The Sheep And The Ostriches, A Barnyard Of Dysfunction

Back in 2000, when we watched the court battle for the White House play out on our televisions, I think most of us were stunned by the outcome of that presidential race. Who could have predicted that the Supreme Court would hand down a “one time only” decision ordering that the votes not be counted in Florida and that George W. Bush be installed as our president “for the good of the country”? It was a stunning decision and in the aftermath, Bush assured us that he would “unite” the country and we were urged by the media and left wing organizations to get over it and “move on.”

In 2004, even though the presidential race was closer than seemed possible with such an inadequate leader in the White House, it became clear on election day (for those who were paying attention to the early returns) that John Kerry would in fact be our next president. Of course, last minute surges in Republican voters, a homeland security threat caused the lockdown of the facility counting the last of the votes in Warren County Ohio that led to a stunning turn around for Bush when those votes were counted behind closed doors, and the realization that Bush voters were shy when it came to talking to exit poll workers, all helped explain another victory for George W. Bush. Again, we were urged to move on and ignore the evidence that suggested something shady went on that day, lest we be seen as “sore losers” or even worse, “conspiracy theorists” and “liberal moonbats.”

But many of us refused to “move on” and instead decided to compile information, analyze data and talk about what we knew. Brad Friedman at BradBlog has been relentlessly tracking the electronic voting machines, the companies that supply them and the constant reliability problems associated with them. Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman at The Free Press, have been researching and documenting the literally “unbelievable” vote tallies in the Ohio 2004 election and the statistical “anomalies” and “glitches” that always erred in Bush’s favor. In my opinion, you have to suspend all logic in order to believe that Bush won the 2004 election. Some of us can do that, because not is too painful, but some of us can’t.

I’m anxiously awaiting the new issue of Rolling Stone magazine, set to hit newsstands Friday (available online here), because they will publish an extensive article by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., detailing the theft of the 2004 election. Sure, Republicans can still throw the “moonbat” charge out to describe Bobby Kennedy, but I don’t care about them. What I do care about, are the Democrats and liberals that have ignored the reality of what happened and I hope this will, at the very least, open some eyes.

If we do not learn from history, we are bound to repeat it and ignoring the statistical impossibility that Bush could have won the 2004 election without a little help from his friends (Ken Blackwell, Karl Rove, Tom and Bernadette Noe for starters) will only make the next “impossible” win easier to accept and harder to fight. If we really want to be the “reality based community” we like to claim that we are, then we have to stop ignoring, burying and running from the truth. Willful ignorance is even more dangerous than the honest ignorance we tag the sheep-like masses with. They don’t know any better, but we do, or at least we should.