you and praetorianguard. I love the idea of working the polls, too... if people remembered how hard various groups have fought to have the right to vote, they'd take it more seriously, I think. And, as I tell my listeners, "If you don't vote, you can't bitch."

As to this country becoming a theocracy... oh yes. I see it, too. In which case, might as well let the Taliban come on in. In principle, we aren't much different. Too bad Shrub isn't smart enough to realize that.

[nostrademons.livejournal.com]

I really dislike Nader as a candidate. I voted Green, not Nader...though in 2000, there wasn't a way to distinguish. If he's running as an independent this year...well, he can forget about my vote.

[sundancekid.livejournal.com]

I did forget about South Texas turning out so big for Bush. But in Dallas that's not the case nearly as much. And doesn't El Paso go pretty Democrat? I know Houston doesn't (to put it mildy), but Austin does.

I'm going to vote Democrat, even though I doubt it will do anything. But I can't complain if I don't vote, and I do like complaining. And I continue to dream of a miracle in which, I don't know, Travis County takes over or something and we don't go Bush. ;)

[bloodybrilliant.livejournal.com]

I have just started reading a book called "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" by Greg Palast. The first chapter deals extensively with this topic and Greg points out the American medias' unwillingness to print any of the voting goings-on in Florida. I knew a little about this and, to say the least, I wish I had read this book sooner. Of course, it has been updated since the first printing so there is much more information. Such a how Jeb and Harris have ok-ed the use of touch-screen voting in many districts, thereby making it impossible to recount votes and easy to manipulate.
He also pointed out that, I think, over 100,000 ballots were simply not counted even though they were clearly marked GORE, simply because of stray "marks" on the ballot (that did not affect who was voted for) made by the MACHINE it was fed into. And also how it is quite impossible to make a mistake and feed it into the machine...unless the machine's "mistake catcher" is turned off, which it was in most of these districts with the voting problems.
This really makes me mad and truly shows me the depths these people will go to to ensure they get what they want and the spin they put on their words so that they are not, "technically", lying.

I know I will do what I can here in Louisiana to make sure that Bush is not going to be here another 4 hellish years.

Isobel

[davinator.livejournal.com]

Very well written, but I think Democrats can harbor sentiments of Nader in retrospect due to finding out what 2000 cost them without worrying about this election. I don't think Nader will have much of an effect (http://www.livejournal.com/users/davinator/23482.html#cutid1) this time because people know what's on the line, he's not really going to be on many ballots in the close states, and - just as your writing shows - his intent to run will instead energize Democrats.

Conversely, the hard right types have found Bush isn't the conservative they thought they voted for (he's making bigger gov't, spending money he hasn't got, just announced intent to support tampering with the Constitution) and aren't likely to be energized to get out for this guy.

Nader's got himself a new place in history beyond consumer advocacy after the 2000 election, but I think he'll not be the factor this time.

[hedwig-snowy.livejournal.com]

Might tend to agree with you except for the closeness of the election here in Florida in 2000. Even if Ralph doesn't get on the ballot here, he may have people writing in his name. I don't know that the Democrats can afford to give up 50,000 votes in Florida. Considering that it is one of the few states that is up for grabs, I can see that maybe only a few thousand votes for Nader could hurt the Democrat's chances and perhaps even their chance at the Presidency. Seemed far-fetched in 2000, but it happened.

[davinator.livejournal.com]

That's true FL was close in 2000. I get the impression that while you are right that it was far-fetched in 2000, it isn't now that we know what can happen. Now knowing prepares Democrats that the priority is Not Bush as opposed to principle.

I think you're right in that the six to eight states both parties agree are the only real unknowns this time barring something severe, FL is the only one Nader will have a chance in, and that makes it significant so you've nailed the critical state. I bet DNC is going to pour lots of blood, sweat, and $$$ into FL to suppress Nader and get just a few extra thousand to get off their butts and vote as a result!

just what you said, with pictures...

[(Anonymous)]

http://www.ralphdontrun.net/

Being european, I didn't know who Nader was... while looking, I found this one and I tought: that's it!

Hoping America will fall out of its Bush-induced stupor...

I whish you all the best for the campaign!
Cheers!
Laurence ( Xmonsieur_de_bergeracX@hotmail.com [remove X's])

[jennifer.livejournal.com]

Erp, sorry about the deleted comment. I realized too late I can't remember what year things were. Sorry about that!

The comment should have read:



I found this via legomymalfoy, and wanted to say a big thank you. I'm not from Florida myself, but my fiance is, and I've heard a lot from his family about exactly how bad it was during the 2000 election.

Do you mind if I link this in my own journal? :)

[jlh.livejournal.com]

Never mind that the rules were enforced sporadically, so that they affected Blacks and Hispanics even more than they might have. The white suburban districts would see someone was on the "list", assume it was a mistake, and let them vote anyway--this happened to three people I know. But did the Black or Hispanic folks in the cities get that benefit of the doubt? Of course they did not.